Disney, Part 6 of 6

Today was our last day, and we went out with a bang!  Literally, we were watching fireworks at midnight just before heading back to our room!  We did Mickey's A Very Merry Christmas Party tonight, so we went back to the room after lunch for naps, so that we would be able to stay out later.

 I just love this next picture :)

 Most magical experience right here!  Kenadie and I were luckily the ones who Aladdin and Jasmine rode the magic carpets with!!!  They do this once a day, and it just so happened to be with us!  She's a little too young to appreciate that this kind of stuff just doesn't happen every day, but I sure did :)

 Then, we were whisked away to the front of the line where their character greeting spot is!

 Jungle Cruise

Cinderella's Royal Table for lunch, where we were also dining with Neil Patrick Harris and company... not nearly as impressive as riding with Aladdin and Jasmine, if you ask me, just noting something that happened today! 

 Awww...

 And this is where we have returned back to Magic Kingdom after our naps to attempt to stay out til midnight :)

LOVED Enchanted Tales with Belle!

 

 

 All ready for the Christmas Parade!

 Tired, but still waving to anything that crosses her line of vision.

We made it to midnight, and this is how we left that night :)  

Super fun trip!  Already planning our next visit :)

Yay For Getting Away

About a month ago, we enjoyed a long weekend away at my dad's MOST favorite location... Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge.  We had a great time!  I've reached the conclusion that one of the best things about going on vacation is, for the time you are gone, you aren't staring at laundry and housework that must  be done.  Now, it's a different story when you return home from the trip, but for the few days that you are gone, ahhh... it's just so nice to have a break from it all, not to mention the round the clock childcare assistance :) 

Group pic,minus Mom, on balcony of cabin

  We enjoyed driving through the mountains and picnicking along the way.

My dad could TOTALLY never go to the beach again, but he is such a good sport to take his family every summer :)  It was time we made him happy and went where he enjoys going most!

We had fun celebrating Hayden's 5th birthday with a boiled shrimp dinner, his favorite, along with birthday cake and ice cream!!!

Kenadie was sound asleep in the car in the next pic!

A little candy with cousins never hurt anyone :) Berkley dreaming about the day she gets to enjoy a sucker!

Air brush t-shirts are a MUST when you visit the mountains!  T-rex for Hayden, Ironman for Henry, butterly for Kenadie and an elephant for Berkley :) 

Aaron, the good sport to sleep up there one night with Hayden and Kenadie!  It was very high up!!!  And, a little bit of my motherly instincts felt like it wasn't right :) but we did it anyway!   Aaron slept on the end nearest the very steep ladder.  Needless to say, I didn't rest very well this night, but the kids enjoyed every second!

See, I told you it was WAY up there!!!  I'm not going to elaborate here that my somewhat cautious 3 year old, who had been told not to and who obeys Mommy and Daddy quite well, climbed to the top all by herself while only her very cautious cousin was watching!!!  We were notified when she got down!  Seriously, she could have broken her neck, and she almost lost ALL priveledges for the remainder of the trip!  If there was ever a time that Kenadie deserved a spanking, it was now!  Boy did we give her grace!

Hands down, this is the best pic of the trip!  Gotta love the sun shining so bright that not even the adults can grin and bear it :)  I take that back, Dad's doing pretty good :)

Dad, I'm so glad you love the mountains and your family so much!!!  Thanks for a wonderful trip!!!  I promise we will go back, you just say when :)

Disney 2010, Top 10

We had the MOST wonderful time in Disney World! We came home exhausted, but had a GREAT time for sure! Aren't you supposed to come home from Disney World exhausted?!? We spent 5 park days in Disney and one at Sea World. We had never done Sea World. It was a lot of fun too! We will definitely go back there for sure!

Ok, so my one or two readers know how I am by now... after some MAJOR deleting, I still came home with 525 pictures!!! One would think we had never been to Disney World! This was Kenadie's second trip, but that didn't mean I could take any less pictures... Each trip is different, so I guess that's just how it has to be :) I decided for this post, and as a way to condense our trip, I would come up with our Top 10 memories/favorites from the trip. Most of these would pertain to Kenadie's favorites, as you will see :)

In no particular order:

10.) Food, food, and MORE food than any human could ever possibly eat! Kenadie's favorite place we ate at was Akershus Royal Banquet Hall, where we ate with Cinderella a.k.a. "Princarella", Snow White, Princess Aurora and Ariel. So glad Papa & Kay Kay could join us!!!

We ate there for breakfast. I would say the food was ok, you were definitely there more for the atmosphere. We did the dining plan, and with that everyone gets one sit down meal a day, one counter service with dessert and one snack per day. That equates to A LOT OF FOOD! Some other places we ate this trip were Chef Mickey's, Crystal Palace, Hollywood & Vine, Donald's Safari Breakfast, 1900 Park Fare and O'Hanas Best Friends breakfast. We especially liked Donald's Safari breakfast food and the atmosphere/food at O'Hanas. If you do the dining plan, be prepared to bring home a couple more lbs. with you than when you left :)

9.) ANY playground a park had to offer... This was at Hollywood Studios, the Honey I Shrunk the Kids Playground. I even played on it as a child. It's not quite as big as it was back then, but Kenadie LOVED it, as well as any other park's playground. Epcot doesn't have a playground, but she loved their music area after you ride Figment. The slide pic above... I wish I had my video camera with me at the time. Mom and I were the only ones with her at the time, Papa and Aaron were "resting." She went down that slide no less than 30 times, seriously! The most adorable thing you have ever seen. She squealed with excitement or said "weeeeee...." EVERY single time she went down, as if it was the first time every time. The worker got the biggest kick out of her excitement! That's our Kenadie... FULL of life and ANIMATED! At one point, she had two imaginary friends going down with her on both sides of her :) My mom and I were just laughing sooo hard at her every time :) In the above pic, Kenadie is holding her two "friends" going down the slide as well as squealing with excitement!

8.) We love all the shows at Disney, but Kenadie's favorite was Beauty and the Beast. She especially liked the Beast! That's where her tender hearted side comes out... she didn't like seeing him hurt :) and as far as she is concerned, it's actually called "Belle and the Beast." It does make perfect sense...

7.) 3 words: Characters and Autographs!Mary Poppins was one of our favorites and the first character Kenadie met who can talk to you. She was so sweet to Kenadie :) I wondered what Kenadie would start telling the characters who talked to her... "We have two dogs at home, Molly and Lily." That was her famous line that she pulled out just about every time she was with a talking character :)

6.) Where's Kenadie?
This picture isn't even half as good as the one I missed getting from the night before. Disney just really knows how to do you in. Kenadie was all over the place while she slept. The night before, I woke up around 2:30 a.m. to "help, help, get me out of here." Where was she calling for help from you ask? She was under our bed, horizontally flush with the wall with her eyes closed and calling for help! I would love to know how long she had been there. Every night she started out in her sleeping bag on top of a little roll out mattress. You just never knew where she would end up :) Don't think I've ever been able to laugh that hard at 2:30 a.m.!

5.) The countless Mickey ice creams...before...and after!

4.) Splash Mountain! Yes, Kenadie was technically two at the time of our trip and I put her on Splash Mountain! Why, you ask? Well, she met the height requirement by one inch, and I guess you could say "I got caught up in all the magic." :) Before the trip, I said no way could she ride, even if she was tall enough. Day 6 of our trip rolls around and I just knew how much she would like it! Let me rephrase that... I knew how much she would like the ride part... wasn't too sure about the drop part... So, I send she, Aaron and my parents on their merry way to ride Splash Mountain. I told Aaron to text me with the wait time and to hold on to her for dear life for the drop. In no time I get a text that says 5 minutes. It was at that point that I started thinking "I am a horrible mother!" "What am I thinking putting my two year old on this ride?" I can just see her falling out or something, but remember, I DID tell Aaron to hold on to her for dear life... check out this pic! I think he was just having a good time himself and forgot the whole "HOLD ON TO HER FOR DEAR LIFE!!!" He said she liked the ride, not so much the drop, but by the time she got back to me she LOVED it!!! :)See, she's all smiles :) She liked it!

3.) The WONDERFUL naps! Daily, at some point, Kenadie would fall SOUND asleep and have to be woken two hours later. I knew that that would give her enough of a rest to keep going. We had places to go and more characters to see :)

2.) I will just call them "towel creations."Kenadie had a new animal/doll from the cleaning ladies every night when we would come in from a park. She would get so excited for us to open the door and see what they left her :) Most days, we had to take the newest towel critter with us to a park. We are now the proud owners of six of these cute creations :)

1.) When asked what her favorite ride was... If she wasn't saying "they're all my favorites" then it was Small World, Dumbo and Peter Pan :)

We can't wait to go back!!! See ya real soon, Mickey :)