Character Time

One of the most exciting parts of visiting Disney World is getting to meet the characters that you learn to love from movies and TV.  This year didn't disappoint!  We hardly waited in any lines, Kaci filled up her autograph book, and she was able to meet many different characters than last year.  Of course, we revisited some of her favorites and there were a few that she wished we could have found, but all in all she was very pleased.  Please disregard the poor quality of the photos.  I have over 1,000 photos from our trip and I haven't even begun to edit any of them (and I could barely see what the pictures looked like from the tiny thumbnails when I was selecting the ones to upload), I just know that my mom has been patiently waiting for pictures so I wanted to get them up quickly.

Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen

Tinkerbell (I liked last year's much better)

Periwinkle (Tink's sister from the new movie)

Tigger

Pooh

Alice (last year's was soooo much better)

The Mad Hatter

Mary Poppins (this was one of the people Kaci was most excited to meet)

Rapunzel and Flynn Ryder

Mickey

Cinderella and Prince Charming

Daisy Duck

Snow White and the Prince

Minnie

Goofy

Donald Duck

Anastasia, Drizella, and Lady Tremaine

Gaston (he was watching the parade with us)

Jasmine and Aladdin (Kaci was so upset there was no Abu again this year)

Princess Aurora

Merida (from Brave) - She did a great job of portraying her character

The Most Magical Place on Earth

I am well aware of how neglected this poor blog has been lately.  Someday, I will look back upon this and kick myself for not updated more often but there always seem to be hundreds of things that need to be accomplished every day and maintaining the blog just always seems to get shoved to the bottom of the list.  I need to get better about that.  Maybe once grad school is finished...?

Last month, we made another trek to Disney World.  We are by no means Disney World experts, but having been last year we did feel a bit more comfortable and kind of knew what to do and where to go.  We stayed at the Carribean Beach Resort because it had sandy beaches all around.  Kaci kept telling me that she wanted to go to the beach but she also wanted to go to Disney World.  There was no way we could afford both of those vacations, so I thought this was the best of both worlds.

The view to our "beach"

Kaci and Mommy relaxing

Playing in the sand

One of Kaci's most favorite things was the fact that we were staying in a pirate room and that she was going to sleep in a pirate ship bed.  You have to understand that my girly-girl is very much into pirates at the moment, so this room was very important to her.

Arrr mateys

If you've never been to Disney or stayed at a Disney resort, you don't understand just how much there is to do without even stepping foot into the park.  There are so many things to do that you could honestly just stay at the hotel all day and not get bored.  In fact, that's what we did most afternoons.  It's still hot in Florida in October, so to beat the heat we swam during the heat of the day and went to the park in the evenings when it wasn't as hot.  This was perfect for Kaci since she now loves to swim.  Plus, our friends Kevin and Shannon just happened to be at the same hotel so Kaci got to hang out with Jackson and Gracie at the pool. How awesome is that she had friends in Disney with her?

How much fun is that?

This is the only time she went down.  The rest of the time was spent in the pool.

Hanging out with Gracie and Jackson

There is so much more to share (and yes Mom, I promise I will update again soon).  Kaci was very excited with the characters she got to meet this year (and again, I know my Mom is itching to see the pictures).  More to come soon!

One Week

We are just one week away from another visit to the most magical place on Earth!  Last year we surprised Kaci with the trip, but this year she knows it is coming and enjoys counting down the days until our departure.  I am ready for a vacation, Jim is ready for a vacation, and Kaci is just ready to swim and ride Peter Pan's Flight (that's what she says when we ask her what she's most excited about).  We upgraded hotels this year, which means we shortened our stay, but I feel so much more prepared this time since we already know places to eat, activities we like, etc.  Here's hoping the school week goes by quickly and our trip not so quickly!

The First Day of School

The first day of kindergarten went off without a hitch.  Kaci literally jumped out of bed with the biggest smile on her face proudly exclaiming that she was now a kindergartener.  Jim worked that day, but a great co-worker covered for him for a few hours so that he could help me walk Kaci to her classroom.

She wouldn't stop making silly faces!

All ready to go!

 When we got to school, Kaci was beaming as the secretary, assistant principal, and principal all congratulated her on her first day of school.  She kept asking if it was time to go to her room and she grew even more anxious each time I told her that she would have to wait for the bell to ring.

She was finished with the idea of posing for pictures, she just wanted to go to class.

When she finally heard the bell, she was off and didn't even wait for Jim or I to walk with her.

"Kindergarteners can walk to class by themselves, mom," said the wee one.

 And we finally made it to the room.  I kept my tears in check until I walked away since I had been told the night before that if I cried only daddy would be allowed to walk her to class.  I didn't want to leave her, though.

Kaci and Mrs. Rinehard

 I'm very fortunate that I get to see her everyday and that I am right down the hall if she really needs me for something.  It still makes me sad though to know that my little girl isn't so little anymore.

Kindergarten

Tomorrow will be the day I have been dreading for the past few months.  The day when my little girl starts 'big girl' school.  I have been terribly emotional for the past week as I think back over the past 5 years and I still can't fathom how time has passed so quickly.  It really feels like we just brought her home from the hospital yesterday.  I know I'm going to be a wreck in the morning when I tell her good-bye (which I know is silly considering we will be under the same roof) but she's already warned me that if I cry she is going to push me out the door and only her daddy will be able to stay with her.  Oh my goodness!  Where did this little person come from?!  So, here's to hoping I can keep it together long enough to not be pushed out of the classroom.

Summer Project Completion

For years, Jim and I have talked about wanting to improve our deck, and by improve I mean rip down the whole thing and start from scratch.  You see, our deck was small; too small for a patio table, too small for many people to stand on (you get the idea).  It was also falling apart.  Stairs were sagging and sinking into the ground, nails were popping out, and some boards even looked like they might be starting to rot.  Well, rewind to the beginning of June when we finally decided that this summer would be the summer we rebuilt our deck!

Fortunately for our bank account, my annual yard sale almost paid for the entire project (well, at least the lumber...and yes, it was a good yard sale this year).  The painstaking work began the following weekend and Jim realized that the old deck wasn't going to be as easy to take down as he thought.  It took many weeks, lots of sweat, and some arguing (because what home improvement project is complete without an argument?) but we now have a completed project!  It's nice having a handy husband!

Here is what the deck looked like before...

Disregard the pinata, I just have very few pictures of the old deck.

And here is the deck after (I didn't upload the "during" photos yet).