7

Oh, Jillian. Now you are seven. Just like that, in the blink of an eye. I never sleep well the night before your birthday. I don't know why, but I think it has something to do with that loooooong night before you were born perhaps--or maybe it's just that I'm reflecting back to that time, and thinking of all that's happened between October 29, 2008 and today. I also think there's something to feeling some pent up anticipation about wanting you to feel extra special on your birthday. Will you like your presents? Will you be delighted by the balloons and streamers I've left in your room in the night? Your dad and I made a conscious decision years ago to make birthdays a big deal, and now we have traditions that you count on and anticipate--that's really fun.

Let's talk about you at this stage. First of all, you are on a clear mission to live life as a big kid. You've lost those two front teeth, you don't want to match your sister, you want to make all your own decisions, and you certainly don't want me up in your business telling you what to do (I hear "Stop bossing me around!" quite frequently).  Your emotions are bigger, your questions are bigger, your fears are bigger. Life is just bigger.  This year I've seen so much of myself as a child in you, mostly as relating to wanting to be responsible/mature, becoming emotional as a sign of feeling anxious,  and loving to read and do well in school. While you think this would make relating to you easier, it actually makes it more difficult sometimes. You see, now that I have all this wisdom as your mother I know that some (OK many) things in life aren't worth getting worked up about--and I want so badly to intercept and redirect those feelings and worries for you because I know first hand how miserable it can get. And I try. And I get frustrated. And your dad reminds me that apples don't fall far...sigh. Actually, he loves to giggle at me when I get frustrated with your indecisiveness, your insane attention to detail, your need for routine, and your emotions...you give me a big 'ol dose of my own medicine on a regular basis.  I hear "she is your daughter" A LOT out of his mouth.

You are doing so well in school, and we are so proud of you. I had your conference with your teacher this week and in addition to doing absolutely stellar on your testing, she gave us some wonderful specific feedback about you. I heard, "Jillian is a beautiful writer". And that's so true! You have always been such a creator of things and ideas, and it's no surprise that you are writing pretty complex and complete creative stories as a first grader. I love to read anything you write, and my heart melts at the phonetic spelling. May it never go away. But honestly? None of the academic praise matters as much to me as much as when she told me that you are kind to everyone and a good friend. Specifically, she said you have taken a new kid (Noah) under your wing and that you really help him out and include him in everything. That makes my heart swell, because the most important thing in the world is to be kind and to love others. The other stuff is just icing on the cake.

Your big love right now is Disney's Descendants. You love the music (actually, you love most any music and have a lovely singing voice) and the story (Disney villain kids end up turning into 'good' kids) and the fact that the movie seems "grown up" because it is a live action musical and not animated. You love pepperoni pizza, popcorn, cheeseburgers with bacon and a side of ranch for your fries, mashed potatoes, and as chocolate as chocolate ice cream can get (current fave is the Blackbeard sundae at Flapdoodles--basically chocolate on chocolate on chocolate topped with chocolate). You love to read and have read three chapter books this week alone. You love to write. You love to create things with paper and scissors and tape. You love to make up games and play schemes for you and Adrienne to play. You love to climb trees and playground equipment in creative ways.  And you love a really messy room.  I am keeping an epic file of late-night messy room photos that I snap from time to time when I check on you (seriously, let's work on that before someone gets hurt!). You hate chores (they are "boring"), hate any direct requests from your mother, cannot stand to have your hair brushed/fixed, and don't seem to mind if your shoes come untied (one of these days I promise you will trip and fall and hurt yourself--but I bet you will care about keeping them tied after that).  You love celebrations, themes, consistency, going out to brunch after church, and never ever (ever!) forget a single detail about anything.  You fill our home with energy, sparkle, creativity, and love. I pray this is a year full of new experiences that you learn from, people who challenge you and help you grow, and blessings that only come from knowing Jesus. Happy Birthday, Number One. Love you, Jilly Girl. Cheers to 7!

Disney Springs

Wednesday was our last day in Florida. It was Matt's day to speak at the conference, so the girls and I had the morning to fill. We had breakfast, did Jillian's vacation journal, watched a little TV, then headed down to the pool once it got warm enough.

 Running down the hotel hall away from me.

Ready for some pool time.

We went to the family pool this time. It was a nice big pool with zero depth entry and an infinity pool. I took this picture about 1 minute before Adrienne tried to drown herself. Thankfully, I am fast.

We decided to have lunch poolside, so Jillian took it upon herself to read the menu to A.

It rained on and off the next couple of hours, but not enough to keep us out of the pool. Soon it was time to head up and clean up to get ready to go down to Disney Springs (formerly called Downtown Disney) to shop and to meet Aunt Angela for dinner.

Matt has the girls trained to jump on elevators right before it stops. They had so much fun doing this every single ride, so I had to take a few pics.

We made it to Disney Springs, and soon we were reunited with Aunt Angela! It was so good to see her and spend the evening with her. We had a delicious dinner at Morimoto Asia (yes, that's Iron Chef Morimoto's place), and then walked through a sea of people to Ghiradelli's for dessert.

Adrienne had Aunt Angela laughing at her various "eyes". These are 'Maleficent Eyes'

After showing her vanilla face, here was her 'chocolate face'. She is still consistent with this little game.

The highlight entertainment for us was when we walked by a DJ dance party for kids. Adrienne and Jillian really got out there and cut a rug--especially A. Soon, the DJ announced that they were going to have a dance contest, where a kid needed a partner and they were going to go through 20 songs (pieces of them) and do different dances. Jillian suddenly became shy, but A really wanted to participate, so her dad saved the day. Angela, Jillian, and I had soooo much fun watching the dancing duo! I have far to many videos to show, so I'll just leave it at some pics.

What a dancing pair! Sadly, they did not get chosen for the finals, but they were winners to us. So fun!

It was late and everyone was tired, so we took a few pics with Aunt Angela and then bid her farewell.

As we walked back into the hotel lobby, I had to pause and snap a couple pics of the gorgeous crystal chandeliers.

On Thursday morning, I opened curtains, ate breakfast, packed our suitcases, and made as much noise as possible....and no one stirred. Not even Matt.

I finally roused the sleepyheads, and we were off for the airport...but not before J finally lost her other front tooth!

To conclude the posts documenting this trip, I will leave you with my favorite kid quip of the week. On this last day, I was in the bathroom near the pool with Adrienne because she "had snakes". As I was wiping her, she suddenly inquired--"Mom? Do you think Cinderella has to wipe the stepsisters' bottoms or do they do that for themselves?" I of course asked her to repeat that while I choked back my giggle, and then I answered that I hoped they could do that for themselves since they were grown ups. And Adrienne responded, "Well I sure hope they can do it themselves. Cinderella shouldn't have to do EVERYTHING!" Amen to that.

Disney Hollywood Studios

Our third and final park day was spent at Disney Hollywood Studios. Matt and I love this park the best, and I think it's probably because it's the smallest, doesn't feel as busy, and has lots of opportunities to sit down at shows. We are so darn tired by this point, that a "slower" pace feels really, really good.

We got to the park right as it opened (Matt skipped the conference this day and we got to take a direct shuttle--whew!) and ran for the Star Tours ride. We didn't have a fast pass for this, and Matt and I really wanted to go on it. It was a new Star Wars experience that was a 3 D flight simulator. We happily coasted on, buckled our seat belts, threw on our glasses....and then nearly vomited. Neither one of us could handle the effects and motion from the 3D inside the small and warm simulator. We took our glasses off and tried to just calmly breathe through the ride. I sat with my eyes closed and prayed I didn't vomit all over myself. The girls were having a fabulous time, laughing and giggling away, thank goodness. This is a perfect example of the difference in vestibular systems between children and adults! We finally got off the darn ride and it took Matt and I a solid 2 hours to recover. We took the kids to the Honey I Shrunk The Kids park, and let them play while we nursed our motion-sick selves back to function.

Once we were back in action, we took the Great Movie Ride, which was a really cool trip through the history of movies with awesome scenes and effects--it all felt very real. Adrienne was scared in some parts because movie characters seemed real, and the Western era part had you riding amidst fake gun fights between our driver and the real-looking puppet cowboys.  The Wizard of Oz scene was the winner as our favorite--our car took us right through a live munchkin-land with singing munchkins and an appearance by the wicked witch (side note: why aren't my kids scared of her??? She petrified me as a child). After the movie ride, we grabbed lunch at Pizza Planet and then headed to the Frozen Sing Along show. Jillian was less than enthused that we had to go to this AGAIN (because, you know, she's too OLD for Frozen). Teenage-looking drama before the show began--

Guess who was excited?

Let it be known that the queen teenager was laughing and singing along about 30 seconds into the show.

Other things we did that day included a walk through the Walt Disney museum that ended with a 15 minute preview of The Good Dinosaur (which looks amazing!), the Little Mermaid Show, Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage, and desperately grabbing an afternoon pick-me-up at the one Starbucks in the park. Praise the Lord! I can't help but wonder how much Disney had to pay Starbucks for these cups...

Soon it was time for Disney Jr Live. We were shuffled into an open theater and had to sit on the floor. Not comfortable for tired parents, but the kids had a blast dancing and singing along to some favorite characters like Jake and Sofia The First and Doc McStuffins.

After the daily souvenir shopping, we needed a rest. We sat at some open tables and let the girls play with Jillian's Disney Villains set, and Adrienne's baby Maleficent. It was cute to watch.

Finally it was time for our last fast pass (and everyone's favorite), Toy Story Mania. Matt and Adrienne rode together....

Jillian and I did our best to achieve a worthy score in this video-game simulator. Matt and A of course beat us, thanks to Matt's mad video gaming skills

Lastly, we took a leisurely walk to dinner and snapped a few pics of the girls.

Dinner was a super-cool experience, and by far the best Disney restaurant we've been to in terms of theme. We had reservations at the Sci-Fi Dine In Theater. It's hard to see in pictures, but the restaurant is rows of 50's cars (three rows of 2 seats in each), all facing a movie screen that shows clips of old sci-fi movies and some commercials. Really cool. The girls got to sit in front of us, and the waitress gave them driver's licenses.

We ran for the last bus of the day, and then had just a couple minutes to stand and watch fireworks from the bus stop.

About 5 minutes into the bus ride, Adrienne declared she had to go potty--BAD. This kid and her potty drama. We implored her to please hold it, that we were almost there, on and on. Then as we turned into the community where the resort was located, she said--"Mom, I peed my pants just a little bit". Sigh. I prayed that the seat wasn't wet and endured glares from Matt (I don't know why dads always look to moms like we have complete control over this?!). We parked, I scooped up A (thankfully felt a dry seat and dry skirt) and we RAN for the lobby bathroom. She made it just in time--with completely dry pants. Not sure why she told me she peed just a little, but I am grateful for that mistake. Before we could head back to our room, we had to help Matt shop in the resort store for a shirt. He forgot to put a button down shirt in his suitcase, and needed one for his talks the next day. Let's just say that was an expensive mistake. I hope he loves that shirt and wears it out....it cost more than most people spend on groceries in a week. Live and learn!

The girls were always delighted to see what housekeeping had done to their toys when we got back to the room.

And then they added the day's purchases to the mix to create quite a scene...

Love watching these two play and imagine together. One of my greatest joys.