Steady As We Go: HAPPY 5th BIRTHDAY!

Well, my big boy is 5 years old. And the trip went very well. We couldn't wait to tell him, so we decided to tell him Saturday afternoon. We filmed ourselves telling him his surprise, then showed it to him on the computer. I filmed his reaction as well. Maybe one day I will download that...
We left Sunday afternoon and had a nice flight in perfect weather. The first night, we walked to CityWalk at Universal and ate at Emeril's. It was ok... I have had much better meals there and was a bit disappointed. We walked around a bit before heading back to the hotel for a night time swim. Paul Vincent was very pleased when Batman was playing on the big screen at the pool. Very cool.
The next morning we were up bright and early for our first full day - at Universal's Islands of Adventure. Paul Vincent just loves it there. Dr. Seuss' area is his favorite. He really enjoys the water part, where they can splash and play in the spouts that surprise you with a splash. He did just about all the rides that he could do at his height. He would be super nervous in line and then come off jumping and giggling about how awesome it was.
Tuesday we spent the day at the Blizzard Beach water park. Fun! Paul Vincent was definitely all smiles here - I have water babies, for sure. That evening Paul Vincent had a great surprise - his Paul's parents had arrived to spend his birthday with Paul Vincent! He was very excited and couldn't wait to tell them all about the hotel, their room and the water taxi we ride from place to place. We all rode down to eat at a little Italian place at one of the other hotels. It was excellent.
Paul Vincent woke early Wednesday morning and I was eager to cuddle with my brand new 5 year old. We talked all about his day ahead and soon we were set to our first destination - a Disney Character breakfast at O'hana. Let's just say that I will NEVER schedule another character breakfast. Paul Vincent hates the big costumes. We would have been MUCH better off just eating breakfast a the hotel and heading straight to the Magic Kingdom - the happiest place on Earth. LOL! Again, we rode just about everysingleride. The lines were not too bad. Each was about 35 minutes. Paul Vincent was greeted with a "happy birthday" wish about every few minutes. He wore his special birthday shirt and he had two birthday buttons to wear. Even with all this, he still managed to ask, "when is my party?" HELLO! THIS IS YOUR PARTY! Ha!