"Staycation" Day 5 ~ Disney's Animal Kingdom!

Thankfully Aunt Jane works at Disney and so we got to go to the Animal Kingdom for the final day of our "Staycation"!!!!!! 

I love getting in the parks for FREE!! 

She is such a blessing. 

She can only get three of us in at a time, so volunteering at Disney and getting tickets helps keep our habit alive! LOL

I am glad that we got to go with Amy & Abby this time.

Here is Abby showing me that she brought her Minnie doll. 

She kept getting closer and closer to the camera and I gave up and took the picture. 

It made her happy, and that is what matters!

 I haven't been to the Animal Kingdom is YEARS. 

Amy kept having us stop to take another picture. :)

I am glad that she did, because when I am taking the pictures we miss out on getting "family" pictures!

As we were walking through the park, we heard these guys playing and...

this guy saw Sissy dancing and grabbed her arm and had her come and dance.

She got to learn a special dance.

Amy & Abby just watched.

We took the train to Rafiki's World!

We had fun searching for "hidden Mickey's"!

This is the smallest hidden Mickey ANYWHERE on Any Disney property! Cool Right!?!

They had lots of creepy crawly creatures. I had to leave the area while everyone else checked out some "unnamed" reptiles. 

These turtles were so cute. 

The looked almost fake the way they moved. 

Amy just had to show us the animal poop exhibit. LOL

This listening booth was AMAZING! 

I loved how it felt like we were actually in the rain forest!

We got to have lunch with Aunt Jane at the

I love that they have fish tanks throughout the building. 

 

and their gift shop is really a fun place to check out. 

Every few minutes the jungle comes ALIVE.The animals move and make sounds. 

 It is actually really cool, a little LOUD, but still cool.

I also liked the stools at the bar area.

Abby crashed out during lunch.

When she woke up, she had to touch the froggie!

Amy told us not to go on the Dinosaur ride...

But we don't always listen very well!

I actually liked the ride a lot. 

It was not as scary as she portrayed it, but maybe I felt that way because I had pretty high expectations after the way she described it. 

It started pouring rain around 3:30pm, so we decided to call it a day. 

The worst part was the thunder and lightening. 

I am glad we decided not to wait it out, because it stormed the whole way home.

A trip to Disney was the PERFECT way to end our "Staycation". 

Even though we didn't "STAY" at home in our own beds every night, it still turned out to be a great way to vacation. We focused on spending quality time together as a family. 

We talked about where we wanted to go and planned the vacation in advance. 

This gave us something to look forward to and it also gave the kids a chance to give input to what they wanted out of a family vacation. 

We spent lots of time laughing, talking, and playing together. 

Planning activities for every day, even the days we stayed home and rested, kept us from getting caught up in "daily" tasks that pull us away from spending time together. 

I think one of the things that made this such a success is that we told the kids friends and our friends that this was going to be week dedicated and focused on just "our 4 and NO more". No outside distractions allowed. It helped keep us accountable to our family time, even though it kept me out of the sewing room. It was worth it. 

I am so blessed to have the family that I do. 

Hugs, 

Lisa