Back to the peasant life

When you have been treated like royalty for a week, coming back home can seem rather unimpressive. Nobody here is calling me princess and if Rob tells me to have a magical day I tell him that if he changed poopy diapers for a week then I might consider it magical.

But we had a great time at Disney World. My parents joined us for the week and that was especially wonderful since they hadn't seen their grandkids in three months.

I swear though that things happen to me that do not happen to anyone else in this world. I'm convinced of it. Who else but me would call 6 months in advance for reservations to have breakfast at Cinderella's castle, write down the reservation number in 5 places, have B's dress and shoes ready to go, call again to confirm reservations, make back up reservations at another restaurant just in case, drive everyone else in my family nuts getting us there early, and then realize that we had shown up ON THE WRONG DAY!???!!!!??!

Sigh.... they got us in. Because they are magical. I, apparently, am not.

I have so many pictures to post so I am sure they will be spread out over a few days, but we really did have fun. It was so stinkin' hot though. Like ridiculously hot. Like I thought that Pluto was going to melt into a big pile of puppy fur. How do they wear those costumes in the heat? Seriously.

But my kids had the time of their lives. I cannot describe in words how adorable it was when Bennett saw the characters. When we rode the magical express from the airport to our hotel, Bennett was looking out the window and saying, "Mickey? Where are you? I'm right here!" I died a little inside. And Will went nuts when he saw Mickey Mouse for the first time. He was waving like crazy and yelling, "Muh! Muh! Muh" I wasn't expecting that and it delighted and surprised me.

And Bennett was so incredibly precious when we had breakfast at Cinderella's castle. Only my daughter would walk up to THE Cinderella and say, "Hey! Ummmm...... where's Ariel?" She did love all the princesses and was thrilled to see them, but I think she was really only waiting for Ariel. They have a red headed connection.

And one of the sweetest and most unexpected things about the trip was how much time I got to spend with Will. I had to hold him constantly. Especially on the bus rides we took 4-5 times a day. He started saying more words and I spent so much time singing to him, holding him, kissing him.... we've only been home 24 hours and I already miss him constantly being in my arms. We actually loved just spending time together. The 4 of us had to stay in one hotel room together and I was dreading it, but it was kind of nice. I, oddly enough, miss it despite my trepidation beforehand.

We did have a magical time, not to be too cheesy. I am already thinking about when we can go again and Bennett has been talking about it non-stop today. Here are a few (okay a ton) of pictures.

It is the place where dreams come true.

Neither Bennett nor Will had any fear of the characters. They went right to all of them and would give them high fives and hug them. Very cute.

Me with my little princess. This one will be framed in my room for sure.

Waiting to go in and meet the princesses.

Okay, so I love this picture Rob took. This is sweet Bennett walking about the stairs of the castle to have breakfast. Is this shot killer or what? It is now my computer wallpaper. I just love it.

Happiness

My family with Cinderella!

Meeting Belle! I didn't really know why she wasn't in gold dress, but beggars can't be choosers. And I mean that literally in this case.

Princess Aurora or Sleeping Beauty. Will liked this princess. He pointed and stared a lot. I can't blame him. He's got good taste.

Oh my goodness. Look at my daughter's face. She LOVES Ariel. She waited the whole trip to meet her. This was the sweetest moment of the trip.

Adorable hugs with Snow White. Honestly, Bennett could not have been cuter meeting the princesses. She was about as sweet and adorable as I have ever seen her.

Riding Dumbo the flying elephant. A Disney World classic. One of my very earliest memories from childhood was looking up at this ride and thinking it was soooo tall.

Enjoying the main street singers!

My Dad really wanted his picture with Mary Poppins. He only grabbed Bennett so he wouldn't look like "that guy" having his picture taken with characters by himself.

My adorable kids with their favorite characters.

Stepmother and stepsisters.

Will rode every single ride except for the roller coasters. I was so proud of him. My boy ain't scared of nothing.

Family picture outside of Epcot.

They had great pools at our resort, but they best part was the statue of Ariel with her friends. That was way cooler to my daughter than the pool itself.

Pluto looks like he is choking Will and Bennett seems oblivious with this fact.

This was typical of Will throughout this entire trip. He would stand in awe and just babble loudly. It was so cute. We knew Bennett would have fun on the trip but it really surprised me how much everything registered with Will. He was so happy and playful and excited the whole time. I loved watching him take everything in.

Me and my girl with our other girl.

The obligatory head in the cutout shot.

Maybe my favorite picture from the trip. Bennett would say, "Kiss the girl" in a Caribbean accent like Sebastian the crab from "The Little Mermaid." She would come up to me and say, "You got to kiss de girl." I love it! And so I did. Of course.

The Nemo whisperer. And seriously- how cute is my little boy? I really think he is the cutest thing ever. And he has a personality to match. What an absolute delight!

WOODY AND BUZZ! Heck, yeah! Rob and I were pretty excited about meeting these guys. And Woody even had the name Andy spelled backwards on his shoe. Sniff, sniff...

Minnie Mouse just came up and sat by my Mom. I'm not going to lie and pretend like I was fine with this. I was all kinds of jealous and I still am. Not fair.

Waiting at our resort for our bus to the Magic Kingdom. How much do I love these little guys?

THE moment when she finally met Mickey Mouse. I cried. Yep, I sure did. And I would do it again. It really was the sweetest thing ever. She was so incredibly excited to meet him.

Family picture with Minnie and Mickey. I think we all turn into little kids at this point.

This was us waving at a parade as it went by. Rob likes to point out that in nearly every picture I am more excited than the kids. Is that wrong?

Daddy and daughter.

Main Street Electrical Parade. So fun.

Who knows? We were pretty loopy at this point.

Hanging out at Disney World.

Rob had a birthday while we were on vacation. What a great place to have a birthday.

Watching a parade. You never know what you are going to see while strolling down the street.

Playing drums with Daddy in Africa. Okay, in the Animal Kingdom, but close enough.

Hooray for Disney!


And finally, the castle. Taken by the best photographer I know- my husband. Little does he know that this is where I want to retire. We better start saving now me thinks.