The Commodore Turns 2...the Stay Little, Little One, Stay Little Edition.

We actually got quasi-lucky when we arrived in O-town. Yes, it did rain a bunch, but there were also a lot of blue sky moment as well, so basically....a typical day in Florida.

Although on our last night we did run through a particularly harrowing electrical storm from MGM (not Hollywood Studios) back to the Dolphin. I would post the video of Sean hauling butt with the stroller, but there are quite a few expletives in a VERY short amount of time. Let's just say we celebrated our safety with cocktails and dinner in the lobby and let the kids veg out with their Kindles, so it was kind of a date night for daddy and I although a little soggier than planned.

Anyway backing up the story to Commodore's birthday.

Again, we have a car, so there really isn't a limit to what we have to bring or the amount of it when we go to Disney. Do I attempt to keep it contained of course, does it work out that way...never.

I had made the below shirt for Commodore's birthday (there is a red mickey silhouette that was added afterwards).

I normally have a separate bag with all the birthday goodies, such as; presents, props, decorations, etc. and I keep it hidden in our closet so that the kiddos do not rifle through it. They are part of the packing process so it is the one bag that they cannot help with or go through. Also having a separate bag keeps from things getting smooshed or wrecked. It also makes the decorating process a lot easier with everything being in one location rather than going through several bags and muttering "I swear I packed that....where did I put it?". I normally get decorations from Party City as they seem to be the place to get some really cute things that are outside the norm decorations especially for characters or cartoons that may not be as popular or are off the air. EV loves attaching herself to characters and shows that are no longer on television....Elena...Doc...Go Diego Go...the list goes on and on...

Case in point....We were super lucky to find Elena of Avalor stuff as her last season ended last year. The decorations were great, there were ton of fun options and were super inexpensive (even the one that had her name on it)

In typical little brother fashion, Commodore loves anything that EV loves so he has been really attached to the "Doc Doc" (Doc McStuffins) lately. Do you know which show barely has anything made of them anymore?! You guessed it! Doc McStuffins ::sigh sigh::. Unfortunately, Party City did not have anything, but......

Luckily, Amazon really pulled through with THIS banner and THESE balloons.

Sidenote: The balloons do not come with one of those mylar straws to blow up the balloons (which luckily I knew because I read the review), but I made sure to have THIS number two balloon with us as they automatically come with one of those straws and I just remembered to save it to use on the others. I absolutely love the Spritz number balloons from Target as they are HUGE and look so good in pictures for the price. We blew up the large 2 balloon, both Doc's, and some of the regular helium ones and then kept the others in the bag to save for next time.

Things looks a little different this year as EV and Commodore shared the pull out sofa. they loved having a sleepover and now I am anxious to get rid of the crib when we get home and get them both their big kid beds.

Something about seeing my kids both in a big kid bed makes me a bit weepy...not having to travel with a portable crib anymore....does not!

Now onto the decorations...

We set everything up while the kids were sleeping so the below pictures are the morning of Commodore's birthday...

EV is obviously our morning wild child and this was the only picture I could get of the two of them sitting in front of it...so here we are...

The Doc McStuffins banner was REALLY nice quality and as you can see is quite huge and took up a good majority of the wall. The image is a smidge pixelated, but considering everything else, a 100% worth it for the price and the balloons (albeit missing the straw) were also excellent. Second Sidenote: because of the excellent quality and being a little bit heavier than the normal birthday banners, I suggest bringing with you strong adhesive tape that you would use for projects around the house (the kind you buy at Home Depot on that massive roll with the razor sharp edge...remember to put it away after use ::cue face palm emjoi::). We actually had to use a lot of it as it kept falling off the wall and scaring the jeebus out of us after we had fallen asleep (and that is with having used the heavy duty tape).

We also purchased THIS 'Twodles' banner. I absolutely loved it and actually brought it home with us rather than leaving it there. The quality is absolutely excellent and it is definitely thicker since it is more of a fabric material. It really brightened the room and then I just purchased THIS Mickey Mouse tablecover to cover the 'present' table and to tie in the banner because I am THAT kind of mom.

Don't mind the stuff all around it. We were so exhausted after everything and I didn't have the heart to clean up anything around it for pictures...

The day before Commodore's birthday in and of itself had been jam packed as we left Fort Lauderdale at 9am, got to Orlando at Noon, checked in (thanks Marriott rewards), went to the pool immediately, had lunch, took a nap, went to Epcot and then finally got the kids to bed at midnight (you read that right), so that we could decorate the room. I don't care how tired we were, there is something magical about kids waking up to a fully decorated birthday room.

However, nothing revitalizes a moment or takes you out of your exhaustive funk like hearing a firework boom, opening up the door to your balcony and being privvy to watching the ENTIRE practice fireworks show that is going live on July 2nd in Epcot. In pure Disney fashion, it was MAGICAL! I love the Dolphin Hotel with a capital L!

Now back to our regularly scheduled program..

The Commodore loves EV's adventure bag at home and we tried to order him the Mickey version (HERE), but it was kind of expensive on Ebay and no matter the listing it seemed that at least one of them was missing an item that came with it, so it definitely did not make it worth it. Instead I ordered THIS toddler Mickey backpack off of Amazon and THIS adventure kit (it came with so much stuff for the cost and it is awesome) and made our own. Plus, we ordered a Stuffy from Doc McStuffins, which he adored. The Stuffy for the size was a little expensive, but it was an actual Disney Store Stuffy (it had the old school tags) and since they do not make them anymore, I felt it warranted the price...I legit can talk myself into anything that involves Disney and the kiddos.

#teamnoselfcontrol

EV got Sunny the Sloth from TOTS. I always bring a little something for the other kid.

Although once she had the whistle, the sloth was forg-TOT-en (groan if you need too).

Is it even a Disney morning or a Disney birthday for that matter if you are not celebrating with Mickey waffles?!

I love that their sundries store FUEL has boxed Mickey waffles to go.

As per usual we got the kids dressed and I took pics of the Commodore with the annual birthday sign. I actually got a new one from the Bullseye Playground this year. I loved the bright colors and the minimalism of it...

The birthday ears are ALWAYS from ForeverDreamDesign. She is an Etsy seller and always opens her shop on certain dates and times, so I suggest following Jocelyn on Instagram and turning on your notifications. NOTHING beats her baby and toddler ears. Also, if you see a pair of ears, grab them and save them if anything. She doesn't always offer the birthday ones and these were released back towards December or January so I just ordered them and held on to them and I am glad that I did since they have not been released again since.

We did Epcot for the Commodore's birthday and there is just something so special about walking in the back end (::giggle::) of Epcot. We knew the weather was going to be a mix of sitting on the sun and torrential downpour so we made sure to hit all the "necessaries" first and then decided what to do from there. A new favorite is Finding Nemo which we did twice, visited with Mickey, and took a bunch of fun pictures ala Photopass.

We stopped off in Canada so EV could wave at some of her friends...

If you need a good place in Epcot that is somewhat sheltered and where you can let the kids run off some energy for a bit, there is a beautiful location on the other side of France where the Ratatoutille ride is going to be. Revel in this spot while you can, because much like Nomad Lounge in Animal Kingdom, once this spot opens up, it is going to be a madhouse. There are so many great picture spots back here and a lot of shaded seating where you can escape the heat, sit down for a spell and watch the Skyliners go by. Commodore and EV love this more than anything! And I loved the outcome of the pictures...

I am going to end up with an entire wall of mixtiles just from this series....

Honestly, this day was hot....like oppressively hot and we opted to just take the kids back to the pool to swim, have a cocktail (us not them), grab some lunch and take a nap before dinner. The kids loved the pool....we literally had to pry them for it.

Some pre-dinner photos....the lobby is all kinds of gorgeous, but I hate the lighting lol

We did Commodore's dinner inside the Dolphin at the Bluezoo (it made is so easy to go from our room to dinner), it is legit one of the top five restaurants I have ever been too. I absolutely love it and they are always so accomodating and kid friendly even though it is not really a kid restaurant. Yes, I did bring their Kindles because they had a long day and by the time 8:30 rolled around for dinner and their Uncle Scott showed up, they just needed to unwind and if they wanted to do that by binging some Doc McStuffins, I was there for it. Dinner here as with anywhere in Disney can be a bit pricey (especially since so many of the restaurants now offer family style meals), but if you are going to have a splurge meal or even a date dinner with your significant other, you cannot go wrong with this restaurant.

Boy after his mama's heart

Dinner as you can see was quite the success.

Pasta is life....amirite?!

And the piece d'resistance....lava cake with ice cream....the kids were in heaven!

And as the finale.... would it even be Disney celebration without rounding out the day in brand new matching jammies?!

Note: Commodore's sleepy bloodshot eyes of a day well spent

Even though it was a day packed with fesitivities, it was absolute perfection....and being 2 is already off to a magical start (but I would be okay with time slowing down just a little too). Just seeing our next plans on the Disney app gets me excited even if it is a couple months away....

Anyone else already craving that Disney magic?!