Fourth Birthday Celebration

K turned four last week.

Four!

How?

Wow!

We kicked off the birthday festivities with cupcakes at her preschool.

After school/work, we set off for Disney!

As an extra-special treat for our princesses, we booked our 2 nights in one of these Riverside Royal Princess Rooms:

We’ve stayed at Disney lots of times, but this was our first visit to Port Orleans Resort. We were so impressed! The grounds were immaculate and so beautifully landscaped. And the room was incredible! So many thoughtful touches and interesting details. I don’t know why I was so surprised—it is Disney after all—but it really was so much more than I expected.

Our royal accommodations!

We woke up Saturday morning and hopped a ferry boat over to the French Quarter for beignets and café au lait!

MMMMMMMMM!

After breakfast, we caught a bus from the French Quarter to Animal Kingdom. I stopped by guest services when we got to the park and picked up a birthday button for K. She had fun wearing it and ate up all the extra attention she received—cast members and other guests alike wished her Happy Birthdays all weekend. At Animal Kingdom, we saw the Lion King show (always great, we have so many Lion King-related memories and I can never listen to the music without getting teary-eyed), went on the Kilimanjaro safari, and had lunch at Yak and Yeti (our favorite AK restaurant).

Dancing to tunes spun by DJ Annan while they wait for their noodle order! 

A was excited to find out that Kali River Rapids was next on the itinerary!

After lunch, the big girls and D went on the Kali River Rapids twice (and got soaked to the core!) while K and I ventured over to Dino-Land to ride Tricera-Top Spin

K and Ursa on Tricera-Tops Spin!

and met Goofy and Pluto.

The drenched ones caught up with us at Dino-Land in perfect time to secure front-row seats at Nemo the Musical—something we hadn’t seen before and all really enjoyed. Amazing what talented actors Disney hires to do these shows! It was chilly outside when the show let out and my wet daughters were shivering, so we decided to head back to the hotel for hot showers, a change of clothes and a little freshening up before dinner. That evening, we took the ferry back to the French Quarter for gumbo, muffalettas and a couple glasses of wine (D and I got engaged in New Orleans, so anything Quarter-themed is romantic to us!) while the girls enjoyed pizza and Cokes. I think D was a tad disappointed that the girls weren’t super interested in his re-telling of the night he proposed. That’s okay, dear, it’ll always be special to me and the important thing is—I said YES!—and look where we are now!

Back at our hotel room, we did our bedtime routines, got cozy in our beds and started watching Princess Diaries with Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews. It seemed like a cute movie but all five of us fell asleep before it ended. One to add to the Netflix queue.

Sunday morning, we decided to do the ferry-French Quarter-beignets-bus routine again, but this time our destination was Epcot!

They both wanted the back window seat.  We were so proud of M for proposing a compromise--that K sit in her lap--and of K for accepting a compromise with a smile.  Thanks Dr. Purvis!     

They’re having their Flower and Garden Festival which is one of my favorite times to visit (right after the Food and Wine Festival).

The planters display topiaries of the characters. Some of them are really unbelievable!

A's photo pose idea--Mama and Daddy channeling Phineas and Ferb. Especially funny to the girls since they know Mama and Daddy are not fans of Phineas and Ferb's frequently inappropriate language!

The girls had fun exploring the enclosed fairy-themed butterfly garden and got to watch butterflies emerging from their cocoons!

It was a beautiful morning but we spent the afternoon dodging downpours. The girls were a little bummed by the rain because we had to cancel our plans to go swimming at the Riverside pool that afternoon. But we did get in a full day at Epcot! We met Mickey and Minnie

and went to Turtle Talk with Crush (which was a hoot!). We rode Nemo (three times!),

Soarin, the Living with the Land boat ride,

Spaceship Earth (twice), and the Gran Fiesta boat tour with the Three Caballeros.

Las Tres Caballeras!

We capped off the weekend with a fancy Mexican dinner at San Angel Inn. Our server noticed K’s birthday button and surprised K with a scoop of ice cream and a Mexican birthday serenade. She loved it!

She loves to cut up and get a rise out of us.  Such a hoot! 

We all had a fun, memorable weekend celebrating our sweet four year old. I still can’t believe she’s four! And though she’s been home for over three years, I still can’t believe she’s ours. K is a dream come true. Only heaven knew we needed her in our lives more than she ever needed us.

Being your parents is one of God’s greatest blessings, K. We love you!