Disney Part 2

It will take me a bit to get through our week at Disney, so many wonderful memories! Here's Part 2.

We spent Day 3 at Animal Kingdom. 

Most days, the Vance clan split up. However, we always tried to meet up and ride at least one ride as a family of 10. It was tricky to coordinate fast passes, but we did! We all got to ride the Safari together. It was quite cute and all the family liked it. By this point in the trip, Hannah and Cannon had become good buddies and requested to sit with each other. It was cute!

Next, we were off to the Festival of the Lion King. Wow, Is all I can say! It was like a mini broadway production. We loved it!  

This sweet smile couldn't be wiped off H's face!

Up next, Finding Nemo. This was also very cute. H was a bit concerned that we were going to Mickey's Philharmagic again (what a nightmare!). We had to keep reassuring her it wasn't and once the show started she was ok. H's first experiences with live theater were great! I can't wait to take her to her first broadway show!

Waiting with Smooth to go in.

This was the best "no flash" picture I could get.

H and I left the park around lunch on day 3. We were going to have a late night and I knew she needed the rest. I was right! She and I BOTH fell asleep and almost missed our dinner reservation time. Ha! Thanks to Aunt K for calling us to wake us up!

Dinner was at Chef Mickey. This was the night Wes was able to join us for the rest of the week, so this was an extra special day. Dinner was a winner all around. The food was excellent and the character sightings were some of our favorites!

The whole family- our only one from the whole trip. Good Christmas card op, huh?

Yay Mickey!

Hannah pretty much exploded at the sight of Minnie Mouse. She didn't want her to leave! She kept shouting, "Minnie, wait come back. Please, please, pretty please?"

Sir Goofy! And, again, look at that smile! I've never seen my child smile so big, for so long!

After dinner, we were rode the Monorail over to Epcot for the fireworks.  As a fun surprise, I bought all of the kids glow bracelets. They enjoyed linking them together into necklaces too. A plus for the parents, it made the kids easier to keep up with. 

Here's Cannon showing Hannah the map of Epcot and explaining where his favorite things are.

She loves Epcot!

We arrived at Epcot fairly early. We rode the big ball and ducked into a gift shop. H had been after Madeline's Minnie ears for most of the trip. We finally let her pick out her own. She chose hot pink, sequined ears. She was thrilled and wore them the majority of the trip. 

We were grossly underprepared for how cold the weather was! We looked at the weather before leaving, but never imagined it would be as cold as it was. Night 3 was particularly cold. We ended up purchasing fleeces for the kids. Sweet Wes went back to the room and brought me a blanket. After we got the kids settled, the guys set off to find hot chocolate for everyone. What a life saver! It really was that cold!

This was H's first real experience watching a fireworks show. She was a bit nervous, but we prepped her and explained what she'd hear and see. I think her cousins helped her out tremendously! We waited for about an hour for the show to begin. Let me tell you it was worth every minute! The smile on H's face was priceless! She kept asking to see more and was so upset when the show ended. My sweet brother-in-law snapped this pic of me and H.

Hannah did so well with the late night, but had an epic meltdown as we were getting off of the bus. After a very quick bath, she was off to slumber land and peaceful once again!

Day 4- Thanksgiving at the Magic Kingdom

Hannah woke up before the rest of the Vances, so she and I decided to get our day started early. We helped open the park. The great thing about being there when the gates open is that the lines for the rides are very short! We rode several right off the bat, and a few multiple times in a row! 

No crowds first thing! And we were there Thanksgiving week! 

First up, Ariel's Grotto. This was in the new area at MK. This, coupled with the new Under the Sea ride were a home run for this princess loving girl! Again, the smile.... My heart melts!

Beauty and the Beast was a real treat! We highly recommend this "show." Really, it's an interactive story where every kid that wants a role is able to have one. Hannah was the footstool. The kids get to walk through the mansion and act out different parts of the story. At the end, Belle comes out and interacts with the kids. We had no clue that the real Belle was going to be there. Hannah was the youngest of the kids for this show. Belle was VERY patient with her. Belle happens to be H's favorite princess and we had not met her yet. Needless to say, when H did get the chance to hug her neck and talk, it took her a little bit to get out all she needed to say. I had to physically pull her away. 

Again, this was a "no flash" zone :(

Showing Belle her amulet.

The rest of the Vances met us in time to ride Winnie the Pooh. Disney did great stocking one of the longest wait times with tons of fun things to do while waiting. 

Hannah LOVED the castle show! Mickey and the gang plus her favorite princesses, what's not to love.

She even got up the nerve to participate in a street band performance.

Dumbo!

The Tomorrowland Speedway. This ride was particularly fun for Wes to take H on. There's a great picture of Harry and Wes when he was a little boy on this same ride. I need to find the picture to scan it in. 

We watched the Dapper Dans perform while waiting for the parade to begin. What a great way to pass the time. She loved hearing this wonderful barber shop quartet and kept king them to sing more! Hannah was so excited, that they even gave her an Honorary Dapper Dans card.

The parade was, by far, Hannah's favorite thing, i think we watched he parade all three days we were in MK. The sheer excitement on her face and in her little body was unlike anything I've ever seen. She literally started shaking with excitement when the characters walked past her. She screamed each of the characters names and desperately waved, hoping just one would wave back. 

No, really, this was how excited she was. This picture doesn't even do it justice. She REALLY was about to explode!

Needless to say, she fell asleep on the bus trip back to the hotel. Ha! She was out cold!!!

We ended the day at the California Grill for Thanksgiving Dinner. Our reservation was a bit later so H was a champ. Our table was right beside a large picture window of the Magic Kingdom. Our view was literally Cinderella's Castle in beautiful lights. I thought it was pretty fitting for Thanksgiving. We certainly have a lot to be thankful for! 

Soccer!!

H's ballet class was cancelled due to low attendance, so we decided to give soccer a try. Oh boy, does she ever love soccer!!!! There are four kids in her class. It was 45 mins of pure bliss for our little athlete. They started with stretches and warm-up running "drills." Next, they moved onto kicking the ball and learning a bit about ball control. H rocked this part! I was a proud momma! They moved on to an obstacle course and finally kicking goals. The kids were moving the entire class and never got bored. It was great! We are really looking forward to next week!

The pictures weren't the greatest quality, but I only had my phone with me.

Hannah and her friend Emerson. 

Kicking the ball.

Go Hannah, go!

First trip to the dentist!

H had her very first trip to the dentist today. It was an exciting day and one that we've been talking about for a while now! Our pediatric dentist was amazing! The staff was wonderful with H! The hygienist made her feel so comfortable and tuning the TV into Sophia didn't hurt either. 

H happily climbed into the exam chair. The hygienist explained exactly what she was going to do during the cleaning and let H touch all of the instruments she was going to use. 

After H picked out raspberry toothpaste for her cleaning, the hygienist began. The light was a little bright so, of course, we had to put on some cool purple sunglasses! First, she had H count her teeth and then she counted them- 20 total!

Next, it was time for the cleaning. H was a bit nervous during this portion, so she grasped onto the hygienists wrists as she cleaned. The hygienist kept H's mind off of the cleaning by talking to her the entire time and telling her stories, like how toothpaste kills the sugar bunnies on her teeth. 

Finally, it was time for flossing (just the back teeth on the bottom) and a good rinse. 

The dentist came over and checked H out. She said her teeth were perfect! She has great spacing and we only have to floss the bottom molars. How wonderful! We are so proud of H for being a brave girl today!! 

Snow day!

A real, honest-to-goodness snow fall! We'd heard jibber-jabber about a real snow fall for about a week. We were all skeptical, but optimistic that the white stuff would come and leave enough snow to call off school and for the kids to enjoy. We kept a close eye on the weather as Tuesday approached. The city of Raleigh did a phenomenal job preparing the city for the "worst." In the 48 hours leading up to the predicted snowfall, the city began prepping the streets. Salt, sand and brine were laid out. I fully stocked our pantry and gassed up the car. Tuesday arrived and schools were canceled. Although we didn't see our first flakes until Tuesday night, thanks to our city and news outlets, we were prepared! We were lucky....

 Family and friends in Atlanta and Birmingham didn't fare so well. The mayhem and awful stories pouring out of those cities are just heart-breaking. My brother (in Atlanta) had to sleep at his office...for two nights. My cousin (also Atlanta) and a nursing mom couldn't get back to her 3mo old for over 36 hours. My in-laws (in Birmingham) had to abandon their car and walk several miles home after picking up kids from school. The youngest, in K, almost had to spend the night at his school. My Northern and Western friends laugh at the thought that a mere 2 inches of snow could shut down and paralyze a city. As crazy as it sounds, it did! 

Despite the terrible stories, we had a great day playing in the snow! Daisy had the most fun. She LOVES snow! We used to let her out in our backyard in Denver until she'd come back to the door...sometimes hours later. She loved jumping and running in it! Although we only had a few inches of snow, she didn't let that stop her fun. It was like the old days! Too cute! 

Hannah loved it, too! We spent time sledding, building a snowman, and filling buckets up. Hannah doesn't have the proper clothes to stay outside in snow for long periods, so we took her out throughout the day. We gave her her first cup of hot apple cider to help warm her up. She loved it! 

Trying to make a snowball...

Our attempt at making a snowman. Unfortunately, we had a dry snow so it wasn't very good for snowman making.

The obligatory house photo :)