Our Disney World Vacation

Well, last week we had the chance to get away from the usual hectic pace of life and just be tourists at Disney World for once! Even though we live roughly 20 minutes away, we've never stayed at any of the hotels before, so last week we got the chance to! We stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge and spent a few days enjoying the parks while celebrating Esther & Emma's birthdays. Since there's a 5 week age difference, we just celebrated their birthdays together at Disney. The girls were treated like Princesses and got to wear a Birthday button each day. They also got to experience every girls dream and got to meet Cinderella, Belle, Snow White, Mulan and Jasmine (and a few other characters). Oh how the girls felt like they had died and gone to Heaven!! We waited through that long 20 minute line just to get one picture, but the girls were thrilled and it was worth it!
We had a really wonderful time and it was nice to just get away for awhile and be together. Here are some pictures from our first day at Animal Kingdom.

Elena and Esther on the bus ride to Disney World
Ian, Esther, Emma & Kayla pose with Rafiki
Entrance to Animal Kingdom
Ian and Emma on the Safari ride
Dad and Emma look out the window on our Kilimanjaro Safari
Lots of Crocodiles!
Esther pets a goat at the petting zoo
Dad gets a hug from Baloo (?) from the Jungle Book
The Parade!
Emma & Esther got hugs from some of the characters during the parade
Emma's face is completely whited out, but this gives you a perspective of how close our hotel room was to the animals outside! See that giraffe in the background?
A closeup of the giraffe
Esther plays her Leapster before bed time