Disney 2015 Day 4: Happy Birthday, Hudson!

We were NOT going to go to Disney World in 2015.  In fact, the two main things that prompted us to book our trip were a postcard for a sale on resort stays, and the idea of Hudson turning 5 at the Magic Kingdom. He has the sweetest personality and is just joyful about everything, and we knew that he would LOVE celebrating turning FIVE at the Happiest Place on Earth!  I have to say, I love everything about Disney World, and I really enjoyed our days at Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom, but there is nothing like walking in to the Magic Kingdom!

The girls loved visiting with Tinkerbell!

We had Reese take pictures alone, too.  Sometimes Finley just wasn't feeling it :).

Splash Mountain is obviously one of our favorites!  These would be some of our first times...of about 15 on the trip!  Hudson also rode Space Mountain for the first time on his fifth birthday, He's a brave fellow!

This gal is a really excellent ride partner.

H got to ride Tomorrowland Speedway with his Daddy.  He truly enjoys everything.  You can't have a bad time with Huddoo!

We only booked our trip 4 months out, but I was able to secure some fun dining reservations thanks to Disney Dining Buddy.  It was shut down by Disney while we were planning our trip, but it was the. BEST. RESOURCE. for booking meals.  I would tell them when and where I wanted to eat, pay them EIGHT DOLLARS, and they texted me when a reservation was available.  It was perfection.  And Disney didn't like it.  Bummer!  I was able to get three reservations before it was shut down, though. One of them was for lunch at Be Our Guest.  Here is our collection of cupcakes.  The "Grey Stuff" really is delicious!

Ready to ride Big Thunder Mountain!

And the Barnstormer.  They paired up nicely when Brian and I needed to ride with Hudson and Finley!

COULD. NOT. believe that this girl was tall enough to ride The Barnstormer!

It would appear that Hudson spent his whole day riding rides with Brian.  #birthdaygoals

We had a Fast Pass for "VIP seating" for the Festival of Fantasy Parade.  We went to get our picture taken while we waited for the parade to start.

The ladies with Jasmine. She was so great with them!

More Dumbo!

Trying to pull the Sword from the Stone!

Wyatt was able to pull the Sword out when he was a baby.  He was pretty determined to do it on this trip, but didn't manage to muster the strength!

Brian's parents came to our hotel room after dinner for cupcakes and presents.  This guy was super excited to end his birthday with chocolate cupcakes and Miles from Tomorrowland loot!

Hudson's Birthday

Hudson turned 4 this month.  Like, 25 days ago to be exact.

We celebrated his birthday at Red Robin, and he had his birthday party last weekend.

He was so excited to have a "Dusty party" at the zoo.   The morning started out overcast and rainy, but we ended up with a nice day!

These two were very interested in the animals.  I love that she picked the spot right next to her biggest brother.

Petting the bunny!

Hudson and his friends (and Finley) checking out the bullfrog,

I can't believe that Finley touched the turtle!

The rest of these are pretty self explanatory...just Hudson having fun with his friends petting some animals!

He had such fun at his party, he is still talking about it constantly!

Happy Birthday (Party), Hudson!!!!

Yesterday was Hudson's birthday party.  I tried to keep this one low key...and I succeeded in a big way.

I didn't go overboard on the decorations, we ordered pizzas and had store bought cupcakes.  I filled a pinata with candy and put a pin the tail on the donkey game up on the wall...and we didn't use either. 

 Writing on this chalkboard was about all the real effort I put in (besides cleaning the house)!

 The kids ran around my backyard for almost the entire party, and then came inside for cupcakes.  It was a gorgeous day for playing outside, and they all took full advantage!

This guy loved blowing out his candle and eating his cupcake!

 After cupcakes we opened some presents, and then his friends left.  Their cousins stayed for a little bit longer, and did they ever love getting in some extra cousin time running around our (completely dark) backyard some more!

Hudson spent the rest of the night with his Daddy,

 and showing his brother his new toys!

We're so thankful that so many people came out to celebrate Huddoo's birthday!!! Happy third birthday, Hudson!!!

Happy 3rd Birthday Hudson!

How is it possible that this baby is three years old now?

 Seriously, look at this sweet baby boy.  My days with him have passed so quickly, and while it seems like he was just born, I can barely remember what it was like not to know him.

He makes every single day fun.  He makes every single day different (for sure).  And he is just so stinking sweet and kind and obedient and funny.  With a dash of troublemaker thrown in there for good measure (but his big brother got a bigger dash).

 If you ask him who his best friend is, he's almost sure to answer with this girl's name.

 His favorite things are Jake, cars, trucks, and trains.  When he opened his new "Jake legos" he said, "I love it!  This is just what I wanted!"

We spent the day going to parent teacher conferences, voting, and taking the boys for (desperately needed) haircuts.  There was lots of playing too!  We stopped at the park before dinner and Wyatt captured this shot of us with Huddoo.

So very different than this one from three years ago!

Just a typical funny Hudson story:
At 6 and 5, Wyatt and Reese have never really had soda.  They get Sprite on VERY special occasions (usually it involves going to the movies), but we don't let them gave Coke or Pepsi or anything else.  Hudson has spent the last year of his life on a mission to drink some Coke.  No lie, he will hunt it down and find it.  If we have a soda and leave it on the counter he will find it and try to drink it.  While we were at Disney World, he would wait until we were distracted and try to grab a cup.  At Target, he tries to take it out of the cart.  And he is so, so sneaky about it.  We don't even notice that he's gotten it - until we see him with it, or hear him gulp it in and shout, "Deeee-wicious!"  So tonight while we were buckling everyone else in, he sneaked up to the front of the van and started drinking Brian's leftovers from earlier in the day.  When Brian asked him what he was doing, he shrugged his shoulders, smiled, and said, "What?  I'm the Coke bandit!"

After a Red Robin dinner, we came back home to have the cupcakes that Hudson requested - funfetti with blue frosting.

 He was excited to blow out his candles and dig in!

 He got them all by himself!

Happy Birthday, Hudson Ellsworth!  We love you!

One year of Hudson

Two years of Hudson