Monthly Update February

February was a huge month for our family! We had a father daughter dance, we celebrated my birthday and Valentine's Day, and the biggest event of all was our trip to Disney World!

Ellasen had her first Father Daughter Dance this month. She picked out her own dress, and she and Tim had a great time! He took her out to dinner at a "real" restaurant and they even got a corsage and boutonniere. It was precious.




We celebrated my birthday with a date night and some yummy dessert.

I got some great gifts including a PopSugar box from my neighborhood girlfriends!



We celebrated Valentine's Day with a couple's massage, dinner and some chocolate covered strawberries.


Ellasen and the twins made great Valentine's for our family and Ellasen's class.



The kids have had a fun month just enjoying some fun outside and inside time.
Dancing to Mickey with Mickey





Waiting for our favorite physical therapist 






Dressing Up

A little dusting

A little sunshine








Play Doh

By far the biggest event this month was our Disney trip. Planning and prepping took up much of my time, but it was all worth it! 
It all started when Ellasen got an invitation from Mickey Mouse to come to Disney World.
This was after a lot of excitement


A few days later a suitcase arrived with another note and some surprises inside.


A few more days and our Magic Bands appeared!


Finally it was time to leave for Disney! We drove there and it took about 8 hours. We stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge.


When we got to our room we saw that there were lots of animals just outside our deck! 



Mickey wasn't done with the surprises though! Soon after we checked in we heard a knock on the connecting door...Nana and Papa were here! 


Here are the picture collages of our three days. Keep scrolling to see more pictures and details from our trip!

Day 1 

Day 2

Day 3

Day 1
We started at the Magic Kingdom

Then we met Minnie Mouse and Mickey Mouse



Then it was off to try some rides. Our babysitter Karen works for Disney now so we had her tag along all three days. She was a huge help! That's who you will see a lot in the pictures. We rode Dumbo, Aladdin, Winnie the Pooh, The Little Mermaid and the Haunted Mansion on that first day. 









Then we met Ariel!


We finished at the Magic Kingdom with the Festival of Fantasy parade down Main Street. This might have been my favorite thing!



Enjoying the parade









Day 2
We started the day at the Animal Kingdom. We did the Kilimanjaro safari first. It was amazing. It was an open air Jeep and we got to see a lot of animals up close including elephants, giraffes, rhinos and more. Unfortunately I left my camera in the stroller so I don't have any pictures of it! 
In line for Expedition Everest...a huge roller coaster at Animal Kingdom

The Tree of Life at Animal Kingdom

Then we headed to the Magic Kingdom. We rode some more rides,  met several more princesses and rode Prince Charming's Carousel!







We finished the day with dinner at the Beach Club and a night time walk around Epcot. The girls had had enough and it was getting pretty chilly so we didn't do much at Epcot, but it was fun to see it all lit up!

Day 3
We started at Hollywood Studios. Our babysitter, Karen works there at the Toy Story ride. She got us passes to walk on and bypass the almost 2 hour wait! We also got to do the Little Mermaid show and meet Doc McStuffins. Karen took the girls to do a Frozen Sing-A-Long while the grown ups did the Tower of Terror and the Rock n Roller Coaster. This might have been my favorite morning! 
My parents on the Toy Story ride

Waiting to get on the Toy Story ride





Frozen Sing-a-Long

My Mom and I on Rock N Roller Coaster

Tim and Karen on Rock N Roller Coaster


Right before the Rock n Roller coaster took off




It was really bright out that morning so we made sure to get some shades before we left!



After Hollywood Studios we headed back to the Magic Kingdom and straight to the Jungle Cruise





Then it was off to It's A Small World
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After that we had a character lunch with Pooh, Piglet, Tigger and Eeyore. The girls loved them!







After the characters the little girls had pretty much had it, but Ellasen wanted to stay. We let her stay with my dad and Karen while my mom, Tim and I all took the twins back to the hotel. While we were gone Ellasen rode Peter Pan, met Anna and Elsa and saw the Mickey PhilharMagic Show. She also got to see Cinderella's glass slipper and Minnie's Elsa dress. 






We met up with Karen and Ellasen after we got the twins settled in for the night. Karen had to go so Ellasen, Tim and I enjoyed all the nighttime festivities at the Magic Kingdom. We watched the Electrical Parade, rode Big Thunder Mountain in the dark, watched the castle projection and fireworks and picked up souvenirs for everyone!















And that was pretty much it! We felt like we did as much as we could and the trip was as successful as possible. The girls had a great time, and Tim and I loved seeing their faces light up at all the characters, rides and music. The trip was a lot of work for me, but I am so glad we did it! Here are a few more random shots from our trip.










This pretty much sums up the way we all felt after this trip! This was on the car ride home.

It really was an amazing time and despite a few challenges along the way we really couldn't have asked for a better way to spend a few days together as a family!