Storm, shells and more sun

The kids love the waves coming in. The problem, however, is that Little M gets taken by it.

Daddy dumps water on the girls. Perhaps no one told him that there is a an ocean behind him that is repeatedly wetting all of them.

A storm rolled in with strong wind.  We left our canopy up and the storm twisted it like a pretzel. It is in its last leg. We leave it at night without the tent so that we can use it the next day. We need it to last because the kids already had sun burn.

After checking on the canopy, daddy and I look for shark teeth. Unfortunately we only found a couple of teeny tiny ones. 

Beach souvenir!

Silly, silly people. 

Off to the beach!

After a very busy, very labor intensive summer, we finally took a well-deserved family vacation to the beach. It was supposed to be a 12-hour drive but with frequent potty breaks, meals and traffic in Virginia on I-95 (will that highway ever be finished???)  it took us 19 hours.

Mr Cool

The kids enjoying the waves coming in and getting sand in every cracks and crevices. They are probably not enjoying the latter.

My nekked feet. Yo.

Flight to Disney World

The start of our magical vacation on Dec. 18 was off to a rocky start. We left the house bright and early at 7:30am in order to have plenty of time for our 9am departure to NJ. We had plenty of time except our flight was delayed due to weather. It said it wasn't going to arrive in Albany until 1130am. The problem was our flight from NJ to FL was due to leave 12:15pm. Fortunately, we prepared for such an event of long waits and each of the kids had their own rolling backpacks full of crayons, notebook, coloring books, and friends. While I watched everyone, Daddy went to work on securing a different flight to FL. Thankfully, everyone he spoke with at United were friendly.

The kids kept asking when the plane would be there, because they want to go! We were hungry, and cranky. Finally, we left Albany at 11:45. When we arrived in NJ, our next flight to FL was not to leave until 5pm....another long wait for the kids. Our original time of arrival to FL was supposed to be 4pm. Instead we arrived at our resort at 11pm. None of the older kids had any kind of nap. Little M had only a 20 minute nap the entire day.

Our magical express bus ride from the airport to the resort was very exciting for the older 3. They kept seeing something about Disney and they knew we were finally close. After checking in at 11 pm, we found out our bags were not there yet. Tired, hungry, and no bedtime clothes, we ate at the dining area and had a midnight snack. We took pictures of the Disney Cars characters all over the resort.

Finally, at 1130 we got our bags. We changed the kids, gave them medicine and off to bed they went. Little M was a little warm to the touch that day, and he was wheezing. Thankfully, we took his nebulizer with us. Through the length of our stay, he battled coughing due to asthma which brought on vomiting. The vomiting was only recently controlled with the new meds (prevacid), but the vomiting came back with the coughing. Daddy stole all the barf bags in the plane in our seats, and we took it with us. We did have to use a few of them.

Little M had some low grade fever. I gave him Ibuprofen, and had to use that for 2 days, until whatever he had was gone. Of course, the coughing asthma stayed. Before we bed, and before we left in the morning, and whenever we came back for a nap, he had to have a treatment.

The start of our vacation was off to a rocky start with everyone starting off exhausted.

Understanding Disney World Dining Plans

We went to Disney World for our first ever big vacation the week before Christmas 2012. We came home on the 23rd, just in time to avoid the crazy peak time. Although, the amount of people there while we were there, one would think it was already peak time.

Before recording our fun times, I want to keep some records of what I need to remember for next time. There are a lot! I will start with the Dining plan. We had a Magic Your Way Package Plus Dining, which includes 1 snack, 1 quick-service meal, and 1 table-service meal for all of us (except for kids under age 3). Everyone (except under 3) also get refillable mugs - you can get these in the resort. They will have a plastic seal that the cashier must cut when you get it. Children must order from the children's menu. The meals can be used however you want until it runs out (multiple snacks, quick service, table service a day).

Snack:
Snack is any single serve drinks/juices  or snacks like popcorn, chips, etc. The drinks will be the taller ones for adults, the children must get the children-sized drinks.

Quick-Service:
We stayed at the Art of Animation resort and everything there is considered quick-service. It can be the crab cake burger, the stir-fry, breakfast-platter, etc.  A quick service meal includes a drink and a dessert (some restaurants say you can't have deserts, but it's best to ask).

If you are staying in the resort, and you have your refillable mug it's easy to forget to grab a bottled drink with your quick service meal. If you forget to get one, you forfeit it. SO DON'T FORGET! You can grab a bottled drink, do not open it, and you can take it to the park. Or you can take it back to your resort for when you get thirsty in the middle of the night. The same goes with the dessert. If you don't get it, you forfeit it. I believe the kids don't get desert, I'm not sure on that.

Refillable mugs:
You can get unlimited refills on this at the resort anytime their open. There are even wash stations near the drink fountains so you can rinse your mugs. These mugs are not refillable anywhere else.

Table Service:
A table service is anything at the restaurant where you are seated and served. All the character dinings take 1 table service credit, except Cinderella's Royal table where it takes 2 table service credit. So if you have a table service dining plan, look at all the available character dining and book one for every evening! Just remember to book in advance; for Cinderella we were urged to book 6 months in advance.

Some of the table-service meals are buffets. We went to Chef Mickey at the Contemporary Resort and they had great food! In my opinion, much better than Cinderella's. But with Cinderella, you are paying for the chance to meet all the princesses, which in itself is worth it when you have young girls.

Should you forget to make dinner reservations, call the reservation line as soon as you remember and they will tell you which restaurants have openings, no matter what resort or parks the restaurant is.

Also, we ate Epcot one evening and found out that for the more expensive meals they charge 2 table service credits. This worked for us because due to my lack of know-how, we ended up with more than 1 table service meal on our last evening. So hubby and I just went ahead and ordered the most expensive meals.

Remember:
Refillable mug is not counted as part of the meal plan. You can refill it whenever you want at the resort.

If you run out of dining and choose to pay for one meal out of pocket, choose breakfast to pay for. They are a little bit cheaper than lunch or dinner.

To find out how much you have left, look at your receipt. The receipt counts down, so in our vacation of 5 days, we had 25 in our receipt and it counts down every time we redeem the meals.

Christmas in July

These are the photos from Santa's Land in Cherokee, NC. It's Christmas in July! The girls loved everything. Curious George loved everything..especially the part where he got to tell Santa that he wanted Lego for Christmas.

Thing 1 is wearing green and Thing 2 is wearing blue.

the bears' den at Cherokee

This is a backtrack to the end of July on our trip to Cherokee, NC. It's an Indian reservation that is thriving and very busy during the summer months due to tourism. We found a "zoo" of bears and brought the kids there. It's not much of a zoo, but when we're talking about 4 and 2 year olds, it's just a perfect size. :)

The bears were doing tricks for food and the girls loved them!

Curious George's puncanny imitation of the bear in the entrance.

One of the bear poses for food.

Thing 1 (pink) and Thing 2 (green) love the bears!

There is an iguana cage that is covered with chicken wire. Unfortunately, little fingers still fit through. Thankfully, with Mommy and Daddy's super sonic speed, we were able to keep the iguana from having a finger lunch. Thing 1 wasn't too happy about being told "NO" of course.

A baby goat was walking around saying hi to the visitors. Thing 2 said, "How cute!"

Thing 2, Curious George and I pose for one more picture before heading out.

the Great Smoky Mountains and family

We spent the weekend in the Great Smoky Mountains to attend my mother-in-law's family reunion. While there we explored the Cherokee Indian Reservation, which was busy with tourists. We stayed at the motel my MIL's father built. It is now on the 3rd owner after her father. It was my first time there, though I had seen it before. It was the kids' first time. Though the motel brought back a lot of fond memories for Daddy, he said it didn't hold the magic he remembered it having as a child. I think the big part of that magic is his grandparents. Grandparents are special like that. But I think it holds a different kind of magic, though - the kids and I being able to share part of Daddy's childhood.

Front of the motel.

Twin River's Lodge (originally known as Ela Motor Court)

Nana chasing after Thing 1.

Curious George went fishing in the back with his Papaw and cousin. This is one of the fish he caught.

Papaw helps Curious George.

The river in the back of the back of the motel.

Thing 1 (pink) and Thing 2 (green) enjoying the open space. They bust into 'Ring Around the Rosie' when Daddy pulled out the camera.

Thing 2 (laying down) and Thing 1 enjoying the kiddie pool.

Enjoying the big pool.
(Thing 2 in blue, Thing 1 in pink.)

a day with thomas and bob

We chugged along to Nana's and Papaw's place in order to see Thomas and Bob this weekend. The little man fell ill early in the week but thankfully bounced back just in time. Then Daddy fell ill on Thursday so I was left to do all the packing and driving. Then the girls came down a cold. Daddy and the girls had to stay at the grandparents' house. But when all was said and done, it was a memorable weekend.

Oh, Thomas. If you only knew the amount of restraint a 3 1/2 year old had to exhibit in order to wait for his designated ride time, while the whole time seeing you ride back and forth without him!

Sir Toppamhat

Oh how much fun it is to pretend to be a train on a turntable while it turned around and around. This little guy did enjoy it, even his face says otherwise.

Bob, I was quite surprised at your ability to hype up the boy. But you did it. I had to act like a looney to get him to loosen up, but it was all in good fun. A mom has to do what she has to do, even if she truly did enjoy the show herself. ;-)