more magic at the castle

our last disney day we spent at magic kingdom. the weather took a drastic turn and we woke up to temperatures barely above freezing. so, we bundled up and hit the park.

we began with mickey's house which is set up like a museum, and then headed out to the judges tent to meet mickey and minnie.

meeting mickey and minnie was one of the things they had been anticipating the entire trip.

next, we headed to minnie's adorable pink and purple cottage. she is a much better hostess than mickey as we were allowed to sit on the sofa. isn't it adorable? i only wish all my fabrics were covered in laminate. it would definitely be more kid friendly!

spencer began giving kisses this week complete with the "mmmmm" sound. so, we spent a lot of time giving and receiving. "mmmmm . . . ."

who knew minnie loved to sew!
then we were off to the barnstormer-their first roller coaster. they loved it! i think we might have a couple of thrill seekers on our hands. after lunch at pinocchio village haus, we grabbed fast passes to peter pan's flight, checked on the wait time at ariel's grotto and then headed to adventureland. 

spencer played peek-a-boo with josh while we waited in line at aladdin's magic carpets.

we paired off while we waited our turn.

then, we enjoyed another version of everyone's favorite ride.
we also rode pirates of the caribbean and the jungle cruise before we headed back to fantasyland. miller was a little fearful at pirates of the caribbean because you begin in complete darkness like the disastrous dinosaur at animal kingdom, but he was much happier when he found out that pirates filled these caves. he said his favorite part was "when the pirates were happy" at the end.
"yo, ho ho, it's a pirates life for me . . ."

in fantasyland, we began with another ride on the tea cups.

then, ran to fantasy garden with belle.

"who likes to read?"

miller was much more smitten with belle this time around.

and, the lighting was much better. when we were finished it was time for peter pan's flight, and then we finally gave in to the wait at ariel's grotto. the wait time: 50 minutes.

it was the longest wait of the entire trip. we thought it would go faster as the line didn't look that long. the wait was not as entertaining as the other rides-their was no movie clips, no funny banter with flounder or sebastian, no twisty turns that made us think we had been waiting for seconds instead of minutes.

once carter was drenched by the little playground area, we used the only entertainment we know- the camera. my parents swapped out littles-spencer rode small world again, miller rode cinderella's carousel again, they both had a snack at pinocchio's again.

and, just when we thought we couldn't take it anymore, it was our turn. and, we totally understood-we were with her for at least ten minutes.

discussing geography and life on land vs. under the sea

she was so quirky and quick and just like you might imagine ariel to be.

then, miller joined the discussion. again, smitten. ariel decided to make fish faces to make him laugh.

more fish faces

it was so worth the wait!

when we were finished we headed to get settled for the spectromagic parade & fireworks. 

during the fireworks, carter said, "disneyworld is the best city!"

sweet papaw let miller use his his shoulders during the parade which was not short. but, they were in awe and it was a great way to end our time at disney world.

favorites:
carter: meeting ariel and the pirates of the caribbean
miller: the barnstormer and the pirates of the caribbean and getting to buy toy story and pirate souvenirs
spencer: miller's mickey mouse light saber

favorite ride: pirates of the caribbean

bunny love

last year, i made this bunny garland. it is one of my favorite paper things i have made. i hung it in the aqua frame i painted for spencer's first birthday party and, ahh, i could look at it all day. i haven't gotten to craft much for easter this year, so we are going simple with this and a little bunny topiary. i am enjoying the simplicity, but definitely felt the need to decorate with something. am i the only one who feels the need to decorate for each holiday?

where the wild things are

disney day 3 was spent at the animal kingdom. it was the warmest hottest day we were at disney and the humidity was ridiculous as it rained the next day. almost immediately after entering the park we knew this would be our hardest day-it was hot, the park is really spread out and we were starting to drag from our long drive/lack of sleep/immense disney fun.

look who we found at the gate!

miller wasn't really sure what to do with goofy

after making lunch reservation at the rainforest cafe, we attempted a picture in front of the tree of life. i think this sums up everyone's feelings about the heat. and, yes, this is the best picture we got. 

our first attraction was kilimanjaro safaris. as josh said, it made the entire day worth while. it was amazing to see the animals so close. the kids were in awe.

when we were finished, we headed to harambe train station so we could catch a ride on the wildlife express to rafiki's planet watch. we had heard the affection section contained exotic breeds of animals for the kids to see and pet.

 here is one of the exotic breeds. looks like a sheep to me. it was a long ride and walk for miller to pet a sheep. 

in fact, all the animals looked just like the ones happy times farm brings to the preschool each fall.

exotic, huh.

the most amazing details of the animal kingdom are in the street scenes they have created in africa and asia. you really feel like you were on another continent. miller and carter found the african drums on our walk to asia. because josh has been to india, he really wanted to see how the disney created asia compared to the real thing. 

from here, we headed to the festival of the lion king. it was amazing. spencer spent most of the time trying to crawl out of the sling so she could see more of the entertainment. our stay at camp minnie-mickey put us past due for lunch. so, we hurried out of the park to have a little lunch break. we definitely cooled off while watching the animals in the rainforest. since we had never been to the rainforest cafe, the kids were fascinated. we left with just enough time to ride the triceratop spin before traumatizing miller at dinosaur. because he reached the minimum height requirement and loves dinosaurs, we thought why not? ooh, why did we do that? it was one of the roughest, scariest rides especially for a 3 year old. the ride occurs in complete darkness. we rode in an atv that herks and jerks down a path while life size dinosaurs come at you (complete with disney breath-in-face effects). i literally spent most of the time trying to protect miller from the craziness while he buried his head behind my arm. sweet carter just looked at her daddy and asked, "are they real?" to which he replied, "no, sweetie, they are like big toys." after all that, we finished the day with finding nemo-the musical. the big kids loved it, so much so they still sing several of the original songs from it. 

"just keep swimming . . ." 

favorites:
carter: dinosaur (brave girl!)
miller: triceratop spin and kilimanjaro safaris
spencer: kilimanjaro safaris and the rainforest cafe

favorite ride: kilimanjaro safaris

yes, somehow we took very few picture, like we should be ashamed so few pictures. after our miserably hot, full-of-walking, exhausted-looking kids day, we decided to take a disney break. our vacation day four plan was sea world. sea world on february 24th. because they were predicting rain, we opted to hit the outlet malls instead. we are so thankful were not at the park on that traumatic day. we already knew we would have to explain the death of my parents' cat eventually, but we didn't want to have to explain the unexplainable.

random photo friday

magic at the castle

disney day two was the day everyone was anticipating- well the adults, that is, because what the kids didn't know was we had an 8:25 reservation for breakfast at cinderella's royal castle. we woke the kids up (that never happens at home) and told carter about our reservations. 

i had packed carter's favorite princess dresses from home and let her choose which dress and how she wanted to have her hair done. it wasn't exactly what mommy would have chosen, but this day was all about her and i didn't want it any other way.

we were so proud of ourselves when we pulled out of the driveway around the same time we had planned. it is a longer walk into the park itself and then you have to take the monorail. on the monorail we chose, the driver announces that we are going to play cat and mouse with the one behind us to see if he can find us as a testing procedure. uhh, really. does this seem like a good idea to you?? and, what about all these cute little princesses waiting to have breakfast at the castle? after ten of the longest minutes suspended in the sky in the middle of the monorail, he found us safely and we moved along. so, needless to say, we were late as usual. of course, we still had time to stop and take pictures because there were very few people in the park as it wasn't open yet.

she was so excited! we headed into the castle and were greeted by cinderella. we had our picture taken with her and then were ushered up the spiral staircase. as we were headed to the staircase, i looked at carter who had tears in her eyes. big, watery eyes. i asked her if she was okay and she could only nod her head. then, i realized that she was emotional from meeting cinderella! it was so precious. i held back my own tears as we climbed the stairs knowing that this was so magical for her.

upstairs, we were seated in the raised area of the dining room. the chef immediately arrived at our table and asked miller what he would like for breakfast. we had noted miller's nut allergy on the reservation just because it asked, but never dreamed the attention he would receive. the chef brought out each course of miller's food and verified that everything was nut free. it was nice for miller to get some special attention for his allergy instead of always having to tell him he can't eat things.

a little bit about the experience: all of the servants (the role they are playing) refer to you as "my lord" and "my lady" and "the royal family".  each princess is completely in character and never, ever sways. as we enjoyed our breakfast, they would announce the arrival of each princess. then, each princess would make her way around the room, signing autograph books and having her picture taken. we were in the worst location for photos. poor, josh! every one on the main floor had amazing light from the beautiful windows, but we were in the darkness. but, it doesn't matter because the pictures are just a memory of the experience, right?

first, we met aurora. she referred to miller as the prince and said "he was as handsome as prince philip." well, of course, he is.

next was snow white. if only josh had a picture of miller's reaction. he has always been his favorite because she wears hot blue. isn't she beautiful? i think i see why he is so smitten!

then, jasmine. she asked, "are you going to hang this portrait on your palace walls?" yes, yes we are.

and, finally, belle. she has always been carter's favorite princess. carter got all teary-eyed again when she met her-so sweet! belle immediately noticed carter's dress and said, "oh, i see you are wearing my ball gown. you must have a date with the beast later."

i love that miller is more infatuated with his sword than the beautiful princess touching his arm.

and, then spencer. belle was the only princess who gave much attention to her. right after this picture was taken, spencer moved belle's hand off of her arm and belle said, "oh, you don't like to be disturbed. i understand. i am like that when i am in the middle of a good book."

after we finished and carter changed, we headed out to start the day in the magic kingdom.

of course, we had to begin our day with peter pan's flight.

because we entered the park early and the weather was a little overcast, our wait at most of the rides was almost non-existent.

spencer loved it's a small world. and, i definitely appreciated it more as an adult. it's all about the details.

our longest wait for the day had to be dumbo the flying elephant. but, it was worth it. can you tell how much fun they had?

and, miller and carter enjoyed it, too.

making plans at cinderella's golden carrousel

miller loved the carrousel

so much so that he rode it again on day 2 at magic kindgom.

spencer rode her first carrousel. she didn't want to be up there alone, so i had to ride to. 

carter rode "the royal horse" next to us, or so she called it.

next, we went to mickey's philharmagic. i really wasn't expecting much, but it was so cute and the kids loved it. when that was over, we let the grandparents take spencer to sit and have a snack and we headed to the mad tea party.

while we were waiting for our turn, we spotted alice in a tea cup! she was spinning with a little girl dressed up in an alice costume-it was so cute! when we left the tea cups, an impromtu signing was taking place, and , of course, we had to meet her.

after our time in fantasyland, we headed to tomorrow land and did buzz lightyear's space ranger spin, monsters inc laugh floor, tomorrowland transit authority, tomorrowland speedway. we finished just in time to get a seat for the celebrate a dream come true parade.

waiting for the parade to start

carter's way of waiting

do you see the button in miller's hand? it is one of the "my first time" buttons they hand out when you enter the park. he carried it everywhere that day. everywhere. he was so cute about it.

he was not sure he was okay with this guy.

but, she was definitely okay with this girl. we love some toy story, and carter really wanted to meet jesse, but she wasn't with buzz and woody at hollywood studios. after the parade, we headed out so we could get the kids to bed early. it was definitely a magical day and one i doubt anyone will soon forget. 

some more quotes for the day:

"miller, if you get hit by a car, you won't get to go back tomorrow." me
"i'm too tired to go to bed." carter

favorites:

carter: meeting all the princesses 

miller: dumbo with papaw and the race track with daddy, and the teacups, and peter pan and the carousel

spencer: small world

favorite ride: peter pan