Monday, June 27, 2011

Disney, Last Day

Our last day at Disney was a long one. We started at 8 a.m. at Magic Kingdom. We divided up this time. My mom and I took Maya and Will and my father took Guillermo. They headed straight for Space Mountain, but it was out of order so they rode on the Buzz Lightyear ride and went back to Pirates of the Carribbean. We took Maya to fantasy land and, all before 8:45 a.m., we went on Snow White's Scary Adventure, the Peter Pan ride and It's a Small World, twice. We also saw the Wicked Step sisters, the Fair Godmother and returned to Castle Couture, one of Maya's favorite stores at Disney because they sprinkle fairy dust on all over you!

Then we headed to Epcot for a Princess breakfast. It was so fun to watch Maya again. She was bouncy and talkative to us, shy to the princesses. She met Snow White, Ariel, Cinderella and Belle and walked in the princess procession around the restaurant. I'm glad it was on the last day because that was hard to top.


Maya posing with Belle in the picture, which is a "gift from Belle."

Will and my father brought Guillermo over to Epcot because Guillermo really wanted to check out Japan. He loved it so much, they spent about 2.5 hours in that part of the park alone. It was really cool. Lots of Japanese products, we ate sushi, and guillermo bowed saying konichiwa to every japanese person in the place. They loved him. Lots of cool products including sushi candy.

We met up with them and then headed over to Hollywood Studios to see the Indiana Jones stunt show, a most-see according to a friend of Guillermo's. The park was hot, crowded, humid, and hot. Really hot! I thought I was going to have a breakdown. We could hear the Indiana Jones show from the waiting area and we decided right away it was too loud for Maya so we took her to see Beauty in the Beast while Will and Guillermo waited for their show. I'm not sure how Will kept Guillermo cool, but Maya cooled off with a huge bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream. The show was fun and sweet.

Afterward my parents took Maya back to the hotel and I met up with Will and Guillermo for the Star Wars ride. It was fun, and the line seemed a bit shorter than it really was after a few Storm Troopers ran next to Guillermo and posed for a picture. (We didn't get to the park early enough for Guillermo and Maya to do Jedi training, darn it). The ride was fun, Guillermo loved it anyway, we came out of it and saw it was pouring. Finally, we got to use the ponchos Will had been carrying around for days. We made our way to the bus and back to our hotel, saying Goodbye to Disney.

Disney (Universal), Day 3

On the third day, we went to Universal Studios Island of Adventure to see Harry Potter world. It was really cool. Well, hot, but really cool. We stood in a very long line to go through Hogwarts Castle, which was amazing, but then Guillermo, Maya and I skipped out on the ride, leaving that to my parents. The kids went crazy in the gift shop while we waited for them. Ya Ya and grandpa bought Guillermo Hedwig and Guillermo has barely let him out of his sight since then. My parents bought Maya a unicorn. Of course they fell in love with these stuffed animals before 9 a.m. and my wonderful father carried them around the whole day in the heat! Guillermo and I drank butterbeer and he ate every flavor beans. He also picked up a wand and of all the choices he had, he choose Lord Voldemort's wand. Later, he and my mother went on the Hippogriff roller coaster, his first and he said it rocked!

Maya, meanwhile, had a great time in Seussland. She rode the trollytrain and a few other rides, which was good because she had been scared of most of the rides during our whole trip. Seussland was really cool for kids. One ride took us through the story of the Cat and the Hat. We sat on couches and watched the story on the walls as we zoomed through the building. It was really cool. On another ride, we rode in fishes and got squirted with water, which felt great!

One of the things G and M loved best of all at Universal was the talking fountain. It was in the Lost Continent part of the park and it would talk to the kids and shoot water out at them. Other times, it would just spray water from the top and the kids, as you can see, could get soaked. Guillermo was so wet he was pouring water out of his shoes. Maya was more cautious, but got plenty wet herself.

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Disney, Days 1 & 2

We braved Disney World for 3 1/2 days and a blast! We hit all four parks, plus snuck in a day at Universal Island of Adventures.

Maya could barely contain herself when she saw and hugged the princesses and Guillermo went on his first waterslide and roller coaster.

We arrived Monday afternoon, met my parents at the hotel and the hopped on shuttle to Magic Kingdom. We arrived in time to see a show in front of the castle and then headed off to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, which ultimately was Guillermo's favorite.

Showing off his pirate skills at Magic Kingdom. He brought the ears and the hook home with him.

Maya loved the castle, and was thrilled beyond belief when, after dinner, we stood in a very short line to meet Aurora, Ariel and Cinderella. She could see the princesses as we waited in line and literally ran circles around me, proclaiming, "I am running in circles!"

You can barely see Maya's face, but what you can see shows pure delight!

We stayed at Magic Kingdom late that night to see the electric parade and that meant that everyone slept in on Tuesday. That was OK, but it put us back a bit at Animal Kingdom, which was hot, really, really hot and humid! We were able to walk around a bit, Maya got some autographs, Guillermo checked out the Jurassic section and we all went on the safari, which was really cool. Then, Guillermo and Will headed out and Maya, Ya Ya, my father and I went to the Festival of the Lion King show. It was amazing! Maya declared that her favorite part of the park. That, and eating ice cream, which she managed to do every night we were there. We returned to the hotel midday and Guillermo went down the hotel waterslide at least a dozen times.


Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Her Party



We celebrated Maya's birthday with a party a week after her birthday. She had wanted a firefly party and for all of the kids to come at night and catch fireflies. I told her she had to have a day party. She was also planning a dragonfly party for next year so I convinced her to have a garden-themed party this year to combine both themes. She was thrilled. The kids painted flower pots and then planted marigolds in them, hid bugs and then found bugs throughout the house, played floral shop with a bunch of fake flowers, ate lunch and cake and then ran through the sprinkler and played water hopscotch. Maya declared it a success, and so did Will and I, after we recovered from the party of 10 girls and 1 boy.

The Cake

Maya had very specific instructions about how she wanted the cake to look. They were so specific, in fact, that we made several sketches to ensure we didn't mess up. The final cake didn't quite turn out as the sketches. In fact, to me the cake is quite a mess. But Maya and I worked on it together and had so much fun improvising when it became clear our original plans wouldn't fit on the top of the cake as we had planned. And, when we were finished decorating, Maya took a deep breath in and then said "I love it! This is just how I imagined it would look!" I heard her tell several of her friends at her party that we made the cake "from scratch, no recipe."

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Happy Birthday, Maya

Happy birthday, Maya!

We had a low-key celebration for Maya today but she had a great day nonetheless. We started with a trip to Krispy Kreme and some playtime on campus. Then, we came home and opened presents. The picture below is of her opening a DSi, to replace her broken Leapster. She was elated.

Later, her BFF Sophia came over for birthday treats and playtime in the water hopscotch, the sprinkler and Maya's new Polly Pockets.

She cried tonight at bedtime because she didn't want her birthday to end.



Maya found a recipe for these in a cook book and decided this was the desert she wanted for her birthday. She helped make the cookie dough, roll it out, cut the flower shapes and decorate the cookies. And, she helped scoop the ice cream in the cups and turn the coconut green for the grass.
She was so proud and so happy!