Party of 5's First family trip to WDW! Just back from POR 6/16 *update 8/13 thoughts

I can totally understand the indecision of children -- wait until you hear about our DtD morning! :rotfl:

We loved Earl of Sandwich for breakfast -- I can't wait to try it for lunch or dinner sometime!!! Your choices sound soooo good!

Joey's lightsaber is VERY cool! :thumbsup2

Great update and you know, I can't wait for more! popcorn::

Thanks Jackie so sweet!

Great update, thanks for the nice things you said about my family:goodvibes It was great meeting you as well. I am so happy you got to experience RNR, it is such an awesome ride, so sorry for the rain incident and not being able to reach your DH on the cell phone, we had those moments and I know how frustrating that is. So cool both of your kids were picked for Jedi Training! Can't wait to see what happens next.
Lesley


OMG, I LOVED RNR that was my favorite!
Yes, the rain incident was no fun, but at least that was the worst of it, we did get caught one more time later in the week, but nothing like that afternoon!

I can't believe she changed her mind about the pony stuff :rotfl2: At least you now know how to fill the box with everything :lmao:


Yes, I do know how to fill the box now, I asked her again when we went back a few days later if she wanted it now, and she still said no...
 
Hi! I followed you here from my TR! What a beautiful family you have! So cool that you met other Diser's:thumbsup2 That rain and storm sounds very scary! Looking forward to more!:goodvibes
 
Hi! I followed you here from my TR! What a beautiful family you have! So cool that you met other Diser's:thumbsup2 That rain and storm sounds very scary! Looking forward to more!:goodvibes

Thanks for joining in! I remember your TR... Family of the day! You had such a magical trip! We never did meet the dream team, but we had our own "dreams" given... It was very cool to meet other Diser's especially the ones I did see, I felt like I already "knew " them..
 
Wednesday June 11:Day 4

Our plan today was to be at rope drop and stay until right after lunch, take a break and come back in the evening and do Spectro and Wishes!

Once again, stitch wakes us up around 7. We wake do the usual routine of getting ready and eating some breakfast snacks in the room.
This was our matching shirt day! DH wasn’t thrilled about this idea when I initially told him and showed him the shirts awhile back. However, today he didn’t seem to mind must be the Disney magic getting to him! I really wanted a cute picture of us in front of the castle.

I wanted to be out at the bus stop around 7:45. I think it was closer to 8 by the time we got out there. We had some time to kill before our bus came so we took some silly pictures.

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The bus finally came and we got to the entrance about 8:30. We got a spot up front near the tunnel and the Rental scooters. We waited for the Pre-Show to start, sorry no pictures. My promise to myself next time we go back is to take MORE pictures!!! It was cute, the kids seemed to enjoy it.

Our plan was to get the stroller and head to Tomorrow Land. Since we already did Dumbo and Fantasy Land on Monday morning I thought we should start some where else today.

We got the stroller ,DH took the kids to Astro Orbiter, which they rode twice. I went and got 2 FP for Buzz and 3 FP’s for Space Mt to use later.

I got our FP’s and we headed back over to Buzz, which was still a walk on. We liked this a lot, but compared to TSM @HS it wasn’t as fun. The laser gun was very hard to shoot and actually know where you are shooting at. The best part of that ride is the spinning part.

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trying to take a picture of the screen , these never did turn out..

I talked the kids out of Speed way, plus it wouldn’t have worked out anyway b/c they are still to little to ride alone and we have and uneven number. So next trip.

We headed over to Fantasy Land and rode Peter Pan also pretty much a walk on. Then DH took the kids on the Tea Cups ( I can’t do spinning rides in circles)While we were there we saw Alice and the Mad Hatter take a spin, again sorry no pictures.

I ran over to Pooh and got FP’s while they were waiting to ride.
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After the Tea Cups we headed over to Toon Town, I had wanted to make the opening but that didn’t happen again, oh well. Emma was VERY excited to get to ride a roller coaster just for her!

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She LOVED IT, even put her arms up and everything! After that we checked out Mickey and Minnie’s houses. The line to meet them was just to long already and didn’t want to wait. I know mean mom, we said we would try and come back.

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We decided to take the train over to Frontier Land. The last time we came with Lauren and Joey I had no idea about the whole leave your stroller thing and grab another. So that was so nice to be able to do that.

We took the train over and grabbed our new stroller and headed for BTMR and splash. The standby line wasn’t bad at all for BTMR so DH took Lauren and Joey.

Emma and I went and got 2 FP for BTMR , this and Splash were the only rides that you are able to get your Child Swap passes at the Fast Pass Machines.
The CM asked me if I was sure she wasn’t tall enough, I said no I don’t think so, she seemed to think she was , so she had her get out and measure her she was very excited for us and said she thought she was tall enough, but then when she called over another CM, she said no b/c she could pass her finger through still..

I knew she wasn’t tall enough, but thought no harm in checking. Luckily Emma really had no clue, so she never got upset that it never worked out. So she happily gave us a child swap. Then went to Splash and got 3 FP and our child swap.

Went back over to BTMR just in time for these pictures…

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They loved the ride! We decided to go check out Aladdin since it is just to much for Emma to wait for 2 ride cycles. Aladdin was a ride we never rode the last time. It was about a 20 min wait or so, not bad.

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We had lunch ADR’s for Crystal Place @ 11:40 so we were doing a time check about now. We decided to head over there , on the way we ran into this lovely show.
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Emma was loving this, and I just love this picture of her on DH shoulders.
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Then it was time to check in, and only waited about 5 min for them to call us. We were seated in the left hand side by the window towards the back. Our server was great and explained everything, said we had time to go get our food etc.

The line wasn’t that bad, moved pretty quick. The kids enjoyed be able to get their own food so to speak. The food was good , I had some pasta dish that was really good and the meat was very tender and moist. I have to say though that overall our best meals certainly were not character buffets. My expectations aren’t to high at these, it was good but not great.

Well once the characters started to come, that was the end of eating for the kids especially Emma. They came around fast, but I think they spent a fair amount of time considering. Also compared to our Breakfast later in the week, I think Crystal Palace has much better interaction IMHO.

These are my favorite characters… All my kids had the same POOH themed nursery, the pooh with the red shirt!

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Tigger was the best! He was soo silly with Joey, he loved it!
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They joined in with the parade and the napkin twirling.

It was about 1:00 when we were done with lunch, time for another set of Fast Passes.. We decided to check out Haunted mansion and get FP’s for Peter Pan. The line for HM said was about 45 min we decided to pass and try our luck later tonight.

Joey and Lauren really wanted to try Splash, so I decided since DH took them on BTMR it would be my turn to do Splash first. Lauren was alittle freaked out that there wasn’t a seat belt, which considering the drop I am alittle surprised by that as well, but Joey was quick to point out that none of the water log rides at Six Flags have seat belts either …

I sat in the middle and tried to put my arm around Lauren to keep her close. This is such a cute ride, they loved it! And luckily we didn’t get to wet at all. .


After this we decided to call it a day, the kids really wanted to get back in the pool and thought we should try and rest since I wanted this to be a late night.. Tomorrow was a sleep in day with no day plans…

On our way out, I REALLY wanted that cute picture of all of us in our matching shirts in front of the castle!! Well Emma is hit or miss when it comes to pictures and if she isn't in the mood, well see for yourself, how my lovely picture turned out,
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Actually almost ALL of our family pictures look like this!

up next Mk evening ....
 

WOW! You got a lot done that morning! I thought that MK was super crowded that morning too. Interested to see how long you all made it that night!
 
Great morning--I'm sure we were all buzzing around each other thinking back to what we did that morning as well--headed to Tomorrowland first as well! Still love the family pic---even if Emma didn't have one of her big gorgeous smiles!!! I love the action pictures of DH and the kids riding the teacups--who was having the MOST fun in that picture???? HMMMMMMM!!!!
 
What a great update! I just love how when you are taking pictures of your kids, your son tilts his head over to be close to his sisters......it looks so sweet!!

My Allie was a bit too short last year as well. We tried, even with some sandals that had a little heel, but no luck. I had marked on the wall last year to measure her, so I could see if she was close or not, and we just measured her again last week and she has grown 4 inches since September!! So, she will be tall enough this trip!:banana:

I really like that backpack your dh is carrying! What kind is it? We always carry this big backpack that dh used when he was in school.....holds a lot but gets a little bulky!

Oh, and my dh sounds just like yours with the matching t-shirts. He always acts like he wouldn't do it, but when you get there, it is a different story! LOL
 
Oh your pics and update make me want to be back at the Magic Kingdom RIGHT NOW!!! The matching t-shirts are great!!! Did you find them at the Disney Store? I love the silly pictures at the bus stop -- we do things like that when we are waiting, too!
 
WOW! You got a lot done that morning! I thought that MK was super crowded that morning too. Interested to see how long you all made it that night!


It was a green day, so would hate to see a RED morning! (we see a red pm later in the trip tho) WE did get alot done, and this was one of our best days!
stay tuned for how long we lasted...:)

Great morning--I'm sure we were all buzzing around each other thinking back to what we did that morning as well--headed to Tomorrowland first as well! Still love the family pic---even if Emma didn't have one of her big gorgeous smiles!!! I love the action pictures of DH and the kids riding the teacups--who was having the MOST fun in that picture???? HMMMMMMM!!!!


I know, I knew alot of us would be there that day, but I only saw ILUVXU again. Yes aren't the teacups pictures great. Do you think he had a good time? :rotfl: He loves Disney, but won't admit it... I think I have some good family pictures at AK on Photopass, but none at MK :(

What a great update! I just love how when you are taking pictures of your kids, your son tilts his head over to be close to his sisters......it looks so sweet!!

It is just for show believe me :laughing:

My Allie was a bit too short last year as well. We tried, even with some sandals that had a little heel, but no luck. I had marked on the wall last year to measure her, so I could see if she was close or not, and we just measured her again last week and she has grown 4 inches since September!! So, she will be tall enough this trip!:banana:

That is awesome that she can ride now!



I really like that backpack your dh is carrying! What kind is it? We always carry this big backpack that dh used when he was in school.....holds a lot but gets a little bulky!

Actually it was Joey's from school, it did hold alot and it wasn't to bad, I wanted something that I knew DH would and could carry. My dd had a pink super girl one, that I didn't think he would enjoy carrying around :rotfl:

Oh, and my dh sounds just like yours with the matching t-shirts. He always acts like he wouldn't do it, but when you get there, it is a different story! LOL

I don't know if he would want to match around here, but Disney seemed ok..


Oh your pics and update make me want to be back at the Magic Kingdom RIGHT NOW!!! The matching t-shirts are great!!! Did you find them at the Disney Store? I love the silly pictures at the bus stop -- we do things like that when we are waiting, too!

I know as I write the TR I want to hurry back!!! Trying to figure out when we can go again, as it took us almost 2 years to save for this..
yep got the shirts last summer at the Disney Store.

Love your new photo siggy thing Jackie.. very cool:thumbsup2
 
Wednesday MK evening part 2:

So after we left the park and caught a bus back to the hotel, we changed and headed down to the pool for about an hours swim. I wanted to make sure we could “rest” for about an hour and try and get back to the park around 6ish.

Emma didn’t want to wear her matching shirt anymore, so she changed and the rest of us changed back into our same clothes from earlier. We all felt refreshed after swimming and getting alittle rest. My plan was to just get some Counter Service somewhere for dinner once we got in the park.

We caught a bus and walked back into the park alittle after 6 I believe it was. Now I had a whole stack of Fast Passes from earlier plus the child swaps, so we were set! But I still needed some Jungle Cruise FP’s b/c I heard how much fun that is at night. So that is where we headed first and grabbed some FP’s.

We decided to go to BTMR and use our FP from earlier. I went this time since DH went this afternoon. So much fun!! Then DH took them on Splash, the stand by line was like 60 minutes, but not for us… Got out the child swaps and they were on there way.

Emma and I decided to go and get some Popcorn, her all time favorite snack!
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We had a prime waiting spot for Splash,
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We then decided to check out the Haunted Mansion which was only like a 15 min wait!… I love this ride! And Emma wasn’t scared at all, actually my kids are never scared of things like this, I don’t know if that is good or bad? But they eat this stuff up!!

It was kind of funny and alittle sad too b/c there were a lot of older kids that were really scared or crying, and I could hear the parents point at Emma and say stuff like, look that little girl is half your age, and she isn’t scared etc.. Now if my kids DIDN’T want to ride something, I would NEVER make them just b/c I did… I witnessed that a lot this trip on all the scarier rides. After HM we decided to head back over to Toontown (we also grabbed another set of FP for PP) On our way over to Toontown we stopped for potty breaks , then our mission was Goofy’s Barnstormer!

As we were walking I passed ILUVXU and her crew again, I smiled and waved but not sure you saw us? (There is one more time I saw you but again wasn’t sure you saw us)

The line was only like 15 min, yeah! Emma absolutely loves this ride. DH rode with her this time since I got to earlier. We ended up getting back in line again b/c she loves it so much! We went thru the houses again, and checked out the line for meeting them. She soo wanted to meet Minnie. Nope still to long of a line, I know I know, I told you I was mean mom when it came to stuff like this. But they would rather ride rides than wait in lines for pictures and autographs for sure! After ToonTown we took the secret red path (I think that is what TGM calls it?)over to TomorrowLand. NO ONE was on it! The kids thought that was pretty neat, and ran down it like crazy wild children.

DH , Lauren and Joey were ready to try out Space Mt! The FP line was sortof backed up, but once we made our way up, we realized it was just a big group of people waiting for their return time! OK people, move aside please, you don’t have to stand in FRONT of the entrance. This part was kindof of a pain, b/c Emma always had to come with me to get the swaps etc.. So she saw Emma and clearly knew she wasn’t tall enough, so handed me the Swap. The plan was for DH to take L, &J on Space while I used the FP from this morning on Buzz then we would swap out, since I really wanted to ride this tonight! I wanted to see Spectro and Wishes also!
We picked our meeting spot, and went on our way.

Buzz didn’t take to long to do, and afterwards we went and waited in our spot, but I overheard the lady next to me who just came off the ride say, even the FP line right now was alittle backed up. So I decided to take Emma on TTA since we have never done that before and it was a walk on. They ended up calling me to say they were done just before we got off. So the timing would have been perfect if we didn’t try and wait alittle first.

We did a time check and I realized it was way to close to the parade time now, to even try and get a seat. Since this was planned to be a late night, we decided to plan on the last Spectro show @11:00. We’ll see if they make it??

Well since we decided to skip the parade now, I took Lauren and Joey back on Space with the swap and Dh took Emma back to Buzz, the stand by line wasn’t bad. Picked our meeting place again, and were off!

The standby line for Space was something like 70 minutes, it felt liked we just walked and walked past everyone right up to the front (which we sortof did) It also feels like everyone is starring at you trying to figure out how you got past them all? At this point my kids had become FP experts as well, and would say “mommy why would anyone wait in those LONG lines when they can do a FP?” I would say “ I don’t know, but aren’t you glad you don’t have too!” of course it is more complicated than that for many different reasons, but WE never waited in ANY long lines!!!!

This ride is soo awesome, it jerks you around a lot but still very cool! It’s a classic. When we met back up Emma was grumpy b/c DH took her back on TTA, and she didn’t want to do it again! Oh well… So I thought we better try and find a spot for wishes now, the crowds were all coming back into the park area since the parade was over.

The last time we were here with the older kids, we really didn’t get to see Wishes we were in the other side of the park and just couldn’t find a good spot. So this time I was determined to find the perfect spot, and knew I wanted to be on the Tomorrowland bridge under Tinks wire facing the Castle. We got lucky right up front near the railing… There are soo many good spots on the bridge.

I broke out all my little special surprises for the kids, glow sticks, necklaces and those spinning things that I had been saving for years! We even gave a glow stick this little girl that was behind us. The kids loved it~!

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It was also at this point that I realized, oops we did it again…we never ate dinner! So we still have like 20 min until wishes. I run over to something in Tommorowland to the right, it just closed like 10 min ago! The line at the launching pad was wayy to long, and I wasn’t going to try to get to Cosmic Ray’s and miss Wishes, so I brought out the snacks I had packed and said sorry.
I was trying to explain the whole Tinks wire thing above us, and how Tink will fly over us. (Remember how I said a few days ago, when Lauren woke up tink she would have doubts later…) Well they were soo excited to see Tink fly.

I had never seen this before either and didn’t know what to expect, wow that is soo amazing, what a cool job! So when she flies over, Lauren just looks at me and says that it isn’t Tink… I woke her up, and she is little like a fairy, THAT Tink is big like a lady.. Joey and Emma are just looking at me to say whether she is real or not!! THE PRESSURE….

I didn’t know what to say, b/c I don’t want to ruin any of the magic for others etc, I said well that yes I think Tink is real, and she is being carried by the Tink lady helper since she is so little! I am not sure they bought it or not but they didn’t ask again.

Wishes is the most amazing show ever, with the music and the castle changing colors the whole time, just breathtaking… I did get alittle weepy like everyone else I am sure. Just taking it all in with my family and seeing their smiles!
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After it was over we, and thousands of our closest friends made our way back over to Fantasyland to use our FP for Winnie and PP, again loonngg lines but not for us! (I think ILUVXU I saw you and Hannah in one of these lines behind us?)

It was getting close to 11 and I really wanted to do the Jungle cruise at night, so we walked very fast over to JC and got the last boat for the night. We were the last people to board everyone else was already on board. They tried to embarrass us and asked us some questions, but we weren’t really paying attention since it all happened to quick to get on.

Emma kept asking if everything was real, I would just ask her what she thought and left it alone. Sometimes she would say it was real and others times she would say it was fake. It was very cute and fun at night, I really recommend doing this at night!

When we were done and working our way over to Liberty Square to watch Spectro, we passed Aloha Isle which was still opened! I have never had a dole float before. I got the Dole Whip and Float for us to all share. I enjoyed the Whip but loved the Float! The kids surprisingly didn’t like it, said it was to much pineapple. We found a spot ( we at this time there were A LOT of spots)across from Sleepy Hollow. We should have gotten a funnel cake but the line looked to long, but boy did those look good! At this point the kids were starting to run out of steam! They were doing great but could tell they were ready to call it a night!

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Emma would get really tired than a burst of energy would come through, I guess the prime traits of “over tired” We stayed for the parade which is so cute! Don’t know why I didn’t get any pictures of this either!?!?

The bus wasn’t that bad when we left b/c at MK POR has there own bus~yea!! can’t remember if we were able to sit down or not but made is home and snacked some more in the room and promised the kids a good breakfast! Over all this was just a GREAT day we accomplished soo much and we even had a few swaps left over from splash and BTMR that we didn’t get to use. I completely get the whole theory behind TGM not park hopping now! It was so great to be able to use our FP from the day and not worrying about getting more and what time etc…

Up next our sleep in day.. Do we actually sleep in? And more plans for HS!
 
Great Magic Kingdom day, loved reading all about it, looks like you guys got a ton in, We never saw that show at the castle, Lauren always asked as we would walk by it but it was so hot to stand and watch, glad you guys did. Great pics, just loved the update.
Lesley
 
Wow what a great day, you all looked so cute in your matching shirts, we also maximised our FP's it really does make a difference doesn't it.

Emma looked so cute on the Barnstormer :goodvibes
 
Wednesday MK evening part 2:


We had a prime waiting spot for Splash,

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I think this is such a great pic of your husband and kids! Your husband really looks like he's gotten into the Disney mood! I remember when my late husband use to do things with the kids that he really didn't think were going to be fun, he was so grumpy until he got into the swing of it all and then he was the biggest kid! lol

Love your report and pics - will be sad when it's over :sad:
 
Thanks for the compliments on my siggie -- Natale1980 made it for me as a surprise. :goodvibes

What a lovely evening at the MK -- sounds like we just missed you several times during it -- you'll see what I mean when I get to that part of the TR! ;)
 
WOW, what a great update, you sure got alot done that day! Your kids are so cute and I LOVE your family picture, even though Emma is leaning over:goodvibes
 
Hi, loving your report so far. Your kids are too cute. I love how they are so curious and are analizing things like...I saw Tink and thats not her. Its awsome...they are innocent yet not gullible.;)
I wanted to ask about the cruise...what exactly is it, what do you see and do you pay to get on or is it part of my park ticket?
Its my first trip and I'm not sure of these things:)
 
Thanks for the compliments on my siggie -- Natale1980 made it for me as a surprise. :goodvibes

What a lovely evening at the MK -- sounds like we just missed you several times during it -- you'll see what I mean when I get to that part of the TR! ;)

Bummer we didn't run into since we are "neighbors" and all!!

WOW, what a great update, you sure got alot done that day! Your kids are so cute and I LOVE your family picture, even though Emma is leaning over:goodvibes


Thanks so much! We did get alot done, that was our best day! Ther is just something soo magical about that place.

I think this is such a great pic of your husband and kids! Your husband really looks like he's gotten into the Disney mood! I remember when my late husband use to do things with the kids that he really didn't think were going to be fun, he was so grumpy until he got into the swing of it all and then he was the biggest kid! lol

Love your report and pics - will be sad when it's over :sad:


Thank you very much for joining us and for such kind words, Yep DH did enjoy himself..
I'll be sad when it is over too, it has been fun doing this!

Wow what a great day, you all looked so cute in your matching shirts, we also maximised our FP's it really does make a difference doesn't it.

Emma looked so cute on the Barnstormer :goodvibes

Yes I felt like I become the FP queen when we were there I was always figuring out the next window etc.. It would have been nice to just have an extra person who didn't care about anything to just run all over for us!:laughing: Hey there is a job for someone...:idea:

Great Magic Kingdom day, loved reading all about it, looks like you guys got a ton in, We never saw that show at the castle, Lauren always asked as we would walk by it but it was so hot to stand and watch, glad you guys did. Great pics, just loved the update.
Lesley

Thanks :goodvibes

Hi, loving your report so far. Your kids are too cute. I love how they are so curious and are analizing things like...I saw Tink and thats not her. Its awsome...they are innocent yet not gullible.;)
I wanted to ask about the cruise...what exactly is it, what do you see and do you pay to get on or is it part of my park ticket?
Its my first trip and I'm not sure of these things:)


Thanks for joining in! Yes my kids had lots of questions for me...

Perhaps I painted a bigger picture than what it actually is :laughing:

Jungle Cruise is just a ride, they have the FP for it. It is in AdventureLand It is a little boat ride , like a safari thru the "jungle" there is a "tour guide" who is usually pretty funny and you will see plastic type animals thru out your journey..
It is a classic and corny ride, But it is really cute and lots of fun at night!
You should try it if you can...
 
Yeah, I am finally all caught up! Your kids are just too cute! I am enjoying your report.

The rain/being seperated story, oh that would have frustrated me too. Sounds like quite the storm!

I always forget parades when I am there, kind of like how you seem to forget dinner! LOL!

Allyson :)
 
Yeah, I am finally all caught up! Your kids are just too cute! I am enjoying your report.

The rain/being seperated story, oh that would have frustrated me too. Sounds like quite the storm!

I always forget parades when I am there, kind of like how you seem to forget dinner! LOL!

Allyson :)

Glad you got all caught up!! :) I know we forgot to eat ALOT...:confused3







We are off to visit family back home in chicago tonight... Be back in a few days kid free yeah!!! We are going to the Kenny Chesney Concert here next week, therefore leaving our kids behind with family so we will have some down/alone time for a couple days before we have to go back and get them...

Happy 4th everyone!!!!
 












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