Alrighty, ready for a looooong post, I hope? :)

Well, first things first. We left on Saturday morning, Nov. 14. Here we are driving:
 

We broke the trip in two and stayed overnight in the historic district of Savannah, GA. The place we stayed was very nice. I would go back there. Except that the whole area smelled very strongly of sulfur. Derek didn't believe that's what the smell was, but I said it smelled like sulfur (having grown up with well water, I should know). Anyway, later we were told that there are a lot of paper mills? in Savannah, and so we were smelling sulfur! Not that it matters.

We got to the hotel (were on the road for about 7 hours, although the actual drive only took about 5, we stopped every hour for a 15 minute break to let Leiana run around at the rest areas). We were very hungry, so we asked around and ended up walking down to this little place:
The Mellow Mushroom: for some very delicious Hawaiian pizza.

The next morning, we got on the road again. Here is what Leiana thought of that:

She was a little trooper, but she was SO done with being in cars.

We arrived at our destination at approximately 4pm and went straight to Epcot to meet up with family to get our tickets, room keys, etc. We went to a ride called Soarin', one of my favorite rides all week. Here we are waiting for the baby swap:
we used "baby swap" and "fast pass" a lot all week. These things are complicated, if you wish details, I will provide them. Anyway, Leiana was thrilled to be out of the car.
Then we went to an area with a lot of Finding Nemo stuff and a ride and some things for the kiddos to play on... in....
:)

Then we walked... Around the World (which is a lake in the back of Epcot with different "countries" set up). In England, we met Tigger and Pooh
and realized quickly that Leiana would not be begging to meet characters all week. She thought they were freaky.

At about 9pm there is a fireworks/laser light show on the lake, so we stopped to watch that:
Leiana sort of started a trend (the lake is below and there were lots of ducks down there). I had to move her away and not let her look through the bars because, as you can see... there was a possibility she could get through them.

The next day we went to Animal Kingdom.

Leiana didn't tolerate the leash long, and we had to keep her in her stroller. It's a cute picture though. It was hot. 80 degrees and sunny all week. I was a little bummed, had been hoping for cooler weather. Oh well. At Animal Kingdom we went on the Everest ride (twice) it was pretty awesome. Then we went on a safari and saw all kinds of animals (my blurry pictures that I tried to take before I realized the ride was too bumpy and gave up can be seen at facebook), and went to a 30 minute Finding Nemo musical. Leiana liked that a lot.

Ok, moving right along (I do have lots more pictures, these are just my favorites).

Tuesday we went to Hollywood Studios (by far the best park for rides).
This is the line for "Toy Story Mania" a very neat ride where you can take your little ones along with you and shoot stuff in 3D. The line makes you feel like you're in a giant toybox. We went on this ride four or five times.

We also went on Hollywood Tower of Terror, Aerosmith Rockin' Roller Coaster, and a stunt show where we saw how they do a lot of car stunts/chase scenes. We went on a Star Wars flight simulator, and probably some other things, but I don't remember them.

Tuesday night, since it was my birthday, Derek's parents watched Leiana and Derek and I went back to Epcot that evening and had dinner at a really nice French restaurant, where I got to dust off some of my French vocabulary :) the food was amazing, and it was really fun. We went on the flight simulator there, and that was really really really a neat experience.

Wednesday was Magic Kingdom day. And we decided to pretty much only do stuff that Leiana could do with us/be interested in. That included Pirates of the Carribean (of course). The carousel:


Stopping off at Pooh's Playful Spot to let her run around and explore:

How cool is that?



and then we all met at Cinderella's castle for dinner.


Do we look underdressed? Well, not Leiana...

the food was pretty good. Leiana wasn't a fan of the noodles she got, but I gave her some chocolate cake and that cheered her up. However...
the giant mouse... well, let's just say that Leiana was NOT a fan. Isn't this picture just fantastic?

Ok, here's a shot of Derek and me in front of the castle at night. They had it all lit up so that it looked like it was covered in ice (the picture doesn't do it justice)


Last day. Day 5. Thursday. The three of us pretty much hung out on our own. We went back to Magic Kingdom to do some shopping (this year they are giving out "get into Disney World Free on your Birthday" passes, but since I had a 5-day pass, they just gave me an $80 gift card, nice, huh? So I got some souvenirs I wouldn't have gotten otherwise).
We took some more pictures:


And got to go on Space Mountain (which I had been on before, but Derek hadn't). The cool thing about this was that it was just refurbished and wasn't supposed to be open until Saturday after we were gone. They were doing "test drives" though, and so it was up and running, but not advertised as running, so the lines were... maybe a 5 second wait.

We also had to stop while we were in Tomorrowland (where Space Mountain is) and get a picture of this:

Yep, that's the stage that we sang on in Women's Chorale in January of 2000! I waved for you, Phoebe! :)

Then we went to Hollywood Studios, for the Indiana Jones Stunt show. I didn't get any pictures, because the actors punching each other terrified my daughter. But it was a really neat show, nonetheless.

THEN (and we thought we were going at a laid back pace) we continued on to Epcot to meet the family:
I love this picture :)

And went to the Italian sector to hunt for some gelatto, which I thought would make my future sister-in-law happy. We found some, and it was as yummy as Grant has been saying :) Also took the opportunity to let Leiana run around a bit.
She was so happy to be let out of her stroller.

After that, we went back to the room and had pizza and cake and pie with the whole family (about the only time we all hung out in one place, besides the castle, for more than 5 minutes).

The cousins all got matching pjs, so we HAD to take a picture. This one is my favorite (lots more over at fb).





The only blight on the trip for us was that we were supposed to head home on Friday morning. But at about midnight, I got hit really hard with a horrible stomach flu (yes, I know, I am using the term incorrectly, Shannon). A few hours later, it hit Leiana. Derek's parents took Leiana back to their place and Derek got us a regular hotel room downstairs. This should tell you how bad I was: he had to get a wheelchair to move me to the new room. Yikes.

A few hours after we moved, it hit Derek too. We pretty much stayed in bed all day and night Friday. Can I just say that 1) being sick at a hotel is the worst, and 2) being sick and hearing your little girl throwing up and not being able to do anything because you know if you tried to hold her you'd drop her, is even worse than the worst?

Saturday morning we were feeling up to driving, so we packed up the car, and drove for nine and a half hours to get home around 6pm Saturday night. We found out that evening that Derek's folks both got whatever plague we had, as well as his grandparents and his uncle (probably because they were all staying in the condo and had Leiana with them on Friday). :(

Today, I am feeling almost normal, and Derek went to work. Pray for Leiana though, she's still acting pretty under the weather and threw up again yesterday (probably because I gave her milk before her system was ready for it). But she had a fever today as well :( and is really pitiful and just wants to be held and read to or watch movies.

Anyway, besides that last bit, Disney World was a lot of fun. It was hectic and crazy, but all in all it was a good week.

Well, here it is. I am finally about to embark on a very different kind of vacation for me. One in which, when the weather gets colder where I live, I travel south (apparently, for some people, this is "normal")... I really don't think I've ever done this before (unless Choir Tour counts as a "vacation"?) We always went North...

I am excited. Leiana is... well... she would be excited, but she just gives me this strange look whenever I tell her, "Hey, Leiana, we're going to Disney World tomorrow!" That says, "Sure, Mom... whatever you say..." Or she smiles at me... probably because that's what she does whenever I smile at her. :) ha ha

Anyway... hopefully when we get back I will have lots of fun stories and pictures to post... but I am officially taking a week-long hiatus from blogging and facebook and probably e-mail as well.

I will have my cell phone(s) with me. :) Not that anyone ever seems to need to get a hold of me urgently... but just in case... you know... my other brother gets engaged.... my sister signs a record deal... my brother gets drafted to play for the [insert major league baseball team name here]... any more of my cousins who are dating (and haven't told me... ahem. You know who you are) get proposed to.... You know, in case any of that happens, I can be reached.