Magic Kingdom

 WOW.  This place at Christmas is amazing!  What a great first day we had!  It really is one of the happiest places in the world.

So Lucas had been here before, when he was almost 4, so almost two years ago.  On that trip he was so in awe that he hardly talked the entire day... just took it all in.  This time around the magic had kind of worn off and he was focused on the big rides.  For example, we headed straight for the kiddie, yet memorable, rides in Fantasyland.  Lucas wanted nothing to do with a flying elephant, so talked Jeff into taking him to Space Mountain instead.  He only rode it once : )  Jeff said he was a little scared, but didn't really show it.  He thought he was mostly scared of the dark than of the fast ride. 

 It took us a little while to figure out how Ellen planned on enjoying her day.  We figured out that she didn't like being told when and where to have fun, but wanted to move and decide at her own pace.  We thought she'd enjoy all of the rides in Fantasyland, but she preferred the characters, parades and pushing her bunny in her stroller around the park. 

Nevertheless, Dumbo was officially her first ride at the Magic Kindom!  She seemed like she could give or take it : )  

Our next ride was It's a Small World, one of my favorites.  She seemed more in awe of this ride with the music, water and little people...

 Our next stop was at a show that was going on at the castle at 10:30am.  Lucas loved this show when he came two years ago and still talks about the fire that Mickey Mouse shot at the witch.  It was nice, but he didn't seem as impressed this time around : )

Splash Mountain!  Here are the boys waiting in line.  Lucas rode this many times today and said it was his second favorite, behind the mountain railroad train/roller coaster ride.  I was going to go to, but Miss Ellen is in mommy mode and would cry every time I tried to leave.  That was okay with me.  It wasn't MY trip to Disney, but her's, and if she wanted to just hang with me then that was what she was going to do.  

Luckily Woody was standing right outside of Splash Mountain, so we saw him a few times!

This kid.  We spent x amount to get her into this park and her favorite place was this little kiddie playground outside of Spash Mountain!

Pics of us at Disney!

 

Time for ice cream!  My mom has a favorite place that she likes to buy ice cream and it was about that time... 

 Here we are meeting Mickey Mouse!  The first time for both kids, and the first time that Jeff or I could remember meeting him ourselves.  To say that Ellen loved this would be an understatement.  By far her best part of the day!

Love the way she is looking at him here!

 There was a parade at about 3pm that we wanted to see.  As we were walking the streets to find a place to stand, we were getting frustrated because it was already so crowded at 2:30.  That is how we ended up by the entrance to the park, which is where Mickey was stationed.  We figured it would be less crowded by the entrance AND we'd get to see Mickey.  We were right and it was awesome.  We saw Mickey and then came out to front curb seats for the parade. 

Here we are, ready for some parade watchin'...

This is when we figured out that Ellen was all about the parades.  She could have stood there all day.  

Lucas was not as impressed, but I think he enjoyed it.

Here is our lady, right up front.

See me holding her dress?  We were afraid she was going to dart right out there...

Okay, this is the moment when Ellen's Disney trip turned magical.  This random character gave her a high five.  No, make that three high fives.  She was so cute and excited that the mouse kept coming back!  This opened up a whole new realm of possibilities for Ellen.  After that moment she made it her mission to give all of the characters a high five. 

Anxiously awaiting more characters!

And then, she crashed : )

 After the parade we had to split up so that somebody could stay with Ellen while she slept in the stroller.  I had read that the People Mover was a fun ride, even though it appeared lame compared to the other exciting rides.  It actually ended up being one of my favorite rides!  Lucas, however, was not pleased that we chose this ride.

Exhibit A: Pout face.

He soon changed his mind...

It was fun to be up high and have a little cruise around Tomorrowland!

Next Lucas wanted to see Snitch, so I stayed with Ellen while Jeff, Grandma and Lucas went there...

Ellen was pooped.  She slept like this for about two hours.

Grandma's favorite ride - the tea cups!

 While Jeff and Lucas went back to ride some of the fast rides, my mom and I took Ellen to another parade that was going on around 7pm.  Once again, she absolutely loved it!  And this time they stopped the parade and invited everyone to dance with the characters.  Ellen got a lot of high fives and a lot of personal waves, like this one here from Woody!

Grandma and Ellen in front of the castle!

If we ever gave Ellen a choice of what she wanted to do next, it was always to go see Mickey.  Since he was stationed at the entrance, we saw him again on our way out.  This time Ellen got him all to herself!

Here she is giving him a kiss.

And a hug!

Then it was time for Ellen to pose for a picture.  Mickey thought it was funny that she wouldn't smile...

Here is a little smirk, but still not good enough for Mickey...

So he tickled her nose...

And was happy to see a smile!  See him pointing to her smile : )

 Ellen is not into princesses, but since they were right by Mickey, and there was no line, we saw them too.  Ellen wasn't as impressed.

Here come the kiddos...

My mom drove over with the kids late Monday afternoon.  Let the fun begin!

Just like I used to do with my sister and brother, Lucas and Ellen explored the place for a while.  Tested out the echo effect on the hallways...

After dinner we went to check out the path, the lake, the ducks and the putt-putt.  

All Ellen cared about were the ducks.

Not sure if she ever actually played, or just harassed the ducks : )

Lucas, a.k.a Mr. Perfectionist, had fun until he finished his round without getting a hole in one...

So we played until he did... : )

Finally, some cuddle time with my two cuties!

And the traditional bubble bath in the jacuzzi tub!

Grown Up Time

My parents gave us the best Christmas present this year.  They have been timeshare members for years and were able to spare a week at a resort on Disney property, which we are really looking forward to seeing.  As if that wasn't enough, they volunteered to watch the kids (and dog) for us on Saturday and Sunday night at their place, while we went ahead and checked into the resort (unit) and had a couple of days to ourselves. 

It was so great!

It took me several hours to get out of mommy mode, but then it was just so relaxing.  Jeff and I were going to go out, but decided that we NEVER get to just lounge around in our own place, read as long as we want, watch whatever we want on t.v., nap whenever we want... so we mostly stayed in.  I wish I had known before I had kids how nice it was to wake up when I was ready to wake up, and then decide I wanted to turn over and snooze for a while.  ahhhhhh.

No pics of our lazy weekend.  I accidentally left the camera at my parent's house.

Disney Bound!

We are on our way to Disney World!  Jeff and I planned on leaving our house around 6pm on Friday and getting a room when we got tired.  The kids were asleep and we were excited, so we drove straight through to my parent's house, arriving around 2am.  It seemed like a good idea, until the kids woke up refreshed from their six hour nap!  I think it was 4am when I finally got to sleep, and then we were up by 7am.  That's okay, we can sleep at home : ) 

This picture is of Ellen, Lucas and Tyson on Grandma and Grandpa's bed.  It was probably about 2:30am and I thought we were about to go to sleep. 

We'll be heading to Orlando later today!  Yippeee!