A Few of My Favorites

There will be waay more pictures than writing, but pictures are worth a thousand words right :)


I have been reading Scott's posts and have realized how hard it is to be the planner for a group of 9 people. He remembers the things that went wrong, but there were 5 things that went right for every one thing that went wrong. Thank you for all of your work, we love you dad!
We had a WONDERFUL trip and I am so thankful that we got to go with Marcia and her family. The memories we made will be so special to us always. It is rare that we get to see any of our family for long periods of time like that. When the kids were laughing and hugging each other, I wanted to cry. And when Davis cackled at and called for Marc in his little scruffy voice, I had to laugh with him. I loved having those sleepy eyed kids hug me and cuddle up to me on the couch. I hope to be able to do things like that with all of my family.


We stayed in this cute little Villa that reminded me of our house back at Grove Park. It was perfect for all of us to stretch out and enjoy being with each other. The little kids all loved the 2 steps at the bottom of the stairs. They played and jumped of them. Eli and Davis sat on them and talked their little language to each other.


Marcia and James had the loudest mattress you have ever heard,but since they keep all kinds of noise makers on in their room Eli wasn't bothered by it. But it was fun to joke about it and we also had to pick on Marcia for picking out a pink backpack for James to carry around the park. We laughed so much about it the first night we saw it that she didn't even take it into the park :)




Scott laughing at the backpack
We were absolutely freezing the first day and a little bit miserable at times. But the kids were loving the castle and all of the characters.
I think Davis thought that they were just one of his stuffed animals. He walked right up to them and hugged them and gave them 5. He would tell them "Bye, Bye" when it was time to go. By the end of the trip he skipped he hug and just backed up to them and sat down on their laps. That was one of my favorite things! He was so adorably cute being so short and not scared at all.

While he loved the animals, he hated any ride that was dark and any time he got cold.
Another favorite thing about this trip for me was that Scott and I got to ride some rides together and so did Marcia and I. Scott and I also got to ride Sam's favorite ride with him when normally we wouldn't have been able to. The Fast Choo Choo! He looked up at us with that little face and told us that we needed to do that again!




Marcia was quite hilarious on the Tower of Terror. By the time we got to the bottom the last time, she was telling the ride that "That is ENOUGH" Like it was listening to her or something.

Marcia and I also got to take Adeline for an all girls lunch with the princesses and we got to shop a little after that in the countries. It was sooo much fun and Ade wore her little princess dress. All of those pictures are on Marcia's camera so I will have to add them later.



Adeline was the funniest going to the back of Morocco and seeing Princess Jazmine. She was dancing around and wanted to go back in to tell her bye, but giggled and squirmed her way to the doorway and couldn't go any farther. Scott of course was prodding her along which made it even funnier.






I loved it when Davis started falling asleep at the Rainforest Cafe. He was sitting straight up in his seat and he kept nodding off. We got a great video of it, but it is REALLY long and is too hard to upload.







notice that he made them hold hands. He kept switching their heads and arms and stuff and laughing at how they looked.


I think that the kids had the most fun when we went back the magic kingdom on Monday. I will always remember a little bouncing Sam who made up the plan for us to go and ride the "doofy airplane" again.









The boys' favorite toys were for Sam the Mickey pirates and for Davis Snow White, the dwarfs, and "that guy" as he refers to the prince :)



Sylas LOVED Splash Mountain!


Nanny as Davis refers tp the fairy god mother.

DisneyWorld 2009 Day 4

Day 4
Church and EPCOT

A more relaxed morning at last…we were able to sleep in a little this morning as services began at 10:30 am.

We were attending at the South Bumby church of Christ (www.bumby.org) where a close friend, Josh Creel, currently preaches. Services went well as they had Dee Bowman in for a gospel meeting. The kids did somewhat OK seeing as they were used to the Disney parks each morning at this time. For lunch we went to O’boys (BBQ) with Josh and his wife (expecting their first little one in a couple of months).

Then it was off to EPCOT. I wish I would have gotten a picture of the “Capri pants” Marcia had originally selected to wear that day, but fortunately for us, she decided to change.


We were not able to see much at EPCOT this day, because we arrived around 3:00 pm, and had dinner reservations near the Magic Kingdom (Ohana) at 7:00 pm. So we began the day by riding Spaceship Earth (Everyone except me, I had to go get fastpasses), and I found out later that they got to listen to the whole presentation in Spanish. So they were all a little upset. We then got to meet Pluto and Mickey at the “exclusive” Chase Visa holders area. This is actually a very good perk for having the card. You get to take your time with the characters and get a free 5X7 from one of the photopass pictures. Great!

We then walked thru the extremely long line for Nemo and after that enjoyed the Living Seas. Sam and Davis liked seeing all the fishes and I liked seeing the dolphin demonstration. Magan and Marcia just sat back and took some time to rest while we chased after the fish, turtles and sting rays. We then had a little Turtle Talk with Crush, and left back towards the front gate.

Here is where my plan did not work too well. I had fastpasses for Testtrack that I was very excited to ride with Sam. So I convinced everyone else to go ahead to our dinner reservation at 6:55pm, while I picked up our free 5X7 and then rode Testtrack with Sam. I handed over the Tour Guide duties to Magan and instructed her that it was the Luau dinner at the Polynesian Resort. Now an important thing I left out was that this was not THE Luau dinner, it was the Ohana restaurant which served food similar to a luau.

Sam and I made it onto the Testtrack around 6:45pm…Felt bad again because this ride was again over his age and scared him, although not nearly as bad as the Tower of Terror. So…6:50pm we start exiting EPCOT…Running…with Sam on my shoulders. Finally making it to the monorail, I am about to die because I cannot breathe, and I get a call on the Cell Phone from James “Hey we just walked about a mile out to this Luau Cove, and no one is here”…I replied “What…Did you look for Ohana?” OHANA…that was back at the Polynesian Resort 1 mile walk back…so the rest of the crew hiked back to Ohana which was basically 100 yards from the Monorail exit. And then Sam and I finally made it to meet them around 7:10pm.

Ohana was great food. Lots o meat for the Carnivores, but the view we had was not that spectacular and I had the carry the kids across the restaurant for a decent view of the magic kingdom fireworks. Everyone laughed and enjoyed the meal, and it was a late night but a great day.

DisneyWorld 2009 Day 3

Day 3
Animal Kingdom

This day the weather finally warmed up into the 70s, so it was much more comfortable. The days usually begin with me running to get a fastpass for later while the others make their way to the first show. This morning was no different, except that Sam had wanted to go with me for the fastpasses. So we headed towards Africa, while all of the others made their way towards Asia via Dinoland.

Sam was having some trouble keeping his pants up, and Magan had not packed his belt. He was running beside me constantly pulling up his pants, so I picked him up and just began carrying towards the Fastpasses. But we had some time so I stopped by a store and asked if anywhere would carry a child sized belt, two guys shook their heads no, but another younger Disney Cast member had an idea. Being as this was the Animal Kingdom, he suggested a dog collar that WERE sold in a store that was on our way. So it worked! We found a large dog collar that was just right for little Sam’s waist, and he was so proud of it because it had Mickey Mouse on it. In fact he wore it yesterday and proudly showed us that he can put it on all by himself.

So on to the Nemo show, then back to Dinoland (On the way, Sam got to see his favorite character...Goofy)to let the kids play. They loved this time playing on the slides forever then crossing the Dino bridge to the excavation site where they could dig up old dinosaur bones (or in Addy and Davis’ case, lay down in the sand and throw it on themselves).

After watching the Bug’s Life 3D show (Again scaring Davis and a little bit Sam), We then made our way to Africa to ride our safari, stopping at the Pizzafari for lunch. They have one of the best sandwiches in Disney…the Hot Italian…It is delicious if you get a chance. Anyway after waiting 30 minutes for our food, it was quite good.

Finally making it to the Safari ride, we found a 30 minute wait for the Fastpass line!, so we did what I thought we would never do…we rode the train out to Rafiki’s conservation station. Eli and Davis stayed with magan and Marcia on the train, while everyone else took the VERY long walk to the station. They had some neat spiders and snakes that Sam liked. And Sam was so happy to see the Rhinoceros. We also got to talk to a talking garbage can that was fun. Before leaving we looked at the petting zoo, but then realized Uncle James has all of these animals in his frontyard, so we skipped it.

Back to the Safari ride where Sam was again excited to see 1 – 2- 3- 4- 5 Rhinoceros, yet none of them were relieving themselves. Everyone then enjoyed Mt. Everest, then we made our way back to the front of the park to leave. Davis also found his favorite souvenir...Mickey and Tigger...who amazingly have made it back to the house. Everything he saw in every store...we heard that cute little voice "Hold it, Dad?" "Hold it"

We had dinner than night at the Rainforest Café, and after an extremely long wait, with kids very impatient, they seated us at the bar with all the alcohol right behind us. We could almost see the animals that we were so anxious to let the children see. So after explaining to the manager how disappointed we were, we were moved to a much better table and enjoyed the remainder of our meal. Davis fell asleep trying to eat, and Sam was happy to see the VOLCANO dessert.

DisneyWorld 2009 Day 2

Day 2
Hollywood Studios

This day began slightly warmer at 41 degrees F, but the shows did not work out for us. We began the day by visiting with Daisy Duck and Pluto, then going over to watch the Playhouse Disney show. I have to admit this show was pretty good, and all of the children loved it. Sam was smiling but trying to hide it, while Davis just bounced along with Tigger and danced every chance he got. Sam thought the confetti that fell from the ceiling was a souvenir so he collected it all and put it in his pocket.

It was right after this show that Sam found (Magan found it for him) his favorite souvenir…a Handy Manny bucket truck matchbox car. He loved it and wanted to hold the bag that is was in for the remainder of the day.

Our planning this day did not go well…We made it to the front of the Star Tours ride, only to have them tell us it was temporarily closed, then drifted all over the park trying to find some show that had no wait.

We did get to see the Power Rangers (Sylus loves them, so we tagged along)…but Sam and Davis had no idea who these people were, so we stood for a picture then went on.

I then took Sam on to ride the Tower of Terror. Up till this point, Sam was very trusting of his Dad and liked the rides OK, even though you could tell some had scared him. I did tell him that this one dropped and was scary, and he seemed happy to ride. Well I could tell he was a little scared…then we hit the pitch black dark…flash of light…and dropped about 5 stories. His little screams were very loud. And when the elevator rose 10 flights and the windows opened where I could see his little face…I felt so Bad. He was terrified. We have a picture and I will try and add when I get it scanned in. I spent the remainder of the ride (getting thrown up in the air over and over again) trying to calm Sam down. If you have ridden this before, you know that it is hard to determine when it is actually over…and at one point when I thought it was over I told sam OK that was the last time…then we were shot up once more to the top as Sam screamed for his Mom. I think in the end he did well, he just made it quite clear to me that he did not want to ride that ride again.

So back down Sunset Blvd to meet Magan and Marcia. And Davis looked very hot in his seat. I bent over to see if he was OK, and Blah….Puked everywhere down his outfit and onto his stroller. I was trying to remedy the situation by pulling Davis out of his seat to get his clothes off of him. Panicked as I was, I started trying to pull him out with his buckle still on…Then I tried to rip off the front of his stroller because I couldn’t get the cup holder attachment off…Finally out of his seat…Blah Puked again all over the road leading down to the Tower of Terror. I had baby duty, while Magan took stroller duty. I next had a naked crying baby I was trying to console, while realizing it was still about 55 degrees outside and he was cold. Magan found him an outfit, then I went on a trek through various stores trying to find some socks for his cold feet. Finally at the fourth store I reached, I found a bargain of two pairs of infants socks for $9. But Davis was happy to have his Mickey Mouse socks and we were back in business with a clean stroller (Thanks to Mom).

We then made our way back to the Backlot area and rode the new Toy Story ride that is very fun…although once again scaring Davis. I decided after the ride to carry Davis instead of putting him in the stroller…when I felt a warm moistness on his pants. Oh yes, he had wet his replacement outfit…So Mom improvised by rolling up a pair of Sam’s pants and Davis made it the rest of the way with those on.

Sam and Davis both loved the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular. They both cackled as IJ fought the “mean” guys and knocked them off of the buildings.

They had a blast with Mike and Sully…loved meeting Buzz and Woody…and almost got lost in the Honey I shrunk the Kids play area.

All in All it was a difficult day, but the kids had fun.

Disneyworld 2009 - Day 1

Day 1
Magic Kingdom

The day began at 31 degrees F, and was the start of a somewhat difficult day. This was the first trip to the World for the Sartins, and we were all very excited. We stayed at http://www.dreamsvillas.com/ , which was very reasonable and very nice. We all shared a 4 bedroom, 3 bath condo in a gated community about 5 miles from the parks. Everyone was freezing, the boys had their toboggans, but no gloves. So Davis began crying around the time we left the car and did not let up for most of the day.

We began our Disneyworld tour with Pirates of the Caribbean, great ride for adults, but as I was soon to learn, not a great ride to begin Mr. Davis on. The initial plunge, quickly followed by cannon fire that just so happened to splash water into me and Davis’ eyes was a little too much for him.

We continued through the Tiki Room and the Country Bear show. We decided this route to get to more indoor rides and shows during our 55 degree High weather with a 10 mph wind. Sam was excited about the “fast choo-choo” (Thunder Mountain), so we froze ourselves riding this thrill ride. Sam then added that he wanted to ride with MaMa, so off they went to ride again. Then a trip through the Haunted Mansion that “freaked out” sylus, and scared the rest of the kids to death. Finishing our morning with a ride on Peter Pan’s Flight and It’s a small world (good chance for me to take a nap).

Lunch carried us to the Crystal Palace where we ate at Magan’s favorite place while being visited by Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, and Piglet. They were very nice and even brought Davis a cupcake for his upcoming birthday. In an effort to calm Davis down, he can handle being stuck at a table for only so long, I took him off to Tommorrowland to visit the Carousel of Progress (Sure to put him to sleep, while I enjoy this as one of my favorites).

Davis cuddled up to my shoulder as we entered the quiet Carousel and were welcomed to one of Disney’s personal ideas that was first introduced at the World’s Fair in the early 1900s. As our theater slowly rotated to the first scene, and Davis already slowly closing his eyes, he saw it. The DOG…then he heard the dog barking. “Dog, Dad, Dog”…”Look Dad, Dog”…and wide awake. Then the short 5 minute presentation of that time period began and slowly Davis neared sleep…then the theater rotated with a new dog and more barks, waking Davis up again to tell me that he did see the Dog and wanted to make sure I saw it as well. This process was repeated twice more, and we left the theater with no sleep for Davis.

I exited and found everyone else in line to visit some characters…What did everyone want to do next? Of course…Carousel of Progress. Well this time Davis did fall asleep, I guess the Dog was no longer appealing. So because he was asleep, everyone left the theater after the show, but I remained for one more 20 minute presentation. Three times was enough for me, so even though he remained asleep I then left the theater and found the others once more.

While the parents took turns riding space mountain, Magan and I took the babies on the People Mover, which again scared Davis to death. I then took Davis on the Buzz Lightyear ride, and again he was terrified. Magan had a blast with Addy and Sam on the People Mover, they laughed the whole time, Sam loved the space mountain portion which was dark and he got to see the moon and stars.

Well, we were pooped, so we fought thru the lines to exit as the Spectromagic parade was beginning…Leaving our first day to go and eat at Arby’s.