Hayley and Todd's Little Worlds: Happy Birthday, Hayley!

Today, we have a FOUR year old!! Hard to believe that it was just four years ago our adventures in parenting began. We've learned A LOT, thanks in part to our very thorough teacher, Hayley! She definitely kept us on our toes as a newborn and toddler, but has grown into SUCH a sweet, loving, little girl. She's still a VERY intense little girl. There is no in between for Hayley and her enthusiasm can only be rivaled by her frustrations. She's incredibly curious and can (and does) talk nonstop!

We took Hayley and Todd to Disney a week ago to celebrate her birthday a bit early. We'll celebrate a little more thoroughly this upcoming weekend and Hayley will celebrate with a party at school on Wednesday. Here are a few pics from our trip to Disney!

We spent our first day at Typhoon Lagoon where Hayley had a swell time until the very last wave of the day. Typhoon Lagoon has a huge wave pool which shoots out 6 foot waves. Even in the most shallow end of the pool, it's enough to knock you off your feet. Hayley LOVED the waves and by the end of the day I thought Hayley and I both had enough courage for her to try one wave without me clinging to her. Sure enough, the wave knocked my little light weight over and she scraped her knee, which, if you know Hayley, you know that boo boos are the absolute END of the world. Two weeks later and she still hasn't let me forget that the healing boo boo on her knee is because I didn't hold on tight enough to her. How's that for mommy guilt??!! We did make major progress this trip however because Brian and I were finally able to convince Hayley to wear a band-aid. Hayley has had a HUGE phobia of band-aids for her entire life. Just opening the wrapper was the enough to induce screams of pure terror. Yes, this is definitely a sign my little band-aid wearer is growing up!

The next day we headed to Magic Kingdom where Hayley met Alice in Wonderland and told her all about her mermaid Silly Band. She then did a pirouette which thoroughly impressed Alice.

Next we hit the race track, the merry-go-round, and It's a Small World. Todd was a big fan of the hula dancers in Hawaii.

After an afternoon nap at the condo, we headed back to Magic Kingdom to explore the Swiss Family Robinson tree house and take a ride on the Jungle Cruise. We ended the night watching the Wishes fireworks show which Hayley said was "AMAZING!" She ooed and awwwwed the entire show!

The next morning we headed off to Hollywood Studios.

There wasn't a whole lot to amuse the kids at Hollywood Studios, but the main purpose of our visit was so Hayley could get a picture with every little girl's favorite Disney character... Lightning McQueen. For those of you thinking she'd eventually grow into the princess preference stage... it certainly hasn't happened yet!

Hayley was happy to meet Goofy and Pluto... Todd seemed a bit suspicious of them.

And then we spent some time playing in the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground before heading back to the condo to rest and cool off in the pool.

We spent our final evening at Downtown Disney, dining at Hayley's favorite restaurant, T-Rex.

She let everyone know she was turning FOUR!

She was overjoyed when the servers at T-Rex brought her a sundae and sang to her! And Todd was thrilled that his sister was willing to share her special treat!