For those of you that don't know, Scott, the kids and I just got back from 10 days in Florida. Scott had to attend a three-day meeting at one of the Disney resorts, so we decided to make a family vacation out of it. We spent 3 nights at the Disney hotel and the rest of the time with Scott's sister, Mollie, & her family.
We had a great time in Florida. We got there without any problems. We flew out of the Rockford airport for the first time. It was great. The parking was free, we didn't have to walk far and we were never afraid the kids were going to get lost (very unlike O'Hare.) The airport even had a designated kids area near the gates with little tables and chairs for the kids and couches for the parents. We all sat in there and watched Disney's Peter Pan on a big screen TV! The kids did very well on the plane. I had an empty seat next to me, so Brianna sat there and buckled and buckled and buckled her seatbelt. (I had to do the unbuckling.) Madeline and Mallory spent most of the time working in their sticker books and coloring in their coloring books. We went through a LOT of 'naks (Brianna's word for "snacks.")
The girls were really looking forward to going to Disney World, which in their minds is synonomous with the Magic Kingdom and princesses. We didn't even consider Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios or Epcott. Had we attempted to go to one of the other parks, I imagine the conversation would have gone something like this:
Scott & I: "Kids, we're going to the Animal Kingdom today."
Kids: "No, we want to go to Disney World."
Scott & I: "Animal Kingdom is part of Disney World. You'll get to see lots of animals."
Kids:
Thus, for the remainder of this post, Disney or Disney World = Magic Kindom.
We didn't even buy the girls Mickey Mouse ears. I don't think it would have made any sense to them. They didn't want to look like mice, they wanted to look like princesses. As a surprise, we bought them each a new princess dress to wear to Disney World. (Scott hit the after-Halloween clearance sales and found an Ariel dress for Madeline and a Cinderella dress for Mallory.) We gave them the dresses the morning we went to Disney. They were completely surprised. In addition, we planned ahead and made reservations at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique for Madeline and Mallory to receive makeovers (hair, makeup and nails) from Fairy Godmothers-in-Training. The boutique is located right inside Cinderella's castle (the coolest location of all in Magic Kingdom.) The girls absolutely loved getting their makeovers. Mallory chose the "Fairytale Princess" look and Madeline chose the "Disney Diva" look. The girls sat in salon chairs with capes around them and even had to wield little plastic face shields to protect their eyes from all the hairspray. When Mallory's Fairy Godmother-in-Training was done, she had her close her eyes and make a wish while she said "Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo" and waved a wand full of glitter over her head. Then she turned Mallory around to face the mirror and had her open her eyes. We honestly don't think Mallory recognized herself. It was really funny. (The next day when I told Mallory that I could do her hair the same way, she replied that we didn't have "one of those plastic things" to put over her face. Divas.) Madeline chose the crazy pink hair (which glows in the dark - we found that out later on the Winnie the Pooh ride.) She made her wish and was Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo'd and glittered as well. It was really cute.
Here are the girls' before & after shots:
(You can't tell in this picture, but Mallory was given the "Birthday Princess" sash to wear because she talked non-stop to her Fairy Godmother-in-Training about her impending birthday.)Madeline and Mallory had a great time meeting the Disney characters and getting their autographs. Madeline was absolutely thrilled to meet Ariel (her favorite princess), but as you can see in the following video clip, we had a doubting Thomas...er, Mallory with us.
Mallory also got to meet her favorite princess, Cinderella. She was a little concerned that Cinderella was going to think that she was her daughter since she was dressed just like her.
The girls really enjoyed the shows at Cinderella's castle as you'll see from the following video clips:
The girls and I spent Monday and Tuesday afternoon at the hotel pool. It was a lot of fun. I feel like I should be congratulated for managing to keep an eye on three children in a pool that was 3-4 feet deep with no shallow end. It actually (surprisingly) worked out very well. For the majority of the time, we were only ones in the water and there were never fewer than 5 lifeguards patrolling the perimeter of the pool at all times. I was even able to get lifejackets for all the kids to wear. (The really big plus was that we got to keep the lifejackets for the duration of our stay, so Brianna buckled to her heart's content in the hotel room.) Madeline and Mallory loved the waterslide. I had to stand at the bottom of the slide with Brianna to catch them and get them back to the side of the pool. We spent quite a bit of time in the spa as well. The girls weren't crazy about the water temperature, but I liked it since all the kids were within arm's reach.
We spent two days at SeaWorld. The kids had a blast. We saw the Shamu show twice. (We sat in the "Splash Zone" both times, but only got a little wet.) We were initally a little concerned about Brianna at the first Shamu show. Before the show started, the killer whales were just swimming around the tank. Brianna kept pointing and saying "Bok Bok" (her word for chicken or duck.) A killer whale looks nothing like a Bok Bok. Luckily, we soon realized that she was pointing to the white bird that was perched on the set. Whew! We also went to the dolphin show and the sea lion and otter show. The girls got to feed the sea lions (they both thought the fish were pretty gross) and pet stingrays. Scott enjoyed the free beer. (Apparently, SeaWorld is owned by Anheuser-Busch. The give out free beer in the Hospitality Tent.)
We also spent two days at the beach. The kids had so much fun. The water was pretty cold, but nothing was going to keep them out. They enjoyed collecting seashells, playing in the water, building sandcastles and burying Scott's feet in the sand. Brianna had a fabulous time strolling on the beach and chasing all the Bok Boks.
Our vacation was very nice, but everyone was excited to get back home. Scott and I were looking forward to a little rest. We were so busy on our vacation that I think we came home more tired than when we left. Madeline and Mallory were really anxious to go back to school. They were each hoping to get a hug from their teacher and they couldn't wait to see their friends. It's good to be home...despite the snow.
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