**just a note, if the videos don't pop up...try refreshing the page and that usually works.** Back in February, Russell had a conference for work in Orlando, so we decided to make a family trip out of it and venture into the magical world of Disney! We met up with one of Russell's turf buddies from college, Nathan, and his wife, Hayley and their little boy Hayden. Hayden and Marissa are a few weeks apart, so the 3 of them had a great time together! And Hayley was definitely a life-saver for me, because without her, I would have been very lonely the 3 out of 5 days that Russell was at the conference. Hayley and I got along great and it was so nice talking with someone who understands the "turf life". Haha:) OK, so on to Disney....the first day we went to Magic Kingdom, with the thought that the moms and kids would go by themselves in the morning and the dads would show up around noon. Ummm, not quite. It wasn't until about 5:30 that our superintendents
finally walked through the gates and well...at that point, it may have been best for them to just stay away....the mommies were a little
stressed to say the least. 3 kids under 3, no naps, and 7 hours of navigating through a sea of people while trying not to lose your own children....well, you get the point. I'll stop whining now. We all survived and we did have fun meeting all our favorite characters and riding a few rides. All in all...we made some wonderful memories:) This is how the girls rode around all day. Our first stop was to watch the performance at the big castle....it was great until the fireworks at the end, Allie was not a fan of the fireworks.
Waiting in line to meet Woody and Jesse from Toy Story!
Their first glimpse of some of their favorite characters.
Jesse and Woody!! Allie was so funny that day...instead of walking up to each person...she did this silly little dance with her knees up and her arms swinging...I don't think I'm ever going to have to worry about that little girl making new friends or making people laugh. Marissa was her sweet, somewhat shy self. She carried her new Ariel purse around all day showing it off to each person she met.
Allie's still dancing.
Finally got them to sit still, unfortunately Allie had a "boogie"that needed some attention right as the picture was taken.
Here is the video of the girls meeting Woody and Jessie. (Please ignore my voice and my country accent..sheesh. Although, what I said was true, Marissa really does like to braid her hair like Jessie's...however, Jessie can't talk back, so she just smiled at me and probably called me a redneck under her costume. Ha.)
Next was a pit stop to eat and well...a pit stop for Allie to do her business. This picture cracks me up:) (Helloooo senior yearbook photo?!?)
All finished and all smiles!
Next up was Goofy! Or "Doofy" as Allie would say.
Goofy hugs!
Then it was on to Jasmine and Aladdin! Allie stared at Aladdin the whole time and Marissa still had that purse...
Then came the moment Marissa was very excited about, meeting Ariel! We've never seen The Little Mermaid, so I'm not sure where her obsession with Ariel came from, but she picked out that purse and some Little Mermaid toys and has loved Ariel ever since. Again, as you can see, Allie and Prince Eric got along great:)
Marissa was so proud, she got her purse signed by Ariel
herself! This was a fun stop:)
Next, on to the TEACUPS!! Marissa was half excited/half terrified. Which explains the "deer in the headlights" smile.
Allie was just happy to be out of the stroller.
Marissa started off spinning, then quickly grabbed Mommy's hand....
Allie...well, she was
laiiiiid back. Not a care in the world.
Then we spotted another favorite....
TANGLED!!!! Marissa has seen this movie twice and loves Rapunzel and Flynn Rider. We waited in line over an hour to meet them....
Miss Marissa was very, very excited!
See, excited!!!
Still
very excited.
At last, the moment we had been waiting for! See what Miss Allie is looking at? You probably noticed a trend by now...she was
way more into the Princes than the Princesses. Not such good news for Daddy...
Here's a little video of them meeting Rapunzel and Flynn....
Then it was time for Hayden's favorite time of the day!! Riding the train!!!! He very patiently waited for this moment
all.day.long. 
Look who showed up!!!! It's a good thing he's so cute...or he may have been in some serious trouble from his tired, pregnant, wife.
Ahhh, a nice, sweet, relaxing moment with my sweet Allie.
Look at those sweet, innocent little faces....
and then the choke hold. Nice.
Family pic.
Our last stop of the day was to meet the fairies. Tinkerbell and her friends are very popular in the Nichols' house and it's a good thing they are, considering the wait to meet them was
over an hour. But we made it through the line and into Pixie Hollow to meet Fawn, Tinkerbell and Vidia. First up was Fawn.
Then it was the moment we had all been waiting for!! TINKERBELL!!! Marissa was so excited:) Allie just ran around like a chicken with it's head cut off...but whatever....what else is new? :)
Then it was Vidia (or "bideo" as Allie calls her)...now in the Tinkerbell movies, Vidia is the "not-so-nice" fairy and she is very annoyed by Tinkerbell and her "tinkering" ways. (watch the movies, you'll get it) Anyway, it was funny, because when we first met her, I thought, man...she sure isn't very nice to the kids...then Russell reminded me that she was "in-character" and was acting like Vidia did in the movies. You'll see what I mean when Marissa gives her a hug at the end of the video. Annnnnyyway...that was probably more information about Tinkerbell than you ever wanted to know.
Here is the video of the girls meeting the Pixie Hollow fairies. It's a little long but it's pretty cute....especially when Allie gets in touble by the guard for going "behind the ropes" Oops. Yes, that's my child and yes, she is a little out of control. But hey, she sure is cute:) Ha. Also...Vidia and Tinkerbell start chasing each other in the middle of the video and there is a lady who thinks this is hilarious....you will hear her creepy laugh in the background.....Alright, enough already. Here's the video:)
SOOO, that was Day 1. We were all exhausted by the end of the day, but we did have a lot of fun:) And the kiddos were troopers...surviving 10 hours of Disney fun! As you can imagine...we all slept great that night.
Marissa playing games on Mommy's phone.... 
Me with my sweet Allie:) 
The next day....it was back to Disney!!! We got up early and got there right when they opened and headed straight to the Safari area! It was pretty chilly, bus aside from that...it was probably our favorite part of the whole week!! The girls loved it and we got to see a lot of really cool animals! Here we are ready to go! 
We saw some giraffes.... 
And biiiiiggg rhinos....as well as lots of other animals, but I don't want to bore you with animal pictures... 
A family shot in front of the safari house. 
Our group shot....we had so much fun with the Neumann's and were so glad they were there with us!! 
The kiddos showing off their yummy pretzels. 
Train ride! 
Posing with Jiminy Cricket...Allie was super excited as you can see... 
The gorilla and the little monkeys :) 
We then went to a little petting zoo....I honestly think Marissa would have stayed here and brushed this animal the whole day...she loved it! 
Then at the end of the day the parade went down Main street!! This was so much fun! All the characters walked by, they had some really cool floats and the girls even got some high fives from some special people! :)
The girls waving at Minnie Mouse! 
Marissa pointing to the star of the show..... 
MICKEY!!!! 
I love her little hand in this picture, waving hello to Mickey:) 
That about sums up our Disney trip! Hope you enjoyed our pictures and videos! To finish up...here are a few more random videos from the week. (and again...if you can't see the video, just hit your "refresh" button and that should work...) Ok, the first part is the girls on the train with their Daddy, the second is Marissa on the carousel and lastly...a video that I took on our way home. Allie was getting restless, so I climbed in the back with them and did my best to make her laugh:) Enjoy!
The girls waving at Minnie Mouse! 
Marissa pointing to the star of the show..... 
MICKEY!!!! 
I love her little hand in this picture, waving hello to Mickey:) 
That about sums up our Disney trip! Hope you enjoyed our pictures and videos! To finish up...here are a few more random videos from the week. (and again...if you can't see the video, just hit your "refresh" button and that should work...) Ok, the first part is the girls on the train with their Daddy, the second is Marissa on the carousel and lastly...a video that I took on our way home. Allie was getting restless, so I climbed in the back with them and did my best to make her laugh:) Enjoy!
