Recap of Our Surprise Trip to Disney

The girls party was a success! I finished the cakes in time, in spite of also having to take cupcakes and visit Emma Lee's preschool class. I really think, well - I know, that there's no way I could have finished everything if my Mom hadn't come early and spent the day finishing up for me at the preschool and taking the girls out to lunch (and a little extra b'day shopping trip), so "Thanks, Mom!!" :) I also managed to keep our surprise! Yay! :) I caught myself right before it slipped out SO many times!! We showed the girls their DVD that explained their birthday surprise. I didn't get the hysterically excited response I was expecting (they do have the nickname "the screaming girls" after all), but I suppose that was partially due to the all the party craziness that was going on. Instead, we got an is this for real kind of reaction. Looking back on the video (sorry, I can't post it - it hasn't made it to dvd format yet), it is really cute because you can see their eyes getting bigger and their mouths slowly falling open while they didn't dare take their eyes off the tv to turn and ask us anything. We finished up the party and went to bed for an early departure time (which ended up not being until 10:00 am but was early enough).

Saturday, we finally arrived, did a little shopping while we waited for our check-in time, got settled in, attended a Sat night church service since we would not be going to church on Sunday, and hit a McDonald's on the way back for some quick dinner.

Sunday! Finally after promising the girls since Thursday night that we were going to Disney, we arrived at the Magic Kingdom! (The girls got buttons that said Happy Birthday with their name on it. ALL day long they got individual birthday greetings from park attendants, characters, and just random strangers.) We entered just in time to see a parade coming down Main Street. What a welcome! They had an appointment scheduled for the Bibbidi Bobbiti Boutique, so that was our first stop. They got all dolled up with jewels, make-up, fingernail polish, and more glitter and hair spray than you can even imagine! We had time to get on a few rides like Dumbo, the Carosel, and Snow White's Scary Adventure (which they HATED!) before our lunch reservation at Cinderella's castle. So, Cinderella was the first character that the girls got to actually go up and talk to, and Kerri decided that (for the first time in her life!) she was shy. She did not want to go up to her but kept peeking out from behind me and smiling at her. I think that she was just so overwhelmed with the thought that Wow! I'm actually here with Cinderella! that she didn't know what to do. She did let us take a picture with her, as long as I held her. She quickly got over her initial shyness as all the princesses came and greeted them at our table throughout our lunch. After we were finished, she just HAD to go back down and hug and say hi to Cinderella. :) Throughout the rest of the day, we rode as many rides, caught as many "shows," talked with as many characters, and saw as many parades as we could squeeze in. We ended up staying at the park for 12 hours and still only covered about half of the park!! (All without a stroller! We had planned to rent one half-way through the day but the girls never asked for one or asked to be carried - a miracle for Kerri!!) Almost as soon as their heads hit the car seat, they were out! :)

Late Monday morning, we decided that we would go on to Sea World (which we hadn't planned on doing until Tuesday. There was a chance of rain and I didn't want to end up not being able to go). It was incredible, and the girls liked it almost as much as Disney. We saw the Shamu show, the dolphin show, and the sea lion and walrus show, rode a bunch of rides, and got up close and personal with a lot of different kind of creatures. :) We liked it so much we decided to take advantage of our 2nd day visit free tickets (which we hadn't planned on doing so we wouldn't overdo it for the girls) and go back for a few more hours the next day.(Yes, their hair is STILL up! Two full days and then I just HAD to take it out to give them a bath!!)

Tuesday morning we slept in, ate a good breakfast, and went swimming at the resort. We went back to Sea World for a few more hours and then headed to downtown Disney for some shopping and dinner at Rainforst Cafe.

Wednesday morning came so fast. I couldn't believe that it was already time to go back home. We were all exhausted though and spent 12 hours driving back home all in one trip. Thank goodness for DVD players, a good book, and a husband who doesn't mind doing most of the driving!!

So, now all I'm left wondering is how in the world do I have a
4 and a 5 year old already??!!

Have a great year, sweet girls!

This post is long enough, so if you want to see more pictures of the birthday and trip click on these links to view the albums I created on Facebook. Don't worry - I didn't post all 477 pictures I took!! :)

Girls' Birthday
Disney
Sea World


*Ok, these links weren't working, but I think I've fixed them now.