Life in the Sunshine State: September 2013

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Ava's Birthday Trip to Magic Kingdom

On Sunday, September 8th, Ava's "actual" 7th birthday, we took her and Silas to Magic Kingdom. Disney had added a new addition to the Magic Kingdom theme park, called Fantasyland. They built a replica of the castle in the movie "Beauty and the Beast" and there is a fancy restaurant inside. We had made reservations six months ago to eat there on her birthday, and I think Eric and I were just as excited as Ava was to see the inside of the castle.

Birthday girl riding the Monorail to the Magic Kingdom

Her special pin she got to wear. She counted, and 10 people said "Happy Birthday" to her. :-)

The kids in front of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse standing and Cinderella's castle.

Waiting to ride Aladdin's Magic Carpet

Ava and I went on the Tea Cups

Here are some pictures of the new Beauty and the Beast castle in Fantasyland.

Waiting for our name to be called so we can go inside.

The Ballroom, where we were sat to eat.

Daddy and his big 7 year old!

Thank goodness for technology! Eating a dinner roll and watching Curious George on Mommy's phone. :-) It kept him entertained while we were waiting for our food.

The Beast walked out of a door right behind us, and took us all a little by surprise!

The dessert selection......YUMMY!!

Ava picked out what she wanted!

Silas was excited about his too!

Yum, yum!!

They brought out a special treat since it was her birthday.

The Weatherfords with the Beast!!! Silas was clinging to me pretty tight. :-)

After we were finished eating and our picture taken with the Beast, we were able to "explore" other parts of the castle. This was the "west wing" were the magically rose was kept.

You can't really see it in this picture, but it looked as though it was snowing outside. Super pretty!

Standing in front of the mosaic that is at the end of the movie. It was a really fun experience!!

Ava bought her first pair of Mickey ears with some of her birthday money.

A beautiful ending to Ava's birthday as we were on the ferryboat leaving the park.

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Ava's 7th Birthday Party!!!

Ava invited four girls over to help celebrate her birthday on Saturday, September 7th, and then two of them spent the night. It was a crazy busy day, but I am pretty sure she had a great time, and none of the girls wanted to leave. I take that as a good sign. It was an event-packed party that included swimming, trampoline jumping, a piñata, pizza, presents, cake and ice cream, makeovers, craft time, and a movie with popcorn. I was definitely exhausted by the end of the night, and it was a struggle for me to stay awake longer than the three little first graders I had in my living room. Finally, a little after 11:00 p.m., they gave in to sleep, which meant I could as well. :-) Here are all the pictures:

Some fun decorations. Who doesn't love streamers??

The girls: Ashlynn, Katye, Ava, Taylor Jo, and Sami

First thing on their list.....Barbies. :-)

Next stop....the pool!

Katye caught a lizard (brown anole). She was super excited!

Trampoline time!

Taking a break to enjoy some yummy pizza. Silas thought he was sooo cool that he was able to sit and eat with all the big girls. This just made his night!!

After pizza, Eric set up the piñata, which everybody had fun hitting!

Sami

Silas had to have a turn too, of course......

Ashlynn's turn....she was a slugger!!

Katye

Birthday girl!

Taylor Jo

Ashlynn

After everybody went a few times, Eric gave it a couple of hard whacks, and CANDY went flying everywhere. Silas was stunned at first, and not quite sure what to do. :-)