Look What My 30's Have Done

*WARNING* If you know me even a little bit, several things in this post will be shocking.

I had to put *WARNING* in red because that is a double-meaning to *WARN* you that you will be shocked. (Shocked!)

Check out the amazingness of Cinderella's castle:

I will not lie: I got TEARY-EYED when I saw it from afar on the Monorail.

TEARY.

It was absolutely beautiful, more gigantic than I could've imagined, and gorgeously located in the middle of the Magic Kingdom.

If I ever travel to Europe and see the Sistene Chapel, I guarantee you I will not think of Mr. Famous Painter and then get teary.

But Disney World and it's castle made for a PRETEND person who is FAKE? Oh yes.

Let's zoom in closer:

I'm sure the alarm-bells are clanging in your tired head already.

Nicole, the Sworn Hater of All Things Character, is wearing a Mickey Mouse shirt and so are my offspring and husband.

Since Jackson's birth, I'd relegated character wear to pajamas because I cannot handle them on clothing any other time of day. In my mind, a Lightning McQueen t-shirt was only acceptable when tucked neatly under the covers for 11 hours where no one has to actually look at it.

But my inner nerd came out and I demanded that we all hike through Disney World looking every bit the part of lame tourists and total geeks.

And it was great!

The next sign of My Personal Crazy was that I absolutely adored the parades and shows.

In my former life, I was only gung-ho for upside down roller coasters and other thrill-seeking adventures not involving circular motions.

But I found myself checking the time and scheduling fun around parade and show schedules.

My favorite characters of the whole deal were Cinderella's stepsisters. They were evil and mean and heckled the crowd and even better actresses than in the movie.

Cinderella herself was amazing (of course) and Snow White was probably the most beautiful human I have ever seen. (Except this insanely gorgeous French model we met and I can't even describe her hair without getting teary because it is more magical than the entire Kingdom.)

Anyway, the princesses were unbelievable and had this wave thing that was so non-Miss America. It was like they were yo-yoing sideways while working on their Olympic Ribbon Waving routine. If you've seen it, you know what I mean.

Here is the Fairy Godmother, who Lilly also got to meet in person right outside the aforementioned castle. When she signs her autograph, she draws her magic wand and says "Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo" like 17 times and makes you want to hug her and ask her about Jack and Gus like they are REAL PEOPLE instead of rodents.

She is that convincing. Or I am gullible...but either way we are all happy!

Now comes the fun part. I decided that for Halloween, Brad would be Peter Pan and I would be Wendy Darling.

The thought of Brad in green tights hopping around all night made me laugh to no end. Plus, I was excited about wearing a costume that wasn't form-fitting and closely resembled a bath robe.

However, Brad is so quick to laugh at himself, that he showed almost too much excitement about the green tights, so I had to ki-bosh the whole deal.

{I just realized I have no idea how to spell ki-bosh...ky-bosh, kie-bosch, kybosh...}

Jackson loved Smee. I had no idea what his name was...just kept referring to him as Captain Hook's friend. But J gently corrected me and then I remembered that I've let him watch Peter Pan over 1 million times.

After the parade (the first parade of many parades), we headed to the world renowned Tomorrowland Speedway.

This was fantastic because it hadn't changed one bit since I was last there in 1982. Driving was something the kids took very seriously.

Thankfully, they have another decade before they are let loose on the streets. At this rate, Lilly will need the little guide rail in between her wheels for the rest of her life.

Before she'd proved that driving actually isn't her thing, they had handed her a driver's license, which she kept in her pocket and flashed around Main Street as often as possible.

I'm realizing I should clarify (with all these shameless photos of us in our character clothing), that since our return home, all shirts have been neatly tucked away in pajama drawers, only to be worn at night or in the privacy of our own closets.

After letting loose for a week and wandering around in clothing that screamed "Middle Aged Tourist Mom Nerd Reliving Childhood" I had to get back to my more sophisticated sweaty workout clothes and stained hoodies.

There is no telling how this picture of the Teacups made it's way into this lineup, but I don't really know how to delete it, so hopefully you can fully appreciate Brad working the spinner in such a way that he came out of there soaked in his own sweat.

Hopefully you can see these cute pumpkins:

More tomorrow!

(maybe)