The big summer vacation in 2009 was a trip to Walt Disney World in Orlando. Kristie's parents were brave enough (or crazy enough?) to take us and her brother's family, for a total of 11 people for a week with the mouse. It was absolutely amazing, and everyone had a great time, despite how grueling it was to get up early, walk all day, and go to bed late every day! All of the kids held up great, though, and we'd do it again in a heartbeat.

The first step was as much an adventure as everything else, as we attempted to get all of us to the airport and on different airlines at slightly different times with all of the luggage (and avoid hundreds of dollars of baggage fees!). It was the first time any of the kids had been on an airplane (not counting a trip to Chicago Andy was too young to remember), so even the trip out there counted as part of the vacation.

Our hotel was nice (it had a huge pool!); the only knock on it was that our building was in the very back, which only added to the miles we had to walk every day J

In case you're not up on your Disney park logistics, there are actually several different theme parks: The Magic Kingdom (the original one), Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom (plus some water parks that we didn't visit). We spent time at all 4 of them, with Hollywood Studios winning the prize for the overall favorite – it has Star Wars AND the Toy Story ride/game… how do you compete with all that?

At Animal Kingdom, almost all the kids rode the Yeti ride, which is an insane roller coaster that goes up a mountain, gets to a certain point where the track is broken and suspended in mid-air, then you get plunged backwards into the pitch black cave for the rest of the ride. It's certainly one of the most intense roller coasters there, and was Andy's favorite! Abby was heartbroken that she wasn't tall enough.

Another big hit on the trip were the character meals – we had breakfast with the Princesses and dinner with Chef Mickey and crew:

And of course we enjoyed the staples of WDW, the Magic Kingdom and Epcot!