okay, wow, it's hard to remember back to the beginning of the holiday break it feels so long ago! we had holiday tea at the ritz - alex loved it and ate all her sandwiches (even her special made peanut butter sandwich with no jelly) and she ate about 4 gingerbread cupcakes! we got our picture taken with mrs. claus and a giant teddy bear (whom abbey said had scary eyes.) alex and john went to christmas eve at aunt molly's and had a nice time (i didn't want to spread my germs to a crowd of people.) christmas morning was fun; santa brought alex a beginner sewing machine and mom and dad (us) gave her the american girl doll that she wanted (alex named her Starlight.) we went over to bopey and normy-norm's for the rest of christmas day with the fam which was fun. alex got some puzzle books and monster high doll and a backpack for Starlight and more. the next day we drove down to Cincy to leave Lonnie with grandpa jerry to watch. so we visited grandpa jerry for a day and then left in the middle of the night to start our trek to disney world. the drive down was a bit longer than planned (due to the crazy florida traffic.) we finally got to our hotel and checked in and alex got her wish of us getting a lion king themed room (which was super cute.) so, now we're up to the 28th, which we spent in the animal kingdom. it was nice, alex loves animals and got to see an animal in the vet offices getting an ultrasound which was cool since alex wants to be a vet when she grows up. the safari ride was fun and the lion king show was entertaining. the hippo tank was really cool. dinner that night was at the rainforest cafe which was neat - we sat near the animatronic elephants. after dinner, we went into dino land. we saw more characters and rode a couple of rides here. the flying dinosaurs was fun and the primeaval whirl was great (a spinning roller coaster of sorts - alex was barely tall enough to ride that.) the next day was in hollywood studios. the toy story shooting gallery ride was the best here - and potentially the best ride of the trip. muppets 3d was cute and the museum about walt was great - including the movie about walt and how he got started and started up disney world. we had dinner in hollywood studios at the 50s prime time cafe, where we had old school food like meatloaf and pot roast and yummy milk shakes. this diner came with insults from waiters and waitresses - who made one guy eat his greens while she flew it into his mouth with airplane noises and another gentlemen had to put his chin to the wall while we all yelled at him to stop being a brat. the 30th was a day off from the parks for us so we went into downtown disney where we had an impromptu lunch at the irish pub there - that was probably my 2nd favorite meal; i had gnochi with scallops which were delicious. john enjoyed his bangers. and everywhere we ate including desserts as well, which were yummy. later that day, we had a character meal at chef mickey's. it was a buffet dinner, with some pretty good food and certain characters came around to all the tables where they would sign your autograph book and take pictures with you. we saw pluto, donald, goofy, minnie and mickey here. that night, we rode the monorail back to the hotel. we also went to the arcade somewhere on this day. new year's eve was spent in the magic kingdom. this was by far the most crowded place i have ever seen. they closed down the park by 11am that day - even the workers were telling us they had never seen it that busy before. we rode the small world ride, the haunted mansion and the peter pan ride with our fast passes and then also were able to go on the mad tea cups and the carousel that day. we also saw some characters. January 1st, Alex's birthday, was back at the Magic Kingdom. and we had to be there early because we had royal table breakfast reservations in cinderella's castle. we waiting in a special line to enter the park where a very entertaining worker took alex to center of everyone waiting to get into the park and had them all sing happy birthday to her! then when they let us in, we were literally the first guests to enter the park. we went straight to cinderella's castle, where alex was declared the "princess of the day." this breakfast was the best meal of the trip; both john and i had the lobster and crab crepes, delicious. the room was beautiful and the princess came around the room visiting each table and signing your book and taking photos and telling stories. downstairs, we saw cinderella; and before we were done they have printed out a large photo of alex with cinderella and the castle for us to keep. at breakfast, we were visited by snow white (who liked my shirt that i made and later told alex her favorite number was 7 because of the dwarves), aurora (sleeping beauty), ariel (the little mermaid), and jasmine (who told alex her favorite story about apu, aladdin's monkey, always eating all the birthday cake so they always made extra cake if apu would be there.) here, they also brought alex a special cupcake with a candle to blow out and had the entire restaurant sing happy birthday to her. after breakfast we went out into the park. it was misty rain this day, so the crowd was a lot better. we rode the pirates ride and thunder mountain (alex loved this roller coaster), aladdin's carpet ride, visited the tiki room and the swiss family robinson treehouse and rode dumbo. we also visited a few characters including rapunzel and a second visit with snow white - rapunzel asked alex to be a drummer in her band. we all had a great time and alex wished we didn't have to leave and she already wants to know if we can ever go back :) then we got up early, drove all day back to cincinnati, where we celebrated alex's birthday again with grandpa jerry and uncle john. then the next day we drove back to snowy, cold cleveland. we spent the rest of the weekend cleaning and laundry and getting everyone healthy (trying to at least.) we watched a lot of star wars too - i'm thrilled alex was geeking out on that with me and now wants to be princess leia for halloween 2015 (since she's already planned elsa for this halloween.) :) happy holidays!
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