Ella's First Daddy Daughter Dance

While Hannah and I are in Florida, Jordan and Ella went to the daddy daughter dance at the club.  Ella had a wonderful time dancing, and passed out within minutes of leaving the dance.  Jordan will have his hands full with both girls next year!

Tearing up the dance floor with Sabrina - http://youtu.be/PpYpJBTziG4

Hannah wouldn't warm up to my old boss, Neil, but Ella was happy to snuggle up.

Surprise, Grandma Joanie!

A couple of weeks ago, Mina and I decided to book last minute flights for us and Hannah to surprise Grandma Joanie for her 85th birthday.  This morning, I Jordan and I told Hannah the plan and she was so excited to be in on the secret! We loaded the car, picked up Mina and headed to the airport.

I posted the following to the blog once we were a few minutes from Grandma Joanie's and then Mina called and told her to check the blog: 

"Well, when Hannah and I woke up this morning we decided it was too cold and headed to the airport.  We even picked up Mina on the way!  Can you guess where we are???"

Surprise, Grandma Joanie!!!  We had already pre-arranged crashing Grandma's birthday dinner with her friends, while Hannah spent the night at Softa's new house.  It was a wonderful meal, and so great to be here to celebrate.

Ella's First Movie in a Theater - Annie

Jordan took Ella and Hannah to see Annie for Ella's first movie at a theater. Typical of Ella, she was scared to death and stood by the theater door. After 30 minutes, Jordan got her to sit down, but you can still see the fear in her face. When I asked her how she liked it, she told me it was great.  Hannah loved it.

 

Tea at the Mad Hatter

Softa, Aunt Sara, Macy, Hannah and I all headed to the Mad Hatter for tea this weekend.  The adults had the tea services, while the kids decided to order off the kids menu instead.  Hannah spent a TON of time picking her outfit, doing her nails and applying face art to be fancy for tea.  Ella went to Mina's for the afternoon, but still participated in the dress up fun.

Birthdays

We celebrated three birthdays this weekend: Plablo, Emi and Macy's!

Friday night, I cooked dinner and Plablo joined us to celebrate his birthday.  We had a lot of chocolate, and the girls helped Plablo blow out his birthday candles.

Saturday, Hannah celebrated Emi's 6th at Troy Gymnastics, and we then headed to Langan's for Macy's 5th birthday.   The girls had a blast bowling at her rainbow themed party.  Happy 5th, Macy Rose!

Buttercup

Hannah's class made dolls at school and wrote short descriptions.  Apparently we pushed the Jewish thing too much after Jordan was worried she didn't understand she was Jewish because I bought a tree.  Now she asks everyone if they are Jewish, and is even creating Jewish dolls.

Disney

Ella started begging to go to Disney over the summer, so we decided to go this winter after our annual visit to Grandma Joanie.  Grandma Joanie and Mina joined too, and it was a packed but fantastic trip.  We drove in a night earlier than planned and stayed in Orlando at the Caribe Royale so we wouldn't have a three hour drive to get to the Magic Kingdom.  It worked out great and the girls loved the water slide and sleeping in a hotel.

 

We drove over to Animal Kingdom Lodge the next morning to check in and take a bus to the Magic Kingdom.  The park was really quiet in the morning, and we were able to ride all of our favorites and have lunch at Be Our Guest.  Ella had a great time overall, but was scared of the Philharmagic (had to leave 2 minutes in), Peter Pan - she wanted to get off immediately and kept chanting "I don't like this, I want to get off!", and Winnie the Pooh (same reaction as Peter Pan).  Her favorites were Under the Sea, It's a Small World, Carousel, Magic Carpets, Dumbo (rode it twice), and the Jungle Cruise. Hannah decided to try a new ride, Stich's Great Escape.  Big mistake...  She screamed "let me out, I'm scared, I need to get out" the entire experience.  It was so sad, but she was proud that she tried something new.   Hannah's favorite ride was the Jungle Cruise this year. Mickey ice cream bars and sandwiches were my favorite part of the day, and ranked high with the rest of the crew too.

Wearing Frozen tees and Disney pins waiting for the shuttle to Magic Kingdom

At Philharmagic and already looking nervous

Mickey ice cream bars and sandwiches time

Under the Sea fun with daddy and grandma

Mad Hatter Tea Party with Mina

Jungle Cruise

Ella LOVED the Jungle Cruise

Posing in front of Cinderella's Castle

 

Each girl earned $39 Disney Dollars in the month leading up to our trip for good behavior, and bonus dollars for specific things.  Ella picked out a Tigger stuffed animal, bubble gun (her favorite part of the trip), a lollipop, a Mickey necklace and a balloon.  Hannah picked out various princess hair bows and a bracelet.

We headed back to the hotel at around 4pm with two tired kids, and two very tired grandmas.  We ate dinner at Sanaa in our hotel and watched the zebras and giraffes out the restaurant windows. The girls were asleep very shortly after dinner - it was a long nap free day for Hannah! Ella took a two hour nap in the stroller at the park, but still fell asleep within minutes.

Our last day at Disney, we woke up (too early) and explored the hotel.  We watched the animals having breakfast on the savannah and then headed to the pool.  What a great pool!  Both girls rode the water slide a million times and then we had lunch by the pool and headed back to grandma's with two sleeping kids.  It was a phenomenal vacation, and it will definitely be hard returning to the real world.

Morning walk around the Savannah behind our room - all of the animals were just heading out for their breakfasts so we got to see nearly every species