"We're Artist Mommy"

The other morning I got woken up by Taylor saying "we're ready to paint Mommy come on". Seriously it is only 7, I don't think so! Needless to say we were in the backyard painting by 8! The girls are all about arts and crafts of any sort. Painting is probably my least favorite only because it is a lot of work before and after to clean up but they weren't going for anything else this morning.

I have to say they did a good job sharing the paints, getting along and it killed a good hour without a melt down.

No they are not still in their PJ's those are their painting shirts so we don't ruin any clothes. I know that it says "washable" but that isn't always true!

As I was sitting there watching them paint. Taylor informed me that they were "artist" and we would have to hang all their pictures up on the fence so everyone could see! We didn't hang their pictures up on the fence but we did lay them all out in the dinning room for Daddy to see when he got home from work.

This is Taylor's version of Ariel- pretty good if I must say so

Tubing!!

The last couple of weekends we have spent part of it on the boat. The girls are super good on the boat and know exactly what they can and can't do. They are even learning all kinds of new vocabulary (anchor, prop, marina, dock, and lots more that I can't think of).

The newest thing is TUBING!!

The plan was for me to tube with them, one at a time. But when we got ready to do it they wanted me to do it first so they could see what it was like. So I tubed. Please ignore the lovely orange life jackets. I forgot to ask them to put a normal one on the boat for me so I was stuck with this.

Then, Taylor wanted to tube but she wanted to go all by herself! I was a little scared to let her go all by herself so at first we just pushed her out and let her float in the tube without the boat moving to make she wouldn't get scared.

As you can see she wasn't.

Then we were off! We were in a cove with no other boats and went really slow but she kept yelling faster! She did awesome and has done a couple of times since then.

Next it was Kendall turns. I was certain that she would want me to go with her but no she wanted to go by herself as well. She was super brave and did fabulous!

The girls love to swim! They are like crazy wild maniacs in the water. All over the place! Thank God for life jackets

Daddy and his girls

This is one of my favorite pictures. I was driving and Kendall and Ryan were sitting in the front of the boat just chatting away. Kendall is getting so grown up these days. It is really weird and exciting to watch her.

Disney World Day 4

Our last day in Disney World we had planned on spending it at Animal Kingdom but believe it or not there were still parts of Magic Kingdom that we had not seen or done so we headed back!!!

We first stopped and tried to get to family picture in front of Cinderella's castle but Kendall was not cooperating completely so as you can see in the picture it is not the best.

Next, we headed to Tomorrowland to drive some cars at Tomorrowland's Speedway!!

Kendall drove and I rode with her! She was actually a pretty good driver.

In the car behind us were Taylor driving and Ryan as the passenger.

Every time I turned around Ryan was cracking up laughing. Let's just say Taylor is going to need some serious driving lessons.

Then, it was off to ride the Astro Orbiter.

Ryan and I got to ride together!

Aunt Casey and Taylor

Mimi and Kendall

On the way to ride Stitch's Great Escape we ran into this moving, talking trash can. The girls were fascinated by it and just stood and listened until it turned and started talking to the "two pretty girls wearing bows"!

They were to cute standing there talking to it but still trying to figure it out.

After riding Stitch's Great Escape, Mimi and Poppy took the girls to go ride Tomorrowland's Transit Authority soooo Aunt Casey, Ryan, and I could go ride SPACE MOUNTAIN!!!

I laughed so hard on the roller coaster just listening to all of Casey's hoots and hollers. It was a lot of fun!

Then it was on to Monsters Inc Laugh Floor!

Kendall and Taylor decided they needed to ballroom dance while waiting in line!

This is an interactive digital show with the characters from the movie and the camera was put on Taylor during the show a couple of times. Her name in the show was "Boo". It was really funny and in the air conditioning.

Then we meet Chip and Dale

Our last ride at Disney World was Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin

Then it was off to the princess store. The girls were dying to spend the rest of their Disney dollars.

On the walkway up to the store Snow White was walking down and she stopped for another photo op with the girls!

In the store they walked around and picked out exactly what they wanted and would ask Ryan or I "do I have enough to buy this?". It was to cute. Then they took their goods to the counter and pulled out their wallets filled with paper and tried to pay for it! The lady at the counter was great she played right into it and took their money and gave them their bags!

It was an amazing trip and definitely very memorable for all of us. Thank you very much Mimi and Poppy for everything. I can't express how much we appreciate it. love ya'll

Disney World Day 3

Day 3 we headed back to Magic Kingdom.

Pluto was waiting there for autographs and pictures in Main Street which worked out because Daddy had to go pick up the stroller.

Then the girls spotted Pinnocchio across the street so we obliged.

Next we headed over to Cinderella's Royal Table for breakfast with the princesses! The girls knew ahead of time that we had reservations so they insisted on wearing their princess dress that Grams made for them.

You walk into her castle and take a picture with Cinderella first

and then she gives you a royal invitation to join her for breakfast upstairs. You head upstairs and you truly feel like you are in a castle. The hostess told the girls exactly were to sit so it was easiest to visit with the princesses when they come by. Then you hear a voice over the speakers and they start to tell a story about a princess and then the princess walks in.

The first was Snow White

Princess Aurora/Sleeping Beauty

Belle

and Ariel

(Taylor could hardly contain herself she was so excited to finally meet her)

Then they give all the kids wishing stars and wands and have them join all the princesses in making a wish.

It was an awesome experience!

After breakfast we headed over to Frontierland but made a small pit stop on the way to meet

Princess Tiana (from Princess and the Frog)

Next, we made a stop to watch the Country Bear Jamboree and some air conditioning!

After the show I spotted Donald Duck!!!! He has always been my favorite so of course we had to head over for a photo op and I jumped in on this one!

Then we all rode on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Don't let the name fool you this is an all out roller coaster but both of the girls wanted to ride it. They girls totally amazed me with how brave they were on all of the rides.

Stopped to meet Woody and Jessie from Toy Story

Then we made our way over to Splash Mountain. We had gotten Fast Passes earlier in the day for this ride so we didn't have to wait in line and watched it come down the mountain over and over again. Kendall asked all day "when are we going to ride it"! She was so excited to ride it- I couldn't believe it. This ride plummets over the mountain peak on a 5 STORY fall that ends in a massive splashdown into a pond and she LAUGHED hysterically the whole time! I wished I could have gotten a picture but I couldn't. I will say that we all got very wet!

After that we headed to Adventureland!

Hopped on Walt Disney World Railroad which took us around the border of Magic Kingdom!

Then we took in The Enchanted Tiki Room- Under New Management show and rode on the Jungle Cruise and then off to ride the Magic Carpets of Aladdin

Kendall, Aunt Casey, and Mimi rode it one

and Taylor, Daddy, and me rode in another

Next I had a little surprise for the girls! I had made reservations at The Pirates League for them to get transformed into pirates. Taylor was super excited but Kendall told me "this is not a good surprise for me I am not a boy and I don't like pirates". Oops I guess I should have done the princess one for her but to be honest I was a little princessed out by now. So Taylor started-

First you turn the wheel and get your pirate name-

Emily Backscratcher is her new name

Then off to get your nails and face painted, a bandana, eye patch, an earring, a pouch full of pirate essentials, a sword, sash, and of course take the pirate oath!

About this time Kendall changed her mind and wanted to do it so now we have

Emily Backscratcher and Elizabeth Bridgekidd

Then we had to turn our cameras off to go in the pirates secret room! Once in there we got a real piece of the captains treasure and do some pirate magic.

Another awesome experience!

Finally (we had tried to ride it once before but closed down while we were waiting in line) we got to ride Pirates of the Caribbean.

Dinner Time!

We had reservations at Liberty Tree Tavern. Yummy! It was served family style which was great because we had some hungry girls and boys that day.

Then it was time to stake out a spot for the night parade. It is crazy how early people starting saving spots. We made our way towards Main Street so we could have a quick out after the parade since it didn't start until 9 o'clock!

We luckily found a front row spot next to some really nice people from North Carolina. The girls made friends with Braydon, who is 5 also, which totally keep them busy during the hour wait and the 18 INCH SUGAR stick Daddy bought them!!!

SHOW TIME!

Pictures don't really give it justice but it was incredible! The whole thing is lights, singing, and dancing.

Nobody even talked the whole time except to say who they saw coming up we just all stared in amazement.

After the parade was over the girls were going down hill so we decided to take the ferry back to the transportation center so we could still see the fireworks as they went over on forever right over Cinderella's castle. It was magical and a great way to end a fantastic day.

Disney World Day 2

I am going to warn you know that I had a hard time picking pictures for this post. I took 119 pictures on Tuesday alone so going through them and deciding which ones to include was hard. I know most of them seem almost the same but I wanted to make sure and capture the day pretty accurately for the future. So where we go...

Day two of Disney started arriving at the Magic Kingdom bright and early at 8 am. First thing on the agenda was to rent a stroller. Yes the girls are 4 and 5 but I knew that the next couple of days involved ALOT of walking and no naps so I wanted to help the situation out as much as possible. So while Daddy was waiting in line for a stroller Daisy was waiting there was autographs and pictures. So we took advantage! Mimi was so kind as to run over to the nearest kiosk and purchase an autograph book and pen for each of the girls (and boy did those things get used!).

Daisy and the girls

Next we walked down Main Street and had to take a LONG look at Cinderella's castle! The girls were in awe of it! It is pretty impressive.

Next we headed straight to Fantasyland!

We rode Cinderella's Golden Carousel first.

Then Dumbo's Flying Elephants

Aunt Casey and Taylor

Then we headed to over to Toontown Hall of Fame to meet some princesses. The girls couldn't wait to meet them. So to make them happy and to be able to do other things without being asked for the one hundredth time "when are we going to see the princesses". We waited in line. This was actually the longest line we probably waited in all week but well worth it. You get to go in a small room with about 5 other people and meet the princesses one on one and take pictures.

Seeing the girls faces when it was their time was priceless. The were beyond excited to meet

Cinderella

Belle

and Princess Aurora or Sleeping Beauty

With their princess fix for the moment we then walked through Minnie's Country House

The girls saw this room and said "Minnie sews just like Grams".

So this one is for Grams!

Next was riding The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and then headed inside for some much needed air conditioning to watch Mickey's PhilharMagic 3D movie!!! It was extremely hot outside and we all looked like we ran a marathon by this point.

Kendall in her 3D glasses!

The girls were so funny watching the movie with all the effects and trying to catch the characters coming at you!

Off to "its a small world" ride

Mimi, Kendall, and Aunt Casey

Next on the list was Snow White's Scary Adventure and a meet and greet with Mary Poppins and Bert.

And then by Aunt Casey's request we all hopped on the Mad Tea Party ride. I was a little apprehensive about how the girls would take this ride but to my surprise both of them loved it. Kendall rode with Mimi and Aunt Casey and kept asking them to go faster and Taylor rode with Ryan and I and loved it.

Daddy, Taylor, and me

Taylor's face during the ride!

By this time the girls were ready to meet Tinker Bell and the other fairies so we headed that way which was good timing because there was a small rain shower. We luckily missed the whole thing while we waited and met Silver Mist, Rosetta, and

Tinker Bell

After that we toured Mickey's Country house which leads you straight to the Judge's Tent to meet Micky and Minnie!

Look at Kendall's expression!

Family Pic!

Off to Peter Pan's Flight (one of Taylor's favorite of course because it has pirates in it)

Taylor and Poppy

Next we caught Dream Along with Mickey a live stage show!

Finally off to dinner at the Crystal Palace but not before we watched the Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It! Street Parade on the way.

When we actually got to sit down we found out that

Eeyore

Tigger

Winnie the Pooh

and Piglet

would be visiting us at our table while we ate!

This in one of favorite pictures because you can see the excitement and joy in both of the girls faces about getting to meet some of their favorite people. This is the look that I saw all day and made all the sweating and waiting totally worth it.

And now we are off to bed because that was one busy day and we have to do it all over again tomorrow!