2010 Header Re-cap

Happy New Year Everyone!

Disney World! Rides

We went on almost every ride at the Magic Kingdom.  Actually I think we did go on every ride.  Oh except that Winnie the Pooh one.  The lines were always too long.  He is a popular bear.  Must be the honey. 

This was our first ride and it was OK.

We all loved It's a Small World.  Especially Andrew.  He was mesmerized.

Kevin was filled with pride when we saw the very authentic Ireland display.  It even had a glittery shamrock.  I didn't think they had those outside of Ireland.

I thought these little dolls were cute.

This picture is for Markie.

Then we checked out the Buzz Lightyear ride.  Apparently this is some sort of game ride combo.  You are supposed to ride around and shoot at something with those large gun things (I didn't exactly figure the whole thing out). 

My score was 0 (because I was way to busy taking pictures to even try....otherwise my score would have been off the charts).  Amy's score was 200, but in her defense she didn't try that hard.  Kevin and Grace had a few thousand points. 

And this super cool guy (riding all alone, not a child, niece, nephew, grand child, little brother, or little sister in sight) got a score of 124,000. I was super impressed.  He obviously practices.  A lot.

This guy made Amy and I giggle the entire ride.  Then we both agreed that Justin would LOVE this ride.  Because it is competitive, and he likes that stuff.

Here we are on the Tomorrowland "People Mover".  It lives up to its promises and moves people.

It wouldn't be a trip to Disney without a ride in the vomit inducing teacups.

This picture pretty much sums up how the teacups make me feel.

I was so excited for Grace to experience Dumbo.  This ride is one of my only memories of visiting Disney World when I was really little.  Plus, I love elephants.  Of course Grace wanted to ride with Daddy so I had to sit that one out.  I was crushed.  So Kevin told her that I was scared of rides.  Then for the rest of the day she rode with me so I wouldn't get scared.  Sweetheart.

Here is Gracie after she got off the flying elephant! 

I couldn't get a picture of them on the ride because Grace was sitting to the inside and I couldn't even see her. So the picture would have looked like Kevin was riding the pink elephant all by himself. And I would never embarass him like that. I only post pictures where he looks serious and cool and manly.  Like this one.

Here Gracie and I are after our 2 trips on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.  She loved it!  It is a real rollercoaster and she wasn't scared a bit.  Too bad Grace was too short to go on Space Moutain with us,  she would have loved it!

Here we are on Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride.  Grace and I sang "A Whole New World" the entire ride. 

And our last ride of the trip was a whirl on Cinderella's Carousel. 

What can I say? The boy loves his string cheese.

Andrew has recently developed a slight obsession with string cheese. 

Here he is hanging onto my legs in sheer desperation.  This is after I told him he couldn't have his 3rd piece of the day.  He was emotionally distaught.  So I took a picture.  Again, its not too late to nominate me for "2010 Mother of the Year".  Seriously.  I will thank you in my acceptance speech.

 After that tactic was unsuccessful, he moved onto hanging on the refrigerator.  He ended up getting the door open, but didn't quite know what to do after that.

After 20 minutes of his ranting I gave in, because, well, I HATE noise.  And he stopped his crying when he got his beloved cheese. 

I am sure that is in violation of pretty much every parenting book.  But since I haven't read any, I wouldn't know.  (Well I did read a bit of 123 Magic but they lost me when they said the parent has to remain calm...have they met my daughter?!)

Now let's play "Guess What Andrew is Thinking?"

A. Yes!  This string cheese is soooo good.

B. Really Mom?  I had to go through all that trauma to just get a frickin' piece of cheese?

C. Today's score:

Andrew=1

Mom=0

 Grace=423

If I never had children....

I would have more time, money, energy.  Plus, cuter hair, nails, clothes.... 

But besides these obvious things, I would not know...

1. How challenging it is to clean smears of american cheese (or what Grace calls "That cheese I like") off of hard wood floors. 

2. That pleather ottomans taste really, really good.

3. The joy in your child's eyes when she discovers Oprah. 

I was watching one of the "Favorite Things" re-runs and Grace was immediately drawn into the excitement.

I must disclose that I am NOT a fan of Oprah.

4. How to clean crayon out of a toddler's teeth. 

Answer: You don't.

5. What happens when you give a 16 month old a tablespoon of ketchup and turn your back for 20 seconds.

All of these lessons were learned in a span of 24 hours.

'Tis the Season - Christmas Eve Decor

This is how the house looked before Christmas Eve dinner.

Dessert Buffet

The bar

My favorite Christmas gift, a Santa cardholder from Gracie.

Kitchen placesetting.

Buddy the Elf watching over Christmas Eve dinner.

Disney World! Princess Stuff

Grace loves the Disney Princesses, so our main goal for our visit was to have her meet at least one Princess.  Well Gracie got to meet three! 

Princess Aurora A.K.A Sleeping Beauty

 She told Gracie that, "It looks like you have the gift of grace" without even knowing Gracie's name!

I was a little nervous that Grace would be shy and not fully interact with the characters Princesses but she jumped right in!

Cinderella

Gracie and Cinderella chatting about pink lipgloss and headbands.

Belle

Look at Grace's hands.  I had my hands folded like that at church a few weeks ago and Grace asked me to show her how to put her hands like that.  Such a sweetie.

All the Princesses were super sweet to Grace and she got to spend about 1-2 minutes with each.  This experience was TOTALLY worth the trip to Disney.

Coincidentally the three she met were the same Princesses on her new t-shirt that she wore that day. Lucky girl!  She loved showing the princesses her shirt.

One funny thing, as soon as we walked out of the Princess room Grace turned to me and said, "But I wanted to meet Jasmine!" Ha.

Other Princess stuff we liked:

Beautiful (it really was) mosaic inside Cinderella's castle.

So there was this somewhat ridiculous store that had only princess and fairy (think Tinkerbelle and her fairy friends, new and apparently very popular) stuff for sale.

 They also had this display which I found delightful.  Apparently, they also do makeovers on the little girls here.  I saw some of these girls walking around the park with absurd amounts of make up and weird hair dos.  I felt bad for their parents.  They had to pay for these makeovers and then walk around the park with their  ridiculous looking children all day.   

Snow White Ride 

 Cinderella Fountain