"Disney World, here we come"!

We had the amazing opportunity to take Elijah Brooks to Disney World last week! I just want to say a huge "THANK YOU" to both sets of grandparents for making this trip possible for us. It was so wonderful to be able to have this special time with him alone. I haven't been away from Ellison overnight since she was born, so leaving her 4 nights was a big deal for me - but for us, it was the right decision to let her stay with my parents and she did great. She had a tough first 2 nights, but after that, she settled into her new routine and was sleeping better at their house. I missed her so much, but really enjoyed having one-on-one time with Elijah Brooks. This was our first "real trip" with him, where we actually had saved, planned, and had an agenda. He has known about this trip since Christmas, so for him to have had to wait 7 weeks was tough! I just kept praying that no one would get sick right before or during the trip, and thankfully that prayer was answered. We snagged some last minute super cheap plane tickets on Southwest Airlines and he was so excited that he was going to get to ride on an airplane for the very 1st time - and I was excited we wouldn't have to drive 8-9 hours! We dropped Ellison off at my parents house, said our goodbye's, and were on our way to the airport. We had a few hours to wait there, and he loved every second of sitting by the window with his face plastered up against the glass saying, "WHOAH, did you see that??" with every single plane that took off!

He never once was nervous or anxious about flying, he was truly so excited and was in awe by the whole process. We had a fantastic 1 hour 15 minute flight to Orlando - no glitches at all. We arrived at the Orlando airport and immediately he started looking around for the Magic Kingdom!  He thought he would see it as soon as we landed - tough concept to grasp! He didn't get to see it until the next morning because we landed at 7:30pm, had to get bags, and hopped on the "Disney Magical Express" bus to our hotel (which turned out to be a 45 minute drive from the airport - didn't realize that)!  I am thankful now for the backpack full of snacks that I packed! We checked in to our hotel about 9:00pm and we were all exhausted. We took quick showers, and went straight to bed to get ready for our official Day 1 of Disney World!

I have so many pictures that our days are going to be divided up into separate posts, so stay tuned for more pictures!

Fist time in an airport! And I love that he looks so grown-up here, yet is clinging to his best friends who have been in his bed with him since the day he came home from the hospital as an infant, "Ellie and Puppy". 

Love his face here - pure amazement, as he is watching a plane take off. 

We had a greatest flight crew - the knew it was his first plane ride so they opened the cockpit door and let him sit with them!!  Seriously, they don't do this kind of thing since 9/11 anymore do they? I was snapping away with my camera just to make sure I captured the moment. 

I liked this guy, kind of settled my nerves about flying!  

The pilot said that when he was 4 years old, a pilot let him in to the cockpit and do the very same thing - and from then on, he only wanted to fly! 

Being goofy

I could never get a good picture of his face during the flight because this is what he did the entire flight. At one point while looking out of the window he said, "Mommy, I am going to throw a rope out of the window so it can go up to Heaven and Aunt Elliot can grab it and I will pull her into the plane with us, wouldn't that be great"??  I said, it sure would be great. 

Landed safely 

Waiting on bags - quite tired at this point but never once complained. 

Welcome to Orlando! 

He was super excited that our hotel room had a bunk bed for him!  Jay talked me into letting him sleep on the top - let's just say that I didn't sleep AT ALL the first night. But then I figured he's probably safer up top with rails on both sides  then he would have been on the bottom without rails at all.  I slept "somewhat" better the next night......, somewhat :) 

My Star Wars boy!