The best laid plans .were worth it! A great first trip for dd and me! (4/20-28)

[skier_pete]

Oh, and we really like Rafiki's...if it wasn't for the endless train ride! The vetrenary procedures are super-neat. DW and I saw them working on a Lion back in 2000. There is nothing better to give you the concept of how big a lion is than to have it lying on a table surrounded by vets!

BTW, you can also ask when you enter the park in the AM and find out what animals are scheduled for vet treatment for the day and at what times. Even that is subject to change. We did this at the RPW entrance in Harambe, but you can also do it at Guest Services.

 

[JLR]

I don't know your husband, but that is a common misconception. We ended up in 2007 going with my DW BFF and her youngest DD. BFF convinced her DH to come for 4 days - that's the most he was willing to stay. He hates crowds, hates waiting in line...his idea of a vacation is going off into the woods and shooting at animals. Even BFF wasn't really into the idea of going, was more going for her DD. (Older DD goes with friends every year, younger DD never went.)

Well, they had an absolutely great time. It helps that with me, you never ever wait in line for a ride. We went end of September, so the crowds were atrocious, but were definitely there, but we had to contend with the heat and rain...and still they loved it. Now, they really aren't in any hurry to go back again, but they did really enjoy themselves.

Personally, I don't know how someone that has a clue as to what there going into at WDW wouldn't have a good time, no matter your personality, you can tailor the vacation to them. With you already having been there, and you knowing your DH, I don't think there's anyway he doesn't have fun.

Too bad you have to wait until 2012. I think we'd have a tough time going 2 years now that we are full-formed Mousejunkies. We have a big trip planned for 2012 that likely will prevent a WDW trip that year...so we are already thinking a 2011 trip is a must. (I don't think 3 years between trips is doable for us anymore.)

And yes, WDW is expensive...but it can be done on a reasonable budget. Our family skis, and a budget Disney trip is much easier to pull off than a budget ski trip. One of the reasons we keep our trips low budget is so we can go more often. We've spent under $3000 (including air fare) on each of our trips to date. We only spent $1300 this past trip (not counting our AP tickets, which were already paid for) for 5 nights. Yeah, we skipped the DDP and avoided TS restaurants, but we still had a great time.

Glad to hear that!

The two big budget hold-ups have been that Northwest and now Delta have a Monopoly here so it is at least $500 per ticket! That is before we even step in the door at Disney. The other is that the twins, at this moment, will not sleep if they share a room. Madeline was the same as a baby, but she has done well the last few years. So it is not just money that is making us wait. We are thinking that we will get an ASM suite or maybe a suite at that new resort going up "The Magic of Disney Animation." Those are both values. The other option will be a cabin at Fort Wilderness. I am hoping to go the first week in May next time.

I guess the other thing is that we'd really like to update our cars without getting a car loan....... I think I can I think I can I think I can

 

[JLR]

Oh, and we really like Rafiki's...if it wasn't for the endless train ride! The vetrenary procedures are super-neat. DW and I saw them working on a Lion back in 2000. There is nothing better to give you the concept of how big a lion is than to have it lying on a table surrounded by vets!

BTW, you can also ask when you enter the park in the AM and find out what animals are scheduled for vet treatment for the day and at what times. Even that is subject to change. We did this at the RPW entrance in Harambe, but you can also do it at Guest Services.

Wow - that sounds so cool! I'll be sure to ask next time.

 

[JLR]

In our last installments we had hit the character jackpot, enjoyed the back stage and returned to Africa.

After a quick stop for ice cream (that yummy Haagen Daz at the entrance to Africa) we headed out for our safaris.

I think I will let the photos do the talking!

When we got off the first safari, we jumped right back in the fast pass line for the second. I didn’t take any photos, just enjoying the trip. Sadly this was the only time we saw the cheetahs and lions well. Oh well!

I have to say, even back to back, the safaris did not feel like the same ride. I really enjoyed these little trips!

Now it was time to head on over to Kali River Rapids to cool down!

We got this nice photo on the way:

I probably should have waited for the other family to finish.

We headed on over to Kali and you know what? They did indeed offer fast pass on Tuesday! I’m bummed, if I’d known we could have walked over to get the FPs while we were eating our ice cream and then the time would have passed while we were on the safari. Bummer! Now the standby time was about an hour. The FP return time was about 20 or 25 minutes! Why do people stand on line????????? We picked up our FP and had some noodles. At the CS attached to Yak and Yeti – you can get a frozen lemonade as your dessert. At Hurricane Hannah’s at the Beach Club, you can’t. It pays to ask. The CM was super nice and there was no wait.

Our Shrimp Lo-Mein wasn’t anything special, but it was fine and filled our tummies.

All the tables were full, but we found a bench in the shade and shared the noodles. We also got two cups of ice. We still had a bottle of OJ from our breakfast.

We still had our Expedition Everest Fast Passes so we headed on over and had our final ride.

Now it was time for our final ride on Kali. We (of course) were now much later than we thought at AK, but we had done so much more than we thought! I did not take any pictures at Kali, but we got pretty wet! (Not wet enough to suit Madeline, but plenty wet nonetheless!)

I think it was about 1 or 1:30 pm at this point, but I’m not sure. We did have the Hoop Dee Doo reservation at 5 pm kind of hanging over our heads, so we needed to be at the dock at MK by about 4:15 pm.

 

[JLR]

The next two hours were perhaps the most frustrating of our trip. We had big plans! We needed to get from AK to MK, use our magic FPs to ride BTMRR, Splash, Buzz and Monsters, Inc, all hopefully before Hoop Dee Doo. Now, mind you, I am not complaining. All the things that happened are all normal and we handled them just fine – it is just a testament to Disney that this day was the only day they happened on.

Madeline had her heart set on a baby Nala wrapped in a leaf so we used her Disney dollars to get it. (It is really a baby Simba, but the color is light and there is a girlie pink butterfly. So we just took off the tag that said Simba. Madeline swears they must have made a mistake!)

As we were heading out of AK, I was looking for the bus to MK. I thought the parks had direct busses to other parks. I guess not – we had to go to the TTC and then take the Monorail to MK. OK – that added some transportation time. Then some CMs were updating the board which shows where the busses will be (they change), and they told us to go down the wrong arm. We had to walk all the way back and around and then the TTC bus had left! Arghhhhh. We had to wait for the next one.

Well, we made it to TTC, hopped on the monorail and rode over to MK. We could see where our boat launch would be. Bag check was efficient as always and as nobody was at the will call window, we had our magic fast passes in no time at all. We started to go into MK. We were going to take the train over to Frontierland, but I had the bright idea of putting our stuff in a locker. I hunted around and finally realized they were out by the will call window! Then we went in and there were no keys hanging from the locks. We wandered through the whole locker area and I was thinking – wow every locker is checked out, that’s weird! Remember, we were at Sea World yesterday. You can put your stuff in a locker for 50 cents, and just help yourself. Then a family came in and was hunting for a locker. I thought perhaps they were leaving and I could get their locker when they were done. Nope – they were just arriving. You have to get your key from the store next to the lockers. OK – so I went over there. $12.00! Nope – I am not paying $12.00 for a locker that I plan to use for 2 hours. No big deal, I was just sad to waste some of our precious last Disney hours on a wild goose chase!

So we climb the stairs and had to wait a while for the train. We checked out those flip movies and other things in the waiting area and soon we were on our way. We hop off the tain and pick up regular fast passes for Big Thunder (about 40 minutes away) and a magic fast pass. Then we picked up 2 magic fast passes for Splash Mountain. Our plan was to ride splash twice, then big thunder twice then head out for Hoop Dee Doo. We get on line for splash, run down, surrender our fast passes and are about one load back from boarding. I got these photos on the way:

We were hot and looking forward to getting soaked!



Are you ready?


Then there was an announcement:

The ride is stopped.


We wait, and wait, and wait.

Then they make a series of announcements about getting the people stuck on the ride off. See – it could’ve been worse! Still we waited. If I had my fast passes I would have left, but I wanted my fast passes back! I felt really bad for the people who had waited 70 minutes to get to that point and even more for the people stuck on the ride. All of the cast members had disappeared, finally one came back and we got our FPs. By the time we came out it was getting pretty late to make sure we’d catch the boat for HDD. We climbed the stairs and waited for the train when we heard another announcement:






The railroad was shut down as well.



Looking back on it perhaps they had to - to fix whatever was the problem with splash. We climbed back down and crossed the park back to the front. We were hot and tired! We finally made it to the front of the park and down to the dock. Keeping with our bad mojo, the boat had just left and someone had tossed their cookies in front of the only available bench. Madeline and I just sat on the concrete and waited. It was another long wait, but it was pleasant in the shade and we looked out over the lake. We reviewed everything that had gone right that morning and got ourselves back in the Disney frame of mind.

See – the view was pretty nice!

We waited a while, but had plenty of time to make it to HDD. The boat was clean and pleasant.

We passed Wilderness Lodge:

Before we knew it we were at Fort Wilderness:

It was hot, hot, hot! I don’t know what I expected, but FW is very nice. There was a great play area for younger kids. We had to check in though. FYI – the reason they want you there so early is that photopass takes family photos – but these cannot be put on your photopass cards. I knew I did not want that, so we looked for a place to sit down while we waited. The waiting area outside of Pioneer Hall is nicely themed, but not shaded so it was broiling!

Eventually it was time to enter. We had category 2 seating so we were on the main floor but on the outside ring. We had a good view of the stage.

I had a really hard time getting decent photos inside the building. What I ended up doing was taking some video which seems to do a bit better in the dark on this camera. First the photos:

Neither one of us cared that much for the food. It wasn’t bad, it just didn’t really appeal to us, but I expected that. The exception was the corn bread which Madeline inhaled.

And the strawberry shortcake:

Now, I didn’t try that, but Madeline assures me it was great!

Here is a typical example of what type of photos my camera took of the interior:

Here is a video pan of the interior:



Now I have heard some pretty scathing reviews, but I enjoyed the show quite a bit. The jokes are real “groaners” but that is intentional and fun.



Madeline has been making “bear” jokes since we returned.

The actors spent quite a bit of time in the audience. 4 of the 6 actors stopped by our table to chat briefly, although we were not picked on for anything. I thought they did an excellent job of performing the show with energy and freshness. I did not get the impression that this is something they do three times a night day after day. They seemed to be having fun and so I did too. My only problem was that I was cold. It was roasting outside and freezing inside. I ordered hot coffee and it helped. Madeline and I tried to get into the corny spirit.


Madeline loved the washboard at the end!

Filled up and laughed up we headed back to the Magic Kingdom.

 

[goingtotheworld]

Great report! I just found the link on TGM the other day so am only on the "TMI alert" post! Can't wait to read more and see if you guys felt better after a good night of sleep!

 

[JLR]

Great report! I just found the link on TGM the other day so am only on the "TMI alert" post! Can't wait to read more and see if you guys felt better after a good night of sleep!

Thanks for checking in. I love it when the readers let me know they are reading and enjoying the report!

You must be so excited for your cruise! I remember when I was 9 months out and was unsure how I would make it. The time does eventually pass!

 

[JLR]

We had to abandon our tentative plan to end at Epcot. We had fast passes to use at the Magic Kingdom! We did use them, but we didn’t need them. I don’t know where everybody was, but the waits for almost everything, including Splash and BTMRR were about 5 minutes!

This is our last plunge on Splash Mountain.



These 2 rides on splash were the only times I wore a poncho on a water ride this trip.

We enjoyed BTMRR again, but I didn’t get any last photos. I wish I had some of the theming.

Instead of taking the train across the park, we decided to walk over. Madeline was not up for another trip to the Haunted Mansion, but she did want to ride “it’s a small world” again. Not surprisingly, it was a walk-on.

We were invited to stay on for another tour, but we wanted to see what else we could do.

Madeline would have liked to ride Dumbo again, but there was a 20 minute wait time so we moved on to the carrousel.

Do you remember when Madeline helped another little girl secure a ride on Cinderella’s horse? Well, this was her chance to ride it herself.

Sorry so many photos, but the different settings offer different feels. I love this little carrousel ride!

We headed on over toward Tomorrowland and had another spin on the Mad Tea Party.

Then we had our date with Buzz. Again, we did not need our fast passes.

Then we hunted and hunted for the entrance to Monsters, Inc. Sadly they had just closed the doors for the last performance. We missed it! We should have gone there before Buzz (or instead of TTA on our second day!) I guess that is something to look forward to on our next trip.

So we Buzzed again:

I thought it was fun, but Madeline was very, very frustrated with this ride.

We then went over to Astro Orbiter. I’m sorry, this is the best I can do for a photo.

This ride had had enormous wait times every time we checked this trip. Now it was posted for 10 minutes, so we decided to finally ride it. I have to say this is one of the coolest looking rides. It adds a lot to the atmosphere of Tomorrowland. However, the ride itself was a bit of a disappointment. It feels unsafe to be tipped to the side. I thought my daughter caused it to do that, but she assures me it did that all on its own! Then it lasts only about 90 seconds. I couldn’t get any great shots of the park at night with the camera I had. Oh well! I was glad we didn’t spend much time waiting to ride it. Also a warning for claustrophobes: the elevators are very small! It was good to get it crossed off our list though. And now we were done.

The Magic Kingdom is so beautiful at night. Sadly – this is the best I can do for you.

On our way out, we were on a mission to buy some Disney candy for her classmates, and we took care of that on Main Street. As we were leaving, Wishes started. What an amazing fireworks display! We also bought Mickey ears for the twins on our way out. Normally we get them “separate but equal” but I decided to get matching ones and see if that might prevent conflict.

We had to wait a bit for the bus, but we made it home.

Now, we had 4 counter service meals left and 4 snack credits left. I did not see anything in the candy shop on Main Street with the DDP logo so I thought I’d check out our hotel gift shop. I had planned to drop Madeline off and get her to bed, but she wanted to come. We headed down. They have a sandwich shop in the gift shop. I picked up 4 Mickey rice krispie treates to use up our snack credits and then found out that the store would be open before we left tomorrow – so I thought I’d pick up our meals then. Did that turn out to be a good idea? You’ll have to wait and see. Madeline and I also picked up some t-shirts

Now I finally got Madeline back to the room and into bed and she dropped right off to sleep.

I had a big job ahead of me.

I had initially planned to do laundry on Monday night after Sanaa, but if you recall, I was not feeling too well. I looked at the big pile of laundry and decided to pack it and do the laundry at home. It took a while, but I finally got everything packed. Thank goodness I had picked up the extra small suitcase that your could get for a reduced price when you buy $60 of other merchandise. Even so, I had to unzip the expander on our large suitcase. I had our clothes, toiletries, and shoes. The shoes ended up taking up a lot of space. I had read each person should have several pairs of shoes, so Madeline and I each had 2 pairs of sneakers, 1 pair of keen “sneaker sandals,” and 1 pair or water shoes. Madeline also had a pair of flip flops. Reflecting back, we could have made do with just the keens, and would have been perfectly happy with just the keens and one pair of sneakers, maybe a pair of flip flops to wear to the pool. The water shoes were not necessary at the beach club pool or discovery cove. We will certainly take fewer shoes when we travel as a family. I do have to say we loved our keens. We used a bit of body glide on the first two days and didn’t have any trouble. The only blisters I got are the ones I always get because my little toe slides under the 4th toe courtesy of years of pointy toed shoes. Blister band-aids are amazing things. I was not inconvenienced one bit by my blisters. I did cover the blister band-aids with moleskin so they wouldn’t stick to my keens though – so I would recommend anybody bring both.

In addition, we had somehow acquired a whole bunch of stuffed animals. Madeline won a bunch in Dinoland, she’d gotten princess Minnie, baby “Nala,” and a stuffed dolphin at Discovery Cove. We had other gifts as well: a hat for my dad, some t-shirts, the painted turtle from Mexico, two lucky dragons, the pick-a-pearl jewelry, the misting, fan and light-up spinning toy, 2 pool cover-ups, 3 boxes of Mr. Potatohead parts, all the Discovery cove photos and our Chef Mickey photos. I had gone anticipating that I would not buy that much and was somewhat dismayed to see how much I had bought! So much for “not being a shopper!”

I was finally done about 1:30 am!

 

[smithpack]

WOW!!! I can't believe how much you got done on your last day. You had to have been worn out. At least at the end of the night you didn't have to wait for anything. Hoop Dee Doo looks like a lot of fun. One of these times I would like to take my kids to see it, I just don't know if the younger ones would really appreciate it yet.

That is so funny that you had so much stuff and you didn't realize you had bought it all. I always seem to do that at Disney!!

I am sad that your TR is coming to an end. I am amazed that you got it done so quickly!! I know it is time consuming! You have done a great job!

 

[JLR]

WOW!!! I can't believe how much you got done on your last day. You had to have been worn out. At least at the end of the night you didn't have to wait for anything. Hoop Dee Doo looks like a lot of fun. One of these times I would like to take my kids to see it, I just don't know if the younger ones would really appreciate it yet.

That is so funny that you had so much stuff and you didn't realize you had bought it all. I always seem to do that at Disney!!

I am sad that your TR is coming to an end. I am amazed that you got it done so quickly!! I know it is time consuming! You have done a great job!

I would wait until the younger ones are a bit older. It would be awfully expensive to take the kids before they could appreciate it. I think Madeline was at the perfect age.

Yeah - I laugh at myself too. I'll budget better for that stuff and that space next time!

I am sad it is coming to an end too. thanks for chiming in. I am prettyr sure there are a lot of lurkers out there. At least there seem to be a lot of views. I hope they will chime in too! I only have a few more posts and then I'm sure they'll relegate me to the completed list!

 

[JLR]

Madeline and I both needed out wake-up call today. We had to catch the Magic Express at 7:40 am. We were moving a bit slowly although I can’t say I was sad to go home. Perhaps that is a “benefit” of leaving part of the family at home, that you’ll miss them so much that leaving Disney looks good. Madeline and I got cleaned up and threw out a ton of food. We finished the milk and the Kashi cereal, strawberries and blueberries, most of the water and the granola bars. We had cheese, ham, English muffins, butter, and cottage cheese left over as well as the leftovers from Kouzzina and Sanaa. Next trip I will buy much, much less from Garden Grocer. I could not find anyone to take the extra 12 pack of diet coke. I hope the mousekeeper could use it, but I heard they have to throw everything out!

We were running late and I had to check our bags.

Tip: If you want to get the early rate for checking your bags, you must do it from your room, not down at the hotel’s bag check area. That said – the bag check at the hotel was super convenient! We rushed down, checked our bags and had just enough time to run to the gift shop to pick up our breakfast and lunch.

Oops – they do not make sandwiches in the morning. The best we could do was 2 yogurt and fruit parfaits and 2 egg croissant sandwiches. So get your lunch the night before. We didn’t even bother to take the beverages, since we already had more with us than we could drink before we went through security at the airport.

We got back in time to take these photos and catch the Magical Express.

After a brief stop at CBR, we were on our way to the airport. I had noticed when we arrived that there was tons of shopping at the airport, so we had waited until now to do our shopping for Madeline’s teachers. We got some nice trinkets at the Disney store then sat down by the big fish tank to consume our liquids. I’m sorry I did not get any photos. I packed the camera after that last Beach club photo and didn’t think to get any more documentation until we got home!

I was mean mommy and made Madeline catch up on her school work. She had several days of journal entries and several poetry packets to complete. We worked on these together all day. About 45 minutes before our flight, we went through security and got to our gate just as they were starting to board.

Our two flights were uneventful and our baggage came quickly in Minot. I was so so happy to see my husband and babies. It was magic to my ears to hear, “Mommy’s home, Mommy’s home!” We got back home and pulled out the gifts. Elena and Viviana were crazy excited. When you are two, the shopping bag with Disney characters on it is exciting. They were so happy to wear their “Minnie ears” and have worn them at least once each day since!

(If Viviana and Elena look a little suspicious, they are still struggling a bit with a dislike of the camera!)

They also loved the Mr. Potatohead parts. They way they say it sounds like “mashed potatohead” which is quite funny. I have to say – those are my favorite thing I brought back. There are Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy hats, gloves, balloons, crowns, Tinkerbelle Wings, Mickey glasses, I won’t name everything, but they do make playing with the twins a lot more fun. Mr. Potatohead is now a guaranteed distracter when needed. The other thing they like is cleaning them up when they are done, which I like!

Oh it is kind of sad to finish up the TR! Maybe I’ll put together a post of lessons learned for other newbies.

I guess now it is time to start planning for 2012!

Now I will have one more post to report on my reflections and advice, but in the meantime, I am hoping all the lurkers will leave a comment about their thoughts about the TR! I know you are out there!

 

[Dugette]

Hey, Julie. Just wanted to let you know I'm still reading. Mostly while I'm eating lunch, though (like right now), so hard to type and eat. Really have enjoyed the report, though! And, hey, 2012 isn't so far away.

 

[smithpack]

Glad you had so much fun, but sad the TR is over. Now you have your next trip to look forward to with your whole family. I swear, I stay on the food porn site on here, just looking at food to decide what I want to eat the next time I go. I know everything I am going to eat, down to the snacks.

Can't wait to see your tips from what you learned on your trip. I already know one, Don't waste your time crossing the entire park back and forth. We have been 4 times, and I am still learning things every time I go. I think because we still haven't done everything there is to do, so when we try new things we always are learning the best way to do them. I have yet to see Illuminations at Epcot, but it is on my list this time.

Looking forward to seeing more pictures of your kids as they grow. It is amazing how much they change from year to year.

 

[JLR]

Hey, Julie. Just wanted to let you know I'm still reading. Mostly while I'm eating lunch, though (like right now), so hard to type and eat. Really have enjoyed the report, though! And, hey, 2012 isn't so far away.

Glad you had so much fun, but sad the TR is over. Now you have your next trip to look forward to with your whole family. I swear, I stay on the food porn site on here, just looking at food to decide what I want to eat the next time I go. I know everything I am going to eat, down to the snacks.

Can't wait to see your tips from what you learned on your trip. I already know one, Don't waste your time crossing the entire park back and forth. We have been 4 times, and I am still learning things every time I go. I think because we still haven't done everything there is to do, so when we try new things we always are learning the best way to do them. I have yet to see Illuminations at Epcot, but it is on my list this time.

Looking forward to seeing more pictures of your kids as they grow. It is amazing how much they change from year to year.

Thanks Dugette and Smith Pack. 2012 seems really far away - but I'll look forward to your TRs this fall - I think you are both now planning trips then.

I think you'll enjoy Illuminations if the kids are not totally exhausted then. Just beware - the explosions at the beginning are much louder and potentially more scary for a child than Wishes. Earplugs may help a sensitive child.

I may drag out the reflections a bit. I am desprately trying to get caught up at work and get caught up with my garden at home!

 

[JLR]

Photopass photographs

I finally got my photopass CD. I wish I had made more of an effort to find photopass photographers. I am glad that I learned you can apply more than one discount in pre-purchasing your photopass, because otherwise I would have felt I paid too much. There were only a few photos I loved – and otherwise it would have been cheaper to just purchase the digital rights to a few photos.

A lot of these photos were taken on our last day.

Here they are:

Epcot:

Test Track

Mexico

China

Chef Mickey

Magic Kingdom

Toon Town Fairies:

More MK

Animal Kingdom

Whenever I look at this picture I realize I did what I wanted: I helped my daughter have a magical experience.

 

[smithpack]

Cute Pics!!! It's nice to see you and your DD together for a change. You can really see that Disney Magic on Madeline's face on the last one. I have heard that it is getting harder and harder to find photopass photographers these days. You girls look a lot alike!

 

[gallmcduck]

Loved your TR and all the photos were excellant You have done a really really great job in getting your report completed so quickly. Hoping that you are still planning to do some tips The photopass pictures are really good of you and your DD looks really hot hot hot in them.

2012 is not long away and all that time to plan will be great. Look forward to your ptr

 

[JLR]

Cute Pics!!! It's nice to see you and your DD together for a change. You can really see that Disney Magic on Madeline's face on the last one. I have heard that it is getting harder and harder to find photopass photographers these days. You girls look a lot alike!

Yes - it is nice to have some photographic evidence that I was there too! It's nice to hear she looks like me! For so long people always said she looked like her Dad.

Loved your TR and all the photos were excellant You have done a really really great job in getting your report completed so quickly. Hoping that you are still planning to do some tips The photopass pictures are really good of you and your DD looks really hot hot hot in them.

2012 is not long away and all that time to plan will be great. Look forward to your ptr

It was indeed hot, hot hot that last day!

Thanks so much. I promise to do lessons learned and tips! June and July are bad months for me - so it might be a bit later. I am already starting to price up a 9 night vacation for all of us in 2012 staying 7 nights at Fort Wilderness and I am hoping to scrape enough money together to do 2 nights at the Beach Club, but we also may just stay off site because my sister wants to bring her family. We'll see. Those all star vacation homes sure do look nice.

BTW - Elena and Viviana had their third Birthday yesterday. They were not having anything to do with the camera when they were all pretty, oh well!

Making birthday pancakes:

Viviana eating cake

Elena eating cake

Presents!

I couldn't pass up the opportunity to show off my babies!

Big sister had fun too:

I was at this party too!