Disney World!

 Keith finished his Master's Degree... we're having another baby in a few months and won't be able to go on a big vacation for a while... we're sick of this freezing cold in MN... so we thought it was time for us to get away for a few days! We looked at a couple of different options, and decided on Orlando, Florida. We weren't gone for too long... we left on Wednesday and got home on Sunday evening. But with 2 small kids, we found that it was actually the perfect amount of time for us.

Carsen has been on an airplane a few times before, but this time he was especially excited to get to order anything he wanted to drink on the airplane. Here he is on our way down with his beverage of choice for the day... SPRITE!! :)

The kids both did great on the airplane, and Carsen even helped out by reading books to Madelyn.

On Thursday we headed to Magic Kingdom. We had perfect weather for the day!

Being that this is their off season, we didn't have to wait in many lines. It was wonderful!

Everywhere at Disney they talk about making memories and making dreams come true. Being the sappy, emotional (HOROMONAL) woman that I am, it actually brought tears to my eyes a few times throughout the day. It was so special to be doing something so fun as a family. It was memorable, for sure.

After spending the majority of the day at Magic Kingdom, 

we hopped the monorail over to Epcot for a few hours.

Carsen was a little apprehensive at first, but enjoyed meeting some of the Disney characters.

He also really enjoyed the Nemo exhibit.

The next day we loaded up and went to Animal Kingdom.

Our favorite part of the day was by far the safari. 

Carsen loved these "daddy and baby" elephants that we saw.

He also loved the giraffe!

Towards the end of the day we got rained out. It was pouring rain, and we stood in line for about 30 minutes for this one picture. Keith was 'thrilled'. :)

We went back to our resort to dry off and get some Cici's Pizza, then headed back over to Magic Kingdom to see their firework display. It was awesome!

Our last full day (Saturday) we drove to Cocoa Beach. It was cold., 

but we definately wanted the kids to see the ocean.

Brrrrr.....

Then we came back to the resort and played some minigolf. 

I think this was the highlight of Carsen's whole trip!!

The resort we stayed at has 15 outdoor pools, but nothing indoors. On our last evening it was chilly, so we let the kids go swimming in our bathtub. They had a blast!

On Sunday we loaded up our vehicle (Keith loved driving a nice vehicle for a few days!) and loaded up our tummies with Dunkin' Donuts (YUM!) and headed back to the airport.

We had a wonderful get-a-way for a few days, and look forward to returning to Disney with our family of FIVE in another 5 years or so.  :)