Today is my first day back at work since we left for vacation.  Coming back to real life is rough, amiright?  Especially coming back from a place where literally everything is focused on you forgetting about the actual world you live in so that you focus on all the entertainment in front of you.  Not gonna lie, I love it.

I also love the first day of vacation.  I love taking in all the smells and sights. I love thinking about how we have the next several days to just be together and away from reality.  The second we got to the hotel, we threw our swimsuits on and jumped in the pool.  After the kids got their pajamas on, my parents volunteered to watch them while we went on a double date with my sister and her husband.  Beer and so. many. sweets in Disney Springs.

The next day,  we hit up Magic Kingdom.  That’s kind of a must for us to do first.  Allll the character meet and greets.  And more sweets.  That evening we headed to my favorite park for sushi in Japan – Epcot.   I love Epcot.  I love getting to walk around the World Showcase and smell the different foods coming from all the different countries.  They do such a good job of letting you feel the vibes of each country.

The next day was my favorite day this trip – Animal Kingdom.  It started with Mickey Mouse waffles and included spiked chai, a safari, an impromptu dance party in the street, popcorn, rides, and Rainforest Cafe. And, you guessed it, more sweets and character meet and greets.  I started to sort of be over waiting in the lines to meet the characters.  But then I see this face and it’s worth it.

On the third day, we went to Epcot.  This day was also Nora’s birthday.  We went to a Princess breakfast and strolled around the World Showcase.

We asked her what she wanted for dinner for her birthday and she said “I want a cheeseburger in Magic Kingdom because it’s magical there.”  Off we went back to Magic Kingdom for a magical cheeseburger (she changed her mind last minute and got magical mac and cheese instead), more sweets, and a firework show.

Our last day was spent at Hollywood Studios.  It started raining around lunch, so we went back to the hotel, but not before we met Olaf, Princess Sofia and Jeff rode Rockin’ Roller Coaster.

Disney is one of those trips you have to go into knowing that some parts of it will be stressful.  And we did have some of those moments.  Waiting in lines is hard, crowds are hard, spending $10 on a kids meal is hard.   Other than those things, though, it’s almost magical.   So many memories.  I will be treasuring them and living off of them for a while.

-rach