Brigid and the Fire Truck

We went to a birthday party a few weeks ago at our neighborhood clubhouse that was a Fireman themed party, complete with a visit from a fire truck. Brigid was so excited when the truck pulled up because it was 'just like what Papa has!'

Apparently, our last trip to Indiana, when we visited my dad at work at the fire station, really stuck with her...

Boo!

Lost in the shuffle of the house debacle we were dealing with at the end of October was Brigid's excitement at getting Boo'd right before Halloween. I was feeling a little down about the whole process, because with the 'For Sale' sign in the front yard, and without our normal Halloween decorations all over the place, we weren't exactly ideal targets for anyone playing along. Personally, I would have avoided our house, too, because houses that are for sale are off limits for the fun, according to my odd way of thinking, so I just assumed Brigid would miss out on all of it. Our next-door-neighbors came through for us a few days before Halloween, however, and Brigid could not have been more excited about finding a random box of goodies on her front porch.

But...since it was so close to Halloween (I mean, seriously, it was something like the DAY BEFORE Halloween when this happened), and because we were in such a state of disarray around the house, I did not pay the Boo'ing forward to the two houses like I was supposed to. I skipped it entirely, in fact. And now I'm approximately 35% convinced that this bad karma is what caused our first closing to fall through at the last minute.

It's probably a good thing my neighborhood doesn't do something similar for Thanksgiving, because I'd hate to screw it all up again...

DISNEY!!! (the even better visual experience...)

I could, maybe, I guess, share something a little better than the crappy iPhone pictures that I was taking all week. Again, all of the thanks to my fantastic brother-in-law Greg for wanting to be that member of the family that everyone always makes fun of because he just won't stop taking pictures...

Did I mention that the first day of the trip was spent at Universal Studios? Where we visited Hogwarts and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter? Because it was, and we did, and I could have ended the trip right then and still been happy. I want to live there, forever and ever and ever.

But nooooooo. I had to leave. So we could go to Epcot and Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom and whatever. I'm bitter.

Then again, Brigid's face when she saw Cinderella's castle?

Totally made it all kind of worth it, you know?

Ok. Fine. I had fun. Damn you, Disney...

DISNEY!!! (the visual experience...)

Oh, Disney. The pictures.

Brigid's stuffed animals seem to have thrown a party every time we left the room, because they were never in the same place we'd left them when we got back. (Please notice how my dear daughter decided she needed to take EVERY DISNEY THEMED TOY SHE'D EVER RECEIVED with her on this trip...)

Digging for dinosaur bones at the Animal Kingdom is serious business. Serious. Business. Brigid almost had a meltdown when we couldn't find the place she'd seen on the Disney vacation planning DVD. She's just lucky her mother doesn't mind asking for directions.

MAGIC KINGDOM!!

MAGIC KINGDOM DURING A CHRISTMAS PARTY!!

Lunch at Belle's castle was only a Brigid approved activity, after we promised her that the Beast would not show up while we were eating. Also, even though it was 80 degrees and sunny when we went in for lunch, it was apparently nighttime and snowing at the castle. Damn enchanted castles, with their cold weather tendencies...

Hi Caitlin!

Steve beat the high score on the Buzz Lightyear game, and OF COURSE he did not google which targets would earn him the highest number of points if he hit them before he played. (*coughCHEATERcough*)

It took Brigid some time to warm up to the parades at the various parks. She was constantly afraid someone would try to come up to her, so she needed to hide behind something for protection. She was resourceful...

She'd changed her mind by the end of the week, though, and decided she needed to be front row for the action. (Steve tried to get her a Minnie Mouse hat from the gift shop, but Brigid wanted the Dale hat, instead. For someone who is constantly telling me how pink is her favorite color, this was a SHOCKING choice.)

 And a few more various moments from the week...

And...that was Disney. I wonder how long it's going to take us to recover from the week, before we start planning the next trip? I'm setting the over/under at 5 years, I think...