Friday, March 30, 2012

Epcot

We hadn’t planned on going to Epcot at all. We bought three day Florida resident tickets and we were going to just pick three parks and do one park each day. After juggling our breakfast reservations (trading Chef Mickey breakfast on a Friday during Lent for the less expensive Ohana on a Thursday when the Irishman could enjoy his breakfast meats) and a few other things we had enough room in our budget to add a park hopper option so that we could visit all four parks and make it to Magic Kingdom on the first and last day of our trip.

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We actually never made it to Animal Kingdom. As much as we loved taking Caitlin there last year, we had so much fun at Epcot we went back there a second time instead. The flower and garden expo is going on, so we got to enjoy all the pretty flowers.

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Our primary reason for going to Epcot the first time was to eat at my favorite French restaurant. It was good, but not as enjoyable as usual. The tables were too crowded. The waitress with Ratatouille was terrible. In the past they stopped at each table and made him sing and pose for pictures. She breezed right past us.

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The food was good though!

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One of the surprise highlights was Marie. Caitlin LOVED the kitty cat. Better yet there was not much of a line so we got to spend a lot of time with Marie. She was the most interactive of all the characters we saw and Caitlin ate it up! She got back in line again for a second visit!

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Grammy and Daddy were happy to take a break while Caitlin enjoyed the playground.

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Daisy came with us, too. We brought the double stroller (which I would recommend), though Caitlin often preferred to walk. Being a stubborn two-year-old she decided at some point to adjust the hand holding situation. We couldn’t argue.

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Of course she was even happier to discover Daisy herself at the exit!

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We wanted to do something special for our last night so Grammy treated us to dinner at the Garden Grill. We hadn’t been there before, but the menu looked good and we figured Caitlin would enjoy the characters. Halfway through the meal we realized that the restaurant was actually moving. In between the character visits we suddenly noticed that our view had changed and the entire restaurant was rotating. It was rather funny!

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(It also makes it hard to find your table when you slip out in the middle of the meal to change a diaper, but that is part of the fun!)

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It was all-you-can-eat served family style. The Irishman REALLY enjoyed the streak. We’d asked for more twice. Then the waiter brought this plate out just for my husband. I’m pretty sure we ate a half a cow between us all. Morgan could hardly walk after enjoying that dinner, but it was a lot of fun!

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(Caitlin got a haircut at Magic Kingdom – more on that later - in the time between our visits to Epcot. You can see her face now!)

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I was disappointed that we didn’t make it to Animal Kingdom, but I don’t think I would change what we did. Caitlin loved everything we did at Disney. The four of us didn’t move too quickly, so we decided to slow down and pick the things we liked most instead of trying to fit in more just to do it.


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We also did the Character Spot at Epcot, but I already have a million pictures in this post, so I’ll share those another time. Caitlin is still talking about the trip and all the characters!

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Ohana

We ate at our favorite restaurant twice on this trip. We enjoyed a dinner feast on Tuesday night and then breakfast on Thursday morning with Mickey and friends.

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Caitlin didn’t quite understand the idea behind the coconut races, but that’s okay!

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We all enjoyed dinner!

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The characters were waiting for us when we got to breakfast. Caitlin was amazed!

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Parade anyone?

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Mickey waffles? Yummy!

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Such a treat!

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Horsie Chair and Boats

After we’d visited with Daisy, we managed to talk Caitlin into some rides. Before we left she looked at pictures on the computer from our trip last year. She told me for days that Grammy would ride the horses with her. It took me a few minutes to realize she was talking about the carousel.
Just like our trip to the zoo, Caitlin wanted nothing to do with the horsies themselves. She announced that should was going in the horsie chair...

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And she did.

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There was only one bench on the carousel, and Caitlin waited in line again and again to sit in her special spot to watch the horses.

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She was thrilled with the whole thing!

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After a while I told her we would go on a BOAT! (She is at a fun age where anything can be exciting!) I told her we would see sheep on the boat. I remembered there being more animals in It’s a Small World!

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Sean slept through most of the ride, but Caitlin loved it!

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Caitlin and Friends


Build your own high-quality photo books at Shutterfly.com.

(The special offer ended tonight so I am up late finishing Caitlin's book. I won't have time for a blog post and sleep...so I figured this works. Oh, and we do have pictures of Sean, too, but he is too young for a photo book!)

Monday, March 26, 2012

Daisy, Daisy

The first thing we saw when we walked into the Magic Kingdom was Daisy Duck. (Okay, so Pluto was standing there, too. Caitlin wasn’t as interested in him though!) It didn’t matter that there was a huge line – Caitlin wanted a “big hug” from Daisy.

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I honestly didn’t expect her to stand in line. I thought she would lose interest after a while and move on, but I was wrong. She was SO excited about getting a "big hug" from the duck! We had to watch that she didn’t sneak ahead in line.

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(The Irishman took this video on his phone)

She LOVED every minute of it!

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None of us expected Daisy to be such a favorite.

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Sean met the duck as well,

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but he was more impressed with my necklace than with Daisy.

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After a long afternoon Caitlin fell asleep in the stroller. When she woke up Grammy surprised her with a Daisy Duck of her own.

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She carried her new best friend with her day and night for the whole trip!

Saturday, March 24, 2012

We’re Back!

We are back and unpacking from a WONDERFUL week in Disney with Grammy. We all enjoyed ourselves, though I think watching Caitlin’s reaction to each new thing was probably top of the list. I think this picture captures it best. I love that she fell asleep holding the balloon.

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The kids have had a healthy dose of spoiling from Grammy and are missing her terribly!

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We know that Monday is going to be a rough wake up back to the real world, so it is a quiet weekend around the house for us now!

P.S. After the break in while we were away in Ireland a while back I don’t like to publicize when we are away. The blog post on Tuesday was written on Monday as we were frantically trying to leave for Orlando. I enjoy the challenge of making the blog seem as if it is life as usual.

P.P.S. Grammy bought her the awesome Mickey socks from LittleMissMatched and Caitlin couldn’t wait to put them on. The Crocs with socks was her idea. I kept it in the photo just for you, Ruth! ; )  Sean’s dog is from the same place. I love it!

Friday, March 23, 2012