Mickey Mouse Memories

Twas the night before our Disney World trip
and all through the house,
Everybody was excited
about seeing that mouse!

We'd packed our bags



And gassed up the car



Annistyn was excited



She'd never traveled that far!



But little did we know that
what should have been a SEVEN hour drive
would be filled with a screaming toddler
and end up taking us NINE!

We thought she would nap-
a couple hours would have been plenty.
30 minutes would have been nice,
but she barely napped for twenty.

When we finally arrived,
we were all a little ill.
Thank goodness we got some rest.
And had a great time still!!!

We have taken Annistyn on two beach trips, but this was the first "real" trip she has been on. Since Saturday, we have driven a little over 1,100 miles. I'd say that was a road trip!

I had packed a "travel box" like my mom ALWAYS did for me.



She would always decorate a rubbermaid box with my name and everything and buy some new things for it, and put some old things in there as well. We weren't allowed to open them until we got at least an hour out of town. I made Annistyn a box and I was so excited about it.

Last week, I had ordered her a dress to wear. The lady was SO helpful about making sure she completed it and mailed it in time. So, you can imagine how devastated I was when I opened the mailbox Friday and it had not arrived. We were leaving first thing Saturday morning. I got up with her, we tracked it, and of course, it sat in Nashville for 3 days before anyone bothered to move it. It was shipped priority mail, but someone didn't make it their priority. I cried and cried Friday because she wasn't going to have her dress to wear. We called the Post Office and they said if it came to them overnight, we might could get it from there Saturday morning. We left a message for the lady we were supposed to be talking to. She never called. I went to bed very upset. Michael had gotten another post office number to call Saturday morning, to see if we could get a hold of it before it was sorted and placed on the mail trucks. Michael called and they had gotten the package and said we COULD get it from there before we left. I was SOOOOO excited. I literally skipped and jumped all the way out of the post office with my box! I know it sounds so silly- but I have always pictured taking my first son or daughter on their first trip to Disney World and taking their picture in front of that castle with their cute Mickey outfit.

As stated in my poem, our drive wasn't so great. Annistyn only napped 20 min. of the entire trip. She fussed and screamed the other 8 hours and 40 min. By the way, it is only a 6 1/2 or 7 hr. drive. We stopped for lunch, and then stopped again to let her walk around a Walmart we found to try to get some energy out.

We made it... but we were all ready to pull our hair out.

Moving on to the next day, we got up and Annistyn got ready to go meet Mickey Mouse!




We only had to drive about 10 minutes from our house to get there.



We rode the ferry boat.



She was pointing and asking about everything.



My goal was to capture on camera her expression when she saw it for the first time. I think I succeeded with this one...



She saw the Magic Kingdom and wanted us to see it too...



We caught the Celebration stage show as we were walking up to the castle. Annistyn watched it very intently.





We looked around and rode the teacups. I took a lot of pictures, but I wanted to enjoy the day without living behind the camera the whole time, so I tried to only catch the highlights.

This was one of them.
We met Mickey and Minnie.













I hope that I will remember that moment for the rest of my life. Annistyn lit up all over when she saw them and I had to wrestle with her to wait her turn. She walked strait over to them, turned around with the biggest smile and hugged all over them. She was SO excited. When I told her to tell them bye, she told us bye. I think she wanted to stay with them. It was truly a magical moment that made the whole trip worth while. I will never forget the look on her face.

She didn't have that look for the princesses. She didn't really care about any of them.



Mickey and Minnie were definitely her favorites!



We rode several rides.



Annistyn found a kitty.





She took a short nap while we hustled to find a cool gift shop to cool her off in.



She had a fit to ride the merry-go-round again. It was her favorite.



We stopped for a few pictures...




And one last look at the castle...






We bought an $8 balloon...



Annistyn picked out a kitty in the gift shop and we headed back to our house for the night.
I have a lot of pictures from Busch Gardens to share also. I will try to do those tomorrow. It is getting late and I am definitely exhausted.

Like I said before the trip...
Annistyn will probably not remember this.

I will ALWAYS remember this trip and seeing that light in her eyes when she saw the castle and Minnie and Mickey.

And it was worth the 9 hours in a car with the screaming toddler- just to see her face that day.