Allan, myself, and our 2 oldest kids have birthdays all within 2 weeks of one another (3 of us in late December, 1 following in early January). Ever since the time our family was just the four of us, Allan and I decided that we would throw a double birthday party for the two girls every other year, and we would go on a family trip together on the alternate years.
- 2012 – Peanut was turning 4 and LittleBit had just turned 2. The four of us took a trip to Disney World Resort. We didn’t go into any of the Disney theme parks. Instead, we enjoyed SNOW! at Gaylord Palms, and we toured around many of the WDW resort hotels admiring their Christmas decorations. The best memory from that trip was when LittleBit absolutely lost herself (out of fear) during our breakfast with the characters. The moment she saw Minnie Mouse, she started screaming to get out of her highchair. Allan was laughing so hard (we are such great parents). To this day, she is still not a fun of adult-size characters.
- 2014 – Peanut turned 6 and LittleBit turned 4. This was the year of our travels. We had gone to Japan/China the previous summer, to Vermont for Thanksgiving, to Charlotte in January, and to California for the first half of February. At the end of February, we finally were able to make time for the family birthday trip. This time it was the five of us as MiniLu had joined our family in July 2013. Our family took a trip back down to Disney. This time we hit three theme parks: Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and Epcot. The girls dressed up and dined with the princesses at Epcot. They all had a blast and it was a great trip!
- 2016 – Peanut is turning 8 in a few days and LittleBit just turned 6. Now there are SIX of us. And now we no longer live in Florida – we live in Greenville! We took a trip down to Orlando again via Jacksonville. We stayed in Jacksonville for a few days to visit with family and friends. We then stayed in Orlando for two nights and visited Sea World for a day. This was my Facebook post to describe the day: “We more than survived our first theme park as a fam of 6. Everyone, including the parents, had a stress-free, fun time. Perfect weather, no crowds, grateful kids, and one CHILL baby (despite no nap) = great family memories made.” And that was 100% the truth. The kids did great, and we can honestly look back on this trip with a big smile. We had a Great time!