Day 3--The Rest of the Family Arrives

On the third day, we moved out of our first hotel, and into the hotel and room we would be sharing with my mom, step-dad, sister and nephew. My mom reserved a suite at the Animal Kingdom lodge, which had a view of the savannah and lots of animals. These were some of the things for viewing outside our room.

By the time everyone arrived in the afternoon, our 5 were all tired from our previous day at the beach and our sunburns. So some of us napped, while others of us explored the hotel.

Before dinner, Emma went with my family to explore a water playground on one side of the hotel, and Dakota and I took Ashlyn and Josiah to a regular playground on the other side. We all met up at dinner for the first of many wonderful buffets.

I wish I could say we all got a good night's sleep that night, in preparation for our first day at the Magic Kingdom, but that wasn't the case. Whenever Dakota and I travel with the kids, we never sleep in the same room with them, and there are multiple reasons for that. We figured for this trip, we could try to make it work, all in the same room for a few nights. We were wrong; it was a disaster. Ashlyn didn't go to sleep until somewhere between 3 and 4am. I'm not kidding! And even if Ashlyn hadn't been awake and messing around all that time, I still wouldn't have slept well for the sake of Emma's snoring. I had earplugs in and she STILL came through loud and clear!

Needless to say, the terrible night's sleep made for a very rough morning. And for the rest of our nights there, I shared the pull-out couch with my sister in the living room area of the suite. (Thanks Erin!)