Happy 2nd Birthday to Cameron!

Monday, September 8, was CC's 2nd birthday! We kept things simple this year and had a small cookout party at our house the day before with only a few friends.  The theme for her party this year was her favorite television show, Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, with simple red and yellow decorations and supplies.

I made CC's birthday party invitation myself using Photoshop and images I purchased in a digital set on Etsy (here).  I also used the same images from that set to create the cupcake toppers using card stock paper, double-sided tape, and toothpicks.

I made the cupcakes for the party myself.  We are a clean eating family so I wanted something yummy but natural.  I have a dairy allergy so I also wanted something I could enjoy as well, besides the fact that we actually don't have any dairy in our house, other than cheese, to use in a recipe.

I used a dairy-free white cupcake recipe from the blog Veronica's Cornucopia (here) and the cupcakes were AMAZING! They were rich, moist, and delicious. This is seriously going to be my go-to cupcake recipe from now on.

I found some all-natural, dairy-free vanilla icing (Cherrybrook Kitchen Vanilla Frosting) and all-natural sugar sprinkles at our local Whole Foods. I was pleasantly surprised with both! I put the icing into a large ziplock bag, cut off a small piece of one corner, and piped it onto the cupcakes in a circular motion. 

CC doesn't actually like very sweet things, mostly because she hasn't been exposed to them much, so she wasn't a fan of the sweet icing but she did enjoy the cupcake.  She loved hearing everyone sing the birthday song to her and has been singing "happy to me" ever since then :)

CC needed all of the characters on her cupcake :)

We gave CC a Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood themed present that included:
     Book - Goodnight Daniel Tiger
     Book - Meet the Neighbors
     Book - A Ride Through the Neighborhood
     Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood Trolley
     Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood Friends Figures Set
     Tabletop Hardwood Blocks

On Monday morning, CC's actual birthday, we woke early and went to the Aulani Disney Resort for the Disney Character Breakfast.  This is a gorgeous resort on the south-western side of the island. You do not have to be a guest at the resort in order to go to the restaurants there. Reservations are recommended.

There was a huge buffet with a wide variety of food options that should appease even the pickiest eaters.  There were three characters (Minnie, Mickey, and Goofy) that walked around the entire time we were there, stopping at all the tables multiple times for photos, autographs, and laughs.  Goofy was CC's favorite, he made her giggle every time he came near.

Our waitress brought out a tiny birthday cake with a candle for CC and we all sang to her.

CC was slightly overwhelmed with all the people and noise - she was quiet and observant but we could tell she enjoyed it and had a great time.  The breakfast crowd was full of tourists, primarily all Asian. Although the breakfast is geared toward children, there were many couples without kids and quite a few honeymooners.  Disney is HUGE in Japan, seemingly more so for adults than for kids.

There was an ukulele musician who walked around strumming and singing the entire time. She led multiple songs and activities that children were invited to participate in.  CC volunteered to participate in a few of the activities.

We walked around the resort for a while after breakfast and met a couple more Disney characters. I don't know if CC will remember this day at all but it was a fun one and great way to celebrate her 2nd birthday!

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"Laughter is timeless, imagination has no age, and dreams are forever."

~Walt Disney