Magical moments

Monday morning, 1 AM, I was driving my three sleeping children home from a magical week with dear friends and a Disney trip.

Our very first Disney trip.

Let me just say, the fairy dust didn't keep my old feet from screaming at me during the fireworks. ;-)

But it was truly magical to watch my princesses meet their favorite princesses and absorb all the wonder Disney specializes in.

For all five of us Disney was the high point of our trip. Of course, a very close second, maybe even tie for first, was spending time with friends. Oh, and swimming with manatees.

As usual, there's a story with each. And some pictures.

My middle princess is the daredevil of the family, so her and her daddy's fave stop in Disney was the famed Splash Mountain.

I sat that one out.

Hearing both of them scream all the way down the watery drop-off was enough to confirm my wise choice. But when we met them after, all our princess could do was gush about how cool that was.

My oldest princess loved the Swiss Family Treehouse and Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride. She's a total book-girl and had enjoyed the books so much she couldn't wait to see them in real Disney life. The rides doubled the fun as she recounted story facts and reveled in books coming alive.

Fun fact I added...the love song from Aladdin was the music I walked down the aisle to at my wedding.

Here, David and I pose with the Genie at Mickey's PhilharMagic~ one of my favorite Disney experiences.

And contrary to all the adult moans I heard about It's a Small World, we loved it. My youngest princess even danced to the familiar tune...

Sing with me..."It's a small world after all. It's a small world after all...."

Okay, suffice it to say we too are still singing the catchy ditty because we rode It's a Small World twice.

I liked the air conditioned, calm ride across the water and through the countries of the world, especially Ireland and Germany.

My husband's favorite ride was the Jungle Cruise. He got a big kick out of our guide's corny jokes. David even videoed the entire cruise. So we'll have the pleasure of reliving fifteen minutes of stand up comedy with rushing water, head hunters, and non-ear wiggling hippos, minus the sweat-dripping heat.

But it was worth it. Having David's laughter on tape is priceless.

I've already shared my highlight of Disney magic~ my princesses awed by Cinderella, Belle, and Aurora. Another very high point was part of our lunch celebration.

First, I have to tell you all that I haven't tasted bread in almost two years. I'm allergic to wheat, so most of my fave foods have been big no-nos for me.

Thankfully, Disney's magic isn't just for the tiny tikes. They do their best to make the big kids smile too. And they did with special made rice rolls just for me.

I had to commemorate the moment with a picture. Can't you see my smile?

We capped the day off with shopping~ four girls in the family, remember? ;-)~ and fireworks.

It was amazing! Nobody does fireworks like Disney.

The rest of our vacation was spent at the beach and pool. My three fishes loved every minute.

We found shells~ gorgeous, huge, only on the Atlantic coast shells. Shells David and I risked life and limb to snatch out of a stormy ocean.

But hey, the ocean taught me how to do a full split and live to tell about it.

We also swam with manatees. After wolves, manatees top my list of cool wild life. So when one of my best friends suggested Sebastian Inlet Park, I was there.

David and two of our princesses hung out on the rocks, above the tide pool. My friend and the rest of our kiddos, stayed in chin deep water~ murky, green water~ hoping to spot a manatee.

One, and then two huge manatees popped their noses up to say hi a few times. But then they disappeared.

I made a joke about how they were probably close by, listening to us talk about wanting to pet them and just laughing because we couldn't see them.

So they popped up again, less than two feet away, right after I said that.

Everyone but me got to pet them. My hubby accidentally sat on one and it nudged him back up. Another of the manatees saved my daring daughter when she swam out to where she couldn't touch and got too tired to keep treading water.

The benevolent manatee swam up closer to the surface and gave her a boost my way.

I'm telling you, these creatures are amazing!

But instead of letting me pet them, my manatee friend decided it was going to pet me.

Yep, he swam close, nudged me with his flipper, and then swam off. Probably laughing all the way.

Even so, our swim date with these cool creatures showed us that fairy dust doesn't just make magical moments at Disney.

One of my princesses said it best. "Thank you, God, that You really do make dreams come true!"

And while it's fun to be silly about fairy dust, I know what got sprinkled over my family this past week had nothing to do with fairies.

It was all the Holy Spirit's laughter, inviting us to make memories with Him that we'll smile about for decades to come.