After about 10 minutes, the smell of the chlorine was overwhelming and the headache started pounding at my brain. (I get WICKED migraines from time to time). So I told Jay I was going to head back to the room and get the bath started for the little ones. He said they'd be back in about 20-30 minutes. Teddy waved fiercely at me and blew me a kiss. MISS CAMMIE WATCH ME JUMP IN!!!
So I watched and applauded his bravery. Too cute for words that kiddo!
After the show I headed back to the room. I snapped a few pics on the way!
a photographer I am not, but I thought this view was beautiful!
I just love the Wilderness Lodge. It's so beautiful. It's grand and breathtaking and wonderful. I love it. I don't think there are any other resorts on the property that can touch it. LOVE IT!!!
Once back in the room, I sat down for just ONE second. I needed a teensy break. It had been a LONG day already and we still had Chef Mickey's and the Pirate and Princess Party to attend. I watched Stacy and her top 7 things to see at Disneyworld. I closed my eyes for a SECOND.
Then there were wet children jumping around the room. HOW on EARTH did that happen?!
I looked at Jay, who was grinning at me.
"I thought you said 20 or 30 minutes?"
He laughed at me. The man LAUGHED at me. laughed.
"It's been 40 minutes Cam. Where did you go?!"
40 MINUTES?! I did NOT go to sleep for 40 dang minutes.
Did I?
well bust my buttons...I suppose I was more tuckered than I thought I was.
HUSH y'all...TUMMY BUG. They make you tired. *ahem*
I jumped up and went into "turbo mode".
We had to get kids dunked and scrubbed and in their "outfits" in the next hour. We had to be on the boat to the Contemporary by 4:30. ADR was at 5:30. I was giving us an hour travel time to account for delays.
Plan Plan Plan
we were planned down to the minute.
b/c I'm controlling that way.
I got Sally Rally into the bath and washed her incredibly thick Italian hair. This child's hair is gorgeous. It truly is. But if it isn't brushed and contained she looks like the Wild Girl of Borneo. This is an issue for me. I can't abide messy hair. It looks tacky. The "growing out her bangs" phase was almost more than I could take. I insisted she wear a headband. She didn't WANT to wear a head band. She'd put them in and then take them out, over and over again. The elastic headbands always make that bump in the back of your hair if it's not long enough, which drove us both nuts. So we ended up going with the regular headbands. She did much better with them and I didn't have to go nuts looking at her hair in her eyes.
But now that her bangs are grown out we don't have nearly as many hair "issues". Really the only issue is with brushing. And it's not really with me. Sally has got a tender head. She hates having her hair pulled. I don't blame her. I hated it as a child myself. I hated people saying "Oh quit being so TENDER HEADED..." Okay, well then YOU quit having brown eyes...I mean seriously...you can't HELP being tender headed. SHEESH.
So I don't pull through Sally's hair. If she says ouch, I stop. I work the tangle out carefully. It takes longer, but it doesn't hurt her and she doesn't have to be anxious about her hair being brushed. Lord knows that she has anxiety enough. The bigger issue is, that her mom DOES pull. She gets very annoyed with Sally's tender head and rips through the child's hair like she is pulling weeds. She'll swat Sally with the brush from time to time if she isn't "still enough". Now I ask you...does that make sense? Someone is HURTING your body...and you are supposed to submit to it willingly b/c the brush wielder has horsehide for a head and doesn't feel pain when a brush is ripped through it?
NO. I think NOT!
sorry...digressed...I'm getting to the point...
We were going to do a Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique appointment, but Sally's fear of hair pulling kept me from subjecting her to it. I think the anxiety would have over ridden the supposed joy of the experience.
SO, I brushed *carefully* through her hair and did a little bun on the top of her head. She was THRILLED with it. It didn't look all that great really, but she loved it. She was dressing up as Belle that evening and I had gotten a yellow hair elastic to secure the bun. Sally felt she looked every inch a Princess. She felt like Belle's TWIN! She had initially wanted to dress up as Cinderella, but decided against it b/c Cindy has "yellow" hair. So she decided on Belle as they are much more alike. AND Sally also reasoned that she like dogs MUCH more than boys and dogs and beasts were sort of a like...so it made sense...right?
She didn't want to wear her dress to Chef Mickey's though. I told her it would be okay...lots of girls wore their princess dresses to dinner, Pirate and Princess Party or not. But she didn't want to risk standing out. So I put her in a little t-shirt dress for dinner. She DID wear her Belle flip flops though.
Yes. I am a bad parent. I allowed the child to wear flip flops to the Magic Kingdom. I'm sure some of you are saying "HOW COULD YOU?!"...others may be shouting "AMATEUR!!!"...but I really thought it would be okay. She wears flips all the time. She wore them all summer. It wouldn't be for all day. Just an evening...
y'all know THIS will be revisited again don't you?
Next was Teddy in the tub. He's a bit quicker, save for the squirming and wriggling and never sitting still long enough to get his head washed. It's a constant game of "Teddy, be still...come back here I need to soap your head...Teddy look up at the ceiling...THERE's WATER IN MY EYES...well I told you to BE STILL, TEDDY STOP splashing...come back HERE, I need to rinse your head...TEddy...okay DONE". I'm usually sopping wet by the time we are through, but he's happy as a clam. He LOVES the water.
I was going to make Jason scrub him down, but he was on a business call...grrrr...VACATION honey.
Once I got Teddy into his "Captain Jack Sparrow" SUMMER outfit, we were almost ready to go. (Teddy has a tendency to dehydrate very quickly. We didn't want to risk over heating him with a full on pirate costume, so we convinced him that Captain Jack wore a t-shirt and shorts with crocs in the summer...y'know, because it's hot. *cough* He DID have the hat with the attached braids...which he wore for all of two seconds. But he was happy with it!)
I had gotten Jay a t-shirt with a POTC skull logo on it so he'd fit in!
Sally had desperately wanted me to dress up as a princess. I'm not so much a costume kind of girl. So I sort of compromised. I layered a blue tank over a red tank and wore a darling yellow Ella Moss skirt...with red flip flops. Anybody know which Princess I was? Anyone? OH and I had a red ribbon in my hair too!
I was surprised at the amount of positive comments I got from people. Everyone knew who I was supposed to be. I suppose it was pretty obvious, but I it was nice to know I didn't look like a total dork.
As for the black eye, my sister is a make up artist. She has armed me with TONS of heavy coverage make up...professional grade stuff...should I ever need it. I'm not normally a make up sort of girl. I'm a jeans and tees and flip flops kind of girl...BUT It just so happened that I brought a cartload of stuff with me. Divine intervention!!!
I very cleverly covered up the black eye for the evening. Teddy declared that I didn't look like I'd been "whacked" anymore!
with that stamp of approval, it was time to head for the dock!! We were all SO excited. Id' been thinking about this for so long. I'd never eaten at Chef Mickey's before. Sally remembered it from when she was 3. She had been to Disneyworld with her parents and grandparents that year. They did two days and both were at the Magic Kingdom. She and Teddy both got very ill with high fevers on the trip and missed most of it. But she DID remember Chef Mickeys and the napkin waving. She also remembered that SHE had been chosen by Minnie Mouse herself to open up Toon Town. She had been ecstatic at being chosen. She marched off with Minnie without a backwards glance. She was FEARLESS...Back when her parents were married and the world made sense and she wasn't afraid of anything or anyone. Nowadays, Sally would have been too shy to go with Minnie. She would have been mortified at being singled out.
Same dang thing happened to me when my parents broke up. I went from being outgoing and fearless to being terrified and lost.
STOP crying Campbell. *cough*
anyhow...on the dock waiting for the boat. It pulled up just as we did. We hopped on and took a seat. It was a GORGEOUS evening. Jay sat very close to Teddy...just to make sure nobody JUMPED in or anything...
Sally looked so happy. She was brimming with anticipation.
MissCammie, do you think Minnie will remember me? I mean, because she knows me from when I was three. She picked me. I remember it.
I don't know sweetpea, you've grown an AWFUL lot since then.
MissCammie...is Minnie even real? I mean, because mommy said they are just people in costumes and that's sort of like lying and Disney is sort of babyish. But I thought she was real, I mean I used to think she was real. Do you think she's real?
Oh lord, Donald Duck was having a quack in my head. What do I say to that? Do I contradict a cruel reality that was totally unnecessary and meant only to take a swipe at her father and me? She was asking me basically if I believed what her mother said.
All I could say was this:
SallyRally, I believe in magic. I believe in Disney magic. It's real, if you believe it's real. I don't know about you, but I'm SO excited to see Minnie!! Call me a baby if Disney is for babies, b/c you know that I love Disney and Minnie and Mickey more than ANYONE! *I ALSO believe in KARMA and people who do and say CRUEL things to children will pay for it 10 fold LATER, so WATCH OUT lady cuz paybacks are a beeeeyotch*
(I didn't say that part...but I was thinking it!)
And Donald? Right MissCammie, because you love Donald don't you?
Right kiddo. I love Donald. And I love you. And I'm going to RUIN my heavy make up job if I don't laugh in a minute.
Teddy came in right on cue.
MissCammie...does Mickey Mouse burp?
Up next: Parenting Lesson #3-YOUR child wants to see Mickey more than any other child so OF COURSE s/he should be able to intrude upon another table's character time...
grrrr
I, like you Miss Cammie, have perfected the art of eyebrow raising. I'm really good at the MOMMY voice too. (which I have to use with some of my clients now and then hee hee) 
I know!! We could start a class and teach eyebrow lifts and mommy voices! 
