We woke up bright and early to start our adventure.
Libi decided to do her best Evil Queen impression with our curtains...
but she's much cuter than the queen.
The view from our room was spectacular! Gotta love CADA paying for a premium view room :)
It was too bad that we didn't have more time to explore the hotel. Maybe next year we can get down earlier so Libi can take advantage of all the fun the Disney properties have to offer.
Daddy headed off to do his workshop at his conference...
and we got dressed for the park. We were meeting up with some MOPS mommies there today!
We entered the park on the Monorail-- a first for Libi.
Our first stop (thank goodness) was Small World. We hardly waited to get on it, but shortly after we got off the line was 45 minutes long. They have done lots of new holiday decorations inside this year. My favorite was in the new North America section: note the Native American dream catchers cascading across the sky! Love it!
Libi looked very sweet in her holiday attire today!
We got off the ride as the clock began to chime. A very nice cast member got this picture of the two of us at the perfect moment!
Our friends still hadn't arrived so we headed to Toontown to see Mickey. On our way to visit him we noticed that Minnie was at her house. She was darling with Libi, fixing her jacket and headband before their photo together.
We were the very last people to see Mickey in his holiday attire in the foyer of his house.
I've been very aware of getting in photos lately. I am not super happy with the way I look, but it is what it is. I don't want Libi to look back years from now and not see me in her photos.
Our friends still hadn't arrived, so we went to wait for the princesses. This hour-long wait turned into over and hour and a half-- the longest I've ever waited for those girls. Libi totally takes after her Daddy: while we were in line she tried to organize all of the kids around us. She tried to get them to dance with her, tell stories together, and just sit and chat. Here she is with two girls she met in line right after she has coralled them all to sit on the stairs with her-- she had activity director blood coarsing through her :)
Finally as we were nearing the front of the line one of our friends arrived. Elyz is one of my Skipper kids and her Mom is my co-teacher for Pioneer Club. They were able to hop into line with us and only wait about 20 minutes.
Elyz was a bit uncertain about meeting the characters so Libi held her hand to make her feel better.
Libs had quite a long conversation with Mulan. This is why I'm willing to wait so long for this experience-- you never feel rushed through!
Another friend met us and we headed over to Big Thunder Ranch to meet Santa. I wasnt' sure how well it would go, but was willing to try! We first encountered Mrs. Claus and she was very impressed with Libi's Christmas tree shirt.
The line here wasn't too long AND they have benches lining the path so we were all much happier! I love this shot of the kids: Elyz, Libi, Jenna and David. Even though they are all different ages, they get along really well and seemed to enjoy each other.
Libi actually talked to Santa for quite a while. She told him that she wanted a coloring book for Christmas-- this was news to me, so I guess I still have shopping to do.
I was super impressed that she let Santa touch her and got close enough to him so I could get a decent picture.
The moms couldn't resist getting in on the action too! I think we all asked Santa for diamond jewelry and cash-- but gift cards will do :)
After we all piled onto Jungle Cruise with yet another Mom who had arrived, we split into two smaller groups. I headed with Lisa to stroll Main Street while Myra and Lynnette went on Pooh and Haunted Mansion.
There were lots of characters waiting for us, so we had to do some more photos.
Libi and Mickey had the cutest exhange-- I wish I could have video taped it and taken pictures at the same time, but I only have two hands.
We met up with Ron while we were saving seats for the Christmas parade. Libi and Elyz filled the time dancing and running trough the street.
One of the moms took this darling picture of Ron and I. I am so blessed to be able to travel with Ron as he does all of his CADA stuff. It is so nice to have the flexibility in our schedules so we can see Ron when his duties are done.
The parade was such fun! We all watched it together and the kids had a blast!
There were lots of new additions this year (or maybe they were added last year, but we never saw the parade last year.)
Chip and Dale had the most darling car-- it made me think of Nana and all of her trucks that she collects.
We met up with the whole gang at the castle for a group photo. Here are the kiddos...
Kiddos and Mommies....
and the one Daddy with his kiddo!
At this point Libi crashed!
Ron and I rode the train around several times with her stretched across our laps. Luckily our girl can sleep anywhere!
We stayed until it got dark and the park lit up. Sadly Libi really needed to potty (did I mention she didn't have any accidents today?) and she wanted to use Elmo potty so we didn't get to stay for the fireworks. Hopefully we will be back soon so Libi can experience the snow.
After a half hour drive we made it to our next hotel in the City of Industry. Libi just settled in and colored to wind down before bed. We are so lucky that she is such a good traveler!
