2004-02-28 - 2:57 p.m.

First, let's just let you know the cast of characters here. Frank's parents (in their 50s) went with us on this trip. So, it was the four of us, me in my very pregnant state, with Nicolas at almost age four and Noelle at just about 16 months. This is Nico's 3rd Walt Disney trip, and Noelle's second.

Feb. 20 - Our day of travel started at about 7:30am when we got up and got ready, arriving at the airport for our 10:30am flight which was actually delayed by 20 minutes. Kids did great on the plane, despite not having carseats. Arrived at Orlando and rented a Dodge Grand Caravan which had the integrated child seats in the back, perfect for both kids and even Noelle was "legal" in those at her size. We arrived at the Boardwalk Villas around 2:30pm but check-in wasn't until 4pm and our room wasn't ready. We walked around the Boardwalk, grabbed some lunch, and continued to call and check on the room every half-hour. It was finally ready at 4:30pm, and they actually called me on my cell phone to let me know. Room was great and while we settled in with the kids, Frank and his dad went shopping for groceries. They were gone for quite some time, and battling traffic, so they called as they were leaving the grocery store and we just ordered room service for dinner. I had clam chowder and a caesar salad as did Frank's mom, and Frank and his dad had a pasta. Everything was delicious and well worth the money of not having to go out to a restaurant with tired kids!

Sat. 2/21/04 - Nicolas had been talking about teacups and roller coasters, so even though I would have rather avoided the Magic Kingdom on a Saturday, we went there anyway. We rode Cinderella's carousel, Dumbo, saw Mickey's Philharmagic (a 4D show), rode Peter Pan, and Nicolas rode Goofy's Barnstormer Coaster TWICE, once with me and once with Frank. We snacked on pretzels and ice cream and headed back to our villa for naptime. Kids woke up and Frank and I took them both over to the pool for about 25 minutes. The water was very warm, and in my preggo state I ended up getting in the pool with Noelle and left her socks and shoes ON HER! I didn't realize it until we were in the pool for a minute or so. ARGH! After the pool, we headed back to the room to get dressed for dinner. We went to the Kona Cafe at the Polynesian and we all had Prime Rib (except for the kids) and it was a great meal.

Sunday 2/22/04 - This would be our non-Disney park day and we headed out to Sea World for the day, arriving around 9am. The kids got to feed the dolphins, we saw several shows, we rode the Kraken roller coaster there, saw some animals and had lunch there. We left around 3:30pm or so to head back to our villa for late naptime. After the kids woke up, we walked down to the Boardwalk and had dinner at the ESPN club there. It was a very nice meal, though Nicolas ate almost nothing while Noelle couldn't stop eating! After dinner, Nicolas requested a ride on the "cars", which were surrey bikes that you had to pedal. We rented on and the kids rode in the front while the four adults pedaled (me, Frank, and his parents). It was fun and exhausting, and on our second trip around the Boardwalk my parents ended up catching up with us (they were also in Florida on vacation, and had arrived on Disney property that afternoon). After another trip around the Boardwalk, we stopped and had some ice cream and walked around again, this time with my parents, before Nicolas fell asleep in the stroller and Noelle was still barely awake. We headed back to our room around 9pm. One of the dangers of staying on the Boardwalk resort...the food. They had a yummy hotdog stand there, a yummy pizza stand there, and a sweet shop that served hand-dipped and soft ice cream, chocolates of all kinds, fudge, and every kind of sugar candy imaginable. We made too many trips to that place at all times of the day and I'm sure I spent a lot of our food money there, but it was good!