Disney World

So of course we couldn't be in Orlando with a 3 year old and not stop by Disney World, right? Meredith was so excited to get to go to "Mickey's house" - and at the end of the day, Neal and I agreed that Monday probably was the best day of her life. She was just so happy and excited about everything - watching that is priceless and we can't wait to go back to experience it for longer and get to see Jillian enjoy it just as much.

I knew she would enjoy the rides and love seeing all of the characters on things, but she isn't too wild about "characters" walking around places, so I wasn't sure about that piece of the trip. As soon as we got into the park, though, Daisy and Pluto were there waiting. I had an autograph book for her and we waited in crazy line - then she walked very confidently up to each of them with her book, stood quietly next to them, and posed for a picture or two, like it was no big deal. Then, we would walk a foot or two from them and she would be jumping up and down screaming "I met Pluto!" (or whoever) and she loved that they would write their names in her book. She would plan out which page to use next as we waited in the next crazy line. Neal and I started trying to avoid some of the characters that we didn't think she really cared about since we had such a short amount of time and didn't want to miss out on any of the other fun stuff, but this was such a highlight for her! We ended up meeting Pluto, Daisy, Ariel (her favorite!), Pooh and Tigger, Mickey and Minnie, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Belle.

We waited the longest to meet Ariel, but it was well worth it. Meredith can not stop talking about meeting her! Which again, is so funny because Ariel would ask her questions and talk to her, but Meredith would just sit there mesmerized, until we walked out of her view and she couldn't hold in her excitement any longer!

Kisses from Pooh

Meredith was so excited to hug and kiss Mickey and Minnie. After we left she told me "I kissed Mickey's arm. He was so excited. He can't wait to tell his family all about it."

You almost can't tell which one is the real Cinderella, right? :)

On top of meeting the characters, we all loved the rides. Luckily Jillian was able to go on pretty much all the rides we took Meredith on, including the Teacups, Dumbo, It's a Small World, Peter Pan, and Pooh - and probably a few others I am forgetting. We really had more fun than you could ever imagine in one day!

We even got a green teacup - Meredith's favorite color!
The Winnie the Pooh ride

Posing on the Dumbo outside the Dumbo ride.

Both girls loved It's a Small World
With such a quick trip, there was no time for naps - so we each took a girl while waiting in lines and let them both crash for a bit - you can tell how close Meredith is getting here...

Waiting for Mickey's Philharmagic show - Jillian was fast asleep until the music started and then she popped right up and wanted to watch the whole thing! Both girls loved it - Meredith was on the edge of her seat clapping and laughing and couldn't stop retelling how it went.
Daddy and Meredith on Goofy's Barnstormer
Jillian rests while Daddy takes Meredith on the race cars.
We ended the night with the parade and fireworks.

Sleepy, sleepy girls as we left the park. Neither woke up at all even when we had to take them out of the stroller to ride the tram - making it a little more difficult for us to get us all on there safely but we all made it with pretty much everything in tact!

As we got to the car, though, I realized that we had lost a shoe (we still had it,but lost it off her foot) which I thought was all too appropriate for our little Cinderella - luckily the stroller didn't turn into a pumpkin.