Vacation Part 2

So, while in Orlando we couldn't resist the pull of Disney World.  It felt weird to take a child who only 3 months ago was living in an orphanage in a third world country to the Magic Kingdom, but we did it.  Somehow Cinderella has made her way across the ocean to the DRC, and Miriam already knew about her.  We talked up going to Mickey and Minnie's house as we prepared for the trip.  Miriam loves to watch Mickey's Clubhouse.  The whole day I couldn't stop thinking about how her brain was processing everything that she was taking in.  In order to make the day more pleasant for everyone, I put aside my type A planning and scheduling side, and just decided to go with the flow.  We got to the Magic Kingdom in time to see Mickey and Friends arrive by train and open up for the day.  Then we stood in line and were herded through the gate (I am not a crowd person, so Disney is not "the happiest place on earth" for me.  We started out at Dumbo's ride and made our way around the park riding rides and seeing the sights. The longest line we had to stand in was to visit Ariel.  Ugh!  Standing in a dimly lit cave for 45 minutes was a test in patience for all of us.  Miriam liked the rides, but LOVED the parade and meeting the princesses.  She was a little sad because Daisy Duck was no where to be found on the day we visited.  At the end of the day, we finally met Mickey. Even though, we had looked for him all day, when we finally met the mouse face to face, Miriam was a little nervous.  I think he was much bigger than she thought he would be.  All in all, we had a great day.  At the end of the day, we took Helen to the airport so she could go back to school on Monday.  Miriam and I stayed with Joey and flew back with him on Thursday.  Here are some photos from our time at Magic Kingdom.