Let's "Party like a Pirate", Liam is 4 years old!!!!

Our Liam turned 4 yesterday. A few months ago, I asked him what kind of party he wanted for his birthday and he asked for a pool party. Once we were in FL, I asked him again and he said he wanted a pirate pool party. We knew we could blow his mind if we stayed at the Disney Caribbean Resort where they have pirate themed rooms and a really nice pool with slides so we booked it. I think we set the bar pretty high and I don't know that we'll top this but he loved it.

The rooms were awesome. The beds were "pirate ships", the curtain divide to the bathroom had the skull and bones, the dresser looked like shipping crates, and the mini fridge was inside a barrel.  

Pirates say "Aargh"

Grandpa Ron and Grandma Mary joined us at the hotel to celebrate with adjoining rooms. They helped theme up the day even more with eye patches and tattoo sleeves. 

Practicing their pirate talk

The kids all had a blast but Liam knew it was his special day and he took it in. He loved the pool slides and surprised us by going on them all by himself (as long as we were waiting for him below it in the water). 

I can't remember the name of this "ship" but this is the boat we took to get from our building to the main pool. It was yet another attraction for the kids. 

 The kiddie pool area is awesome. It's a pirate ship theme with sprayers that Liam could turn on and off. There was also a tunnel slide that wasn't as intimidating as the big one that he tried out and liked. 
 We can never predict Liam's mood but he is pretty consistent about not wanting to take pictures so there are plenty of pictures with just Gavin and Ellie- not because Liam wasn't around or we forgot about Liam but because Liam deliberately avoided pictures. We had to BEG for him to take one family picture each day.

These two really love each other. 

 It's too bad this picture came out blurry because it's rare to get Liam to smile this big for the camera....it was all for an M&M cookie. :)

When we asked Liam what he wanted for his birthday, as in gifts, he always responded that he wanted to be surprised so he wasn't going to tell us. He wanted his gifts to be a surprise BUT he did drop hints over and over. He told us he wanted, three gifts: yummy snacks, a Lego set, and an automatic hand dryer. Early birthday morning we gave him his snack gifts so he could have them for the day. I made him a basket with 20 different types of snacks [as many as I could find without any food dyes].

Can't see all the variety from the pic, but there are LOTS of options here: flavored nuts (one of his fav), PB cups, chocolate covered raisins, cookie dough larabars, coconut choc bars, fruit gummies, fruit strips, dried fruits,and even chocolate gold coins for the pirate theme. 

Liam loved the pool slide. I think he was proud of himself for doing it all by himself.

Liam is FOUR!!!!

I was so proud for scoring this sweet table right next to the shallow beach entry pool. It was the best table!

Grandpa wearing a "space helmet"

Ellie wants a space helmet too.

We took a break from swimming to go back to the room for cake and presents. Liam wanted chocolate cake this year.    

After cake, Liam opened his presents. We were curious whether he would still be as excited about the automatic hand dryer as he was when he first asked for it. He was pretty happy and he's looking forward to having it in his bathroom back home. He told us it's better for the environment because he won't need paper towels.
A reoccurring phrase from Liam this weekend was, "I KNOW THAT" or "I ALREADY KNOW THAT." I'm not sure where he got it from or why he's adopted it but he overused it this weekend as you'll hear in the video.


Here are some more random pictures from our stay:

"Party like a Pirate" shirts :) 

He's only a little bit happy here. 

Ellie made sure "mermaid" was tucked in for bed too.

While we were out swimming, we had a special delivery back in the room. Liam got balloons and a card signed by all the Disney characters. Like Grandma Mary said, it's Disney Magic.

Love the Disney handwriting.

 The kids loved taking the Disney bus to dinner. Ellie said she had to "hang on to the rail just like the monorail."

The kids got to roast marshmallows at the campfire by the beach. Liam doesn't care for marshmallows but he was still up for the experience....and he ended up giving in to the temptation of the marshmallow. Liam was done after one but Gavin had three and still wanted more.

We lucked out with the weather. The forecast had predicted rain on both days but there was no rain on the first day and only temporary rain on the 2nd day. We even got to spend time at the pool on the 3rd day before the storms rolled in. It was a perfect family celebration and one that the kids will remember for a long time, if not forever.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY LIAM!