Disney World!

Way back at the beginning of November, we took the boys for their first trip to Disney World.  Peter's family has gone every year to Disney World since he was pretty small - maybe two or three years old, so it's become something of a tradition.  They're members of the Disney Vacation Club, which basically gives the member points to use against hotel rooms during each year, so we only had to worry about our flights and costs once we got there, which was nice.

The boys did pretty well on the flight; they slept most of the way there.  Once we got there and picked up our luggage, we headed for Enterprise rental car.  That was an absolute mess.  It took forever to get our car, and then once we got everyone settled and ready to go, there were no keys.  Nobody knew where they were.  So we had to find another car and get everything transferred.  The car they tried to give us was a no-go, because the boys' seats wouldn't fit in it properly.  Finally, we got a small Volvo crossover/SUV type thing, so I think we really ended up ahead in the deal, since we got a premium car, but it took over an hour to get the whole thing settled.

We finally arrived and got settled in at the hotel - we stayed at the Kidani Villages (the Disney Vacation Club property at the Animal Kingdom Lodge).  It was wonderful for the boys - they could see animals from the balcony, which they thought was awesome!  We all stayed in a three-bedroom grand villa.  Initially, Peter and the boys and I were in a separate room, but somehow the booking got mixed up and they had us in a studio rather than a one-bedroom.  That meant that everything was in one room, so there would be no place for us to go after the boys were asleep, not to mention that there really wasn't room for two pack and plays.  But we switched into the grand villa where everyone else was staying, and there was plenty of room - plus we got to bank the points that would have been used on that extra room!  Generally there are enough points in a year for the family trip, plus one kid (they alternate between Peter and each of his sisters) to take a long weekend.  So there are some years we've been to Disney twice in one year, and his sister has been even more times than that - she loves Disney!

We had lunch in the room (very late - I think it was probably 3:30 or 4 by the time we got to eat) and then room service for dinner that night with Peter's mom, his sister, and her husband.  Peter's other sister arrived late that night, and her boyfriend arrived a few days later (he had to work).  The first night was hard; the boys were up off and on all night.  I think they both ended up sleeping in the (thankfully) king-size bed with us.  I think the combination of a new place, seeing more people for the first time in awhile, plus the noise whenever they rolled over in the pack and plays (there were sheets, but you could still hear a plastic-y noise) just kept the poor little guys awake.