Having a June birthday, I have had the privilege of celebrating my big day at Disney World on two occasions, and the same goes for our October wedding anniversary.  Eric, on the other hand, hasn't been quite as lucky with the birthday thing until this trip, and that April Fools Day baby finally got his chance!! This particular day, I went against everything I preach and headed to Magic Kingdom on a Monday, the highest crowd day of our rip.  There was just no way around it in terms of planning, but it all worked out so well. Again, it was BUSY, like the busiest we've ever experienced.  But we found our groove and had the very best day starting with meeting my brother and his family.  The kids and I went through security and waited for Eric to make it through with our bag.  While we were waiting, we spotted my brother and his family.  It was great getting to catch up for a few minutes before the rope drop madness.  Sweet Austin was beside himself and about lost his l

This was our first trip to Disney during Spring Break, but we knew from research that while the weather would be amazing, the crowds would be intense.  It ended up being a great trade-off for us because we have been so many times that we didn't feel rushed to fit everything in or hit up the "classics."  Instead, we enjoyed the amazing weather and slower pace this trip. If we came up on a line longer than 20 minutes (which happened a lot), we just skipped it with without stressing too much. While this worked great for us, I would not recommend the Spring Break window for first timer goers.  There's such a learning curve when it comes to doing Disney, and I think the crowds would be overwhelming.    Anyway, all of that to say...because the parks were so busy, we knew that rope-dropping (RD) would be crucial for us.  Normally, we prefer late nights in the parks, but we exchanged them for early mornings this trip and it worked out well with the crowds.  Sunday mo

As I mentioned in my last post, we surprised the kids by picking them up from school and heading to Disney World.  That was a Friday evening, and our favorite way to travel is to drive about halfway to our destination on the night we leave.  It gets us ahead of most traffic, and the kids tend to do really well.  I think it's because they're so tired from school.  Whatever the reason, I will take it!! Anyway, we stopped for gas in Franklin, which on the Kentucky/Tennessee line and then were rerouted through Nashville due to an accident (or ten). We stopped for a quick potty and dinner break before getting on the interstate to Macon where we stayed for the night. Luckily, both kids fell asleep around Dalton and stayed asleep through the night.  Saturday morning we woke up, enjoyed a free breakfast at the hotel and then hit the road. Our "must-do" every trip is eating lunch at Smokin' Pig in Valdosta, Georgia.  I hated BBQ until I married a Western Kentu

I've been pretty quite on the blog lately, and while most of that is simply because I've been busy and negligent of this little space, it's also partially because I've been keeping a pretty big secret. We surprised the kids with a trip to Disney World for Spring Break!!! I know, I know...we go almost every year, but ya'll, we've never surprised them with a trip.  We were supposed to go over Christmas break but just felt like it wasn't the best time. On the last possible day before losing our deposit, we cancelled our plans and moved it to this coming October (2019).  Those travel dates lasted all of a month because in December my siblings and I decided to make it a family affair for Spring Break.   It was the perfect time to surprise the kids because we knew they wouldn't expect it since they already had it on their radar for the fall.  Plus, the few times we almost let it slip, we covered by saying something about "fall break."