Magic Kingdom

Supposedly this is the "Happiest Place On Earth."

It may have started off this way but it didn't last....at least for me.

Here's just a small sample of why.

I don't know if it was PMS or the fact that the kid couldn't be still- let alone not bother, hit, kick, or spit on someone. Now, we love Ethan dearly; his energy and life add so much spice to our family we wouldn't know what to do without him, but we also don't always know what to do with him either.

There were good family moments, like below on one of our favorite rides, but Chris and I were so exhausted that we ran out of appropriate consequences for the kid. It got ugly at times, in fact we almost walked out of the park. I am happy to say since we've been back, in our right minds, and in a normal routine we have come up with appropriate consequences for the hitting, kicking, and spitting and they have been almost completely eliminated from E's repertoire.

Double click on the picture above so you can really grasp the hilarity of this moment. Chris and E are in front with Zach and I in the second row. I love water rides.....as long as I don't get wet. I just hate walking around a park all day wet and uncomfortable, even if it is a hot day. We brought our ponchos so I could enjoy the ride to it's fullest. Also, with a kid play area we could do the rides as individual families or switch it up as much as we wanted.

By lunch time I still hadn't recovered from my grumps and was ready to sit and let these guys entertain the kids for a bit.

The Crystal Palace is really a nice way for the kids to meet characters and there are plenty of kid-friendly foods.

I recommend having a reservation; it just makes things smoother.

In the end it wasn't a horrible day it was just exhausting.

I think Tiger was giving Graham a kiss but now it looks like he's eating Graham's head.

In the end we rode all our favorite rides several times and saw everything else we were interested in. Happily the Jenkins left before the fireworks show so it was not overly crowded as we left. The Slocombes and Hamms who departed later were not so fortunate.