A Disney Surprise for H & B

We took the H & B to see Disney Junior Live! Pirates and Princess Adventure today.

Mostly I'm so incredibly impressed with myself because I kept it a surprise. And I'm terrible with surprises.

They were stoked. Like so over the moon happy that when H first realized where we were going the look on her face brought tears (happy ones!) to my eyes! There is nothing that I love than seeing pure joy on my babes' faces.

We started the day off with a late morning of 6am, despite daylights saving times. I'm attributing it to the late night trick or treating two nights before, and being all hyped on ridiculous amounts of sugar.

We ventured up to the capitol while the kiddos got their Charlie and Lola on in the back seat. I got to listen to Lola talk about her very old friend who is as old as the dinosaurs. She's 25...

We'll just pretend that I'm not also 25...

I talked Turkey Day plans over the phone with my own dad, and then just like that, we were there. To a world of 1.5 hours of Magic. Almost as good as Disney World. Okay, okay, I did say almost.

H was completely enthralled the first act while Sofia filled the stage. She kept looking at me and squealing that it was Sofia! B continuously asked for Jake. Eventually Jake came on and B "Aargh, matey!" his little heart out, while singing and dancing. It was a hoot.

It's funny in so many ways, how Disney-fied we've gotten. I've always been leery of the princessification of little girls. I blame it all on Madonna Kolbenschlag. Google her. I'm not anti-princess, but I'm not really in love with them either. And yet Miss H has tip toed over into that world anyway.

J is anti anything that specifically markets itself toward little kids. Which obviously includes Disney.

But I loved Disney as a kid. So I'm by no means anti-Disney. Heck, we went to Disney in July and were freaking on top of the world over it. Those are some of my best memories with H & B. The whole experience was so incredibly magical and I cannot wait to do it again someday.

Of course, when I brought up this show, J was less than interested. Because of the marketing to kids thing. And because we don't have cable so he wasn't sure how into it the kids would be.

Um, yeah...they've only seen a few Jake and Sofia episodes while travelling and at other people's houses. But that's all they've needed. They're hooked.

And the experience was awesome!

Afterward we went to the Tilted Kilt for lunch. J looked at me cross-eyed and asked if I knew what it was. I was all, "Look where we are standing. Our options are Kilroys, Hooters or the Tilted Kilt. I'm hungry and totally not insecure. Let's go!" And the food was delicious.

H was having some serious behavior issues, and so we excused ourselves several times so she could collect herself in privacy, per her request. Each time I would ask her what I could to help her feel better so that she would want to be more amicable, she'd answer "Just hug me and kiss me." So I did. Several times.

Of course, we pushed it too far with being busy and went to Menards once we got back to town where H just lost her ever loving mind and we spent a good 20 minutes in the parking lot where she screamed and raged and we just stood and soothed and gave her a safe place to let it out. After that she was totally cool to go.

All in all it was a fantastic, extraordinary day.

And so worth keeping it a surprise.