that and this: DISNEY!!! The Farewell Days

Our Final Days in Disney...

Our last full day in the park was AWESOME. We spent it in the Magic Kingdom doing all of the girls favorite rides and had big secret plans for lunch. Which, side note, I do NOT keep surprises well. at. all. I think Jay has known every gift I've ever given him about 30 minutes after purchase because I just cannot contain my excitement. I had kept this secret for nearly 6 months from the girls! Big pat on the back for Alli.

The weather was lovely and we even got a nice message from above that Jesus Loves. :)

After we had run around doing all our morning rides like the mad crazy family we are, we knew it was time to get ready for our surprise lunch. We shoved the girls into a single stall bathroom designed for a petite size person with no luggage or small dainty purse. The five of us (Me, Elle, Caroline, bag 1 with normal Disney survival supplies, and bag 2 with princess gear) squeezed into the stall. I pulled their princess gowns out assuming I would be greeted with squeals of delight instead of the cries of protest and frustration. I tightened up my mom pants, stripped the girls down, threw the gowns on and we were outta there in 5 minutes. We then headed over to lunch.

Drumroll..

Cinderella's Castle!

Okay, Caroline does not look excited here but she was pumped! I didn't even know until a year or so ago that you could actually go into the castle. I was easily the most excited Shaw.

Until we walked up stairs.

Okay, let's be real moment.

Despite the smiles in the picture, this was not Elle's finest moment. She was tired, ornery, and hungry. Jay and I were determined to enjoy this moment even if we were the only Shaw's that wanted to have fun. Isn't that kind of life though, you build up this picture in your head of what something is going to look like. Obsess over it even (for 6 months) only to have a magic wand smashed into the side of your head and give you a good ole reality check. As is with much of life, food in the belly thankfully provided moods to lift and Jay and I were no longer the only happy Shaws.

With an appetizer sitting in Elle's tummy, she was able to enjoy what we were enjoying.

We were seated in such a fun location! We were right by the stained glass windows that overlook Fantasy Land. You could see the Carousel and all the fun right outside! The princesses came out every 15 minutes and greeted all of their guests. First up was Snow White.

Second up was Brier Rose, aka Aurora, aka Sleeping Beauty.

Elle was mesmerized! I have never ever not ever seen her like this. She just watched Aurora as she walked around waiting for her to come.

When she finally arrived Elle was simply beaming. For me, this moment was worth the whole trip.

Then came lovely Ariel.

And Merida the Brave.

My view when not taking in the loveliness of the castle and princesses.

We were there as the sunset outside and got to watch Fantasy Land start to light up.

Final family picture before we left.

Once we got outside I took a picture looking up at where we just ate. We were just on the other side of the middle bay area.

We then went to hit up again all of the girls favorite rides. Tea Cups were first!

Then the race cars. I think this was one of their favorite rides because they got to drive and steer all by themselves.

Time got away from us and we realized we had missed our window to wind around the side of the Castle to get a good spot to watch Elsa light up everything. A Disney employee heard us trying to come up with a game plan and he told us to stay right where we were and that we would be thankful.

Escusy?

We were standing BEHIND the castle. How? Why? When would I be thankful? Because virtually no one else was around us? ???

Then the fireworks started! It was, in all cheesy Disney honesty, magical. We were right between the two locations fireworks are shot off. Some were shot off at the castle, and the others shot off right behind us at Beast's castle.

We could not turn our heads fast enough to keep up with all the fireworks. They were quite literally being shot directly overhead. Sweet Caroline kept her tiny hand on my cheek and kept turning my head side to side to see them.

On our way out of the park perhaps my favorite memory occurred. I took no pictures because I really tried to soak the moment up. We were walking down Main Street out of the park. Christmas essentially felt like it had exploded in every physical sense possible. You could smell cinnamon and hot chocolate, Christmas music played from hidden speakers, wreaths, holly and lights consumed even peripheral vision, and despite the mild weather, snow billowed from atop the buildings and started to accumulate on the ground. The girls were in their stroller and asked if they could get out and dance. So there they were, in the middle of main street, in their costumes, dancing the way only little kids can. Without a care in the world as though not an eye was around. Thank you Disney for this moment. We may have had tantrums and fits and were plum worn out this last full day, but I would easily trade it all for those 10 minutes.

We changed our flight so that instead of having to leave for the airport at 4:00 am, we could stay in the park until a little after lunch. We spent that time visiting Tinkerbell.

She gave the girls some great tips concerning Pixie Dust. Never ever put it on your feet, lest you be forced to fly around upside down! Do you even know how hard that is to fix your hair after a morning of flying that way! It's tricky business...

We then headed over to Adventure Land to see Jasmine and Aladdin. Let me tell you, they are in high demand and you simply gotta serve your time to wait and see them. But they were worth it!

As I've mentioned before, we were on the Disney Dining Plan. We had some meals/snacks left over and decided it was time to leave on a sugar high. This is how the girls discovered the much requested "sugar waffles."

You could have easily played tic tac toe in the sugar after we left.

Aunt Tracie gave the girls a little money to buy a souvenir. Elle picked out this charm bracelet. She wanted all 112 charms but being the mean parents we are we limited her to five charms.

Keeping in line with using up all of our snacks on our dining plan, we let the girls get ice cream.

Caroline started to eat hers.

Then she decided to play with it.

I got a lot of "oh momma!" looks while pushing her around.

After using a 1 1/2 boxes of wipes to clean Caroline up we let her pick out her souvenir from Aunt Tracie.

Elle got her most beloved Stitch from Paw Paw and took him on every ride! He still goes everywhere with us and I believe will be one of her most cherished toys from her childhood.