Joanna's Birthday Weekend

This year for Joanna's birthday, we decided to do something fun as a family vs having a birthday party.  I knew a joint party wouldn't work this year since Vivian is a kindergartner now. 

Jo's birthday fell on a Friday this year.  Once Jo woke before Vivian went to school, she opened Vivian's gift, a racoon purse and a coin pouch.  She loved them!  Then while Vivian was in school, we met friends at the playground for a couple of hours.  Afterwards, we went to Target to see if she could find something with the money her Memom and Papa sent her.  She found a Peppa Pig surprise figurine and that was it.  

It was ridiculously hot so we drove home then went to the pool.  She had so much fun! 

After Vivian got home from school, we went to Barnes & Noble to find something with your birthday money.  You ended up with two Peppa Pig books and a surprise doll and a squishy ball.  You had a hard time deciding what you wanted.  For dinner we had Brixx pizza and cupcakes as her birthday cake.

On Saturday we drove to White Lake to their water park. The girls had the BEST time.  It was perfect for them.  They would have stayed the entire day if we could have.  

We stayed busy all day Sunday and Monday (Memorial Day). 

Even though you didn't have a birthday party, you had the best birthday weekend.  

Happy 4th Birthday, Joanna!!!

Oh Jo, I cannot believe you are a 4 year old!!  I'm not sure how we got here, but here we are.  I cannot wait to see how you grow in year 4!

Stats: You are still a tiny peanut.  We measured you at 37" and weighing 28 pounds.  You have your well-check coming up in a couple of weeks for an accurate number.  You can still wear 2T bottoms, but I have you mostly wearing 3T.  You can either wear 3T or 4T tops.  You are a toddler 8 shoe.  You are slightly smaller than what Vivian was at this age, but that's okay.

Sleep:  You had about 6 months straight streak of waking 1-3 times every single night in search of your stuffed puppies.  I thought I had a newborn again!  It was a long 6 months, but knock-on-wood, you are back sleeping all night with the occasional wake-up looking for your puppies.  You're in bed around 7:30 pm and sleep until 6:45-7:30 am.  You still wait on your green light if you wake before it goes off at 7 am.

Eat:  You love eating Trader Joe's Maple & Brown Sugar oatmeal.  That's your go-to breakfast.  You also love snacking on Trader Joe's chocolate granola bars.  You are still my smoothie girl and still love your cheeseburgers.  You prefer to snack than eating an actual meal.

Personality:  You are the most strong-willed child I have ever met.  You love to do everything yourself.  Lord help me if you are unable to reach the soap and sink in a public restroom.  Those are always fun times.  You get scared in different situations when you don't have your "security blanket" Vivian with you.  You cried during your entire tap dance routine at your recital.  Broke my heart.  You also cried at PreK3 graduation when walking down the aisle.  So sad.  You always have your fingers in your mouth when you are scared.  You have overcome your fear of characters.  You met a creepy Peppa Pig and loved it.  You also now like Sammy Seahawk.  Since you've overcome that fear, we are going to try a Disney Cruise this summer.  You still have your "smiling" eyes and you know how to pose for the camera.   

Loves:  Peppa Pig, Team Umizoomi, books, animals (we got a mini goldendoodle the end of March and you love him so much), M&M's, Vivian, the playground, swimming pool, go-karts, your friends, going to Mayfair, church and school.

Dislikes:  When I tell you "no."  You hit me every time then you want me to hold you while you cry.  You aren't a fan of sharing with Vivian, but you will. 

Milestones:  Transitioned to your big girl bed, fully potty trained and Vivian taught you how to swing on your own.  That's a huge milestone! So fun watching you and you always want me to watch how high you can swing.  

You are a tiny ball of fire. Life would not be as full if God didn't select us to be your parents.  We love you sweet baby girl.  XXOO!!

Disney Cruise 2017 and Vivian's 4th Birthday

Well, we bit the bullet and took Vivian on the Disney Dream Cruise for her 4th birthday.  She had an incredible time, as did we!  It was actually relaxing considering you are vacationing with a child.  We left Joanna home with my parents and focused 100% of our attention on the birthday girl.  I didn't want to stress about Joanna's schedule which probably would have been non-existent.  She got lots and lots of attention from my parents.

We left out on a Tuesday morning and drove to Jacksonville, FL then drove the rest of the way the next morning.  Vivian did really well in the car.  We scheduled an early check-in time, but actually arrived an hour later which was no big deal.  Once we got on the boat, we went to customer service desk to change our gratuity for the trip or otherwise they set how much to tip which could add more than you attend to spend.  After that was taken care of, we went to Deck 11 to the pools.  Vivian was itching to get in.  I got her changed and off she went.  She didn't even want lunch.  The first thing she did was Mickey's slide.  She got to the top, got scared, came down and wanted her puddle jumper.  After she built her confidence going down, the life jacket came off.  She went down the slide I don't know how many times.

We were able to go to our room at 1:30pm to unload our carry-on bags.  Our bags actually arrived while we were in there.  Afterwards, we took Vivian to the kids club to their Open House.  We never used to Oceaneer Club while on the ship except for our last night.  If you return your bracelet back, you get a full refund of $12.95...unless you want to keep it as a keepsake.  Since we were returning it our last night, we let Vivian play for 30 minutes while we had a drink.  Honestly, with her playing in the pool, out on the beach, nap, character meetings and dinner, there was no real time for her to spend in the club.  We did spend an hour there during Open House and I wasn't super impressed, but she enjoyed herself.  Her favorite thing to do was hoola-hooping.  She also liked Andy's room.

Our first night we skipped the sit down dinner, grabbed a burger by the pools then watched a show.  She really enjoyed the live entertainment.  Afterwards, back to our room we went and got Vivian a bath and into bed.  She was a little hyped, but got her down by 8:30pm.  Her normal bedtime is 8pm.

As for our stateroom, we stayed in room 8538.  Great location, quiet and plenty of room for the 3 of us.  We did give Vivian the big bed, I slept on the murphy bed and BK on the sofa bed.  There's a thick curtain that separates the two spaces for privacy which waa great.  Since the murphy snd sofa bed is next to the verandah, it was a no brainer we took that.  You have to open the curtain half way to go out and we didn't want to chance waking her.  Plus, it was much darker on the big bed side. It was her vacation, not ours 😊

The next morning we arrived at Castaway Cay, Vivian's 4th birthday.  We decided to go to the beach with the water slide.  She did go down the slide once, but the water was extremely salty and she was done with that.  She enjoyed floating in the water and playing on the beach.  There are character meetings on the beach so we took the tram to the family beach for a couple of meet-and-greets.  Lunch was served at 11:30. A seagull took Vivian's hotdog right off her bun HA! After lunch we went back to the ship for the pool and slide.  We bought the Disney Cruise cooler for $120 for 24 imported beers.  It sounds a lot, but the price increase on beverages, that was the best way to do it.  Also, you could add the beer you brought with you in the cooler and drink as well. The cooler can be taken anywhere on the ship and onto Castaway Cay.

We scheduled a salon visit to Bippity Boppity Boop Boutique for her birthday at 4pm.  We knew she needed to rest and hoped for a nap so after an hour at the pool we went back to our room for bath and nap.  They have every Disney movie on the TV along with seveeal TV series and regular cable channels.  Even though she dropped her nap last summer, she fell asleep quickly. While she napped I decorated the room for her birthday to surprise her when she woke.  Of couse I had to wake her to make it to the appointment and she was not a happy camper, but she survived.

The boutique is small but cute.  Vivian picked the princess hairstyle which was a very tight bun (you could tell she waa in so much pain...poor kid) and a small crown.  She got hee nails painted, got on a little make-up, a birthday princess sash and pixie dust sprinkled in her hair.  She truly looked like a little princess with her Elsa gown on.

After the boutiqu we met Princess Tiana.  When it was Vivian's turn the girl who asked for our room number for the photographer asked if it was birthday.  Vivian told her she was four and then she asked what her name was.  After meeting Tiana we went to another character meeting.  While waiting the same girl came over talking to Vivian and asked her if she liked Elsa because she was wearing Elsa's dress.  Vivian said she did and also said she liked Belle.  She asked if she was going yo meet Elsa the next day.  We said we are but she would be wearing her Snow White dress for that.  After chatting she wished Vivian a very happy birthday.  

We decided to go yo our sit down dinner at the Royal Palace.  For her birthday dessert, she had a Mickey ice cream bar.  Yum!  After dinner we played putt-putt golf then went back to our room.  Before entering, Budi, our guy that cleaned our room said there was a surprise waiting on Vivian.  We walked in and the sofa bed was turned down with Frozen bed sheets, a cake made out of towels and a handwritten note grom Elsa wishing Vivian a happy birthday and looked forward to seeing her the next day at the meet-and-greet.

The next day we had our tickets to the princess meeting...Belle, Rapunzel and Tiana which she enjoyed then seperate tickets for meeting Anna and Elsa.  When we went we saw Elsa standing in line to see them she noticed us and whispered in Anna's ear.  When it was Vivian's turn, Elsa said 'hello Vivian' and asked if she had a wonderful birthday.  Vivian was a little shy meeting all the characters, but she talked to Anna and Elsa.  It was really sweet.  Happy we were 'pixie dusted' 😊

We stayed on the ship in Nassau, the same day we had our meet and greets, along with a lit of other families.  Vivian was too young for the excursions so it was nice hanging out on the ship all day.  The pools and slides were still busy, but she had fun.  That afternoon/evening was Pirate Night.  We didn't make it to the firework show, but made it to dinner and the pirate show.  Vivian had fun dressing as a pirate, but by dinner she wanted to wear her dress.  At least we got pictures with thr characters in her costume.  Even though we didn't go to the firework show, B and I were able to watch them from our balcony while Vivian slept. That was a nice treat.

Our last day we went back to Castaway Cay. We went to the first stop, the family beach around 8:30am.  A lot of families either got a late start or stayed on thr boat which made the beach a little empty.  Only a few people were out there which was nice.  Vivian and B swam to a platform thing that Vivian got to jump into the water.  She had a ball.  After lunch we headed back to the boat while other families were just coming to the beach to swim in the pool.  Vivian did get a little black eye from slipping on the stairs to thr Mickey slide.  We were sitting in the chair having a drink and noticed she hadn't gone diwn the slide yet.  I walked around to check on her and there she was standing there with an ice pack on her eye with a lifeguard.  Poor babe.  She was fine, just scared her.  We skipped the sit down dinner and went to the last show.  She loved it and was excited to see almost all of the characters. 

We got off the ship around 8am the next day and drove to B's parents in South Carolina where we spent the night.

Overall, the trip was wonderful.  It was really great with a young kiddo and not having to load up in the car everytime we wanted to go somewhere.  I am so happy she had a wonderful 4th birthday!