Our Disney Photopass pictures arrived!

Hooray!!! The long-awaited picture that speaks a million words! Enjoy!

Addie's latest talent

On the plane ride home from Disney Addie decided to show us her latest talent. I was so surprised and impressed with her accurate coloring and creativity. I have never been a good colorer. Since that flight, Addie has added to her collection of perfectly colored artwork. Here's her latest. That's pretty damn good, right? Notice how she made the rainbow cat tail as well.

Family portrait

This was taken yesterday at the Harvest Moon Festival. We were on a draft wagon, being pulled by Clydesdales. Benjamin has a bat on his cheek. Addie chose a strawberry for her face painting creation.

Ben's Overall Favorite Disney Memory

Not one to leave Benjamin out of the mix, Muddy surprised us all by making him a Peter Pan costume.  Unfortunately it got left behind in Delaware, so Aunt Wendy had to overnight mail it to the hotel...then the USPS lost it and sent it to Alabama (because we all know there are sooo many Walt Disney Worlds).  After quite the ordeal of tracking it down, eventually the package arrived.

Ben got his costume on mid-day at the Magic Kingdom.  He was thrilled to wear it.  Honestly, it was super cute and not too hot to wear. The only "boy" costume available at Disney is to be "pirated," but the outfits are sooo hot looking, especially in the 100 degree temps.  Muddy considered all of that before creating a Benjamin masterpiece.  Special thanks to Aunt Wendy who insisted Ben have some bracelets to wear, knowing how he likes to accessorize with Addie's.  Overall, it's quite an impressive costume-- and he was more than happy to be recognized as Peter Pan everywhere we went.  On the last day of the trip, he decided he really wanted to wear it again. No harm in that, so he did.  As you can see, he fit right in with the characters we met! Enjoy!

I love the fuzzy picture above. That was Tinkerbell's reaction to seeing Peter Pan in person. Her body language and posture was exactly like Tinkerbell's on the movie.  She jokingly said, "Peter you must have had a lot of extra fairy dust to shrink down to the size you are." 

*I must mention how difficult it has been to report on their favorites without giving away his costume until today. It was totally worth the wait.

Addie's Overall Favorite Disney memory

This will come as a surprise to everyone except Muddy, Guppy, Brian, Ben, Scott and Graham!!  

In the Magic Kingdom there is the Laugh Factory from Monsters Inc. The premise is that comedian monsters tell jokes to a live audience and they collect the laughter that gets converted to energy in Monstropolis.  The show is highly interactive, where the animated monsters on screen talk to the audience,pick on people, etc.  We have attended probably 20 different showings of it over the past 3 years, each time with the goal of having Addie be selected out of the audience and asked questions, etc.  Typically the shows we've been to involved them picking some child, who is scared to death and won't respond to the monsters, so they talk to the parents instead.  Meanwhile, my 4 year old extrovert is practically bouncing out of her seat begging "pick me, pick me, pick me."  

Well, in the last hour of using being in Disney we gave The Laugh Factory one more shot.  This go-round the monsters were telling a comedic interpretation of the Monsters Inc story, choosing members of the audience to act out the main roles.  The camera zoomed in on some man and said he was Sully.  The idea is that the audience members who are chosen should technically do whatever the monsters say and act out the role.  The dude selected as Sully just sat there looking shell shocked.  The guy chosen as Mike did his thing. Then they started talking about Boo, the little girl, and then...

She couldn't have been happier. I know it's low quality, but it was a split second reaction to start my camera filming.  I think if you watch it several times, you can really see her sheer excitement at being Boo. She listened to what they said and followed directions.  Addie is particularly fond of the part at the end, where they say how adorable she is. That's Graham's voice, when he realizes it's Addie on screen.  Our laughter cracks me up too.

The smile didn't come off of her face for days afterwards.  Oh and you can see half of my shirt and my camera as I'm filming.  I got tapped on the shoulder immediately after I shot this and was told there are no cameras allowed to film.  Ok, but I got what I wanted!!!

So Addie walked out of Disney a star and she couldn't be prouder. It was an AWESOME way for her to end her vacation. 

Benjamin's 2nd favorite Disney thing

Ok, so the second and third pictures don't really go with the theme of his 2nd favorite thing, but I couldn't resist. They were at Epcot.  Ben was hellbent on getting hit by the jumping water fountains.  As you can see, Bub made him reach his goal.

Benjamin's 2nd favorite Disney thing was seeing characters.  He met the princesses again, and I have to say it might be my favorite Disney moment, when he met Belle.  I'm so happy I caught the moment on my camera;  Disney Photopass did too (but we'll have to wait for those pictures to come). Enjoy!

Yup, that ladies and gentlemen is my adorable son greeting Belle by putting his face directly into her cleavage.  I was stunned.  It was so quick and innocent (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) and hysterical.  The Photopass picture is a split second after this one, where his face is nuzzled completely against Belle's decolletage. 

Addie's 2nd Favorite Disney Thing

Muddy made Addie a "Butterfly Princess" dress and amazing crown.  The comments that Princess Addie elicited throughout the day were mostly like, "Oh my! I've never seen a dress as beautiful as that before. It's so original. Those Disney girls have nothing on you." All of those sorts of comments. Addie wore her dress with pride.  She curtsied for guests. She waved like she was in a parade. She was the Butterfly Princess. 

I love the hazy pictures above. They were taken just as we left the hotel, so my lens got condensation from the heat hitting the cool camera.  Look at her striking a pose. She's so Addie.

When we walked into the Magic Kingdom, the Mayor and the Women of the 1930's greeted us and made a big hullabaloo over Addie and her dress. 

In typical Addie fashion, she did this:

The women told us "get this child in voice lesson, get her movement lessons, get her in theatre. She has the gift. It's in her soul. She needs to perform for everyone." We know, we know, we know.