Back to the Magic Kingdom

We wanted to see more of Minnie and Mickey and all their friends, so we headed back to the Magic Kingdom today. Right inside the entrance was a shadow of Minnie Mouse. Look at me posing!

We got another family picture in front of the castle!

The first place we headed was Splash Mountain. I knew we’d get all wet, and I was right! Then we headed right next door to Thunder Mountain. We went on it twice in a row. I love it, and am learning it’s okay to scream on a roller coaster. You can tell we’re still wet from Splash Mountain!

Wheee!

We then took a boat across the lake to Tom Sawyer’s island. We had a great time there. I was running all around, and Daddy and I got to hide from Mommy. I liked playing in the fort, escaping through the secret tunnel, and crossing all the bridges. We even stopped for a picnic lunch.

We went on the Peter Pan ride then stopped by the carousel. I named my horse “Mater” this time!

Right next to the carousel is the Dumbo ride, so Mommy and Daddy knew we weren’t going to be able to miss it. We all rode in the same car and I got to fly it again.

Daddy and I got to wear silly hats!

We went on the Tomorrowland Speedway again, and then did the Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin. I liked this ride so much, and the line was so short (and it’s inside and air conditioned) that we did it 3 times in a row!

I helped Mommy shoot at the "Z"s to zap the evil Zurg's battery power. Guess which score is ours and which is Daddy’s?  But we sure had fun!

Over to Goofy’s Barnstormer ride! This isn’t as big as Thunder Mountain, but it’s still a lot of fun. Daddy and I like it because you’re in an “airplane”!

I just had to try on these new shoes in the gift shop. They’re cute! Mommy’s eyes got really big when she saw the price tag, though. Not today!

It was getting late, so we headed over to Thunder Mountain again for one last ride. But I fell asleep in the stroller on the way! I was really tired, and got in a good nap. When I woke up, we were back in the center of the park and a parade was just starting. I woke up pretty fast once I saw some of my favorite characters. Then they started dancing in the street, and I got to dance with Jessie from Toy Story! It took me a while to get warmed up, but I was dancing just like her soon!

Too soon, it was over. But I got one last wave goodbye to Jessie!

We went to dinner at the Shades of Green military resort on the Disneyworld grounds. As we were leaving after dinner I tripped on the floor and went “splat”. It really hurt and I cried a lot. Daddy and Mommy gave me lots of loveys and made me feel better. But then I saw this giant Mickey statue and instantly forgot all about my boo-boos. I gave him several big hugs!

By this time it was super late, and I went to bed as soon as we got back. I slept all the way through until morning. I was tired!

Blizzard Beach

We really like water parks, so we went back to Blizzard Beach. We didn’t bother taking the camera (since it would be the same pictures as last time), but we had a whole lot of fun. I warmed up in the kids area again, where I could go on slides all by myself, and then we all went on some of the bigger slides. Once again, I loved it! Especially the one where we could all go down at the same time on the same raft.

I’ve started doing something really silly. There are a lot of bridges at the water park, and every time we cross one, I run a few steps ahead of Mommy and Daddy, turn around, and say “I want to be the troll bridge!” I take a wide stance, wave my finger back and forth, and say loudly, “Nobody goes crossing over my bridge!” Usually, Daddy will then ask, “Well, can I cross?” and I’ll answer, “Sure!” I’m not a very mean troll, but it’s a lot of fun!

Typhoon Lagoon

Since we had so much fun at the water park on Sunday, we decided to go to the other water park (Typhoon Lagoon) this time. This is the water park where I had so much fun last year at the kids’ area going down the little tube slide. Well, it was just as much fun this year, except now I could carry the tube up to the start myself. I went on this over and over again!

I had fun at the rest of the kids’ area, too. I made friends with a couple of crocodiles! I even named one of them “Piper”!

And I got in a good splash contest with Daddy. I got a few good shots in!

After that we put the camera away, and I got to go on a few more things. This water park didn’t have many big slides I could go on, but they did have one “family” slide where we all went at the same time. It was fun and we did it 3 times! I also liked playing in the wave pool with Daddy holding me up when the big waves came in. We floated for a long time on the Lazy River. I got my own Piper-sized tube and loved holding on to Daddy and Mommy’s hands. (Although sometimes it was fun when Daddy and I would try to go fast and get away from Mommy!) I also did a lap on Daddy’s lap, which was cozy too.

At the end of the day I got to see real sharks and lots of fish in the “Shark Encounter” area (we didn’t go in the water with them, but got to look through underwater portholes).

We have a great day, but decided that the other water park had more big slides I could go on, so we’ll go back to that one next time!

Hollywood Studios

Today we went to Disney’s “Hollywood Studios” park where they have a lot of neat shows to watch and fun things to do based mostly on the newer movies.

Mommy, Daddy and I at the entrance to the park under Mickey’s hat!

Mommy and Daddy asked if I’d like to go meet Woody and Buzz. Yes! While waiting to see them I got to take a ride in Buzz’s spaceship. Silly Daddy left his hand stuck out in outer space!

Mommy got strapped to the rocket that they used in Toy Story. I thought she looked pretty silly!

Another silly picture of Mommy and me in the box with “Stinky Pete”.

That’s all fun, but finally I got to see the real Woody and Buzz! I ran up and gave them big hugs and then posed for a picture. Woody even kissed Mommy’s hand!

It was hard for Daddy to pull me away from them, and I said “goodbye” at least 5 times. But then we made our way over to a stunt show with cars and motorcycles and boats. This was the show that last year we sat way at the top of the grandstands, and I insisted on going down every stair by myself - we were the last ones out! Well, fortunately for Mommy and Daddy we sat a lot closer to the front this year. And besides, now I jumped down the steps (holding Mommy and Daddy’s hands, I could do 6 stairs at a time)!

After that we headed to the “Honey I Shrunk the Kids” play area. I really liked going through this spider web maze, and am getting really fast at it. I’d come running out at the end with a big smile.

And I ran right into Daddy.  Too close Daddy!

We all went on a neat ride that was a 3-D “shooting” gallery with a Toy Story theme where we got to launch pies and paintballs and things like that at all kinds of different characters. It was Daddy and I versus Mommy. Mommy may have won on points, but our accuracy was better!

We also got to see a lot of fun shows – the Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Disney’s Clubhouse, and some others. It was great!

Animal Kingdom

When asked if today I wanted to go to Animal Kingdom or Hollywood Studios, I immediately answered “Animal Kingdom”! I’ve been learning a lot about wild animals recently and was excited to go.

Here we are at the entrance!

One of the first things we did was go to the “Lion King” show. Our section of the audience got to be the giraffe section! I enjoyed pretending my arm was a long giraffe neck and making a giraffe sound. “Baaaa!” This is a really fun show and is Mommy’s favorite.

Later we went on a safari ride and a real giraffe was following us! He must have heard about my earlier performance.

Look how big a 6-year old Gorilla’s hands are!

At the petting zoo, Mommy and I got to brush a calf.

We went to the “It’s Tough to be a Bug” 3-D show, and like yesterday, I really liked wearing the glasses. I enjoyed this show so much, I didn’t want to leave. Mommy asked if we could stay in the theater for the next one (it’s a short show), and we did!

I get excited about lots of things. When I saw this big dinosaur, I just had to touch its toe. Daddy had to help me, of course.

As we were waiting for a dinosaur ride I was on Daddy’s shoulders. Without telling anyone I flopped backwards! I like scaring Mommy like this, but it doesn’t bother Daddy. We have our own tricky method of getting me back up, no problem!

As we were leaving we had a picture taken of us in front of the “tree of life”.

I was pretty tired after we left. I stayed awake until we were eating dinner. I ate some of mine, then put my head down behind Daddy’s back. He thought I was just hiding there, but soon realized I was fast asleep! Mommy and Daddy have no idea how I fell asleep in this position. I must have been really tired!

I liked the Animal Kingdom! I got to see a real owl, a lot of hippos, giraffes, gorillas, fish, and lots of other wild animals. It was great!

Blizzard Beach

The forecast showed that today was going to be the hottest day of our vacation, so we all figured it would be a great day to head to “Blizzard Beach” – one of the water parks here at Disney World. I couldn’t wait to go, because I love water slides, and pools, and everything they have there.

I have a new swimsuit too, and couldn’t wait to try it on.

We immediately went over to the kids’ area, and I played on some of the alligator and turtle statues there. But then I got to go on the slide! I went down it again and again, and Mommy had to keep reminding me not to run back up to the start! I was laughing each time I went down, and always got a big splash at the end. It was fun!

They had a lot of beach chairs around, and even had Piper-size ones too! I thought this was pretty great and even surprised Daddy and Mommy by picking them up and moving them around. I’m getting strong! Every time I’d sit down on one, I’d tell them “I’m sunbathing!”

I had a great time getting all wet in the kids area.

After this, though, we all went to go on some bigger slides. Since I’m a big girl and tall enough now, I could go on a lot more slides with Mommy and Daddy. We went on ones where the three of us were in a big raft, we went on ones where I was in a two-person tube with one of them, and giggled and laughed all the way down some big slides! It was great and I wasn’t scared at all. We didn’t get any pictures of this, of course. The camera would have been a little wet!

When we got back to where we’re staying I got to play on the playground a little. There were some ants right at the base of this ladder. I was a good girl and stepped over them, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t look at them!

We're at the Magic Kingdom!

Today we got up and headed to the Magic Kingdom. I couldn’t wait, I was very excited to see Minnie and everyone else.

Daddy got a good photo of Mommy and me in front of the castle.

Early in the day we headed over to “Tomorrow Land”. (It was already getting hot and they have some indoor rides and activities.) We went on Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger ride.  Daddy asked if I wanted to drive or shoot at the bad guys, and I picked drive!  So I got to spin the spaceship all around while Mommy and Daddy shot at the bad guys (Daddy won).

We headed over to the racetrack where I got to drive a car. Look at how tall I am compared to last year! Daddy says I didn’t do much better driving though. It was pretty bumpy.

I like this picture of Mommy and me. We’re happy and having a great time.

I really wanted to go fly on the spaceships, since they really go up super high. I was very excited, and had a lot of fun!

Later, we went back to Minnie’s house and I got to sit in the same chair as last year. Mommy and Daddy wanted to see how big I’ve become!

Of course, an old favorite of mine is the carousel. I went on it twice. I named my horse “Princess” the first time and “Dumbo” the second time.

We watched a 3-D movie about Donald Duck. Don’t I look cool?

The big excitement, though, was at the end of the day. I had gone on Goofy’s Barnstormer roller coaster earlier, and loved it, laughing the whole time. But it’s just a kids roller coaster, and you have to be taller than 40 inches to ride the other ones. Well, guess what – I went to the doctor earlier this week and measured in at 40.5 inches! When they saw how much fun I had on the Barnstormer, Mommy and Daddy asked if I wanted to go on Thunder Mountain. Yes! They were worried that I’d be a little scared. But I wasn’t scared at all! In fact, I giggled the whole time, and waved my arms in the air too. It was great!  My first time on a big roller coaster.

Since I did so well on this one, we went right next door to Splash Mountain. We figured it would be nice since it was so hot outside by this time. Well, as we were waiting in the boat to go up the first hill, another boat splashed us really well – Daddy got drenched! Mommy and I got pretty wet too, but not as much as Daddy. We thought this was pretty funny. I had a great time on this ride too. I wanted to do Thunder Mountain again, but the line was too long. We’ll do it again when we come back later this week.

It was a great day, but I was super tired when we left and fell asleep in the car. I woke up to eat, though, and then wasn’t tired anymore. I didn’t fall asleep until almost 10 PM! Mommy and Daddy hope I’ll sleep in nice and late tomorrow.

Off to Disneyworld!

We’re off to Disneyworld!

I’ve been counting down the days, and finally it’s here, the day we fly to Florida! At school I couldn’t sleep at all during nap time, I was too excited. Disneyworld has been running great specials for military families, and we wanted to take advantage of them!

Mommy and I picked up Daddy from work and headed over to the airport. I did let Mommy know that “Mommy, if you get scared when we go super high, Daddy and I will hold your hand so you’re not scared.” I’m always helpful!

When the plane started rolling backwards away from the gate, I said it was like Mater, since it can go backwards too! We had a good flight up to Kansas City, where we got on another plane to Orlando. I was a good girl on this flight too. I am very much my Daddy’s girl, as I always want the window seat. Therefore, since Mommy likes the aisle, Daddy’s been demoted to the middle! He doesn’t seem to mind, though.

When we got to Orlando it was about 9:30 at night, and I was really tired and starting to get cranky. I didn’t want to get in the car seat and kept telling Mommy and Daddy over and over again “I don’t WANT to!” This kept up until I fell asleep in the car. But when we got to the resort we’re staying at, I woke up and started right back up, right until I got in bed and then I was out for good. I was really tired!

Labor Day with Grandma and Papa (and Shadow!)

This Labor Day weekend, Daddy took some much-needed time off and flew up to Cheyenne, WY, to visit his friend Chad.  Which meant Mommy and I had the whole weekend to ourselves!  I wasn't feeling so good, though, possibly coming down with a cold, so we mostly stayed indoors, although we did a lot of fun things together.

On Monday, Grandma and Papa and Shadow came down from Owasso for the day.  It was great having them here!

Mommy got some pictures of us but since this is being written a few days later in Orlando, FL, and we didn't bring the camera she used to take those picture with us, they'll have to wait until we get back in a week and a half.  We'll post those pictures then!