The Crab Stick

After our lovely boat ride into Downtown Disney, we were all very hungry and Joe had a craving for some seafood.  Thankfully we found this place because I already had to hear about Joe's seafood craving on our drive here and to be honest, I was also hungry for some GOOD seafood...

Because I have two very finicky eaters, the girls got cheeseburgers and corn.  Very typical for them...

However, what wasn't very typical for us is that they brought the kids food out as soon as it was ready.  It is Disney after all and I am sure they know how kids can get when hungry.  Another thing that wasn't typical is that Lily would not put the burger back on her plate.  She would take a bite, hold it in her hands and take another bite as soon as the chewing had ceased.  When I asked her if she liked it, she nodded her head and said, "It's the most delicious cheeseburger I've ever had"

After we got our fill of burgers and seafood and dessert, we walked around the downtown.  That is where Mama Dubs told us the story of the "crab stick."  She said anyone who was crabby would get poked with the crab stick because NO ONE was allowed to be crabby at Disney.  For the rest of the trip whenever anyone seemed cranky, Lily was the first to remind Mama Dubs that someone needed to get the crab stick.

Downtown Disney had a really cool Lego store with these incredible lego statues...

Joe couldn't resist and I was just thankful that it was a fake princess as opposed to the real ones we would see later...

Back to the Lego store so that the girls could build a Lego house...

Next stop was the hotel, where Grandma, Papa Uncle Boo Boo and Auntie Katie would be waiting for us 

All Aboard

Now that we had some company to join us, we were all eager to go someplace.  Downtown Disney was the closest place to us and to get there, we simply had to take a boat ride...

These were our first images of Downtown Disney...

and this was Lily eagerly awaiting the boat's arrival to the dock...

where the Captain of the boat had promised her that she could toot the horn once we were there.  

Not a bad beginning to our trip!

The Welcome Committee

Mama Dubs was the first of the rest of our group to arrive...

and I must say, the welcome that she got was pretty terrific...

For Lily, at that moment, this truly was the "Happiest Place on Earth."

Treehouse Villas

When we stepped out of our car to get registered at our hotel, we immediately felt the beautiful sunshine that we hoped would be with us for the rest of our stay.  After all, it was almost March in Florida where 80 degree days are the norm.

The girls were just happy to find a comfy seat that didn't strap them in...

Once there, we all got our pins.  Apparently if it's your birthday or your first visit, they make a pretty big deal out of you, which we would soon see was true in the upcoming days...

Being the true Arkansans my girls are, they took off their shoes and made themselves comfortable in front of the t.v...

Joe finally had our keys in hand, along with our "Keys to the World", which was a card that had your room key, park ticket and meal plan all on it.  We loaded the girls back into the car where we were met with some opposition, until we told them that it would only be minutes until we were to our treehouse...

Post nap, Lily and Joe went to take a look at the hotel grounds.  Lily wanted to see the pool.  Little did we know that this would be the closest that she would get to the pool all week.

Now we just need the rest of the Murphy's here so we can begin our adventure.

Orange You Glad We Are Finally Here?

Day two on the road and thankfully today's drive would be MUCH shorter than yesterdays.  From Valdosta, Georgia, it was only going to take us 2 1/2 hours to get to Disney World.

As we crossed into Florida, my excitement grew and grew.  I was especially excited that I was FINALLY able to get a picture of the state welcome sign, especially since I was unable to capture a picture of any of the four other state welcome signs as we passed them...

I actually heard that when you cross into Florida, you should stop at the welcome center because they will give you a glass of fresh orange juice.  Unfortunately, we were too close to our destination to stop now, so I will never know if that is actually true or not...

Maybe we should have stopped there, because ten minutes later, we had to stop for a potty break.  Since we weren't in any hurry, it was a great excuse for us to stop and smell the oranges...

The signs finally came into view...

When we saw this sign, we knew we were there...

Of course seeing this mouse was also a good sign that we made it...

Saratoga Springs was the hotel where we would be staying.  We wanted to check in immediately and get some sleep before the rest of the family arrived.  Although, Lily was CERTAIN that she spotted her Papa because she saw "a man that has white hair just like papa does.  See him?  There he is!"  Little did she know that papa was still on a plane from California, but we would be seeing him real soon.