Disney World - Day One

After many months of planning and dreaming, we finally made it to Disney World. As we entered the Magic Kingdom today my eyes misted over. I was as excited to be there as Marina was. It was a rainy day, but it didn't dampen our spirits.

Just after we arrived, a short parade began. Frozone from The Incredibles saw Marina in her Cinderella costume and bowed to her. On the next float were Woody and Jessie from Toy Story. Marina is a big fan of Jessie lately, so she was very excited. It was a fun way to start the day.

We found where Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen appear in Liberty Square. They were on a break but due back soon, so we waited to see them first. Tiana was pleased to hear we were the first stop on our visit to Disney World. She asked Marina who her favorite princess was. Marina answered, "Jasmine!" Tiana was very gracious and even told us where to meet Jasmine and Aladdin in Adventureland.

After hearing this, Marina immediately wanted to go to Agrabah to meet Jasmine and Aladdin. They were not there when we arrived, but we did ride the Magic Carpets of Aladdin while we were there.We happened to see Ariel and Prince Eric, so we decide to meet them. Ariel twirled around with Marina while Eric spoke very kindly to her. She was enchanted with them.

We left Adventureland and headed for a very important date at Cinderella's Castle. We had lunch with the princesses. We started out by meeting Cinderella and having a picture with her. Marina had worn her Cinderella dress for the occasion. We had a lovely table near a window overlooking Fantasyland. The food was wonderful and so was the service. Best of all, during the meal, we had visits from four more princesses: Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Ariel and Belle.

After lunch, Marina was anxious to meet Jasmine, so we went back to Agrabah. This time we managed to meet them. They spent a while talking to Marina and she even showed them her loose tooth. Aladdin said he thought it would fall out tonight. I didn't think that was likely since it has been loose for weeks.

We went back to Fantasyland and rode some of the rides. Many of Marina's favorites are there: the Carousel, Dumbo, the Teacups. She was happy to ride them all again.

Then we wandered into Toon Town. We toured Minnie's country house as well as Mickey's. We went to the Toon Town Hall of Fame where we went to meet the fairies. We got to see Tinkerbell, Silvermist and Rosetta. Marina told them she wanted to be a water fairy like Silvermist. She even got a lesson on how to put dewdrops on spider webs.
We briefly visited Tomorrowland before having dinner. We'd had a very full day, so we left after dinner. I was amazed at how much we covered today.

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!

Happy Birthday America!

We planned to see fireworks with our neighbors, but unfortunately, the evening didn't turn out the way we wanted. We had thunderstorms move in this evening and the fireworks were rained out. Still we had a fun evening. We had a picninc dinner in the back of their SUV. The symphony played for a while and we got to hear that. But, ultimately the rain picked up and we went home. We saw a few fireworks from Marina's bedroom but she lost interest after a few minutes. I guess it just wasn't the same.

Face Painting

Marina loves to have her face painted. She attended a carnival this week where she asked to be painted like a "mermaid princess." Unfortunately, she also had swimming lessons, so the face paint didn't last for long.

The good news was, my company picnic was a few days later. I told her there would be a face painter there as well. She was so excited she told the artist that she wanted to be a mermaid princess again. She even showed her the picture from a few days before. The artist took it in stride and created a design Marina loved.

The Last Day

Today was Marina's last day of school. Didn't I just take her for the first day? I can't believe she has completed Kindergarten! Marina enjoyed this year. She made lots of friends. Every morning she would say "Good morning" to every classmate she saw as we walked in, even if they weren't in hearing distance yet!

But what made this year special was the three wonderful teachers she had for her morning Kindergarten class and Enrichment in the afternoon. We owe them a huge "Thank you" for all they did for her this year!

Piano Recital

Marina performed her first piano recital today. Miss Patty, her teacher, had scheduled her to play third. But Marina requested to go sixth, because she is six years old. So Miss Patty agreed. Marina played two very short pieces, "Freight Train" and "Key of C" (better known to us as the Turkey Song). She seemed quite comfortable in front of everyone.



After she was done she was so proud of herself! The hard part for her was waiting for everyone else to play their songs before she could have cake!