Happy Birthday, Potatoes!

Wow, how time flies.

On December 15, 2018, our little superhero turned three years old.

We asked if he wanted a dinosaur party or a Spiderman party, and he did not hesitate in choosing Spiderman.

We started the morning with a single present, sent from Uncle Ryan and Aunt Mary.  We did not even ask that he brush his teeth (or hair....) before beginning the birthday fun.

He may have chosen Spiderman, but his love of dinos is still strong, and his excitement over a dinosaur egg that hatches into a dinosaur puzzle is clear.

To complete our Spiderman theme, I reached out to my friend and coworker, Erica, to make a cake/ cupcakes.  She crushed it.  Alexander is still talking about his Spiderman cake!

We had his party at Bounce Party Playzone at the mall, and they were so gracious in offering to decorate for Spiderman at a nominal fee.  It turns out they used to do more theme parties, and this was one of their themes, so they had the decorations ready to go!

Alexander had an absolute blast climbing, jumping, and playing with some of his closest friends.

Even the adults had a great time!

We were thrilled when his teacher, Ms. Shelia, came with her daughter and granddaughter, Madison.  They drove all the way from Pensacola!

Air Hockey was a real highlight and the thing he talks about most from his party, other than the cake!

Our big guy was so excited to blow out the candles!

He fought nap after the party and talked Papa into laying on the floor with him.  After about 20 min, Papa bailed so they could both actually fall asleep, but this was too cute watching from the monitor.

That evening we were hoping to do a family birthday celebration, but, having been under the weather all week, I was worn out by the party and didn't feel up for getting off the couch.  Instead, Daniel went out and got me soup and we had a very relaxing evening.

Potatoes still got to open his presents, which included a 60 piece dinosaur puzzle from Papa and Grandma Jay

 He was super excited about his Hot Wheels from Ms. Shelia

The next day, our neighbor, Addy, had her birthday party!  They are exactly four days apart, and cut from the same high energy- go, go,go cloth.

We went over to explore the Dora bounce house (see what I did there?) while Rachel and Ryan finished setting up.  Potatoes was very upset when I said we were going to head back home for a quick nap before the party started at 3pm.

At 2:45, we woke up Potatoes.  He said he did not want to wake up.  He moved to the couch, tucked himself up in his new favorite blanket, and fell back asleep.  We tried to wake him up two more times before he finally got out of bed and headed next door for the party.

Impeccable timing- we arrived as they were singing Happy Birthday and cutting the cake!

We got a surprise in the mail from Uncle Bryan

Snowball fight in Florida!  Thanks Bryan!

My dad flew in from Oregon for the week.  As always, we soaked up lots of fun and good family time with Papa.  I realized during this trip that Papa has been there for every one of Alexander's birthdays.  It is now officially a tradition!

All decked out for his school Christmas party.

Enjoying a walk to the yacht club just before sunset

Excavating with Papa

Dressed appropriately for his first theater movie experience,

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

I am so amazed that my baby is suddenly three.  He is already showing the signs of all that we have heard about three year olds-

Attitude with the reasoning skills to make it truly difficult

Demanding independence and yet also demanding his way on his timing

And also, an imaginary friend.  Of course, Potatoes's imaginary friend has taken the form of Blue, the velociraptor.  I mean, of course!

The Happiest Place on Earth

We had such a blast at Disney World this past week!

We snuck in the trip just before Potatoes turns three and needs his own ticket.

Gammie had a trip planned with her bridge group for the following week and was able to get a room for the week prior.  She insisted it was the perfect time for us to take on Disney, as Alexander is free before three!

We started our trip by arriving right before dinner time and heading to Disney Springs

Alexander was thrilled to ride the carousel with Gammie

Though we didn't get reservations at T-Rex Cafe, we certainly enjoyed walking through and exploring

Potatoes especially loved the Marvel store

The cutest Guardian of the Galaxy EVER

He was so cute, another shop patron stopped to take a picture, and then made sure everyone in her party saw this cute little raccoon

I got Gammie a special shirt made for our trip!

Potatoes rode in style!

We hit Magic Kingdom our first day and were go, go, go from minute one.

I knew Daniel would be playing with a competitive edge.  I had laser focus to try and best his score, but Gammie kept swirling our rocket aimlessly, just having a blast and full of giggles.  I may not have won, but we had a great ride!

Notice Gammie wrapped in the blanket...it was colder than the forecast had suggested, but luckily we had a blanket for the stroller, which Gammie gladly used in lieu of a jacket.  This picture does not show Gammie's fear of the Astro ride....she was quite scared b a number of the kiddie rides, including screaming bloody murder on the Goofy Barnstormer Roller Coaster.  All the kids on the ride were more scared for ehr than the were for themselves!  Oh, dramatic Gammie!

Gammie hung out with Potatoes while Daniel and I took on Splash Mountain.

We quickly learned how to benefit best from FastPasses, and rode only rides where we were able to hop the lines.  We made the most out of our day at Magic Kingdom!

On day two, we had a leisurely start, enjoying the amenities of our resort, before heading to lunch at Chef Mickey's

Potatoes loved swinging his napkin around and greeting all his favorite characters from Mickey's Clubhouse!

When we stepped away, Daniel told our server that we were both celebrating birthdays.  Despite filling our tummies with Mickey waffles and such, we both enjoyed some of our special Mickey cupcakes!

After Chef Mickey's, we headed to Epcot for the evening.

We didn't have a chance to fully enjoy the International tour, but Daniel and I did race around to complete the Epcot Cookie Challenge and score this free Mickey Christmas cookie while Potatoes took a stroller nap and Gammie rested her feet.

Though we explored Epcot the least, I absolutely loved Soarin' and Test Track.  We were very grateful that Gammie hung out with our exhausted kiddo so that we could explore some of the rides he is still too little for.

We finished Test Track and went to look for dinner, but nearly everything was closed.  We finally found a food cart open in America, and took on the only real option- giant turkey legs!

Surprisingly, Potatoes LOVED it, looking at me saying, "Daddy and I CRUSHED that turkey!"

The following morning we arrived at Hollywood Studios before it opened and booked it over to Toy Story Land as soon as they opened

The line for Slinky Dog wasn't too bad, so we jumped in.  Daniel took Potatoes up to the front to check his height.  Even though his hair touched the bar, the employee said he was too short to ride.  Boo!

We left the line and rode the Alien spinning ride two times.  It was a blast.

We then went to the Toy Story shooter game.  After, we were comparing scores and Gammie said, "I got 44,000!"  Potatoes quickly piped up, "Well I got 45!  I beat Gammie.  I beat everybody!"

As he ahd not, in fact, gotten 45, I was very impressed he knew what number it would take to beat Gammie's score!

Meeting BB-8

Very interested in the Storm Troopers

They put on a great show and were very much in character

We all loved The Little Mermaid 4D show.  It was quite impressive, and has turned Potatoes into a fan of the movie, too.

After a few more rides and lunch at Hollywood Studios, we headed over to Animal Kingdom

We were lucky enough to snag a FastPass to the Safari, which was another highlight for me!

The animals were all taken from other zoos, none from the wild, and the habitats were quite large and lush.  It was really very cool to see so many animals up close!

That evening, Gammie opted to go back to the room for dinner.  Maybe Potatoes should have joined her?  He didn't make for much company at the dinner table!

In an amazing twist, Bryan flew in for the day Saturday from Vegas!

We were so very excited to see him.  It was a super cool birthday experience!

Potatoes greeted him in his PJs and was actually a bit shy, hiding behind my leg for all of about 5 seconds.

He quickly woke up and warmed up, and then proceeded to dominate Bryan's attention for the remainder of the day.  Because of Alexander's love for animals and dinosaurs, we opted for a full day at Animal Kingdom for our final day/ my birthday/ Bryan's Disney day.

Again we arrived at the park before it opened to try and beat the lines that are always long.  Because Potatoes wasn't tall enough for the Avatar flying ride, we opted for the Avatar River Cruise.  While the sign said it would be a 45 minute wait, we were on the river in under 25 minutes!

The Avatar land was absolutely beautiful.  We enjoyed it by morning light, and then came back to explore it after dark as it was glowing.

Truly Magical.

Only 9:15, and this little guy said he was going to take a nap....luckily he perked back up as we entered DinoLand

The DinoLand Playground was a huge hit.  Poatoes played in here while Bryan and Daniel stood in the longest line at the Avatar flying ride

On a walking safari, Potatoes was so enamored by the little fish, the girls standing next to him had to point out the giant hippo that was swimming past!

While still a half inch too short for the river rapids, Daniel suggested he stand on tip toes to get on the ride.  As we walked up, we were all surprised when he clearly made the height requirement.  Looking down, we saw he was indeed on tiptoes!  We ahd no idea he even knew what that was!  He thought this ride was hilarious!  Especially when he and I were heading straight for a waterfall, and then the boat turned last minute and soaked Daddy and Bryan instead!

He opted to go back to the DinoDig in the playground and we had to force him to leave!

Best Buds

Tree of Life at night

As a last hoorah, while Potatoes slept in the stroller and Gammie rested her feet, we three went to ride Everest.  It was so cool riding a roller coaster at night!  And because everyone had either gone home or was watching the night river show, we rode twice in 15 minutes!

After enjoying our last ride at Disney, we headed to our reservation at Rainforest Cafe

Potatoes put the guys to work, making them color his menu as he saw fit

We had too much fun at the restaurant, enjoying all the animals, good drinks, great food, and a birthday celebration at the end

We knew Bryan would be gone when we woke up the next morning, so Potatoes did his best to soak up every minute he could with Uncle Bryan

While the trip was exhausting, it was a wonderful escape!

Thank you, Gammie, for organizing the experience, and thank you, Bryan, for coming along!!!