We arrived at about 9:00pm Friday night with a wired 9yr old and a sound asleep toddler. We were pulling around the curves of the expansive driveway that led to the lobby of this castle aglow with white Christmas lights when Riley woke up begging for her own bed. We tried reassure her that we were at this pretty castle and she'd have a big princess bed (to share with her brother)to no avail. She was cranky and tired until she saw the afore mentioned princess bed and then she was gitty and awake.
After a reassure from Daddy that Shrek was sleeping too she finally fell asleep. In the morning we went to Shrek Feast. Riley enjoyed waffles with whipped cream and fruit. Isaac heaped a whole mound of breakfast food on his plate. They even got to wash it down with neon green swap juice in Shrek cups. While we ate and waited for the characters to make the rounds someone came and administered the Ogre Oath. All honorary ogres received Shrek or Fiona ears.
We met Puss in Boots first. Mike and I enjoyed Puss the most, he was by far the most animated of the bunch. Then we met Shrek. Isaac showed off his fart noise effect skills, having just taken the oath. Riley was star struck, but a little overwhelmed by his size in person. It reminded me of the old Disney commercial where the older brother explains to the younger one that even though Goofy is only a few inches tall on TV in real life "He could beat up dad!". We also met Fiona in her human form. Isaac got all bashful it was a preview of adolescence for sure. Riley was happy to stand with Fiona for pictures, she even hugged her!
After a wonderful breakfast experience we suited up for the ICE exhibit. It's 9 degrees in there. I don't care where you're from that's cold. They loan you parkas (and sell gloves and scarves). This year it was Shrek The Halls themed. As you can see from the photo that's Mike I in front of a giant ice Shrek. We're actually standing behind a book called The Village Idiots Guide to Christmas. All the Shrek stuff was big and colorful. Near the end of the Shrek story there were huge Ice slides. Even Riley took a turn on those (with Grandpa). After the Shrek displays there was a room with a huge Christmas angel and a Nativity Scene made out of clear Ice. It was really impressive.
After a break for hot chocolate and perusing the gift shop we went to play in the snow. Snow was just a big room with a playground and snow on the ground. Riley made a tiny snowman with lots of grown up help. Isaac went down the big slide on a burlap sack and threw snowballs at targets. I was very proud of Riley she stopped in the middle of all that fun and asked Grandma to take her to a potty. What a big girl. We didn't have a single incident the whole trip. She burst back through the doors ready for more snow play. The best part was coming out into the warm weather. We went from jackets and hats to swim suits. Ah, Florida Christmas.
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