Your Mom Goes to....

Epcot!

We had breakfast with Belle and some of her Royal Pals in Norway. We did not get to see Anna and Elsa because the wait was 4 hours... and I was not gonna do that. We did catch a glimpse of Anna from inside one of the gift shops though. 

I managed to get a couple cell phone shots as the other princesses came to our table. I apologize for the poor quality. Josh was quite shy, which was surprising since he seemed to be so not shy with the other characters. Sleeping Beauty was super cute while trying to get him to warm up, but I have to say Ariel was my favorite.

So adorable!

Sneaking a peak...

Josh was hiding behind my chair. There was an elephant on his shirt and the elephants trunk was raised up over its head. She was explaining to him that when the elephants come swimming with her, they raise their trunks up like that so they can breathe while they're under the water. I thought it was very clever of her, but Josh wasn't as impressed. P.s. Drew happened to be wearing an elephant shirt that day too!

Happy Birthday, Marmee!

My sisters and I went in together to cover admission for my mom as her birthday gift. We were a day early, but she was driving back to GA the next morning. Josh was quite uncooperative for this photo op, but at least we managed to get this shot. I was really glad to have the chance to spend some time with my mom in her favorite park. It was a gorgeous day, and we got to relax and enjoy Napoleons (her favorite pastry) at the bakery in France. I hope it was a memorable birthday for her!

Outside the French bakery. 

The Florida Cousins

We are lucky enough to live next door to the Hales and the Wilsons here in Memphis. Since they are cousins, they often talk about going to "the cousins house" or having movie night with "the cousins" and Josh thinks of these dear friends as his very own cousins. (I do too)...

 But, he was incredibly excited to get to spend a bit of face time with some of his biological cousins during our Disney trip - these guys, and the Utah cousins!

Drew's sisters live in FL and were crazy awesome enough to drive 4+ hours to meet us for a late lunch at Animal Kingdom. Melissa (on the right) and her youngest, Cason, have season passes, but Marcy (left) and her youngest, Havyn, don't. So they weren't even sure if they would be able to join us in the park. Don't tell anyone, but we were able to get Havyn in by using the pass of one of Melissa's other kids. Melissa also happened to have a 10-day no expiration Park Hopper pass that she randomly found on a previous trip to Magic Kingdom. She had held onto it "just in case" and it actually still had 5 days available! Marcy was able to use it and we got to spend some extra time together. We also convinced them to stay over that night and go with us to Magic Kingdom the next day! We had such a blast.

The sibs went for a grown up ride while the kiddos and I spent some time together digging in the Boneyard. I happen to go way back with that place. I spent many hours digging there while working as part of the Paleontology Staff during my semester in the Disney College Program.

Marcy is a Kindergarten teacher, and just before they left to drive down she fell on the playground at school and gave herself a nice shiner! I did my best to photoshop it out, but I'm an amateur. She looks lovely anyway! Havyn and Cason were such perfect little darlings, and I am jealous of how well behaved they are. Melissa and Marcy need to write a parenting book! By the way, this is one of the rare times we manged to get Josh to look at the camera and smile simultaneously.

 

The boys got to hang out with Buzz.

 Recently, we were at the mall and saw the Easter Bunny. Josh said he didn't need to get a picture with him because he already took pictures with him at Disney World... haha!

The Harmony Barber Shop on Main St. will style hair and add pixie dust for just $5! We got Josh's hair cut there, but he wasn't happy with the experience (he never is...) so we got as far as the spiked up style, but no pixie dust. Cason and Havyn both loved it, but the photographer didn't get any shots of Havyn. She looked totally cute though!

I think I have a similarly posed photo of these three taken about 10 years ago. We need to make sure it isn't another 10 years before the next one, okay!?

These two cousins were SO adorable. It is awesome that they are such good buddies. I wish that Josh could spend more time with them and all of his other cousins regularly. Too sweet!

As we were leaving the Magic Kingdom to say goodbye to the Aunts and the cousins, we just happened to run into this little lady. What a special surprise!

Josh was just waking up from a nap and tired of having his picture taken, so he missed out on the Tinkerbell photo op. But these two certainly made this a charming encounter.

I had such a delightful time getting to visit with Melissa and Marcy! We did a lot of laughing and day dreaming about future family reunion trips to Walt Disney World. I also loved getting to know my niece and nephew, and Josh had a ball with them. I am so thankful that those two wild and wonderful sisters decided we were worth the crazy amount of drive time it took for them to come see us! 

Cousins!

Our second day in the Parks, we were fortunate to have our Utah cousins and Aunt Mello spend the day with us - (we missed you, Uncle Charlie)! The park was not terribly crowded and we had the opportunity to ride many rides repeatedly (especially Space Mountain). Julie, Lindsey, and I just happened to all wear red that day, too bad Aunt Mello missed the memo.

The day was overcast and fairly chilly, but I would never complain about that! I thought the Frozen themed border would be a fun way to emphasize that we were at Disney in jackets and hoodies. 

P.s. I totally face swapped Bradley in this shot - can you tell?

As I said, we rode Space Mountain, a lot. These are only a handful of the "best" photos captured. I figured out after the first round that the camera snapped the pictures from the left or right side, depending on which side of the ride you were on. So, I told everyone to make sure and pose for the camera each time - but apparently, I forgot to mention they needed to turn their heads....

Yes, I'm a dork.

Drew and I even got to ride together once, thanks Jules! 

We got stuck on the Buzz ride for a crazy long time once - Nathaniel and I made it to 999,999 points! I wish we could see Joseph's little face, but Mel and Lindsey's expressions are priceless.

Love this one of Julie and Bradley!

The Blacks

This is my older sister (Julie) and her husband (Chris) with their adorable kids: Nathaniel, Bradley, Lindsey, and Joseph. It was seriously awesome of them to come and hang out with us at the Magic Kingdom! I never get to see their faces enough. 

A couple of Happily Ever Afters....

Sisters!! 

(Left to right: Me, Julie, Melissa, & Rebecca)

My sister Beta (Rebecca) didn't get to Orlando until the day after we all went to the park (sadface). But even if she had come the day before, she was sick so she probably wouldn't have been able to galavant with us anyway. My amazing friend kate wilson was kind enough to offer the photoshop services of her sister, Wendy, to help us add our missing sister to this photo. I love love love how it turned out - hee hee! Sorry that you missed all the fun, Beta - but you were with us in our hearts.

We totally closed the park down and then some! I was not expecting to stay past 7 or 8 that night, but we were just having SO much fun I couldn't force myself to leave. Josh handled it much better than I could have imagined and as we made our way past the Confectionery we stopped in to get treats for everyone. All of the kids picked Mike Wazowski cake pops. We managed this one last shot before heading to the exit.

One of the best tips I can share with anyone going to Disney is that you don't have to leave the parks at close! The rides and restaurants close, but many of the shops will still be open, PhotoPass photographers still take photos, and transportation runs for at least an hour after closing time.

So ride those rides over and over until the very last second, then head to the exit and get your shopping done along the way. There is really something wonderful about Main St. at midnight.

Can't wait for our next visit!

Barber Shop Trauma

There is an Old-Fashioned Barber Shop at the Magic Kingdom on Main Street, U.S.A.® 

I wanted Josh to have a haircut before Caleb and Marshae's wedding, so I couldn't resist the opportunity to take him for a cut and style while we were waiting to meet up with the Utah cousins. Things went well until the clippers came out. His stylist was really fantastic and got through a lot of the trimming by asking if the buzzing sounded like an airplane or a motorcycle when she used it around his ear, then the next time she would ask if it was a helicopter or a speed boat, etc.

 Eventually, he started freaking out and we just had to give it up. She styled his hair with gel to look like Jake from Jake and the Neverland Pirates. I think it looked pretty close, but Josh was more than done so we decided to skip the pixie dust. Next time though, we'll skip the haircut and just go for the style and pixie dust - it's only $5, and I'd say that's one of the cheapest things you can do at Disney!

Here he is before the trauma:

A little out of sorts after...

Managaing a smile anyway!

 Here is a poorly captured mobile shot while rushing through the line for the Jungle Cruise. He was totally enamored with Lindsey. I loved seeing them hand in hand all day.

Blasted Jedi Training!

If you're reading this, you likely already know that the most exciting and disappointing thing about this trip was... Jedi Training. Aunt Shae made this awesome Countdown to Jedi Training paper chain. Going to Jedi training was all Josh could think about during the weeks before we left, and it was very useful for getting him to eat because he needed to be big and strong to make it at the Jedi Academy!

Despite arriving at registration super early, the Deck Officer informed us that we barely made it in time to participate in the final session of the day. We were relieved that he would still be able to train though. And then... the officer asked Josh's age. I confidently responded that Josh is 3, because I'd looked online for any age restrictions before ever booking the trip!

See there where it says "Age Interest" - PRESCHOOLERS?!

Needless to say, I was totally heartbroken when the man said that he needed to be FOUR! I'm sure I took it much harder than Josh did, but he did have a fairly emotional breakdown shortly after that over waiting in line to build a lightsaber (his consolation prize).

He had a really great time watching the other kids train though. I think he was stunned to see Darth Vader in real life. Here are some of the poorly captured shots I took with my phone while we were in the area.

Next time, Vader... you're doomed!