When in Florida.

(Photo overload, I know, but we have a lot ground to cover.)

My dad (Bacca) recently escaped what sounds like one of the worst winters Wisconsin has had in recent memory and came to visit me, Khan, and Lily.

Most kids go to Disney with their parents when they're about 5 or 6 years old. I'm a little older than that, and it was about damn time I got that experience. (But I'm not bitter.)

The thing is my dad isn't really the whole crowd/theme park/Disney thing. He's more of a nature-loving, beautiful quiet places kinda guy. And that's fine. We did that when I had to haul backpacks full of crap to the middle of nowhere Michigan/Wisconsin.

But we're in Florida now, and when in Florida, you wait 45 long minutes to save $14 in parking fees to go to the happiest place on earth.
Unfortunately, we arrived on Main Street at the worst possible time on one of the busiest days of the year. Just after 3, in other words, right at the start of the afternoon parade.
I was worried that Bacca would hate it right from the start, but he didn't mind. He took pictures.
And he got some good shots from that vantage point.
We pushed our way through the crowd to get to the Crystal Palace for late lunch. The waiter brought a special "first visit" pin for Bacca to wear against his will proudly sport all day.
Piglet came by to say hello.
Lily gave him a kiss.
And Tony the Tiger. Or Tigger, but what's the difference, really?
After lunch, we went off in search of the Mouse.

No, not this guy.
The wait was almost an hour, but Lily did great. She found ways to amuse herself. (Seriously, though, how is it that she can wait so long in a line, but she gets spastic if she has to wait 14 seconds before Mickey Mouse Clubhouse starts? I really don't get it.)
And then she got to meet Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse.
And we got our group shot.
While standing in that line, I was eyeing the People Mover. It's just some simple ride that does exactly what it sounds like. Step into moving cart/train, and ride it around Tomorrowland. And there was no wait. A break for our feet, and Lily loves anything train-like. Win all around, right?

Wrong. It turned out that a few parts of the route were in total darkness. Lily was not a fan.
So we headed for my favorite, the Teacups.
After our two rides, we made one last visit to see the princesses (and you know what happened there), and then we said good night to the Magic Kingdom.
Another day, we went to the beach. Miss Lily was seriously determined to go swimming in her gold fish.

I was so certain that it wouldn't be warm enough to do anything but walk on the beach that we were painfully unprepared for the warm, sunny day at the beach.
Luckily, as a last-second thought, I grabbed Lily's swimsuit, just in case. She wasn't too excited about the sunscreen, though.
Eventually, she and her fish headed toward the water.



And she played in the sand every now and again.
And then back to the water. Repeat scene for about 2 hours.

Just when we had everything packed and ready to leave, Lily did a random sand dance.
Another day, Khan's family came to visit and grill out. Overall, we had a really nice time.
But Lily struggled with having to share her toys.
I laugh so hard every time I look at this shot.
Even with all our Florida sight-seeing, we had quite a bit of time to just enjoy at home.
Catching up on phone calls.
Eating dinner.
And Lily served us lunch! Repeatedly. Bacca was a good sport, though, and he ate up all his lunch as instructed.
Mommy complained and didn't get what she wanted.
Not Bacca, though. He had a nice lunch, and a nice visit, I hope.

A story too cute to keep to myself.

Lily is gonna hate this story one day.

Even so, I have to tell it.

So Bacca was here and I forced him to go to Disney with us. (More on our visit later, and most of these photos are his.)

Spring Break is at its peak nationwide, and Disney was CROWDED. Our last stop of the day was to visit the princesses. We were all tired, but it had to be done. The wait was more than an hour.

That's right, 65 minutes. And we did it.

We had a few distractions and some entertainment like snacks and stickers. But mostly we just waited.
It was finally our turn, and I fully expected Lily to walk right up to Aurora like she did with all the other princesses. But she just stood there and shook her head.

Pretty sure the princesses have seen this before, so Aurora came over and tried to get Lily to come say hi.
But Lily wasn't having any of it. We did the best we could and tried to move on.
I mean, Cindy was just standing around, waiting to be adored.
So I picked her up, ready to bring her over myself. We didn't wait 65 minutes for nothing, dammit.

And then I knew what the problem was.

Lily said to me, "I poopy, Mommy."

My poor baby. Potty training has been going pretty well, and now she's gotten to a point where she gets ashamed.

I said, "That's okay, Love. We'll just say hi to Cinderella and then we'll get cleaned up."

And then she broke my heart. She said, "Cinderella no like poop."

Cinderella no like poop.

I assured her we'd be fine, and put her on my hip (please, not a blowout), and tried to make the best of the situation. Smile for the camera.
After Cinderella, we had a quick hello with Belle, but it was more for me than her, apparently.
When we left, I said, "Maybe we'll go see the princesses another time."

Lily agreed.

Domestic Diva strikes again.

(I have to confess that this post is mostly because I'm losing my mind. My sweet baby has given new meaning to "the terrible twos" in recent days, and I need a cuteness fix. Poor Bacca has been here to witness the worst of it. Oh, and "Bacca" is her name for my dad.)

Anyway.......

My child loves to serve lunch, cookies, or tea. (But not with the ferocity with which she refuses to put her freaking clothes on in the morning. And I'll stop my whining and complaining with that.)

It is very important to her to line everything up just so.
One morning, she served her cookies, cupcakes, and tea, but she had to be dressed more appropriately. First as Cinderella and then in her "Abby Dabby" dress. (I didn't have the camera out for the Cinderella dress.)

Because we all wear our tutus in the kitchen, don't we?
And then she wanted to change to her fairy dress.


Complete with magic wand.
Later, it was time for cooking in Mommy's kitchen.
Ok, I had best explain this a little bit. (And I may have to delete these pics shortly because there are some sickos out there in the interwebz.)

I usually make dinner on Mondays as I'm home all day doin' nothin' but eatin' bon bons and watching General Hospital. But, I suck at cooking, and the only thing that lends me any success is the Crock Pot. It's like the magical hat of cooking; you just throw random stuff together and several hours later, out comes dinner.

Lily and I made a very simple pulled pork, which included dumping in a bottle of bbq sauce (that's the reason I made her take off her fairy dress) and squeezing in the juice of a whole orange (and that's the reason for shades, or rather, the "eye protection" in this case.)

First she had to clean the counters because that's just her way.

Later that day, it was Play Doh time and she was making cookies.

Except when she got mad at me for disobeying her rules. Then she had to set me straight.
And just like that, she was back to being the happy hostess.