Fairies And Pixie Dust

Day One! Starting strong at Magic Kingdom. All smiles in front of the park.

Main Street. Do you know it smells like cookies on Main Street? COOKIES! Even the air is happy at Disney.

Please note the absence of socks. This will be important later in the day ...

Cinderella's Castle! Subtitled: And can we ride some stuff now? For real. Enough with the photos and the princess house.

Hanging out at the track with Jeff/Mario/Danica. As I still do not have a license, Ethan was my chauffeur. I lodged a complaint with the car service company about his alarming acceleration and jarring braking, but he seemed to enjoy the trip. PS No license for him til he is forty-one.

This is a duck. Do not let its non-menacing public image fool you, this is an animal of stealth and cunning. While Ethan and Jeff were enjoying a show, I slipped out with the intent of finding a snack. It was still two hours until dinner and we had walked forty-nine-and-a-half miles and I was wobbly. I waited twenty minutes in line for a delicious, fried churro from the super-friendly churro man (**probably not his real name). As I walked away, I took one bite and three-quarters of the churro fell to the ground, right on top of my -- at this point still bare -- toe. Before I could move, an entire PACK of wild Disney ducks sprinted over, and the lead duck snapped the partial churro off of my naked toe with his wild duck beak. Do ducks carry rabies? I think this was The Universe trying to tell me I should not be eating churros.

Dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern. While we waited for our table, Ethan amused himself quietly and respectfully, by hanging from the ceiling and running in circles. Luckily, there were about a dozen families dealing with children who had thrown themselves on the floor and appeared to be in danger of stroke. One of these parents was on their cell phone, speaking intently to someone, and paying zero attention to their screaming children. The Vatican, I will assume, was on the line and he was arranging an emergency exorcism since his two little girls' heads were virtually spinning around in full-on pea soup status. Therefore, I felt free to ignore the fact that my own child was swinging from the rafters above me, and instead, just took a picture.

This is the point at which I abandoned all traces of vanity. Those are indeed socks with open-toed athletic sandals. And Mickey and Minnie socks. Your eyes do not deceive you. Two pair I bought at a stand next to Friendly Churro Man, hence the extra cankle action. It was either this high-fashion situation or blister city. When I bought these, I was three steps away from gnawing off one of my own feet and leaving it behind the fence at Splash Mountain. Desperate times ...

In a feat of spectacularly excellent planning, we enjoyed dinner ... two plates of turkey, ham and stuffing .... and mashed potatoes ... and apple cobbler ... and then more apple cobbler ... at Liberty Tree before heading over to ride Space Mountain. Happy at that juncture I'd only had one bite of churro. It had been awhile since I'd ridden a park ride, so I had forgotten that I am a screamer (get your mind out of the gutter, this is a G-Rated post about Disney!). I will ride anything, but scream -- at the TOP! OF! MY! LUNGS!!!!! -- the entire time. Fun for the people sitting in front of me.

Fireworks over Main Street. I could not take my eyes off the fireworks. Ethan could not take his eyes off the souvenir cart. After several tortured minutes attempting to make his all-important decision, he finally decided on a glowing fan thing on a stick.

I don't even know what he is looking at, probably another kid's souvenir, but I love the expression on his face ...

Midnight. Spectromagic parade down Main Street. I have to say, I am not easily impressed (the lawyer in me likes to reserve expression for truly amazing things) but this show was incredible. The floats were dazzling, pictures from my point-and-click Nikon don't do them justice.

The castle! It's PINK now! Ethan, let's take another picture!

And then BLUE!

Ethan's Most. Favorite. Souvenir. In. The. Entire. World. Until Day Two ...

Last men standing. Twelve hours of Disney later, this is what the Magic Kingdom parking lot looks like at 2 AM. Go hard or go home, people. Yay for Mickey socks with sandals!

Stay tuned for Day Two ... Animal Kingdom ... and photos of when Ethan loses a shoe in the animal cages ...

Me: Where is your other shoe?

E: Hmm?

Me: Your SHOE. You now have on one shoe. I am not very good at math but that is 50% less shoe then you had one minute ago.

E: Oh. It slipped off.

Me: Where?!

E: Down there.

Me: Down where?

E: {Points.} I see a shoe sitting on the ground, surrounded by zebras and giraffes.

Me: IN the cage???! WITH the animals?!

E: {Shrug.} I still have one on ...