the Magic Kingdom

Our big gift this year was a day at Disney World's Magic Kingdom

for the four of us... Thank You Mojo & Dado!

To make the most of it, we got there very early and went straight to FantasyLand to ride all the fun kid rides: Small World, Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, Prince Charming's Carousel and Mickey's 3D movie!

Next we were off to Frontierland
where Hamp and Dad did some target shooting...

... and we absolutely couldn't miss the Country Bear Jamboree (which Dad and I both remember from our own childhood Disney visits!)

Then Dad got a chance to ride both Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain (below) roller coaster rides:

While I took the boys exploring on Tom Sawyer's Island! (where they spent most of their time in the fort fighting off bad guys...)

After all that exploring, we made our way to Adventureland where we rode the Pirates of the Caribbean, entered the Enchanted Tiki Room, climbed through the Swiss Family Robinson's Tree House and dodged wild animals and head hunters on the jungle Cruise!


After a nice lunch on Main Street, we headed to Tomorrowland to see Buzz Lightyear, Monsters Inc., the Carousel of Progress and race some cars on the Speedway!

One of the neatest adventures of the day was running into my best friend from college! Well, I admit it wasn't completely random but still fun to meet up after 9 years in front of Cinderella's Castle of all places! (and judging by the picture, it seems that some things never change... thank goodness!)

The afternoon was a little more crowded, still quite cold, and full of silliness ~ mostly from overstimulation! The most impressive part was that despite the cool temps and long day o' fun for everyone, no one ever whined or fussed!

We hung around the park until we had exhausted all the rides & attractions that we could possibly want to do (notice there was no Haunted Mansion or Flying Dumbo mentioned... that was a big no thank you from the boys!) So we decided to end the day with what else... the Hall of Presidents!

Although Dad and I found it pretty interesting from an historical point of view, clearly the boys were not as impressed with the Presidential presentaion!

Once Sam got comfortable at the Hall, there was no turning back... he stayed asleep on my shoulder, then in the stroller:

Of course, Sam woke up on the way out of the park ~ and then Hamp fell into a deep sleep in the car on the way home... obviously I think the day at Disney was not only exciting it was exhausting! Hamp never even woke up from the car to the bed... but Sam was awake enough to enjoy his souvenir ~ a super-special Mickey Mouse balloon!

It truly was a Magical day...