Saturday, July 30, 2011

Day 2 - Epcot!

On our second day, we went to Epcot. We loved it as much as the Magic Kingdom, but for different reasons. It had what was probably our favorite ride of all, Soarin', and we rode it four times! We also loved test track and the space rides and the Nemo rides. We LOVED Turtle Talk with Crush! It was hilarious! The turtle from Nemo was on the screen, and he somehow would interact with the kids in the audience and answer questions... even though he was a cartoon! Amazing stuff. And VERY, VERY funny!! In addition to all the rides, we found that Epcot was a GREAT place to meet all the Disney characters! We found the lines to be much shorter here, and in a few instances, no lines at all!!

We met Mickey...

...and Pluto...
... and Minnie (Abby's favorite!)...
... and Donald...
... and Goofy, all at the Character Spot, which was an air conditioned place to wait and meet all the "classics" in one place. Brilliant!
Then, we walked around all the countries, and met Belle in France...
...Jazmine and Aladdin in Morocco (Grace was SO EXCITED.. look at her Jazmine shirt she is wearing!!!)
... Mulan in China...
... and Marie in France.
Then, we got out Grace's Princess dress and changed her clothes, and went to a special "sit down" dinner in Norway with ALL of the princessess!! First we met Belle...

... and then Sleeping Beauty...
... and then Cinderella...
... and FINALLY Snow White!
We had a VERY excited little girl on our hands!
Epcot was great. We loved it so much, we decided to go back on our "off" day, later in the week! :-)

Friday, July 29, 2011

Disney Recap - Day 1

Well... we are BACK!! Our trip to Disney World was fantastic. Get ready for "Picture Overload" as I recap our trip. I don't want to ever forget it!

Thursday we flew out and took Disney's bus, the Magical Express, from the airport to our hotel, Port Orleans Riverside. We spent the afternoon exploring the hotel and swimming in their fabulous pool.

On Friday we got up early and ate breakfast to get ready for our first day at The Magic Kingdom!
**This picture is out of order... It should be up there with the resort... These are the towels that were magically on our bed, in the shape of Mickey ears. I could take the time out to move it, but, I don't want to! :-)
As soon as we walked through Cinderella's castle, the girls got to meet Fairy Godmother. She was so sweet. Grace was enchanted!
Across the street from her was the wicked stepmother and stepsisters. They were hilarious! The stepmother said, "Hmmm... these girls look strangely familiar. Blonde hair, blue eyes. They look like another girl I know." The stepsisters asked about the feathers in the girls hair, and then when it was time to take pictures, they said, "We will NOT say CHEESE. Everyone think of another food to shout out other than cheese!" Then, when the picture was taken, they shouted things like Lasagne!!! and Asparagus!!! The girls loved them!
We rode the tea cups, and lots of other rides...
We met Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, too!
We met Peter Pan, and rode his ride, too!
We met Arial, and Prince Eric, and lots and lots of other Princesses, too.
It rained, which was fantastic, because it lowered the temperature about 20 degrees! Unfortunately, it also lightened some, which delayed the start of the parade a little bit, and we were already TIRED!! But, we were determined, and we stayed until it finally started.
Grace was SUPER excited!
The Main Street Electrical Parade was FANTASTIC!!! We love, love, loved it.
Look at the wonder and awe on this little face...
Here is Pete's dragon... I took a TON of pictures, but won't take the time to upload them all now...
After the parade, we made our way over by the Dumbo ride to watch the nightly fireworks. My pics are not great, but let me describe... The Dumbo ride was still running during the fireworks, to our right, and the castle was to our left. The fireworks were on both sides of us AND directly over our heads. Amazing!!

Here is the DUmbo ride with the fireworks in the background...
And here is the castle with the fireworks above.
It was a magical, unforgettable day!

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Sweet Summertime

I know.

I have not blogged ALL. SUMMER. LONG.

And I am not even sad about it!

I have been so busy with all the usual, unimportant things that little girls require of their mommies during the summers... Camps, sleep overs, swimming, etc...

We leave in a mere 7 days for our biggest family vacation EVER. Disney World!!! I am excited, and more than a little bit overwhelmed... This vacation requires a lot of planning, and is a lot different than our usual "rent a hotel and lie on the beach" type of vacation. I have had to plan and make reservations for multiple meals a day and reserve buses for transfers and blah blah blah... Apparently relaxing at Disney is a lot of work!! I will try and let you know how it goes when we return...

This is a sweet summer - the girls are growing like weeds, and wouldn't a picture of them fit in nicely here?? Sure would be great if I had a current one. :-) Maybe sometime soon I will get organized. Hey, internets, be happy - it has taken me all summer just to post ONE TIME!! A picture would be COMPLETELY TOO MUCH TO ASK!! :-)