Back to our favorite ride
We heard a rumor that someone special had a workshop close by.
Waiting in line in Disney's version of the North Pole.
In front of the cutest train
Waiting in the workshop
Cole chose to redeem a nearby Fastpass instead of sitting in Santa's lap. I sure hope Tanner is willing to share his Christmas gifts this year.
Brainstorming
about what to ask for from Santa this year.
Her Christmas list for Santa this year:
a TV for her dollhouse and a rocking horse
(Coach, do you think you can dig out the rocking horse that we've stored at your house? Evidently she's forgotten all about it and it would sure help out Santa. Thanks!)
Santa was waiflike, evidently not as big a fan of the French crepes as we are.
She kindly thanked him for the bike he brought her last year.
Putting in her request and wishing Santa a merry Christmas.
Dashing through the snow
Rafiki and Timon from The Lion King
We were thrilled to see Winnie the Pooh. Even with all the princesses, Ava was the most excited to see Pooh. I love that she's still a baby girl at heart.
Blowing kisses to Pooh Bear as we stood in line to meet him.
(When I say 'stood in line' I really mean fought to stay in line. Evidently schools here do not teach line etiquette. We were cut so many times over the course of our time at Disneyland that I was afraid we'd need stitches. Our saving grace was Tim. Curiously enough, no one had the gall to cut in front of him.)
Ava's open armed run up the steps to meet Pooh caused a resounding 'awww' from the Cutter-Cutter-Peanut-Butters in line.
This series of pictures was too precious not to include.
Pooh's sweet gesture, rubbing Ava's forehead, meant so much to her. She has talked about it endlessly.
Kinda' makes your teeth hurt from the sweet, huh?
Christmas Goofy and Ava James
Ava in front of the famous Walt Disney and Mickey statue.
Sleepy Mommy and Daddy in front of the statue. Y'all, Paris + Disneyland Paris all rolled into five jam-packed days caused a level of tired we haven't felt since a few days after Ava was born. We've been home a week and I am just now starting to feel normal again.
Waiting in line to ride SlinkyDog from Toy Story.
Yay for being tall enough to ride a real roller coaster! She was also tall enough to ride the Tower of Terror. She loved it and wanted to ride again as soon as it was over.
We all loved Crush's Coaster from Finding Nemo.
Such a fun ride. We loved this one.
Later that night we went back to the hotel to got ready for the Princess Dinner.
A very fancy maître d' ushered Ava to our table.
Our first table visitors were Ariel and Eric from The Little Mermaid.
Fancy juice
Smiling with Belle
Waiting on our food
Loving the fancy kid appetizer
The adult fancy appetizer
Ava told passing princesses, "That's Cole, he's such a prince."
Ava and Suzy, did you know the mice from Cinderella had names?
Delicious salmon entre
Cheers
Ava/Rapunzel dancing with Gabby/Tiana
With Aurora, Sleeping Beauty
With my favorite princess, discussing books - what else?
Loving Cinderella, she made sure to tell her that Baba loved her best
Another of Cinderella's mice, Pearla
Curtsying next to Daddy
Elegant whispers
Precious setting for our dinner
Delicious dessert
An encore picture with Aurora and Belle
With Cinderella's carriage
Early the next morning we met a smiling Minnie Mouse on our way to breakfast.
When I tried to take this picture with my camera I discovered that my battery needed to be charged. Cole saved the day by letting us use his fancy new iPhone camera for the next few pictures.
Ava had seen many kids with the cutest face paint. On Sunday morning we finally took a few minutes to let her have her face painted.
Waiting patiently
Sitting so still
The beautiful Blue Fairy
With Sully and Mike from Monsters Inc.
While we waited in line to meet Rapunzel a very handsome Flynn Rider (Eugene) came to greet us. Ava wanted NOTHING to do with him, shyly cowering behind me. "He's not a prince, he's a thief," she kept insisting before he reached us. He tried so hard to coax her out for a picture, even discussing her face paint and light-up shoes. She smiled and politely conversed with him but did not move from behind my legs. After he signed her autograph book as Flynn Rider and walked away Ava put her hands on her hips and said, "See? He's tricky. We know his real name is Eugene, not Flynn Rider." Then she made a very exasperated sigh. How I survived this without dying laughing at her I will never know. Major Mom points were s
Finally meeting Rapunzel
Back to the Buzz Lightyear ride
We ran into another friend from The Hundred Acre Wood.
Another Goofy visit
Twirling our way across the castle bridge
Waving goodbye to the Light Parade
With Friar Tuck from Robin Hood
So excited to drive Daddy around Autopia
Loving the Snow White ride
Three chilly Locketts
Cole and Mickey at breakfast the next morning
Another Pluto hug
With Gepetto from Pinocchio
Loving Mickey
Please
zoom in and look at my raised eyebrows in this picture. The reason?
I'm in the middle of giving Captain Hook the business. Oh my goodness was
he smarmy. He just finished throwing Gabby's autograph book on the floor
while a terrified Ava trembled in my lap. He was rude and big and
brandished his hook at the kids. I understand villain, but really?
I think he was hungover from too much rum with Mr. Smee the night before, and I
was not putting up with it. I informed him that, after signing Ava's
book, he would politely hand it to her or else risk being hogtied by a
Texan. Yes, really. I also told him that he was going to nicely
hand Gabby her book from the floor. Guess what?
I taught that
pirate a lesson because he did exactly what I told him to do. Look at
Ava's face in this shot. She keeps telling people that, "Captain
Hook is afraid of my mommy." Well, duh, who isn't?
Our last entrance to Main Street Disney
In line to ride our very last roller coaster - Big Thunder Mountain
As we started to leave the park Mickey arranged for one last surprise for us
Disney Snow!
Cole in the winter wonderland
Catching the soap bubbly snow flakes
Waiting outside our hotel to catch a bus to our train
Much like Buddy the Elf, Ava James loves revolving doors.
On our ride home we lucked into a private compartment with the Bunsons. The girls played princesses the whole way home.
Suzan and I worked on our computers on the other side while the boys vegged out somewhere in the middle.
It was a relaxing ride home after a very busy, fun-filled trip!
