Last night Jennifer arrived with Maya and Elliott. The boys were asleep when they arrived, but in the morning, we introduced them to each other.

I *love* Maya – she is so awesome. She and Zander are already getting along so great. She loves imaginative play as much as the boys do, and she is as high energy as the boys. And Elliott is unbelievably cute. I mean, he’s Zevan-cute. He totally reminds me of Zevan at that age. Even the way he says, “Mommy, mommy, mommy…” is so similar to Zevan’s, who still says that.

Jennifer looks great, of course, and I am so excited that we are at Disney together. We used to lay on the floor, belting Disney songs along with our CDs. We watched animated Disney movies together, before we had kids.

The kids got along famously – other than a few toy sharing issues between Zevan and Elliott – but they played in the tent we brought, and ran around

Making breakfast for 4 kids and getting them ready to go out is quite a process! I don’t know how the (Jon & Kate of the eponymous Jon & Kate plus 8) manage!

But we were able to get parked in the TTC parking lot by 10:45, only 15 minutes later than the last 3 days, so that was an accomplishment. Jen brought a double stroller for her kids, which added a new dimension to getting on and off trams, and of course the ZBoys wanted rides after a while, but it worked out okay for the most part.

We went down Main Street and straight over to Fantasyland, which we missed on our short visit on Sunday after the marathon.

Speaking of which, today was the first day I was able to really walk instead of hobble. It was quite nice.

So we rode Cinderella’s Golden Carousel, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Dumbo the Flying Elephant. Then Jennifer, Elliott and Maya stood in line to meet Ariel, while the boys first played in the water park, Ariel’s Grotto, near the line – and they got soaked. Then we hit a couple of rides and then Pooh’s Playful Spot play area, which was basically the 100 Acre Woods, child sized. Once our friends joined us again, we rode It’s A Small World and Peter Pan’s Flight.

Zander and Doug went on the Liberty Square Riverboat, while Jen and I took the kids on the Jungle Cruise (at Zevan’s request to go on it again).

We all had lunch in Frontierland. Doug got chicken strips at the Columbia Harbour House in Liberty Square for the ZBoys while the rest of us ordered our lunch at the Pecos Bill Tale Inn and Cafe. When I asked a cast member in line where they served chicken nuggets, she, in full character western drawl, answered me with a “I don’t know – I only live here.” I found that reply VERY annoying. We ended up consulting our map instead.

After lunch, I took all the older kids on Aladdin’s Magic Carpet Ride. Elliott fell asleep in the stroller. So we put him on my back while you took your boys to the Swiss Family Robinson tree house. For some reason, Zevan really liked that tree house. Doug and Jennifer took Maya to the Haunted mansion.

We met up again at the Toontown Playground. While the kids played, I went over to Mickey Mouse’s Country House. I remember going there with Doug on our first – and only other – trip together to Disney World. Everything was the same, except the kitchen! They had it done up as under remodel by Goofy and Donald (paint splatters and so forth). I remember when we saw it many years before, that there was a shopping list on the refrigerator – cheddar cheese, swiss cheese, etc).

Jennifer took her children to the Judge’s Tent to get a picture with Mickey. At some point, Jennifer, Doug, Maya, Zander and Elliott went on The Barnstormer at Goofy’s Wiseacre Farm (crazy kiddie coaster). Twice. Then Zander said he wanted to go on with me, so I did. Then Zevan said he wanted to go on! And he just made the 35″ minimum height requirement, so I went on with him. Afterwards, he wanted to go on again. So we all got on again. The second time was enough for Zevan. Zander says that ride was his favorite in all of Disney World.

We had a pizza dinner at Pinocchio Village Haus. By this time, it was close to time for the Wishes fireworks show over Cinderella’s castle. We picked a good spot on a bridge with a better view of the castle this time, and we were also able to hear the music and narration. That made the show EVEN better than the first time we saw it.

After the fireworks, we made our way back to the cars with some very tired kids!