Mommy Solo Week: Magic Kingdom

Robyn’s crew headed out first thing Saturday morning and we had a LAZY day planned. When I made plans for the trip I really wanted to make sure I carved out a couple days for JUST the kids and I. While time with friends and family is always fun, it usually results in adults talking and kids playing. I wanted to make sure I had quality time WITH my kids while Zach was in Ireland. We started our Saturday with a big, yummy cinnamon roll breakfast then had some fun playing games while Spear napped.

Look how great she did putting together this puzzle!

How many girls does it take to beat Kye in checkers?

Apparently more than three because he still beat us haha!

Swim Time!

After naps…more time for swimming! 

I LOVE the layout of our rental house because the pool is literally steps away from the kitchen so I could go back and forth cooking dinner while easily keeping an eye on them!

LOTS of epic jumps!

Videos of the swimming that day:

Tess and Kye

Kye jumping

Jumping!

When I picked up Panera for Robyn and I they told me I had a free bagel which was SO exciting! Hello to my dinner 🙂 

During dinner we had some great talks:

• Tess said for her birthday she wants a cup like Mommy’s and also a fancier cup
• Britt confessed that her biggest fear is bullfighting after having watched Ferdinand 
• And Kye can down 9 bagel bites and still have room for fruit, apple slices, cheetos, yogurt and a popsicle!

We had BIG plans for Sunday so I got the kids into bed pretty early and got everything prepped and ready to go for our epic morning at Magic Kingdom!

Not even going to front a little bit: I was NERVOUS about the thought of taking all four kids to Magic Kingdom by myself. BUT as nervous as I was, I also really, really wanted to do it. For myself more than for any other reason. 

I remember vividly the day I realized I was struggling with postpartum depression after Tess was born and I remember deciding to take all three kids to Hobby Lobby and how much that single outing helped me. It was a WIN and it felt GOOD to take all three of my kids to town on my own. It was an accomplishment I needed at that time. 

I’m at a spot right now with having four kids where I’m struggling to manage everything on my plate and feel like I’m in a constant state of being overwhelmed and frazzled. I know it just takes time to adjust and that I will get there and find the balance that works best for me. But that morning at MK? That was my morning to prove to myself that I COULD do it and COULD do it well. 

The morning started off rocky and I almost went back inside the house. When I was putting Spear’s car seat into the car I pulled a muscle in my back that was a pain I hadn’t felt before. Driving was painful and I was worried about my ability to make the day happen! I went back in the house and took 4 ibuprofen and went for it 😉 

Monorail time!

The crew!

It was Father’s Day and we were missing Daddy but glad to be able to have such a fun morning together. It was tough on him being away from us on his first Father’s Day with Spear but he loved seeing all our pics and even Facetimed with us a bit at the park!

Mrs Charlotte got me this tote for Christmas and I was so happy to finally get to use it 🙂 

Magic shots are our fav!

I let each of the big kids choose one fastpass for the morning and my plan was to simply do those fastpass items and then just go with the flow as we had time to do so. Since we did have a chill morning we went as close to the castle as we could get to watch the opening show.

While the new opening show has been there for awhile now, we’ve never gotten up close to see it. Park opening is a time to be ready to GO so we tend to be hanging out near a land and as far away from the crowd at the castle as possible. It was nice to be able to be more chill and to take in the cute little show!

Her reaction every time she sees Mickey Mouse. 

I. LOVE. IT.

Never “too cool” for some characters 😉 

Taking our time getting into Tomorrowland…yall know I love every photo opportunity and Britt is very much the same way!

Tomorrowland had a layover for Incredibles as the new movie just came out that weekend. The number of families dressed in Incredibles outfits was crazy! It reminded me of our Halloween costumes a few years ago 😉 

We had a bit of time before our fastpass for Buzz started and as we were heading that way I noticed that what used to be Stitch’s Great Escape appeared to be open again. I asked a cast member and she said it had been converted into a Stitch meet and greet!!!

I know SO many people were bummed when Stitch left Magic Kingdom so I think this is a GREAT conversion for the ride, at least until they get construction rolling for what I’ve heard will be a Wreck It Ralph experience!

We walked right in and had a very, very short wait to meet Stitch!

He was SO GREAT!

I’ve said this many times, but character meet and greets are THE BEST right at park opening!

So many kisses!

Tessie brought along her bunny and Stitch loved it!

We love Stitch!!!

Yall know I LIVE for magical moments. The unplanned, special memories that last forever. 

This was one of those times for Spear. He’s met characters already (heck when he was 12 days old he met Mickey and Tink!) but he’s never taken to any of them the way he instantly took to Stitch. It was SO, SO cute. Everyone in line behind us was oohing and awing the whole time and Spear didn’t want to leave. He just kept kissing and kissing Stitch over and over. 

When I showed Zach the pics he was SO bummed he missed it!!! It was truly an adorable moment!

Our first fastpass was for Buzz and I didn’t even realize until we approached the ride that we’d have a problem. Disney doesn’t allow kids to ride solo/or with anyone under age 14 unless they are over the age of 7. Buzz is a ride where the vehicles are detached and where that rule applies. Shoot. 

We got up to the Fastpass cast member and I explained our issue. One mom. 4 kids. Only one of them is over the age of 7. The cast member leaned down to Britt and said “Today you are 7. You are 7. 7. 7. Today is Disney Magic making you SEVEN.”

We walked up to the ride to get on and the loading cast member asked Britt her age and she said “6.”

I told Britt right away that I was SO PROUD of her for not lying. Even though she was instructed by a cast member to fudge a bit, it is always the RIGHT thing to TELL THE TRUTH and I was very, very proud of her for doing that!

Even if it meant 4 of us cramming into one tiny car haha

Kye got to ride solo! And got his highest score ever!

While Britt, Tess, Spear and I made it work haha

We defeated Zurg!

Recently my crew discovered a love for People Mover. It is a GREAT little ride with NO wait EVER. It is also perfect with a baby as we can sit and relax and it’s a chance to cool off in the crazy summer heat. 

All the Incredibles stuff around Tomorrowland was super fun! While we were on People Mover we saw all the photo spots and the kids agreed that they wanted to hit them up for some cool pictures after the ride ended. 

He was OUT. I held him through the line for the photos and this kid just radiates heat. SO. HOT. 

All the photo spots were so fun!!! We only had time for two of them but the kids were excited 🙂 

Super Poses

Kye and Britt had all sorts of plans for solo poses and the photo pass photographer was so nice to let them do it!

And Disney put together a cute video when we downloaded the photos!

Spear slept in the stroller for these 😉 

And empty castle…yet no kid wanted a pic with it! 

We headed over to Liberty Square and took a little snack break!

I’ve been to Disney many, many times but very rarely have I ever gone in the summer. It’s HOT guys. SO. SO. HOT. And hot to the point where it really does take away from the enjoyment. Now that we have the rental house we’ll be doing the kids birthdays at Disney each year and I feel so bad that Tess was born in dang JULY. It’s gonna be INSANELY HOT.

Sticky foot for the win!

I love that the kids are at ages where they ask to take pics! I’m always down to have some photos of myself for a change!

It was funny all morning seeing the looks from people and hearing their questions about me being there by myself with all the kids. I’m sure we were quite the sight to see!

Heading to our next fastpass at Haunted Mansion!

A rare, sweet, moment of these two holding hands!

I’ve said many times that I’m team leave-the-baby-at-home when visiting Disney. And a big reason why? Babies are unpredictable and really they dictate the mood of EVERYONE in your party. We’ve taken Spear to the parks several times already (he visited a Disney park 6 times before turning 6 months old ha!) and he’s always done well. 

But just having him there adds an intense level of stress. I’m constantly worried about the sun on him, him being too hot, being tired, thinking through when he needs to eat. It just takes a LOT more planning with a baby and when it goes south…it goes south QUICK.

We had a fastpass for Haunted Mansion but still a bit of a wait. I think what did him in was the walk from the stroller parking to the line. It was in direct sunlight and just very hot (have I mentioned it was HOT?!?!). 

He did okay at the start of the line…and Tessie was pumped for the “spooky ride.”

But then he melted DOWN. And I was stuck. Do I keep going? Hope he calms down? Make all the kids leave the line? I thought he’d find his thumb and fall asleep, but he didn’t. And the mortification I felt was way worse than any fear of ghosts 😉

By the time he had worked up to being SUPER upset, we were too far into the line. I have sense learned that I guess you can bypass the stretch room if you ask (which I never knew was an option!). I wish I’d known it or a cast member would have told me b/c I felt AWFUL that Spear cried so loudly in that room that NO ONE in there with us could have possibly heard any of the storyline. 

He continued crying through the line portion and I told the kids “we gotta just go.” But I also didn’t want to punish them because he was crying ya know? Of course as we weaved through the line Tess randomly joined in on the crying and I realized her HAIR was caught in my book bag zipper. 

It was a cluster of all clusters. I’m holding a screaming baby, walking through a tight fit line, dragging a kid by the hair along with me haha. Some lady was very kind to help untangle Tess but at the same time she kept saying “oh poor sweet baby, baby’s don’t belong at Disney do they?” to Spear. Yes lady. I know. They don’t belong at Disney. Ask anyone. I agree! 

Spear cried majority of the ride and I wished I could have handed out fast passes to everyone around us because I felt AWFUL that he ruined their experience. 

As we exited I told the kids to remember this experience because next time we won’t ride if Spear is crying b/c it’s not worth it and wasn’t fun for any of us. As we were exiting a lady stopped us and said she just wanted to tell me that I’m a great mom and she’s so impressed with me with all my kids by myself. 

Kye said “See mom? It wasn’t bad! You even got a compliment!” And I’m like yeah dude, a total PITY compliment because she saw I was on the verge of a breakdown haha!

It was an AWFUL experience and moment and was very hard for me to recover from. I felt SO frazzled and had so much anxiety. Reflecting back though I don’t know that having Zach, or another adult, there would have really made much of a difference. I don’t think me being by myself is what made for that rough patch in the morning and really I could see it causing Zach and I to argue if he had been there (both of us embarrassed, both of us frazzled…a bad combo!). 

I had a surprise planned for the kids: lunch at Be Our Guest and we headed that way after the ride. I was ready to SIT DOWN and COOL OFF by that point!!!

My helpers carrying in the cooler and high chair cover!

Spear ate while we waited for our food!

Full. Cool. Happy again!

YUM. I LOVE the lunch food at BOG!

And of course we got a couple of the Grey Stuff to share!

Even lunch solo was a bit hectic. Trying to pass out the food and deal with Spear and help the kids open things and get their drinks etc. I truly could NOT have done it without Kye. The kid is a SAINT and just steps up! 

We talked about it a lot and I explained to Britt that Kye is such a great helper because he just helps and doesn’t complain or make things more difficult. Britt will help when I ask her too but it’s riddled with complaints and moans and groans so it’s not truly very helpful!

I asked Kye how many kids he wants when he grows up because he’s going to be such a good daddy! He said “I used to want four…but after today I just want one” hahaha I do NOT blame him for that answer!

If you’ve never done Be Our Guest I highly recommend it for lunch. It’s a BEAUTIFUL restaurant with perfect theming and we love walking around!

CASHED.

I was really, really ready to head out. As was Kye at that point. But we had one last fastpass for Pirates and it was the one Tess chose and she was SO excited for it so we pushed through. I know it’s probably a weakness but I just can’t stand to disappoint my kids. Even over stuff like getting to ride a ride they’ve ridden dozens of times. 

She was SO excited!

Luckily for us all, Spear happily napped through it 🙂 

Pirate Princess!

Gotta have a pirate faces pic!

Back on the monorail again!

DEAD.

It’s hot on Main Street. It’s hot in-between rides. It’s hot in line. But that walk from the monorail to the car? O.M.G. There is NOTHING quite like it. (although I will say the walk from the water park at Wild Adventures to the car still wins as THE worst ha!). It was so, so hot. 

One sleepy baby and one wide awake when we got back to the house 🙂 

So. This morning wasn’t quite the huge WIN I was hoping for. I was hoping to leave feeling like “I conquered the world!” But I didn’t really feel that way, instead I felt really sticky and sweaty and like I just wanted to jump in the pool and then take a huge nap 😉 

The kids were AMAZING. So, so well behaved and I received countless compliments on their behavior. No way could I have done it without them being the awesome kids they are. I also think if I’d done this same experience in Feb or Nov or a time of the year when it isn’t SO HOT that it would have gone much, much better. 

The heat is real yall. And it’s intense. Most hardcore Disney people I know avoid summer at all costs. The magic dies in the heat. For real. 

BUT I still am glad I did it. We had many fun moments that morning! I LOVE the relaxed vibe when I take the kids solo and, even though Spear had a “moment”, everything really did overall go so smoothly! 

Some of Zach’s family was coming down to hit the parks for a couple days and I was thankful I had the experience of taking the kids solo as it helped me navigate how to mange them solo with Zach’s family in the days to come!

Also when we got back to the house I had a dm from a blog friend that they had seen us at Magic Kingdom! For real guys if you EVER see me or my family out and about PLEASE come say HEY!!! I am totally that person who has no shame in my game and when I’ve had the opportunity to meet a blogger I follow and feel like I know…I went right up and got a picture together 😉 I promise I’m super approachable and LOVE small world type moments like that! 

We all had awesome naps and then had a quiet evening together! 

Got the kids ready to swim only to jump in for 5 min and then hear thunder. Wah!

We did baths and then cleaned up the house to get ready for the next phase of company and had a “hodgepodge dinner” where I just fed them whatever random leftovers we had in the fridge!

One of our summer bucket list items over the years has been to have a sleepover with Mommy. When Zach travels during the summer it’s a fun chance for a late night and cuddling in Mommy’s bed. 

Yall know I’m VERY anti-cosleeping and this is truly a ONCE a YEAR event and I don’t start it with my kids until they are old enough to not have any sort of lingering affect from it. 

Last year it was a struggle fitting just myself, Kye and Britt in our queen bed at home. So I knew adding Tess to that mix would be a nightmare. I had the great idea to have the sleepover event at the Disney house where both master bedrooms have HUGE king-size beds!

I think they may have been more excited for this than Disney World!

They watched a movie while I showered and got Spear bathed and fed and in bed for the night!

And then we had to have our “midnight snack” which was SO epic and delicious: homemade ice cream cookie sandwiches!

I was hopeful!

We were a bit silly in bed, telling “secrets” and stories and cuddling. Of course every kid wanted to sleep BESIDE me. Which is a bit of a problem when you have THREE kids! We ended up with me in the middle, Kye on one side, Britt on the other and Tess literally slept laying across my legs. 

Alllll the silliness!

Tha 6 pack though ha!

We had moments where Kye almost went into his own room. We all ended up staying and fell asleep by 9:15. I woke up a ton during the night when I was getting smacked with an arm or two. I tossed and turned a good bit too because how would being in the middle of three kids be comfortable? But overall it wasn’t too bad and we all slept until 6:30. 

I often wonder how parents deal with kids who don’t sleep or who don’t sleep in their own beds and I just can’t fathom functioning on such little sleep for such a LONG period of time! I could handle the one night but that was def my max for the next year 😉 

While we were falling asleep Kye randomly said “OH NO!!!!” It hit him that it was Sunday night and that we’d failed to do family worship time. We are called to worship on the first day of the week and if we’re unable to attend our home church then we have worship time as a family. Now that Kye is a Christian he is responsible for leading that worship when Daddy is away!

I assured him that it was OKAY and that God knows his heart and that it would be FINE for us to have the worship first thing the next morning. He was beyond precious about it. He wrote an entire, and excellent, lesson on honesty. And made up a song about it. And even had a bible lesson for the girls about the topic. I love that he takes it all so seriously and I know he’s going to lead so many people to the Lord in his life!

I loved, loved, loved my quality solo time with the kids! I’ve never been on a trip with the kids by myself like that and it went SO great and I truly just ENJOYED it. Being able to be in a relaxed environment together was very special!

If you’re looking to come to the Disney area be sure to check out our Rental Home and the discounts we offer to blog readers 🙂 

By this point in Zach’s trip he was missing his family pretty bad. It was a LONG time away from us and it made me feel so much love towards him that he was missing us the way he was!