Disney Vacation - Day 2

On Monday, we decided to go to Epcot--primarily because Elsa and Anna from Frozen were doing meet & greet times in Norway, and Em really wanted to see them.

We took the monorail and got to Epcot right as it was opening.

We lucked out by walking up to a character meeting spot and finding Mickey,

Goofy,

and Minnie Mouse!  We rode some rides, including Spaceship Earth in the Epcot ball and a few other fun ones before heading over to the World Showcase when it opened at 11:00.

I thought I had done my research and prepared for everything on this trip, but we were NOT prepared to get to Norway and find a four hour wait to see Anna and Elsa!  People had apparently been waiting since the park opened that morning, and when we got there, we were told that the end of the line was for the 3pm meeting!  It was the moment of truth, and we had to make a decision, so we decided to wait.  Elsa and Anna were really the primary reason we went to Epcot, and we knew we'd always regret it if we didn't wait.

The line was wrapped around several buildings and ended in a gift shop (of course!)--we snuck around so Em could have a peek!

We had plenty of time to kill, so Mick and I took turns walking around with Em--she found a fountain to throw some coins in,

met a duck friend who she named Quack Quack,

and had some ice cream!

It got pretty warm in the sun, so Em and I checked out the gift shop to cool off.  Mick even went and got lunch and we ate while standing in line.  We packed a cooler every morning with tons of snacks and drinks, and Em did more snacking than really eating--but that saved us, since at least she had things like apples, peanut butter, and plenty of water.

After only THREE hours, we were almost there!

When we finally made it in, nothing could have been better than the look on Em's face when she saw Elsa and Anna!

She went straight for Elsa and hugged and hugged her.  Mick and I both had tears in our eyes, and the photographer looked at us and said "so I guess it was worth the wait?"  Absolutely :).

The characters everywhere were unbelievable.  I think they know that you've waited your turn in line, and they're not going to rush you at all.  They're so patient and let Em talk as long as she wanted.

She even gave them a very shy (and very unlike Em) version of "Let it Go" from the movie.

We knew we weren't planning to do the entire World Showcase, but China was right next to Norway, so we decided to go meet Mulan.  Em, as you can see, brought a couple of wardrobe changes for each day.  It was so cute how she told all of the princesses how very beautiful they looked.  She's never even seen the movie Mulan, but found plenty to talk about with her.

She loved all of the flowers at Epcot, and kept wanting to smell them (and pick them!).

It really felt like spring--temperatures in the 80s and sunny.

We went back to the park side and Em loved the Nemo ride!

She and Mick even posed with Bruce the Shark!

I think this picture is so cute for some reason.

More flowers!

We went on a new ride called Soarin', which was a hang gliding simulation that was extremely realistic!  We weren't exactly sure what to expect, and Em was pretty scared once we got in, but it was too late to change our minds.  We let her pick out this little Simba lion cub toy for being so brave when we got off the ride. Now that we know what to expect, I'd definitely ride it again (but probably not with Em).

Ready to head home from Epcot after a long, fun day (and no nap!).

We ate dinner back at our hotel and watched the Magic Kingdom fireworks from our balcony!  We had a big day planned for Tuesday, so Em needed to get to bed early!

Disney Vacation - Day 1

I have been planning our Disney trip for months--we decided a while back that Em was the perfect age to go, and that we'd take her for her fourth birthday.  Since her birthday gets into Spring Break season and we wanted to avoid the times when schools were out, we landed on the first week of February.  I booked the resort and started making plans.  It seemed like it would never get here, and Em was super excited too, so we talked about it all the time.  

On Saturday, February 1, we drove down to Brunswick and spent the day and night with Mick's parents--we thought it would be a nice bonus for Em to see Grandma and Papa on the way, and it broke up the trip for us since we weren't checking in until Sunday.

We left pretty early Sunday morning and drove the remaining 3 1/2 hours until we were finally greeted by Mickey and Minnie!

The weather was beautiful and in the low 80s--we all got excited as we approached our hotel, the Contemporary Resort.  This is the one where the monorail runs right through the hotel!

We got checked in quickly and headed out to catch the bus to Hollywood Studios for the afternoon.

There were a few things we really wanted to do at Hollywood Studios, but not an entire day's worth, which is why we planned it first.  We saw The Little Mermaid show,

and all week, I tried to grab every Disney photographer I saw for these family shots--we bought the Memory Maker package, which meant every time we had a picture taken, they scanned my MagicBand and it showed up in my online account.  Definitely worth it, since we otherwise wouldn't have any pictures of all three of us!

The first character Em saw was Jake from the cartoon "Jake and the Neverland Pirates."  Not even one of her favorites, but she got super excited to see every character!

She liked Kermit since she got to stand up high to pose for this one.

And then Princess Sofia--again, not one of her favorites, but since she recognized her, she wanted to meet her.

Then we saw Lightning McQueen and Tow Mater.

And Em found some wildlife she liked too!

One of the main reasons we wanted to go to Hollywood Studios was the Beauty and the Beast live show. Em was in love--it was about a 30 minute show with live singing and dancing to all of her favorite songs from the movie.

 

It was really well done,

and we had great seats close to the stage.

We had dinner reservations at Mama Melrose's, which guaranteed a reserved seat at the Fantasmic! show that night.

It started at 7pm, and poor Em was exhausted.  She hadn't taken a nap all day, and fell asleep on my lap while we were waiting for the show to start.

Luckily, she woke up pretty easily and was in a great mood for the show.  We were glad she didn't miss it!  I think the end was her favorite part--all of the characters on this huge boat that sailed through.  By the end of the show, we were all ready to get back to the hotel, and so glad we had Em's stroller!

When we got back to our room, we found this awesome surprise!  Mickey and Minnie had come by and left a gift for Em--it was a signed photo, balloons, a white chocolate Mickey, and Mickey and Minnie dolls!

Em could hardly contain herself, and asked if Mickey and Minnie gave her those presents because she had been a good girl.  We definitely got some mileage out of that throughout the week--it was almost like Santa and Elfie watching her!

Uncle Jason is 40!

As I mentioned, I've gotten things a little out of order now, but wanted to go back and capture a fun weekend in January.  Uncle Jason was turning 40, and Aunt Jenn had been working hard to plan a surprise party for him that we are all in on, which made it really fun.

Aunt Julie flew down to Wilmington, and Grandma was already there too, so Mick, Em and I drove down on Friday, January 10 (the day before the party).

Cody, Em and Chase have so much fun playing together!  Cody and Chase had some cool toys to share, and we stayed in the backyard all afternoon on Friday.

Em has never driven one of these little cars, but loved it!

Friday night after the kids went to bed, we had a good time playing Headbandz.

On Saturday, we decided to go bowling and play a few games before we took the kids back for naps so we could start getting ready for the party.  They had a great time bowling!

And they got pretty competitive when it came to the arcade games!

Too bad there weren't three guns in this thing--they had trouble taking turns!

A friend of Jason and Jenn's took all the pictures during the actual birthday party, and unfortunately we don't have them yet, but it turned out to be a really fun night, and I think Jason was pretty surprised at some of the old friends who showed up.  Grandma went back to Jason and Jenn's house with the kids fairly early so they could rest and we could stay out most of the night.

Frozen!

I've gotten terribly behind on blogging lately, so some of these events are a little out of order.  In January, we took Em to see the Disney movie Frozen, and she's been totally obsessed ever since!  She loves all of the characters, but Elsa is her favorite--she wants me to braid her hair to the side like Elsa, and she runs around singing "Let It Go" all the time (if you haven't seen the movie, you'll have to in order to understand that).

It was fitting this month, because we've had some really cold weather, and the last week of January, we had snow!

It wasn't a tremendous amount--barely enough to cover the ground, but enough to keep Em and I at home one day.  She loved finding the icicles!

And there was even enough for a snow angel.

She was just excited to play in it, but it was way too powdery to even make a snowball.

This is her fierce face--and you can see our attempts to gather enough snow for a snow ball on the table beside her.

Snowman Family

Em makes a lot of craft projects at school (and home), and I don't always try to keep them, but this one seemed pretty special.  Her teachers were so proud of it, and showed it to me one afternoon when I got there to pick her up--they were playing with modeling clay, and Em sculpted this whole family of snowmen, complete with accessories.  Unfortunately, they fell apart a little, so I wanted to keep at least the picture to remember how cool they were :).

Christmas

This was the first Christmas that we spent away from home since Em was born--and she was most concerned that Santa wouldn't know where to find her at Grandma's.  We went to Christmas Eve mass and came back home for dinner.  Em excitedly picked out the cookies to leave for Santa, and then decided to sample some too.

The next morning when we got up, we thought Em would sleep forever!  She finally woke up and excitedly came in to see the presents around the tree.

                                      

She went for the stocking first--and was most excited about the chocolate!

                                   

She had asked Santa for a bow and arrow of course, and she ended up with two!  It was her favorite gift of the day though, for sure.  She took it outside for some target practice.

                                   

Later that day, after Uncle Robbie and Stacy got there, we all exchanged gifts together.  Grandma Lala gave Em this bear that she named Cranberry.

And Uncle Robbie and Stacy gave Em some princess dresses that she pretty much wore for the rest of the trip!

There was plenty of time to spend with everyone, including snuggle time with Lala,

play time with Landon and Zachary,

and with Papa.

Hugs with Grandma!

I'm actually not sure where this Rudolph nose came from, but Em loved it!

She loves playing with her cousins,

and they're very patient with her, considering the age difference.

We took them to a nearby playground the day after Christmas since it was a little warmer--she tries so hard to keep up with them!

Later, it was back in a princess dress for Em,

 and she fixed Grandma's hair with a clip before the picture :).

We left to come home on Friday, and started taking down our Christmas stuff over the weekend.  Sad to see it all go, and can't believe we'll be celebrating with a 4-year old next year!