The Prodigal Blogger has Returned!

As was pointed out to me several times on my trip this past week, I haven't blogged at all lately. No Grace in Small Things even. I don't know what's been up, but I just haven't really felt like writing. Nothing has been wrong, just not overly motivated either.

So, as I said, I've been traveling this past week. And I have to begin this post by raving about what an amazing husband I have. We all know how guys are when they are home alone. They make messes, order too much pizza and generally live like bachelors until their wives come home, right? Not my boy! I got home yesterday and the house looked even better than it did when I left. The kitchen was clean (not a dish in the sink), the house had been vacuumed, and to top it all off, he had MOPPED the floors. Seriously, are you turned on yet?! I'm telling you, I think he's just about the sexiest thing on the face of the planet right now! And no, you cannot borrow him, he's mine! All mine!

Where have I been you might ask? Well, for those of you who may not have heard, I've been to the Happiest Place on Earth! A.K.A. Disney World! I know there are some out there who believe the Disney corporation is the root of all evil, but I am not one of them and if you are, well, you should stop reading my blog because I am a complete Disney-phile.

The trip this time really just kind of fell into my lap. I've been itching to go, but know that Hubby (who is not nearly as much of a Disney-lover as I am) hasn't had a great deal of free time lately and probably wouldn't want to go anytime soon. So, when one of my friends on Facebook asked me if I wanted to go with her, I jumped on the chance. What's really amazing about this invitation is I have not seen Sam in 16 years (since the night we graduated high school)! Talk about a leap of faith on both our parts, we decided to meet in our home town and drive the 6 hours down to Orlando with our two little girls (Lilly aka Baby Girl age 2, and Kate age 3). I must admit, I was kinda worried about how such a long drive was going to go with someone that truly, I didn't know very well. I shouldn't have worried, we gabbed the whole time and the drive really flew by!

After we got checked in to our hotel, we headed off to the Magic Kingdom! I don't know who was more excited, us or the girls. When we got near the castle, Mickey and his crew were doing their stage show. I usually skip over these productions, not really my thing, but Lilly took one look and said, "Mama, it's MICKEY!!!!" Oh my god! She really got it! I'll admit it, I teared up at that point. It was so thrilling to see my little girl really believing in the characters. Everything was so real for her. I really do believe that the people who wait until their kids are older to take them to Disney for the first time are missing out on that moment.

We spent most of that evening wandering around Fantasy Land, riding the Small World ride, Peter Pan and Winnie-the-Pooh. We also stood in line for the girls to meet Pooh and Tigger. It was a long line and really starting to get cold out, but seeing how excited they were to meet the characters made the wait worth it. We also learned that night that my little girl is not quite ready for fireworks. She hid her little head in my lap and didn't look up until after the show was long over. We weren't even technically watching the show, but the noise was enough to get her. Oh well, maybe next trip!

On our second morning we headed over to the Animal Kingdom. I really love that park! We started off with the Kilamanjaro safari, but it was pretty chilly out, so a lot of the animals were no-shows. We still had a great time at the park though. Sam is as big a roller-coaster junkie as I am, so we took turns hopping through the single rider line at Expedition Everest and got to ride it a couple of times. I love the single rider line, you can get through in a fraction of the time if you don't mind being separated from your party. Animal Kingdom is definitely not a full-day park, so after seeing the Lion King show and meeting several of the characters with the girls, we headed back to the hotel with the girls for a nap before making our way over to Hollywood Studios. Lilly was so funny when we went for naptime, she fought it just as long as she could and I ended up hiding behind one of the beds so she wouldn't realize I was there.

Hollywood Studios is another park that really doesn't take the whole day to visit. They have added some new stuff, so maybe on our next trip, I'll spend a bit more time and check it out, but for this trip our priority was hitting the Tower of Terror (Sam's favorite ride) and the Rockin' Roller Coaster (one of mine). We also saw the Little Mermaid show, which Lilly loved! At the end when Ariel and Prince Eric hugged, she announced (loudly) "they're Married!" I didn't even know she understood the concept! It was still really cold that night, so we hit one of the stores to pick up some sweatshirts for the little ones. They ended up wearing them for the rest of the trip.

On Tuesday we hit my all time favorite park, EPCOT! We hit a few of the rides at the front of the park before heading back to the World Showcase. It's so nice just walking around back there, hitting the stores and, oh yeah, having a drink or two as you walk around! On past trips, we've taken up the "drinking around the world" challenge, but I was a good girl this time and only had two. Had to be responsible for the girl, ya know! We didn't stay the full day at EPCOT either, which was kinda disappointing to me, I usually stay until the bitter end, but it was what was best for the girls. They were pretty tired, so we went back to the hotel, had some dinner and then back to the room. The food at the hotel was pretty darn good. I would definitely recommend if you go, to take advantage of the meal plan, it was definitely worth it and I felt like they were practically throwing food at us! The one we chose included two meals and two snacks per day. Each meal included a dessert, and by the end of the trip, we were pretty sick of dessert. That's unheard of for me! We also had a ton of the snacks left over, so we hit one of the bakeries and brought home a bunch of the yummy, Mickey Mouse-shaped rice krispie treats that they sell. I love those bad boys.

Wednesday we were back at the Magic Kingdom. After a breakfast of ice cream sundaes, we had a lot of fun hitting the rides, but in the afternoon, decided to split up. I wanted to hit a few more rides with Lilly and Sam wanted to take Kate over to Hollywood Studios to meet some more of the characters. I took Lilly over to the Pirates of the Carribean ride, not really sure of how she would like it. She LOVED it! I also took her on the Haunted Mansion ride, the Teacups and the Barnstormer (which is the kids roller coaster). She loved it all! My girl knows no fear! I hope she keeps that, but I know she may go through a timid phase sometime in the future. We headed back to the hotel that evening to meet up with Sam and Kate so we could get some dinner at Downtown Disney. Unfortunately, Lilly was really tired and decided to pitch a royal hissy fit on the bus. I was trying to hold her and manage the stroller at the same time, which wasn't working very well. Fortunately there was a lovely couple behind me who took control of the stroller so I could calm her down. Not even five minutes later, the little one was out and I had a great visit with the nice people behind me. Turns out they were staying three doors down from us and after I got the little one put down for a nap, she turned up at my door with a lovely glass of wine. How nice was that!

That night we headed out for dinner at Downtown Disney. This time it was Sam's turn to have an unhappy child. Kate was so tired and in a royal mood, so they had to cut dinner short and head back to the hotel. We stayed and finished our meal, did a tiny bit of shopping and headed back to the hotel. Kate was in a much better mood when we got there, but poor Sam looked a bit frazzled. I could definitely feel her pain!

Our last day was also spent at Magic Kingdom. I really could spend days there! Fortunately, Sam is like-minded, because I can't get Wes to go for more than a day. We hit the rides again (Lilly was desperate to see the Pirates and Ghosts again) then we had to bid the parks a sad goodbye (okay, sad for me and Sam, the girls were ready to go) and headed home. Ever since we've gotten back, Lilly asks me on a daily basis when can she see the ghosts again. I think I've convinced Wes to head back in October! Yay!

So, as you can see, I've decided to drop the nicknames for my family. I couldn't really justify using them for my husband and kid if I wasn't going to use them for our friends and it was going to get difficult coming up with nicknames for everyone. So, hopefully now I will get back into the swing of things with blogging, it's taken me several days to complete this post. I've been a bit distracted since I've gotten back with sock knitting. I'll get some pics up in the next day or so.