DISNEY

After a year (or maybe 5) of saying, "we're so NOT Disney-people" to anyone who would listen... we became Disney people and had a GREAT two days there in November. TOOO TOOO TOOO much joy to explain. I would do it again with the girls (Adam... he would probably not do it again). Or at least wait a couple years until Mitchell could enjoy it and kids could actually survive w/o naps or rest-time... although going back to the hotel mid-day was awesome for the adults to rest, too!
We did one full day at Magic Kingdom and it was fun and total chaos. The 'girl-ness' of it all was a little overwhelming. So much pink/princess/sparkle/etc... wow. But, for an almost 6 year old and an almost 4 year old with very low expectations, it was perfect. We didn't tell them where we were goin until we were about 20 minutes away, and Elise's response was, "YAAAAAY DISNEY!" count to four...."Um, what IS Disney?". seriously.

Mimi, Nana and three really happy (and hot and sweaty) kids
Watching the show in front of Cinderella's castle. really cool.


Mitchell actually LOVED the carousel!


She'd just finished an ice cream cone and was even MORE joyful than normal!

Mitchell was a little skeptical of the huge duck, but still wanted to 'meet' Daisy.
Girls were enamored.
We stayed the night at the Military's Shades of Green hotel and it was gorgeous. SOOOO well-kept (I was picturing a Navy Lodge...dirty, smelly, outdated...usually pretty horrible) and I was absolutely pleased with the accommodations. (especially since the grandmas were paying!) We crammed 4 adults and 3 kids (fairly comfortably, actually) in a one bedroom 'suite'... it was actually way fun.

A few quick shots of when we went back to Magic Kingdom later that evening. It was kind of nice being in the winter b/c it was only 5pm when we returned, but fully dark already! WIN/WIN! The Castle was all lit up, but kids were still awake and happy since it wasn't past bedtimes yet.

It really was kind of breathtaking!
An (almost complete!) family picture.

OF COURSE the highlight of the trip for the girls was the 1-on-1 meeting with several princesses. Elise really was speechless. She couldn't stop smiling. it was precious.
Ainsley, on the other hand, was a total chatterbox with the Princesses. She kept telling Cinderella how much they looked like "twins"...blue dresses matched, I guess? =)
The whole Fam Damily with the Worlds most famous Mice. =) Can't you see the joy on our faces at "The Happiest Place on Earth"?

Day 2 was Animal Kingdom and we LOVED IT. Side note: when planning on a trip like this, ask lots of questions, read lots of reviews, but then do what you think is BEST for your family. Many people had said that our kids were too young for Animal Kingdom and they just wouldn't have fun. However, we KNOW our kids and knew that they would LOVE all the animals and the lower-key atmosphere. And they did. We had so much fun on the safari, Elise rode a REAL roller-coaster (loved it, but said she may never do that again!), the food was better there, the overall 'feel' of the park was way more Moseley... =)



Really cool huge huge huge play area! It was set up like a archaeological dig site and was sooo fun.
We went to Finding Nemo show (read:sitting down, indoor, air conditioned!) that was sweet too.

It was a great trip, really. Totally exhausting, but fun and a great 2 days. =)