Disney Day 5: Fairies

We did end up paying a ridiculous amount to get the disc of pictures. They did turn out really cute!

Disney Day 5: Magic Kindgom

On Thursday we headed back to the Magic Kingdom. There is just too much to do in one day! It turned out to be a gorgeous, but HOT day. We arrived around 2:30 so we could get a spot for the parade. Of course the parade is during the hottest part of a hot day, but we couldn't leave without seeing it.
Brooke had a nice little set up. She was pushed around with a fan blowing on her while she slept in the shade. We had many people make comments about how great the fan was. Unfortunately it was so hot that she would still get warm and sweaty on her back. I don't think it was too bad because she took several naps this way.

Cooling off and getting ready to head back out. One nice thing about Disney is that they have childcare areas set up where you can take kids to cool off, change diapers, and rooms to nurse babies. There is only one per park, and some are nicer than the others (Animal Kingdom wins the super nice award), but everyone was able to cool of and there were play areas the girls could use while I was feeding Brooke. It worked out great for all of us.

All over the parks there are photographers that will take your picture. They have their fancy cameras, but they will also take a picture using your camera. After they snap a few shots with their fancy cameras they scan a PhotoPass card. We were given one on our first day there. Then you can come home, look at your pictures, and pay crazy prices to order some. You can even order all pictures on a CD with a copyright release. Guess how much? Nope. Nope. Higher than that. $150. Yes. One-hundred-and-fifty dollars for a CD. I know you are paying for them to do their job and take pictures, but seriously. They make enough money as it is. Unfortunately there are a few pictures on there that we didn't get that I would really like. What to do...

We finally gave in and waited in line to see Tinkerbell and her friends. The line was finally down to 60 minutes. Yes, you read that right, and we waited in it. In the last part of the line they usher you into an area where you are sprinkled with pixie dust in order to shrink down to the size of the fairies. It was a neat little lighting effect and as you can see Macy thought it was really cool.

I have no pictures of the girls meeting Tinkerbell. I do have video, though. Our camera batteries died right after this picture. Thanks to our camera that always shows full battery power and then goes ka-put. My mom called me right after we met Iridessa (a fairy) because Brooke was uncontrollable. Marc stayed with the girls while I went to take care of little one. Those expensive pictures - a couple of them are of cute ones of the girls with Tinkerbell and Terrence. What to do...

The carousel was another big hit with the girls.

The castle at night. It changes to many different colors.

We stayed until the fireworks show. I had promised Kayla we would see it thinking it would be around 9:00. No, it was at 10:00. That would be 2 hours after bedtime, but how many times will we be in Disney? Plus, I couldn't break a promise to my little girl! When we left she told me it was magical and her favorite part of the whole trip. Of course her opinion changes daily now.

Brooke slept through the entire fireworks show in my arms snuggled up in the baby wrap (thank goodness it had cooled down some). We let Macy lay down in her carseat so we didn't have to hold her. She was TIRED. To prove my point we took a picture of her snuggling with the fan. We tried to take it away. You would have thought she was loving on her rabbit. Needless to say they crashed after we got back to our room and took a quick shower.

We had such a wonderful vacation. It's the first time we have taken a vacation that required so much work. It was worth it, but we truly do need a vacation after a vacation. The girls really enjoyed themselves and we made so many wonderful memories. Next time we go a whole new world (no Aladdin pun intended for those who know the movie) of things to do will open up as the girls will be older. It was Marc's first time to Disney as well so I know he will be excited next time when he can do something other than "It's a Small World" and "Dumbo". In all seriousness Marc and I are so thankful that we were able to enjoy this special time with our girls.

Disney Day 4: Epcot

We woke up Wednesday morning for another exciting character meal. This time we headed to Akershus in Epcot. It was in the Norwegian section and usually serves Norwegian food. That didn't sound appealing to me, but thankfully it was a buffet breakfast that also served American fare as well.
The girls got dressed up int their princess dresses. Kayla wore her Cinderella dress and the only other one we had that I would want Macy to wear was Tinkerbell. She isn't a princess, but close enough. Macy loves Tinkerbell so it all worked out. I also had to do a little adjustments to Kayla's dress so she could go out in public. We're working on the modesty thing. :)

So excited and on their way to meet the princesses.

Belle was the first princess we met. She was set up for autographs and pictures before you were seated for breakfast. We were given a "free" set of pictures in a nice little folder from the restaurant. I say "free" because nothing at Disney World is free. Somehow you pay for it. Including the $3.50 package of 16 wipes we had to buy one day when we forgot to pack them.

Snow White

Princess Aurora (aka Sleeping Beauty)

Cinderella

My sleeping princess.

Jasmine and Aladdin LOVED the autograph books and went through every page with the girls. I'm sure the rest of the people in line weren't too thrilled at the time they spent with my girls, but I'm thrilled because Kayla and Macy were so proud showing off their books.

Suzy or Prilla. I can't remember. It's one of Cinderella's mice friends.

Riding in a clam shell for the Nemo ride.

I have fond memories of eating Mickey Mouse ice-cream from when I was little. I wanted to share this memory with my girls so we bought them one. They were done after 2 bites so Marc and I ate them. Neither of us really wanted ice-cream at the time. Oh well.

After a hot day at Epcot we headed back to the Polynesian for some fun pool time. This water feature held their attention for about 2 minutes. There was more fun to be had in the pool!

Disney Day 3: Downtown Disney

Tuesday evening we went to Downtown Disney for dinner and shopping. We ate at the Rainforest Cafe. The girls had been to one before, but it was over a year ago. They enjoyed watching the rain storm come through and Kayla really loved the aquariums inside. After dinner we went to the huge Disney store and we were inside too long. Kayla and Macy had been saving their money to take to Disney World and there were too many choices! On our way out we stopped in the candy store for dessert. I got a caramel apple, Marc got a triple chocolate chunk brownie, and the girls got dipped pretzels. Typical of them Macy ate the chocolate off and dropped the pretzel and Kayla said there was too much chocolate on it and wanted some taken off.

Hanging out with Buzz.

My mom made these adorable dresses. She found the striped pillowcases for super cheap and then the polka-dot bottom matched perfectly. I need to trim the ribbons down a little, but I think they turned out great. The bows were made by a high-school friend Jana. I had a really cute one made for Brooke too. It fell off while we were at breakfast and I think someone else thought it was too cute and decided to keep it for themselves. There was only a small area of the restaurant it could have fallen off in and we looked all over the place and no one turned it in. I hope they enjoy it as much as I did. We took these pictures at our resort before heading out for dinner.

Disney Day 3: Animal Kingdom

The girls love staying in hotel rooms. I used to enjoy it a lot more, but with 2 small children and a baby who still wakes up every 3 hours it's not easy. I don't want Brooke to wake Kayla and Macy up, so every time she wakes up, and a quick pacifier won't work, I feed her. She'll go right back to sleep, but I'm up for 20 minutes feeding her and then I have to get back to sleep. I've been doing this for 4 1/2 months, but there is something more urgent when you are trying to keep her from waking others up.

In the middle of the night Macy came to our bed wanting to sleep with us. This woke Kayla up so Marc and Kayla did a bed switch. After Brooke's early morning feeding I put her in bed with us. When Kayla woke up and saw that Brooke was sleeping next to her she was beyond thrilled. She was probably as excited about that as she was going to the Animal Kingdom.Marc and I had been to the Animal Kingdom with Kayla when she was a baby. He had a business trip to Orlando, the company put us up in the Animal Kingdom Lodge (nice!), and we decided to check out the park while we were there. We knew the safari ride was popular and something the girls would love, so the first thing we did was head to the back of the park to ride Kilimanjaro Safaris.

After the safari, which the girls really loved, we walked to a viewing window and saw this mama gorilla with her 3 month old baby. Apparently it's very unusual for gorillas to keep their babies that close to where people are. They have great hearing and want to protect their babies. I didn't get a chance to see it before the mama moved it away, but it is so tiny (in gorilla sizes at least!).

The Lion King show was fabulous. These 4 "monkeys" flipped, spun, jumped, and swung around. There was a trampoline in the floor and they did some pretty neat tricks.

The lady in the right hand corner sang "Circle of Life" really well and really loud. This was the only part of the show that Brooke did not care for. At all.

Kayla and I made autograph books for them to get signed. In doing my research about the trip I came across several people who had made their own books and apparently the characters really love them. It took some time, cost a little more than if I bought one at Disney World, but Kayla and I had some fun times putting them together and most of the characters loved to see their own pictures waiting for them to sign. Below is Dale (we never saw Chip) and he thought it was great. He made lots of hand gestures and even drew an arrow in the picture to which one was him. A few of the princess flipped through a few pages and Jasmine and Aladdin looked through the entire book and talked to the girls about it. Once I get their pictures put in the books I'll post about it.

Poor Marc. The picture speaks for itself.

Eeyore signing their books.

We were told the wait to see Pooh, Tigger, and Eeyore was 10 to 15 minutes so we decided to stay. It actually ended up being about 30-40 minutes. We got there as they were rotating characters for a short break, so that backed up the line a little bit.

Macy's 3rd Birthday Party

I'm not sure I should admit this, but here goes. For birthdays I always gather pictures from around the house of the celebrating child and place them on this table with flowers and the cake. It wasn't until 2 days later that I realized the black and white baby picture wasn't Macy. It was Brooke. In my defense I have the same pose, in black and white, of Macy that I used to keep on our DVD cabinet in the living room. After this one was taken I did some rearranging so I could fit some pictures of Brooke in the room. Sorry Macy.

Macy loves Tinkerbell. Before we left for Disney World I bought these figurines and took them to my favorite local bakery. The instructions I left were to make it a light green cake with flowers. Other than that I gave her freedom to decorate and use as many characters as she wanted. I LOVE the way it turned out. Macy loved it too.

My mom gave her this neat little bike thing. I'm sure it has a more official name, though. You just sit on it and wiggle the handlebars back and forth and it moves along. Pretty neat. I think it holds up to a 200lb person or something like that so I even gave it a try. Pretty nifty.

Grammie and Grampie gave her a musical card (along with several other goodies). I used to think these cards were too expensive. Now I will admit to having purchased a few for the girls. They think they are the neatest thing and we listen to them a lot. We still have a Dumbo one from a birthday last year that still gets played with when it shows up around here.

Beautiful flowers for a beautiful little girl.