(exhale) That was FUN!

Wow. We had such a blast at Disney. It was totally exhausting but also totally fun. We only made it to Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios - but it was GREAT! The girls were so into everything- they loved the rides, they loved meeting the characters, everything. Highlights:

1) Girls being called "PRINCESS" everywhere we went after having their Bippity Boppity Dos
2) B "screaming like a little girl" on Thunder Mountain - 5-6x
3) The girls faces when the met the Princesses
4) K's look of pure joy when she came off Space Mountain

It was such a great trip - and I will get into more detail (with pictures) soon. Thanks for all the great tips!

Disney Day One

So DH and the kids arrived today, and we met in the lobby of the Polynesian. Kids were ecstatic. Room wasn't ready (and I was still in a suit), so we grabbed some lunch. About 45 min later, we had our room, got our stuff, changed and headed towards the Magic Kingdom. Managed to give the girls their first ride on the Monorail in the front car - bad idea, now they expect it every time! Saw Pluto just as we got in, and the girls loved using their autograph books. Took the train around the park to Frontier land and just had time to ride Splash Mountain. K loved it - B was not happy with getting wet and the big 50-ft drop at the end. But later has said it was really fun. Then we went back to 1900 Park Fair for dinner with Cinderella and Friends. It was a HUGE hit. They loved the food - the characters - everything about it. HIGHLY recommend this one. I have to say, each of the characters took their time at our table - esp. Prince Charming. He looked through their autograph books at all the pictures - insisting on finding "his page" himself. It was very sweet and the girls loved it. They stayed up til 9pm (when we thought the fireworks were) and saw the Electric Light Parade, but still no fireworks. They went to sleep with the promise we would try and wake them at 10pm for fireworks.

Unfortunately I have to go all the way back to my meeting to work tomorrow (it was a $50 cab ride!) for about an hour, but that is life. Hopefully I make it back in time for our lunch at the Crystal Palace with Pooh.

One Day Til DISNEY

Woo hoo! Tomorrow dh and the girls come to Orlando for our Disney trip. I am already here for work. I cannot WAIT!!! We have all the character dining reservations, the Bippiti Boppiti Do reservations, and other plans. It is going to be great! Any last minute tips?

NaBloPoMo

I really wanted to do NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) - where you do a post every single day for a month. But why is it in November?? November is a crazy month for me. I always have at least one work convention out of town - sometimes two. And there is Thanksgiving. November just isn't a good month for me. I am thinking of doing my own version of NaBloPoMo for myself in January or February. I think that would work more for me.

Props to all those who are doing it!

wow

It is a new America. I couldn't be more proud of my country (and my state! Yay VA!)

Some of my neighbors had fireworks - real fireworks - last night. how cool. I have had very little sleep, but couldn't be more happy.

(ok, perhaps if Prop 8 had failed overwhelmingly in CA..still holding my breath on that one)

VOTE

VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE

i have nothing more to say today

Halloween Wrap-Up

So Halloween was great! First, last weekend our neighborhood had a little parade and party for the kids. They all loved it. Then on Friday, all the kids had parades at school. K has a school parade/walk for the homeless. I got to go on it with her and it was great. Her teacher was dressed as a tree - very cool. The younger two get to trick-or-treat in the office building where the daycare is. I didn't get to go, but DH did. Big Man was hysterical. On the way into school that morning, I had his Kung Fu Panda costume in a bag. He grabbed it and would not let go - "my panda". Then when trick-or-treating, his pumpkin got so full that his teacher said it nearly weighed as much as him. But nobody else could carry it for him - "my candy". Gotta love 2 year olds.

Then we all left work/school early to get the house and all set up for evening trick-or-treat. Nana came down so both DH and I could take the kids around. We had the fog machine and scary music running in the yard. It was great. The kids had a blast going out - Big Man even did his kung fu routine for a few folks. When we got home the kids LOVED being the ones to hand out candy at the door.

On Saturday we had a Halloween party. About 45 people - split evening kids/adults. A little crazy but really fun. We had lots of theme food - bat wings (chicken wings), jumbo candy corn (cheese pizza striped to look like candy corn), mummy dogs (pigs in blanket), bones (soft pretzels), and more. It was really fun. We invited people from work and school too so it made for a fun mix of people. The kids all had a blast playing together.

Yesterday we spent the whole day de-halloweening our house. Got the yard all cleaned up and everything inside put away as well. Normally we may have waited a week, but since we will be at Disney next weekend (YAAY!) we had to get it done asap. Then K and I went on the annual hunt for after-Halloween sales to get more stuff for next year. We scored some scary skeleton fence, some more serving platters, and a few more gravestones for the yard - all at 50% off. Gotta love it!