Princess-tastic Birthday Adventure Part 2

There was magic! Wishes and dancing! Princesses and cupcakes! It was a wonderful trip. Happy Birthday my big 5 year-old girls! We love you!!

Princess-tastic Birthday Adventure Part 1

The Birthday Adventurers!

Ready, Set, Disney!

I Forgot to Shiver My Timbers!!

Pirates & Princesses Party

I decided for this event since Riley has an amazing pirate costume that I would be a princess. I originally intended to wear my Halloween costume, but it needs some alterations. So, I did what any absolutely insane person who loves costumes would do...I put on my wedding dress. I borrowed Roo's crown to complete the ensemble. I love how we matched! It took some engineering to drive in, but I adore that dress and I was happy for an excuse to put it back on.

It was a wonderful afternoon of treasure hunting, dress up clothes, pirate-y snacks and sillyness!

Pirate Event at the Library

One day of pirating is never enough, so the next day after a lunch of pirate shaped macaroni and cheese we set sail for pirate fun at the library! We met a silly pirate captain, who thought Riley was "a bonny lass" and learned that the best treasure is inside books (of course!). They read us How I Became A Pirate which not surprisingly Roo had heard before. I quite enjoyed it. We sang pirate songs, made a treasure chest necklace, ate an adorable pirate snack and played pirate games! Roo's favorite games were popping bubbles with a sword and walking the plank!

Weekend Adventures!

Family mini-cation overnight at the beach!

Low budget, quick camping trip? Yes. Planned. Packing started. The weather! Oh no. Cancel. Bummed. Break is needed. Beach? Maybe...Research. Discuss. Discuss again. Decide not to. Discuss some more. Change our minds. Ready, set, go! Um, someone's already in that room?!? Take two. Pool! Dinner...There's no cheese on my cheese burger?!? Ice cream!! Beach! Sunset. Seaweed mound. Crutches in the sand. Back to the pool! No bedtime! Pool's closing guys. Ok, bed ZZZZZZZZ. Roo it's 7am, go back to bed. Nope. Saturday morning cartoons? Where are the Saturday morning cartoons?? Treasure hunting movie. Breakfast poolside. Walk back to the beach. Crutches on sand some more. "Ok, Mom you fill my bucket with sand I gotta hit the water!" Time to go back. Dry clothes. Packing up. Is vacation over? We'll have "vacation" lunch and a "vacation" nap at home later.

We go home that afternoon and rest. Roo and I had somewhere to be in the morning.

Which Frozen shirt? Can't wait! Hair Glitter=Ice Powers!! BFF quality time (x2)! Frozen soundtrack at full volume on repeat. Was that my turn? Did I just pass the place? Great parking spot. Check in. Swap shoes for neon gripper socks. Did we miss them? Are they here? They're here! Hugs that could knock a girl over. A long chat with the royal sisters. Pictures! Time to jump. Boing! Boing! Jump dancing. A picture with the moms! The girls get back in line. One as mini-Elsa and mini-Anna! Let's all be in one. Everyone be Sven! Now be very cold! More jumping! Pizza break. Snacks. Cake pops. Anna and Elsa come to say goodbye. Raffle tickets? Didn't win. Potty break. More jumping. I'll help you up...uh-oh, help me up! A couple games. How many tickets, is it? Two lollipops, a bracelet and a ring. Want to share? Of course! Treats for good listeners in the car. Shoes back on. Bye! Frozen sticker books for Boo & Roo. More Frozen soundtrack! Home again. Nap time.

Girl-tastic Magic Kingdom Day! (Part 2)

We had a little lunch picnic after our visit with Belle. Jessie and I had some organic chicken salad from the deli where she works. Riley had an Uncrustable, some honeydew melon, goldfish crackers and fruit snacks for desert. We all stayed hydrated throughout the day thanks to our filtered water bottles, complementary cups of ice throughout the park and water fountains. After lunch it was time for our final pre-booked fast pass: visiting with Rapunzel and Cinderella!

A wonderfully enthusiastic young man greeted us as we approached the fast pass entrance. He confirmed that we did have a fast pass for Rapunzel and Cinderella. They have different princesses on the other side. He was so excited for us it was adorable and he told us to be sure and look for Pascal. We loved that idea! Then we hopped in the deceptively short line(did I say that right? The line looked super long, but it was actually kind of ridiculous how short it was).

Riley got one passing glance at the glass slipper in the case before we were in the room! So excited!! The young lady in the room was sweet too. She asked if we were having a girls day. Which of course we were. When I laughed about leaving the boys at home so we could have some princess time she asked where the boys were today. I answered with a Cheshire Cat grin, "work and school!" Then she asked where we were from and guessed that it was a day trip. Then we discussed how good Pascal is at hide and seek. Prepare yourself for heart bursting adorable-ness:

Riley took Blondie's hand and exclaimed "You're my FAVORITE princess!" to which she replied "Oh! Best. Day. Ever." it was amazing. They compared hair and discussed hair treatments. Rapunzel noticed every detail of Riley's outfit and was very flattered. It was hands down our best character interaction of the day. Once everybody had let their hair down we were ready to see Cinderella!

At some point Cinderella invited Riley to the castle to visit which thrilled her. They chatted so much, so intimately I heard very little, but as we were leaving Roo stopped in her tracks and called back over her shoulder that Cinderella could "come play at my house anytime, it's no problem!"

After the princesses we grabbed a fast pass for Buzz and popped into to Phil-Har-magic! After that we were informed that a storm was rolling in and the parade was canceled so we hopped a boat around the small, small world!

After Small World we posed for some pictures and headed off to see our favorite red headed part time sea dweller.

After a perfectly lovely visit with Ariel (including Riley singing her "Part of Your World") we were off to Tomorrow Land to use our Buzz Lightyear Ranger Spin Fast passes. Watch out evil alien minions of Zurg!

I used the wheelchair car and rolled right in which was cool because I'd never done that before. It was raining pretty hard at this point so they let us go a second time! It was awesome. After we shot up those aliens we ducked in next door at the Monster's Inc Laugh Floor. It was fun, but more something the boys would be into then Riley. Then we ran across to Stitch's Great Escape in the cold, cold rain. It was a good call! No wait at all. Both my kids LOVE Stitch! I knew however "scary" this deal was Roo would love it anyway because she's not afraid of Stitch. When Stitch started causing trouble Roo piped up "Oh! Stitch is gonna be in big trouble!" It was hilarious. Plus when he sneezed on us she exclaimed "Eww!" and then laughed her little head off. Good stuff!

After that we marched our soggy selves around looking for something sweet. I got a White Rabbit White Chocolate Cake Cup! After which we cowered under the tiny awning as the rain became torrential. Finally, we made a (limping on one good tire) run across to the teacups. It was quite the ordeal and we looked as if we'd jumped in a pool with our clothes on. Every one of us drenched. Once we made it into a tea cup they let us ride 3 times in a row (because everyone who wasn't insane was inside somewhere). They probably would have let us do a 4th time, but I was too dizzy. That made me feel super old. I have to say the teacups during a storm are AWESOME.

That my friends was the end of our Disney day. We hopped from covering to covering back to the car and changed into dry clothes. Miss Roo was out before we got out of the parking lot. Despite the weather we had an awesome day! I will cherish every moment. If you have to end up living back where you grew up, close proximity to theme parks is certainly a plus!

Passed out in dry Disney clothes with Pascal in one hand and a little golden book of Cinderella face down on her lap.