Sunday, April 27, 2014

Let it go

Sung by our own Elsa in her own special way

 

Friday, April 25, 2014

Half pipe

Up up up we go....

 

 

Better get a better start....

 

Hooray!!!

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Fireman

Hey, look what Noah learned how to do!

 

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Misc

Ok, enough with the vacation photos already.  Let's just show some random extras and be done with it.

First, my exceptionally handsome carousel rider

seriously, I am shocked no one from the Disney channel tried to recruit him while we were there

Also here is a picture of Eva hugging a fish, because why wouldn't she be? 


And Noah being, well, Noah on the plane


AAAAK ACCIDENTAL ICE CREAM CLOSE UP


And one more Minnie shot for the road


Phew, I'm beat. 


Monday, April 21, 2014

Warming up after swimming


Nana hugs are a good way to warm up after swimming.

Sunday, April 20, 2014

Swimming

We made full use of the pool while on vacation


I LOVE VACATION 



I ALSO LOVE THIS SEAHORSE

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Shark Attack

And then Noah got eaten by a shark.  The end.


Boardwalk

One night for dinner we headed to a boardwalk area.  There was lots of skipping.


And shoulder rides



And most importantly... dessert!!


 (Eva and her beloved Minnie)






Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Kids with characters

Noah, on the other hand, was much more ambivalent about meeting the characters.  He is shy anyway, and only was actually interested in meeting Mickey.

(interested, but clearly still suspicious)

He did accept a high-five from goofy


And suffered a picture with his sister.

(This is one of the worst pictures of my children I have ever seen.  Clearly this picture was mommy's idea and not Noah's.  Also probably someone should wash those kids' hair.)

Monday, April 14, 2014

Tigger, meet Tigger

By far the greatest character interaction was when Eva and little Tigger got to meet Pooh and big Tigger.  Tigger has always been my favorite Winnie-the-Pooh character and this totally sealed it for me.

First, Eva got a hug from Pooh



And then she introduced the big Tigger to her little Tigger


And big Tigger was very gentle with little Tigger


And rocked him to sleep


And Eva was just delighted


And big Tigger carefully handed little Tigger off to Pooh


Who gave Nana a squeeze


And returned little Tigger to a very happy Eva


What a great day. :)


Sunday, April 13, 2014

Princesses

So the evening after we went on the small world ride, Chad commented that waving at all of the dolls was a very "princess" thing to do.  Eva overheard this and began to weep, because she didn't get to meet any princesses, and even though she had never once before expressed the need to meet a princess, she couldn't hold in her disappointment at this tragedy in her young life any longer.

Luckily this happened on of our first evenings there, so there was still time to meet some princesses.

We took Eva to meet Cinderella, because Cinderella has been Eva's favorite ever since she got a Cinderella pez dispenser a year or so ago.  Eva was shy, but Cinderella took her by the hand.


And the two had a very serious conversation about butterflies


And eventually we got a picture.


This "meet the princess" opportunity also featured sleeping beauty, who was apparently much more intimidating.  Eva refused to talk to her or even go over to her, and instead went over to a desk and stared at a prop storybook.  But the princess actresses are well trained, and sleeping beauty was able to bring Eva out of her shell by asking her about the book.


And eventually dragged her away


And eventually got a picture


And even a hug.


Eva looks a bit shell-shocked in these pictures, and she was pretty shy about the whole scene.  But afterward she was skipping and going on about how she got to meet TWO PRINCESSES and I think she was pretty pleased with herself.

Even though I am ambivalent about the whole princess thing, this meeting was just so sweet and wonderful and I am really glad it worked out for Eva.


Saturday, April 12, 2014

Small World

Eva's favorite attraction at DisneyWorld was the "It's a Small World" ride.  In case you haven't experienced it yourself, it is a boat ride past a bunch of dolls dressed up from different parts of the world, all dancing and singing the small world song.  Eva loved this ride, and for some reason spent the entire time waving at the dolls


It was very, very cute.


Friday, April 11, 2014

Roller Coaster Kid

At a New Year's Eve party this year the kids were asked to draw a picture of something they wanted to do this year. Noah drew a picture of a roller coaster.  This was a little odd, since we hadn't talked at all to him about our trip at that point.  But whatever.

Our first day in the Magic Kingdom we took him on his first "grown up" roller coaster ride.  He was a litte intimidated.



But was pleased with himself afterward.  The DisneyWorld roller coasters are neat but pretty tame as roller coasters go, so actually not a bad place to try some out.  Another bonus of relatively tame roller coasters is a short height requirement.

Anyway, Noah's roller coaster quest culminated at Space Mountain.

He was psyched.


(immediately before takeoff)

He did great, said he loved it, and had no desire to ride it again.

Thursday, April 10, 2014

Minnie

So when we entered the magic kingdom, the first thing Eva saw was Minnie Mouse


Whom, according to Eva, she has been waiting her entire life to meet.


(for the record, Eva had never expressed much interest in Minnie before this moment, but this particular day was INSISTENT we wait in line so she could meet Minnie)


The whole scene was so incredibly sweet I didn't mind the wait.






bye bye Minnie, I will always remember you


ok one more hug



... and Eva skipped away, off to explore the rest of the magic kingdom ...