Disney Trip - Day 4

The last day of our trip was spent at Hollywood Studios. 

                                         

We were at the park when it opened so we went to the Star Wars ride first.  Rylee absolutely loved it so we went a second time right away.  During that ride, she was picked as the "rebel spy" onboard the ship so her picture was up on the computer screen and Princess Leia gave an impassioned speech about how Rylee was the last hope and had to be protected.  Of course, Rylee was in second heaven!

                                        

Here she is on a land speeder (?) outside the ride.  She loved the Star Wars ride so much we ended up riding it 4 or 5 more times throughout the day - basically anytime we ended up in the area!  And she was picked as the rebel spy on our last visit as well.

After Star Wars, we happened upon Sofia the first.

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We waited in line for The Little Mermaid show and met Prince Eric, but then they had to cancel the show due to technical difficulties.

So we went on The Great Movie ride instead.  Rylee didn't know many of the movies, but she loved the Wizard of Oz section at the end.  After that, we saw the Muppets 3D show.  I was surprised by how much Rylee loved it.  She was totally that kid with hand outstretched trying to touch the 3D images.  It was so cute!

When we left the show, we stumbled into Lightning McQueen and Mater.  Jace would have loved seeing them!  

 

Then Rylee and I took in the Beauty and the Beast musical while Jon rode the Tower of Terror twice.  Rylee loved the broadway-style show.  We hadn't been able to see Belle at Magic Kingdom (her area was closed for some reason) so this helped to make up for it.  

After we had lunch, we saw the Disney Junior Live puppet show which featured Mickey & gang, Doc McStuffins, Sofia the first, and Jake & the Neverland Pirates.  Rylee loves all those TV shows so she got into the puppet show too.  Jon, however, did not enjoy the fact that we were sitting on the floor.  He's not flexible enough for criss cross applesauce anymore!  

We walked around a little bit and Rylee bought a princess night gown.  Then she saw Ralph and Venellope from "Wreck it Ralph" so we had to wait and met them.




They had reopened the Little Mermaid show by then so we were able to see that before our fastpass for the Toy Story ride.  That was my favorite ride.  Basically you get moved around in front of carnival style scenes and you shoot at the targets.  So fun!  Jon trounced us points-wise (not a big shocker there).  

We ended our day with a stunt show and, as already mentioned, going on the Star Wars ride 4 more times (twice on the way to the stunt show and twice on our way out of the park I think).  Rylee also stopped at a store to spend the last of her money on a Dumbo stuffed animal.  :)

The park closed at 6, but we snuck out around 5, took the shuttle back to our hotel to pick up our car, and got on the road.  Even so, we didn't get home until after 10.  It was truly a magical trip and one, I hope, Rylee will remember forever.  Can't wait to go back with Jace in a couple of years!

Disney Trip - Day 3

We certainly didn't see or do everything at Magic Kingdom, and we had planned to spend two days there, but honestly, none of us really wanted to go back.  Instead, we decided to go to Animal Kingdom.  Again we were up early, on the shuttle, and at the park early.  They have these new magic bands that allow you do three fastpasses.  They worked great at MK and saved us time on a few rides.  Anyway, getting their early gave us time to change our fastpasses (since I had planned them all for MK that day).

When the gates opened, we headed for their big dinosaur ride.  Rylee liked it, but didn't want to go again. She and I rode a more carnival-sized dino ride twice while Jon rode a coaster that she was too short for.

Then Rylee decided she wanted to ride the huge Everest coaster.  It was big and scary looking to me so I tried really hard to convince Rylee to let Jon take her, but she insisted that we all go.  She and I sat together with Jon behind us.  She had her hands up in the air (as she did on the coaster at MK), but I made her hang on tight.  She loved the ride, but didn't like the one scary part in the dark with the abominable snowman so I didn't have to go again.  Whew.  We let Jon go a second time though.  :)

Afterward, we played one over-priced carnival game (I mistakenly thought they'd be free - ha!) and then took in a bird show (with real birds this time).  Rylee loved it and even went up to the stage afterward to ask the host some questions.  Then we used our fastpass for the safari ride.

 

 

Then we walked through the zoo part, ate lunch, and saw the Finding Nemo musical.  Rylee and I loved it.  Jon looked pained.  :)

 We walked through another part of their zoo, rode their train around a bit, and got a front row spot for their parade.  Here's a pic of Jon and Rylee enjoying some refreshments in front of the Circle of Life tree.  It's beautiful!

Rylee had a great time at the parade.  One of the characters even stopped to talk to her.  Then we ended our day with the Lion King show which was phenomenal (even Jon enjoyed that one). 

The park closed at 5, I think, so we had a nice relaxing night.  Jon brought us room service so Rylee and I vegged in our pjs.  Here's Rylee sharing her bed with her new Minnie and Elsa dolls. :)

 

Disney Trip - Day 2 cont.

After lunch, we used our fastpass for the Big Thunder Railroad (a smaller roller coaster), which turned out to be Rylee's favorite ride of the day. Then we walked around Tom and Huck's island for a bit, and caught the train around the park. We happened to arrive at the front of the park a few minutes before one of the parades. We lucked out with a front row balcony view.

Afterwards, we took the train back so we could do The Pirates of the Caribbean ride.  Then we ducked into the Enchanted Tiki Room for their "bird" show.  It's a little lame, but Rylee actually adored it.  Then Jon and Rylee went through the Swiss Family Robinson tree house while I stood in line for Dole Whip (probably the longest line we stood in all day besides Cinderella), because they had milk-free soft serve for Rylee.  That little treat really perked everyone up though so it was worth it.

Rylee really wanted to buy her Minnie Mouse doll so we found a store and checked that off her list.  Then she changed into her princess dress.  Sadly, I didn't want to haul one of her fancy dresses so the one below had to suffice.  We quickly rode the Carousel before waiting to meet Cinderella.

  

The bonus princess was Aurora, the favorite princess of Rylee's best friend, Kenzie, so Rylee was pretty excited about meeting her.

You'll notice Rylee's wearing a necklace in the next picture.  She decided to spend some of her money on an Ariel necklace.  Oh, and Cinderella's castle looked beautiful all lit up with Christmas lights.  :)

 

We had a quick dinner and then tried to get a good spot for the Electric Light parade.  Not easily done. Rylee was getting tired, Jon had pretty much had enough too, but we held out.  Rylee loved the parade once it started, but wanted to go home after it was over so we missed the fireworks.  I caught a little bit of the show as we drove away on the shuttle.  Rylee was asleep on my lap before we even got back to the hotel.  :)

Disney Trip - Day 2

We set our alarms, had a quick breakfast, and were on the shuttle early so we actually arrived at Magic Kingdom before they opened.  I almost had heart failure when I realized I didn't have my driver's license (I accidentally left it at home on the copier) since they needed it to convert our FL resident tickets.  Luckily, the girl pretended she saw it.  Then she tried to give Rylee a button since it was her first trip to Disney.  Rylee already had one from the hotel so I told her she didn't need another one.  Instead, she gave Rylee a gift certificate for a free $25 Minnie Mouse doll!  Rylee was super excited about that!

Jon had asked Rylee what her "number one thing" was that she wanted to do and she said meet Ariel.  As soon as the park gates opened, we power walked over to her grotto and were second in line to meet her. Here they are laughing about dinglehoppers and whale spouts (what they call pony tails).

There was no line so we went on Ariel's ride afterward - very fun.  

Rylee's second request was to meet Tiana and she was only on the schedule one time that day so we power walked over to her area and were again second in line to meet her.  Rylee showed Tiana some of her dance moves and then posed for a quick picture.

 

Then we started hitting some rides since the lines were still short: Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan, Buzz Lightyear, and the People Mover.  Rylee loved them all!  We took a little break to take in the Monsters Inc. comedy show - very cute.  When we walked out there was no line for Lilo and Stitch so I suggested we go on that.  Little did I know that it's basically the old Aliens ride converted to Lilo and Stitch.  Rylee was terrified.  At one point, I thought she might burst into tears.  She was very happy when that was over.

We had a fastpass to meet Rapunzel so we zipped over to Fairytale Hall.  Rapunzel was one of my favorites. She talked about her friend, Ariel, after seeing Rylee's shirt.  

One of the other princesses Rylee wanted to see was Snow White 
so we lucked out when she was the "bonus" princess with Rapunzel.  

 

Disney Trip - Day 1

After two years of postponing, we finally took Rylee to Disney World for the first time this December. My parents stayed at our house to take care of Jace and Rio (what a Godsend - thank you!) and emptied their change jar to give us some spending cash (over $200). Love you, love you!

We left early Sunday morning and checked into the hotel after lunch. We were at the All-Star Movie resort and we got the Toy Story section so we were all ecstatic to be greeted by the giant characters coming and going.

We took Rylee swimming for a while, but the pool wasn't heated so we didn't last long.  Instead we cleaned up and hopped the shuttle to Downtown Disney for dinner and shopping.  Rylee got some spending cash from my parents and she cleaned out one of her piggy banks so she had $60 and she was determined to spend it!

We walked around a bit, stopped to take some photos in the Lego store...

... and Rylee picked out an Elsa doll from "Frozen" which Gaga had treated her to a few days earlier.  We decided to eat at the T-Rex cafe (kind of like Rainforest Cafe, but with dinosaurs).  Roar!

 

It was a little pricey, but the experience was awesome.  More fun than Rainforest, if you ask me, and the portions were dinosaur sized.  Jon and I could have easily split a meal.  Next time.  :)

Afterwards, we grabbed the shuttle back to the hotel and went to bed early so we could have lots of energy for the Magic Kingdom the next day!

Santa's Little Helper

Rylee played an elf in her holiday show at school today.

My mom and I stumbled across this elf costume in the dollar section at Target, but it was actually for adults. Gaga used her sewing talents to alter it to fit and added some flair with the rick rack and pom poms. Rylee's holding her "list" which Gaga also made out of felt and gold ribbon.  Thank you, Gaga!

The boy standing behind Rylee was an elf too.  Other kids were dressed up as bells, presents, Christmas trees and Mr. and Mrs. Claus.  All the costumes were creative and adorable!

They started the performance with the "Pledge of 'Alleg-ee-ance'" as Rylee pronounces it.  She also says "re-paw-blic" and "indivesimo."  I can't correct her, it's too stinking cute!  Then the girls sang "Jingle Bells" with the boys joining in for the chorus.  I should say Rylee sang "Jingle Bells" - she was way louder than the rest of the girls in her class.  She was the loudest one in all the songs really and had lots of personality- again adorable!  Notice I said loudest and not the best singer (that distinction should be made!).

Then Rylee excitedly announced, "Santa's Coming to Town," and they all sang the song.  She and her elf partner also had one other special part in the song.  When they sang, "he's making a list and checking it twice," they stepped forward and unfurled their lists. 

One funny thing: It was a remix version so it was kind of rockin.'  By the time the song was over, Rylee's elf hat had almost completely fallen off and the dowel had fallen out of her list.  Rylee was just going to leave it, but the boy playing Santa walked over, fixed her hat, picked up the dowel, and slid it back in the pocket.  It was hilarious and perfect since he was Santa!  :)

Jon took video during the performance so not a lot of photos to share.  I did get this action shot though.

After the songs, they did a little play which was the kids reciting different lines of a poem: "Christmas is here." Rylee and her elf partner's line was: "Christmas is here, Christmas is here, bringing everyone near and dear." Awww...

All in all, it was a fantastic show!  Rylee is definitely a performer at heart.  Sorry I have to brag, but she shines on stage.  :)

Here's a post performance pic of all the girls (some have already shed their costumes).

These are Rylee's "best" friends.

The little sister of one of her best friends.  

We are so proud of you, Rylee!

P.S. I played an elf in my 1st grade performance.  It must run in the family.

Rylee's Holiday Photo

They took holiday photos at Rylee's school, and since I almost never have the kids professionally photographed, I thought I would take advantage...

 

Santa Baby

Rylee wrote her own letter to Santa this year - sounding out all the words!  It's so fun to watch her reading and writing skills improve.

In case you couldn't read it from the photograph, it said: "Dear Santa, I would like a mini snow globe maker and a Scooby Doo playset.  Thank you.  Love, Rylee."

We mailed the letter to Santa's special address so Rylee received a personalized letter back and the personalized video that I posted yesterday.  Jace even got a personalized phone call.  :)

Rylee got a chance to see Santa at school (still waiting on the photos from that), but Jace hadn't had the opportunity so yesterday we zipped over to the Bass Pro Shops to get our annual Santa pic.  The line was long and Jace wasn't feeling the Christmas spirit.  Jon and I both remarked that we made the right decision leaving Jace behind for our Disney trip (more on that in another post) - he would have been a handful in those lines too.  Luckily, Jace really perked up when he saw Santa - NOT!  

Santa pic 2013 - it's a keeper!  :)

 

In other news, Rylee had her holiday dance recital on Saturday.  She did a hip hop number to a remix of "I Like to Move It, Move It."  We decided to take video instead of pictures so I don't have anything to share, but she did awesome!  :)

Santa!

Rylee received a special video message from Santa Claus this year.  :)

Click on the link below to see her video.

Special Personalized Video from Santa Claus!

Advent

Rylee was very excited to get the first presents out of the Advent stocking this morning. 

This is Jace's first year participating, so here she is helping him get his present.

 

 

There was some momentary confusion when she took his Cars book away to give him his gift...

 

 

...but once he opened his new Hot Wheels car, he was all smiles again.

Making sure the vehicle was race worthy...

Success!

 

 

I'm glad Jace was excited for his gift since there isn't much originality in his Advent presents this year - he basically has 23 more Hot Wheels to unwrap.  :)