So December 11th we picked up the girls from school around 2 pm, finished packing and then took off to the Airport Hilton in Copenhagen for a night, and on the 12th we started our 24 hour trip to Waco Texas, to spend three weeks with my mom, dad and little brother.

The girls did really well on the flights. We woke up just before 4am, got to the check-in counter before 5am and were heading to Frankfurt by 6:40am.

There was not much of a layover in Frankfurt, about two hours, so it was enough time to run around and check that we had snacks in our carry-on bags for the 11+ hour flight to Dallas. Lily sat next to me, and Jeanette had Iris and Viola on either side of her. since we sat in the back of the plane, there was no one sitting between us or to the side of of, so we could relax about bothering our neighbors. The TV screens on the back of the seats worked just like the Ipads at home. once they were on the girls were in another world. We had ordered kids meals, but our kids didn’t really like it, so it was a good thing we had snacks with us. Neither Jeanette or I got to sleep so much on the flight, but the girls got anywhere from 2-4 hours. Once we landed in Dallas, we are met by my parents and brother, and after getting the car packed, it was time for the 90 minute drive to Waco.

Pizza take-out for dinner and after the girls got to open their Disney gifts, it was time for bed. Jeanette and I seem to have adjusted to the time change the first day, but it took the girls 3-4 days to adjust to the change. Which was why we traveled on the 12th. During our 3-4 days in Waco Lily had her hair cut, Jeanette her nails down, and of course my mom took them all shopping. This time I was smart, I bought my jeans on the first night, before I started eating in the US. Normally I wait until the last night, and by then I have gone up 1-2 sizes and they only fit me 3-4 weeks before they are too big 😦

Viola spent most of her time following her Uncle Eddie around like a puppy. She made him dance, play hide and go seek, close your eyes and UNO.

The girls met Santa at the mall, and after words Viola said, “he wasn’t so scary actually”

On Thursday the 17th, we woke up at 3am, and headed to the Waco airport, where we flew to Dallas, and the on to Orlando. It was really nice to skip the 90 minute drive and only have a 35 min flight. Again the girls did really well flying.

It was a smooth transition from the airport to our hotel with the Disney express bus. Once to our hotel, our room was not ready, and our bags not yet delivered from the airport, so we bought the girls bathing suits so that they could swim in the pool before our first evening in the Disney parks.

Disney Day 1 – Disney Springs
Off to Disney Springs, got to see the outside area of the Star Wars premier. Really cool atmosphere. We had tickets to the Cirque de Soleil for the 6pm show, and then after the show we ate dinner the Rain Forest Cafe.  It got really late and it had been an early morning, so all three of the girls crashed on the table. It was a fun sight, but we felt bad for keeping them out so long.

Disney Day 2 – Magic Kingdom
Since the girls had such a long day the first day, and we planned on staying late today, we skipped the early wake up to see Mickey and friends at the gate opening at 06:45. I think the highlight of the day for the girls was the Frozen show that ended with Elsa freezing the castle. Afterwards Viola asked Jeanatte, “how can a regular person do that?”

I have a short video of it happening, that I will try to add later.

Shortly after we found good spots for the Mickeys Very Merry Christmas Parade, our second parade of the day.

 

Disney Day 3 – Magic Kingdom
Breakfast with Mickey and friends. Today we headed to the hotel closest to the Magic Kingdom to eat breakfast buffet with Chef Mickey.

Disney Day 4 – Animal Kingdom
Unfortunately for me I got sick as we were going to sit down for lunch, but I got to enjoy, its a bugs life and the Lion King show before going back to the hotel to rest up before dinner. But the rest remained and had a blast.

For dinner we met up with my aunt and her boyfriend at the Swan hotel. They would join us at the Disney Studios tomorrow.

Disney Day 5 – Disney Studios & Disney Springs

The highlight of my trip is when Lily followed with me to meet Chewie and Darth Vader.

I think Viola will remember this day for along time as well, because we got her to go on the Tower of Terror ride 🙂 An elevator ride that had us free falling in the dark 3-4 times.

Disney Day 6 – Magic Kingdom

We attempted to get all the rides we could. Around 8pm it was clear that Iris and Viola would not last the for the Parade of Lights. So I let Jeanette stay with Lily and I took the little ones back to our hotel room. Luckily for me Jeanette took a few pics.

Disney Day 7 – Magic Kingdom

One quick bonus visit in the morning to Magic Kingdom so we can get on the 7 dwarfs miner roller coaster. It took 2 hours, but when we were done we had managed to do most of what we could with three girls 4, 7 and 10 in 6+ days.

I can not remember what days we met all the princesses and characters, but we met most of them.

Our flight out of Orlando was delayed over an hour. Our connecting flight to Waco took off as we were landing in Dallas, so we were stuck in Dallas for the night.  Not fun when landing around 9 pm and then having to be back at the airport at 6 am with tired kids. With all of the troubles we had with the shuttle bus we didn’t get into bed until nearly 11 pm and were eating breakfast at 05:30.  but thankfully it was a very short flight home and we were home in plenty of time to unpack before lunch on Christmas Eve.

After lunch the girls had some fun with making Christmas cupcakes.

 

Christmas Day

 

the 26th through the 1st we were in Waco and enjoyed some time at the Mayborn museum, Mammoth National Park and Camaron Zoo.

On our last day we traveled up to Dallas and stayed at the Great Wolf Lodge.

Around lunch we left the hotel and started our 27 hour journey home.