And so our adventure begins!
Two car seats, a double stroller, two toddlers, four carry-on bags, three pieces of luggage and two studly parents!
This is one of Jason's FAVORITE airplane pastimes - taking pictures of his sleeping wife. Apparently Evelyn is starting to see the fun in it too. Thank goodness I still have Aurelia.
The pilot was so impressed with our girls that he allowed us to jump up front in the cockpit. Pretty snazzy!
On the lookout for Mickey Mouse when our BFF, Dave drove us to our hotel.
MAGIC KINGDOM TIME!!! Took this picture within 5 minutes of getting to the park. Notice how dry and refreshed we all look. That will gradually change throughout the blog. It was a scorcher of a week.
Our wonderful cousins - James, Stephanie, Ari and Eric Freedman! They flew down from Charlotte to meet up with us and experience the magic of Disney together - and boy did we!
At the end of Main Street we caught this little show...
Evelyn yelled, "PEE SEES!!!!!" when she saw these ladies step out.
"PETER PAN! WENDY! HOOK!" One of our FAVORITES.
You can't tell because I'm wearing my glasses - but I was crying. I couldn't resist the magic - I was swept away watching it through the eyes of my daughters. I was a MESS the entire day. Every princess, every character we saw - I teared up. It was ridiculous and I loved every minute of it.
Like when we met Belle...
...and Aurora. Yup. Cried. So ridiculous.
Look at this child! When are we going back!?!
We stopped for lunch at Lady and the Tramp's favorite Italian place. And look at this cuteness. Seriously - I might as well have had her for lunch - she's delicious!
Handsome Freeman men. Stephanie is a lucky lady to be surrounded by all that cuteness!
Evelyn recently watched Pinocchio at my parent's house and was beside herself when she spotted him in the park! She ran right up to him - we had to pull her back because he was busy visiting with another child at the time...but when we finally had our chance her
enthusiasm hadn't
diminished one bit.
Aurelia thought he was cute - but this was a close as she was getting to that puppet.
I - not Evelyn - just about DIED when we saw Mary Poppins! I snatched Evelyn up and RAN to where she stopped to meet and greet. After taking this picture I told her how Evelyn asks me to sing "Poppy" to her every night at bed time and how much we absolutely love her. It wasn't until we walked away that I realized she wasn't the ACTUAL Mary Poppins and felt a little foolish...just a little though.
It was a HOT day. But it wasn't anything a frozen lemonade couldn't fix.
Evelyn was so sweet with her cousin, Ari. We put the kids in the trusty monkey backpack leashes and let them loose. They immediately reached for
each other's hands - it was so adorable!
See what I mean? And in their sunglasses too - it was too much!
And when they weren't holding hands they were all about the huggies.
Swiss Family
Shephards
Swiss Family
Freedmans
By the end of the night we were all sweaty messes - but it was so worth it - one of the best days of our lives. Truly.
AWESOME DAY. AWESOME NIGHT. THE MOST AWESOME LIFE.
It took Evelyn all of three seconds to reach this state of rest. Sweet little angel.
The next day we meet up with our fabulous and ever so gracious friend, the amazing
HJ Kennedy, and took a tour of Epcot! It was pretty incredible. We timed our trip perfectly so as to hit Epcot's Food & Wine Festival. We ate and drank our way around the world - it was a delicious adventure!
We even had a chance to meet the BEAST! Evelyn was so thrilled when she saw him yelling, "Beast! Beast! Beast! Me
wannie huggie and
kissie Beast!" That was so darn cute that I grabbed her and ran to the line. By the time we got up there, however, this was as close as she'd get. It was still worth it...Beauty and the Beast is Mommy's favorite Disney movie. :-)
We stopped in the shade for a little break from the heat and hear the sweet rhythmic sounds of the
Shephard Sisters.
Epcot had a great little meet and greet deal for all the Mickey Mouse friends. We hit it at the most perfect time too - only a 10 minute wait in line to meet every one.
Evelyn was so shy and would only get this close to Mickey and only with Daddy holding her.
Aurelia was a little better and got this close to Mickey before crying.
We began to think there wasn't much point in us sticking around to see the other characters since the girls were too afraid to get close enough for a photo when all of a sudden Evelyn let go of my ran and made a mad dash to Minnie Mouse!
There was no fear here - just a little girl and her pretty mouse friend.
We were in shock! And since we're both two big saps we teared up and thought, "this is the best day ever!"
Once again - no fear.
"
Awww....Hi Donald Duck!"
THEN...it was time....for GOOFY - Evelyn's ALL TIME FAVORITE character! Not one ounce of hesitation. All out run for
huggies!
"Hi Goofy! Hi Goofy! Hi Goofy!!!"
Evelyn even got a Goofy hat that day! And Aurelia got Evelyn's goldfish crackers when she wasn't looking. Can you just feel that sweaty heat?!
Nemo Exhibit! How cute is this shot?
Shark food.
10 PM. Tired Daddy, tired Mommy, tired girls - but still having a fabulous time!
Thanks for a wonderful day
HJ!
"SAFARI TIME!" The next day we met up with our cousins and explored Disney's Animal Kingdom - first stop: African Safari!
Seriously. Whose kid is this?
Blonde hair, blue eyes...definitely Daddy's little girl...but Mommy's little sweetness.
Freedman Fun!
"HI hippos!"
Ari and
Steph admiring the wildlife.
Brand new baby elephant and his mother. So cute!
Evelyn almost climbed out of the bus when we drove away - we sure do love our elephants in this family!
"Hmph. Why does Evelyn always get the window seat?"
I love this man. I love these children. I love my life.
After the safari we went to see The Lion King - it was incredible. Here are a few acrobatic monkeys from the show - they were so fun to watch!
Evelyn thought they were pretty fabulous herself!
It was amazing that Aurelia could fall asleep - and STAY asleep with all the noise of the show. Poor little girl missed and incredible performance too. Guess we'll just have to take her back...
Photo Op!
Enjoying the refreshing spray of a beautiful waterfall. We could have stayed there all day - it was only 97 degrees...in October.
The Tree of Life.
Look at this amazing detail. Stunning.
This is a bat. It's the size of a small child. A SMALL CHILD.
Our fabulous cousins!
Farewell Animal Kingdom!
And HELLO AGAIN MAGIC KINGDOM! That's right...we went home for naps and then back out again for one last night at Magic Kingdom - fireworks and EVERYTHING! While Epcot and Animal Kingdom we awesome in their own right - there is simply NO comparison to wonder of Magic Kingdom.
On the ferry Evelyn immediately spotted the Princess Castle since it was night and beautifully lit!
Aurelia was kind of past the point of caring and just struggling to stay awake.
A few seconds later - and I mean SECONDS.
We had a BLAST and the girls LOVED the Electric Parade and Tinker Bell flying down from the castle and all the amazing fireworks and awesome music. It was a night we'll never forget! Hopefully it won't be too long before we get to experience the magic of Disney again.
The next morning we left good ole' Shades of Green to head over to the world's largest Mariott Hotel for Jason's ATA (Airlift Tanker's Association) Convention. We had to get a few poses of us with Mickey before we said good-bye to Disney World.
This is a very special Mickey made especially for the military and their families.
A very cool Mickey indeed.
Family shot!
One last huggie and kissie from each of the girls!
We dropped off our luggage and then jumped in a cab to head to Sea World and see Shamu! Evelyn thought this was one rockin' mammal!
She went wild every time Shamu jumped out of the water or splashed the crowd. It was so fun to watch her squeal, clap and cheer all the whales!
Even more exciting than Shamu was that we met up with our fabulous friends, the Ulmers! Tom, Nikki and Kate Ulmer!
Evelyn and Aurelia immediately hit it off with Kate.
Evelyn was very intrigued by the shark tank.
I was not. I hate sharks. Yes. Hate. They give me the creeps.
Blech.
Evelyn and Jason got to feed some seals! They both thought this was pretty fantastic.
"Here you go! Mommy! I feed it! Nummies!"
I don't know what it is about another kids' stroller - but our girls refused to sit in their own but were MORE than happy to make the ole' switcheroo.
Evelyn in Kate's stroller...
...and Kate in Evelyn's seat. Happy as clams.
Awww....look at these classy friends. Mothers, wives, pillars of the community...
...riiiiiiight. I love this lady!
Next it was off to the penguin exhibit! I LOVE penguins! While we were there a gal came out to clean the windows - it was so interesting to see how it was all done. This poor woman was harassed by one annoying little penguin! He kept nipping at her legs, feet and arms - you could tell she wasn't enjoying herself. I have to admit - that pestering penguin was pretty cute - and the whole situation was pretty comical.
Aurelia seemed to think so too. Cute baby.
Next - DOLPHINS!
They were so pretty and graceful and elegant...
...and apparently horny. Learned something new at Sea World; dolphins mate in groups. So my sweet little princess had a front row seat to a dolphin orgy.
Even with that knowledge I still can't stop admiring the beauty of this picture.
All three of the girls were worn down and exhausted from the heat and decided to take a rest while admiring these beautiful creatures. Evelyn scored the best seat - Daddy's foot.
Shep 1 and Shep 2 - my two little loves.
After seeing the dolphins we headed over to pet the sting rays.
Evelyn was brave enough to put her hand in the water but quickly pulled it out once a sting ray even threatened to come her way.
"I love this place!"
Our incredibly magical trip came to an end on Halloween Day. The girls dressed up as two little jack-o-lanterns and as we were lining up to pass through airport security guess who we saw?
One last princess before we left Florida! The girls were both thrilled but it made it a tad more difficult to leave. Once we were able to stop Evelyn from kissing Snow White good-bye she cried for Minnie and Peter Pan wanting to give them good-bye kisses too.
Jason surprised the girls with this fun frame when we got home. We had to find a secure, out-of-reach spot for it though since both the girls are obsessed with kissing each of the characters every time they see it.
BEST. VACATION. EVER.
I was so excited to bundle the girls up and go play in that fabulous snow! I skipped back to Evelyn's room and this is how I found them - enjoying two hot cups of coffee (I'm not sure the girls even know what tea is - but they are WELL aware of what a cup of java is in this house!) I had to patiently wait while they finished their morning cups before I could even suggest getting them dressed.
BUT....we finally made it outside!!! Poor little girls didn't have any snow pants so we layered them up Arkansas style - leggings, two pairs of socks and some trusty blue jeans!
Aurelia was in LOVE! She definitely embraced her inner Alaskan!
But not as much as Tru-baby! That dog went WILD in the snow!
My hunk-o-burnin' love!
Afterwards it was time for hugs and kisses...
As was little Sydney Bean.
