Vacation - Day 3

Disney World - Magic Kingdom

For a more comprehensive look, click here to see Magic Kingdom pics on my husband's blog. We each posted pictures from our own cameras. Once you have scrolled down to the bottom of his home page, you can click "older posts" and there should be one more post from this particular day as well.

Walking from the truck to the front gate.

This was the most anticipated day of our vacation. Big Sis loves all things princess! So we were especially looking forward to taking her to Disney this year.

Littlest Sis was overcome with excitement!

Okay, so it is a bit overwhelming. Not quite sure what to make of the seas of people, and the child ID "necklace"...

Spying Cinderella's Castle

It was okay, but...

...the music playing throughout the park was much better!

She was inspired to show me some moves while the brothers rode Pirates of the Caribbean!

Littlest Sis made friends with a nice elderly couple while we waited for the rest of the gang to return from the Swiss Family Robinson tree house.

No offense Mr. Disney, but that's one scary looking carousel horse...yikes!

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Then it was on to the moment we'd been waiting for! Uncle Adam graciously arranged for the girls to attend the Princess Lunch in Cinderella's castle!

Basically, you get to meet Cinderella, chat for a minute, and have your picture taken with her...and then you go to an upstairs dining room and eat while all of the other princesses come around and visit. For those going to Disney with a girly girl...I highly recommend it!

I'm not sure she knew quite what to think upon seeing her favorite cartoon characters in the flesh!

Some more than others...hehehe...okay, that's wrong.

I'm pretty sure no amount of "wishing on a star" will have mommy getting away with Jasmine's outfit anytime soon!

Well hello there Sleeping Beauty!

Still not sure what to make of all this.

As daddy pointed out, "She's real???"

And then she spotted her most favorite princess of all...this week anyway!

Snow White!

Also a favorite of Sis's...cheese cubes. Which she stuffed her face with seconds before meeting Miss Snow. Daddy's pics are very funny.

Littlest Sis slept through the first half of the experience, and woke up trying to figure out just what exactly was going on around her.

Big Sis showed her the ropes.

Every so often the lights would dim, followed by twinkling lights and sound effects. And that was the cue for everyone to wave their wands in the air and make a wish.

Littlest Sis caught on right away!

Daddy refuses to take a normal picture, get used to it! :)

Apparently this wand in the air thing is tons of fun.

Lunch was topped off with a royal sundae, complete with chocolate crown.

Thanks Uncle Adam!!!

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After lunch, we met back up with Adam and the boys. And headed to Space Mountain.

Biggest Brother, Uncle A, and Daddy went on that, while the rest of us waited outside. Perhaps Younger Brother will be tall enough next year.

It's okay, Sis is good company.

After that, it was on to Tea Cups and Winnie the Pooh to close out the day. Princess was fading fast...

Yep...officially faded!

By 8:00 she was completely princessed out!

A quick stop by the souvenir shop, and it was time to catch the ferry back to the parking lot.

Littlest Sis was out for the count by then as well.

Remember that part about Daddy refusing to take a normal picture?

The day was a blast! Magic Kingdom is still our favorite park hands down!

Update

I just wanted to thank all of our wonderful friends and family that so consistently read our blogs!!! And apologize for my inconsistency as of late! As I mentioned in the last post, we have a great new computer, but don't yet have the program that allows us to re size pictures. So uploading is an extremely long process, and with all of the abounding free time around here...well, you get the point! :)

Anyway...I have not fallen off the blogwagon, and really will be returning to daily posts very soon! Thanks for sticking with us!

~L

Time Out for Tea!

So, I had the intention of posting all of the vacation pics uninterrupted. However, I have not yet figured out how to resize pictures on the new computer. Which means they must be uploaded one at a time verrry slowly. I am saving the Disney pics for tomorrow (hopefully). And instead, posting a few shots from this morning.

Big Sis was having a tea party until she scampered upstairs to change her outfit. I ran up quickly to assist her, and came back down to find Littlest Sis having a tea party of her own.

Tea?

In our house, she who hosts the tea party gets to wear the tiara. Younger Brother took the liberty of placing it on Littlest Sis's head while I was upstairs.

Sis, you are a lovely party princess!

Daddy is in trouble ... x2!

Vacation - Day 2

Beach Day

It has become a tradition to take at least one day every year and drive down to Clearwater Beach. J's grandparents lived in the area and he used to come to this beach when he was a kid. Two years ago, Younger Brother got lost here! I have never been so terrified sick in my life! Thankfully, with the help of other beach goers, we found him! But we decided then that going to the beach with small children is not exactly the relaxing and luxurious experience it once was!!! Nevertheless, we tightened up our kid-track security, and decided to brave it again. After all, the kids love it...and the ocean is still the ocean! Thankfully, this year went much better!

I thought they looked cute all lined up to jump the breakers!

Not sure if this was the making of a sandcastle or a moat...

Either way, they have not yet grasped the concept of tides.

That's a good look for you B!

It's always sentimental, for daddy especially, when there is a new kiddo to bring to Clearwater.

This was Littlest Sis's first ever trip to the ocean...er, the Gulf...same difference (to us anyway).

She is the only one of our children to immediately like sand!

The first-time reactions of the others ranged from extremely put off to downright terrified.

She loved it!

She did surprisingly well with the water too!

It was not exactly warm!

At what age does the mid-thigh roll become undesireable???

Darn...I think I'm past it! :)

Part of this year's beefed up security...no sharing of floatation devices! And the little ones must wear theirs for the full duration of beach time!

Guess who's toes?

Here's a hint: pink nail polish

Big Sis got her first mouthful of salt water.

Brought back memories of my first "ocean swirly" off the coast of Oahu in 1985!

Okay, so I did get to relax a little.

All the sun and excitement quickly zapped Littlest Sis, and she spent the rest of the afternoon napping on Uncle A in the cabana.

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As evening approached, we decided to take the kids over to the pier to play and have some ice cream.

Perhaps "Superman" wasn't the best choice of colors on my part! Oh well, at least she liked it...and believe it or not, that actually came out in one wash!!!

Don't worry Sis, you'll be old enough for ice cream soon.

Though an absolute bear to get in, these were her very first pigtails, and mommy was totally loving them!

Big Sis + Humidity

As we were getting ready to leave, an incredibly dense fog rolled in off the Gulf! J has some neat pics that I'm sure he will be posting on his blog.

All in all, a lovely day at the beach!