The Journey of Parenthood…

Tess’s 8th Disney Bday: MK and DHS

It is always SO hot during Tess’s bday trip that we keep the park time to more of a “hit the highlights” situation.

Early morning is always the way to go to keep cool! And the ferry is always our choice over the monorail as it’s the most consistent and reliable!

We headed to Buzz first thing (never any wait if you go at opening) and then stayed cool by checking out the updates on Carousel of Progress.

What I love about MK is that there are SO MANY classics. Jungle Cruise and Pirates? Always a win!

By 12:30 it was “only” 89 degrees but my weather app said it felt like 105!!!!

We enjoyed our packed lunches and Zach also got to try the mac and cheese tator tots – I knew he’d love em! When you have four kids a “date” looks like a table to yourselves at a crowded theme park 😉

We also wanted to hit up PhilarMagic to show G-Mama the new Coco scene!

It was also super important to me to meet Mickey and Minnie. I wanted Spear to get to have that mask-free up close and personal character experience 🙂

And it was PRECIOUS. He was SOOOO excited and you can just SEE the joy on his sweet face!!!

Britt and Mickey shared a super special moment during our meeting time. She never even visited Minnie. He hugged her for so long and she just didn’t let him go. She said it was THE BEST moment bc she could feel the love Mickey had for her and it felt like he truly really loved her.

When we went to leave Mickey told us to go ahead and go but he was keeping Britt 🙂

Meanwhile Tessie was having her own special moment with Minnie! I swear these character moments are just PRICELESS.

I will never, ever rush my children when meeting characters. Yes, it takes some time but it’s so much more than a quick pose for a photo and a signature in a book. It’s magic!

We headed out all hot and sweaty and HAPPY!

That afternoon was one of those perks of being pass holders situations. We all got to kinda choose our own paths as to what we wanted to do!

Zach and Kye had been wanting to visit Pop Stroke and had a great guys night playing putt putt and enjoying the food. They LOVED it and want to go back as a full family!

Zach also said that Kye’s attitude was THE best ever. Kye is very competitive and hard on himself and it can be tough in competitive situations.

He will get upset and kinda spiral which will ruin the experience for himself as well as those with him. Its THE thing he has worked on most about himself and it’s awesome that he had a BLAST with no tough moments!

I was perfectly content with hanging at the house and avoiding the heat but Tess wanted to go back, so we went! I was really proud of both Britt and Tess in this decision.

Tess for speaking up and saying what SHE wanted to do and Britt for doing what she wanted to do by staying at the house and hanging with G-mama.

Usually they both try to sacrifice what they want for the other in order to be together but it was SO great that they each did their own thing. Britt had a Star Wars movie night with G-Mama and Tessie and I headed back to MK!

First stop. – FOOD. We had a great talk about how we both prefer for someone else to make decisions for us (when it’s something we truly don’t care about ). Like neither of us cared whether or not we rode the ferry or rode the monorail but neither of us wanted to be the person to decide which we rode.

When we say we’d rather not choose – we mean it! Letting someone else guide decisions for us is something we APPRECIATE. The stress of deciding is worse than whatever the decision ends up being.

This is why we’re so compatible with the Zach’s and Britt’s of the world – they are super decisive and we need and appreciate that. Yall go ahead and decide, we’ll happily go along for the ride 🙂

While we were chatting a little girl came over to us and said she was spreading Disney magic and asked if Tessie wanted a little toy. So sweet and such a fun surprise!

I LOVE these pics of my girl – something I love doing is just snapping randomly while my kids are talking so I can catch them being natural.

Posing with alllll the statues. She said “pretend I’m getting chased by bees from Pooh’s honey pot!”

It’s slightly obvious that she was LOVING alllll the attention being on HER!

The only ride she really wanted to do was Haunted Mansion 🙂 I think it just might be our favorite ride together. We chat through the whole thing pointing out parts we’ve never noticed before.

After we rode we met up with friends who happened to also be at Magic Kingdom. They were some of the ones I went with back in May when Kye and Asher came and Tess was ALL about getting to hang with them!

We met up and Tessie hopped in line with them for Splash Mountain. It broke down and they have to be evacuated and got to go behind the scenes and everything! Tess wasn’t phased one bit – she had an absolute BLAST. Super thankful for such sweet friends for my kids 🙂

It was soooo late but I couldn’t pull Tess away because she was literally living her best life with the friends so I sacrificed and ate ice cream at 11 pm with Summer while we waited on em. I mean it was tough…but someone had to do it 😉

They rode Space and also shut down the park getting to ride Mine Train! I ended up not even really needing the stroller but it was handy to have it for the walk back to the car after we headed out. It was midnight by the time we got to the car.

I was shocked she stayed awake through the whole stroller ride – I fully expected her to crash. She did fall asleep as soon as we got in the car. My sweet little girl who loves her sleep!

The next morning we were BEAT.

We decided to hit that snooze button. And just SLEEP.

We arrived at Hollywood Studios at 10:45. Yes, it was hotter but we were much better rested!

I will forever cherish all the pics I have of Spear playing on the ground. He’s always insisted on playing ON the ground. He doesn’t want toys on a table, he wants them on the ground and always lays his cheek on the ground too!

First stop Rock N Rollercoaster and Lightning Mcqueen for the non-thrill seekers!

Then we headed over for Toy Story Mania (and don’t worry I’m sure Spear will be 20 and still licking rails haha).

Tess and Britt were Team Besties. Kye and I were Team Quesionables.

Spear is in a HUGE Toy Story phase and I just love it so much. I remember Kye being super into Toy Story at this age too and it’s just precious.

GMama likes to get each kid a little gift on the trip. We still have alllll of Kye’s Toy Story toys but Spear really wanted a new Buzz bc his “wings” open and ours don’t.

Super pumped that Launch Bay is BACK! We got to meet our buddy BB8! Spear was sooo gentle the whole time. So cute.

The CM explained how we have to be very careful not to touch BB8s head and Spear did amazing!

I just adore how into it Britt ALWAYS is. I know even if all the others grow up and aren’t into Disney that she will FOR SURE always be my Disney buddy.

Got to practice for the Halcyon in less than a month!

I had really tried to let Spear see the character parade on our arrival day but it hadn’t worked out so I raced him out to watch when I heard the music! He loved seeing Woody and Buzz pass by.

I love catching my kids being KIDS. Never too old for Toy Story 🙂

Spear wanted to walk and carry his own book bag. Such a big boy!

We ended the trip with a Disney treat and got to see our pals pass by one more time.

Gmama’s fav Disney movie is Beauty and the Beast and she hadn’t seen the live-action version. Britt had been SO scared of the live-action when it was released in theaters so we hadn’t watched it again either. It was a perfect movie night choice. It’s also SO good!!!

Tucking Spear in that night was a big moment. He will often ask for a “Mama E story” at bedtime. He made the connection that he was adopted. He said “Mama E is my mommy and YOU are my mommy” Yes sweet boy – forever and ever!

Emily Parker
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