CSD 10 Year Reunion!!!

OMG is really the best way to describe this wild and oh, so fun girls' weekend in Austin.  So hard to believe it has been TEN years since we graduated from grad school!  We had the absolute best. weekend. ever.  Katherine found us great house to rent with enough beds for all and a pool.  We truly could have stayed in a garbage can and still had fun.  This is a group of girls that every time we get together, it is like no time has passed.  They are some of my most favorite people in the whole wide world.  I guess that is what happens when you spend almost every waking moment for two years together, enduring some tough obstacles.  I am truly so lucky to have been placed with these awesome ladies.  Love love love them!

First up, Happy Hour at Hula Hut on Lake Austin.  Katherine, Jennifer, Julie, Tory, SSR, Kim, Celina, Melissa, and Megan. 

Katherine made us matching shirts with a memorable quote or something funny that happened in grad school.  We got to pick the one that "spoke to us".  We went to the Farmer's Market and got lots of interested looks of curiosity :)

Katherine (who just had a baby and was still a rock star--in between pumpings! ) by our pool

Julie and her self timer photos :)  We have just a couple of these from back in the day.  All ready to go out to eat at Contigo.

Celina (Mama of 3 boys), Melissa (Mama of one boy and pregnant!), Megan (Mama of one boy and also pregnant!) and SSR

 Kim, Celina, and Julie

The several year quest has finally been completed!  I finally got Tory to join Facebook!!!!!!!!!!

The girls!

  We made a pit stop at this "alternative Karaoke bar" that included darts and other debauchery.  This photo is only funny to those who know why it is funny ;)

This unforgettable night ended with another Karaoke bar.  We got a private room and had the best time EVER.  It was epic and a "girl-a-cane" for sure :)

I am only posting these two photos as they were the least ridiculous, LOL

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Meanwhile, Mike drove both of the girls to Austin for the weekend as well.  They stayed with Fife and Courtney and had a ton of fun!

 A little golf with Chaser

 With Uncle Joel

With Elizabeth :)

Animal Kingdom

Awesome awesome park!  Disney is just amazing. I never expected to have such a fantastic time.  It really is the happiest place on earth :)

We walked right up to a small roller coaster only to find out Olivia was too short to ride it.  Our guide book said it was a great ride, so while one of us was on the roller coaster, we alternated riding this ride with Olivia. Olivia got to ride this dino ride over and over and over again :)  While she loved it, she was so bummed she couldn't ride the "big scary dinosaur roller coaster"

 Selfie

 Olivia really did not want to get wet on rapids ride, so Mike put her rain coat on her and bagged up her legs!

 Loving the giant bats

 Monkey habitat

 Playing the drums in the African area

 They pulled her up and had the entire crowd sing happy birthday to her...it was the birthday button!

 Meeting Donald Duck.  We read not to waste too much time waiting in the character lines...poor Donald had no line!

 Meeting Pocahontas

After Animal Kingdom, we went back to the hotel and packed up to move to the hotel Mike was staying at for the rest of the week for a convention.  This resort was truly incredible.  I wish we had stayed a day longer to actually get to enjoy the resort, but we had to get back to that little cute baby sister!

 Yet another recognition of her birthday!  Seriously, best place ever to take a child for their birthday.  Disney rolls out the red carpet, for sure!

 Would loved to have stayed here longer!

 At the airport, day 3 of the hair...still looked pretty good! :)  I was happy to see it go; I missed those curls!

Disney Day Two

We decided skip a park the second day and just hang around Downtown Disney.  A month earlier, I had made Olivia a reservation to have her hair, nails, and make-up done at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique.  This might just have been the highlight of her trip!

 Choosing her hair style

 "Jellyfish gel from Ariel"

 

 Make-up!

 Getting "pixie dust"

Princess transformation complete!  After we walked around a bit, she got to participate in a princess parade all around Downtown Disney.  She felt like a movie star :)

  

Olivia refused to wash her hair or take off her "Birthday Princess" button.  Everywhere we went around Disney, everyone (even the valet guys at the hotel) said, "Happy Birthday Princess".  She loved it!

 Mickey and Minnie

 In the giant Lego store

 Her favorite

 Dragon Lego with Nick and Alyssa

That night, we grabbed last minute tickets for the awesome Cirque du Soleil show.  It was amazing!

Ducky and Pong Pong gave her a gift certificate to spend while at Disney.  She chose a Brave suction cup bow and arrow.  I tried talking her out of it, but I failed.  It has turned out to be a great toy and she loves it!  She spent most of our time in the hotel room shooting it at the giant window.

 Facetime with baby sister!

 Giving her a huge hug :)

Making sure that princess hair did not get washed away!

Magic Kingdom!!!

On Olivia's actual birthday, we told her that we were leaving the next day for Disney World!!!  She was moderately excited, not really understanding the magnitude of this surprise.  After much thought, we reluctantly decided to leave Eliza at home with Nonna and Papa.  As hard of a decision that was to make, after going we know know it was the right one.  While she would have loved the actual parks, everything else would have been really difficult with her (all sleeping on one room, lots of going out to eat, need for a nap, her desire to RUN, etc.).

 Olivia LOVED riding the bus to the airport from the self parking lot.  We could have gone home after this ride and it would have been a great trip :)

While we were loading the bags, she made sure Emily and Molly were safely buckled in too

 We were at Magic Kingdom the next morning to open the park  She was so excited to see Cinderella's step-sisters and step-mother.  She kept asking us the entire trip, "So, is that really them or just characters".  It was a hard question to answer and we finally settled on, "Yes, that is really them".

 Our first glance at Cinderella's castle.  Every time she watches a Disney movie now and the graphic of the castle pops up, she gets really excited and squeals, "We have been there!"

 We followed our guide book's itinerary of Disney in one day with a small child.  The "Dumbo or Die" itinerary.  This is where it told us to go first.  We were on its first ride of the day, almost by ourselves.

 Miss Sassy in front of the castle

Selfie in front of the castle

 Olivia's favorite ride, Aladdin's Magic Carpet.

 We loved Splash Mountain!  Olivia was not the biggest fan of the huge drop that, "scared her tummy"

 Waiting to meet Belle

 Olivia got to play Belle's father in the little performance

 We got Fast Pass tickets to meet the princesses.  Olivia could hardly stand it.

 Getting Cinderella's autograph

 Aurora, Sleeping Beauty

  Rapunzel was her favorite

What an awesome day!

Her loot, thanks to Ducky and Pong Pong

I posted on Facebook that we were going to Disney and Mike's cousin's wife, Alyssa, posted that they had just moved Florida, about 5 minutes from Disney!  We met them for dinner that night and got to watch the Epcot fireworks from the Disney Boardwalk.