Not Quite the Bolshoi, but The Crittergals did Great!

Image courtesy of The Tallahassee Ballet.

The Crittergals had their spring ballet performance the weekend after Mother's Day and they did a spectacular job.  It was quite the hectic weekend leading up to the performance though.  The girls had a full dress performance, yes that means hair and makeup, thank God Grandma B was there to do the hair.  To say it was warm that weekend would be an understatement, it felt as though Tallahassee had relocated to the surface of the sun.  Unfortunately for the girls they had to wait outside before their rehearsal, it was a tad warm.

The performance was on Sunday at 5pm, yes you are reading that right, they had the 4 year old class dance at 5, a wee bit late for that age.  The girls battled through that and did a great job up on stage.  It appears that Hadley had beaten her stage fright and was dancing up a storm.  CarCar did a great job also, showing some sweet moves up on stage.  Have to give some kudos to Brother too, he did a great job sitting through it with only one small issue, and I can't say I blamed him it was getting a little long and a little boring after the girls performed.  I wasn't too upset that we had to 'step outside' for a bit.  After the performance wrapped up we headed to dinner with everyone and the kids hit the sack quite early that night.

Here are some pics from the performance:

Sisters.

Brother and CarCar

The Cat.

Charging the Door.

Haddie breaking it down.

CarCar about to break it down.

CarCar again.

Haddie with her flowers delivered by Brother.

CarCar with her flowers, also delivered by Brother.

Mom and the Critters.

Dad and the girls.



CarCar and the blowy things (as she calls them).

Chris

Yep, Their still 4, A Princess and Pirate Day @ Disney. (Part III of the Critter's Birthday)

After a full day at the resort pools and dinner at Sanaa the Critters passed out pretty quick.  That gave the "Fairy Godmother" plenty of time to deliver the girls' princess dresses and Brother's Jake and the Neverland Pirates costume.

We were up bright and early as we had 8:45am reservations at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique for the girls' princess makeovers.  The girls absolutely loved the makeovers.  The stylist was even able to control Hadley's hair and shape it into a bun.  As you will see Carson was Belle and Hadley was Sleeping Beauty, of course.  Brother was already dressed as Jake from Jake and the Neverland Pirates.  After their makeovers the Critters were informed that they would be given the honor of opening the rest of the World of Disney Store.  This entailed welcoming everyone in the store and letting them know it was open for business.  They got a little gun shy but were super excited when all of the cast members from the store came over and gave them a standing ovation.

After that we headed over to Epcot so we could have lunch with the Princesses.  The girls were pretty stoked about this, luckily Brother was going with the flow that day.  Lunch was good and the Critters got to march around in the Princess Parade.  After lunch we headed over to the Magic Kingdom with the intention of completing Brother's makeover at the Pirates of the Caribbean, but he decided the costume was enough, he didn't need the face paint.  I think he was already too frustrated that everyone was calling him Prince Charming.  I can't even tell you how many people he corrected, "I'm not Prince Charming, I'm Jake!"  We rode the new roller coaster in Fantasyland, and no Hadley's hair did not move.  After a quick go around on Pirates of the Caribbean we decided to call it a day.

We headed back to the hotel with the intention of heading to Hollywood Studios the next morning for a character breakfast with Disney Junior stars.  But here is where the curse of the Cars hotel strikes again.  Last time it was Brother that threw up when we were there, this time both of the girls started throwing up, so bad, that we had to take them to Centra Care the next morning instead of breakfast.  It took a few days to get that out of their system, but luckily we were able to enjoy most of our Critter birthday weekend.

Here are a few (tons) shots from the day:

The tedious task of calming down Hadley's hair.

 

CarCar getting the bun frozen in place.

 

It's tiring being pampered.

 

A little eyeshadow.

 

Here is the 'pixie dust.'  It is next to impossible to get off of anything.

 

Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty).

Brother, as Jake, not Prince Charming.

Brother was a dead wringer, aside from the red hair peeking out.

 

Getting ready to open the store.

 

Pulling the rope over!

 

Standing 'O' for the Critters.

 

CarCar, and no those are not real earrings.

 

The two Sleeping Beauties.

 

Brother slaying a dragon, even though he is a pirate and not Prince Charming.

 

A Pooh and a princess.

 

The Cat, as Belle.





The girls with Mary Poppins and Snow White.

 

The Critters with Sleeping Beauty.

 

Brother getting a piece of the action.

 

The girls with Sleeping Beauty.

 

The girls and Cinderella.

   

CarCar again.

 

 

Haddie again.

 

CarCar got to carry Snow White's flowers in the parade.

CarCar got tired of the bun, so she had me take it out.  This is the best I could

do battling the cement they put in with limited resources.

 

The Magic Kingdom.

 

We have a princess down!

 

It's not good to anger CarCar.

 

Chris

The Critters are still 4 (Part II of the Birthday Celebration), oh and Mother's Day too!!!

 

Sunday Morning we all headed off to the "Cars" section of the Art of Animation Resort at Disney World.  Yes, this is the hotel we stayed at where Reese started throwing up all over the place.  Lighting doesn't strike twice, right?

 

As soon as we got there we threw our swimming suits on with the intention of hitting all of the pools (Cars, Little Nemo, and Little Mermaid).  It is a huge resort.  The kids had a great time swimming in the Cars pool and hanging out in the "warning cone huts."  Then it was off to the Little Nemo section, which is by far the largest of the pools.  It also has a splash park area.  The Critters definitely got some energy out here.  The only downside is we thought we lost a child in the process.  CarCar decided she was tired of the group and wandered to a different section.  After a few heart stopping moments we were back in the pool.  Soon after that we were off to the Little Mermaid pool, after a frozen lemonade of course.

 

To get to the Little Mermaid pool you have to pass through the Lion King section of the resort, which is pretty neat.  There was a little area with misters and caves that the kids played in, after they got over the terror of the hyhenas (hy-e-nas) perched above them.  Finally, we were at the Little Mermaid section, which is a more traditional pool.  We had fun there and then it was off to the room to change for dinner, it was Mother's Day after all. 

 

We had dinner at Saana at the Animal Kingdom Lodge.  No one was particularly excited about the menu, except me, but man were we surprised with the food and the atmosphere.  It is an Indian-Mediterranean fusion (i.e. heavy on the spices, right up my alley).  The restaurant has tables in front of floor to ceiling windows that look out on the savanna which had giraffes, zebras, and ostriches.  Of course we had a primo table in front of the window, thanks Grandma Kate.  The food was really good and the Naan bread and sauces were out of this world.

 

 

We were at the table on the far right.

 

The Naan Bread, get this if you go there.  We had to get two orders.

After dinner we headed out to the observation area.  Here the kids got an up close look at all the animals.  While we were here the guide told us that they are roasting marshmallows over by the pool so of course we bee-lined it over there and made it just in time.  No pictures from this since it involved sharp sticks and an open fire pit.  I figured uninjured children were better than a few photos.  Soon after that everyone (Critters) pretty much hit the wall.  We headed back to the resort to wait for the 'fairy godmother' to deliver the girls princess dresses and Reese's Jake costume.

Here are a few shots from the day:

 

Disney never pays attention to the details do they?

 

We stayed in the Wheel Well Motel wing of the Cars section.

 

 

The Critters and Mater.

 

 

The "cone cabanas."

 

Pooh Bear at the splash park.

 

The girls in the Nemo pool.

 

Are they actually sharing?  It appears that they are.

 

The Lion King section.

Oh, look there are the hyhenas (yes, I know its spelled wrong, this is how Carson says it).

 

The Cat and the treasure.

 

Pooh said this was Jake's treasure.

 

 

The Little Mermaid.

 

Mom and the Cat.

 

Pooh and Grandma B.

 

Pooh as a wild animal.

 

The view from our table.

 

Pooh and the Cat in the observation area.

 

Chris