Schedule
Travel & Vacation: Disney’s Boardwalk (Orlando, FL)
Boardwalk during the day!
Disney’s Boardwalk was only a short walking distance away from our resort, basically you had to cross a bridge to get there from where we were staying at the Swan & Dolphin Resort. It was a neat place to walk to day or night. You could see the Epcot fireworks from Disney’s Boardwalk every night. You couldn’t see all the fireworks, but you got to see all the big ones for about 15 to 20 minutes. In the evenings on the Boardwalk you can regularly see magicians, a Children’s outdoor video playing, and more activities. They have stores, restaurants, and a lot more places to explore in the area too.
It looks like a bunch of twinkling stars over the edge of Boardwalk.
We definitely enjoyed the fireworks going off all around us every night!
Cool blue ones!
So pretty per the girls!
One of the entry ways to Boardwalk lit up at night.
I wanted to snap a picture of them with the Boardwalk sign in the back ground. Brina couldn’t look at the camera she was so worried someone was going to run over them since they were standing on the side of the road in the dark (there wasn’t any cars coming at that moment, but she was convince one would sneak up on them). Guess I would rather her be extra cautious than not care at all.
Travel & Vacation: Character Breakfast at the Garden Grove (Orlando, FL)
Meeting Goofy at Breakfast!
We were able to go to the Saturday morning Character Breakfast at Garden Grove Cafe while we were in Orlando. It is located on the Swan and Dolphin Resort, but anyone can come and eat there if they want. They had great food and we got to meet a couple of the Disney Characters during our meal. The girls thought it was pretty neat too. If you do want to eat at a character to meal make sure you work that into your budget while in the planning stages because they are a little higher priced than some of the other options. Also, if you have a choice choose the breakfast over the dinner Character meal because it is a little less expensive. If you have older kids any kid 10 years and up is charged the adult prices (both for the meal as well as to get into the Disney parks).
The kids did amazing the entire week. We were going full throttle this entire week, they didn’t miss a beat, and had great attitudes. We were going from sun up to way past sun down every night too. They did crash as soon as the hit the pillows every night, but still popped up as soon as the first ray of sunlight hit our room!
Delicious food complete with a Mickey Mouse Waffle! The fresh fruit and fresh fruit smoothies were amazing!!!
Having fun even at breakfast!
Hanging out with Pluto!
Love spending time with my man!
Travel & Vacation: Disney Epcot at Night (Orlando, FL)
Hanging out at Epcot
Walt Disney World’s Epcot looks beautiful during the day, however, at night with all the lights it looks amazing! Thankful for a full and fun day exploring Epcot with the family. We were there when they opened and stayed until they closed the gates. The second day we left about 30 minutes early since we were driving home that night and wanted to get ahead of the crowds and traffic. Even with leaving early it still took us almost an hour to get from the hotel parking lot to the interstate. The kids were out cold and snoozing before we even left the hotel parking lot.
Our little Minnie and Mickey at Epcot
The Epcot ball and water fountain looked super cool.
Epcot’s World Showcase lit up from across the water
Epcot’s huge globe during the fireworks. The kids loved seeing this globe and watching it move as well as open up!
It was hard to get a clear picture of the moving Earth in the dark during the fireworks, but here is the North and South America side of the globe!
IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth at Epcot!
Fireworks are always a hit with our kids!
They had a lot of different fireworks and music during their firework show!
So neat!
Travel & Vacation: Walt Disney World Epcot (Orlando, FL)
Spending the day at Epcot
Thankful for a chance to spend time with the family at Disney’s Epcot. It was so much fun. The kids kept up remarkably well and had great attitudes the entire busy day. I am grateful for kids who love to learn and explore new places. They just soaked in all the neat stuff going on at Epcot in. The second day was not as hot which was nice too.
They got me to go on Mission Space again. This time we went on the Orange ride which is more intense. Let’s just say I was looking a little green after this ride, thankfully this picture was taken before take off.
Jake and Brina cruising along
Image Works was a cool place to explore
Playing music at Image Works
Our own little Mickey Mouse. Karlie wanted the black hat and ears.
Our own little Minnie Mouse. Brina wanted the headband with a red and white Minnie Mouse bow.
Walking with Dad, so exciting!
Sweet girls.
All smiles
Pausing graciously to let me take a picture even though she’s worried about missing something!
Brina Bee
On the move
Taking in all the cool sights around her
We found a place that engraved names onto leather bracelets.
The girls have unique names which makes it impossible to find items with their names on it so we got these for them as a souvenir. They were fascinated watching the worker do the engraving and proud of their bracelets.
Travel & Vacaation: Disney Epcot’s Butterflies on the Go Flower Garden (Orlando, FL)
Beautiful flowers at Epcot
The kids had a blast going into Disney Epcot’s Butterflies on the Go Flower Garden during their International Flower and Garden Festival. The flowers were absolutely beautiful and butterflies were fluttering all around us. You could even see butterflies emerging from their chrysalis! It was pretty neat seeing these winged creatures buzzing all around and a house containing rows of chrysalis. Not to mention educational for the kids too!
Resting on a leaf
Rows of chrysalis in various stages
You could actually see some coming out and stretching their wings for the first time which was really neat
2 butterflies hanging out in the flowers.
Loved the flowers as much as the butterflies. Epcot’s gardens were amazing!
Travel & Vacation: Disney Epcot’s Countries Around the World (Orlando, FL)
Hanging out together at Epcot
The kids loved learning about the various countries in Epcot’s World Showcase. We got to see many shows, talk with a lot of people, learn about the countries, visit the Kid’s Epcot sections and more. We were not able to get a lot of pictures from the actual shows because several of them do not allow photography during the presentation.
At the China World Showcase we got to watch the Dragon Legend Acrobats! It was fascinating. They did some awesome jumps and tricks over basically a thin carpet pad and cement.
She flipped up into this chair which is being held by one of the guys on their team.
Neat formation
The flying jumps were awesome, even if they made me a little nervous
A stunning performance!
The girls loved talking with all the people at the Kidcot stations at every country. They had their passports stamped and signed in all the different languages around the showcase.
Hanging out with Daddy
Beautiful tower lit up at the Morocco World Showcase
Hanging out in Morocco
On our way to visit Canada
Beautiful gardens in the Canada World Showcase
Canadian Lumberjack Show takes place on the Mill Stage. It was a neat competition including axe throwing, log rolling, sawing, and more.
The red and blue team competing on a log in the water.
Giving the kids in the crowd “high fives”!
Those on the front row did get a little wet from this competition, but the girls thought it was awesome
It was a neat show to watch. The kids were able to get up front and see everything which was cool.
Travel & Vacation: Visiting Disney’s Epcot (Orlando, FL)
My sweet princess!
We saved Epcot to explore last since it was one that Jake wanted to go with us. It was so much fun riding all the rides, exploring the various countries, watching the shows and so much more. We had a blast, so much fun in fact that we decided that on our last day we wanted to go back to Epcot for one more day. Thankful for a great time packed full of wonderful memories with my family.
Feeding the manatees some lettuce
Ready for a bright and sunny day at Epcot
You can see this Epcot ball from our hotel
Our picture from the Spaceship Earth adventure together
Playing an energy game, pretty cool
Brina racing her car
We’re ready for the show!
The Space section was a hit especially with Karlie!
Our first Mission Space ride. They generously chose to do the “green” (aka easy level) first since I get sick on some rides. Thankfully we all survived!
Delicious snack at one of the bakeries! We split this heart shaped waffle with tasty jam inside.
Stopping for a minute to rest while we check out the map for the next place we want to go.
We’re ready and thankful for a moment to relax!
The kids did amazing with their camel backs. Not once they complain or get dehydrated or hungry (although we did have more potty breaks).
Biotechnology Lab at Epcot. It looks really neat and you see all kinds of cool produce being grown that will be used in various Disney restaurants. The only odd about this ride is the second time we road it there were animal (dog shape) paw prints in the sand (not sure where those came from).
Turtle Talk with Crush – super cute and very interactive with the audience!
Living Seas Hydrolators and Seacab
Ride 
Looks like the shark at a couple kids!
Karlie is loving her time at Epcot
Travel & Vacation: Epcot’s Gardens (Orlando, FL)
Our wild crew at Epcot!
Our family had a blast exploring Walt Disney World’s Epcot park. It was a lot of fun seeing all the beautiful sculptures made out of greenery all over the park. Many Disney characters were represented in the gardens. It was the kids first time visiting Epcot. They loved it so much we chose to do it 2 days instead of just one. Thankful for the opportunity to spend time with my family while seeing these amazing creations.
Lady and the Trump
Mickey Mouse instead a garden of flowers.
Beautiful flower gardens at Epcot. This was taken while passing through on the monorail.
Snow White
Kiddos in front of Beauty and the Beast
Pausing for a moment! These were my two favorite characters from Beauty and the Beast
My sweet girl.
They did an amazing job making these garden sculptures come to life!
Monorail, flower gardens, and lake.
Cinderella and Prince Charming
Hanging out next to Winnie the Pooh Bear (his red balloon glowed at night).
Look out for Captain Hook
Brina liked the Frozen garden!
Karlie, of course, liked the Buzz Lightyear
Tinker Bell
Too cute!
The Frozen characters garden at night
Beautiful garden across the water from where the boat drops you off at Epcot
Travel & Vacation: Main Street Electrical Parade & Fireworks at Disney’s Magic Kingdom (Orlando, FL)
After dark at Magic Kingdom they do a Main Street Electrical Parade and Fireworks every night. You will need to check the schedule for the days you want to go, but it is pretty consistent most weeks. The electric lights parade was awesome. Even though we squeezed in all the rides we could before the parade the kids were still able to get front row seats for the parade (thankfully it was less crowded when we went). The parade was fascinating, the girls loved it.
A little bit after the parade was done we found a spot to sit down and watch the lights, music, and fireworks next to the castle at Magic Kingdom. It was beautiful. We ended up sitting right in front of the castle and had a great view! The kids really enjoyed it. After the fireworks we decided to go do a few more rides which we walked right onto since the majority of people were leaving at that time. It was a great day at Magic Kingdom. We had a few hiccups with a couple rides and shows, but everyone took it in stride and we had an amazing time together.
Fascinating
Bald eagle, flag, and fireworks!
Colorful castle!
Beautiful castle, lots of colors, music and fireworks who could ask for anything more!
Blue castle and fireworks! I lost count of the number of times the castle changed colors and the number of different songs they played during the show.
Red, white, and blue – The castle is dark blue with white stars (a little hard to see in this picture) and the fireworks were a bright red. Gorgeous!!!
Turquoise blue
Pretty pink
The kids loved it
A great ending to a wonderful show
Travel & Vacation: Swiss Family Treehouse, Tom Sawyer Island, Hall of Presidents, and Tomorrowland Speedway at Disney’s Magic Kingdom (Orlando, FL)
Silly Karlie!
While at Magic Kingdom we had so much fun! It was great to get a chance to spend time having a grand time together as a family. We enjoyed our adventures and exploring the various places around Magic Kingdom. While we were in line we had opportunities to talk and catch up on the various activities that had been going on over the past few days.
Jake and Karlie exploring the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse
Hanging out with my girls at the Swiss Family Treehouse
Having fun
My handsome man
Hiking through the treehouse
Target practice… on Tom Sawyer’s Island
Look out! Did she hit the target?!
Fun times!
Checking to make sure we were coming
Exploring
The girls loved this moving bridge over the water.
This was my view across the river when I was crossing the bridge. Pretty, but at a funky angle.
Jake figured out that he could splash the water on the girls when he bounced a little on the bridge, they thought it was great.
Hanging out
Pausing for a moment on Tom Sawyer’s Island
Hall of Presidents Show, very educational
The girls enjoyed learning about all the different Presidents
My driver on the Tomorrowland Speedway
She was a good driver and all smiles!
