Caroline's Birthday Bash

Caroline's birthday party was at Paradise Pond the week before last.  She had lots of fun celebrating with friends!  

 Carter and Grayson came in town for the big bash.



 After the party, we had a hot dog cookout for family and opened presents.

 The girls were excited to get a Caroline doll and new doll accessories.

Caroline always loves new stuffed animals and was glad to get lots of new art projects and movies for the summer.

 It was a great day celebrating our five year old with friends and family!

The Happiest Place on Earth

Goofy greeted us at The Disneyland Resort when we arrived!  

The first night there, we shopped and ate at Goofy's Kitchen.

 Caroline's birthday fell on the last day of our stay at Disneyland, but we celebrated all week.  The waiters and characters sang and brought her a cupcake at this restaurant.

 We all waved our napkins as the characters paraded through the dining rooms to "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah."

 The next three days, we hit the parks and rode lots of rides!

 This Mater ride was one of Caroline's favorites.  We rode it at least eight times.

 

 

I think everyone really enjoyed Cars Land this time around.  Nonnie and I had to get out of Red's way as we raced to the Radiator Springs ride.

 

This race car ride was Abby's absolute favorite!  We rode it a few times and got a fast pass to ride it one evening as the sun set.

Caroline opted to ride Ariel again instead of going on the race at sunset.

 

 

Triton's Carousel

Bug's Land

We all made many trips through Ariel's world under the sea. This was the first time around.

The girls went on their first water ride.  

 

Abby loved the rapids.  Caroline did not care for it.

Ready for Toy Story Mania

Time for the Magic Kingodom

 

Storybook Land

I love seeing all the Disney stories in miniature form.  They added the kingdom of Arendale from Frozen since our last visit.

One morning, Nonnie and Pops took the girls on some of their favorite rides while Brent, Ryan and I rode some big kid rides.  I still love a good roller coaster.

We took a little rest one afternoon and rode the train around the park.

We had one day that was pretty warm.  Everyone enjoyed an occasional spray from these fans that squirt water.

Jungle Cruise

Toad's Wild Ride

Small World

We watched a Star Wars Show one day while eating lunch.

The morning of Caroline's actual birthday, she chose the first ride.  It was no surprise she picked The Little Mermaid!

She took her new little Tsum Tsum Chip and Dale animals with us.

We had reservations for a nice lunch and both girls enjoyed a special Mickey dessert.

 

 We also had special treats at the hotel that afternoon.

Caroline caught a few minutes of shut eye in her stroller every afternoon.



We enjoyed the afternoon parade one day.

The new electric light parade was spectacular! 

 

After the light parade, there was a special 60th Anniversary firework display over the Small World ride.  We also received tickets at Caroline's birthday lunch to a water laser show in California Adventure Land.  We were not even going to attempt getting in to this show as it has limited seating, but were very glad we ended up with the tickets.  It was a really neat way to end our last night in the park.  I decided to enjoy the show and was holding one of the girls so I didn't take pics of it.

Our week long vacation flew by and I actually shed some tears as Pops and Ryan drove us to the airport.  It is true that you never grow too old for Disneyland.  I think we all enjoyed every minute!

After a breakfast picnic in the airport, we were on our way to Southlake!  Time for more summer adventures!