It's Kaylie's birthday. In trying to decide what kind of cake to make for her, I was going back and forth between an animal cake or a Moana cake. She is all into her farm animal figurine and Zoo book, but she is also has found a love for the Disney movie Moana. She pronounces it like "Lana" If she sees you with a device, she will ask, "Lana, Lana?" Her way of asking if she can watch it. After doing lots of cake decorating googles and deciding that Moana is what is popular in 2017 and animals can be popular any year, I decided to do a Moana theme. I found this tutorial on YOUTUBE and thought I could probably do it with the step by step instructions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUiWSgbmXO4
I had a busy week with a trip to Alaska planned to celebrate one of my customer's retirements. So I started on Tuesday and baked the cake and then froze it in the freezer. I took Friday off so I could work on it and get it finished by the big day on Saturday.
I made the buttercream frosting and frosted the cake first.
I bought white fondant and mixed it loosely with a blue food coloring for the waves. I lucked out because the boys were invited to go see a movie (Captain Underpants) with one of their friends and I was able to work on the cake without a lot of distractions. When they arrived home, it was time to make the seaweed, fish and coral pieces. The boys liked helping me make the fish and we added some candy bubbles for the fish.
Finally I made the turtle, and added the plastic baby Moana doll along with her sidekicks Pua and Hei Hei. The sand is from crushed Nilla Wafers. Brushed some buttercream onto the wave ages to imitate the white caps foam. Overall, I was pleased with the finished product. It took about 6 hours to complete, but I loved working on it. That time included lunch and reading breaks and playing with Kaylie. :)
Friday night, July 30th, we went swimming at the condo and I had to take a picture of her vibrant red hair in the sunshine.
For her birthday, Grandma Nickie gifted her an annual zoo pass to the Woodland Park Zoo. So Saturday morning, we got up bright and early to go see all the animals. When we asked her if she wanted to go see the Giraffe, Lions, Penguins etc, she would answer, "Mo" which is her way to say No. I don't think she quite understood what we were going to do.
On our way to the zoo, we were asking her how old she is....she is working on showing us 2 fingers and she would say "ewww" for TWO. Totally cute!
We got to the zoo at about 10:30. It was perfect weather...a little overcast, about 65 degrees.
We first went to the Farm animal portion of the farm. The petting area was going to open at 11...so we headed there first. This beautiful peacock was walking around and strutting his stuff!
We got to pet the goats. Many of them would jump up on these little tables and eat all the leaves off these branches.
This donkey and goat scratched each other's backs with their teeth.
Cody and Decker had fun on the tractor...
Decker is milking the cow. The boys will remember the HUGE Pig going pee after eating his breakfast. He probably went for about 3 minutes straight! It just kept streaming out!
You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours....
We made it into the butterfly exhibit....
Then we had our lunches...ham and cheese and PB & J...I love how Mike labels our sandwiches.
Kaylie likes to collect pebbles and rocks...
Decker wanted to be the Butterfly whisperer...
They were dying to get their faces painted. Decker was a
LION and Cody a TIGER.
Here's some long tailed monkeys!
cute face!
In the bird exhibits, we saw this beautiful toucan!
The Gorillas were awesome! They have a new baby-Yola
She was just sitting at the window looking out at us.
Kaylie didn't like these statues too much. She was a little afraid of the big one. Cody would like to point out that all Gorillas have bottoms.
Can you see the 2 bears?
Sea otters...
The LIONS hanging out in the shade...
The giraffes....Tufani had her baby in June and we were hoping to see the newest addition...but she wasn't out yet for visitors...
Here's our view of the HIPPO...not much to see...
and the HIPPO from a distance....
Before leaving we had to run back to see the oldest dinosaur on earth, the Komodo Dragon. This is Cody's hand on his paw...
This was a SLOTH, slowly moving in it's home...
The GroundHogs were adorable...
The boys were hiding in the tunnel of a groundhog.
I forget the name of this bear
The Tiger...we didn't get much of a view of this guy. He was sleeping in the tall grass. Had to put Decker up on dad's shoulders to get this shot.
At the end of the day, Cody saw a squirell and started to chase it to try and capture it.
The Zebras....
We left the zoo about 4:30 and decided to go to Dick's drive in for some burgers, fries and shakes. Everyone was pretty tired. Cute Kaylie and Decker were holding hands in the car.
Then we got home and sang Happy Birthday to Kaylie and she blew out her candle with help from her brothers. I set up all the plastic characters from Moana around the cake. The teenage Moana, Grandma Tala, Moana's dad, Maui and of course Hei Hei and Pua. Kaylie loved the little figurines. She carries them around in her Minnie Mouse bucket and sets them up around the house. And then she puts them back in her bucket and sets them up somewhere else.
Daddy got her some Minnie Mouse pajamas.
The boys were dying to help her open her gifts.
She got a little book about wearing Big Girl Panties since she also got some Moana themed panties...time to start potty training.
After opening all the gifts, we ate cake and ice cream.
She also got a Moana doll that sings "How Far I'll Go" I gave her a baby doll high chair that used to belong to me when I was a young girl. I sewed a new cushion for it to match her bedroom decor. ;) She set up all her little figurines on the tray.
When it was bed time, we set up all her little figurines in her bed. We haven't moved her to a toddler bed yet...
Keppi gave her this little dress for her birthday which she wore on Sunday.
More pictures from the zoo...
Checking out the map and where we want to go first...
Great climbing tree out front
Cody and Decker both wanted to push Kaylie at the zoo.
The Red Panda was one of my favorites. He'd run around and around on his tree.
Beautiful Flamingos...
The python...
There's our Auntie Kep! or BeeBa as Kaylie pronounces it...
The Gorilla...when Decker was 4 years old, he sat in front of this gorilla eating a PB&J...and wanted a bite for himself.
Why do they always want to put their fingers in their noses???
and Hugs...
The penguins were a favorite too...
Kaylie likes to mimic what she says as her way of communicating, when this penguin was opening his mouth so wide and shaking his head...Kaylie was doing it too.
We got to ride a Merry Go Round Carousel.
Kaylie did not like it and wanted to be held.
By the end of the day, Kaylie was pooped and threw a couple of tantrums...finally fell asleep in her stroller for about an hour which was good, because we still had to go home and PARTY! :)
Here's some more photos from the evenings festivities.
Daddy helped Kaylie put her panties on....all of them. lol (only after Kaylie had tried to put them on herself....on her legs and then her arms.
I chose this Moana doll for Kaylie too and I couldn't wait for her to open it. She has a seashell necklace that sings her song when you push it. The boys couldn't wait either.
We also made the cake rainbow inside by coloring different portions of the batter and then mixing them together. The boys helped me with this too.
Fun day for this two year old... Just a few things I want to mention...we haven't cut her hair yet and it looks like it's been cut with perfect layers. She likes to carry toys in her bucket around the house...She's been carrying her animals in the bucket, but now she has the Moana characters...they don't all fit, so she tries to carry things under her chin. :) She is interested in letters and has me tell her what they are when she points to them. She can count to 10 in her own way. She says Beeba for Keppi, Mama for Grandma, Dedo for Cody and Kecka for Decker, DayDay for Kaylie. She likes to sing Twinkle Twinkle little Star, the Alphabet song, Happy Birthday and the Moana songs. She goes to bed easy. She likes to get a drink of water, new diaper, pacifier and her Yellow blankie..We read a story, sing a song and say a prayer. She's good to go. She is starting to take one nap in the day...Usually around lunch time. She gets very cranky and silly if she doesn't get some rest.
She used to call her blanket and pacifier her "E" and her "Er" she's added a few syllables and now says her "a-a-i-er" and "a-ee".
She is loving with her brothers and gives them hugs and kisses. She loves to play out on the trampoline with them and jump. "am-ine". She doesn't like to be left inside when they are out playing. She enjoys the nursery and I found out recently that she is the child who doesn't like to share and everything is "mine" and goes from one toy to the next...what everybody else is having. She also loves to do wooden puzzles and knows her shapes and colors. We recently have been reading a train book that teaches colors and she has started to play with her brother's trains.
She definitely has her opinion and can be very stubborn to get what she wants. She loves to have her toes and fingernails painted and tolerates me doing her hair.. She does like me to add bows in them and will often pick them out. We love having her in our family and the boys think that she is the most beautiful baby sister.
They were dying to get their faces painted. Decker was a
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