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. :)

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.

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.

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.

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 ... 

Disney!!!!

So we took the kids to DisneyWorld.

And it was awesome and lots of fun and even a little bit magical.  As a person who is at best jaded and at worst angry about the whole princess thing even I couldn't help getting caught up in the fun and the kids excitement.  I am not really sure how to write a blog post that captures the trip so instead will drag it out over days and days of posts of mostly photos.

Perhaps this is why my blog readership is approximately 5.

At any rate, it was awesome, I can't wait to show you the pictures. :)

Family picture, with Nemo's family and ours

Biking

The weather is still a little cold, but melty enough to get out on our bikes.

Action shot!!

Look! I can still ride my bike even though my rain boots weigh roughly the same as my legs!

We went down the street so Noah could race his friend Adam.  Noah is way too big for the balance bike but still insists on riding that one, we are trying to go with the flow and hope peer pressure will move him over to the big kid one eventually.  It worked shortly after these races, he switched to the yellow bike with training wheels and did a great job.

ready... 

Go!!!