Wizards, Seussville, and Arabian Nights

What? Go to Orlando and not visit Seussville and the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter?

I think not!

First, we made a stop at Jurassic Park. Kaelan directed these shots.

Mom, look like you are scared and running away.

Mom, get me fighting the T-Rex and scaring him away from daddy.

She just looked too cool not to share this one.

Another stop in Toon Land.

Seussville

The place to be was of course the Harry Potter exhibit. It was the only time we actually faced a crowd. It was worth it, though!

Mmmm....Butter Beer.

I am not a huge HP fan, but go if you can. It is truly magical.

**Post Edit*** It dawned on me after publishing this post that I forgot to tell you about the great Hippogriff ride. Well, since Kaelan was much too small for the big Harry Potter ride, dad convinced her to ride the Flight of the Hippogriff. This was NOT a baby in the belly ride....I am not even sure it was a ride I would have done without a critter in my tummy, but Kaelan seemed game (perhaps the word is naive). This was her first big ride, afterall.

I parked myself near a castle and waited to for them to reach the front of the line so I could film them coming around the bend. After a few moments, I heard the most blood curdling scream, so I looked up from checking emails to find out where the young girl who was surely getting sawed in half must be (what else could make that kind of sound?). It took only a second more for me to recognize that scream. Yep, my kid shattered many an eardrum that day. She blew her horn the whole ride. It all happened so quickly, and I was laughing so hard, I didn't get a chance to get the camera rolling. I probably should have snapped some pictures of people coming off that ride shaking their heads and holding their ears, but I did not want them to know I had any ties to the screamer. For legal purposes.

And that, is the Great Hippogriff incident. You will hear it referenced later.

A few of Doug's cousin's live in the Orlando area, and one of them is actually a star in the Arabian Nights dinner show. We scored some sweet seats and went to watch Misty perform. Kaelan loved the show and enjoyed hanging with the cast afterward (Really, she did. Just ignore the unpleasant faces she is making in the pictures.)

House of Mouse

I am really glad we opted to only spend one day at Disneyworld. Having hit Disneyland in CA last year, we really didn't need more than a day at this park. I found myself getting a little peeved when we first arrived and I saw the crowds. I purposely planned this trip at a Disney down time. However, everything worked out perfectly. Turns out the parade was just hitting Main Street, so everyone was out in this area at that time. Once the parade was over, the park was ours. Mommy likey.

Kaelan, Mom and Baby (as Kaelan is so kindly showing us).

We hit all the kiddo rides. Dumbo, Peter Pan, Snow White. You name it, we rode it. Probably more than once. Kaelan was still a little fresh from the whole Hippogriff thing on this day, so it took some convincing to get her to try the bigger stuff. She approached more than one big ride, only to change her mind after watching it for a while. And that, is why Space Mountain rocks.........

You can't SEE Space Mountain, until you are ON Space Mountain.

I nearly peed myself when I saw her coming through the tunnel at the end.

Take a look at that hair and that look of pure shock. Poor kid!

We totally forgot that the seating on SM was individual. In the pictures from the ride, Doug in actually leaning forward with his arms wrapped around her. I am not sure who was more frightened on that ride.

I will tell you that every morning for the last week or so, Kaelan comes to me and the first words out of her mouth are "I am not riding Space Mountain ever again. Okay, mom? Remind me if we ever go back."

It all ended well. She seems to have made it through thus far therapy free.




On the ferry ride back to the parking area, Kaelan reached over and patted both Doug and I on the leg.

"Thank you for taking me on this trip, Mama and Dad. I feel really lucky and wish I could take all kids on a trip like this."

Times like these, you think you might not be a total screw-up for a parent.

"Oh, and I am NOT going to ride Space Mountain ever again!"

Universal Love

We spent a day at the Old School Universal Park. You know, the one that was super cool before the Harry Potter World opened in the other part of Universal's property. I was not certain Kaelan would enjoy this side as much because I was pretty sure dad had ruined his chances of getting her on many rides after the Hippogriff incident.

That is, until we turned the first corner on the lot and saw this beauty:

If you live in my house, you know this little wagon is very important.

We really had no idea that Scooby and the gang would even be in the area. Total luck on our part because you could not have made this girl any happier.

We got to hang with Scooby and Shaggy for a bit, and then we met up with them later (dressed in their costumes) at the Halloween bash.

There were lots of friends to catch up with at Universal:

Curious George and The Man in the Yellow Hat and that lovable JAWS.

Shrek and Donkey and even Dora.....but shhhhh about that one, because Kaelan is "too big for Dora".

We ended up having a blast at Universal. We practically owned that park for the first part of the day because it was literally us and 2 other families on the whole lot. We rode E.T. over and over and hit the other kid rides enough to tire us out. Kaelan and dad hit the rides that were not baby in the belly friendly while I shopped and relaxed. Can't say I was heartbroken about missing some of those shows and rides. Poor dad.

If we weren't off doing something new and exciting at night, we were doing something new and exciting around the resort. They had a great events calender and lots of great activities each day.

Dock fishing, boating, and kid fun.

Swimming on one of four water parks.

Nightly smores, stories and songs by the fireside.

I am so glad we decided to stay off site of any of the parks. We loved this place and wished we could have spent more time vacationing at the hotel.

Sun, Sand and Space Travel

We decided to hit a more low key beach this year, so instead of heading over to Daytona (which, when I think of the things that go on there over spring break, I get the heebie jeebies), we opted for Cocoa Beach and the Cape Canaveral area. We were thrilled that a rocket launch was scheduled for the time around our visit, and really stoked about getting to watch the show. However, NASA, often without any real reason, will move launch dates. That was the case in our launch. I will be taking that up with NASA officials. Heads will roll.

It only took one mouthful of saltwater to lead to the constant state of "bubble in the mouth" for Kaelan. You can see the before shot....all smiles and teeth. But after a wave caught her off guard, she went for mouth closed look the rest of the afternoon. Seriously, we had to remind her to take breaths every once in a while.

20 feet from waves, but just to be safe, the bubble remains.

I promise, I did play in the water for a while, but I then took my favorite spot on the beach...right on the warm sand, book in hand, cool drink with great entertainment over on the shoreline. The weather was absolutely perfect!

Cutest little mermaid I have seen!

We did Dad over with the Texas style beach look.

We stayed at the beach for a few days and explored the island and the Cape. We had a great time just relaxing and enjoying the beach.

Party

This poor kid. We completely wore her out on her big day before her big party even started. She woke up that morning and after a quick birthday breakfast, dance and present opening, we were off to meet friends and family coming through town. After that, we ran a million errands and then it was off to a soccer game. Kaelan zoomed back home just in time to meet friends already arriving. She was exhausted. Unnapped (I declare this a word). A little grouchy, and within five minutes of arriving at her party, she had a major meltdown over a friend dumping water in her sand table. Mom and Kaelan made a quick exit to her room, and after a few hugs and kisses (and a TALK), she rejoined the party in a much better mood. More hugs, bubbles, a few CareBears painted on her body and she was good to go!

Kaelan did choose a CareBear theme this year, which led to a great amount of headaches for our party planner. AKA mom. There were lots of rainbows involved and when plans to have an actual CareBear fall from the clouds for a visit failed, we went with a Plan B.

Enter the Great Staci Gray!

Not only is she an amazing singer and kiddie rocker, she amazed us with some awesome facepainting! Kaelan has been a huge fan for years, so CareBear or not, when we had the opportunity to have her come and entertain, we jumped on it!


Kiddie Mosh Pits are hilarious! The funniest part about this is that the whole dress-up costume thing was not planned. The kids found a few of Kaelan's dress up boxes just before the concert portion of the party started, and well........they dressed to impress! I just loved watching the boys jam out in their pink high heels and fairy wings! Kaelan and her best bud were just too busy dancing and singing to costume up.



There was cake and cupcakes. I was very disappointed with the cake I ordered. I took a great deal of time sketching out the rainbow with little cupcake clouds (with CareBears stuck in them), but the cake person ruined my vision and used some sort of ghetto airbrushing technique. I thought it looked like one of those shirts you get when you visit Venice Beach, but Doug laughed off my discord and paid for the cake. The kids did not seem to notice.

Cake and cupcakes are not art.

Kaelan and some loot.

Each year, we end our party as a family with a little traditional wish send off. Dad and Mom write a special wish or blessing on a balloon for Kaelan. Kaelan then writes her birthday wish for that year on her own balloon and we send them off into the heavens. This year, we made a night time launch after a very long day.
Happy Birthday, our BIG 5 year old!
We hope your wish comes true!

Sake's Alive! The Girl is Five!

And as in year's past, this is how our day started.......

Not a bad start to the day! She scored a new 16" ride (because that's what big 5 year old girls ride, afterall!). Thank goodness the big wreck that landed her in the E.R. took place on the little girl 12"! But....that's another blog for a different day.
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