Tuesday, March 26, 2013

First Disney Trip--December 2012

We arrived for our first Disney trip late Thursday night the 20th, and didn't go to the parks until the next day. As soon as we got up the girls got dressed in their Disney dresses, and waited for Momma and Daddy...
...then it was time for fun! Half of the fun for the girls was running around in special dresses and people commenting on how much they looked like princesses! On the first day we went to Universal Studios and saw all the Disney Junior shows. 





The 22nd was Hannah's 4th birthday and we started the day off by opening birthday presents! Once we got dressed, it was time for Epcot and Magical Kingdom. 

 Our little girl growing up TOO fast! 
 We had a character breakfast in Magical Kingdom with the Winnie the Pooh characters. Each character stopped by. I will admit I was a little awestruck when I met Piglet, but not as bad as when Gryffyn met Eeyore!
















 Then it was time for rides and time to meet other Disney characters. Aladdin even told Hannah a special story about birthdays and magical wishes.








 I think my favorite ride was the Winnie the Pooh ride. It was worth the 45 minute wait because their was so much to do while waiting in line, like playing the drums, climbing in Eeyore's hut, or playing with honey.






 On the (supposedly) last day of our trip, Gryffyn and Dan both woke up with a nasty stomach bug. After we got them squared away with medicine, Hannah and I decided to sneak out so we didn't get sick and continued to enjoy our Disney trip. Hannah passed out on our way to see Merida at the Magic Kingdom, but she had cried the previous day (her birthday) about how she didn't have a picture with the real Merida princess. So I trudged along with Hannah (in princess Merida costume)--alseep--on my shoulders until we got to Princess Merida's castle. Woke Hannah up, got a picture, and went on a few more rides before returning to the hotel room.



By the time we returned to the hotel room, Dan and Gryffyn seemed on the mend and we decided to head back home so we could rest before Christmas Eve was upon us. After we loaded up and got on the road (10 minutes away from the hotel), Hannah got struck with the stomach bug! We turned right around, rented a hotel room for one more night and all watched Christmas movies in the hotel beds. After we got settled, I got attacked by the bug as well! Not how we had planned to end the trip, but it was still memorable! 































December 2012

I know it has been a long while since I updated the blog and I sincerely apologize! Our laptop has not been working and that is where I had stored all of our pictures! (EEK!) Thankfully, Dan is a computer genius and was able to recover the pictures...so here we are (December post).

As soon as December 1st came around, we had the house decorated for Christmas. I love Christmas and I knew that the month of December would be super, crazy, busy...so we had to decorate when we could. 


It seemed like the entire city of Palm Beach Gardens was also in the holiday spirit and that afternoon we joined Dan's swim team friends at a local restaurant close to the water to watch the Holiday Boat Parade. 



On the 2nd day of December, I walked the Palm Beach Half-Marathon with my friend Dena. We had so much fun that we forgot to take pictures. It was great to organize with our friends, Alyson and Paige, a surprise cheering section for Dena at mile marker 6 and mile marker 10! Dena was so surprised at mile marker 6 to see our friends cheering her on at 7am on a Sunday morning that she started to cry. It was truly amazing!
 We celebrated Hannah's 4th birthday with a joint party with her friend Alexandra. Alexandra turned 4 on the 3rd of December and Hannah turned 4 on the 22nd. They both wanted to have a art party, so Lauren and I got our creative juices flowing and made a canvas out of cardboard to place the different colored cupcakes for the party we held at the park. 
Since it was an art party, everyone got to decorate their own canvas to take home. It was a blast and a little messy. 


When people were waiting to paint, they got to enjoy the many structures at the park and play with all our friends that joined us to celebrate. 

 The second weekend in December we participated in the 2nd Annual Breakfast with the Grinch to raise money for our local Relay For Life with the American Cancer Society. I can't seem to find my file with those pictures, but we did have a blast and raised lots of money, plus awareness for the cause!

The day after Breakfast with the Grinch, the girls and I flew to Birmingham, AL to visit my family. I was so thankful that the Grinch brought them LeapPads to play with on the plane. The girls have become such great little travelers during our many adventures.
 A few days after we arrived in Birmingham, we were able to travel to Mobile, AL with my parents (Dearie and Papa) to visit Granmere. Granmere is my dad's mom. We had not seen her since Gryffyn was 3 months old! This trip was long overdue!

 When we got back to Birmingham, Uncle JoshA (my brother Joshua) came to visit us at my folks' house. Of course he brought presents to rile the girls up!





On December 18th, we celebrated Hannah's 4th birthday (for the second time) with my family in conjunction with Papaw's birthday! I can't remember if it was Papaw or Hannah that requested the Dora Ice Cream cake, but it was GOOD!



On the 19th, we flew back to Palm Beach Gardens with a connection in Tampa. I love flying through Tampa because they have great play areas past security at each terminal. Each time we play there, the girls pass out on the plane and have a solid nap!







On the 20th, we had to start preparing for our first Disney trip. Before we left Birmingham, Dearie gave me money to buy the girls Disney Princess dresses. She said a "first Disney trip deserves a Disney Princess dress!" She was right. Hannah picked out a Merida dress and Gryffyn picked out a Rapunzel dress. 

While at the store, the girls picked out their ornaments for the tree this year. Gryffyn picked out Rapunzel's tower and Hannah picked out Tinker Bell.





Next post...all about Disney....