The Belle of the Ball

Good evening, lovelies!  I usually schedule my posts in the morning but ahh, the luxuries of a teacher on summer vacation.  I was able to write during the day!

Thank you so much for your positive comments about the birthday pictures I posted yesterday!  We were so grateful to have Brittany Morgan along to take the beautiful photos!  As promised, I'm back today with more pictures from my birthday weekend that were taken by amateurs (my family, friends and me) with amateur equipment (iPhones).

As I was looking through all of the captured moments from the weekend, I struggled to narrow down just a smattering of photos that truly depict all of the fun we had!  And what the heck, this is my little corner of the internet, so I'm going to spread these pictures over my next two posts!  What you see today are my memories of the night we all arrived in Orlando and the pictures from my actual birthday (the first full day in Florida).

One of the best decisions of the weekend was to rent an Airbnb house so that the whole crew could stay together!  I was able to spend every moment with my loved ones and that is what made the weekend so special.  My sister was a party planner extraordinaire and had the house decorated when we all arrived.  She made a fun banner, Mickey-themed cupcakes and welcome gifts for all of us!

The house was perfect!  I just had to share a picture of the super-fun Minnie Room where my friend Michelle and I lived for the weekend!

Another fun feature of the weekend was a Disney-themed cocktail of the day!  My brother-in-law, Brad mixed delicious beverages for us...this was the Belle of the Ball!

The morning of my birthday, the ladies of the group headed to the Disney Saratoga Springs Spa.  Y'all, I have never been pampered so much in my life!  The spa had mimosas, fruit and bagels for us when we arrived.  And we filled our own private manicure and pedicure room!  The pedicure was so very relaxing and included a hot stone massage (my first one!) for my lower legs and a paraffin treatment.  The cute little Mickeys and Minnie bows we had painted on our nails was a fun extra touch!

After the spa, we headed straight to the Magic Kingdom!  You've seen most of our pictures already but there are a few moments where Brittany couldn't join us and we were left to our own devices (cellular devices, that is).  Our very first stop was the Be Our Guest restaurant.  Beauty and the Beast is one of my all-time favorite movies since childhood and I was so excited to see the ballroom and the Beast's wing brought to life!  We did try the grey stuff and it was delicious!

From the restaurant, we literally rode rides until we were ready to drop!  A few favorites that we hit were It's a Small World, Thunder Mountain Railroad and The Haunted Mansion.

We stayed through the light parade and the fireworks!  Although I will admit, we were starving and skipped the fireworks to eat dinner.  But exiting the park through Main Street at night was a magical way to end a magical day!

Hopefully I will see you tomorrow so I can tell you all about our second day in Orlando!