Day Three: The Magic Kingdom

Editors Note: First off, I now give Tricia permission to pass out from shock that I am actually, really, truly blogging our trip :) Secondly, for all you goobs out there, here is my camera info: Sadly, very sadly, I chose to shoot the majority of our trip in AUTO. So, my dreams of these incredible perfectly exposed photos ... well, not so much :) Also, don't ever ever go to Disneyland without a sweet wide angle lens. The end.

Our first morning in California the kids were delighted to wake up early and be greeted with some gifts from Tinker Bell (the adults were pretty excited too ... apparently Tinker Bell leaves gifts for anyone who believes, not just kids ;) We quickly readied for the day in the super-ridiculously cute outfits my sister made for the kids. Shaylie and Marilee were little matching Minnie Mouses (we could have let Shay wear a princess dress but decided it wouldn't be the best for walking around all day) and Tru was geared up in his Cars duds. Luckily my sister happened to have leggings for the girls -- it was actually jacket weather! The overcast drizzly day was absolutely perfect in our opinion. Perfect for a day full of non-stop walking (yes, our feet killed by the end of the day :) Though our feet were tired I loved that we were within walking disntance of everything. Not having to deal with parking is such a plus. The crowds were sparse as well (though it did get a bit more crowded by late afternoon).
(That lady walked right in front of my camera as I was taking a picture of the "wait time" sign ... it says "3 minutes wait" if you can't tell :)

Our first stop was our appointment at Bippidi Boppidi Boutique.


My sister surprised Shaylie and Truman with a trip to the super-cute boutique inside the park (located just behind the castle inside a ridiculously amazing gift shop of princess and knight paraphenelia). This place is incredible -- particularily for little princesses like Shaylie. They were greeted as Knight Truman and Princess Shaylie and led to the salon chairs for a magical experience. Shaylie was in heaven. Tru? Well he was completely uncomfortable. And it was. HILarIous. No really. Look at his face:

Now let's compare to Shaylie ...

The sweet "fairy godmothers" were so great with the kids. The whole place was decorated so fun -- but unfortunately I didn't get a picture :/ As the stylists worked their magic we kept trying to get Tru to smile for the camera and he would do this half smile, I'm-trying-to-be-brave face that made us laugh:
On Truman they super spiked his hair, then let him choose two colors of paint to give him colorful tips (he chose blue and yellow) and then covered him in huge mickey sparkles. On the back of his head they painted a mickey head. At the very end of his hair-do they turn the child to the mirror, sprinkle magic fairy dust over them and say the magic words (bippidi boppidi boo I think...) and open the curtains to reveal the mirror which is now lit up and making magical musical sounds for the big reveal :) Too cute.
They also presented Truman with his favorite part -- the thing that he was anxiously waiting for and the first thing to generate a REAL smile out of him:

His very own sword and shield! (He picked out the sword himself). He LOVES his sword and kept talking about how he was going to go fight the dragons. Now he was truly, Knight Truman and ready for his first day at the Magic Kingdom :D

And as anyone who follows my blog can attest, these are THe beSt pictures I have of Truman. Never before has he smiled so big for the camera ;) So yes, these will be bigified (no, hugified) for my kitchen wall of happy thoughts (um, pictures).
Now, for Shaylie. Well, Aunt Tricia chose the super special package that included hair stylings, crowns, jewels, jewlery, a sash, makeup, a manicure and lots and lots of glitter with a cute little tote to carry your goods in. Shaylie loved every second of it :)


Shaylie got to choose her makeup colors, what gems she wanted to wear and her nail polish, and she got to take home her little makeup kit, polish and gems. Well, she quickly went through the gems at home, wears her nail polish all the time ... and begs to wear the makeup! haha. I told her the eye shadow and blush was only for dress up (i.e. days when we weren't going to leave the house) or halloween, but that she could wear the sparkly gloss whenever she wanted. She replied "But mommy that's MY makeup so why do you get to choose when I wear it?" She did ask in a non-sassy way but I thought it was so funny that she would ask that. We then had a nice little talk about how she has many many years before she is allowed to wear makeup all the time :)
Unfortunately I didn't get a super-awesome shot of Shaylie ... thanks to her Trent hairline and her tipping her head downward she looks pretty bald here ..

So I included this pic from later in the day to show you how dark cute she looked :) :)

After the boutique we spent the rest of the day ... riding rides of course :) Our first ride of the day, Snow White's Scary Adventure was a complete bust and Shaylie got off the ride crying. I don't blame her, I forgot how creepy it was. So, we moved on to Dumbo after that and things quickly went uphill :) The kids loved the Dumbo, rocketship, Buzz Lightyear and carosel rides. The grown-ups did manage to ride Star Tours, Thunder Mountain and the Matterhorn (which I've never ridden -- I loved it :) We didn't have to wait longer than 15 minutes for any ride (holla!) which was definetly a bonus, esp. when you are trading off the kids to ride an adult ride :)
Marilee was amazing on the trip. She wasn't fussy at all even with the crazy schedule. On the loud (and I mean LOUD) Buzz Lightyear ride, she was so tired that she fell asleep sitting right next to me. I couldn't get a good pic, but you get the idea: ) I couldn't believe it! (That's the lazer gun sitting in her lap ha)

She did an awesome job of sleeping on-the-go all day :















Truman looks scared in all of those pics ... but I promise, he got off the rides SO excited and wanting to ride more :) Though I did have to throw in this picture:

Because all of that excitement is a bit much for our little Tru and he did have a minor meltdown while waiting in the line for Dumbo.









The whole day long Tru was inseparable from his sword :And as you'll see, we've proven once again, that not even super-strong magical Disney gel can keep Tru's hair spiked all day. It's incredible ... and I've tried a lot of hair products on that kid!

We took a break from the rides to make sure that we got our pictures taken with the castle:


















I was going to try to get a pic of Marilee crawling toward me in this pic but it didn't work out. When Trent was looking at the camera he pointed out that Marilee looks kind of fake in this picture -- as if she was a sticker that I pasted on the background. I think he's right ... so I kept the picture because I thought that was kind of funny.

Have you seen a cuter Minnie Mouse??



Finally a picture of magical Aunt Tricia with the kids :)

We're not going to talk about my hair. It was drizziling OK?







Our other break for the day was to catch a Dole Whip -- one of my fond memories from working at the Magic Kingdom in Florida. Guess what? They were good all right ... but they taste just like the pineapple sorbets you buy in fruit peels at Costco! haha :)


I was also AMAZED that the kids (esp. Truman) were SO excited about seeing the characters at the park. I thought they would be bashful around a 6 foot Winnie the Pooh but they insisted we stop for pictures :) (Truman wouldn't have anything to do with the people, such as Aladdin, but if they were in a huge furry costume he was alll over it).










Yes, Tricia bought Truman popcorn. Do you think his wishful gaze did it? hah.



This was the only pic I took in Toon Town... that place was kind of a bust in my opinon. We walked through and walked right out. The only ride was for kids just taller than mine and everything else was a long wait to meet Mickey.

Overall it was a fabulous day!!! The kids did amazing, we had a blast, the weather was perfect and we got 10 miles worth of exersize ;)

Favorite Part of the Day:

Marilee: non-stop graham crackers

Truman: The carosel (I'm not even going to go into the irony on that one!)

Shaylie: Getting her hair styled :)

Marcie: Watching the kids get their hair done (it was pretty funny)

Trent: Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

Tricia: Bippidi Bopppidi Boutique