We're going to Disneyworld!

With a 4 month old baby......what?!?

Merry Christmas 2009!  The inlaws sprung for an amazing family trip that included us, them, and Jim's sister and family.  Emily wasn't born yet, so we were definitely excited for the trip!  Soon, come May/June/July....excitement turned to fear...haha!  Emily was just such a particular baby and could turn on a dime.  We had NO idea how a plane ride would go, a week long hotel stay, and just traveling in general.

Once August rolled around, we started to get a little less fearful, and more excited again.  Emily was just starting to come out of her fussy shell and we thought, ya know, we just might be able to do this!

We started to do some "prep" in order to make everything as smooth as possible.  At this time, Emily was still always hanging out in her car seat when we pushed her around in the stroller.  We had never had a reason to take her out and put her directly into the stroller.  Well, since we weren't taking the car seat to Florida, it was time to get her used to sitting in there.

Attempt #1: FAIL.  We were in Cleveland again (Jim had business there) and decided to head out to one of the local malls and try to push Emily around in the stroller.  As soon as she got in there.....all heck broke loose.  She was NOT having it.  We made it to the food court and managed to scarf down some food before the second meltdown occurred.  We gave up and left.

The following week (the week before we left), I took Emily up to the local mall at home everyday for the whole week.  Each day she got better and better.   When she first would get in there, she would scream, but would usually settle by the time we got to the mall entrance from the car.  Success!

Also, staying overnight in Cleveland a couple times was a good judge of how she would sleep in a hotel and how she would sleep in the pack 'n play.  She acclimated wonderfully.

So now that we were prepped for overnights and long walks in the stroller, we felt a lot more confident about the trip.....except for the plane ride.  There was no way to prep for that anyways!

Luckily, the plane rides went smooth.  We were stuck on the tarmac for an hour before we took off, and she started to fuss.  But once we started moving, she was asleep in our laps before take off!  She slept on and off throughout the whole flight there.  We just kept her fed and that pretty much kept her happy.

Now for your photo tour!

 This is way too early to be up....

 Even Emily isn't up yet!

 Sleeping on the plane

 OMG where am I?!?

 This doesn't look like our living room

 Waiting to get checked into the room

 Emily looks happy to be here!

I'm ready to meet Mickey! 

 It rained a bit

 Disney makes it easy for parents to enjoy the rides

 Worn out already

 Gotta love glowing drinks!

 Big hugs from daddy!

 Ready to hit the water park

 Hanging out in Epcot

 It's Dale!

 And Mickey!

 At Hollywood Studios

 Yep, she stayed naked about 90% of the trip

 A romantic dinner at California Grill

 The whole family the day before we leave

Jim didn't follow the rules.....now he is singing "I'm a little teapot" for everyone

We had a great time.  It was a bit overwhelming at times and well, I came down with a cold by the end of the trip, so that threw me for a loop.  We can't wait to bring Emily back again!