Ok, so there we were, me, DD and DS in our free upgrade to the CBR! DH is in Miami at the super fancy golf club. He calls to check in with us and tells me there is an Aston Martin parked in the front of the building. "you know, that's James Bond's car" Alas, no James Bond there, or with me for that matter! But I am snuggled with both kiddos in one bed and we are doing just fine!
We wake up at 6:30 all on our own - that is actually sleeping in for DS and are just hanging out when we get our wakeup call at 7 from Stitch. I thought I had read on the boards that if you requested a wakeup call at an odd time (like 7:03) you were more likely to get Mickey or someone else. Well, I tried on Thusday night, but the automated system wouldn't take any of my funky times, so we had Stitch at 7. And Stitch every morning for the rest of the trip! I don't like Stitch. Haven't seen the movie. But if that is the only complaint I have, so be it! I get DD to peek under the bed where she finds the first of the weeks Tink gifts. I bought little somethings for every day to occupy the kids and wrapped them before we left home. I even tried to plan what days they got something by thinking about our itinerary! Overplanning? Yep, but all you folks who were there the same week as us should thank me that the kids got their Disney yo-yos on a day that we were not in a park! Let's just say that I was a little optimistic about the coordination of my kids - and that we are all lucky they didin't strangle themselves with the strings of the yo-yos! Actually, the yo-yos were day 2. On this morning they got Mickey coloring books which were great because we put the pictures in the hotel room window and the kids loved coming back to them!
I dressed DD in her brand new Aurora dress and told the kids we were going shopping. They were truly underwhelmed. Airplanes? Yes. Hotels with pools? Oh, yeah! Pools with a slide? WooHoo! Shopping? Yawn. But when we arrive at DTD they get it. We have a Rainforest Cafe near us but the outside of ours is not nearly as cool as the DTD one! They played there, then with the
Lego people and dogs. We were there before any of the stores open so we just walked around killing time until our surprise 9:30 appt at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. Here is our before picture -
Finally our appt time arrives and we make our way to the back of the store! We were in the first group of princesses and they CMs were great from the start! They gave DD her invitation to the ball, introduced her to her fairy godmother and they got to work. DD had Rose for a Fairy Godmother and she was very nice to her. There was a photopass photographer taking pictures of the works in progress. I was in tears the whole time, with goosebumps on my arms. I am constantly torn by wanting to do things for our kids and not wanting to spoil them, but this was just so worth it! Andd hey, I brought the $20 dress with me from Target, so this was a fairly reasonable splurge for $45 and being on vacation. All the little girls were just so sweet and the CMs were great! DD was given the choice from3 different tiaras and chose the one that looked like diamonds (you go, girl!) Here's a photo of Rose presenting it on a satin pillow to her
What did DS do during the makeover? He practiced his best 'bored but patient husband look'
After the makeover and drying my eyes we went to the photo shoot - you can do this with or without the most expensive package. They will put the pictures on the Photopass card for you - we had already planned that we would buy the photo CD so it worked well for us.
So now when you see my little princess on MTVs my Super Sweet Sixteen in 12 years you will all know where to trace her behavior back to! Actually, DD was a most gracious princess. One DTD CM even asked for her autograph! I thought that was such a sweet thing to do and DD was excited to do it - once I explained what she had to do!
We poked around Once Upon a Toy for an hour or so. I am a champion window shopper and we didn't buy a thing! The kids played Mr. PotatoHead for a while and then we went back to WofD and DD made a wand. Time for lunch and I was glad to be on the early side! Earl of Sandwicch was great, but the line was growing quickly! We ate outside and relaxed. I made the rookie mistake of getting each of the kids a grilled cheese for themselves. Between the two of them they didn't eat half of one of the sandwiches! I should have listened to all you Disers! DD had fun posing in front of the flowers by Earl of Sandwich
Then we were headed back to the hotel, DS was asleep in the stroller and DD spotted the stage where the HS bands peform. One was about to start so we parked DS in the shade and watched them. DD got her groove on and danced and what did I do? Took pictures through my tears. I just had tears welled up in my eyes all day and I don't think it was allergies. It was just magic relaxing with the kids, watching them have fun, having nothing other than fun on the agenda.
DD in midair at DTD!
We caught the bus back to CBR. People on the buses were really nice to us, especially when they realized that I had no DH with me! I kept promising all the nice men that helped with the stroller that DH would buy them a beer when he returned to us but we never saw any of them again! The kids fell asleep on the bus and I considered riding around on the bus for an hour or so, but the bus driver informed me that they don't make round trips, she would be sent somewhere else after CBR and might not be back there for several hours, so I didn't risk it. A nice stranger took a picture of the kids for me on the bus - you can even see a glimpse of #3 in my belly too!
The kids woke when we got off the bus and we went back to the room, changed and hit the pool. DD was fearless on the slide so I let her go up the steps and I waited at the bottom with DS to help her out. I had flotation vests for both kids that I got at Target. They were great for DD as she can almost swim and could go all the way across the pool and back with it on, but DS's floated him facedown so I lugged him under my arm the whole time. He did play a nice game of catch with a 20 something British young lady. People were just so friendly to all of us. We got caught in some rain and I didn't have a stroller cover so we waited it out in the food court, bought dinner and took it back to the room. (Just bought dinner for me since I figured the kids could get another couple of meals out of the grilled cheese from lunch!) DH called and told us that High School Musical was on that night so we all snuggled down and watched it. We had a great day! I know, not too exciting without actually going into the parks yet, but it was a nice way to settle in and way better than waiting at home to fly to Florida and meet DH!
Gotta take the kiddos to dance class and then the park but I will try to get the next day up too - mini golf at WinterSummerland, and then WE HIT THE MAGIC KINGDOM and the WILDERNESS LODGE! Will the magic continue? Will Disney run out of Kleenex? What will I lose at the Animal Kingdom?

DD added the smilies for me! Have a great day everyone!