Dearest Disney

It has been 5 years since our last vacation to Disney, and this trip was just as lovely as the first. Disney goes above and beyond for families, so I don't have a single complaint about our trip.   Anytime the front desk answers the phone with, "How can I help the Ashe family today?", you just know that it's going to be a great trip.  We enjoyed visiting a park a day and made sure to add plenty of rest time for Lexie and Eli.  This was Lexie and Eli's first visit, so we wanted to make sure that they enjoyed it just as much as Ethan and Gracie.  Ethan and Gracie love roller coasters, so I wasn't surprised that Lexie absolutely loved them too.  Anytime you see you your special needs child find complete joy in a activity that any child her age does, your heart pretty much explodes.  However, when she wasn't on a ride, she found being in the confines of the stroller soothing.  I was anxious that she would fight us on staying in the stroller and would want to run away every chance she got, but I think even she realized how much a sensory overload that would be.  Eli is so easy going that he could honestly care less about what was going on.  Plus he loves when Lexie is in the stroller with him because he enjoys playing (annoying) her.

We had an wonderful time reveling in all of the magic that Disney exudes and enjoyed watching the kids ride the rides that they're now tall enough for.  Their smiles got even wider when they met their favorite characters.  Which I might add can be a little depressing for a parent when Winnie or Piglet are characters of the past.  They still loved seeing Mickey and Minnie, so I guess that's a small victory that they aren't growing too fast.  Now that we're home they're still talking about our Disney trip, which makes me thankful that we got to share this with them.  However I knew it was a success on the first day when we were all in bed by 9pm. Yeah, Disney is exhausting and can be downright nerve racking, but all that is only temporary as Disney makes it super easy to fall in love with it all over again the very next day!


Seeing how we were there for 4 days, you know I took an obscene amount of pictures, which means it shouldn't surprise you that a good amount of them made it to the blog.  Yup, momma loves her crystal ball moments!

The road trip buckets to keep the big ones busy on the road to Disney. 

Those hats are from our last Disney trip. 

This is right in front of our hotel room. 

We stayed at Art of Animation, Cars themed room and it was fantastic.  

Animal Kingdom

Lexie was showing Pocahontas how to sign the way Lexie signs cup. It was super cute! 

Kilimanjaro Safaris

Lexie has sensory meltdowns at restaurants, but these noise canceling headphones and her home videos helps delay them enough to throw down a quick meal.  We rely on those headphones a lot! 

Thanks to the headphones, she took a 3 hour nap that day.  

If Lexie doesn't get her sleep, her seizures increase.

   While we there, we got to enjoy a great meal with our good friends, The Pubillones! 

It was wonderful seeing them again and our kiddos got to meet for the first time!  

Magic Kingdom

Hollywood Studios

Ethan and I waited for a good hour to sign him up for Jedi Training and it was soooo worth it!! 

He loved every minute of it. 

Epcot

Lexie was having way too much fun with Minnie and as Eric reached for her, 

Minnie told him to back off. haha!! 

They continued to have a good time!

Princess Lunch

Character dinner Garden Grill

The next post will contain video clips from our trip!