Tonight Madi was reunited with her "bestest best best friend" (as they say) Zoe. Zoe has been in Disney for a whole week - which in kid terms is a lifetime. I think they hugged for ten minutes straight when they saw each other. When do adults lose this? Zoe came to church with us tonight and then the girls had their first sleepover!

On the drive to church tonight I enjoyed listening in on the conversation in the back seat. Since Zoe was in Disney we were asking her all about it. I asked which Disney princess was her favourite. I expected "Cinderella" or "Belle" because she's soooo beautiful but I was surprised by both Zoe's and Madi's answers. Pleasantly surprised.








Zoe - "My favourite is Mulan because she is strong and does karate. When I met her I told her I do karate too and she said we could start an army of girls - just the two of us."
























Madi - "My favourite is Pocahontas. Have you ever noticed that she is not in the pictures with the other princesses? She's native and they don't let her. [future activist alert] That's not nice. I don't think she feels loved, so I am going to love her I decided."















In the picture at the top - you will notice neither Mulan or Pocahontas with the Disney beauties. I think while these 6 princesses were getting their hair and make up done for the group picture, Mulan and Pocahontas were off fighting injustice and caring for the less fortunate. ;-) Exactly where I hope Madi (and Zoe) will be too!



UPDATE: Zoe's mom has a radio show and so she's use to researching things that peak her interest. I just got this interesting comment from her on my Facebook note about this entry:

Ok. My job makes me a total research geek. I found out why Pochahontas and Mulan are not pictured with the Princesses. It's because they are heroines and not actual princesses. Both Pochahontas and Mulan are historical figures that have been made into "honorary Princesses" within the Disney family.

Weird but there's actually a reason why these two stand apart from the rest.. a good reason at that.

Pocahontas: Her Story

Unlike any of the Disney princesses before her, Pocahontas is a historical figure not associated with European royalty and so is considered an "honorary" Disney Princess due to her reputation as a heroine and role model. Her fabled life as a noble and brave Native American girl, has largely been fictionalized in various legends, and again her story was altered for the making of the 1995 Walt Disney film "Pocahontas."

Meet Mulan: Her Story

Like Pocahontas, Mulan is an official member of the Disney Princess club -- but she is, in fact, a multi-cultural heroine, not a true princess. She is a brave Chinese woman based on an ancient Chinese myth that's nearly 2,000 years old. Real or not, the 1998 Disney Pictures film "Mulan" retells the story about a young Chinese maiden who wants to honor her family but seems destined to fail.

She puts herself in harm's way when she learns that her weak father is to be drafted into the army to fight the invading Huns. Knowing that he would never survive the rigors of war in his state, she decides to disguise herself as a man and join in his place. Unknown to her, her ancestors are aware of this, and to prevent it, they order a tiny disgraced dragon, Mushu, to join her and force her to abandon her plan. He agrees, but when he meets Mulan, he learns that she cannot be dissuaded and so decides to help her in the perilous times ahead. In the process, Mulan becomes Disney's most feminist protagonist to date.

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