Last of the Disney Photos

This is the sign for the Voyage of the Little Mermaid at Hollywood Studios. When you ask Becca what was her favorite part of the trip, she usually says this.  It was a stage show (indoors!). It was basically a 15 minute short version of the movie. It was wonderful! I'm so glad that mom and I took her in there; just watching her smiling little face and her singing the songs made my heart melt.

Becca with Rosetta, who is one of the Disney fairies.

Riding the Dumbo ride---Lee with the girls and Grammy with Evan.  It was super hot that day, and they waited a long time to ride.

Becca and me with Phineas & Ferb.  This was at Hollywood Studios, after we had to wait out a thunderstorm. Hot and humid at this point! Lovely.

One more with her fairy godmothers getting her princess make-over. Becca was totally serious about the whole process.

Lee and Becca waited for Snow White to arrive for over an hour! Finally, here she comes!!  Mom and I were off having lunch with the little ones, so we missed the fun this time.

We found this little hidden shady area for the kids to take a break.  Becca changed into her comfy clothes and everyone got some much needed down time.

In the pool with Tracy!!  We loved, loved our resort, but didn't get to spend much time there.  Not really sure why I didn't take more pictures of it.  Maybe Tracy will share hers.

Who is having fun on the tea cups??

Miss Sassy waiting for her turn to see Mickey and "Missy."

Tracy and Becca with Tinkerbell.

My water babies in the pool with  Jonathan.

With Handy Manny and Jake the Pirate, at Hollywood Studios.

I promised my baby that we wouldn't leave Disney without seeing Rapunzel.  God love her, I waited in line for her for about an hour (maybe more) while everyone else was watching the afternoon parade. Thank goodness we got to see her the very last day of our trip, or we might have stayed another day.

Finally, Lee and Becca got to meet Snow White!

Not really sure why all the pictures loaded out of order.  Oh well, it took way too long for me to move them.  This concludes the Disney portion of our blog.  Here we are, almost two months later, and the kids are all still talking about it!  Actually, I find myself thinking about how much I enjoyed it, too.  I'd say we got our money's worth on this trip.  I'm sure we'll do it again when Carley and Evan are about five.

Oops, I lied. I found these two.  My sweet stroller babies and Evan's sweet curly hair.

Sassy Sissy

I wanted to write this down so we won't ever forget it. Carley has been cracking us up lately with her language. She is still talking a lot more than Evan, but he's really coming along. With two chatty sisters he's probably better off to just be quiet anyway.

Carley has started saying "don't like it" whenever there is something she doesn't want to eat or do.  It's really funny! You can offer her a bite of something she's had before (something she likes), but she'll push it away and say "don't like it."  She is confusing it with "I don't want it," but it's still cute.  The girl is definitely decisive.

There is something else she said the other day, but now I can't remember what. Maybe I'll think of it later.

More Disney Fun

Going to Disney World had such an impact on my kids that now, a month later, it's still the number one conversation topic in our house. Mom got Carley and Evan a set of plastic figurines that the little ones absolutely love.....they play with them and sleep with them!  You can hear Carley all over the house saying "Mickey, Missie, Pooto, Duck and Goopy" like she's doing a roll call or something. I was really afraid that they were too young to understand or enjoy our vacation, but I was so wrong. Thank goodness!

And poor Becca has been waiting patiently for me to get all the photos organized, uploaded and printed for her. There's just never enough time!

This is the Tree of Life with all animals carved into it. So beautiful and amazing to see!

A simple tree vine, you say? Look closely, it's alive! This lady came walking out and latched on to a tree for a while.  She was quite the ham, posing and letting people take pics. Then, she unlatched herself and went along her way. Very cool!

Tah-da~ Cinderella's Castle

Carley and Becca riding the teacups. This was on Becca's birthday; after her princess makeover.

The Castle right before Magic Kingdom fireworks; it changed colors every few minutes.

Epcot

A very HOT day at Epcot!

We were very lucky most of the time waiting in line for characters. I don't think we ever had a terrible wait; it was the worst in the princess lines, of course.  Evan was very curious about the characters.  Carley was not afraid at all---in fact, she wanted to touch, kiss, hug and pet them! It was so cute!  Her favorites were Buzz Lightyear and Minnie, I think.

Lee took this pic on his phone; mine didn't turn out using the camera. This was taken on our favorite ride at Epcot; the Nemo ride. The kids just loved it! And the animation was awesome mixed in with a real aquarium.

Handy Manny---of course, my shy daughter wouldn't get pictures by herself with the characters; you will see me in most of them with her.

Carley could not take her eyes off of Sully to turn around for a picture. She kept saying, "pet him" over and over.

This is the Sci-Fi Drive In Theater, where we had lunch one day. It's at Hollywood Studios, and one of the "must do" places that I read about.  It was so cool! The booths are built into old cars to make it look like you are at a drive-in movie.  The food was excellent!  

Tip:  You MUST have a reservation in advance to eat here.  We booked several months in advance.

Water fountains outside The Muppets show/theater.

I am in LOVE with this picture! All of my kids waiting to see Woody and Buzz. This was the very end of the line; it later went inside the building and wound around several times. They were watching the other kids and getting so excited.

Becca's Royal Treatment

I'm breaking up our Disney pictures into several posts. This is from Becca's 5th birthday surprise.  We left Carley and Evan with Grammy, TP and Jonathan at the condo and took Becca to her 8:30am appointment at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique in Cinderella's Castle. What fun! As you can see, she was a little shy at first with all the attention. She sat in my lap for the Fairy Godmother to fix her beautiful hair. After a while, she was ready to sit alone. These ladies were so wonderful! It was something to see.

I was told by several friends about this Disney must-do. I won't lie, it's a little expensive AND you have to get reservations way, way in advance of your trip. If you have a little princess, this is something you don't want to miss.  Our tip: buy your dress online from the Disney store, so you are actually getting a real dress, but much cheaper. That's what we did.  And, you get to keep all the leftover stuff that isn't used---makeup, nail polish, crowns, jewelry, etc.  Becca wore her "Birthday Princess" sash all day and got lots of birthday wishes from people all over the park. It was fantastic!  I can't wait to take them back when Carley is old enough to do it, too. (minimum age is 3)

Immediately after our princess makeover, we had breakfast reservations at Cinderella's Royal Table.  This is the part of the secret that was SO VERY HARD for me to keep for 6 months!!! OH.MY.GOSH.  This was definitely the highlight of the trip for all three of us, hands down.  It was ridiculously expensive but totally worth every penny, and then some.  I knew this was another one of those "don't miss" things, so I made our reservation the day after Thanksgiving, the exact day the reservation window opened.  I didn't want to take a chance on missing this.

We got our "royal invitation" to attend breakfast with the princesses.  Upon entering the castle, we were greeted by Cinderella herself and took some photos.  We got seated upstairs with a great view of Main St.  The food was amazing---a pastry tray for appetizer, juice/coffee, breakfast all included.  At the end of the meal, our server presented Becca with a birthday cupcake, too! Insider tip: if you ask, your server will bring you more food.  I had read that this is an all-you-can eat deal....but the menu did not say so.  You know my Hungry Man, he was not afraid to ask for more!  Our server said they don't advertise "all you can eat" anymore due to the amount of waste they were having.  

The big deal:  you are guaranteed personal visits to your table by a minimum of three princesses (we got 4)!  No waiting in hot, sweaty lines....no rushing and hurrying.  We got plenty of time with Ariel, Jasmine, Belle and Sleeping Beauty.  Becca was in PRINCESS HEAVEN.  And, I'm pretty sure Lee enjoyed the eye candy.  Except for poor Belle, she looked like she stayed out too late the night before.

I know we won't be going back to Disney anytime soon, but I'm putting this on the top of our list again next time.  Worth the money, and then some.  This is what Becca will remember forever, and you can't put a value on that.

Meeting Cinderella when we entered the Castle. It was the only time we saw her the whole trip. They had a photographer there taking posed keepsake photos, which was included in the meal price. This is just a quick one I snapped.  Becca was in such shock, I don't think she actually spoke to Cinderella. 

This was just my plate....Lee had filet mignon and eggs!

Getting Jasmine's autograph.

Can't you just see the joy on Becca's face??  Nothing like meeting your favorite princess!

This is our server lighting Becca's candle. She has a twin sister--and she has worked at Disney for 36 years! Unbelieveable. Since she was 18; her whole career at Disney World.

Making a wish!  But I think it already came true!

In awe of Ariel, ya think?

T-Ball 2012

We had our first try with tee ball this year. I had to sign Becca up in Fayetteville because she didn't make the age minimum for Springdale's league. She was on a 6U team, but was one of only three 4-year-olds. She was definitely slow getting started; she had to have Lee go to bat with her every time. Most games, he also stood in the field with her.  After eight games, I still don't think her glove has even touched the ball.  However, she can hit it pretty good! I think she has come a long way and learned a lot. Next year should be more fun and easier for her. It will be nice being on a team with some girls that she'll already know.

I'm so proud of her for trying and for sticking it out. We had a much better experience with this than with soccer from last spring.