Happy Mardi Gras!

I wrote this on Friday with the plan of posting it sometime on Saturday morning. Things got a little hectic, though, so I'll post it today-- comprehensive details of the ball coming soon! 

The day is here!!

We've been planning:

And plotting:

Preparing:

And painting:

And painting:

And painting:

And celebrating:

But sadly, on Tuesday night, I got sick. Real sick. I immediatly went to the Doctor and pulled a Gma. I told him I HAD to be better by Saturday because I HAD to be there for King PD's parade! While everyone went to New Orleans, I made friends with gatorade and the thermometer:

The Doctor gave me a shot and a pill and told me to lay low. That would have been hard if I didn't feel so awful.

Amazingly I had a turn around and am feeling healthy enough to pass a good time with the Krewe tonight!!!

Gma

I've mentioned Chris' grandmother (Gma) before. She's  a spunky woman who likes to pass a good time... just like her sons (and grandsons!):

(That's Justin, Gma and Chris at Johanna & Jeremy's wedding.)

She 's been staying with Uncle Dewey in Buffalo, New York. And a few a weeks ago, she fell quite ill. Uncle Dewey took her to the ER and called the family. For a short while, the doctors weren't sure what was going on. Thankfully, Dr. Clark came to the rescue and she was up and running (well, walking) in a few days.

During this time, she saw multiple nurses, doctors and hospital staff and she told them all the same thing, "You have to get me better, I'm going to Mardi Gras on Saturday! My son is the King and I won't miss it for anything!"

I'm happy to report they listened to her instructions! Gma is ready for the Krewe of Orion Parade and Masquerade... starting in just 32 hours!

A Cake for a King

PD's King's Party was last weekend and was a BLAST!

There were a million little details to think about while getting everything together... but one detail we didn't think about once... dessert! For a King's Party, the only appropriate dessert seemed to be King's Cake, right?

Well our King had a different idea and hired Laura's friend, Kyla do bring a cake. I'll admit it... I was skeptical. But boy was I wrong!

PD is in a bowling league with Kyla and her husband. One night at the alley, the idea came up... and Kyla sketched out this gem:

Here she is with the finished product:

And a close up of the edible King:

Now I love the taste of a good King's Cake... but Kyla's was even more amazing! She made twice as much as needed... and there were no leftovers!

King PD keeps kicking his reign up a notch... and this cake was no exception!

Last Disney Post

After our rest, we made it back to the Magic Kingdom just in time for:

Another touching moment as we all have memories of watching this with our families as young children.

The same Main Street that was empty just a hours before, was now packed and ready to watch the fireworks:

But before they started, there was a pre-show on the castle. Actual photos and videos were projected onto the castle. They were photos of people at Disney or videos of parents surprising their children, "We're going to Disney World!". It was really cute. At one point they started to show photos that they had taken throughout the day from the Disney photographers. Guest which four pink shirts made it?

Ok, so we didn't quite get a photo of it... but trust me... we were famous for 3 seconds!

After the pre-show, the main fireworks started. Which were, of course, amazing.

The park was still open for 2 hours, but it had started to drizzle. Many of the guests left, but I pulled out four ponchos and we trudged ahead. We all wanted to ride the Jungle Cruise and decided to make it the last ride of the trip. When we got there, we were the only ones in line and got the boat to ourselves!

The skipper had a lot of fun with his jokes and we played along well. He even let Lindsay drive... and she told a few jokes of her own!

In all the planning I did for our trip, this was another fun surprise that you just can't orchestrate. It was the best way to end our day at the Magic Kingdom.

When we got back to the hotel, we had a shower for Lindsay, complete with gifts:

What did she get?

Lots of gifts! ;)

After three long days, we slept well into the next morning. We had just enough time to visit Downtown Disney (lots of shops) and make the Magical Express back to the Real World (where my first ride was Mr. Chris' Wild Volvo Freeway Experience... followed by Laundry Mountain.)

In closing, it was a delightful trip and I can't wait to celebrate with Mickey Mouse again!

Day 3; Part 2

Stay with me... we're almost done with the Dozen Disney Posts...

Once we finished breakfast, we barely beat the crowds to get on Space Mountain. On our way, a man (cast member) walked up to us and asked about our shirts. When he realized Lindsay was a bride, he insisted on escorting her to the ride.

He was very serious and proclaimed often, "Make Way for the Princess!"

Then he left with a bow:

And sprinkled Lindsay with bubbles:

It was so cute and such a great example of the small things that Disney cast members do to make sure their guests have a special experience.

After Space Mountain, I introduced the girls to my favorite Disney tradition:

The pink tea cups! I must ride them every time I visit and I MUST ride in a pink one. If there are no pink tea cups available, I'll wait until one is. It's been this way since I first visited 24 years ago.

Then we rode Winnie the Pooh's ride:

And visited the Fairy Godmother so Lindsay could be sprinkled with pixie dust:

(You can kind of see it on her shirt.)
Once she was all ready to fly... we went on Peter Pan's Flight:

And lots of other rides. We were four fun-loving mouse hat-wearing ladies!

On our way out, Elizabeth asked if we could stop by and see the piano player on Main Street. She had visited Walt Disney World many times as a child with her father and has fond memories of the piano player. Her first visit was in 1984 and she remembered seeing the same player until her last visit in her early 20's. She enough... it was the same man! We asked, and he's been playing there since 1983! It was a very touching moment.

After a sweet walk down memory lane (and Main Street) we headed back to the hotel for a rest... our last Disney installment is tomorrow... then to Mardi Gras Madness!

Day 3 Part One

We got an early start on our third day. In fact, we arrived at the Magic Kingdom over an hour before it opened! This really confused Lindsay-- she had no idea what was going on!

Instead of just Lindsay dressing up, I made matching shirts for the girls! Everyone commented on them-- from cast members to fellow guests!

As we got the Magic Kingdom, we were allowed a special entrance, even though the park was closed. I wanted to do this because we could take photos with the castle and with NO people in the background!!

Well... not MANY people I should say. :)

There were photographers lined up to take group shots... and we hit up each one:

I ordered the CD with all of the photos, and when it comes in I'll post the best ones.

Finally we walked over to breakfast. Lindsay was all ready surprised that we were having a sit-down breakfast... but nothing could prepare her for the next big surprise:

We were having sit-down breakfast with her favorite bear!

And all of his friends:

Our table was decorated for the celebration:

And after a quick visit with Piglet, we hit the buffet:

Lindsay enjoyed meeting Tigger:

And Eeyore (whose tail matched our shirts):

But of course the highlight was Winnie the Pooh:

When breakfast was over, our waitress brought Lindsay this sweet card from the gang:

Well fed and happy from our breakfast company, we stopped for one more photo by the topiary before trying to get ahead of the morning crowds:

This next photo is taken close to the castle, pointed towards the entrance. You can see the stampede coming from the opening show.

Eek! We scurried over to the first ride of the day... which I'll tell you about tomorrow!