Field Trips and Fairs...

On October 11th, Alexa's preschool had their annual field trip to the pumpkin patch! We got some great photos from last year's visit, and I think this year's photos were cute as well, although it was much harder to snap photos of my oldest since she and her friend Allie spent most their time RUNNING from place to place!

Brody, on the other hand, sat perfectly still amidst the pumpkins, looking adorable as always!!
















Alexa with her classmates Allie and Ella (try saying that three times fast -Alexa, Ella, Allie)









On the 19th, we visited the South Carolina State Fair! Alexa is currently infatuated with horses (not sure where she gets it!) so we took her to their horse show. She loved it and had to have her photo taken with one of the miniature horses after the show.

Be sure to notice her pink boots- my Aunt Bev sent Alexa money for her birthday and I took her shopping to pick out some boots, picturing some cute brown ones that would go with anything...once she saw the pink ones, there was no convincing her brown was a universal color. And, I suppose when half your wardrobe is pink, they do indeed match anything!

Disney World: A Play by Play Account...

Thanks to my wonderful parents for allowing us to take our Disney trip! The original plan was that they would drive up, stay a night, and then take Brody to Texas with them while Billy and I took Alexa to Disney. Due to the flu and the breathing issues (and the ear infection/fever Brody developed Friday night), I was hesitant about him being so far away from his doctor. So, my parents volunteered to still drive up, but instead, my mom would keep Brody at our house so she could take him to the doctor if needed. This was decided on Saturday, and on Sunday (the day they began driving), Brody was doing MUCH better! He had finally slept six hours without a breathing treatment and was interested in playing again. Monday he continued to improve and I felt confident in our decision to continue with our trip when we left Tuesday morning.

We arrived at the Disney Port Orleans - Riverside resort Tuesday evening. The resort 'theme' is a riverboat on the Mississippi River and a Disney-constructed river rolls through the bayou and mansion themed units. In the center, an island with a playground and swimming pool can be reached via two wooden bridges. Boats shuttles were available from the resort dock to the Downtown Disney area. Moss hung from enormous trees and ducks and geese lazily waddled across the pathways. It felt like home (without the alligators!)

Wednesday morning we woke up bright and early to dress our little princess for her Storybook Princess Breakfast at the Akershus Royal Banquet Hall in Epcot's Norway. Delighted to get to wear her crown, she sashayed through the grounds, stopping when requested by her father for photo ops. "Beauty and the Beast" has always been one of her favorites, so you can imagine her delight when our arrival was announced and we were led into the restaurant, where Alexa was able to meet Belle face to face and have their photo taken.














We were then taken to our table which happened to be near 'The Door'. Her face was priceless when half way through breakfast, 'The Door' opened and Sleeping Beauty walked out! After this, she was perched on the back of her chair, watching with anticipation as the other royal guests arrived! In addition to the two already mentioned, we also met Jasmine, Snow White, and Mulan.


Epcot was beautiful and probably will be the closest we ever come to touring the world (especially in a day!) :) The food was awesome, and it was a great place to spend some more time with the characters since it was much less crowded than the Magic Kingdom.

The princesses hang out at specific countries (Sleeping Beauty in France, Jasmine in Morocco) so we were able to see a few of them again.

























We also waited at the Epcot Character greet to meet the famous faces - Mickey, Minnie, Chip and Dale, Pluto, and Goofy.









We rode a few of the rides (like Nemo) and then decided to return to our room for a rest. Seemed to be good timing since our princess was truly a 'sleeping beauty' by the time her stroller reached Epcot's front gates.




That evening, we headed to Magic Kingdom to catch the night time parade and fireworks, as well as tour the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House and catch a ride on Aladdin's Carpets. Still dressed as a princess (she refused to change), Alexa was treated royally by all of the Disney employees (or cast members as they're called).

Each one would greet her with, "Hello Princess" and one cast member, Amanda from the fudge shop, made Alexa's wait for the parade extra special by playing with her, giving her a certificate declaring her a Special Friend, and awarding her with free cotton candy! (Not quite a stay in the castle, but we'll take it!)

With such a late night Wednesday, we were glad to have left Thursday as a free day and let our princess sleep in! After breakfast, we took the boat to Downtown Disney and did some shopping. We told Alexa she could pick any one thing from the gigantic World of Disney. She surprised us both by passing up the dolls, costumes, clothing, and numerous other souvenirs for the small plush replica of the kitten from the Aristocats, Marie. Since Marie was quite smaller than what we were expecting, she also got to pick out a crown and a pet carrier (read - Pink Purse) for Marie. Since the Bippidi Boppidi Boutique, a place where fairy godmothers in training primp young girls into princesses, was booked up due to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party (also going on while we were there), we also bought a few items that would allow us to create our own boutique. We had bought the curly hairpiece our first night there, so we picked up a crown hair comb and glitter makeup to prepare Alexa for Friday, our day at the Magic Kingdom.

We ate lunch in Downtown Disney at Wolfgang Puck's - awesome food and a great experience! Alexa ordered their children's Crazy California Roll which is filled with ham and cheese and topped with goldfish crackers. The wait staff saw her attempting to eat with chopsticks and brought her a pair of "kid friendly" chopsticks which were rubber banded around a folded piece of paper, creating oversized tweezers! Alexa loved them and quickly became quite proficient!

Upon our return that evening, we took a carriage ride around the resort - this is the only family photo taken on our trip!

On Friday, we again woke up early to catch the bus to Magic Kingdom and be there for their Little Ones Magic Hour, a program which allows Disney resort guests to enter the park an hour before the normal opening and visit Fantasyland. I wasn't sure what to expect, but this was a super cute program! The characters were out to play with the children, and since it was off-season at Disney, the crowds were minimal. Alexa got to ride Cinderella's Carousel with Chip and Dale, saw Stitch on Dumbo (he was in a different elephant), did the Hokey Pokey with Winnie the Pooh and Mary Poppins (and no, I don't know why she was hanging out in Pooh's Corner). The waits were less than 20 minutes and by 10:00am, we had accomplished everything on my list, including the Teapots, Peter Pan's Magic Flight, It's a Small World, the Indy Speedway, and the Winnie the Pooh ride.















We then spent the most miserable thirty minutes of our life melting in the sweltering Florida heat (I thought it would be better in October) as we waited to meet Arial. Unlike the other characters who await your arrival in an air-conditioned room, Arial waits in her grotto. Which is outside. With no breeze, no shade, and did I mention no AC? There are water fountains shooting haphazardly for the children and any desperate adults to run through, but about the time I was beginning to contemplate it, the line started moving.

(Alexa chose to spend her time twirling while we waited)

And like all of the character greetings, it was worth it for Alexa to meet another one of her movie idols, although I couldn't help but laugh when her first question to Arial was, "Where's Eric?" Guess we know which PRINCE is her favorite!




After meeting Arial, we headed over to the grove for Story Time with Belle, where Alexa made her stage debut! Belle chooses members of the audience to help 'act out' her story and Alexa was chosen to play the part of Chip, the little tea cup!








After Story Time, we headed to Toon Town where we rode the Barnstormer (Goofy's roller coaster) which Alexa did great on, but informed us after the fact that she did NOT like it. We also toured Minnie's house and waited in line to meet Cinderella along with Belle and Sleeping Beauty (again). After that, we ate lunch, caught the Country Bear Jamboree, rode the train to Main Street, watched the parade, said hello to Chicken Little, then headed to our hotel around 4pm for a rest.
















That evening, we headed back to Epcot for dinner at the Moroccan restaurant. Our original plans had included Sea World on Saturday, but we opted to sleep in instead and catch Ratatouille at the Downtown Disney Theatre. It was definitely worth it to plan some 'down days' between the craziness. Despite our days of sleeping in, it has taken Alexa about three days being home to truly recover from the busy schedule and late nights! Believe it or not, these photos are actually only a small sampling! I hope to get them uploaded to the Kodak Gallery this weekend for those of you who want to see ALL of them.

You can also click here to see our Disney Photo Pass album (the photos taken by the professional photographers - again, for some reason, we never ended up with a shot of all three of us!).