December 26, 2009 by Dad.

Day after Christmas we went to Daleen & Werner, Cezanne fell asleep in the car on the way there.

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December 25, 2009 by Dad.

Home again after the most wonderful vacation. Cold and overcast, but the excitement and anticipation of Christmas made it feel like we had bright blue sunny skies, well almost We had wrapped all the gifts we had before we left and just needed to place them under the tree, Santa did the rest…

After presents at home we went to Regan & Gillian for our traditional Christmas get together where there were more gifts and lots of good food.

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December 23, 2009 by Dad.

Day 7 - Epcot (again)

Our last day and it was a long one, which started with a little bit of a swim. The resort has such a great swimming pool but we were so busy at the parks that we never got a chance to enjoy them so we made a point of it today since the weather was warmer and the sun was out.

We had 2 meal reservations in Epcot, our first was lunch with the Princesses and out second was a late dinner in Paris. The lunch was really the highlight for Cezanne as she got to get autographs ( yes, we bought her an autograph book and pen ) from all the Princesses (Belle, Cinderella, Aurora, Snow White and Ariel) at lunch and she got to take pictures with the all as they made their way through the dining hall. This really was a very special lunch and it included a set of photos for free. Disney tip - if you ever go, be sure to make a reservation for lunch with the Princesses at the Akershus Royal Banquet Hall in Epcot !

We strolled around for the rest of the afternoon collecting a few other autographs along the way, including Mulan where Cezanne got some alone 1-on-1 time with the Chinese Princess because she was stationed off the beaten path and was not particularly busy. We spent 15 minutes waiting for Jasmin and Aladin where Cezanne told the PhotoPass Photographer all about our entire vacation which was rewarding because we at least got confirmation that she remembered everything that we had done in the last few days.

We found Santa and Mrs Claus and had our photo taken there too.

Finally out vacation ended with dinner in Paris - our reservation was late and by the time we were seated both kids were asleep. Cezanne missed out on her meal completely but we were able to eat in peace and it was wonderful. We looked back to our month in Paris oh so many years ago… The food was fantastic and did I mention, we got to eat in peace !!

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December 22, 2009 by Dad.

Day 6 - Magic Kingdom (again)

Waiting in line and then meeting Ariel; Too much Disney…
Sleeping Beauty (aka Aurora) & Cinderella
Belle ( aka Beauty ); Princess Happiness; Main Street USA at night

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December 21, 2009 by Dad.

Day 5 - Hollywood Studios.

Just photos from this day…

Check out Day 4 - I just uploaded and linked in the video I mentioned (02/04/2010)

Character photos with Frozone; Watching Beauty & the Beast;Having a rest - this is where we lost our UV filter; Happy Cezanne

Cezanne’s “favourite movie” that she has never even seen…Photos with the characters from UP.

Photos with Little Einsteins, Handy Manny and Lightning McQueen & Mater;The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights

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December 20, 2009 by Dad.

Today it was Hollywood Studios.  We got there late and just in time for the parade so we sat on the curb and had a front row seat. The parade was a “block party” and the dancers stopped in front of us and the one dancer girl picked 2 girls from the crowd, one being Cezanne. Cezanne did go and got into it - they did the YMCA and then some “free dance”. I took a little video which I will post <VIDEO>. Another day and so another little friend made. After dinner we found that Mickey and Minnie were dressed up in their Christmas outfits and so we could not pass up the opportunity to take photos with the couple.

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December 19, 2009 by Dad.

We really had a lot of fun and by day 3 Cezanne understood how each day would work - she and Etienne had a lot of fun on the bed while getting ready to head off for the day. Day 3 was our first day to the Magic Kingdom. We had a good day with sunny weather and just way too much wonderful Disney magic. Cezanne made another little friend during the day… I think the highlight of the day was our time with Santa. We watched the parade and then headed over to meet the big guy where we got a little one on one time. As the day progressed it got dark and late and eventually we made it to the front of the line at the Dumbo ride. We had waited in line for about 45 minutes and that turned out to be just too long because Cezanne ended up falling asleep just as we climbed into our little elephant. Disney Tip - do not do Dumbo at the end of a long day - not even Dumbo can fight off exhaustion - Goofy bears witness to the proof

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December 18, 2009 by Dad.

Day 2 and Cezanne now understood what we were doing. We had not told her about the trip at all and kept it all a surprise. We were not sure if she would remember anything from the trip at the beginning of the year since we only did one day at Disney. Our day started with a late breakfast at the Cape May Cafe, a character breakfast with Mickey Mouse and his pals. Getting to the Cape May Cafe had us head to Universal Studios where we took a boat and we had to do the same trip to get back so by the time we got home everybody needed a nap. After the nap it was quite late so we took on Epcot at night on our second day since it was open late and had an impressive fireworks display.

Snow White !	My Family	Gingerbread !	Donald Duck
Minnie Mouse	Goofy	Minnie, again	Duck Pals
Mommy & Cez	The Epcot Ball	Atlas aka Cez	Bruce ate Cez
Dory, Cezanne & Marlin		Nemo !	Sunhat @ Night

Our Epcot Family Photo, taken for us by the Disney PhotoPass folks, and decorated by Dad.

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December 17, 2009 by Dad.

Call us crazy, but we ended up at Disney for a second time this year… Well it was not our fault entirely, the special (book 3 nights get 4 free) really made the decision for us and so we did it all again, just this time with 2 kids and not just one !

Now bear with me, I took almost 1000 ( 991 in fact ) in the course of the 8 days we were at Disney and destroyed a UV filter in the process - but more on that when we get to that day.

We also learned a lot from out trip earlier in the year and did things a little different this time. We bought a Disney Vacation, with accommodation at a Disney resort and got the free Magical Express bus to/from the airport. We also took the Disney Dining Plan, which made it really easy at meal times with no need to carry any cash or worry about how much something cost. We did find that we needed to make our dinner (table service) reservations and in many cases had to take what was available, but we got a very good selection and variety including a number of character dining meals which included our first breakfast with Donald Duck and friends at the Tusker House in the Animal Kingdom.

We also learned that if you plan to buy any of the photos Disney take of you while you are there, you may as well have them take lots of photos of you at all the PhotoPass points. When you get home you can select all the photos and even add duplicates with little Disney customizations and get them all on CD with a full release. Most of the time I think our photos were better - probably because I would take 20 of the same pose and they would only take 2 or 3 and the odds were then in my favor of getting a better picture, but they did take a few really nice ones and I’ll give credit where due, otherwise assume all the photos are mine.

Breakfast w/ Donald @ Tusker House, Animal Kingdom	Mickey Mouse	Daisy Duck	Goofy
Cezanne leads the parade	Cezanne & Minnie	Santa Goofy & Cezanne	Cezanne makes a friend while in line
Cezanne & Chip/Dale	Tinkerbell face paint	Toys Toys Toys	A beautiful reflection
Walking the dog	Riding a Triceratops	Goofy, Etienne, Dad & Cezanne (Disney)

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December 16, 2009 by Dad.

With all my leave and a “use it or lose it” policy I had to take 3 weeks off in December. Amongst other things we got a great deal on a little family vacation to…

Here is a hint, these photos were taken at the destination’s airport…

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