As they say . . . Let the Magic Begin!

We awoke bright and early to a perfectly sunny day, not a could in the sky and an orange tree in the back yard! We knew that today would be very busy at the Magic Kingdom so we wanted to get an early start. This is one of the few times in our lives that we were up before Will and Nate, they were wiped out from the day before but as soon as they smelled toast in the air they popped out of bed.

After a quick breakfast all six of us made it out of the house. We were on the road and headed to the park. Our house is about a 15 minute drive, you could feel the excited energy of two boys pouring from the back seat! Finally, the moment arrived we drove through the gate and headed to the mono rail. Usually I have a very clear picture of the boys reaction to everything because I watch them to see how they reopened to their new experiences but this was also a new experience for me, in some ways I think I may have been just as overwhelmed as they were. It is impressive walking down Main Street USA with the castle in the background. As we entered the park there was a shrub sculpted to look like Mini, Nate thought this was very impressive, "Look mommy, it's a grass Mini!" We headed into the heart of the park to get to some of the parks highlights before the major crowds rolled in. My whole life the one thing I have wanted to ride at Disney was the Spinning Tea Cups. Everyone else was more sceptical about my enthusiasm but were accommodating to my request. As we walked around the castle the ride came into view, my time had arrived! There was room for three in each cup so Will, Nate and I climbed into one and Jane, Eric and Ken piled into another, then we were off, spinning away, Will and Nate giggled and loved turning the wheel to make us spin faster and faster. I could hear some pretty hefty laughing coming from the other cup filled with Boates. At the end of the day, Ken actually said that the Tea Cups were his favourite ride of the day. It all really is about the simple things!

Thanks to the advice of a colleague we quickly picked up fast passes for the flight of Peter Pan and headed for the Small World ride. So, I'm going to take a few sentences here to relieve the social conscience side of my self and then I'm not going to say another thing about it. There are many things about Disney that are magical, it's also the home of every social stereotype under the sun. The Small World Rider really brought that home, every possible cultural stereotype about nations around the world are on full display in this ride. Gender bias is also blatant with hundreds of little girls dressed up as Princesses and boys as Pirates or Princes, okay that's it, oh aside for the insane wast of natural resources but I get it, the world needs places full of fantasy and hope. Okay that's it, for real now!

After the Small World (which ended up as a favourite ride for both boys) we headed to the Haunted Mansion. This became the scene of some major Boate family drama. Nate is a sensitive soul, we all asked him if this was something he wanted to do. His reply, "Yes! I'm not scared of anything!" I asked Ken, "Can he handle it?' To which he confidently replied, "Of course" We wound our way through the grave yard, Nate became quieter and quieter. We enter the mansion and he started to quiver, we walked into the main hall where it gets dark and he went into full blown panic mode, screaming and crying to the point where I couldn't even pick him up because the flail was so extreme. Luckily a lovely Disney cast member came over to us and said "when the door to your left opens up, there is an exit!" It's amazing what a little sun sine and food can do for the soul. 20 minutes later we were eating lunch and Nate was fully recovered!

We spent the rest of the day ridding the Flight of Peter Pan, watching Mickey's Philharmagic and exploring Tomorrowland. At 3:00pm we headed to the castle to meet up with the Monk's family, Jacob (their son) is a good friend of Will and Nate's from Barrie! What we didn't realize was that there was a holiday show scheduled for 3:00pm at the castle. Happily, Tracy and I shared the same idea, once the show is over and the people filter out we will find each other. That is exactly what happened, the boys had a happy reunion and instantly were filled with over flowing energy! We all left the park and headed back to our house for a swim and dinner.

Despite that fact that the pool was only about 62 degrees, all three boys jumped right in! The laughed and splashed for quite a while. We all sat down together for a well earned meal and it wasn't long before it was time to head back to the park for the fire works extravaganza. Here lies the site of Boate family drama number 2. We had been talking to Nate for a few days about the fact that there would be lots of fire works at Disney, it's one of the things they are known for, he still was not prepared. Even before the show started he was cowering on the ground with a sweatshirt over his head. The rest of us oohed and ahhed as the show lit up the night sky. Truly the people of Disney are masters of creating shows like none other. All was well until I noticed Will was also on the ground with his hands over his brother's ears. I knelt down to see what was happening and Nate was crying and crying, he had had enough and Will was trying to comfort him. It's these moments that I try to burn into my brain, my boys loving and taking care of each other. Even when I told Will he could go back to watching the show, I would take care of Nate, Will said to me, "Mommy, I'm worried about Nate." I love my boys, deeply and profoundly, they never cease to amaze me.

After a very crowded walk out of the park we boarded the Ferry and headed back to the parking lot. The boys were not in the car for 60 seconds before falling asleep. Once we were home we poured them into bed. Ken and I had a lovely evening sitting out in the screened in pool deck drinking wine and enjoying the soft warm evening breeze. Tomorrow a new adventure awaits, the Animal Kingdom, hopefully we'll achieve a day with out terrorizing either one of the boys!

The Boate Team's Newest Adventure!

This adventure began nearly a year ago. About a week or so after we returned from our last Florida vacation Ken and I decided that this Christmas would be the perfect Christmas for a big Disney surprise. Will is almost seven and Nate just turned 5, last March we thought those would be the prefect ages for Disney. We immediately began researching and we hatched a plan. Will has been obsessed with the Disney ships since he was 2 years old so we knew a cruise had to be part of the plan. Then Ken's Mom Jane mentioned that she would like to take the boys to Disney, the other half of our plan was born. We would spend 4 days at the Disney Parks followed by a 5 night cruise on the Disney Dream. Ken and I plotted our adventure all year. We revealed our grand plan to the boys Christmas morning. They each had a giant present waiting for them at the back of the tree. When they opened them, Will's initial response was, "it's a giant thingamajig!" What he had opened was a piece of carry on luggage. Inside the bag were clues to our destinations, mickey mouse ears, a model air plane, a Disney stuffy and a sign about the cruise. With a little help Will put the pieces together and when I revealed the whole plan we got that great Disney moment reaction. Nate on the other hand remained basically oblivious to what was going on. It took him the whole day to process the information. It wasn't until I was tucking him in Christmas night that he said to me, while tightly clutching his Goofy, "Mommy, I can't wait to go on the Disney Dreams!"

The following few days passed quickly in a blurr of preparation. Finally, December 29th arrived, Ken awoke first at 6:00am, he couldn't contain himself, he was up and ready to get the day underway. The boys followed and I stayed in bed until the last moment knowing that it would be a very long day. The first leg of the trip was a 4 hour drive to Detroit. Thankfully, all our travel plans fell into place and we had a mostly stress free trip through 3 air ports! Our first flight was Will and Nate's first time on a plane. Excitement and nerves were high as we taxied down the run way. Will had been so excited to fly, but, his first comment to me once we reached cruising altitude was, "we shouldn't be so high up." Over time, his comfort level grew and he enjoyed looking out at the towns and lights below us. We landed in Atlanta, had a very quick supper and boarded flight number 2. This was another very smooth flight and we landed in the land of sun and palm trees at about 10:30 pm. The final stretch of our journey was an hour and a half car ride from the Melbourne air port to our rented home in Kissimee. Luckily, the boys had slept through most of the second flight and were more then happy to fall directly back to sleep as soon as we were in the car. Jane and Eric (Ken's Brother) greeted us at about 12:30 and after a much needed glass of wine we were all off to bed for what promised to be a very busy day. December 30th is the day we are headed to the Magic Kingdom!