Nobody said, "Do something smart."

My family is awesome. Even without generous Christmas gifts of cash money. But with said gifts, no one said, "Do something smart or responsible with this gift of cash." Rather, it was the opposite. They all said, "Do something fun."

Well, we're not going to argue with that, and we wanted to go to Disney World. But then there was the forecast. Rain. No rain. Little rain. Lots of rain. No rain. Rain all the time every day forever.

They couldn't decide and neither could we. Eventully, we decided that a rainy day at Disney is better than a sunny day at work, so off we went. For the first time, we stayed at The Boardwalk, and it just might be my new favorite.

I really wanted to get a room with a balcony. In my head, Khan and I would be able to sit on our balcony after Lily falls asleep early after a busy day at the parks. HA! Well that didn't happen according to plan, but we did enjoy the balcony, especially Lily.

Our first room had a pool view. While I get why some people like the pool rooms, I am not among them. We got a quieter room, along the water. We could see the tippy top of the Tower of Terror at Hollywood Studios and the giant swan atop the appropriately named Swan Resort.

Every time a boat went by, it was "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy! A boat! A boat! A boat! Daddy! Daddy! Daddy! A boat! I see a boat! A boat!" Happened a lot. She never got bored with it.

So rooms settled, we did what most tourists do when they arrive; we went to the Magic Kingdom.

This time, I wanted to have some pictures of all of us. Just to prove that I was there, too. So if that means using Disney's Photo Pass just to get some of all of us together, then so be it. Bring on your D90, Disney Photographers. (Ugh, what IS that stupid look on my face.) 

And bring on your special effects, Disney Photo Editors, because adding Tink to our photo is definitely not my style. However -- and more likely the real reason -- Lily's eyes lit up when she saw Tinkerbell in her hand. "Her was on my hand?" she asked me, smiling at the photo.

A few other fascinations for this trip: autograph book, stickers, and maps. According to my pillows, dining room chairs, and Lily's dresser, her new favorite thing is writing her name. (Sigh. I got it out of the table, the chairs, but not the pillows. We've dealt with the problem, I think.) So I figured she'd like to collect a few autographs to match my autograph collection. I was right; she loved her autograph book.

The stickers are similar. At the parks, evidently they are a tool to distract kids waiting in lines, or to drive parents bonkers. Both, probably. Lily wanted us to share the joy, and if we turned her down, we'd later notice a Mickey sticker stuck to a sleeve or a pant leg. We got sticker-bombed, ninja-style. Nice.

Autographs, stickers, and don't forget the map. Lily was so enthralled in plotting our trail that she almost missed the show in front of Cinderella's Castle.
We started in Adventureland to meet some characters we haven't met before. (And to try the divine Dole Whip. OMG.)

First up were Aladdin and Jasmine.

Lily looks so enthused to meet them, doesn't she? What is she looking at? Same with Eric and Ariel.

While it was nice to see a prince make an appearance, can I just say that I would really like to meet Prince Phillip? Come on, Disney. Do it for the mamas.

Also in Adventureland is Pixie Hollow, a chance to meet Tinkerbell and the other fairies.

Rosetta greeted Lily with her southern drawl and complimented her on her sparkly shoes. But Tinkerbell must have snorted a few lines of pixie dust because girlfriend was crazy. She grabbed Lily's hand, sat her down, signed her book and didn't stop talking at her the whole time.
When we returned to the human-size world, Lily said, "Mommy, her talkin' talkin' talkin' a lot." When a 3-year-old thinks you talk too much, it might be time to skip the second Red Bull.
We closed the day with a visit to Daisy and the princesses. I know the princesses are often criticized for being poor role models for girls, but if you can get past the fact that they wear big, frilly dresses, they aren't all bad. Belle sat with Lily and talked about her love of books and reading. Andalso, Lily's princess dolls often are the rescuers, and most days, they have to go to work.

Back to the Boardwalk Inn we went, and we decided to peruse the Boardwalk itself, where we decided to ride this bike thing around the "lake."

We paused our 4-wheeled adventure to stop at the roase garden at The Yacht and Beach Club. Lily quickly declared the place hers, took us through her "maze" and into her "castle."

After happily turning back in the bike thing, we decided to go to Epcot, which was just a short walk away.
Not a bad way to end a very busy day.

And we got back just before the rain started.