We have been enjoying our past week of vacation time!
State Fair
On Saturday, August 27, we went to the state fair. We went through the animal barns, went on quite a few rides, and ate some fair food. Olivia loved going down the Giant Slide with Daddy. She also went on the race cars, spinning tea cups, swings and merry-go-round. Violet's favorite rides were the swings and the little ferris wheel but she also went on the race cars, tea cups and train. They went on most of the rides by themselves. They kept declaring, "I can do it myself!" They didn't even want to go on the same rides at the same time, so Daddy and I split up with each girl. We made a stop at the All You Can Drink Milk booth where Violet guzzled down two 12-oz cups of milk. We rode the city bus there which was a hit with the girls. They thought it was pretty awesome! Olivia started having an attitude meltdown by early afternoon, so we left.
 |
| Mmmm....milk. |
 |
| Violet on the ferris wheel |
 |
| Olivia in the cars |
 |
| Violet & Olivia after visiting the Oink Booth in the swine barn |
 |
| Help! We're stuck in a horse stall! |
Last Tuesday, we left on a trip to Florida. It was our first big family vacation. It was also the girls' first time riding in an airplane. They pulled their own suitcases into the airport and were pretty excited as they boarded their first plane. They did pretty well on the takeoff (or "blast off" as they called it) but they didn't want to look out the window very much. They weren't too fond of the descent into the airport for landing. As we banked, Violet kept worrying that the airplane was going to tip over. Overall though, they did pretty well for their first flight!
 |
| Violet & Olivia pulled their own suitcases through the airport |
 |
| Ready for our first flight! |
Magic Kingdom
On Wednesday, we woke up early and went to Magic Kingdom. We had a date for breakfast in Cinderella's castle with the princesses. We were a little rushed to get there on time, and I realized on the way that in our haste to get out the door, our park tickets were left behind in my lanyard. Luckily, I had a photocopy of our tickets with me, so we were able to get them reissued (Great travel tip - glad I did my research ahead of time!!) Olivia was decked out in her Ariel dress, and Violet in her Belle dress, when we arrived at the castle. When the girls entered and saw Cinderella, they both creamed "CINDERELLA!!!!" Needless to say, they were pretty excited. After being greeted by Cinderella, we walked up a spiral staircase to the dining room. The princesses were introduced one at a time by an announcer. Snow White was the first to enter, followed by Sleeping Beauty, Belle and Ariel. They each walked around and greeted each table, and of course we were on the far side of the room so we were the last table to see the first princess (Snow White). The girls were too excited to eat their food and kept asking when Snow White was going to talk to them. Violet told Belle that she was her favorite princess, and the girls were so awe struck with the whole scene. They were able to talk to each princess and have their picture taken. Throughout the meal, the girls were referred to as "princess," and Jamie & I were referred to as "Lord" and "Lady." At the end of the meal, the girls each received a wishing star and a magic wand, and a picture of them with Cinderella. They had a great time.
The girls loved all of the character greetings. They saw Tigger & Pooh, Rapunzel (who they kept asking "Where's Mother Gothel?"), Mickey & Minnie and Alice & White Rabbit. Favorite rides were the teacups and the "It's A Small World" boat ride. We also saw some great shows. "Dream With Mickey" in front of the castle had a lot of singing and dancing, and the 3D "Philharmagic" show was awesome. The girls also enjoyed the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor, which was an animated improv comedy show where the animated characters interacted with the audience (crazy - we couldn't figure out how they do it!). You could submit jokes via text message for the Monsters Inc. show, and they chose to use Olivia & Violet's joke in the show so their names were announced right before their joke. (Where do cows go on dates? To the moooooovies!). We also watched the fireworks which looked pretty awesome over the castle. It was a great day, although the weather was very hot. I don't think I had ever sweat so much in my life.
 |
| Violet in the Magic Kingdom entrance (Olivia didn't want her picture taken) |
 |
| With Mickey & Minnie |
 |
| With Cinderella |
 |
| With Belle |
 |
| With Ariel |
 |
| Daddy & Violet on the infamous Dumbo ride |
 |
Olivia getting ready to ride the teacups
|
Downtown Disney
On Thursday, we slept in and then hung out by the pool. In the evening, we went to Downtown Disney for supper. We ate at Cap'n Jack's...the shrimp was great, but we weren't too impressed with the rest of our food. We went into the World of Disney store (the largest Disney store there is) where the girls were sprinkled with pixie dust (a.k.a. glitter). We let them each pick out one souvenir that they wanted to buy and take home. The girls had a hard time making a decision, even after walking through the whole store. Violet ended up with a Belle music box, which is right up her alley; a little box that she can use to store her treasures. :) Olivia picked out a little Ariel doll dress up set. After purchasing their treasures, we walked down to the Goofy Candy Store and picked out a treat. We sat outside while the girls ate their princess marshmallow lollipops.
 |
| Violet & Olivia in Downtown Disney |
Cocoa Beach
On Friday, we slept in again (yeah!). We then drove an hour to Cocoa Beach. The girls LOVED the ocean. They searched for seashells with Daddy, built a sand castle, and played on the beach. Violet had a blast in the water and loved jumping in the waves. Her first face full of ocean water was pretty priceless. She started spitting and spitting and spitting, and rubbing her face. I asked her if she wanted to leave the water and she said "NO!" We left around mid-afternoon because we thought we had enough sun. When we got back to the place where we were staying, we pretty much hung out there for the rest of the evening. I brought some coloring books and stickers, so the girls sat around and colored for a very long time.
 |
In the ocean
|
 |
Making sandcastles with Daddy
|
 |
| Olivia = beach babe |
 |
| Violet loved the water! |
Animal Kingdom
On Saturday, we got up early and went to Animal Kingdom. We ate breakfast at the park, and were greeted by Donald Duck, Goofy, Minnie Mouse and Daisy Duck while we ate. The girls liked Goofy the best and thought it was funny to look under his ears. Throughout the day, they also met Chip & Dale, Flik the ant, and Pluto. After breakfast we went on the safari. It was definitely one of the highlights of the trip. We saw numerous neat animals up close as we rode through the animal reserve in a big safari truck. The girls were in tough moods this day so we struggled a bit to make it through the day! We went to two shows that were fantastic and the girls loved: "Festival of the Lion King" and "Finding Nemo: The Musical." We also went on the TriceraTop Spin ride a few times, watched a 3D show called "It's Tough To Be a Bug," and saw Dino Sue. The center of Animal Kingdom was the Tree of Life, which was a massive tree with hundreds of animals carved into its trunk and roots. It was quite beautiful so we spent some time admiring it. We left around 4:00 and went to the pool for a little while before packing up.
 |
| Elephants we saw on safari |
 |
| What's under Goofy's ears? Nothing, the girls said! |
 |
Admiring the Tree of Life
|
 |
Playing the bongo drums
|
 |
| With Chip & Dale |
 |
| We love Pluto! |
 |
| With Donald Duck |
Sunday, we returned to Minnesota. The girls did great on the return flights. We had a stop in St. Louis with no plane change, so we were able to stay on the plane. While we waited for more people to board, the pilot came back and asked if the girls wanted to see in the cockpit. They took turns sitting in the co-pilot's chair and were able to see how the pilot steered the plane, put on the brakes and entered his course into the computer. It was pretty neat!
 |
| Olivia in the co-pilot's seat |
 |
| Violet in the co-pilot's seat |
All in all, we had a pretty great trip! It was fun to see the girls enjoy themselves and make some family memories. I really enjoyed watching them experience the magic of Disney and its characters; Disney really does a great job of providing such a unique experience.
