Epcot Day!

 We tried to sleep in a little after the Halloween Party, but still made it to Epcot by 11am. I was pretty impressed. We did Turtle Talk with Crush and then went to explore the "lands". I was really excited because all the Food and Wine booths were out. For some reason I thought they were only out on the weekends, but I was wrong. There were so many good snacks and drinks. The lettuce wraps from Korea were my favorite. I also really liked the peach beer from China. We were having a ton of fun sampling everything that sounded good for an hour or so, and then it started to rain. That was the end of that. 

 The kids had ice cream cones and were very excited about that.  

 Something the girls were really looking forward to was picking out pearls in Japan. Leah really wanted to get twins and Juliet just wanted a giant pearl. I read that the best pearls are in the ugliest shells, and the kids had a good time trying to find the ugliest. It was a lot of fun to see them opened and to count in Japanese. 

 Juliet got the biggest pearl of the day. Leah's was slightly smaller and not twins. She was disappointed, but wasn't a brat about it. I told her it was a rare color to make her feel better. I am going to have the pearls set into a necklace for them. I think it's a really sweet souvenir (and hopefully one that they are able to enjoy for a long time) and was definitely worth the money in watching them enjoy the experience alone. 

 The Koi pond reminded Chris and I of our honeymoon. The hotel we stayed at had one outside and we would always watch them and sometimes feed them. The fish would go crazy jumping all over at feeding time. 

 Getting ready to ride the Frozen ride. It was pouring down rain and we had to run here. Once we were in line, Chris realized that their autograph books were in the stroller. He had to run back out and get them so they wouldn't be ruined. The ride was fun. It's a lot like Peter Pan's Flight and the Ariel ride. The kids loved it, but I am weirded out by all the animatronic characters. 

 After we got off the ride, we hung out in a store long enough for them to ask us to buy them everything in the store. Then we ran back through the rain again to meet Anna and Elsa. The girls were so excited and it was a fun interaction. The rain prevented a long line, and we were able to get in to see them immediately. It was awesome! 

 After we met Anna and Elsa the rain stopped. Juliet had a ton of fun splashing in the puddles and was really entertaining some of the elderly guests. We decided we needed some chips and guac and beer so we went to a restaurant to eat. Apparently Juliet wanted to combine playing in puddles and being a puppy, so she took a drink of puddle water out of her hand. Another guest saw this and told Chris. Obviously Chris was grossed out and told her to stop and how sick it could make her to drink the water. The guy recommended watching her because she could get sick. I was getting food, and when I came back, the guy brought over a map of the park and told us where the medical center was. I asked what was wrong, and he told me about the puddle water. I told him I knew, and it was gross, but that she would be okay. He told me he was a "survivalist" and that people die all the time from drinking stagnate water (which had been stagnate for about 30 minutes). I reiterated that it was gross, and we would watch her, but she would be okay. He again told me it was very serious and she could die. Juliet was so scared and I was so annoyed with the idiot. It put a damper on the end of our visit. 

 We had Juliet drink a lot of water and she managed not to die. 

 We rode the ride inside the golf ball and had fun playing some games afterward. 

 We posed a few times and then set off for Sanaa. 

 We had a good dinner there. We sat right by the window and had fun watching all the animals roam. We liked the naan, and the food was good, but I don't know that it lived up to my expectations. The butter chicken was good, but it was much saucier than I expected. The atmosphere made it a good experience, and the kids loved seeing the animals. 

 Somehow a plastic cup got into the animal area and this bird was playing with it. A worker came in and was wandering around. Juliet banged on the window to get his attention and pointed to the cup. He picked the cup up and took it away with him. Juliet was happy. 

 The best part for the kids was designing and eating a cookie. 

Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Parade

 We couldn't get into the parade until 4, so we spent the morning swimming at the hotel. We also appreciated some of the lovely views around the hotel. Juliet took a nap so she could stay up late and be (reasonably) happy. 

 While we were swimming a sky writer wrote "Trust Jesus" in the sky. At first we thought it was going to say "Trump", but then we saw it was going to say something else. I told the kids it was going to say, "Trust JFK" and an old lady told me that made no sense because he had been dead for a long time. I told her I was just joking, and she asked me why I would joke about that. It was an awesomely awkward exchange. 

 After lunch and nap, and 3 calls to housekeeping for safety pins (Leah's dress was too long and needed to be tacked up, and Juliet also wanted her sleeves tacked up to be tighter), we were off. It was impressive to see the costumes that many of the adults came up with. It was a very festive atmosphere and fun to be a part of. 

 We watched the show, again, in front of the castle. Flynn Rider was pretty dreamy, but I never got a great picture of him. 

We rode Dumbo, but Juliet liked the inside play area the most. She didn't like the big kid portion, but loved the under 3 section. She didn't want to leave at all. She was getting ready to throw a fit when we told her it was time to leave, so Chris told her the workers found out she was really 4, and asked her to leave. She slunked out and kept asking, "WHO told them I was four?! Was it YOU?!" to each of us. It was hilarious. 

 We had dinner at Cinderella's Castle. It was an experience to see and be a part of, but, honestly, the food wasn't very good. I'm glad we did it, but it wouldn't be on the top of my list to do again if we ever came back. 

 Juliet kept saying Snow White was her favorite princess, which I don't understand at all. I think she is boring. 

 Leah was so excited to meet Aurora, because she was dressed like her! 

 During the Halloween Party we: rode the Mine Ride in the dark, rode the carousal, went on Peter Pan's Flight, saw the parade and fireworks, and trick or treated around the park. We also went on a long quest for water that was the worst part about the trip for all of us. 

 Juliet used all of her glow sticks to make a leash for herself and pretend to be a dog. This game extended into the next day. 

 The fireworks were awesome and the light show on the castle was cool. When it was all over Leah cried that she didn't see anything because she was sitting in the stroller. I have no idea if this was true because why wouldn't she say something while it was going on?! Maybe it didn't live up to her iconic expectations so she thought she missed something? 

 I never got a good picture of the parade, but I got this picture of Leah watching it. It was a really good parade. We stayed at the park until closing (midnight) and everyone had fun! 

Magic Kingdom Afternoon

 Leah really wanted to pull the sword out of the stone. She tried and tried to get that sword out. It was really adorable to see. 

 The carousal is always fun.

 We met Rapunzel and Tiana and before we went in, we took this epic picture. 

 Rapunzel's tower. This was Leah's first favorite movie and princess, and I got a little choked up seeing her in front of it. Now she says she doesn't have a favorite princess. I will always remember her wearing her first character dress (Rapunzel) and carrying around the dolls constantly. It seems like 10 minutes ago. 

 Our names popped up on the It's a Small World ride. It was pretty cool to see. 

 The Teacups was a favorite ride of the kids. I got super dizzy. They stopped the ride after about 1 minutes because some little kid was on the ride without an adult. I'm not sure how that happened, but I used the opportunity to get off the ride. It was just way to much spinning. Chris and the girls continued on without me and got a bonus ride. 

 They also like Aladdin's ride, the Jungle Cruise, Ariel's ride, and the Monster's Inc Laugh Floor. The Mine Ride was their first roller coaster and both girls LOVED it. It was the perfect mix of fun and scary for them. 

 We also saw a show in front of the castle, met a ton of princesses (like Merida who had the sneezes and had to run off stage after meeting the girls), and ate some ice cream and drank frozen lemonades over the course of the day. 

 On the way back Leah passed out on the bus. We got back to the room and went swimming. It was the perfect end to the day and, all in all, a super fun (if super hot) day.