Oh, By the Way

Clearly, I am a terrible archivist of my children's precious moments.  Because, we did this little old thing in December called "We Took a Cross Country Roadtrip to Disney World!"

Yep, I'm a wee bit behind.

And, by wee bit, I mean egregiously and practically inexcusably behind.

But, that's not the point.

The process actually started about a year ago.  We took the plunge, and along with John's family, booked a 7 night stay at the Happiest Place on Earth.  Let me preface this whole thing by asking if you know HOW MUCH PLANNING goes into making your young childrens' every dream come true??

A lot.

Like a whole lot.

You should really consider it your second job.

But, the good news is, I'm cripplingly type-a.  So, this process tickled every over-planning bone in my body.  (I'm already planning our next trip... which won't be for another couple of years... but it will be AWESOME!)

Here is a sample of my neurosis.  Maps! Crowd Calendars!  Notes (color-coded)!  Heavenly!

So, after months of planning, we loaded up our car (like hillbillies) with what we would need for every possible contingency and headed off to see the World.

The teacher in me was super excited about this trip because this year in Classical Conversations, we've been learning about the United States including the locations of the states and capitals.  I was envisioning such excitement as I would be able to point out some of the states that we've been learning about in school.  We were, after all, driving across 10% of the United States and through three state capitals.  That excitement pretty much wore off around the third time I participated in this conversation.

Darling child 1:  Where are we stopping tonight?
Patient mom:  Mississippi
Darling child 1:  Jackson, Mississippi?
Patient mom:  No, Gulfport, Mississippi
Darling child 1:  Are we in Mississippi?
Patient mom:  Yes.
Darling child 1:  Jackson, Mississippi?
Patient mom:  No, we're not going to Jackson.
Darling child 2:  When are we getting to Misses Ippy's house?
Patient mom: No, baby, not Misses Ippy's house.  We're going to a hotel in Mississippi.
Darling child 2:  Jackson, Mississippi?
Patient mom:  ::blink::blink::  Your turn, John.

But, after two full days in the car, we completed the 1200 miles to our home for the next week.  In case you are wondering, we stayed at the Coronado Spring Resort.  It is a moderate resort on the Disney property, and it was fine.  Though, in my opinion, it really wasn't much better than the All Stars resort John and I stayed in 7 years prior.  My children did love the pool, though.  And, it had queen sized beds as well as sliding doors to divide the dressing area from the beds.  So, there you go.  My opinion, worth what you paid for it!

But, y'all!  That first day was absolutely magical!  My amazing sister-in-law Amy did all our dining and event reservations.  She was able to get appointments for all of the little girls at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique that morning.  After a quick look around and a ride on the carousel, the girls (Cora, Carys and cousin Audrey) were made over into little princesses by Fairy Godmothers-in-Training at the boutique.

Sissy was in h-e-a-v-e-n!  This picture always makes me smile.

After the makeovers, they have a special studio where you can have a photo shoot in your princess finery.  So.much.fun!

Three sweet princesses

I love a good sister picture!

At this point in the day, patient Mr. Jackson was thoroughly and utterly done with all the hullabaloo. We were very thankful that Dado offered to take him back to the hotel to relax away from all of the excitement since the rest of us had an audience with another VIP (very important princess) soon after.

Ladies and gentlemen, THE Ariel.

She was very gracious and hospitable, admiring our amazing pens and the fact that we had legs.  

Our next stop was quite possibly the highlight of the trip.  Amazing Amy had also managed to get us a coveted lunch reservation at Cinderella's Royal Table inside the castle.  I wish you all could have seen Carys' face as she met her favorite princess.  She utterly glowed.  I can't help but smile thinking about it now.  How many different ways can you say precious?

The one and only Cindawelly (as her number one fan calls her).

We enjoyed a lovely meal where we met several other very important princesses.

Snow White

Aurora

Ariel (with legs, who knew?)

Jasmine

Fabulous!  The meal was capped off by a special wishing ceremony where the kids received wands and wishing stars of their very own.  Y'all, I'll say it again, fabulous!  The girls adored this experience.  I cannot tell you how thankful I am that we were able to do this.

Sweet Sissy could hardly contain herself as we were leaving the Magic Kingdom for the day.  Oh, that cute little patootie!

The rest of the day was a bit of a wash.  We went back to the hotel to rest and then headed to Hollywood Studios for the evening.  Our plan was to watch Fantasmic.  That is my one regret of the day.  Neither of the girls liked it.  Cora was actually pretty frightened by it.  We had many discussions about how this was just a show and not reality.  But, I rather wish we'd just gone and enjoyed the Osborne Spectacle of Lights and skipped Fantasmic altogether.  Live and learn.  But, regardless, day one was in the books, and we were ready for Animal Kingdom the next morning. Stay tuned!