disney

so we took the girls to disneyworld last week. it was a big deal. they did great on their first airplane ride. and aside from the many, many, many "are we there yets", the magical express shuttle and the travel morning went very smoothly.

we stayed at the cabins at fort wilderness, which fit us very well. the cabin felt a lot like the ranch, which the girls loved, we rode around the resort everywhere in a golf cart, and the pool was a blast. interestingly, after our first morning at a park (animal kingdom), they very quickly were asking if we could just go swim at the pool again. they love to swim. "we could have just stayed at home and gone to a neighborhood pool" crossed my mind i admit.

however, we started to meet a lot of the characters, and that was a highlight for them. day two was meeting a lot of the princesses. i was pleasantly surprised with how much time they spent talking with the girls. there must be some intense hiring process at disney. these characters were right on. and they clearly know that every child they meet it is a big deal for them to be getting to talk with a princess, because they made every one feel special. we did the autograph books and the pictures with all of them. 

abby's main excitement was for ariel of course, whom she gave a picture that she had brought. and emma gave one to sleeping beauty, who spent two or three minutes looking at and talking about it with her. i particularly liked rapunzel, who told abby right away how much she liked her dress and how it reminded her of a picture she painted for paschal that included "all of the colors of the rainbow!"

we watched the electric parade two nights at magic kingdom, and rode the boat back to the beach at our resort to watch the fireworks show from the castle. they had the music playing, but the noise from the fireworks was much less loud, the perfect combination for the girls who put their hands over their ears and scream with too much noise.

this picture is a perfect shot of how the rides generally went...

i am holding onto abby and slightly confused as to how upset she actually is. russell is just luaghing. emma is a little nervous, but ready to let loose and really enjoy herself. abby, well, you can see her emotions. also, i had conversation with the people behind us in the parts of the ride prior to this big drop. the guy on the right was thoroughly entertained by abby. also, the kid in the front middle makes me laugh.

abby screaming "get me out of here" and emma enjoying herself. em rode the goofy ride four times in a row while i coaxed abby into dumbo, while maintaining that yes, i would keep dumbo flying as low to the ground as possible.

it was a really special trip with our girls. it's rare for us to have one on one time, and we had a lot of fun with them.