Disney World Vacation - Part 2

Day three and four were spent in Magic Kingdom and Epcot.  The weather was gorgeous (high 70's) nearly the entire time we were there, but the day we were in Epcot, the weather was overcast and chilly.  It was forecasted to be in the 70's and sunny, so we didn't bring jackets with us...big mistake!

One of the highlights of the vacation was seeing Merida from the movie Brave.  She was a lot of fun and spent a little extra time with the girls, they just loved her!

Right after meeting Merida, the kids were given the opportunity to shoot an arrow at a target.  Both girls wanted to try.

We had a character lunch reservation scheduled at the Crystal Palace (in Magic Kingdom) which is the home to Winnie the Pooh and friends.  Each character came to the table for hugs, autographs and pictures.  Both girls love the Winnie the Pooh characters, so they enjoyed this meal quite a bit.

Although I was the official photographer of the vacation, James would always pull his camera out while the characters were around. Most of the time the girls would look his way (maybe because he can be LOUD) which is why they rarely looked in my direction.  Sigh...

Paloma is in a really picky phase right now, so when she managed to eat almost all of her lunch, I had to snap a picture.  :)

D*mn that James ruining my picture again!  I guarantee most of his are out of focus!  :)

We caught a parade right after lunch, unfortunately most of my pictures of the parade were a little blurry.

Gaston from Beauty and the Beast.  Paloma was afraid of him at first, but towards the end of the encounter, didn't want to leave his side.  Just stared up at him and wouldn't move.  I thought I had a picture of it, but discovered I didn't.  :(

The entrance to our resort pool.  We left MK a little early so that we could go swimming.  The water was warm, but the night air was cool.  James and I didn't go in the water, but the girls didn't seem to be bothered at all.  Probably their only complaint regarding the vacation would be we didn't swim as much as they would have liked.  No matter how cool it got, you would always see people swimming in the pool.

These pictures are inside the counter service restaurant in our resort.

The lobby of our hotel

Epcot!

Meeting Mulan - Epcot

Jasmine and Aladdin - Epcot

This is the day we were in Epcot.  I didn't bring our jackets and it turned out to be a very chilly day.  We were in the World Showcase and couldn't find a store that sold a generic kids sweatshirt, but we did manage to find a couple of blankets.

A BIG, BIG moment for the girls.  They LOVE Mary Poppins.  We showed up just as she was leaving for her break.  Since we were the first in line, we decided to sit and wait the 20 minutes for her.  I think because she knew we waited for her, she spent a little extra time with the girls which made them so happy.

One of my favorite pictures,  too bad I cut off part of the umbrella.

She and Milan jumping into a pretend chalk picture (just like the movie).

Ahhh...made it out of the World Showcase and finally found a couple of cute sweatshirts!

After dinner in Mexico, the girls pretty much passed out, so James and I decided to walk through the World Showcase again, as the first time was spent finding/waiting for the characters.

To be continued.......

Disney World Vacation - Part 1

First day on the road stopping for lunch at Cracker Barrel 

Last month we spent the week after Thanksgiving in Disney World!  We decided to drive down (which really turned out not to be very difficult, even with two young girls).  We left the day after Thanksgiving, spent the first night in South Carolina and then the next night in Orlando.  Very early the next morning, we checked into our resort hotel, Port Orleans French Quarter, picked up our park tickets and caught a bus to Disney Hollywood Studios.  Our second full day at Disney was spent in Downtown Disney and Epcot.  These pictures cover our first two days in Disney.  :)

  

First night in a hotel somewhere in South Carolina 

Character breakfast at Disney Hollywood Studios with Disney Jr. characters.  The girls were beyond excited! 

One of their current favorite characters - Jake from Jake and the Neverland Pirates. 

We saw the Beauty and the Beast Live show.  A twenty minute musical which was just awesome.  The girls have since named Belle as their favorite princess. 

 The Osborne FamilySpectacle of Lights...a city block in DHS, completely covered in Christmas lights.  So magical to walk through, especially with snow falling down on you.  The girls jumped out of their strollers and twirled to the music, trying to catch snowflakes on their tongues.

 Our second day - this picture was taken in our hotel lobby.  

 Taken on the grounds of our resort, a New Orleans themed resort.

We made an appointment for Milan (Paloma was too young) at the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique, where she was treated to a princess makeover.  She loved all of the special treatment given to her by her very own "Fairy Godmother".  Out of all of the hairstyle choices, Milan chose the craziest. 

 We rushed back to the hotel to change Paloma into her princess dress and catch a bus to Epcot for our princess dinner.  The girls were in complete awe of the princesses.  Each one came to our table, met the girls, signed autograph books, and posed for pictures.  

To be continued.......

First Day of Nursery School - 2012

And in what seemed like the blink of an eye, my baby grew up on me and has entered nursery school!  Today was Paloma's first day in the two year old room and boy was it a hard day for her mommy!  I took Paloma out to the playground to meet up with her teacher, and before I could say anything, Paloma had taken off toward the slide and never once looked back.  I spent the next two and a half hours feeling a little bit lost and occasionally fighting back tears.  It was the first morning I've had to myself in two and a half years and it felt very strange.  I arrived at school a little bit early and was told by her teacher that Paloma had a wonderful time and didn't ask for her mommy even once!  Of course it feels good to be needed, but I will take that news ANY day,  rather than hear she cried for me all morning.  Milan is really excited to have Paloma at school and apparently hugged every time they saw each other.  Paloma will be attending Wednesday and Friday mornings and is excited for her next day at school.

First Day of Preschool 2012

Today was Milan's first day in the 4 year old class at her preschool.  She was very excited as she has had an eye on her teacher, Ms. Eileen, since last year.  It's so hard to believe that this time next year, she will be headed to kindergarten!