The Happiest Place on Earth

We woke up bright and early and hit the ground running.  After a quick (and delicious) breakfast at the hotel, we hightailed it over to the Magic Kingdom.  As you can see from her button, it was Bonnie's first visit ever so we didn't want to miss a single second of fun.

Bonnie's first visit to Disney World!

One of the many incredible features of the Contemporary is that the Monorail runs directly through its lobby.  It is amazing.  At least to me.  And also to Bonnie.  Every time we got on the train, before it even started moving, she would squeal weeeeeeeee!

Nana, Grace, Granddad and Bonnie

Much to my delight, the park was still all decked out for Christmas.  It was absolutely amazing.

Watching the parade in awe...

I don't know who had more fun on Dumbo...Grace or Granddad?

Bippity, boppity, boo!

Tuckered out.

We headed back to the hotel for a brief rain delay and a quick nap, but hit the park again at full force later on.  

Grace's favorite ride remains the Barnstormer, which she proceeded to ride 3 times.

The 2 Barnstormers!

Hanging out on Donald's ship while we wait for the Barnstormin' Buddies

Had this been our only day at the Magic Kingdom, I would have been extremely sad to leave.  Instead I was only a little sad.  I love that place.  I could spend every single day there and never get tired of it.  It truly is the happiest place on Earth.

Marathon Day

In keeping with our punctuality trend, the girls and I woke up early to get ready to greet Corey at the finish line. Of course we didn't wake up as early as he did (3:30am...yikes!), but my 6:45 alarm came way too quickly. Good thing we were all sound asleep at 9pm the night before.

I had our morning preparation plan of attack all ready. Being away from home and out of my element, I was sure we would need extra time to get ready. I even scheduled the night before to have breakfast delivered to the room so the girls could eat while I got them dressed.

You know, we're all about multi-tasking over here.

As it turns out, we were ready ahead of schedule. Yet another miracle. Nana, Granddad, the girls and I all headed downstairs to catch the Monorail to Epcot to see Corey finish his race. (I'll talk later about how staying on property is worth its weight in gold...especially if you visit off-season and get a good deal).

After waiting in line for what seemed like forever, we learned that the Monorail had broken down. Of all the days for that to happen.

Long story short, we didn't make it to the finish line it time to see Corey cross.

Fortunately, Action Sports International was able to capture that moment as well as several others of him running through the Magic Kingdom Epcot, and the Animal Kingdom.

Official race time...drumroll...4:07:50. Very impressive!! We are so proud of you!!!

For now, here are some post race shots of the runner showing off his "gold" Mickey Mouse medal...bling, bling!

We spent the rest of the afternoon at Downtown Disney, where we ate at the Rainforest Cafe so that Corey could refuel, and then did a little window shopping at the many, many toy stores...

I have to include some pictures of the incredible views from the hotel. Have I mentioned yet how awesome this place is? And how we'll never stay off-property ever, ever again?! Even if I have to go into debt to pay for it?!

I've got my eye on the Grand Floridian for our next trip. Corey told me to get a job...

We made it to Disney World!

We left this morning at 7am. Okay, it was actually 7:02am, but the fact that we were only 2 minutes past our departure goal has to be some sort of miracle.

The girls were great in the car, and both were beside themselves at getting to watch movies for the entire drive. And in spite of making 3 stops, we made it from our house to the hotel in 7 hours and 45 minutes...only 30 minutes behind MapQuest's estimated travel time.

That also has to be some sort of miracle.

Wouldn't you know that when we got to our room, Mickey and the Gang had left the girls a little welcome surprise...

We spent the rest of the day hanging out at the hotel with Nana and Granddad, who flew all the way from Oklahoma to play with us. Oh, and also to see Corey run in the marathon...

It finally happened.

We transitioned Grace from her crib to her big girl bed in March 2010. Of course we knew it would take some time for her to get used to her new palette, so Corey and I fully expected to have a regular middle-of-the-night visitor pretty soon after the switch.

Night 1, nothing. Night 2, nothing, Night 3...month 10...

It finally happened. At 4:54 this morning. I rolled over and there were 2 eyes staring right in my face. I nearly fell out of the bed.

Apparently, there was some sort of bad dream...I don't know...I wasn't awake. What I do know is that she looked awfully snug sleeping in between Corey and me for the rest of the night...

Bonnie and I have been loving every minute hanging out with Ellison this week. She is flying with her Nana bright and early tomorrow morning to join the rest of her family in the Sac(ramento). We are sure going to miss her and those big blue eyes.

Easing back into the swing of things.

Since today was a teacher workday, Grace didn't have preschool.

We've only been on break for the last 2 weeks, so of course it makes perfect sense to schedule a workday at the end of it.

Go figure.

I actually didn't mind, though. I'm not sure I'm ready to get back to our normal routine yet. And it also gave us the chance to get together with some of our good friends that we haven't seen in a while.

I thought that Grace might split a stitch when I told her that we were going over to Handley and Harper's for a play date this morning. And then to Chick-fil-A. Actually, forgetting that it's closed on Mondays, I had originally told her that we could go to the bakery. She handled the news very well, though. Clearly, having our friends join us softened the blow.

And had I realized that my camera was in my purse before we were in the car ready to leave, I would have taken some pictures of all 4 girls having a good time. I can't believe how much they've all changed in the last few weeks!