the happiest place on earth

Too much of a good thing? Jess has told me in the past that you can never have too many pictures in a blog post, this may or may not be true. In the case of Disney World I think choosing which pictures to preserve is a very difficult process. There are 110 pictures in this post (I think) and they are whittled down from the over 2,000 pictures we took on our nine day trip. My kids, as it turns out, are...kids. Typical, all American, Disney-loving, princess-obsessed, magic-believing kids. They LOVE Disney World. Each time we go they are entranced by the magic of it all and I am reduced to a sentimental, cry-at-their-reactions, blithering mommy fool. It's wonderful really and I am being totally serious. I love to see my kids so happy and excited about every single thing they see. The magic will fade sooner than I'd like but for now they are still so sweet and innocent.

we arrived at night but that didn't stop us from entering the park to go on a few classics like Pirates of the Caribbean

buzz lightyear in the house

waiting for our table at hollywood and vine

the girls had their noses pressed up against the glass watching all of the characters inside the restaurant, this was our first morning in town and the kids were jumping out of their skin to see some of their favorites

pat, pat, pat...

matchy-matchy mom strikes again

the Mickey Mouse Club

bracken's favorite shrub. seriously, what child has a favorite shrub? bracken drags us over to see this "magic mickey" each time we're at MGM

i was shocked that each of the kids that were tall enough (including tate) went on the tower of terror several times and loved it...sort of

tinkerbell at the night showing of fantasmic, it's always one of my favorite shows...at least we didn't get separated this year and aunt jessie didn't have to spend tons of money on light-up souvenirs

oh the disney bus...

...if only we could always travel via monorail

at least she could sleep

pooh has a secret

ruby has a secret

thanks for noticing me

princesses

Elaine? is that you?

the first princess sighting of the trip

priceless

this girl is a true princess, i hope she always has things in her life that she is this enthusiastic about

it doesn't matter that it is a zillion degrees, cozy is with us

my tweedle dee's

hot? thirsty? sick of the magic?

i'm wishing...what do you think ruby is wishing while sitting on this well?

he was so excited to get his hands on that sword...the little boy after bracken got the sword out, it rotates on a schedule and on a certain number you are able to get it out...poor bracken

diva

this was right before we jumped into a chalk drawing and were waited-on by penguins

the gang

happy

heading into the dwarfs cottage, they are old enough to ride alone in their own row

please mommy, oh pleeeeeeease!!!!...she got it

seven space rangers we love

look alikes

child swap

girly-girls in matching outfits

i LOVE our tradition of going to beaches 'n cream and ordering the kitchen sink, to die for

soooo good

no words

main street all hallow-ready, it's rare to get a shot of main street when it's not swarming with people but we have arrived extra early for our breakfast with the princesses inside Cinderella's castle

i gave ruby my make-up on the shuttle to make her happy, aren't her eyes dazzling?

lexie can't get away fast enough

this is the exact same cinderella that has been here to greet us for the past four years...what's she going to do when she starts to look more like the step mother??? aging happens to the best of us

the girls posing on the stairs for bracken

no glass slippers lost here

on guard!

they have a wishing ceremony at cinderella's royal table, they flash the lights and the kids wish on stars. magic!

if only i knew what these little wishes were. i hope they come true!!

snow white offered to teach the girls how to curtsey

and to hold out your skirt while you pose for a picture

hey lady, who invited you into my personal space?

too cute to seem intimidating or scary

yikes!! more knight-like

dumbo, such a classic

alice was a tiny little thing but tate was a little scared of her so i held him firmly in the picture, even if that meant sacrificing myself and immortalizing the horrible humidity-ruined hair

what the stitch?

the big cheese himself. we love you mickey.

in minnie's gazebo and totally over it

tan cuzzy baby faces

snorting, i mean licking sugar off the table....this happened at every restaurant

this was a great end to tate's day, he is my child that would walk across fire to get to macaroni and cheese

looks like everyone was a little scared to enter the haunted house

lexie is my baby who loves babies, grandpa saw these two cute little corolle's in a red suitcase and knew they would make lexie happy for the rest of the trip, and they did!

hello. we have already seen this guy. at breakfast two days ago.

bracken doesn't seem too sure about hugging a boy in short shorts

colorful lollipop + new princess Tiana dress = who cares mom, you're only a kid once

in the dark, dank, cool line of pirates...again

looks like we went back to all of the crowd pleasers more than once

simply happy

this is what i saw every time i looked down, ruby wanting me to carry her or hold her during a parade

a cup full of kids!

bracken is giving instructions on how to operate the steering wheel and brody looks totally panicked and betrayed.

perhaps the best picture of the trip. aunt jess is just one of the kids!

i volunteered to watch brody while jess rode on goofy's roller coaster with my kids. he was dry when she left. i'm sure she appreciated me letting him roam free at donald's boat house.

hmm, what will come out of this hole?

WATER!!!

some people waited in line for over two hours to meet tink and her friends, there was no way i was doing that. a nice lady asked if my girls wanted to meet the fairies, i said sure. the next thing i knew we went through a back entrance and were deposited into fairyland. before we entered we were told that as we passed through the doors we would be shrunk down to the size of a fairy, abbie was really worried about it. once we were inside she kept asking if we really had been shrunk...no really daddy, really? as you can see, ruby was not impressed.

but she was impressed by the gift shop

these sunglasses were purchased

cotton candy...not eaten like Taylor from real housewives of beverly hills

pink toothed smile---

watch out bracken, we all know what happened to peter at the end of pinkalicious

yes, bracken's shirt is tucked into his boxers

jess had had enough of brody's back talk

the miller's (notice brody squeezed into the middle) after the shooting game of Toy Story at MGM...i will never call it hollywood studios

grandpa and tate making memories

babe

beating the heat at the hotel pool

safety first

sun, sand, and castles

this is when we were at a nice restaurant at the hotel but the kids had just thrown clothes on and come straight from the pool. brody was walking the halls with taylor and made an appearance at our port hole. the kids decided that was a good time to share some food. the couple at the next table were very gracious about sitting near the animals.

after dinner we headed back to beaches 'n cream for "the kitchen sink round 2"...

brody borrowed abbie's gear to play baby beauty parlor

allie, how do you feel about these sorts of round brushes?... i know...

tate created a mega-straw by sticking a lot of straws together, he was so proud

time for a mani while waiting for our food

if someone who was about to paint my nails looked at me like this i'd grab my purse and run

...even worse

wow, i look great!

our waitress announcing to the entire restaurant (while the lights flash on and off and a red police siren swirls from the ceiling) that some little pigggy's have come to try and eat the whole kitchen sink. twenty scoops of ice cream, an entire can of whipped cream, and every topping in the house!

bracken can't even keep his grubby little mitts off long enough for me to get one shot

smoosh

clearly we didn't even try to keep her clean, we just wanted to see her happy. lexie was such a good sport to sit in strollers all day each day. she's such a good baby!

this is where we headed right after ice cream...it was the late night end to a great trip!