Whole hand now

Five...a whole hand, how is my baby an entire hand already? It seems that just yesterday we were eating ourselves out of house and home waiting for her much anticipated arrival! And in the three weeks it has taken me to get this post up she is sure proving she is a sassy five year old (well we all knew that!). She is way to big for her britches (second child syndrome), rode a two wheeler at four (and she still tells her sister that all the time), is doing well with her sight words, and she definitely keeps us on our toes. Alone she is an angel, when paired with her sister not so much, her temper comes out in full force! At such a young age she suffered her first family loss (and she remembers Pop Pop went to heaven) and a few months later gained a new cousin to fill the family gap. Nana moved away but Grandma and Grandpa moved here to fill that void. I'm a believer in that things happen for a reason and at the right time and this year certainly proved that.

Being that we were going to Disney for her actual birthday we let her open her presents the day before, as you can see someone couldn't even wait until she was out of her pajamas and her hair brushed! The girls are very into buying presents for each other and J couldn't wait to go shopping for C, she picked her out "perfect" presents which she was excited about, that is because they have been fighting over the baby car seat and the only way to solve it was to get C her own! See they can be nice and sweet to each other when they want.

We woke up bright and early on her birthday to head to Epcot, I was surprised that was the park she chose, she wanted to ride Soarin so that is what we did. We didn't get the traditional birthday picture in front of the castle, instead she got the big ball and got to ride it first. I am glad that they are going to be redoing this ride, it (along with most of the other rides) is getting repetitive but the kids don't seem to mind, every time on a ride they find or see something new that keeps them entertained and engaged (and they are what keep me from falling asleep). We said we were going to stroll and take our time this day and I think we did pretty good sticking to our plan and not running all around the park.

Mickey is still C's jam and we can't make a trip without having to go and see him. She still gets all excited when she sees him and runs right up to him like she did when she was two. We told him it was her birthday and he danced with her and gave her a kiss on the hand. We met Goofy and Minnie too, she has finally gotten over Goofy's height and isn't afraid of him anymore, we used to have to walk her up here to see him, this time she went by herself (as her sister stood there and wouldn't go). Both girls were excited to see Minnie (she is J's jam), she is always so sweet with them! We went and checked out what we thought was a new color exhibit there for the Arts Festival, come to find out it has been there for two years and we never knew about it. The exhibit is all about colors, teaches you the meanings of the colors and then there is an interactive area when you can learn to mix colors and a neat life size painting area that you use "magic" paintbrushes to paint the murals. This was a big hit for the girls and they probably would have stayed there for an hour if we would have let them.

We went and rode Nemo and checked out the animals of the seas (of course we had to stop and watch the dolphins for J) before we headed over to ride Soarin! A couple of years back when C wasn't old enough to ride they gave us a special Fastpass to use when she was tall enough, I finally had to cash it in since my FP trick no longer works! C says this is her favorite ride (although we have to ride in row three which is the bottom or else she won't go) and she's been on it enough times that she knows teh sequence of the video and screams out what is coming next, she has gotten away from sitting with her legs crossed and now let her feet dangle. After Soarin we went and had a lunch at the Living Seas restaurant. We got a great table at the front of the tanks and an awesome waiter who pretty much knew what every species in the tank was. The girls kept him on his toes asking him what seemed to be a hundred questions, he was great and patient and when I asked if they had to take a course to learn the fish he said no and that he just learns on his own so that he can interact with his guests. Lunch was good and the girls were thoroughly entertained watching for different things to swim by, at one point one of the sea turtles was just chilling in front of us for what seemed like 15 minutes, they were also intrigued in finding the guitarfish which they learned is a cross between a sting ray and a shark. When we were done with lunch C got her traditional mickey ice cream sundae and we sang to her, I hope she made a good wish!

After lunch we headed back to walk the countries and walk off our food. J wanted to ride Frozen so she did that while I took C (who didn't want to get wet) on the boat ride in Mexico. We strolled the countries waiting for the time to come to see Princess Aurora, we can't go to Epcot and not pay a visit to her! Somehow I managed to get another Fastpass for Soarin so before we headed home C and I rode that once more while G&G took J on the Land boat ride (daddy had to leave early to head and catch a flight and missed the last couple of hours). We stopped at McDonalds for what seems to now be a birthday tradition to eat dinner in the car! 

We had a great day celebrating Miss C and with no meltdowns that I remember! To the start of her next chapter and the excitement of getting ready for Kindergarten (I think she'd be ready now if I wanted to go ahead and just send her).

Here are the pictures from her day in Epcot.