When in doubt, smile.

Here’s another shot from our mini downtown shoot.

Yesterday realized I had a real possibility of posting a picture every day this week .. so I’ve decided to give it a shot.

Here’s one of my new favorite pictures of Ella .. taken during my last visit south. 

Since we had to drop Liz’s friend Jessica off at the airport at 7am this morning, my mom suggested that we find someplace around Disney to have breakfast (we also had to upgrade our tickets). We took a chance and called Disney to see if they had any openings for a character breakfast. We totally lucked out and ended up with reservations at the Crystal Palace, for a breakfast with the Pooh characters! So this morning we were out the door by 5:45 am, and made it to the Magic Kingdom just before 8am. Ella was so excited. I took her over to get a birthday button while Liz and mom rented a stroller for the morning. Ella wore her button the entire time we were at the park, and everybody kept wishing her a happy birthday .. she loved it.

The Pooh breakfast was magical. We were part of the very first seating, and it was pretty empty when Pooh came out. Ella, Liz and I were picking out food from the buffet when we heard my mom whistling. When I turned around, Pooh was sitting at our table waiting for Ella to come back! Liz and Ella ran over and hung out with Pooh, while I snapped some pictures

Then came Eeyore

And Piglet

Then there was a parade, and Piglet came right over to Ella, who helped lead the parade.

Then there was Tigger

They even brought Ella a cupcake and a card signed by all the characters!

After breakfast, we went over to Adventureland. Ella saw the magic carpet ride and got all excited, “I want to ride that!” .. so Liz, Ella and Grandma rode on the carpet, she had a blast. 

Then we rode Pirates, Liz hasn’t been on it since they added Jack. Ella just put her hands over her ears and closed her eyes when she didn’t like what was going on. But she know’s the yo ho yo ho song, so she perked up a bit when the singing started. Then we took the train to Mickey’s Toontown. Mickey and Minnie greeted a special guest, and escorted them to their house, and we followed right behind. When it was Ella’s turn to see Mickey and Minnie, they noticed her birthday button and started to conduct the happy birthday song, I started to sing along and everybody else in line sang too! It was awesome, and Liz has that on video!

Then we made a stop to see Donald, Pluto and Goofy before heading over to the Pooh ride. She seemed to like it, again covering her ears and closing her eyes when she was scared, but she had a big smile on by the end of the ride. Our last stop of the day was the big carousel.

She wasn’t too sure about it at first, but when it was over she started crying because she didn’t want to get off. The attendant let her ride a 2nd time because it was her birthday. This time she started pouting before it ended because she knew it was almost over. But we made it out of the park without any goodbye tears

This is going to be a very tough birthday to beat! [See all the pictures here!]

Also - now I’m a proud owner of a Disney seasonal pass, I’m excited we’ll be going back more often. 

We joined the Derosas and the Konickis for a great 4th of July / Welcome Baby Elena party on Friday.

Ella had a blast in the ocean and playing with her friends.

There was TONS of food, and the rain stayed away .. it was a great time. [more pictures here]

Saturday we threw Ella a little party for her 2nd birthday.

Nikki brought over Halle’s water toys and we filled up the baby pool we had for the dogs and the kids had a ton of fun. [more pictures here]

Lots of cleaning and work to catch up on this week. Hopefully I can stay on task.

Liz actually beat me to uploading the 2nd half of our Disney pics You can head over our Kodak Gallery to see them all, but here are a few of my favorites.

Here we are on our way to meet Nemo

Ella watching a sea turtle 

Dory, Marlin & Nemo!!

And this is where Ella turned 5 years old right infront of our eyes 

 
This morning Big Pup didn’t eat his breakfast .. so we went to the vet this afternoon where they discovered a ‘bug’ in his stool. They gave him some fluids under his skin (so he looked like a camel for a bit) and some meds to help with the stomach problems. Daisy also got some of the same medications, just in case. Hopefully all will be back to normal tomorrow

As for the fires, that update I got were that the fires were 40% contained. That surprises me because I cant see any plumes out there, although the horizon is all together very gray.

We’re spending a lovely Mother’s day with Mickey Mouse This morning we headed to Disney’s Hollywood Studios to check out the Playhouse Disney show & jump on a couple rides. 

We’re taking it easy as its 90 + degrees here. Luckily there’s a strong wind that kept us cool this morning. We came back to the hotel to cool off and take afternoon naps. Later on this afternoon we’ll be heading back to Epcot for dinner and hopefully the Nemo ride at the old living seas. 

I hope you all have a wonderful Mother’s Day, whether you’re a mother or not
 

Yesterday (Sunday) the girls went to the new Long Key Nature Center in Davie. Apparently a long long time ago .. all of Davie (and South Florida for that matter) was underwater, except for a small stretch of islands that the native americans named Long Key. Anyways .. what that means is .. there are giant oak trees that are 100s of years old in this area, which you just dont see everyday in South FL. In March they opened a giant nature center, and put some side walks together. We saw lots of different kinds of birds, lots of butterflies, a snake, turtles and Liz saw a gator last time she was there. Pictures are up on Flickr

Tonight Ella, Mom and I went to Seminole Star Search were Liz was working. Ella had a blast cheering on the contestants as they walked the red carpet into the auditorium and during the opening number of Seminole Wind (what we went to see). She was amazed by the stage & the lights, not afraid one bit. When we were leaving we passed the DJ’s car & trailer that was wrapped with advertising. 

Ella: Who’s car is that? (common question from Ella, she asks what’s that, who’s that constantly)
Mom & I: That’s the DJ’s car
Ella: Oh, I like DJs car (usually she doesn’t respond when we answer her ‘what’s that’ questions)

A little later, she’s in the back seat playing with her corduroy bear.  

Ella: Corduroy is crying (only its more like cor-lur-lroy)
Mom & I: Why is Corduroy crying? Is he sad?
Ella: Yes, Corduroy is sad
Me: Why is Corduroy sad?
Ella: Because he wants crackers

hahaha poor starving bear. She gives him her sippy cup, we pick up pizza, repeat above conversation with pizza instead of crackers. She then told us Corduroy needed a bath, and that he went potty. She cracks me up :) 

Look how pretty Nikki & Jason are!! If you want to check out more of the beautiful photos of the Konicki family taken this week .. head over to my photo blog (follow the URL on the image).

Tomorrow I’m heading south for the weekend. I’ll be getting my hair done, maybe checking out Seminole Star Search, photographing a new baby, meeting Nia and of course hanging out with my little niece Ella. Speaking of Ella .. check out her first set of pig tails!!

No she isn’t wearing lipstick (I asked Liz). I think she totally looks like a ‘Who’ .. apparently the whole family does too