Ice Fairies

Marina and I are big fans of the Disney on Ice shows. The show playing this week was Worlds of Fantasy, featuring characters from Cars, The Little Mermaid, Toy Story and the Tinkerbell movies. We invited Marina's friend Ainsley. As it turned out, Ainsley's grandmother, aunt and cousin also joined us which only made it more fun.

Ainsley came over to our house a few hours early so the girls could get ready. Since the Tinkerbell stories were included they decided to dress as Tinkerbell and Silvermist. Both girls wore make up and we finished up the look with lots of glitter - gold for Ainsley and silver for Marina. The girls also brought Marina's Tinkerbell and Silvermist dolls from Disneyland.

We went out to lunch before heading to the arena. We were a bit early so we had time to get cotton candy before the show began.

We had really good seats for the show. Naturally the girls favorite part was the Tinkerbell story. The both really enjoyed helping Ainsley's much younger cousin understand the stories.

 After the show, the girls were in no hurry to leave. We took pictures near the ice and around the arena. Finally we were informed we needed to go so the arena could be prepared for the next show. I think the girls were having so much fun they just didn't want to leave.

Sea You Next Year!

Marina and I went to the New Year's Eve party at the Aquarium today. Marina wore her Ariel costume which is much like the one Ariel wears at Disneyland and Disney World. After all, what would Ariel wear to a New Year's Eve party?

When we arrived, she had a quick hello with the mermaids before we got our dinner. While we ate, there was entertainment. Marina was selected to help the MC with a juggling act. There were games like freeze dance and a limbo contest. Marina did pretty well in both.

Once the entertainment was over, the DJ started to play dance music and all the kids jammed the dance floor. Marina wanted me to join her for a while. I taught her how to do the YMCA arm movements correctly. I'm not sure she believed  that I learned when I was her age!

At the end of the party they had a countdown and balloon drop. Everyone got a glass of sparkling cider for a toast. A huge sheet of bubble wrap was laid on the floor and the kids had a field day stomping on it to the sounds of "Auld Lang Syne."

After the party, we went through the aquarium exhibit. Marina was very disappointed that we missed the last mermaid show. But we still enjoyed seeing our favorite parts of the Aquarium. The stingrays were particularly feisty, so Marina spent longer than usual checking them out.

After an hour, we were both tired, so we headed home for our usual CNN ball dropping party.

Rapunzel

While we were at Hollywood Studios in Disney World, we saw a gallery dedicated to Tangled, the newest Disney movie about Rapunzel coming out later this year. When she saw the Rapunzel costume on the Disney Store website, she was sold. For several weeks she has said she wants to be Rapunzel for Halloween. So today, after a long day at work, I decided to treat her to a nice evening.

After I picked her up from school, we headed to our local Disney Store. I had called earlier in the day to have them hold a costume and hairpiece for us, so I knew we'd get one.

I hadn't taken Marina to a Disney Store since she was a baby, so I don't think she knew that stores like that existed outside of Disneyland and Disney World. She went from display to display just exclaiming over what she saw there. She was pleased with the costume but she didn't spend much time looking at it. She was off looking at other things.

When I finally got her out of the store we headed to the food court for dinner. Then we went home. She tried the costume on. She's going to be pretty this Halloween!

Renaissance Princess

We went to the Renaissance Festival with our neighbors Jennifer, Noah and Madeline. Both girls wore Belle costumes. Sure, it wasn't Disneyland, but they got quite a lot of attention while wearing them. I even had one woman ask if she could take Marina's picture. Naturally, Marina created a glamorous pose for her. I bought Marina the princess hat she picked out. She got compliments all day.

After we left the hat store, we met up with Prince Charming. He was kind enough to stop for a picture with her.

Noah and Madeline wanted to ride the elephants while we were there and they convinced Marina to join them. She seemed unsure, but ultimately, she went. During the ride, she was all smiles.

We stopped for lunch. Marina and I split a turkey leg. (She got a taste for them at Disneyland last year, so there was no question what she wanted to eat today!)

We spent some time in the Kid's Kingdom where Marina rode the butterfly ride and a cow! She was too scared to feed the animals in the petting zoo, so we didn't do that for long.

We finished the day watching the jousting. Marina really got into that! She loved cheering for our knight, Sir James, even if he was a bad guy. There was some staged violence and she looked concerned until I assured her it was all pretend. When the king exited the arena, she even did a pretty curtsy for him.

Despite the heat and all the walking around, everyone seemed to have a great time today!

A Little Amusement

I took Marina to our local amusement park today. Funny, she's been to Disneyland, but not to this park which is so close to home. Miss Judy came with us today. We had a blast! Shortly after we arrived, she wanted to get her face painted. So we got that out of the way early.

Then we headed to the kid's park. The lines were very short so Marina got to ride them all in quick succession.

We stopped for lunch where Marina ate a 6 inch sub sandwich by herself! She was hungry. We tried some of the rides in the rest of the park. She loved the teacups and the tilt-a-whirl. Anything that spins her around.

We played a few games. We won Marina a stuffed dog and a pink snake. By late afternoon, we were all tired. We got some ice cream and headed home. On the way home, Marina asked, "Can we go again some time?" It's certainly closer than Disneyland!

Princess Party

Marina was invited to her "best friend" Lily's birthday party today. She has been so excited. Every day this week she has asked me if it was the day for the party yet. She wore her Cinderella costume. The party was at a salon and each girl got her hair and makeup done. Marina and Lily were the first to have their hair done.

Just like at Disneyland, Marina was very patient when her hair was brushed and styled. Fortunately, the process didn't take as long this time.

THANK YOU!

I am so overwhelmed by the support Marina got during the "Fairest of Them All" contest. Marina's Snow White picture ended up with 78 votes. That was enough to put her in the top 200 out of over 6,000 entries! That's an amazing result.

The pictures are still visible, but you can no longer vote. The highest vote getter had over 5,000. I have no idea how that is possible, but I don't think it was anywhere as cute as Marina's pictures. :-)

The winner of the Disney World trip will be chosen by the lovely folks at Disney. So we could still get a prize.

But I think we're already winners - thanks to our wonderful friends!

One more to vote for

Thank you to all of you who have voted for Marina's pictures. It's so fun for me to see the count grow!

I added one more picture to the site. I wanted at least one to have her full "Princess Story" attached. Unfortunately, I can't add the story after upload is complete. :-(

Tea for Two
http://family.go.com/princess-picture-contest/who-is-the-fairest/tea-for-two-17428/

Vote for Princess Marina!

Aunt Ann forwarded me an email saying Disney is having a contest: "Who is the Fairest of them All?"

Well, Marina, of course!

The hardest part was picking which pictures to send in. I submitted and had six pictures accepted. Please vote for Princess Marina! (You are able to cast a vote for each picture every day. Feel free to vote often!)

The Fairest of Them All
http://family.go.com/princess-picture-contest/who-is-the-fairest/the-fairest-of-all-15288/

Sleeping Beauty
http://family.go.com/princess-picture-contest/who-is-the-fairest/sleeping-beauty-15285/

Belle's Book
http://family.go.com/princess-picture-contest/who-is-the-fairest/belle-s-book-15287/

Castle Bound
http://family.go.com/princess-picture-contest/who-is-the-fairest/castle-bound-15274/

Off to the Ball!
http://family.go.com/princess-picture-contest/who-is-the-fairest/off-to-the-ball--15273/

Ariel Sighting
http://family.go.com/princess-picture-contest/who-is-the-fairest/ariel-sighting-15264/

Thanks for your support!

Disneyland - Day Five

So today we got a chance to say "Goodbye" to Disneyland. I still think the 5-Day Park Hopper was a great idea, but it was a lot of Disney. I expected Marina to be sick of it all. During the day she said she wanted to go home. Then she'd say she never wanted to leave. Go figure.

It was great timing for Marina to have her princess makeover, or so I thought. She wouldn't even go into the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique with me. So I wondered if we should forget it. But eventually, she stopped sulking and followed me in. They were running a bit behind, so Marina picked out the Jasmine costume while we waited. It was so cute, it even jingled when she walked. When it was finally her turn, she put the costume on and sat in the stylist's chair. She chose everything in blue to go with her costume - even the hair extension. The stylist we had, Kathy, seemed spend a long time brushing her hair, something Marina hates. But she endured it like a princess should. While her hair was being arranged, another stylist, Danielle, put make up and nail polish on her. She loved that! All the time, everyone called her "Princess." She looked so cute when she was done. She even got a mini photo session where she posed with a carriage. She often calls our car a "carriage," so I'm sure a real one was exciting.

We were both starving after that, so I picked up a turkey leg on Main Street for us to split. Marina really loved that. (In fact, she wanted one for dinner as well.) We hadn't been to Adventureland for a few days, so we went back there. We visited the Enchanted Tiki Room and the Jungle Cruise again. On the Jungle Cruise, we met a mother with her two year-old. She told me her daughter was very excited because she thought Marina was Jasmine. So cute!

Marina told me she wanted a drink with ice cream in it. I finally figured out she wanted a milkshake. Turns out, you can't get a milkshake at Disneyland. We checked California Adventure with no luck. So Marina settled for chocolate ice cream with sprinkles. While we were there, we checked out the Playhouse Disney show. Marina really enjoyed it.

Marina wanted to ride It's A Small World again, so we went back to Disneyland. We went through Fantasyland riding all of her favorite rides: Dumbo, King Arthur's Carousel, the Storybook Boats. When Marina said she was ready to leave, I had her say goodbye to everything including Sleeping Beauty's Castle, the rides, her favorite display windows. I hoped it would help her understand that our vacation was over.

At the hotel, she wanted to go swimming again. A good way to relax and get ready to go home tomorrow.

Disneyland - Day Four

My goal today was for Marina to meet Mulan. Mulan is the only princess we had not met at Disneyland. I had learned enough about the schedule at the Princess Fantasy Faire to know that Mulan was only there Monday, Wednesday and Friday. This was our last chance to meet her on this trip. We waited in line for an hour and a half - our longest wait of the three trips. But when would we have this chance again? When we got to the front of the line, I learned Mulan was not in the Faire at that moment. I was willing to wait for her (the princess shifts were only 10-20 minutes long). The "page" told me I couldn't do that. After traveling over 1,000 miles and waiting for 90 minutes? I don't think so. The only thing that save a scene was Mulan stepping in just as it was our turn. Oh, the magic of Disneyland! We also met Belle, Jasmine and Ariel again. Belle remembered Marina this time (without the help of a page!), I guess three days in a row will do that!

We rode It's a Small World and were going through Fantasyland again. But Marina seemed burned out. Fortunately, I had made plans for us to spend some time with a work colleague of mine. So we left Disneyland, got lunch at McDonalds and took a drive. Marina fell asleep in the car. When I pulled up in front of the house, she woke up saying, "I had a great nap!" The visit was a nice break from Disneyland. Marina played with Nancy's eight and six year old sons in the pool while I watched. She admired all the flowers there too. A few hours later it was time for us to go. Marina was sad.


I was surprised when we got back to the hotel and Marina wanted to go back to Disneyland. We went back to It's A Small World. We also spent time around Fantasyland. We went on the Storybook Boats again and finally tried the Casey Jr. train. When Fantasyland closed for the fireworks, we staked out a spot in front of the castle to watch them from. Then came the announcement that due to high winds, the fireworks were delayed. Marina wanted to leave, so we started out trek down Main Street. As we were nearly to the gate, an announcement that the fireworks would start in a few minutes came. So we watched them from the train station. I'd heard that was a good spot anyway.

Disneyland - Day Three

We got a pretty slow start this morning. Marina was tired and took a while to wake up. The shuttle was late and it stopped at more places than usual. At the last stop before Disneyland, the driver ordered everyone off the shuttle. It was smoking. I contemplated carrying Marina to the Park when another shuttle showed up. Thank goodness!

Our first stop was a bakery on Main Street I had noticed yesterday. I bought a blueberry muffin for me and a chocolate chip one for Marina. We ate them on the train to Tomorrowland. Marina was excited to try out the cars - Autotopia. I was surprised that Marina didn't want to steer. Compared to this, driving real cars is easy. From there we went to the Finding Nemo submarine ride, It's notorious for long lines, so I was grateful we only had to wait half an hour. Marina seemed to really like it.

There wasn't much more Marina was interested in doing at Tomorrowland, so we went back to Fantasyland. Marina had been wanting to buy a Mulan Polly Pocket toy since Day One, so I let her get it today. As soon as we had it, she wanted to go home to play with it. But I convinced her to stay with another ride on It's A Small World. Since the Princess Fantasy Faire was next door, we went over. I knew Pocahontas would be there today. A page named Stephen got her schedule for us and we got into line. When we we second in line, Stephen pulled us out of line and took us to see Pocahontas just as she was leaving. She was so gracious. (And I loved Stephen for helping us!) Then we went through and saw Belle, Jasmine and Ariel again.

We spent more time on the Fantasyland rides and we looked around Sleeping Beauty's castle. Marina didn't like how dark the story tour of the castle was, so we didn't do that. There was a room with a throne that she liked as well as some window displays that she liked to look at. We also found Snow White's wishing well and fountain. She liked that too.

When we got back to the hotel, Marina wanted to go swimming. That does seem to relax us at night. She saw an older girl there who she immediately called her "friend." The other girl was a good sport about it. I hadn't realized Marina would miss playing with other kids so much. But she does seem to make friends everywhere we go.

Disneyland - Day Two

After yesterday, I expected Marina to be worn out, but she was ready to go to Disneyland again. She dressed as Snow White today. We started Day Two, much like Day One. We got on the train and went to Fantasyland. The line at the Disney Princess Faire was short and we found out that Jasmine and Mulan were visiting. Since Marina calls Mulan her "sister" we had to meet her! Unfortunately, after a half hour wait, Mulan was not there. We did meet Jasmine (who was gorgeous), Ariel and Belle. We also saw Tyler, the page. He had helped Belle remember that she had already met Marina yesterday. Marina was disappointed at not meeting Mulan. She actually cried. So I suggested we see Mulan in "It's a Small World." That perked her up.


We looked into Toon Town next. We visited the houses of Mickey and Minnie Mouse. Marina was excited to meet each one of them. We checked out the homes of Donald Duck and Goofy as well. Toon Town had a small roller coaster, so we tried that out. Marina didn't like it. That told me some of the wilder rides were out of the question on this trip! After lunch we ran into Pluto, who licked her, and Goofy, who twirled her around a few times then bowed to her. When he did, he hit her on the head with his hat. She got a bit fussy, so I decided it was time for lunch.


Since Toon Town hadn't been a big hit, we headed back to Fantasyland. We tried out the Alice in Wonderland ride (which she didn't like) and the Teacups (which she loved). We also found Pixie Hollow where we got to meet Tinkerbell and her friend Silvermist (Marina knew who she was, I didn't). In the Pixie Hollow gift shop, Marina had a complete meltdown until I let her buy a Tinkerbell doll. Aunt Ann had given her some money to spend on our trip, so I let her use that.


We were both tired, so we went back to the hotel for a while. After lying down for a while and having a snack, we went back to Disneyland. This time, we checked out Adventureland. We started at the Enchanted Tiki Room. I had no idea what we were in for, but we both enjoyed it. I was unsure how Marina would react to the Jungle Cruise, but she seemed to like it. We took a ride on the Mark Twain steam boat. That might have been the dullest 15 minutes I've spent at an amusement park.

After watching a bit of the Celebration Parade, we went back to Fantasyland. We got our first chance to try the Dumbo ride. I let her take the control which she had fun with. Marina didn't want to ride the Storybook Boats because it starts by going into a whale's mouth. But once we were past that part, she loved it. Fantasyland started to shut down for the fireworks, so we found a spot to watch them from with a pretzel to watch. We couldn't see the fireworks well, but we could see Tinkerbell fly over Sleeping Beauty's castle. That was cool.

It took a while to get back to the hotel. Marina fell asleep quickly once we did. We did so much today, it's hard to imagine what we'll do tomorrow.