Some Disney Pics

The Lady and her favorite Sleeping Beauty

The Little Lady learned how to climb into the stroller and turn off the lights.

The Lady

The Ladies with Mickey. If you look at the table behind us you will see Brendan Fraiser on the left. If you look at the table in front of the Ladies you will see peaches and Mickey waffles.

Seriously Lady, not one smile for Sleeping Beauty? how about looking at the camera? Help your momma out.



The Lady and her Ariel doll. Now we smile!!

Belle and the Ladies. At least Belle kept her composure. I am not sure what they pay these girls, but it can't be enough!

Dear Disney: The Finale

Dear Disney,

Thank you.

We had a wonderful time. Despite the heat, the rain and the meltdowns we managed to see most of the attractions on our list and spend some time together.

We are home safe.

I need a vacation.

Hugs and kisses and zip-a-dee-doo-da,

Bean

Dear Disney: Day 4 and 5

Dear Disney,

Things are starting to run together here. I am not sure if it is night or day. I feel like I am waking up every morning in the company of a princess and then taking a magic carpet ride or scrambling for the pink Dumbo elephant.

I need to slow down. I need a cool drink on these 105 degree days.

How is it Disney that you design your world to make us feel like if we aren't going and going and going and going that we are missing something? Have we made the best effort to hit all the parks? Have we seen all those little magical things that we were promised? Has the Lady been transformed by the wonder and awe of all things Disney? Are we creating those childhood memories that will be lifelong for her? I am hoping she remembers seeing the princesses and the fairies and not her father and I screaming at her because she is refusing to put on shoes and hasn't showered since day 3.

I am not sure what has happened in these two days. We did a Princess dinner and then woke up the next morning and were on a boat at 7:30 for a Princess breakfast. Things blurred after that.

I did get to ride on Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain, at some point there was a line for the fairies that took well over an hour for about 4 minutes of face time and the Lady once again, not showing any emotion that she was actually excited to see them.

I will say that the Dumbo ride has provided us with about 10 minutes of pure joy. Granted, it took 5 rides to get to a full 10 minutes and the total wait time was approximately 2 hours, but it has been worth it.

I am not sure what the plan is for today. We are tired. We hit the Magic Kingdom last night with the Lady, and her two older cousins. We left the Little Lady behind to get some rest and---I have to go now because the Lady pulled the pj pants off her sister and the Little Lady is now trying to crawl into the kitchen cabinets with her diaper half on.

I got to watch this kid. She is pulling all the paper towels off the roll as we speak.

Mickey--is there someone to clean this up?

Love and kisses and pixie dust.

Bean

Dear Disney: Day 2

Dear Disney,

What will Day 2 bring? We have 10:20 reservations at Chef Mickey. This is a character breakfast, but first we will get up and try to make our way to the Animal Kingdom for their early morning hours and hopefully a quick Safari.

We are running a little late because the Little Lady woke up at 6 am and fell back to sleep. She doesn't wake up again until 7:30, the same time everyone else in our party is apparently leaving (but, no don't worry about knocking on our door or giving us a call--we will catch up). Anyway, we pack everything up, and finally wake the Lady, who spends most of the AC-blasting bus ride to the Animal Kingdom asking about the Princesses and shivering in the green dress she wore the day before and also slept in.

We get there, we avoid the masses lined up for the 9am opening time and make our way over to the VIP, vacation club line where we have access to early/late hours at specific parks. We then start the trek to Africa. Did I mention the weather has totally sucked Disney? Did I mention that you should just put up a giant covered ceiling over all your parks, like Downtown Las Vegas? You should pipe in a ton of AC, because god knows the tickets are expensive enough and nobody, nobody wants to see so many fat white people sweating and breathing heavily as they stuff a frozen lemonade into their fat faces and cool themselves off with those water bottle/fans you sell for 15 bucks a pop.

Anyway, we got to the safari and hit no line. The bonus of course was that we actually saw some animals. The first time I went to the Animal Kingdom a few years ago, we saw a couple of birds and I am pretty sure those were the ones native to Florida and NOT to the grasslands of the African Savannah. This time we saw like the big 5, like a real African Safari. To top it off we saw the cheetah and a baby elephant. The Little Lady was psyched. She was waving at everything and smiling big. The Lady was impressed and I tried my hardest to get a few good shots of the animals.

We headed out of our safari jeep into a torrential downpour. Getting soaked at 8:45 in the morning is no fun. It is magnified by the fact that you know you are going to have to get onto a freezing cold bus and hope that hypothermia doesn't set in.

One good thing was that we actually caught up with the rest of the family and we headed out of the Animal Kingdom towards Chef Mickey's Breakfast together.

Finally, we would see some characters.

Turns out our seat was right next to Brendan Fraiser, the actor of "The Mummy" fame. Apparently, if you are a celebrity all the characters come to you first. The good thing about this was that I got a few good pics before they made their way over to us. The Lady was pretty good. I was concerned that in person she would be scared of the giant, oversized characters who say nothing and hover over you full of glee. But she was excited and we got a few good shots and she even managed to eat some of the Micky shaped waffles.

We finished breakfast, hopped on the monorail and headed to the Magic Kingdom. The Magic Kingdom to me, really is the epitome of the Disney experience. It is what I remember from going when we were younger and it is full of all the classic Disney rides.

The Lady wanted to go to the Cinderella's carousel first. We made our way up Main Street and towards the carousel. When we got there, the carousel wasn't moving and the there was a lady laying on the ground with her leg elevated. Really? Really lady? What happened, did you miss the stirrup? Was it a little wet and you slipped? Is it possible that you actually are laying there on the ground while my Lady is making her way towards the one ride that we have been talking about going on? This was supposed to be the start of the most "magical" days of her young life. You bitch. You selfish bitch.

Ok, we decided on Dumbo. The Little Lady is fast asleep in the stroller and it is 110 degrees out with the highest humidity possible. I am quite sure I am functioning in an actual sauna. I am waiting on the side while my husband and the Lady start the back and forth of the line. My mother-in-law, a serious Disney veteran, is smart enough to make her way to an air-conditioned store and to come back 10 minutes later with two lemonades.

In that time period, I stand there waiting to see the pop of green from my husbands shirt as they wind their way back towards my general direction. This doesn't happen. I just so happen to turn around towards the carousel, where I see my husband and the Lady strapped onto a horse about to start their ride. What? You couldn't make a pit stop by the waiting area outside the Dumbo ride to let me know that you had changed your plans? Apparently, the Lady wanted to ride the carousel so that my friends, is what she did.

Then finally, my friends, finally, we make our way towards the princesses.

Thank you Disney, for having an actual "attraction" of the princesses. Granted, we had to wait about 35 minutes and granted, if you wanted to see the fairies you would have had to wait another 45 minutes after to see them (but we won't tell the Lady that) even though the line was right next to the princess line and I am pretty sure we could have combined both "attractions" in one line, but hey, I don't run the place, I just have a very excited, very patient, almost 3-year-old who is princess obsessed, even though she has never seen one of the movies. The Little Lady is not as patient and she hasn't been changed since the Animal Kingdom. Please Little Lady, for the love of god, behave. This is your sister's moment.

Finally. Finally. Finally.

There they were. Sleeping Beauty (her favorite), Cinderella (beautiful in blue) and Belle (oh, sweet Belle who said that the Lady was so sweet) thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I am glad you got my previous letter. You were kind, totally accommodating and very generous to the Lady. I was emotional. I admit it, I wanted to cry a little. It is such an odd feeling as a parent when you see a "dream" of your child's come true. I was so excited for her.

The Lady on the other hand, conveyed no emotion what so ever. For someone who was so stoked to see these princesses she acted a bit aloof, kind of distant and a little cool. I think she was a little overwhelmed. She hugged Sleeping Beauty, felt up Cinderella and got a lipstick stain on her cheek, and sat a wee bit away from Belle. The photos are hysterical. The Little Lady made her way into a few and we could finally check off the princesses from our list.

I could have hopped a plane back to NYC at that point and been totally happy.

Disney, oh Disney, dreams do come true.

We hit the Pooh ride, then Dumbo and then made our way to the parade. We headed out of the park after that, in yet another torrential downpour. The second of the day, but it was totally worth it. Totally.

Princesses. Princesses. Princesses.

Love, kisses and a very grateful mother's embrace,

Bean

Dear Disney: Day 1

Dear Disney,

Thank you for your "magical" welcome when we arrived in Orlando at 10:15 pm, with a sleeping Little Lady and a very awake Lady. Thanks for the 20 minute wait on the bus before we headed out for our 30 minute ride, so that by the time we get to the Wilderness Lodge and get organized, it is way too late for any of us to still be up. Because of this, the Little Lady doesn't fall asleep until 1:15 am and the Lady has a breakdown, which ends in her asking us to put her Dora blankie on the floor of the bathroom, where she finally passed out, and by the time we finally move her into her final sleeping place it is after 1:30 in the morning.

Ah, day one---what will you bring? Rain. Rain. Rain.

No parks, a bit of time at the pool and zero nap by the Lady.

Day one ends with a 7:45 pm dinner reservation at Downtown Disney in an Irish Pub, where I was happy to find a keychain with my name on it, but very unhappy with the behavior of the Little Lady, who was well past her bedtime by the time the food arrived at 9:15 and out people watching with her mother while everyone enjoyed some dessert around 10 o'clock.

Now, I will admit that the Little Lady isn't the first person in my family to make a scene at an Irish Pub (myself included) but it was enough to make me question bringing her out to dinner at all.

Luckily the Lady was (kind of) well behaved and very understanding about the fact that we spent the first day in Disney without seeing any princesses. The Lady passed out on my husband's shoulder and the Little Lady soon followed in the stroller ride to the bus. They both never even stirred until the next morning.

Oh, Disney, thank you for taking us into your fold.

love and kisses and Mickey shaped ice cream,

Bean

Countdown. . .

Dear Disney Princesses,

You ladies better be around next week, and when I mean around, I mean at the end of a very short line where you will embrace the Lady with kindness and pose for numerous photos with her.

You better make her Princess-fueled dreams come true--that means you Sleeping Beauty, or as the Lady likes to call you "Sleeping Beaut" she will be wearing you on her undies and talking about you incessantly until we meet face to face. Do. Not. Disappoint.

I don't care if in your real life you got into a fight with your boyfriend, or your cat puked on your shoes. I better see smiles and real care and concern for not only the Lady, but for the rest of those little girls who have been buying all your crappy plastic stuff from China and dressing up in entirely inappropriate footwear.

Thank you for your time. Looking forward to seeing you all.

Love and kisses and dancing animal songs,

Bean

On Reducing, Reusing and Trying to Sell All Your Crap

I signed up for a table the CTMom's 2nd Annual Tag Sale.

I was excited to get rid of some of the stuff that we have accumulated in the last few years, and I was hoping to unload a ton of baby clothes.

The tag sale, of course, coincided with the one weekend that both my husband and my mom were out of town. This left me to rely on my sister to watch my kids on Saturday. No easy task, when you consider that she has a two year old and an 8 month-old of her own. I have to thank her for picking them up, feeding them, keeping them entertained and making them nap. Especially, since the Little Lady has a bit of a cold and Lord knows, the Lady can have her moments.

Friday night was set up night from 6-9 pm. I had to have the new sitter come to watch the ladies. When I got to the church where the sale was to be held, they had double booked the cafeteria and I spent the next two hours sitting in the hallway trying to tag some of my items. I was however able to sell a couple of things to fellow moms and before the sale even started Saturday morning, I had made 22 bucks!

Now, I know that a tag sale is a place to unload your unwanted items. However, it doesn't mean that some of this stuff still doesn't have value. I priced my items pretty fairly, and not for nothing, a lot of my stuff was brand new and never worn, which is why I have to wonder why people feel the need to try and nickle and dime you over somethings. Case in point a woman came in and took almost everything off my table that still had price tags on it. Had I charged her the "full" asking price on these items, which was like $2-$5 each, it probably would have been like $75, still a pretty good deal for everything she was getting. I gave her a deal and told her she could have it all for $50. She tried to lowball me at $25. We went back and forth and I went as low as $40. She came back with $39. Really? Really? $39? You can't just pay the extra dollar?

The best part about it was she paid with a $100 bill and then came back at the way end of the sale looking for some more deals. I had already closed my table up by then. I mean, I am all for getting a bargain, but give me a break. At that point, I would have rather given everything to the charity for free then take another penny from that lady.

Anyway, at the end of the day I made about $200, which was about $50 more than I made last year. All the money is going toward our Disney World Vacation Fund. The Lady needs her Princess fix. . .