truly magical

Disney touts itself as the 'most magical place on earth.' Well...it seemed kinda true last week when we took Emerald to Disney World!

Usually, Disney appears to be a good idea...but when it's hot, crowded, and an exercise in patience trying to get kids to stay happy in long lines, it doesn't seem very 'magical.'

Last Wednesday was a cool day (when the sun went down it was cold actually), and there were hardly any people there! The longest we waited for any ride was 20 minutes, which didn't seem like much of anything because it takes you that long just to walk through some of the empty line areas. We literally did every.single.ride and show we wanted to do. It was magical!

Here's a picture-overload of our time at Disney...and leading up to it.
Before we left, Emma and I went to get pedicures. It was her first time ever having a 'real' one and she was quite excited!

She sat and read a Bride's magazine which cracked me up. She was pretty relaxed until a man came and did her toes. We had talked about how there are men and women who work at this place...but she didn't know what to think about him! I've known him and several of the people that work at this nail place for almost 10 years. They are in the same strip mall where I opened one of my store locations. Super nice people and they do a great job!

But as soon as he sat down, Emma put the magazine up, or looked straight over at me. She didn't make eye contact with him and wouldn't talk to him! 

Her toes looked beautiful though! Nails too. He even gave her some flower and butterfly stickers on top of her sparkly purple polish!

With nails ready, we were off to the airport. Emma was pretty excited to actually go inside the airport for the first time and learned all about the security process, etc.

Finally our plane arrived and we were ready to get to Florida! Emma's first plane ride! She loved it (when she wasn't sleeping). I thought it was adorable how she'd make her napkin into a placemat for her snack. We even let her have soda on the flight if she wanted. A very rare treat!

After a short night at the hotel, we were up and off to Disney! Emma was all grins on the bus on the way to the main gate! (by the way, she's wearing clothes from the 'collection' I've been working on!)

After a freeeeezzing cold ferry ride, we were at the main gates of the Magic Kingdom. The temperature in the morning was in the lower 50s but warmed up to a perfect 66 in the afternoon.

We waited at the gate until the park opened at 9 and then booked it across the entire park to Enchanted Tales with Belle since we heard the lines get really long there. It was SO fun! Emma got to act out the part of the feather duster in the story and say 'Ooh La La.' They acted with Belle and marched around the room with her...adorable! I only got a video of that, no picture. :(

One of Emma's little friends had been to Disney before and told her about the tea cups. She begged to go on them until we finally tracked them down and went. Ugh. She was in little girl heaven on this ride...and I think my head is still spinning. Rides that spin are not my favorite! (Is it an age thing?)

One of my biggest regrets is not taking our nice camera into the park with us. I didn't think it would make it on the rides, but I forgot that all of the rides are so tame. It's sad that all of our pictures from the park are on my icky cell phone camera. Like this one with Ariel:

At least the Dumbo ride had a nice picture area so it was easier to get an ok picture with a bad camera.

First nap of the day...and the time when we started to realize how big Emma has gotten lately. She's difficult to carry now!

Awake again, and thrilled to drive a car!

The treehouse is something I remember from going to Disney when I was young. SO fun! Wouldn't it be great to have an elaborate tree house like this in the backyard?

Inside Cinderella's castle is a boutique for little princesses to get their hair done, and a restaurant. We were very cheap on this trip and didn't do any of that. We brought most of our food with us, and didn't go crazy with 'extras.' Especially since we only had one day to visit Disney, we didn't want to spend lots of time on things other than rides and shows.
But we did stop inside the castle for a peek at their gorgeous mosaic tile scenes. Amazing!

A sweet friend (thanks Lydia!) gave Emma an autograph book for the characters. They all signed it and took a picture with her. So fun! Daddy even snuck into one of these character photo-ops.

By the time the sun went down, it was brrrrrrr cold. A winter coat, hats, and mittens would have felt pretty good. Instead, we had a couple light sweatshirts and flip flops. But we were determined to see the electric parade, laser show, and fireworks. Again...they were magical!!

What a fantastic first visit to DisneyWorld for Emma (and Michael). We had a blast and can't wait to go again someday!
More pictures and details about the rest of our Florida trip tomorrow...