Thursday night, after Joey picked out his birthday present at Target, we told him, "Okay, your birthday is now over and Halloween starts tomorrow!" How's that for a transition?

Friday morning we went over to Andy's work for our annual trick-or-treating at his office. For Halloween, Joey decided to be Darth Vader, but Hannah kept picking a different princess every time I asked her. She picked Belle the most, so I got a hand-me-down Belle costume from my friend. Then our neighbor down the street randomly gave her a bunch of old costumes a couple of weeks ago, and one of them was Sleeping Beauty's dress. I figured she can pick a different princess outfit for each Halloween activity this year.

The kids love going around to all the different offices and getting candy and trinkets.


Andy's company has had this trick-or-treating activity for the kids for four years now. Literally, these are the only four kids that ever really come. I think it's so sweet that they keep doing it for these die-hard regulars, although I think the guys in the office get a kick out of it too!One of the guys Andy works with, Steven, took these great pictures.

After we trick-or-treated our way through the office, we had lunch with Andy. At lunch Andy told the kids that he had some special treats for Darth Vader and Sleeping Beauty.

Darth Vader got a red light saber. This was a big deal because Joey's other light sabers are blue and green which are only for the good guys. He didn't want to use them with his Darth Vader costume because that wouldn't be "realistic."

Sleeping Beauty got a jewelry set with Sleeping Beauty earrings, a bracelet, and a necklace.

That evening, we went to a Halloween carnival at the church that we go to for Bible study. This is another annual tradition that the kids love. At the last minute, Joey decided to be Batman and use the new mask Andy got him from the Dollar Store for his birthday. He's had those Batman pajamas for a long time.
With a few years of experience under our belt at this carnival, we finally were able to get there right when it started and before the lines got too long. Joey and Hannah LOVED going down this slide.

And they had lots of fun going around and playing all the games, even though they were mostly interested in the candy prize at the end.

Halloween, round one, was a big success!

After almost a week of celebrating, Thursday was Joey's real birthday. Five at last! We had a very busy day starting with his birthday donut.

We had Mom's Group and then after that we went straight to our favorite park to meet Joey's old neighborhood friend, Mason. They haven't seen each other in a long time, but they clicked again just like the old days.

When we got home from the park, it was nap time. For Joey's nap, he got to rest on the couch and watch Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace.

For his birthday dinner, Joey wanted Dominos pizza so Andy picked some up on the way home from work, and then we went to FroYo love for dessert.

Next up was his big trip to Target. Starting last year, we let Joey pick out the main present that we get him. It's always cute watching him analyze all of his choices. This year he picked out a Lego Mobile Police Unit set that he has been wanting for a while because it goes with the Police Prisoner Transport set he already has.

He put it together first thing Friday morning.

He was so happy to have both sets together at last!

After Fantasyland, we walked over to Tomorrowland. The kids were really excited to drive the cars in Autopia. Hannah told Joey, "I'm an excellent driver." Okay, Rain Man.

After the cars we got to Joey's favorite part...the Jedi Training Academy. He had heard about it a lot from his friend down the street, so it was one of the day's top priorities. For those who don't know, the Jedi Training Academy is a Star Wars-themed show that takes place on an outdoor stage in Tomorrowland. Every hour or two, the "real" Jedis come out, invite some kids up on stage, and teach them sweet lightsaber moves. We got to the Jedi Training about 20 minutes early to make sure we were in the front row in hopes of giving Joey a better chance to get picked. It worked out nicely because we were able eat lunch in the shade while we waited in our spot. When the show started, I had a feeling Joey had a pretty good chance of being picked: we were front and center and he was wearing a birthday button and a Star Wars shirt. Sure enough, he was the first kid picked! He was a little nervous about going up just because he wanted to make sure he was doing everything correctly (he is definitely a rule follower), and he was taking this Jedi training very seriously! They gave all the kids little Jedi robes and light sabers.

Then the training commenced.

Once the training was over, the platform in the back raised up and out came Darth Vader, two storm troopers and Darth Maul. It was amazing. Darth Maul actually came right up to us, knocked over our water bottle, and then glared at us. It was really funny, and thankfully Hannah didn't scream.

All the kids got to take turns to fight either Darth Vader or Darth Maul. Here's Joey in his battle against the dark side.


And, Joey won!

After all the Jedi excitement, we went over to Critter Country to see Winnie the Pooh. The Winnie the Pooh ride hardly had any line so we went on that ride several times. Again, Hannah wasn't a big fan of the dark, but she got more and more used to it. After the ride we got to meet Piglet and Tigger. Hannah loved Piglet...

but wasn't so sure about Tigger.

This is us in 2009! Yes, somehow I ended up wearing the same shirt both times.

After Critter Country, we headed to the Pirate's Lair on Tom Sawyer's Island. Joey especially loved running through the caves even though he was a little nervous about what was in them. Thankfully he didn't notice that his father was almost abducted by a pirate during the taking of this picture.


Andy and Joey got a fast pass for Star Tours so next we headed back to Tomorrowland. As we were passing by Sleeping Beauty's castle, I happened to catch a glance of Ariel walking by. That was the one princess Hannah specifically asked to see that we hadn't seen yet, so we ran her down and Hannah got to meet her. Ariel wanted to see Hannah twirl.


Back in Tomorrowland, Joey and Andy had a blast on Star Tours and immediately got another fast pass for it for the end of the day. This was Andy's favorite ride at Disneyland when he was a kid, and they recently updated it and made it even cooler. I guess at one point Darth Vader said he was looking for a rebel spy, and Andy's face popped up on the screen. Apparently, Joey didn't notice that part, but he did yell, "Star Tours is AWESOME!" at the end of the ride.

Then both kids rode the Astro Orbitor twice and their parents tried not to hurl.

Joey got temporarily detained by some Storm Troopers after the rocket ride, but his Jedi training served him well and he was able to escape.

Next up was the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blaster ride.

At the end of the ride, not only can you see your picture, but you can email it to yourself for free!

Obviously, not the best picture, but notice our scores. At this point, I'm sure Andy would want me to tell you something about how his laser gun was defective and kept resetting. Whatever. We know who the sharpshooter is in this family!

After the Buzz ride, we went on Autopia again, Finding Nemo's Submarine Voyage, and got the kids a quick dinner. Then Andy and Joey headed back to their final trip on Star Tours and Hannah and I staked out a spot for the Mickey's Soundsational Parade.

The parade started at 7:00 and the boys made it back just in time. The parade was easily my favorite part of the day. It was amazing and the kids loved seeing some of their favorite characters like Peter Pan, Captain Hook, Tinkerbell, all the Princesses, Aladdin, the Genie, Mary Poppins (okay, that was my favorite), and more.

After the parade we made our way down Main Street, bought one thing of cotton candy to share (the kids liked it, but didn't want too much), and made our way back to the Toy Story bus. We saw kids melting down right and left as we were leaving, but thankfully our kids made it to the car without any drama. Joey saw one boy flipping out and said, "I think that boy got too many special treats today." Both kids fell asleep within 5 minutes of being in their car seats.

The next day I asked Hannah what her favorite part of Disneyland was and she said, "The bus." As in the shuttle bus to and from the parking lot. I made the mistake of laughing, so now anytime someone asks her what her favorite part was, that's what she says and then she laughs and laughs. I asked Joey if he had a good time and he said, "Yeah! I think we should go back tomorrow!"

On Wednesday we went to Disneyland! We haven't gone since Joey was 2 1/2 and Hannah was 2 months old. We wanted to plan another trip before Hannah turned three (and no longer free) and before I got too huge and uncomfortable, so it worked out to do it for Joey's birthday.

The day before we went, I put up a post on Facebook asking for tips about visiting Disneyland. Boy, I got some amazing advice! First was where to park. Last time we went, we parked in the regular parking area and it took forever to get there and then forever to get to the actual park. This time, our Disney-expert friend Derek told us about a lesser known parking lot. What a huge difference it made! We quickly parked, got on a Toy Story bus, and were at the park in about 5 or 10 minutes!

We got to Disneyland about 15 minutes before it opened, but they let you onto Main Street early. Again, thanks to Derek, we stopped by City Hall to get Joey a birthday button. They wrote his name on it and even gave Hannah a button with Cinderella's castle and carriage on it. Then the lady told Joey that there was a phone call for him. He picked up this old fashioned phone and it was Goofy wishing him a happy birthday. That right there made me fall in love with Disneyland all over again. The birthday button was great because all day long the people who worked there would call out, "Happy birthday, Joey!" He was like a little celebrity!

Another tip from my mom and my friend Tami was to take the Disneyland train first thing to the back of the park. That way you can beat the crowd and it drops you off right where the princesses are. This was my main priority of the day, and it worked out well.
Hannah has been obsessed with all things princesses lately, but I didn't know how she would react to actually meeting them. The day before I showed her some pictures of her friend Mollie meeting the princesses and Hannah seemed pretty excited. As I was hoping, she LOVED meeting the princesses and had no problem going right up to them. Cinderella was first and she was the sweetest!

Hannah made sure to show each princess her princess button.


Oh, and Joey enjoyed meeting the princesses too although he may not admit that in a few years!
Next up was Fantasyland. This is where we spent almost the whole day last time we came. Hannah and Joey both loved the Dumbo ride so we did that twice. Hannah giggled the whole time!



Another priority of the day was the Peter Pan ride. It was under construction 2 1/2 years ago, so we wanted to make sure we rode it this time. Waiting in line for Peter Pan was probably the longest we had to wait for a ride, and to tell you the truth, we were a little underwhelmed. First of all, we found out that Hannah doesn't really love the indoor rides because they are so dark, and Peter Pan was especially dark as you "fly" around London and Neverland. As she said, "The darkness is too scary for my eyes."

That led us to more outdoor rides like the carousel...

and the teacups. Both of which she loved!
After that, we took a short trip to Toon Town. The kids had fun exploring the town and Goofy's house. It was pretty crowded and there were long lines to meet Mickey and Minnie, so we didn't stay long.
Up next was Joey's favorite part...