Those of you that know me, know that I love Santa...the real Santa...he lives at Phipps Plaza from mid November through Christmas Eve. Now, growing up, he lived at Perimeter Mall and then moved to Phipps years later. We would get all dressed up and go to the mall and stand in line for HOURS to see Santa. Hours! Then he moved to Phipps and I seem to remember getting a number and then you'd come back when it was time for your number to be called. Still waited in line though. It was a Justice family tradition to go see Santa and ride The Pink Pig. It was a day that I looked most forward to growing up and a day that holds some of my fondest childhood memories. When I had Ethan, I was thrilled that I would get to take him to see the same Santa that I had grown up seeing myself. You don't stand in line anymore, this year you called to make an appointment. It literally took me 3 hours to get through - and that was using 4 different phones. I was that serious about making sure Ethan saw my Santa, the real Santa. As I put Ethan on his lap, I hugged his neck and I know he knew who I was. He may not have remembered my name, but I know he knew me. He just had that twinkle in his eyes. Even when I went to pick up Ethan's pictures, he made eye contact with me and gave me that same twinkle, smiled and waved at me. It thrilled me! Ethan was able to see my Santa the first year - that next March he died. I was crushed! The article about Santa Ray is in Ethan's baby book. Seriously....like I said, if you know me you know how magical I thought this Santa was. His best friend replaced him as the famous Santa. He's good, but not as good as my Santa. Now I go online in October at midnight to get the coveted appointment. Now we make our appointment with Melanie and her girls. It's become our tradition to do this and as long as I'm able, I will continue to bring my kids to go to Santa. I hope that when they are 32, they look at Santa the way I do and see the magic! I believe in the magic!
Cathy giving Nina a ride
Nina's first ride...she didn't know what in the world to think!
Nina and Daddy riding again!
Taylor, Cathy's nephew, through the sandtrap
Nina and Daddy walking back up the hill
Mark giving us a big push
Mommy and Nina walking back up the hill
Ethan being fearless!
Ethan was literally fearless....here he is jumping a sandtrap on the golf course. He loved it the higher and faster he went!
Daddy and Nina riding again
Nap time
On the tram heading into the park. Just a little excited..
2nd time in 1 day seeing Mickey and Minnie...wow how times have changed!
Late night visit with Mickey and Minnie Mouse
Ethan taking Daddy for a ride
Riding the Astro Orbiter - SO glad we did this at night when there was very little wait. I would have been ticked if we had waited in the ridiculously long line during the day for this 30 second ride. Ethan enjoyed it though.
Riding It's a Small World - we were literally the only ones in our boat.
So gorgeous at night!
Snow on Main Street as we left the park that night (or morning)
We weren't even out of the parking lot and Ethan was already passed out!
Mickey Mouse rice krispie treat...$5, Ethan's ticket to Disney World...$275, Not having to put your child to bed because he's so worn out after a full day at the park...PRICELESS!
Nina felt horrible! But she was a trooper and we kept going!
We finished the Lion King show and were back at the character greet area. We stood in line for Donald Duck and were in line for Minnie Mouse. Ethan saw Mickey in the area next to us and wanted to go, but it was close to park closing time and they had already shut his line down. Ethan was not happy....the cast member you see standing behind Ethan came up to him and asked him what was wrong. He told her he wanted to see Mickey. So she took Ethan and Mark and walked them right up to Mickey Mouse and fulfilled one little boy's dream!
A very happy Ethan!
