Magic Kingdom

The second Disney Park we went to was Magic Kingdom. This park was definetely the best one for two little toddlers that dream of being a princess. Literally, the girls sleep in a princess dress every night. They had dreamed about eating breakfast in the castle for months now. Everything in Magic Kingdom was so much fun. They had a lot of rides for their size and had a whole fantasy land that was just for the small ones. The only bad thing was that Toon Town was closed for remodeling which would have probably been a great place for the girls. Even with that part closed, it still took us 2 days to get through this park. We reserved a place for breakfast in the castle with the princesses. The one thing that we were not told when making our reservations was the length of time it would take to actually get to the entrance of Magic Kingdom so if you ever have reservations right at opening, keep in mind that you will need to be there early because once parking you had to ride a tram to a ferry and then take a ferry boat or the mono rail on to the entrance of Magic Kingdom so it took us about half an hour after parking to get to the front gates. We were close to missing our reservation. Just an FYI!

If you go and have little girls, eating in the castle is a must!











You can let your kids dress up to attend any of the parks but we saw a lot dressed up like princesses at Magic Kingdom. Bailey wore her Belle dress from the Beauty and the Beast and Braelyn wore her Snow White dress to the castle. One thing that we didn't do because we didn't know about it ahead of time to make reservations was to let the girls get their hair done up like a princess at the Bippidy Boppidy Boutique. That would have been fun!
Another nice thing about the castle meal was that you got to see five princesses during your hour long meal. So, with lines over an hour long to see each princess around the park - that saved us a whole lot of time! Don't let the lines scare you off, I don't know if that is always like that but we picked a dandy of a week to go. It was Nascar Race Week in Orlando, some states' spring break, and the All Star Basketball game so I think it was busier than normal for a February.

The longest line we waited in was to see this gal! Braelyn's
absolute favorite!



The girls with Repunzel from Tangled!


The nice thing about having three adults was that we stuck Twain in line along with the other amazing dad's that were sticking it out for the hour and fifteen minute wait to see her and mom and I took the girls to walk around and do some other stuff. Because who wants to stand in line for that long with two year olds - not me!

They got to go in Winnie the Pooh's house. Apparently Winnie the Pooh is pretty short, because Momma wouldn't fit in there:)







Another awesome thing about Magic Kingdom was their parades! The other parks parades don't compare at all to this one. They have two. The afternoon parade and a night time electrical parade where all the floats are light up like Christmas trees and the characters as well. These things are worth getting to early so you can have a curbside seat because the characters will walk right by the kids and give them five, etc. Worth the wait! Here is another opportunity to stick awesome Dad at the curb with the strollers while Mom and I go get a snack with the girls:) Twain really was basically a spot holder for two days, but he didn't mind!
one night, we did stay for the 10pm firework show. It was awesome. They had a laser light show where the castle lit up all kinds of colors followed by a massive fireworks show and then Tinker Bell even flew out of the castle across the park. Itw as a lot of fun! Then, since this particular park stays open until 1am. We stayed late because a lot of the little kids had left and walked on all the rides in fantasy land. These rides earlier in the day were up two hours wait which we weren't about to do with grouchy kiddos!








The second day of Magic Kingdom I didn't get very many pictures. Well because this was the day of the horrible stomach virus and I had to go back to the condo early and well, I couldn't really expect Mom and Twain to keep up with two kids and take pictures! I did get a few though.










Up next: the last park we visited, Hollywood Studios!

Disney World Review Part 1

Wow! It has been so long since I have made a blog post that I almost forgot my sign in information. I have been absent from the blogging world for several months. Mostly because I choose to spend the few free moments that I have either resting or sleeping!

Our family recently went to Disney World and I have been asked so many questions about our trip that I thought it would be fun to write up a review.

Here are several that some of you sent:

Did the girls have a great time? This question is so easy, yes of course they did! They are into Mickey Mouse and all the Disney princesses right now so how could they not, right?

Is it really worth the money? Yes it was worth every penny that we spent, however we didn't spend a fortune because we used a few money saving tips that I had learned from this website as well as talking to family and friends that had been.

What attractions should I take my toddler to and what should I avoid? That I will answer in my post.

I do have a few tips. If you are traveling with young ones like we did, it is absolutely important to take rest days. We bought four day disney tickets. So our plan was to go to Disney two days, take a rest day in between, and then go two more days, take another rest day the day before we flew home. We stayed a total of 7 days. However, since I got the stomach virus one day and had no energy the next day we ended up taking two rest days in between which worked out perfectly for the two old people traveling with us as well. Twain and Mammy! Neither one of them ever read my blog so I can safely say that!

Here is how we went a little cheaper than most do. Twain and I both have credit cards that earn us airline miles. So, we had three free airline tickets and only paid for one. We traveled Monday to Monday which got our ticket that we were actually paying for a little cheaper than flying on the weekend. We stayed offsite at a condo and did the whole 90 minute presentation where they try to sell you something and got an awesome deal on our condo for the week. However, I am still reseraching to see if it really saved us a whole lot because this caused us to have to rent a vehicle and traveling with five of us including two car seats, we had to rent an SUV! We took backpacks with us every day to Disney and brought our own bottled water, snacks, and lunch. (This saves a lot) Now, here is the kicker. While kids are under 3, they are free. So we went three weeks before the girls turned 3. This saved us $500 in Disney Tickets and $200 on the two character dinners that we did. Thats right as long as you are a paying adult at the character dinners, kids under 3 are free! Amazing deal.

First park we visited was Animal Kingdom. I have mixed feelings on this park. Part of me feels like it was just a massive zoo and we can visit a zoo at home. However, the lines for the characters were so much shorter here than they were at Magic Kingdom. The longest line we waited in at Animal Kingdom was 20 minutes. And the breakfast buffet at Donal Duck's Safari Breakfast was great!








You must run by a gift shop on your way in to your first park and get your kids an autograph book. This was one of the girls favorite parts. They would get their books and pens out and could not wait for the next character to sign their book. All the characters were willing to do that. Then, the book is a perfect keepsake!








If you ever find yourself at this park, the safari bus tour is a must! We went in the morning first thing after our breakfast with Mickey Mouse because our waitress told us the animals are more active first thing in the morning. It was fun and the girls had a blast.



Basically, animal kingdom had a lot of cute stuff, but if you are not going to make it to all the parks and you have been to a zoo, you probably could skip it. We chose to skip epcot because it took us two days to get thru magic kingdom. We were really thankful for the short character lines at animal kingdom though:) Next up: review of magic kingdom.

Trick or Treat

Two little fairies went Trick or Treating Monday night. This year was so much fun because they were old enough to enjoy it and understand what is going on. However, I have eaten around 10 pounds of candy this week:(

Braelyn and Bailey's first donation

So, I'm so proud of my 2 year old daughters for making their first donation. Twain and I are very big into donating our time, money, and things to help those less fortunate. Probably why I spent my entire career (all 6 years of it..ha!) in the social services industry. When Bailey was 10 months old, she had a rare problem that shut her system down and she spent 3 days in the pediatric unit in the hospital. They had one wagon for all the kids to share so my mom brought Bailey her tribike that her Grandpa had bought her for Christmas. She was so miserable and so fussy that Twain and I pushed her on that bike all around the hospital for the bulk of the day. She loved it and all the older people that were on the same floor would just clap and cheer when she would drive by. Well, she has outgrown her bike and her and Braelyn took it up there today to donate to the hospital so the "sick kids" as Bailey called them could use it while they are in the hospital. Of course, they are 2 so their first reaction was No that is my bike but by the time we were finished, they were saying "we give our bike to sick kids:)" Proud moment for Momma!


Bailey in the hospital in the one wagon they had for the whole pediatric unit

Braelyn in the tribike from her Grandpa

cousin time

I know I have been very, very behind on blogging this summer. We have been really busy so I will probably just do a big summer post updating on all our fun activities the past few months. The scorching heat has kept us in most of July though:( I had a house full of kids this last week and enjoyed every minute of it. Some of the girls' cousins came up from Texas and spent 4 nights and 5 days with us. I don't think the girls have ever had that much fun. We went to see Smurfs. It was the first time they have stayed until the end of the show so the boys definetely came in handy there. We went bowling, played basketball at the YMCA, hit up pink swirls, and went to the community water park. Twain decided that he is old and isn't cut out to bowl one night and play basketball the next..ha! Here are some pictures with the girls with our nephews. We have been getting them every summer and trying to do something fun with them for about 5 years now. I guess when the boys get to old to come see us then Twyla will just have to have some more because we have so much fun. We also have a niece and two other nephews that we go see every summer in San Antonio and I will have to post some pictures from that trip next:)


Coloring with Trey


Watching Open Season for the 50th time - poor trey:(

Tyler, Trey, Travis, and Braelyn and Bailey

Travis playing hair - he might kill me for posting this!

Watching movies! The girls liked staying up with the big boys to watch movies.

Fun Times

It seems like I have been asked a lot lately, how is it raising twins. Well most of the time it is a lot of fun and pretty hilarious. There are some very frustrating parts though like everytime I'm shoe shopping,they never carry two of the same size shoe in the toddlers. Yes, famous footware has got an ear full many times until I finally just quit going in there.
Then, there are the times when they go to the potty and one poops and you don't have time to turn around before the other one says I get it and comes up with a hand full of their sister's poop! The potty training has definetely been interesting:) We are finally pretty well trained where we are in big girl panties all the time at the house. Now, I just have to be brave and try it in the car!

Precious Times

Do you ever have those times as a parent that you just think that nothing you say to your kids sinks in, that you are failing to teach them what is most important in life? As I am driving down the road the other day, this is what I hear from the girls in the back seat, Bailey - "Ji Ji loves me, the bible tell me so." Braelyn - "This I know" They were singing it with all their heart and although they were about as in tune as I am when I sing, I still had tears flowing because I thought to myself - if nothing else I ever say ever sticks, at least they know part of the words to Jesus Loves Me:) I wonder how big Jesus smiles when he hears a 2 year old calling him Ji Ji. Must be the most amazing feeling in the world.