The Happiest Holiday on Earth

For Abbie and Daisy's birthdays, we planned earlier this year to take them to Disneyland. Kyle was scheduled to visit his mom for the Thanksgiving holiday so Thanksgiving Day seemed like the perfect time for the girls to have an all girl day at the Happiest Place on Earth (we are usually running around trying to get fast passes for the big rides so the girls spend a ton of time just hanging around outside all the "Mountains").

Abbie's birthday gift from mommy and daddy was a new princess dress from Disneyland. After buying our tickets and securing our locker, Abbie and I headed to pick out a dress while daddy and Daisy went on the carousel. Abbie picked out a pink Sleeping Beauty dress and talked me into the princess Minnie hat as well. She received so many compliments all day long. The Disney employees were so cute to her every time they saw her, addressing her as "Princess". She has worn a princess dress to Disneyland since she was really small but for some reason I really recognized all the attention they gave her on this particular visit. I figured the hat would last maybe an hour but she wore it the entire day. Daisy wore her Alice dress for about 15 minutes in the hotel then made me change her into a normal dress. It's a big size so we'll keep trying...

Our first official family ride was Dumbo. A big hit with both girls...

We spent some time in Fantasyland, riding the tea cups, Small World...

then it was off to meet the princesses. We've never waited in line for this before and it was quite a line (the longest of the day...probably an hour while we were in it but grew to 1.5 and longer) but man was it worth it. Abbie LOVED meeting the princesses. And they were so darling with her.

First up, Jasmine (which Tara swears isn't really a princess but Abbie loves her all the same. We'll see what Tara says when she has a girl!)

Then, Ariel. This princess was absolutely lovey. I mean so charming with Abbie. I had tears coming down my cheeks watching the interaction. We have a video of them twirling together, maybe I'll pop it up here sometime soon. Anyway, this princess deserves a gold star, pat on the back, huge Christmas bonus if you ask me.

And last, but not least, Sleeping Beauty. She was really sweet to Abbie about wearing the same dress. She even got Daisy to come say "Hello" and be in a photo.

After the princesses, we spent some time in Toon Town. We played in Goofy's house, met Minnie Mouse, visited Mickey's house and met him as well. After visiting Daisy & Donald's boat, it was time to head out, have a little lunch and visit the Winnie the Pooh ride.

The girls eating their Tigger Tails while waiting in line to meet Pooh Bear.

We rode the Pooh ride several times, then headed back to Main Street for the parade...another thing we never do. Daisy was cranky but Abbie was fine with the wait, especially with a huge bag of cotton candy to keep her busy.

After the parade we rode the Storybook Ride, Peter Pan, KC Junior's Train, the Carousel again, the Tea Cups again then headed to a new restaurant for dinner. A BBQ joint opened this year in the space next to Thunder Mountain (they closed the fry cart though - bummer) where they used to hold family reunions, etc. We decided to give it a whirl. Abbie got serenaded by Tex Tumbleweed and got to ring bells with some of the other western entertainers.

Dinner was fun. The kids loved dancing and singing with the show and it was nice to sit down for awhile. After dinner we hit the Pooh ride a few more times then went back for a couple last rides in Fantasyland, including Alice in Wonderland and Small World (one last time). They have all the Christmas lights up and Small World is especially beautiful. It even has a special show going on at night while you wait in line...really fun and pretty.

Tired girls were done about 9 p.m. We hit the huge store at Downtown Disney on the way back to the hotel then fell into bed. So much fun. Many have asked, but no, there wasn't any turkey just the normal delicious treats. I guess we could have gnawed on one of those huge turkey legs but I'll happily just wait until next Thanksgiving. Abbie, in particular, really had the time of her life. She enjoyed every second of our day.

Sadly, all that fun doesn't come without a price. I woke Friday morning with the stomach flu. We delayed our return home until the early afternoon but eventually had to check out of the hotel. Tripp got sick late that night and has been down all day. Enough said.