January

This January we took our last vacation as a family of 3. We wanted to make it special and memorable for Nora, so we went to Disney World. It was incredibly overwhelming for me to plan, having never been there, and I was worried I was making all the wrong decisions, but everything wound up working out perfectly. Murphey and I enjoyed ourselves way more than we thought possible. The only bad thing was the weather. It was the coldest weather Florida has had in 10 years. There were times when the weather was even colder than it was in Colorado!! We were SO unprepared. I had checked the weather before we left, but it didn't seem cold enough to warrant hats, gloves and scarves, but it was! We ended up spending a ridiculous amount of money on a few necessary pieces to keep ourselves from freezing. It was truly pitiful!

We stayed at The Contemporary Hotel. It was really nice and super convenient being "on property."

It was so cold, the lifeguards were all bundled up. Why they were even out there, I don't know.
First order of business: Get our mountain standard time butts to breakfast at 7:30 east coast time to meet all of the princesses at Cinderella's Royal Table. As you can see in the first picture, Nora was NOT into meeting any characters. She warmed up after a few princesses came by, but her look in the second picture cracks me up!


Nora's first roller coaster! Goofy's Barnstormer. She was tall enough!


Outside Minnie's House
Inside Minnie's House
Meeting Pooh

Meeting Ariel

3D! It was so much fun watching her watch her first 3D movie. It was "Mickey's PhilharMagic" and she kept reaching out for the things that looked like they were flying out at us. End of the first day. She was pooped!! Thank goodness my friend Kelly suggested we bring a stroller, it was a lifesaver. We had not used a stroller for Nora in years, so I wasn't even considering it.
Day 2 - Animal Kingdom
For those of you who have not been to Disney World (or land) a big thing to do is get autographs from all of the characters. By now, Nora had warmed up to meeting everyone and was really into it.





With DinoSue the dinosaur.


Day 3- Magic Kingdom again

The teacups, one of Nora's favorite rides
Nora gets her ears
Not the greatest shot, but this was the view on our horse drawn trolley ride.
With all of the rides and activities to choose from, one of her favorites was hula-hooping! We spent about 45 minutes hula-hooping on Main Street.Day 3 - Epcot
Coldest day yet! Thank goodness most things at Epcot that we were interested in were INSIDE!!!





Another princess dining experience, this time, Belle's Storybook Lunch in "Norway."


Day 5 - last half day before coming home to CO. We spent the morning at Magic Kingdom and Nora got to meet Tinkerbell, Fawn and Rosetta.





Even with the cold, it was a fantastic trip and positive experience. We had so much fun and surprisingly, are hoping to go back in 4 or so years!

Nora's been really into playdoh creations lately
This is what the table usually looks like when she's done.
I signed her up for ice-skating lessons through the Longmont Rec Center. She loved being out on the ice (I think she was inspired by the Olympics).





All I can say about the pic below, is what was I thinking giving her blueberries while she was wearing a white vest!?!?

Someone really likes lip gloss. Not the way it looks, the way it tastes. She layers it on so she can eat it. so gross!!
One of my favorite toys, a Glo-doodle. Cute pic she drew on it.
Here she is helping me get ready to take pictures of a friend's baby. She grabbed all of her 'friends' for the picture.