Tale of Two Sisters & A New Brother

Well we woke up to the sound of thunder & lightning so I wasn't optimistic that our flights would be on time. Tornado watch through the area and another monsoon storm! We made it to the airport with time to spare and said goodbye to our friends. I bought the girls a necklace with 3 charms on it that said "Best Friends Forever" and each got one word on a separate necklace. They are all so sweet and play so great together!

So early to our gate and the plane was nowhere to be found. The tornado watch delayed all the flights at least 3 hours so we didn't leave until 1:30 and got home around 4:30. But thanks to Southwest it was an easy flight! Keira again fell asleep before the flight so she was up the whole time trying to wake her sister. Then she started "writing" in her book and would ask "how u spell rammy and pap pap, how u spell erika and chuck?, how u spell pee pee and pop pop" (her new favorite words). Over and over and once I would tell her she would draw circles in her book. Fun times!!

What a trip we had, so nice to see Fran and the girls again! Although it was nice to be home and see John who we hadn't seen in over a week!! And nice to be greeted by snow and freezing temperatures (boo!). I do need a serious relaxing vacation now - any suggestions?!

Well even though it was supposed to rain we braved it to go to Sea World on our last day. It was actually pretty nice all day - sometimes hot but other times breezy. We started with riding the Sky Coaster to get a nice view of everything in Sea World and then off to the Elmo & Abby Treasure Hunt show which Keira loved.

From there it was time for Shamu's Happy Harbor which was empty because everyone else went to the Shamu show. So the girls went on all the rides again & again. Keira wanted to go on the Ocean Commotion ride so I figured I'd take her and as soon as I sat down and the bar hit my belly I thought "oh no, will I regret this?". Well it wasn't too bad but Keira was not a fan so that was her last ride of the day until we found the ..... carousel!! Meanwhile Caileigh was a mad rider going on everything she could even dragging poor Fran on the Shamu roller coaster 3 times!!

Then it was off to see Believe - the Shamu show which we saw in 2009 and loved. This time we sat in the Soak Zone to hopefully get a little wet but not tooo wet! Well we didn't get wet at all but everyone loved the show and seeing the whales jumping in the air and splashing everyone!

After that it was back to the kids land and the girls climbed on the huge ropes and through the tunnels until they got so hot & sweaty it was time for the splash pad. Well Megan & Madi went full in getting buckets of water dumped on their heads while Caileigh was a little more timid, but eventually was shooting the water guns at everyone. Keira on the other hand was very timid, not really wanting to get wet until she did. And then she would run in and come back out and say "I like it!" and run back. ANd then come out and say "I'm not done playing" and then run back. Again and again, rinse and repeat!!

So then it was off to the Dolphin & Whale show - Blue Horizon which we were excited to see and wouldn't you know as we made our way over to the other side of the park Keira fell asleep. And then it started raining! And when I say raining I mean pouring!! So the show went on but they had to skip some of the parts where the actors were flying on swings and jumping in the water but overall it was really cool!! So we stayed in the stadium under cover for awhile and decided to skip our dinner at the park and make our way back to the condo with some take out. It was a fun day but everyone was peetering out by then and our stuff was soaked!

After a night of chinese and ice cream and packing up all our stuff everyone was ready for bed!

Another cloudy day but not a lot of rain. We spent the morning realxing again and then went to explore the resort. After a trip in the paddle boats and then miniature golf it was time to hit the pool! Keira napped while the other girls swam and then Keira & I swam for awhile too. Of course Keira loved sitting in the innertube spinning around but not so much when she climbed out of the tube, let go of me and sank! Oh well, she was fine!

Then back to the condo to get ready for our special dinner with Cinderella, Prince Charming, the Stepsisters and Evil Stepmother! The girls looked adorable in their princess gowns - we had Belle, Sleeping Beauty, Ariel & Cinderella. With matching tiaras, wands and bracelets all with the matching jewel in them for their costume. And the two Queens!!

As soon as we sat down the Stepmother came over and named the girls "Tiny Rella", "Fishy", "Sleepy One" and asked Belle - where's that Beast? Then Druzella came over and took pictures with the girls while they had her sign their books. And then came Anastasia - the mean Stepsister.

Well Caileigh said to her "why are you so mean to Cinderella?" and she said "why are you so mean" & Caileigh said "i'm not mean, you're mean" and back& forth they went on and on. Then Anastasia pulled Caileigh's chair back and Caileigh jumped out of the chair over to me and by the time Anastasia walked to the next table Caileigh looked at me and.... BAWLED!!

(Fran has it all recorded!) So Anastasia came back over and told her she was just kidding just like Caileigh was kidding and soon Princess Belle was smiling again.

So then Madi discovered that Anastasia had put a handlebar mustache & glasses on the picture of Cinderella in Keira's book! The nerve!! Keira kept pointing to it saying "what she do mommy" "look what she did". So when Prince Charming came around, Madi told him what Anastasia did and he called her back over the table. Then Anastasia screamed "MOTHER, MOTHER" and told the Evil Stepmother that the girls were picking on her. Well the evil Stepmother came over and they all pointed to the book. Poor Cinderella even came over and had a sad look on her face. But she told Keira it was ok and she wasn't mad at her stepsisters.

After that the girls got a nice picture with Cinderella and hugs all around. Then they danced along with Anastasia in a parade a few times and she told them to go give Prince Charming a hug so they did! The girls didn't want to leave and by the time we saw everyone and ate it was over 2 hours!!

So we went back to our condo but not before the girls got a picture in the horse and carriage outside! A fun day for the princesses!!

Of course when you come from the cold winter anticipating 80 degree weather it rains instead! So lucky we had no big plans for today (except to enjoy the 7 pools at the resort). Everyone slept in and the girls had fun just running around the condo and playing while Fran and I relaxed! Then it was off to the activity center to color our own umbrellas (perfect!). All the girls did a wonderful job and boy did they come in handy.

After an afternoon nap for Keira we headed to Downtown Disney for some (wet) shopping and dinner at the Rainforest Cafe (fitting!). The girls especially loved Goofys' Candy Shoppe where you can buy a pound of candy for $8.00! And also the big pin trading store where Caileigh really got into the action asking everyone to trade for nice princess pins! Although our big plan was to hit Ghiradelli's chocolate shoppe for a nice bowl of ice cream, we were all so tired that we skipped it and went home instead!

Well leave it to kids to be up all night and still wake up fine. Its just me that was exhausted! Caileigh's ear felt better and Keira was in good spirits.

The fairies made an appearance and left the girls Disney water bottles, Mickey ears that light up and special pins to trade. And Fran was so sweet to get Caileigh and Keira necklaces to wear to put their pins on!

But we had a quick change of plans to do Magic Kingdom instead of Sea World since it was supposed to rain the next couple of days and today was the only really nice day of the week. So Fran & I quickly packed (and packed) and got everyone out the door and on our way!

By the time we got to the park it was hot! Off to see the princesses first and get that out of the way. We waited a little while and Keira got crankier and crankier but as soon as she saw Belle & Cinderella she was excited! Then it was off to ride some of the rides while Keira & I got some strawberry lemonade & then got pictures with Jasmine & Aladdin! Just like when she was 9 mos old, Jasmine planted a big kiss of Keira's forehead which she loved!

Off to Captain Jack's adventure ride and it was all 6 of us going. Unfortunately it was about a 25 minute wait walking through a dark corridor & Keira only wanted to be held and then she fell asleep! Dead weight! So she & I rode in one boat and Fran with the girls. Well little did we know there was a bit of a hill in the ride which I wasn't expecting! And neither was Caileigh which was evident when she started to cry!! Keira slept through it and the rest of the ride was fun.

So then it was onto "Its a Small World" which of course was Caileigh's favorite a few years back and quickly became Keira's as well. That and the carousel Keira could have rode all day long. After some fun rides, we went to get in line to see Rapunzel - the girls favorite princess of the day but the wait was over an hour long (**!!**). No thanks, we'll watch the movie again!

Off to some dinner and then to Tomorrow Land to ride Buzz Light Year, the People Mover and dance with Chip & Dale. The best part was buying new pins and trading them with the Disney workers. Caileigh really got excited about asking everyone to trade pins! We also saw Mickey & Minnie but didn't stop to get our picture but we had rides to ride!

Then Madi & Megan really wanted to see Tiana from Princess and the Frog so they went off to find her and Caileigh, Keira & I rode the carousel & its a small world again! and then got big bowls of ice cream. Then it was starting to get dark and time for the night parade so we made our way over to Main Street and found Fran and the girls right at the parade route. By this time everyone was peetering out (especially me) so after the cool parade we made our way back to the Ferry Boat just in time to see the fireworks!! It was after 10:30 by the time we got home and Keira was so tired she refused to let me take her clothes off and just slept in her shirt that she wore all day. Luckily both girls were so tired they slept without much trouble. What a great day at Disney!

And we're off to Disney! The countdown is finally at 0 and we headed to the airport early enough to breeze through security and then get lunch. Although the flight was perfect timing for Keira's nap, of course she didn't sleep a wink! We arrived in Orlando and met up with Fran, Madi & Megan and everyone was excited to see each other! Off to get some food at the local Wal Mart and we finally got to our condo around 7:30. After a quick order of pizza it was off to the pool for a night swim which we promised the girls we'd do. They loved it but it was chilly and the lips were blue by the time they got out so it was off to the hot tub to warm up and then finally to bed after a long day of travel!

Unfortunately it wasn't long before Keira started barking like a seal and Caileigh got up crying that her ear hurt so it was me & two girls in a double bed - not fun! And with Sea World the next day I was not optimistic it was going to be a good one.

John is off to Myrtle Beach with friends to golf so its just us girls for the next week. Today its school, tomorrow with Grandma & Grandpa and then its Friday and the day before we leave!! I'm sure we'll go to the fish fry since its Caileigh's favorite and then get home to pack and get ready for our trip!

Yay for the Irish!! The girls slept over Grammy & Pap's on Friday and got to the parade bright and early Saturday morning. As you can see from the pictures, Caileigh was loving the whole thing - front row seat the whole time but Keira (like Caileigh years back) was more interested in the food and being held. Although after she kept saying "I go parade?". Caileigh's favorite was all the dancers (of course) so maybe this year she'll want to take lessons!

After the parade we went back home to relax and then to dinner with all the Duffys! The girls had a great time, Caileigh especially enjoyed feeding Cousin Shawn the "monkey brains" (aka hummus).

Slainte'!