Friday, February 28, 2014

Hot weather and princesses

About six months ago a girl in one of my mom's groups mentioned a race that sounded really fun. It's a 1/2 marathon at Disney called the Disney Princess. At the time I had just run my first 1/2 marathon and wanted to run more. So I convinced my husband that we NEEDED to go see his family in Florida. =) (The race pics and info are on my personal blog.)

Last week we loaded up the car and headed down for a week of fun in the warmth and sun. I don't have very many pictures to show for all of that fun. Mostly because we were too busy having fun to bother. But also some of them are probably still residing on the cameras of our family members.

We were blessed to have family who works at Disney and was able to get us into all of the parks for free. Every day my children impressed me and warmed my heart. They weren't perfect, but they were pretty darn close. It might have been the incredible contrast between the spoiled entitled brats all around them. But mostly it was because my kids just plain rock! Despite the hours of walking and standing, despite the unseasonably warm weather they were so good. It warmed my heart!
 I shall try not to bore you with too many pictures. We really enjoyed our experience and I want it in our book for memories. But the most important part of our whole trip was spending time with our family. Disney was just a sweet bonus!

Dancing in the street at Magic Kingdom. Dominic really got into it. 
Caitlin was a bit uncertain.
 The more sedate carousel was more her style.
 Racing cars was an experience. I might still be suffering from whiplash. Baby girl has quite a bit to learn before we unleash her on the roads. But Dominic seemed to do fairly well.
 The girl that always gets motion sick in the car was really enjoying making her mom nauseous. =)
For several weeks before we got to Disney we talked about Caitlin seeing a princess. So all morning she'd tell me about the different princesses she was seeing. It only took me a second to realize she was talking about the little girls who dressed up to go to the park. 
When we walked into that room and she saw a life size "real" princess, she about fainted. We were in there for about 15-20 minutes and the dazed look never left her face. It was hilarious!
 Even at Disney, she gets her hair clips fixed. Now she can say a real princess helped fix her hair.
 She was smiling, but it was this cautious, "Is this for real?!" smile.
 The kids loved this chair at the resort.
  Playing the drums.
My handsome little man!
 Viking girl.
 I'll let you guess why he's laughing about the troll nose. =)
 After getting to meet different characters all day, 
Caitlin was more unfazed and her typical smiley self.
Duffy is apparently Mickey's stuffed bear. See Gramps popping in for a picture?
 She loved all of the flowers in Epcot!
 That brother!
 We also went to Animal Kingdom. Caitlin couldn't ride one of the rides because she was a bit too short. It really upset her, because she learned that she likes roller coasters. So Aunt Bonnie got her a snow leopard as a consolation prize. She's still sleeping with it almost a week later. She loves it!

She was so tired in this picture. We hadn't stayed for the lights ceremony in Epcot before because it's so late in the evening. But on our last night there we decided to stay. Caitlin wasn't complaining, but she was walking slower and slower. All week she was Miss Independence. So I knew she was tired when she agreed to let Gramps carry her instead of walking.
 Aunt Sue smiling at a very tired little boy. We FINALLY wore the little guy out!
 Caitlin was so out that we couldn't wake her up when we stopped for a milkshake supper. Dominic, however, perked up enough to eat most of his. =)
We also went to see the Manatees, went out on the boat, went kayaking, had a picnic, ran a race (at least I did), and spent time with our family. It was a magical week!

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