Disneyworld!!!!

Shout it from the rooftops- Ben is officially done with FIVE semesters of medical school! This pretty much marks our half way point through the program. The biggest hurdle is still yet to come (Step 1 of the USMLE- board exams!) but we had to take this opportunity to do a little celebrating! These last 5 semesters have been hard for our family, rewarding, but very difficult at times. Living abroad AND moving across the country, adjusting to all new things so often and making new friends- it has been quite the adventure. Since we were driving right through Orlando on our way to Virginia to visit Ben's parents, we couldn't NOT stop at Disneyworld! Ben and I realized that this is our first time doing a family vacation just the three of us. We've traveled (obviously) a lot, but never just for fun since Chase was born. With the impending arrival of our little #2 and the demands of medical school, this will obviously be the last time we do a family vacation with just the three of us. It was definitely a day to remember!

Friday morning Ben had his final exam from 8-noon. I worked all morning to pack and get the car all loaded up. Chase, of course, helped. And by helped I mean unpacked previously packed bags, zipped and unzipped zippers, and followed me (quite slowly) as I took 11 or so trips out to the car to load it up. When Ben got home from his test we handed in our key and we were OFF! The drive from Miramar to Orlando was about 4 hours. Chase did great on the first half, and really really was done being in the carseat after that. However, we still made it, smoothly and in one piece! We checked into our hotel, got cleaned up, had dinner and we all went to bed early. I could hardly sleep I was so excited for Disneyworld! I just couldn't wait to see my little one's face light up at all the excitement! We were also a little worried. This whole Disney experience could have ended up being a really expensive day of us hauling an uncooperative 23 month old through a hot theme park. Luckily- that was not on the menu for today!

Here's how it went down:

 Chase and I in front of City Hall-

The weather was gorgeous! Warm and Dry! Absolutely perfect!

Our first stop was Peter Pan. We talked it up to Chase, who only knows

the characters through Jake and the Neverland Pirates.

Chase did really well-although half way through the ride he climbed right up on my lap.

It was a tad scary for him- but he still was just wide eyed with amazement taking it all in!

Next we went on Small World. As evidenced by his smile here, 

Small World was just right for this little boy!

 And from then on he decided rides were fun! In every ride he was just wide-eyed in wonder at everything going on around him. I loved watching him experience it all!

We did try to take him on the Carousel- he flat out refused to hop on one of those horses and we left before the ride even started. The carousel was the only ride he wouldn't do!

Here he is outside the teapot ride, just laughing with his dad. Ben and I loved spending this whole day just focused on Chase. He is really such a fun kid and we feel so blessed that he's ours!

 Chase really wanted to do the racecar track, although Ben informed me that right after I snapped this picture and went to get in my car Chase got very concerned about where I went and spent the rest of the ride looking for mama. He only really got excited about driving the car at the very end. 

 The Buzz Lightyear ride was a hit, and we knew it would be. Buzz is a favorite of Chase's already. He was pretty excited to meet him. A little shy at first, but he did give him a high-five.

 I mostly didn't want to be photographed in all my enormous glory today,

but I couldn't resist documenting at least a little that we were all here together!

Chase loved seeing the Castle! It was so fun to see how magical it all was for him.

 We took Chase on Pirates of the Caribbean and he did great. His favorite part was seeing the pirate ship (which he calls "Bucky" thanks to Jake and the Neverland Pirates). Ben and I, of course, reminisced about our own Pirates of the Caribbean adventure down in Dominica (where the movies were actually filmed). We had to laugh when I filled up our water bottle at the drinking fountain just outside the ride and had to dump the whole bottle out because the water came out brown. So fitting right? The water DOES come out brown in the Caribbean!

 Chase was a little concerned during Jungle Cruise,

and might have been the only one on the boat,

despite the over-enthusiastic skipper's lame jokes and puns.

 Chase was very interested in the flying carpets-

even though he hasn't ever seen Aladdin, he still thought they were pretty cool.

He was even more impressed with The Tiki Room. The kid loves birds, so we shouldn't have been surprised there.

 And at this point Chase hit a wall. It was wonderful really, we wheeled him into a more quiet corner and he slept for about 30 minutes...

 ...while Ben and I devoured this masterpiece! 

Ben had a dream to eat a funnel cake at Disneyworld. I will admit, it was delicious. 

And I really love how everything at Disney comes shaped like Mickey Mouse.

 Chase woke up chipper and happy and we were off to fly on Dumbo!

Chase hadn't seen Dumbo either, but once we showed it to him he kept repeating "Dumbo fly!"

This ride is kind of ingenious, instead of waiting in line you go into a big circus tent and they give you a pager. There is all kinds of fun stuff for the little guys to play with while you wait. Then they page you and you get to ride. This was a major highlight for Chase.

 We were worried how Chase would handle waiting in lines. He exceeded our expectations and did great! We had to work a little harder towards the end of the day to keep him happy, but these next two pictures show that Ben can keep this boy pretty happy with silly little games! 

 Chase loved meeting Goofy and Donald!

 And as soon as we said good-bye to them, Chase started asking about Mickey. Our last stop of the day was seeing Mickey Mouse, and I can't think of a better way to end the day! Chase was completely enamored with him! Mickey had started playing peek-a-boo with Chase, when Chase sweetly said "Mickey high-five?" Here is Mickey meeting Chase's request.

 The pictures don't really do it justice,

but Chase was all smiles for Mickey! 

 All in all, it was a perfect day! One I'll keep tucked away in my memories for days that are a little less whimsical than this one (like possibly tomorrow, when we make the 12 hour drive to Virginia!) It was the perfect way to celebrate the accomplishment it is to have made it this far, and so fun to enjoy our little boy before the attention gets split two ways. I'm so grateful that we had this opportunity, and grateful to Ben for going along with my plans- even the slightly crazy ones. The Magic Kingdom lived up to it's name- our day was magical!