FLORIDA IN FEBRUARY

Fresh off of our unplanned last minute New Years Eve trip to Florida, the Sallay girls headed back down to the sunshine state to enjoy some fun time with family and cousins. We were very excited about the idea of going to Disney World together. And we had a good time but I think the whole crew was pretty tired. Especially me. Stella and I got in off of our flight at about midnight and then I slept marginally not well in the hotel bed with my little snuggle bug that night. So even before I walked my first step into that wonderful place I was totally 100% beat. However, I was freaking determined to have a great time despite our (now kind of funny) family dramas.

It was President's Day weekend so we knew it was going to be a bit busy that day and when we first got in the girls wanted to wait in the short line to meet Tinkerbell. Ava was super cute about it because she took meeting the fairy very seriously.

As we were heading out from Tinkerbell we walked out into the beginning of the Parade. One of the employees gave the girls a sign to hold (It was also Valentine's Day) and most of the characters would smile and wave at the sweet hearts. Poor Finn was already worn out and he slept through the entire thing.

Mom was on this focused quest to figure out the new fast pass system, and it put her in a mood where for some reason the girls seeing Tinkerbell and the parade and NOT going on any rides drove her crazy. So she sent us to the line for the magic carpets. For long time fans of my life you might recall that Stella HATES the magic carpet ride and I have a very hilarious video of her freaking out on it. Well, I don't think it is that scary of a ride since we just "fly" in a circle, so I was sure that she would have outgrown it. I was wrong. As soon as the ride began she was freaking out! And of course, because we are the meanest moms, Ashley and I totally laughed the whole time. In other news, Ava loved it.

 So never for one minute did I think I could get Stella to go on Splash Mountain. In fact, I wasn't even sure if she was tall enough. When we got to the front of the line it wasn't very long, and Stella WAS tall enough, so even though she was crying I made her get in line. I've been on Splash Mountain so many times that I have it memorized so I told her word for word what was going to happen on the ride and she decided to give it a try. Both her and Ava were up in the front with me and for the most part they were liking the ride until...well, that whole big drop thing freaked them out. They both are a bit on the short side so as the log went down, their bums went up and they both thought it would be the end of their short little lives. But just as I predicted they survived. And they were CRYING like crazy. And we all laughed.

I unfortunately left my cell phone in the car in the parking lot. It was a bad day to do that for many reasons, but one was that I totally would have gotten the hilarious tears on video if I had not left my dang phone in the car. UGH!! Oh well, you can imagine it...

Overall, I hadn't been on that ride for years so it was fun...for me at least. And now Stella still talks about it like she would give it another chance one day.

 Everyone wanted to go on Big Thunder Railroad, but Stella was not up for a roller coaster after her near death experience on Splash Mountain, so we watched Finn instead and shared our traditional Mickey Ice Cream Sandwich. We try to get one every time we go to a Disney park.

 We then headed to the Haunted Mansion. While in line I was holding Finners and was getting him to laugh like crazy. I kept singing his favorite song "Don Gato." Everyone in line was noticing his adorable ways. Of course, the Haunted Mansion was the perfect spot for him to take a nap so he fell right asleep for nap #2.

The girls made it to Small World and then we walked over to the Ariel ride only to find that it was CLOSED. Ugh, but then we were surprised to find the line for it down the way a bit. I assumed that they were cleaning up the line and we were entering the ride another way because, well, that totally made sense at the time. Imagine our surprise as we turned the corner and found Ariel sitting in her shell as a mermaid--we were not in line for a ride as we had hoped. We pretended meeting her was the plan all along and we took some pictures with her. I think the girls were happy to meet Ariel, but it was hard to hide their disappointment that they weren't getting to go on the ride.

 Soon it was night time already and we made it through the shortest line of all going on Dumbo. Which is basically the same ride as the magic carpet ride and I don't know why, but Stella wanted to go so we did.

We went on Autotopia, a Stella favorite, then while Ashley and Ava went on Space Mountain we went on the People Mover (a Michelle favorite). Then we had a pretty long wait while those guys went on Space Mountain, so Stella and I headed over to the dance party area to dance with the characters from The Incredibles. It was pretty fun.

 It was really important to me that we watch the fireworks so we did that and then ran really fast over to Peter Pan since it is always a favorite and the line is always insane. We had a communication mix up there though and Ash and Mom got in a bit of a tussle. Dad, the girls, and I were oblivious because we were in line for Peter Pan. At this point I didn't care about anyone's feelings because I wanted the girls to be able to go on as many rides as possible in the short time we had left. There were still so many rides we didn't have time for that day. So I snuck the girls on the Carousel and then we were the last people to make it in line to meet Anna and Elsa. This was at the top of both Stella and Ava's to-do list so I MADE them. Because here is the thing: It was freaking freezing once the sun went down and the girls were super tired. So both of them were crying in line that they were tired and they wanted to go home. I looked at them both and sternly said: "We are waiting in line to meet Anna and Elsa like you both really wanted and you are going to like it! Suck it up!"

In the end they sucked it up and totally loved meeting those special princesses. Ava was sure to bow at them and show her respect, and it was all very cute.

Even though everyone was in a huff (well, not me, I was innocent), we all made up in the car and picked up McDonald's on the way back to the hotel. It was pretty late by now (almost 11) and I was pretty freaking exhausted. Since I was so tired it only made what happened next even more hilarious.

As we were walking in the hotel hallway back to our room, Ashley was carrying Finn. Her skirt was too big and it started to slip down. I looked back to find her holding Finn, trying not to drop him as she is laughing and her skirt falls to the ground. Then I fell to the ground, holding all of the food. That is one moment I unfortunately do not have a picture of, but I think Ashley would say she is pretty glad that I don't. I guess the picture in my memory will have to be the one that lives forever in my heart.

The only other time I got out my bigger camera while we were in Florida together was when we went to the beach. We really didn't have that warm of weather while we were there, especially compared to when we were there in January when it was lovely and really warm. So the day when we took the girls out to the beach it was actually pretty cold. But we still had fun. The girls kept building sand castles and giggling as the waves came crashing in on them. When we got to the car, they were both so cold that we had to wrap them up as burritos and then plop them in their seats so that they could get toasty.

The girls had so much fun together and so even though it was kind of nice to have some space after they left, it was really quiet and I know that Stella missed her bestie. As Stella says: "Oh Florida, my special Florida home." We miss it and look forward to our next trip!