LizarLife: Day 5: Ellie's Birthday!!!!

It's hard to believe that our baby is 5 years old already. Everyone keeps warning me that I'll blink my eyes and she'll be all grown up and it's already happening!!! She is an amazing funny, bright, beautiful little girl that I have the privilege to watch learn and grow. She makes me laugh every day. Not too long ago we were eating dinner and she asked, "who came first, God or Jesus." After I gave her the answer that God came first, she said, "right. God made everything. Well, except tables and plastic. Tables come from trees and well, I don't know where plastic comes from." How hilarious is that!?! These last five years have been such a blessing for us!

Anyway, we had to get up early today as we had breakfast reservations at Ohana at the Polynesian Resort. The present for the kid's today was an adorable skirt for Ellie that had different Disney characters at a luau on it and for Hayden a Mickey with tiki torch shirt. They looked so cute dressed to go for a Hawaiian breakfast. We realized the other night, how easy it was just to drive to the MK, so we drove ourselves to the Polynesian. It saved loads of time versus catching a bus to the MK then taking the monorail or a boat to the hotel.

We checked in at Ohana and were seated shortly there after. Since it was Ellie's birthday, she excitedly received a red lei of flowers (fake, but to a 5 year old it doesn't matter!). When we were seated we were given a basket of yummy pineapple bread and sweet rolls. I gobbled up the amazing pineapple bread. We were all served POG juice which stands for pineapple, orange, and guava. Apparently, Hayden LOVED the stuff as his quickly drank up his, Craig's and a third and fourth glass. Before leaving, we even filled up his new cup with some more! The rest of breakfast was fresh fruit, Mickey shaped waffles (the kids loved!!!),

scrambled eggs, home fries, sausage, and bacon. We had several character come and visit us including Lilo, Stitch, Mickey and Pluto!!! Oh, Hayden was beside himself when he saw "Puppy" coming toward him!

After breakfast, we walked down to the boat dock and rode the little boat over to the MK. It was such a nice relaxing was to start our day at the park.

Since it was Ellie's birthday, we let her decide what we were going to do for the day. She of course, wanted to head back over to ride Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad AGAIN! On our way there, we stopped by Adventureland to see the Enchanted Tiki Room and then spend a little time exploring Tom Sawyer's Island. It was great to really take it easy today after spending the last few days running around.

After leaving the island, we noticed that Woody's Round-up show had just begun in the middle of the street in Frontierland, so Ellie went over and joined the fun. She even got to ride a stick pony in the show.

After the fun of the show, Ellie and I rode BTMRR. She really remembered the ride from a few nights ago and really picked up on some of the details that we didn't see at night. While she and Craig rode it again, Hayden and I hung out by a family from Venezuela that was waiting for part of their group to ride. There were two little boys who kept spilling their boxes of popcorn and a duck who came right up to take advantage of the situation. After the duck had eaten all the dropped popcorn, Hayden went up to the boys and put his hand out to get some more and kept feeding the duck that way. When the duck wouldn't come out to eat, he yell, "DUCK, DUCK, DUUUUUCK!" Everyone around us couldn't stop laughing!

Once Ellie got her fill of the roller coaster, it was off to ride Splash Mountain. Craig declined going, remembering how wet he had gotten two nights ago. So he was content to hang with Hayden and take a few pictures.

Since it was lunch time, I read off the list of available places and we decided to head over to Fantasyland and eat at the Pinocchio Haus. While in the restaurant, I had remembered about there being and upstairs so the kids and I checked it out. It ended up being a great place to sit, as there are only a few tables and no one else was up there. It was nice to sit above all the noise and hustle and bustle below. On the dining plan, we manage to get a ton of food which included 2 milkshakes for dessert. We never would have ordered them, except they were "free" on the dining plan but they were really appreciated on this terribly hot, hot day.

Since it was right next door, we rode It's a Small World after lunch. Just like Ellie at this age, Hayden loved the ride. Next we did Snow White's Scary Adventures, and Winnie the Pooh. The parade was due to start shortly so we headed toward Main Street to catch it. While waiting for it to start Ellie and Hayden had the opportunity to play some games in the street with a CM. No one would bounce the ball to Hayden because he just wanted to hold on to it and run around, oh well! The parade was just OK, compared to the one we'd seen at the PnP Party but the kids enjoyed seeing all the characters again...yes, and even Puppy!

Since we had dinner reservations for later that night, we went back to the hotel so everyone could rest for awhile. As we were settling down, there was a knock at the door. It was a CM delivering balloons and cards for the birthdays. Craig received a signed photo and card from Mickey and Minnie and Ellie's was from Cinderella herself! As Hayden napped, Ellie got to open her birthday presents. She received a Cinderella Barbie doll, a new shirt with all the princesses, some princess jewelery pop beads, a princess headband, and new Cinderella jammies. Talk about princess overload...mom loves clearance at the Disney Store!!!

After Hayden woke up from his nap, we loaded up in the car and drove over to the Grand Floridian for dinner with Cinderella. We got to see Suzy and Perla Mouse, Cinderella and Prince Charming, and the Fairly Godmother.

It was a great meal, especially the chilled strawberry soup! I wish I could say the bread pudding was good, but I never even tasted it because Craig at it all before I could try it! I managed just fine with the other little dessert assortment that we had too. Ellie was given a cupcake with Mickey sprinkles and a birthday tiara to celebrate her special day.

During the meal, we had the chance to talk with two women and their children at the next table who were there all the way from England. Though out the week, we had noticed a lot of Brits in the parks and I asked them why that might be. She said that it would have been just as expensive to take their holiday at Disneyland Paris as it was to come all the way to Florida. The price of things are just so much cheaper here than they would be in Europe. She had taken her daughter to the Bibbity. Bobbity, Boutique and said it cost about 100 pounds here vs. 200 pound at home. She also said, the $2 Cokes in the parks would cost around $8 at home, wow! The only problem was the length of the flight to get to FL, so their vacation was for 2 weeks! Lucky ducks!

After dinner, we took a boat back over to the MK. Before the Spectromagic parade started, we decided we needed to go to Tomorrowland, as we had yet to step foot in it during our previous two times in the park. We went and saw the new Monster, Inc. Laugh Floor, which is hilarious. We hurried over and got decent spots to view the nighttime parade and then hustled over to the Tommowland Indy Speedway. Ellie had been begging to "drive" her own car, since her daddy had told her about it. She had a blast, but Hayden and I had a very sluggish car, so we just limped our way around the track. Still, both kids loved the experience. Had we had more time, I'm sure we would have done the track a few more times. As it was, we still hadn't had the chance to ride Dumbo so we went that direction. While waiting in line for the ride, they announced that the fireworks were about to begin. We figured we had enough time to ride and then go to the front of the castle to get a good view, but we were wrong. Instead while we were riding Dumbo, the fireworks began. It was simply amazing!!! We were flying through the air as colors exploded all around us! Both Craig and I described the moment as nothing short of magical! The display was still going on after we exited the ride and it was so cool to watch the fireworks in front of us, behind us and all around. We didn't know which way to look! We definitely recommend seeing Wishes! on the backside of the castle and we're glad we stumbled upon the experience.