Disney World!

I decided to try something a little different and let Ava and Coen provide some commentary on the pictures on this post. I guess I forgot they're only 3 and 5, so most of their comments were stating facts of the pictures like, "that's me." They still loved looking at the pictures and you'll get some of the commentary below.

Our flight left from Portland about 7pm in evening and we had a layover in Las Vegas, and then we finally arrived in Orlando at about 7am, or 4am our time. We were pooped.

Holding hands getting on the plane.

I had an interesting experience here in the airport where a cleaning lady offered me these clean garbage bags so that I at least didn't have to lay the kids on the airport carpet. As she was talking to me, she asked if we were going to Utah. I was kind of surprised and said, "no, we're going to Florida, but we are from Utah." She said, "oh, are you Mormon?" I said yes, and she said "I could tell, that's why you look so happy." I asked if she was Mormon as well, and she said that she used to be, but she divorced, and she didn't think she could go to church anymore now. This led to a nice discussion about how she would always be welcome at church. She said she would think about going back.

 Ava: I'm so tired I'm sleeping.

Coen: Coen's sleeping

This is how we slept for the 5 hour flight from Las Vegas to Florida. 

We got to Orlando and went straight to Wasana's house since our hotel wasn't ready and Wasana offered us beds to nap. Afterward we hung out, ate, and got to play with baby Preston!

The friend I've had for the longest, since 8th grade. I'm so grateful for good friends!

Ava: I like the cute baby from Wasana's house.
Coen: Me too.

In the afternoon we took an Uber to the hotel we were staying in- the Hilton! It was gorgeous with a huge pool and lazy river.
Ava: I like the swimming pool cuz it's so sparkly and so warm.
Coen: No it's not. It's cold!
Ava:  But in the summer time it's warm.

On Monday I started my conference at 7:30 am (4:30 am my time !) and Brent took the kids to Magic Kingdom. Brave man, all by himself!
Ava: I like Belle's pretty dress

Ava: I like Tiana because we watched her movie a few days ago.
Coen: I like the monkey from Aladdin.

Ava: Cinderella lost her glass slipper and we met her.

Coen: I want to go in the castle.What the castle has?

Ava: I like Rapunzel's long hair because she can swing and I was so excited to meet her.

Ava: She told me she was going to have a party, I don't remember what it was, but it was kind of like Halloweeen.

The kids favorite thing to do was to meet the Princesses. So they met a TON.

Ava: We're in the double stroller cuz Disney World is so big.

On Tuesday Brent took the kids to Disney Springs and I attended my conference all day again.

Ava: Coen's so proud, he made something cool and I don't know what it is.
Coen: Mom. I want to go to Disney World again.

Ava: I made something so cool and I love it. I'm smiling so cute.

These guys are made out of legos, very impressive!

Part of the day was also spent at the pool where I was able to meet them for a break I had.
Ava: I love the swimming pool and being in the sunshine all day long.

I only got to enjoy the hot tub at night, but didn't get to swim since I was in my conference each day!

We had to do a little presentation on our leadership project and what we had learned from it. My project was creating a manual for remote employees for my firm, and creating a program to help remote employees be more connected to the home office. I won the award for the best project and got a gift card to Amazon.

On Wednesday Brent took the kids to Epcot. On Wednesday my leadership group of 40 people joined a larger conference of over 700 accountants. The second half of the day of the conference was at Epcot. They bussed over all 700 of us from the hotel.
Ava: I love the big Epcot ball because you can go all the way to the top.

Ava: I love Minnie Mouse because we have a tsum tsum of her and she's so adorable.

Ava: Elsa is so magical, she can make snowmans. And we met her. 

Coen: Anna can make snowmans! Oh, there's my picture!

Ava: We're rubbing the magic lamp. There was smoke and there was words. Genie made a joke. 

Ava: Coen couldn't let go of Jasmine.

I had met up with Brent and the kids when they met Jasmine, and this was maybe my favorite moment of the entire trip. I've been trying to be better at being present and enjoying little moments with the kids.At this point with Jasmine I was soaking it all in and seeing Coen's total admiration for Jasmine and then basically slaying her with his cuteness. Gahhh. I was excited to see Brent had video'd a little of the interaction. 

Video with Jasmine:

Ava: She has a beautiful crown.
Coen: And she has one bad guy in the movie.
Can we all just take a moment to love the way Coen is looking at Aurora? Oh my gosh.

Meeting Aurora video (In case you can't understand, she asks if Coen got into a fight with a dragon).

Coen: She has a beautiful dress and she has superpowers too. 

Ava: no she doesn't!

Coen: uh huh. 

Ava: nuh uh.

Watching my kids be so thrilled to meet the characters was so much fun for me. The crazy expense and effort of getting us all to Disney World from across the country was worth it for moments like these. Look at the looks on their faces!

Coen: She has a beautiful bow. And she has beautiful shoes. And she has a beautiful dress.

Ava: She bonked my head.
Me: did it hurt?
Ava: (laughing) a little bit. I didn't know that was going to happen.

Ava: I petted Pluto because he's a dog and he's so adorable.

Ava: She said she wished she had pink on her dress.She liked our pink shirts.

Ava: I like the beautiful flowers.

Coen: That's Hunchback.

Brent wanted the kids to take pictures with hats in each country around the world in Epcot. This was before I had met up with them. The pictures are pretty hilarious.

Ava: I hate that hat.

Ava: I hated that hat too. I hated all the hats.
Coen: I liked all the hats.
Ava: I hated the hats, they're only for boys. I only liked the headbands.

Ava: I like this one. Coen's hat is too big so I had to pull it up.

Ava: I like the raccoon hat a little bit.

Brent had about a thousand photos to sort through. I thought it would be fun to include an outtake:

I first started out at Epcot with the people from my firm who came to the leadership conference.

Ava: We're a family together forever. (singing to tune of We Wish You a Merry Christmas) And a happy new year.

On Thursday we had tickets to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. We were able to get into magic Kingdom at 4am and start going on rides, as well as trick or treating.

Ava: Coen's so adorable in that picture. 

Coen: Who is that? 

Me: The worker.

Coen: I want to see when I'm cute.

Disney World joy right here: 

On the Jungle Cruise, Coen was really excited to see all of the animals.

Coen: that's me!

Ava: I like splash mountain because we can drop. I very love it. It's my most favorite one in the whole planet of Disney World. Coen, what's your most favorite one in the whole planet of Disney World?
Coen: I don't like scary ones.

In the evening we put on the kids costumes when the Halloween party really began.

We watched a performance of the Sanderson Sisters from Hocus Pocus at the castle.

Maybe my favorite part of the day was the dance party with some of the characters. Coen would not let go of Vampirina's hand, he was enthralled.

I can't say for sure, but this may have been the best moment of Ava's 5 year old life. Dancing in dress-ups, at Disney World, with characters. Here's a video of her dancing:

 Here's a video that really cracks me up. Coen as Donald Duck. He wasn't as interested in dancing, he mostly liked watching the characters dance.

By this point it was about 10:30 pm. Coen fell asleep but Ava hung on a little longer to dance with Monsters Inc.

Halloween at Disney World- we definitely recommend it! It was not too crowded. Shorter lines, perfect weather!

On Friday we went to Hollywood Studios for our last day. By this point I was dead tired from the whole week.

We had to go see Toy Story Land because Coen's obsessed with the movies!

Coen: I love him (the alien) because he has green eyes and two ears and two hands. They three like me.
Ava: No, 100.
Coen: 100?! I like them because they're 100.

Ava: I hate that guy cuz he's so scary.
Coen: I love him because he's from Star Wars.

This was SO funny. The character's voice was robotic like it is in the movie and he was talking to the kids all seriously, saying things such as "you have strength young one. Can I count on you?" Coen was freaked out and nodding vigorously as if the whole world depended on him.

Brent took Ava on Tower of Terror. I refused because I hate it so bad. Ava told me afterward, "I almost loved it, but I hated it."

Let's just zoom in on Ava's face. 

We went on the Star Wars ride a few times.

Ava posing on the Hollywood strip.

We had such a great trip, even if the first half of it I was so stressed with my leadership conference thing and not being able to eat all of the food, etc. I am so blessed to have a good job that allowed me to come here, and I'm glad Brent and the kids were able to come along!