Ben's 3rd Birthday Weekend!

We had such a great time celebrating Ben's 3rd birthday at Disney World. We left Friday afternoon, right after Ben's nap. We checked in to our hotel and walked over to Downtown Disney. We had dinner at the Rainforest Cafe and let Ben ride the train and carousel. We all had a hard time falling asleep Friday night. I think we were all excited about meeting Mickey!

Jeremy and I woke Ben up Saturday morning with the birthday song. He started smiling and singing along! It was a precious moment :) We got to the Magic Kingdom right as it opened Saturday morning. Ben had so much fun riding the tram from the parking lot to the ticket booths. He also really enjoyed the monorail. We joked that we could have saved ourselves some money and just let him ride those all day long. He did enjoy riding Dumbo and It's a Small World. I think his favorite adventure was riding in a racecar at Tomorrowland's Indy Speedway. The cars were on a track, but guided along, so Ben could actually steer! So much fun!!! Ben also loved the carousel and the Walt Disney World Railroad. Since we stayed at a hotel really close to the park, we were able to take Ben back for a nap (mama and daddy needed one, too). We woke up and showered off, opened presents, and ate some yummy green birthday cake. We got back to the Magic Kingdom in time for dinner. We ate at Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn and Cafe. We had some yummy burgers and chili. We camped out in Frontierland while we waited for Mickey's Electrical Parade. I enjoyed the parade so much! I've never experienced Disney at night so it made the night extra special. We watched fireworks as we were exiting the park. We were so tired when we made it back to the hotel. We all slept in until 8 the next morning!

It was a magical weekend for the Byrd family. Enjoy the pictures!


Downtown Disney Pictures

Ready for Disney World!

Ben saw this popcorn vendor as soon as we walked in the park. He ate an entire bag of popcorn!

In line to meet Mickey and Minnie

He did not like wearing the Mickey ears, but I'm so glad we got a couple shots with them on :)

We all loved Dumbo the Flying Elephant! Ben was elated that we got to sit in the "GREEN" Dumbo!

"I'm THREE Mommy!!!"

Watching Mickey & Friends dance and sing in front of Cinderella's Castle!

We loved watching this band play some of our favorite Disney songs. Ben got so excited when they started playing the Hi-Ho song from Snow White :)

Walt Disney Railroad!

Back at the hotel for cake and presents!

Jeremy was in charge of putting candles on the cake (he didn't realize you were only supposed to put 3 on!)

A Thomas Train set!!!!

Back to Disney for dinner, parade and fireworks

Waiting for the parade to start :)

Mission Accomplished!

Race & Cute Ben pictures!

We've had another great week! I have been cherishing these last few weeks with my two year old. I can't believe Ben will be three in less than two weeks. I found pictures today while cleaning of his birthday celebration last year. It seriously feels like that happened yesterday.

Jeremy and I ran in Bartow's "Blown Away 8K" on Saturday. It was a nice morning for a race. The route was beautiful with lots of Oak trees and shade. I finished in 47:49, placing second in my age group. I was so shocked when they called my name to receive a medal! I was hoping to finish in under 50 minutes and Jeremy was hoping to finish in 45 or less. We both met our goals! I ran 17 total miles last week (including the race) and my legs are feeling it today. I'm glad my training plan only calls for 11 this week. I could use the break! Our next race will be a 10K at the end of October. I think it's safe to say we're addicted :)

Enjoy this week's pictures! Grandpa Byrd took some good ones after the race.

My sleeping angel

Yummy ice cream!

Family pic after the race

Having my picture taken by Bartow Parks & Recreation after receiving my medal :)

Hanging out while we wait for race results

Cute pic that I left out last week from Papa's birthday celebration

Another family pic after the race (I have crazy post-race hat hair!)

Party Animals!!!

We were party animals this weekend! My niece, Lauren, turned 11 years old on Friday. We celebrated with a pool/lake party on Saturday. Papa Stone (Jeremy's grandfather) turned 79 yesterday, so we celebrated him on Sunday. It was a fun, but exhausting weekend. I had to buy groceries yesterday because we were just too busy for the mundane things this weekend!

Jeremy and I are running in an 8K race this Saturday in Bartow. Say a few prayers for us that morning. It's a 5-mile race with a U-shaped "steep climb" around mile 4. Yikes! I set my alarm for 6am this past Sunday morning so I could run 5 miles through town. Frostproof doesn't have many steep climbs, but I made sure to do some hills.

Have a great week, everyone! Enjoy the pictures!

The birthday girl and her BFF, Shelby Garrett

Ben enjoying his watermelon snow cone :)

The birthday girl and more friends

My sweet cousin, Bella Shae. She turns one October 13th!

Ben, Daddy, and Uncle Chuck hanging out at Papa's

Enjoying some birthday cake (he has a sweet tooth like his mama!)

Ben's favorite toy at Papa's is this old, blue phone. He's never seen a phone with a cord before, ha ha! He likes to use the cord as a limbo stick or jump rope :)

Playing with Papa's birthday balloons

Play Park and Football!

The Byrd family had another great week! We were all so excited to have a 3 day weekend together. We spent Friday night cheering on the Bulldogs! Ben was so good and made it all the way until the 3rd quarter before getting sleepy. We all slept in until 8 the next morning! I forgot what that felt like. Even over the summer he was up by 7. We took him to Common Ground park Saturday afternoon and had lunch at Palace Pizza. Jeremy enjoyed all the football on TV and we did a little baking.

Enjoy the pictures! Have a great (short) week, everyone!

Ben and Daddy waiting patiently for the game to start.......

Go Bulldogs!

I love the smile on Ben's face. Can you tell he loves his Grandpa?

Handsome!

Ben really wanted to drink out of a tervis tumbler like mama. I took this picture just a few minutes ago. Ben is now sitting beside me on the couch playing with my iPod. I turned Bennie and the Jets on just for him :)