Ben's 4th birthday!

I can't believe my baby is FOUR! Unbelievable. Jeremy and I woke Ben up in the hotel this morning and sang the birthday song to him. He jumped up and started looking at his arms and legs. He kept saying, "look how big my legs are!" It was so precious! He just knew he had grown overnight! Grandma and Grandpa had a little present for him in the hotel. They were right next door to us, so Ben ran over to open his first birthday present. It was a train from Chuggington. Ben was so excited to have Hodge. We packed up and got showers before heading home. We stopped in Lakeland and did a little shopping and had lunch at Chick-Fil-A before going back to Frostproof. We got back in time to let Ben open his presents from us before nap time. We got him several Chuggington trains and the Round House where the trains sleep. He was so excited! We had Grandma & Grandpa, Nana, Laci, Marlee and Easton over for cake and presents after nap time. Ben got so many fun presents. He got a Chuggington train set from Grandma and Grandpa, more trains and a movie from Nana, and more trains and a book from Laci, Marlee and Easton. He got several cards and birthday money in the mail from the rest of the family. He is loved by many, that's for sure.

Disney!

We had so much fun at Disney today! I realized on the ride over that we spent Ben's first day as a three year old at Disney and today is Ben's last day as a three year old. It has been an amazing year. A friend told me that Ben would go from looking like a toddler at age 3 to looking like a little boy at 4. She was exactly right! It is killing me to look back at old pictures and see how much he has grown in one year. I can't say enough how awesome Ben is and how rich our lives have been with him. He amazes us every day.

Back to Disney........

The park wasn't too crowded, so we got to ride more rides than we ever have in one visit with Ben. Jeremy, Cindy and I were in and out of Thunder Mountain in less than 15 minutes! Ben loved Dumbo and riding the Walt Disney Railroad. He also rode the tea cups, race cars, jungle cruise and carousel. He didn't want to go on It's a Small World for some reason. It was getting late in the day so I think he was ready to chill. We grabbed some popcorn and found a spot in Frontierland to sit and watch the parade. Ben has watched a lot of Disney Junior this past year, so the parade was extra special. He knew a lot of the characters and waved at them all! It was really neat to watch his excitement. We stayed at the park until 5:00, then headed back to our hotel for showers and dinner.

Here are some pictures of our special day.

 

Dinner at T-REX

We had dinner at T-REX restaurant in Downtown Disney tonight with Grandma and Grandpa Byrd. Ben got to dig for dinosaur bones while we waited for dinner! This restaurant is similar to the Rainforest Cafe; the dinosaurs and other creatures come alive every 15 minutes. It was a really fun experience. The staff sang an early birthday song to Ben and he had chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream. The cake comes out with a "volcano" in the middle, smoking with dry ice. It was very cool! We explored Downtown Disney the rest of the evening, then walked back over to our hotel for a good night's rest. Disney World tomorrow!

Parent Night videos

This is Ben's class saying "The Pledge of Allegiance"