Belle, Jasmine, and Ariel

Elina has a new obsession--Disney songs. It's funny because she wasn't like this before we went to Disney World. Maybe she likes them because we went there or maybe she's just at the age where she's more into princesses. I'm not sure, but we have to listen to Belle, Jasmine, and Ariel songs 24/7. Seriously, people, ALL THE TIME. We listen to the CDs in the car and at home...and if there is no CD player available, we listen to Elina belt it out. Elina really sings these songs with passion and fervor. It's pretty cute. We also watch the Princess Sing-Along DVD and the Disney movies. The funny thing is that Eli enjoys the songs, too. He tries to sing along and he gets excited when he hears the beginning of the songs.

Of course, I had to video tape Elina singing these songs...so now I have to share some of them. When I was taping her, sometimes she'd pause to think of the next line. When she paused I would stop taping and she'd say, "No, I'm not done yet." Excuse me, Princess Elina.

Here is a clip of songs from "Beauty and the Beast." First she's singing from that part where Belle and the Beast are playing in the snow and starting to like each other. I was impressed with some of the words she learned for this part because it goes--
There's something sweet and almost kind,
but he was mean, and he was coarse and unrefined...

Then she skips off to another part where Belle can't believe Gaston wants to marry her. It's supposed to go--
Madam Gaston, his little wife
No, sir, not me, I guarantee it
I want much more than this provincial life...

But Elina sings it as--
Madam Gaston, his little wife
No, sir, not me, I'm very teeny
I want much more than this provincial life...
I LOVE that part! It always makes me crack up!


Here's another clip from "Beauty and the Beast." It's the middle of the song from the very beginning of the movie.


And this last clip is Elina singing the song from "The Little Mermaid" when Ariel is looking at all the human stuff in her cave.





Even though we get a little tired of hearing the same songs over and over again, it's been nice to listen to Disney songs again. It really takes me back to when I was younger and reminds me of the songs I really liked to sing in the shower back then. So it's definitely been fun to see Elina enjoy the same songs I did when I was younger. (B says the same thing--just kidding!)

Characters Galore

I hate to admit it, but I definitely have let Eli watch WAY more TV than Elina ever did before she was 2 years old. Honestly, Elina never watched any before she was 2. I think this is definitely easier to accomplish when you only have one child. Once there is more than one, it's a little more difficult to manage. I probably could have done it with Eli, too, but I just really needed a break sometimes.

It's funny because Elina didn't know any characters when she was little. Eli is another story. He knows everybody! How scary is that?? He knows the Mickey characters, most of the Disney princesses, and lots of the Thomas the Tank Engine trains. It's not just because of the TV-watching though...it's also because his vocabulary is taking off right now, so he can learn new words quickly. Some of those words just happen to be character names.

So, why does Eli know a lot of the Disney princess names? Because Elina is very diligent about teaching him their names. She has a placemat with the princesses on it, so she teaches Eli their names at mealtimes. (Sorry, B, but it's inevitable.)

Here is Eli showing off his skills. In the first video, he's naming the princesses. So far the only one he doesn't know is Sleeping Beauty (or Aurora). For Cinderella, he calls her "Rella" and sometimes "Snow White" is just "White."


In this next video, Eli is saying the Mickey characters. He STILL says "Gaga" for Mickey. Oh well. I just can't believe how clearly "Donald Duck" comes out though.

Merry Christmas 2009!

[This is a super-long post with lots of video and pictures. Sorry, I went a little crazy. I think it was because it took us 2 days to celebrate Christmas this year. So, take your time and take a break if you need to. We won't be offended.]
Christmas this year was lots of fun! On Christmas Eve, Elina left out cookies, milk, and a letter for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. She made sure to leave out 9 carrots for all the reindeer--even Rudolph. Her letter to Santa was very cute because she had to tell Santa that Eli was sick. (Poor Eli had been pretty sick for a few days with a bad cough and a runny nose.) On Christmas Eve, the kids also got their new Christmas PJs for Christmas morning. As many of you know, I'm a sucker for matching PJs now. Cute, right?

On Christmas Day, the kids were up at their usual time ready to open presents, but we always have to wait until my parents finally crawl out of bed in order to start the Christmas festivities. The kids woke them up earlier than usual (9:30am) because they couldn't wait any longer, so we started opening gifts a little before 10am.



Elina had a blast handing out presents to everyone and opening up her own. Eli only wanted to open two gifts and after that he was kind of freaked out by all the presents and wrapping paper. We tried to give him more presents to open, but he refused, so in the end Elina had to open the rest of his presents while he sat next to her. And, honestly, Eli seemed to enjoy Elina's presents more than his own! He couldn't stop playing with her Princess music jewelry box!


For the gift roundup, Elina's favorite present was her "car with 2 seats" (more on that later) and Eli's was a kitchen set from A that included a toaster (with toast that pops up), a coffeemaker (that "brews" and "drips" water), and a blender (that "blends" water). Lots of cleaning up, but lots of fun....and actually, both Elina and Eli enjoy this set! So I guess the real winners were the toys that both the kids could enjoy together. Go figure!

After the presents, we took the traditional lying-in-the-wrapping-paper picture and then we all enjoyed a new breakfast that J and I worked on the night before. Every year we do a big breakfast casserole, but this year I wanted to try out a new one. We had a yummy breakfast strata with sausage and mushrooms from my Test Kitchen cookbook. I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but it ended up being delicious. Definitely a keeper, especially for Christmas.
One of the big presents for the kids this year was the famous "car with 2 seats" that Elina has been asking for for the past few months. She is referring to the Power Wheels Jeep. She's been wanting this car to drive Eli around the neighborhood. Well, Ah-Gong and Ah-Ma bought them the car. We had to wait until after breakfast to go outside for them to see the car. Plus, it was cold out so we had to "bundle them up" a little before we headed out. This was the conversation we had with Elina while we were putting on her coat:

Us: We have a surprise outside for you. Are you excited?
Elina: Yes! Is it something for both me and Eli?
Us: Yes, it is.
Elina: Is it something we can ride in?

At this point we are just laughing and laughing because she totally knows what she's going to see once she gets outside. See, honestly, I blame Bass Pro Shops Santa for this. Remember in my "Christmas Prep" post? I wrote that Elina told me that Santa said ok when she asked for the car with 2 seats. When I heard that, I was a little shocked. What if we weren't going to get it for them? Well, the night before Christmas I had this conversation with Elina:

Me: So, tomorrow is Christmas. You must be very excited. What do you think you're going to get as gifts? What are you hoping for?
Elina: A car with 2 seats!
Me: Elina, what if you don't get a car with 2 seats? You know, the car is very expensive.
Elina: But...Santa said I could get the car...since I was good.
Me: But, Elina, sometimes we don't get what we always want...even if we ARE good.
Elina: But...he said so... [starting to look sad]
Me: [trying to change the subject] Ok, ok, we'll see what happens...what else are you hoping for?

See, this is why I don't think Santa should say stuff like that. I mean, I appreciate that he's trying to make little children happy, but it might not make the kids so happy if Mommy and Daddy can't cough up the gifts! Am I being a humbug? I just don't think it's in Santa's best interest to guarantee things like that. Maybe it's just me.

So, back to the "car with 2 seats"...Elina drove Eli around for awhile. Eli was speechless and Elina was having a great time being in charge.

Here is when Elina and Eli were "surprised" with the car--


Here are the kids cruising around--


The rest of the day was just spent playing with new toys, playing Wii with Elina, and relaxing around the house. We played the new Toy Story Mania game that A bought for B. We wanted this game badly because it's based off of one of our favorite Disney rides that we just went on last month. At the end of each little game, it makes the players shake and wave their controllers like crazy. So we got some hilarious video of us playing the game.


Then my parents, A, Elina, and Eli made homemade dumplings for dinner. Elina LOVES to help make dumplings because she gets to roll out the little pieces of dough. My dad says that she has gotten a lot better at it. Even Eli got in on the dough. They had a blast and dinner was delicious. (We were supposed to have turkey, but we had to eat the dumplings fresh, so we decided to save the turkey for the night after Christmas.) I think dumpling-making will have to be a tradition. It's too yummy to pass up!

Here's video footage of the kids at work with Ah-gong--

This second video is of A helping with the dumpling dough...apparently, she wants to make a dumpling pizza--

The night after Christmas we had a big dinner with turkey breast, gravy, veggies, potato salad, spaghetti, and a marscapone and citrus berry tarte. Sounds delicious, doesn't it? For the turkey breast and gravy I used my Test Kitchen recipe book and they all came out better than they ever have. I have to thank KT for the turkey coming out well though because she lent me her v-rack, which I think helped tremendously. I really need to go out and buy a v-rack now.
I had also been meaning to try out the tarte recipe ever since KT posted about it on her blog. It's a beautiful dessert and I thought the colors would be great for Christmas. Not only was it pretty to look at, but it was yummy and light as well. Although the kids didn't like it all that much. I think they prefer chocolate-based desserts. I hate to admit it, but J and I had to make the dessert twice. The first time we whipped the cream and marscapone for too long and it separated....it was really ugly stuff. So we sent B out to get more cream (the nice guy that he is) and we made it a second time and it came out perfectly. Live and learn, I guess.

I guess Christmas was sort of a 2-day celebration this year. Lots of fun and relaxing...so no complaints here! Hope everyone else had a wonderful holiday, too!

Christmas Prep

Despite all the busy stuff going on, we've been trying to get ready for Christmas over here. So far here's what we've done...

The Gingerbread House

This year I asked B to decorate the gingerbread house with the kids since mine was kind of a disaster last year. (If you don't remember, we had an "avalanche" situation on the roof.) B was not into piping the icing, but he was a trooper about it. He iced the house while the kids stuck candy all over it. We let each kid take one side of the roof. I helped Eli with his, so his has more of a minimalist feel to it. Elina HAD to use all the gumdrops up, so there are literally gumdrops all over her side of the roof. Each kid also got to decorate one gingerbread man. Elina made her's fancy with a candy scarf. Overall, I think they did a great job on the house. It looks way better than the one from last year...that's all I've gotta say!

Here's some video of our gingerbread decorators-




Visited Santa
We went back to Bass Pro Shops to see Santa this year. We were so impressed with their Santa last year that we had to go back. He looks so real. Not that I've really met the guy, but according to all the pictures and merchandise, this guy looks like the real thing.

I had spent a few days prepping Eli for Santa. I showed him pictures of Santa and told him that Santa says, "Ho ho ho." So now Eli always says, "Santa...ho ho ho." When it was our turn for pictures, Eli started getting nervous. I picked him up and was ready to be in the picture with the kids, but then Eli let me put him on Santa's lap. So we actually got a picture of both kids on Santa's lap smiling (kinda). It went better than we expected!

Afterwards Elina told me that she asked Santa for a car with 2 seats (she's been asking for this for a while now) and that he said, "Ok." I said, "Really? He said you can have it?" And Elina said, "Yeah, but he said I had to be good."

Saw Christmas Lights

We drove to Windcrest to see lights again this year. Windcrest is a community where the residents really take the time to decorate and light up their houses. This was the 50th year that they've had their community competition. We went after the judging because they have maps that show you the winning houses...which makes it easier to maneuver within the community. We let the kids out of their car seats and drove slowly through the neighborhood to see pretty lights. The kids had a great time...looking at lights and eating candy canes. I think most of the excitement is the fact that they aren't in their car seats. Then when it was time to go, Eli said, "Bye-bye, pretty lights."

Here's video of one of the crazy houses that synchronizes the lights with music-



Made Cookie Ornaments
During the week of Christmas, we make sugar cookies into ornaments to hang on the tree. This way the kids can eat cookies off of the tree when they want. Before we put the cookies into the oven, we just take a straw to poke a hole into the top of each cookie. Then after they're baked and decorated, we put ribbon through the hole and tie it. This year, Eli helped with the cookie-making as well. The kids really enjoy rolling out dough and using the cookie cutters. It sure was a fun, messy night!

So as you can see, we've been keeping ourselves busy with plenty of Christmas activities!

Fancy

I had to post about this, even though B would not approve....

The other night I was making dinner and Eli was playing with some toys and getting Elina's dress-ups out. Suddenly, I heard him say, "Fancy" for the first time in his life! So I ran over to see what he was up to and this was what I saw--Isn't that funny?? He has NEVER said that word before and he said it all by himself after he got all dressed up (one necklace, one wand, one shoe). What a cutie...even if his facial expression does not exude a fancy feeling.

Class Christmas Party

Today we hosted Elina's class Christmas party at our house. KT and I taught the Christmas lesson and provided snacks...although KT did most of the teaching. KT really did an awesome job...teaching about the birth of Jesus, showing the kids rhythm with drumsticks (to The Little Drummer Boy), and providing fruit sticks, red and green chips with green salsa, and cookies.



So what did I do? I made cookies, made star-shaped cheese, and chocolate-covered pretzel rods. I also spent a lot of time cleaning the 1st floor of the house the night before. I had to put half of the kids' toys in my bedroom (since I didn't want to clean everything after all the kids left), vacuum, and hide a lot of clutter. Hiding clutter actually took a lot of work, but in the end, our house looked so much cleaner and neater once all the clutter was stuffed into my room. The parents at the party actually said my house looked so clean and organized. I told them they had to peek into my bedroom to see what was really going on.

I also did a Right-Left Nativity Game where the kids each had to pass a gift to their neighbor to the left or right whenever they heard me say the word "right" or "left" during the Nativity story. I found a Right-Left Nativity story online, so I edited it so that it was shorter and more appropriate for 4 year olds. Well, it turned out that 4 year olds can't really grasp the left-right concept well enough to play this game. It was kind of a disaster. I put stickers on each kids' right hand and they would still get really confused. Some kids wouldn't pass their gifts; some would keep passing it on more than once. So I ended up cutting the story WAY short. I only got as far as Jesus' birth...I never made it to the arrival of the shepherds and the wise men. Oh well. KT said I covered the most important part. I guess she's right.Even though my game was a bust, we had so much fun hosting the party. Everyone seemed to have a great time and Elina really loved having her friends over at the house. Elina was especially excited to have D come see her house. (For those of you who don't remember, D is a boy in Elina's class who is totally in love with her. I seriously had to tell B to stop eyeing D while he was at the house.) What surprised KT and I was how well-behaved the class was. They were such good listeners and we didn't have any problems at all during the entire party. It was impressive. The teacher said that this is one of the best classes she's had in all the years she's been at the school.

Even though it was a lot of prep work, it was a fun morning. Thanks, KT, for being such a great teacher and hosting this thing with me!

Sudsy Stuff

Every year we try to give something to our neighbors and friends for Christmas. Mostly, we just bake different cookies and hand them out. This year I'm a little tired of baking....with Elina's recital, Eli's 2 train cakes, and Elina's class Christmas party, I need a break from the oven. So, I decided to give soap-making a try. I'm not really into making your own soaps and candles, but I saw this cute snow globe soap post and I just had to try it out. This woman made light blue, glittery soap with little toys/ornaments in the middle to look like snow globes. Way too cute!

Our first batch didn't come out right. I had reheated the glycerin too many times and it got so cloudy that you couldn't see the toys in the middle of the soap! So I made another 2 batches, but I heated the glycerin longer in the microwave during each interval...and it worked like a charm. I wish I had taken more pictures of the steps because it looked so pretty, but honestly, I was freaking out a lot during the whole thing because you have to move quickly since the glycerin hardens fast.

Our final soaps didn't come out quite as pretty as the ones this other woman made (I definitely need ice cube trays that make bigger ice cubes), but they came out fine for us. Elina was happy with just our cloudy ones from the 1st batch. She thought it was cool that they were "mystery soaps." Now that I've made soap a few times, I actually kind of like it. Maybe with more practice, I can start giving them to everyone!

20 weeks

I know I've been a little lacking with posts since Eli turned 2, but things have been busy over here. My family stayed in town for a week and then B's family came into town for a weekend. We've had non-stop visitors for awhile. Plus, we've been trying to get ready for Christmas and we're having Elina's class Christmas party at our house tomorrow. Like I said, busy busy.
So last week I had my 20 week appointment. I'm technically about 22 weeks now, but I had to reschedule my appointment because I suffer from "pregnant-brain" (which means I totally forgot about my original appointment!). Anyway, the 20 week appointment is when they do the BIG anatomy ultrasound. The ultrasound lasts a little longer because they take lots of different measurements to make sure everything's ok. This is also usually the time you find out the sex of your baby. Well....we were strong and didn't find out the sex of the baby! B was really hoping the tech would let it slip out, but I made sure she knew we wanted it to be a surprise.

You'll be happy to know that everything is right on track and the baby looks healthy. What more could we ask for? (By the way, the ultrasound picture above is a profile of the baby's head with his/her hand near his/her face.)

Happy 2nd Birthday to Eli!

My 2nd birthday was so much fun! I love Thomas the Tank Engine so my mom decided to make me a train cake--twice! We got to eat train cake at our neighborhood playgroup and then on my actual birthday. Yummy! The cake looked great, but Elina and I was more interested in eating the candy off of the train than the actual cake part. Sorry, Mommy.

Mommy and Daddy threw a really fun train party for me at the house. We had cake, opened presents, and then played Pin the "1" on Thomas and Eli Bingo. For our birthdays every year Mommy and Daddy make a bingo game that has pictures of things that we like. So my bingo card had things like Thomas, Mickey Mouse, and Elmo on it. Elina won the "high-stakes" bingo round and got $3! She was so happy! Elina and I won at Pin the "1" on Thomas. I didn't like the blindfold over my eyes, so I just put my "1" right where it should go. Everyone said it was ok though because I'm only 2....what do I know about rules??



You're all probably wondering what a 2 year old can do at this point...so here is a list of milestones that I'm pretty proud of--

I can form my own 2 word sentences.
I can put on my shoes.
I remember my manners (most of the time).
I can wash and dry my hands.
I can jump.
I can kick a ball.
I can open doors (which my parents don't like).

And here is a list of my current faves--

Favorite food: Any kind of soup (but especially udon noodle soup and miso soup--hey, I'm Asian, after all!)
Favorite drink: Yoplait yogurt drinks
Favorite song: If You're Happy and You Know It
Favorite book: Sesame Street's The City Sings a Song
Favorite TV character: tie between Mickey and Elmo
Favorite activities: sitting in Mommy's lap, singing songs, taking walks, watching TV, and playing ANYTHING at ANYTIME with Elina (I love her)
Favorite toy: Any train

In this first video, I'm opening up the gift from Mommy and Daddy. It's Cranky the Crane from Thomas the Tank Engine. If you listen carefully, you can hear me say, "Whoa!"

And in this video, we're having fun with my new Mickey Mouse Choo-Choo Express.

And recently, I started joining in on songs. Even though I don't know the words, I'll just whisper or mumble words here and there to "sing along." I started doing this with the "Happy Birthday" song at playgroup! Now I'll just go around and say, "Happy Bir-Day to You" to people. So in this last video Mommy's quietly singing "Happy Birthday" with me so that I'll sing along. (I know Mommy doesn't sound awesome, but it's the only way I'll sing it. I don't do solos just yet.) I sing quietly, so you really have to listen to hear me. Otherwise, you get an earful of Mommy singing! I'm just shy like that.

1st Piano Recital

Elina had her first piano recital today. It was a Christmas recital held by 2 of our neighborhood piano teachers. Twelve students played one Christmas piece each. Elina's piece was "Holly Jolly Christmas." She had been practicing her piece for a month now and knew it really well. Since she is so young, the teacher (K) played it with her as a duet. It sounded wonderful! And because Elina was the youngest student, she got to play first.


To the right is a picture of Elina with her piano teacher. And below is a picture of Elina right after she finished her piece and after she got her certificate.Another piano teacher (EC) came to the recital just to see Elina play. EC is good friends with our neighbor, so we were interested in asking her to take Elina on as a student. But it turned out that she only takes kids who are 5 years old and up. K was also hesitant to take Elina on as a student, but decided to give it a try. After a few lessons, K told EC that Elina can read notes, count beats, and play really well, so EC wanted to see for herself. EC got to the recital a little late, so she missed Elina's initial performance. So at the end, she asked Elina to play for her. EC said Elina has a natural talent because of the way she can read the notes and play staccato already. We are so proud of our little Elina! She has a great attitude about practicing and she actually loves to practice. Sometimes she'll start practicing on her own to work on some fingering or she'll put on an impromptu performance for us. We're just thankful that she's so interested and so excited about the piano.

This was really Elina's special day. She wore a cute top with a black tutu with her silver, sparkly shoes. We gave her flowers after the recital. Then we took her out to lunch at her favorite place, The Olive Garden (like father, like daughter). Then we had special cupcakes at home and she got to use our family "special day" plate. She was in heaven and really enjoyed her special day. We thought it worked out perfectly that her special day fell on the day before Eli's birthday....that way she wouldn't feel like she didn't get anything on Eli's special day.

Here are the kids giving the usual Asian hand gesture...although Eli's is only halfway there.

So the actual recital footage is on our camcorder, but here is her "dress rehearsal" with her piano teacher the day before.

WDW Day 5: Magic Kingdom

Our last day at Magic Kingdom was pretty relaxing because we felt like we didn't have as many things to do and the park itself was less crowded. The first thing we did was ride the WDW train around the park. Eli was SO excited. He kept kicking his feet and saying, "Train!"

Then we went to Toontown Fair to get in line to see the Fairies. I must say that we did this part perfectly. When you go in there are 2 lines...one for the princesses and one for the fairies. We got into the fairies line and there weren't that many people ahead of us. The princess line, on the other hand, was huge. So we figured maybe we would skip the princesses afterwards.

The way to get in to see the Fairies is so secretive. They let about 8 people in at once into this hallway decorated like Pixie Hollow. Then let each family go around the corner where there's a door. Then you are finally allowed into the Fairies area. Elina got to meet Fawn and Tinkerbell...she was a bit sad because she had her heart set on Silvermist and Rosetta. But we just told her they were still in Pixie Hollow. She told Tinkerbell that she wanted to be a fairy just like her. It was really cute.

After we left the Fairies, we walked by the front line again and noticed that the princess line was SO short. So we jumped at the chance and got in line. We barely had a wait and we were the next ones in to see them! How perfect was that?? So we walked into this room and there were Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Belle. I must admit that we were all a little giddy! I just love how committed these people are to their characters. When we handed Sleeping Beauty Elina's autograph book she curtsied and graciously said, "Thank you, your majesties." Then Cinderella spent a lot of time talking to Elina. They were talking quietly, so we couldn't hear what they were talking about, but they were at it for quite awhile. (Later when we asked Elina what Cinderella said, she kept saying, "I don't know." Then later she said, "It's a secret." What??? But then later she said Cinderella told her to be a good girl.) This princess meet was definitely one of the highlights of our trip. We aren't that into princesses, but it was kinda magical. =)

For the rest of the day, we got back on to rides that the kids enjoyed the first day--teacups, small world, the merry-go-round. It was a nice day to re-visit things a little less rushed. We also caught the afternoon parade, which was actually pretty good. Then we did some souvenir shopping on our way out of the park in the afternoon.

So here is our last list of faves/least faves--

ELINA

Fave: Mad Hatter Tea Party. Elina seriously loves the teacups...and the faster, the better. But she slowly knocked each of us out with that ride. My parents can't handle it because they get sick easily. And same for me since I'm pregnant. A had ridden with her 2 times the day before and did not feel well. Then J rode it with her on the last day, but felt sick afterwards. I was sad B didn't get to stay with us the entire time at Disney since he had to go back to work. Of all of us, he would've been able to withstand the teacups the best. He would've been able to take Elina on that ride 20 times if she had wanted to. Oh well.

Least Fave: Goofy's Barnstormer. This was a kiddie roller coaster in Toontown Fair. Elina was excited to get on it and she even had her arms raised when the roller coaster started going up the first incline. But the excitement soon turned to fear as she began to realize how high we were going. It wasn't that scary (or long) of a ride, but she still got a little scared. I was just proud of her for being excited to try it!

US

Fave: Princesses and Fairies. I honestly have to say that my favorite part of the day was meeting the princesses and fairies. It was so much fun and it was even better because the lines weren't long. Who could ask for more??

Least Fave: Nothing really.

So that was our entire Disney trip...totally not "in a nutshell"...sorry, folks! But you know me, I always like to get the details in. Sorry if I bored you to tears, but do not fear--the regular posts are returning. We really had a great time, but we were all tired by the end. I think it just doesn't help that Eli doesn't sleep well when we're away. Every morning he was waking up earlier and earlier. The last 2 days it was about 5:30am...how could anyone make it by waking up that early? I think the perfect vacation is about 3 days for Eli. I also think that Disneyworld should either be done in 3 days or a week. If you only do 3 days, then you know you can't do every park and everything, so you live with what you get. If you do it in a week, then you can take your time and go back to parks when you feel like it. But if you do 4 or 5 days, then you feel like you HAVE to go to all of the parks and try to do as much as you can. See what I mean?

Ok, ok. That's it for Disney. If anyone ever needs any tips or advice with planning a trip, just let me know!

WDW Day 4: Magic Kingdom

On our 4th day (Monday) we ventured to the Magic Kingdom. I decided that this would be a day all about the kids...mainly just kiddie rides all day since this was the reason we went in the first place.

Let me just start off by saying that Magic Kingdom is CRAZY! I think it is inherently crazy, no matter what, because there are only 2 areas in the back of the park that are entirely for little kids--Fantasyland and Toontown Fair. Fantasyland has all the famous rides like Peter Pan, Dumbo, and Winnie-the-Pooh. Toontown Fair has a building where you can meet the Pixie Hollow Fairies and 3 princesses, plus Mickey and Minnie's houses are there. These 2 places were packed with parents with little kids.

All of us noticed that parents weren't as friendly in the Magic Kingdom. We felt like people maintained a certain level of politeness and civility in the other parks, but at Magic Kingdom, it was a free-for-all. Parents are only out for their own kids at any cost. I have a story about some "awesome" parents that you won't believe. On our 2nd day at Magic Kingdom we headed to Toontown Fair first to see the Fairies because that was a big priority for Elina. We were standing in line and all of a sudden a CM comes up the line loudly asking, "Did anyone lose a baby? Did anyone lose a baby?" J and I were joking around and said, "Who would admit to that??" We thought maybe the CM was joking and referring to a baby doll. Well, 'lo and behold, a woman and a man leave the front of the princess line and follow the CM out the building. We didn't know if it was a joke or not until we met up with my parents who had been sitting outside of the princess/fairy meeting area. My parents told us that a couple had left their sleeping infant in the stroller in the stroller parking area while they raced in to see the princesses with the older child. We couldn't believe it! I mean, maybe they figured they'd be really quick because they were at the front of the line and the baby would still be asleep anyway....but STILL. What really irked me was that there were 2 adults present. That means that one adult could've stayed with the baby while the other went with the older one...which means that the 2 adults CHOSE to leave the infant. Like I said, scary parents!

Another point I have to make is that people who frequent Disneyworld know that Magic Kingdom is NOT the park to visit on Saturdays and Mondays. Many people fly in on a Friday or a Sunday and then they like to hit Magic Kingdom first the following day. We had no choice so our first Magic Kingdom day had to be on Monday...and man, was it crowded. It was seriously insane. But when we returned the next day, Tuesday, it wasn't nearly as bad. Now I know that I will never ever go back to Magic Kingdom on a Monday, if I can help it.

So, let's move on to what we actually did while we were at the Magic Kingdom.

We started in Fantasyland with Dumbo (Eli's fave--he said, "ooooooh" the whole time) and Peter Pan. Then we waited to meet Ariel. Elina was literally speechless afterwards. She couldn't stop smiling from ear to ear. I think she was just so amazed that Ariel talked to her. Ariel even said, "Bye-bye, Ellie" at the end. Elina loved it! After a few more rides in Fantasyland, we headed over to Toontown Fair. I felt so disgusting here because it was jam-packed with people. We only visited Minnie and Mickey's houses and then decided to just come back early the next day to do everything else. We planned a break at home for this day because we were going to return for the light parade (Spectromagic) and the fireworks later that night.

Of course at night, Eli didn't make it back because he was so tired. So my mom stayed home with Eli while the rest of us headed back to Magic Kingdom. Seriously, the fireworks there are amazing. They have fireworks that I've never seen anywhere else. They had ones that light up, then go dark, then light up and go dark, then light up and go dark again. It was so cool! Plus, the castle was lit up beautifully...like it had icicles and snow on it. Then the castle would change colors, too. It was all very dreamy.

Here are the faves/least faves for this day--

ELINA
Fave: Spectromagic Light Parade. We got great seats for this one in Liberty Square. Elina loved all the lights and seeing all the different characters.

Least Fave: Wishes Fireworks. Elina thought these were just way too loud for her, even though we put her headphones on her. A had to take her to another area and distract her. Now at least we know we don't have to make any special efforts to watch fireworks anymore because she doesn't even enjoy them!

US

Faves: (1) Elina's face after meeting Ariel. Her facial expression was priceless. Seriously. (2) Philharmagic. This was a 4D show in Fantasyland that featured a lot of the famous Disney songs. It was so well-done. We all loved it more than we thought we would. I would've watched it again if we had the time.

Least Fave: The crowds and humidity were higher today, making certain things less tolerable.

Tomorrow...Last day at Magic Kingdom!