Toy Story 3 On Ice

I am beginning to wonder if Dylan's love of all things relating to Toy Story will ever weaken.  Until it does, I'll just have to sit back and enjoy all the pretend playing of Buzz vs. Zurg, the movie quotes by Dylan (the kid is amazing in quoting lines from the movie), listending to Toy Story 1, 2, and 3 books on CD, watching Toy Story 1 and 2 DVDs, reading any Toy Story books we can get our hands on, playing Toy Story themed games, and practically turning into a character from the movie myself.  Some days I almost forget that I am mom and not Mrs. Potato Head.  If you haven't seen the movies, she's the motherly and nurtuing character who is married to Mr. Potato Head.

Due to Dylan's extreme love of Toy Story, we couldn't resist buying tickets to see Disney's Toy Story 3 on Ice when it came to town recently.  David and I decided to do something special for Dylan so we were going to take him on a date with us and surprise him with this show.   While we were on our date with Dylan, Zoe enjoyed a date with Nana - just the girls. 

Dylan's first clue of his surprise was getting dressed in his Toy Story shirt and his new cowboy boots!

 This was Dylan's expression right after his squeal once we revealed where we were going. Oh, and check out his new hairstyle. 

It was exciting taking our little guy downtown.  He was excited to see all the tall buildings.  I got to show him the building where Mommy used to work.  He told me "When I'm five, I'm going to work in a tall building like that and tell the elevator every day."

The weather was gorgeous and perfect for walking around downtown. 

I have said a million times that Disney knows how to market.  We weren't in the arena more than five minutes before we had bought a bag of cotton candy with an alien hat for Dylan.  How could you resist buying it when you see how happy he was?

Dylan sitting in his very own seat between Daddy and me.

Dylan enjoying the show and his cotton candy.

 This is the Evil Emperor Zurg.  Zurg is one of Dylan's favorite characters and he is the nemesis of Buzz Lightyear.  So when Zurg came at us with his ion blaster, I thought Dylan was going to jump out of his seat and onto the ice. 

Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head 

 The aliens.  I love the aliens!

Taking a break in our seats during intermission. 

We had Dylan get up and get the wiggles out during intermission.  He ate the entire bag of cotton candy so there were lots of wiggles to get out.

Mommy and her little alien.  Again, I love those aliens.

We bought Dylan and Zoe some of the Toy Story figures at the show - Woody, Bullseye, Jessie, Buzz and Rex.  We let Dylan open Woody and Bullseye during the intermission.

Just when Dylan was getting restless, intermission was over and the show began!  I must admit Disney knows how to put on a great show.  The show was very entertaining for all ages.  If you had not seen Toy Story, they did a great job of familiarizing you with it and bringing you up to speed on the major events from the first two movies to prepare you to enjoy the story of the 3rd one. 

Barbie and Ken were surprisingly some of the most entertaining characters and best skaters.

Dylan loved it when Lotso's dump truck came out on the ice.  

Some of our favorites - Buzz is on the ground surrounded by Rex, Jessie, Bullseye, Woody and Mrs. Potato Head.

Buzz and Jessie 

After the show, we thought it would be fun to walk a little downtown and have some lunch.  We walked a few blocks over to the Epicenter for some kid friendly lunch options and ended up at Firehouse Subs.  With the beautiful weather, we sat outside and enjoyed being downtown.  

After lunch, we had one tired little boy and it was time to come home and tell all the stories about our day to Nana and Zoe who were waiting for us. 

I love family activities and I love experiencing "firsts" with our kids.  But what I loved most about this day was having some one on one time with my favorite little guy and my favorite big guy. 



Argh - A Pirate Party for Me!

This year, Dylan knew exactly what he wanted for his party. He requested a pirate party! Dylan wanted us all to dress up as pirates and play pirate games with his friends. I love planning parties and this was a very fun theme! We had a great pirate party for our Cap;n Pirate Dylan's 4th birthday!

Mommy and Daddy dressed up too just as requested.

A Grand Pirate Cake for the best Pirate Cap'n ever!

I made treasure maps for all of our pirate guests.  The maps told the guests where all the festivities were.

This was our sea of pirate grub.

  

This was the pirate treasure picture station.  We had pictures made of D&Z that guests could have.

Come make your own pirate hat here!

Zoe's tatoo parlor was a big hit with most.

We friendly pirates want to protect the environment, so here's our recyle place.

All pirates need the proper attire!

Pirates need plenty of booty!  So here was our party favor station.

This pirate party was full of action and tons of fun. 

Pirates were able to create and build their own treasure maps.

Even Pirate Bop dressed up and got in on some pirate action.

  

Pirate friends are the best! Susan, Mommy and Meg.

Like Father Pirate, Like Son!  Our friends, Dan and Nicholaus.

Mateys Cole and Ethan on deck!

Pickle of Pirates - Aunt Deborah AKA Pickle and the birthday boy

The Levenson Band of Pirates - Isaac, Clare and Mia (Pirate Nate was too busy with other pirate activities)

All the events and games make a hungry bunch of pirates.  Down the hatch, buckos!

Friend or Foes?  We'll let them be friends, I guess.

David, Jeremy and Frank

Here was an attempt at a group photo.  This was about take 10.  It was pointless. We had 20 kids at this party.  When the majority of your pirates are between the ages of 3 and 5, watch out!

Playing pin the "X" on the Treasure Map and win some booty

Cake Time!  Cap'n Dylan was so excited he was about to lose his pants!

Happy Birthday, Dylan!  You are so loved by so many!

Oh no!  We've spotted an enemy pirate ship.  We must take them down and steal their booty! 

Can this smallest pirate take down the enemy ship?  Not all by herself.

We went through at least 3 rounds of trying to take down this ship!

FINALLY!  We have pirate booty from the enemy ship!

And here are just a few more shots I couldn't resist of some of our pirate friends in action during the party...It was impossible to capture everyone adequately.

This is Dylan's buddy, David.  I couldn't get him to pose, but he looks like a serious pirate!

D&Z's pal, Joyner!  I can always count on a smile from Joyner and her smile lights me up each time.

Our neighbors - Thomas and Will.  Dylan refers to them and their sister collectively as "friends" and looks for them everyone we go outside.

Pirate Nate AKA the friend who introduced Dylan to transformers. 

Our friend, Judson!  This is Zoe's partner in crime when Dylan is in preschool.

Shiver me timbers!  What a great day!  Dylan loved his party and it definitely seemed like all of our family, parents, and kiddos enjoyed it.  Well done, mateys!

Thanks to all of our dear family and friends who were with us in person or spirit.  We are so honored to have you in our lives to celebrate our milestones and be a part of our most treasured memories!