Disney World!

So glad we could share the memories with grandparents

Our amazing pool at the resort

Hugs from Cinderella

Dinner with Cinderella

Thrilled with the rides

Just cute!  Taking a picture with Marlin inside our resort

Loving life at the happiest place on Earth

She couldn't get enough of the characters

Tigger may have been her favorite

Getting ready to bounce with Tigger

Talking with Cinderella

Playing with Rapunzel

Twins!

So excited to meet Mickey

We have so many things to celebrate.  Jeff is finishing his residency next month and just took his boards!  He has been training for 14 years to be a dr!  I am so proud of him and can't wait for him to start practicing on his own.  We have been so fortunate to have such an amazing program to train in and to have so much support during those long months away.  Talk about a God story, Jeff and I were sure that we were going to stay in St. Louis for his residency and he was going to train in General Surgery.  The program director took a  picture with him and told him they would need another picture in 5 years when he graduated from the program.  We also thought we had a spot in KC for backup.  He was told to pack his things because we would be moving to KC.  Well it turns out that God had other plans and both spots fell through.  At the time we were thrown for a loop.  We had no reason to worry about the match because we knew he had a spot.  I am pretty sure that God knew we needed to be in Kirksville for support during our journey to adoption.  A spot opened up in Kirksville for General Surgery and we happily accepted.  1 year later Jeff used his last elective rotation in ENT and instantly knew that was the program for him.  They opened a spot for him last minute and he has been smiling ever since.  If our match had worked, we wouldn't have spent the last 5 years in Kirksvill and Jeff would not be an ENT.  Funny how things don't work out sometimes.
    Jeff just took his boards and they were only offered in Orlando.  We decided to hop on that opportunity and join him to celebrate.  My Mom and Rick joined us as well as Jeff's mom Penny.  It was so heartwarming to watch 5 adults dance around Violet to make her happy.
    We stayed at the Art of Animation resort which was designed for young children.  It had the Little Mermaid, Finding Nemo, The Lion King and Cars themes throughout.   We stayed in a Finding Nemo room that overlooked the pool that was designed to look like scenes from the movie.  Violet loves the movie Finding Nemo, so she recognized that she was swimming with Nemo and his friends.  We spent two days at Magic Kingdom and only covered about 1/2 the park!  We went at the perfect time and only had to wait in line 5 minutes for each ride because of our fast passes.  She loved riding Dumbo the most, so we rode that ride at least 4 times.  Her favortie part of the whole trip was meeting the characters.  They were real to her.  She met Mickey first and was in awe of him.  She gave him a great big hug and kiss!  She still tells people that Mickey gave her a hug at the castle.  We also got to eat dinner with Winnie the Pooh and his friends.  Each character stopped by our table to visit Violet.  She loved giving them hugs.  The best part was when Tigger stopped by.  She knew that Tigger bounces so she asked him to bounce.  He starting jumping and Violet grabbed his hands and started jumping with him! It was one of those moments that I will never forget.  She was blissfully happy.
      Before our trip, she wasn't that excited about princesses.  She liked to watch Tangled, but was most interested in the parts with the funny horse.  She had also seen Cinderella but wasn't captivated by the movie.  I couldn't wait for her to meet the princesses because it doesn't really get any cuter than that, but I didn't know how excited she was going to be.  She was star struck!  She got to meet Cinderella, Auroa and Rapunzel and spend about 5 minutes with each of them.  She kept telling them how beautiful they were and was trying to have a real conversation with them.  She met Cinderella first and wanted to show her that Rapuzel and the pink princess were there too.  She asked Rapunzel where her lizard was and was so in awe of her that she could hardly move, (that is very rare for Violet).  As soon as we left the princess room, Violet was in love with princesses.  They were all she could talk about.  We ended up visiting the princess room again and had dinner with Cinderella.  We also got to meet Bell.  Now that we are home, her princess toys are much more exciting to her. I knew she would love Disney World, but I way underestimated how much fun she could have.  It really is the happiest place on Earth.  I can't wait to back.