Orlando Convention Day 1

FINALLY, I know!
Melaleuca's annual Convention was in Orlando last month and Trent and I had the amazingly wonderful opportunity to go (Thank You Mom and Dad! Soooooo Much!)
Last year was the first year that I attended Melaleuca's Convention and I had an INcredible experience so I was stoked when I found out we were going to be able to go again this year. To add to that excitement I found out that we would be arriving in Orlando a day early which meant we would be able to spend an entire day as a family, just the 4 of us, almost like a mini vacation. Just days before we left it all came together and we were able to spend an entire day at..................

DISNEY WORLD!


This Magical Disney Day brought to us by the one.... the only.... KIM EASON!!
Kim and I first met in 2001 as WDW college program interns. We were both working on Main Street USA in the Magic Kingdom, I was at the turnstiles and she was on the trains. We reconnected on Facebook a few months back and it was sooooo fun to get to spend part of a day with her at Disney. Kim, YOU'RE THE BOMB!!
Our day started at Disney's Animal Kingdom.
I love the fact that we brought our son 2500 miles and one of the things he gets the most excited about is the bubbles being blown by the man on the right. At least he's happy, right?




In transit to...........

EPCOT!!!!!!


Kiari's excitement about the water feature..... kinda like Ethan's excitement towards the bubbles.
I love his face in this picture.
Trent and I took a picture of us like this on our honeymoon so OF COURSE we had to take a family pic.



All fun'ed out.
After this picture of Ethan we rode around napping on the monorail for about an hour and then spent just a little bit of time at.................




The Magic Kingdom, of course!!! Classic picture, I know.




Our Disney Day was absolutely wonderful (once again, Thanks soooo much Kim!!)
in spite of the fact that we were all going off of about 4 hours of sleep and I was determined to drag my little family to as many places on Disney property as possible. I was so excited to see Ethan's reaction to everything so it's really sad that he was so tired. In all reality we could have gone to the Magic Kingdom first thing, spent part of the day there and called it good. As it was I learned something that I wouldn't have otherwise learned...... There is this little part of me that has been wanting to hold on to the time and experiences that I had while working at WDW 8 years ago so I was beyond excited that we wre given the opportunity to take the kids for a day. In the process of dragging my family all over the parks however, I came to the realization that I'm over it. Yes I worked there. Yes it was magical. And yes I grew a lot during my time there. But that time is over and although it will always be a part of me I can now read about other friends' current WDW work experiences or trips and not feel slightly envious. We had a blast and of course I'll want to go again when the kids are older (and then of course there's the girls only trip for the Disney Princess 1/2 Marathon 2011) but I'm very happy with finally feeling content that it's in the past and not now. I hope that all made sense.

So there you have it....
Day 1 of our Orlando family adventure....
more to come.