Of Mice and Princesses - Part One of a Bunch

We just got back from a wonderful vacation to the happiest place on earth. Hubby and I had been before, but this was our first trip as parents. Although I spent more time walking around with a sleeping baby in the stroller than most anything else, this trip was amazing. The most wonderful thing was that the kids really thought everything was real and amazing. I misplaced the cord that connects my camera to the computer, but rest assured that photos are coming. In the meantime, here are my tips for doing Disney with a preschooler and a baby:
1 – I read a lot of advice before we left, and the most common recommendation was to stay in the park. We stayed outside the park in a time share, saved a bunch of money, and didn’t really see the disadvantages. We could barely make it to the park by 9:00 a.m., and the kids were ready to go by 7 p.m., so the “extra magic hours” would have been lost on us. We found the parking to be convenient, and with Epcot, Animal Kingdom, and MGM, it was only a short (5 min) tram ride from the car to the gate. We did not go home for afternoon naps, but that is just the way of my kids. The older one skipped her nap and the younger one is young enough to nap in the stroller.
2 – Bring your own stroller if you can. The rentals are crazy expensive and no child could sleep in them. They also don’t offer much in the way of sun/rain protection. Tie something colorful to your stroller handle so you can find it in the sea of stroller parking. They move them around constantly to make things more organized, so you can’t count on just remembering the exact spot where you left it.
3 – Bring snacks. Just do it. Every bag inspector looked at our bags of goldfish, cheese, grapes, cheerios, etc., and not one said a thing about them.
4 – The height charts on the website did not line up with the height charts in the park. The park requirements were generally less strict than the website indicated.
5 – Learn to use the FastPass system. Less waiting = Good things
6 – If you have a little girl, autograph books are the big thing now. They make all kinds of books, and all the princesses and other characters can sign the books. Buy a big fatty pen so the characters with giant foam hands can actually use it. We got one with spaces for photos next to the autographs. My daughter loved getting the autographs, and it has become one of my personal favorite souvenirs (and probably the cheapest.)
7 – Make lunch and dinner reservations as far ahead as possible. We made some as we arrived at the parks (Tony’s) and some a couple months ahead (Cinderella’s dream dinner). For any meal that you plan to eat sitting down at a table, you can make a reservation. It wasn’t that crowded when we were there, but the waits for tables without reservations were 45 minutes plus, while our reservations got us in in 5-10 minutes. Also, Tony’s in the Magic Kingdom is the only place where my kids actually ate the food. It is a cute little restaurant made up to look like the spaghetti place in Lady & the Tramp. Best food in the park – Cinderella’s castle (also most expensive, but included a personal meeting with Cinderella documented with 8x10 color glossies.)
8 – Baby Care Stations. Learn about them and whether they are for you. They have little rooms with little kid-sized tables and chairs, public-use microwaves and bottle warming stuff, high chairs, and a t.v. showing Playhouse Disney stuff to keep the older ones occupied while parents feed and diaper the little ones. They also sell diapers and other baby care stuff and are attended by helpful cast members weirdly dressed up like nurse maids or something. These rooms are also billed as breastfeeding spots, but I beg to differ. If being in an approved location is what you need to feel good about nursing at Disney, then this is for you. If you need to not be touching the person next to you, to have an armrest, or to not be stared at by the kids or daddies who are standing around waiting for the mommies to finish whatever else they are doing, then you are better off finding a secluded park bench and hiding behind your family and stroller. Seriously- the “breastfeeding” area consisted of a row of wooden, armless chairs lined up along the back wall. Women were using it, but not comfortably.
9 – First Aid Stations. Bring your own. There is one per park, located next to the Baby Care Station, which is inevitably at the opposite end of the park from the kids’ playgrounds and the splash pads.
10 – You have to be a little persistent to catch the princesses. They come out for photos and autographs and immediately get a line. They really take their time with each kid- never saw anyone rushed- so a line of 10 kids is easily a 30 minute wait. BUT- the princesses have to go away before the parades and shows to keep up the space time continuum and all that, plus they do get potty breaks, so they have handlers. The handlers will close out their lines when they estimate that it is too long so that no one waits in line and gets turned away. This is all good, but what it means to you, mother of small star-struck girl, is that the line to see Snow White will be closed within 15 minutes of her appearance, even if she is going to be out for an hour. What you have to do is ask the line handler when she will be coming back and steak out your spot. It seriously took us 4 days, 6 encounters, and my husband lurking on Main Street for 20 minutes to get a meeting with Snow White. Photos will be up soon, and I’m sure you will agree that it was worth it.
*BONUS – ask to ride with the driver on the monorail. They will say yes, and it is way more fun that you would think.

Say What? Kitty Butt

Yesterday morning, I was fixing Princess Natalie’s hair like I always do when the cat came in and jumped up on the sink like she always does. I noticed a string that looked like Easter grass hanging off her back end. I did not think much of this whole situation.
Then I went to brush the string away. It didn’t go away. I grabbed the string with two fingers and tried to pluck it off.
This is when I realized that the string was not hanging off the cat’s butt, it was COMING OUT of the cat’s butt. She had eaten the string. Um-hmmm. It was like that. As I resigned myself to what was about to happen and gave a tug, the innocuous six-inch piece of easter grass became a poopy two-foot long piece of bad-dream-come-true that was making the cat very angry and mama very unhappy. That pretty much sums up my day.In case you need that image out of your head (I know I do,) here’s a little cute for the day.

They're Coming to Take Me Away (UPDATED)

I know I have been a little...anxious these days, but it turns out that The Internets are out to get me. First, I get an e-mail/chain letter telling me that I need to go to msn whitepages and make sure that strangers can't just look me up and find out all about me.



Then, I actually GO THERE, thinking I will find nothing and prove that it is all a big conspiracy theory - and it turns out that you CAN just put in my name and find all sorts of information about me.



THEN!!!! I go to request to have my name removed and this is what I get (note the word verification):

And as if that wasn't bad enough, when I did the form, it kept insisting that my code word was wrong.

Why me, Internets?

I know there is a LOLcat out there that is perfect for this post, but I am a little afraid to leave the safety of my blogger dashboard right now.

UPDATED: Now they are just laughing at me

Meme Luv

Suzy tagged me (technically on Facebook) for a “25 Facts about Me” meme, so here it comes.

1. I didn’t actually know that you could get tagged with a meme on Facebook.

2. I have no idea how to write a meme or tag someone on Facebook.

3. I really have nothing better to write about this week.

4. Entries 1-3 are the main reasons that you are getting this meme on my blog today. Don’t you feel lucky?

5. I think that I am cheating at this meme, but I have had a quarter of a bag of chocolate chips since I got home from work an hour ago and now I'm feeling spunky.

5. I don’t consume any caffeine other than chocolate simply because I really can’t handle it.

6. Too much chocolate (like more than a regular Hershey bar) makes me jittery.

7. The few people who have seen me after a coke think I’m much more fun that way than after a few glasses of wine, although that doesn’t keep me from the wine.

8. Once I had a Vodka and Red Bull (before anybody had heard of Red Bull) at a club in Brussels and didn’t sleep for almost 40 hours.

9. I also had some mussels that time in Brussels.

10. I love the art of Rene Magritte, who also happened to live in Brussels.

11. When I am not enjoying intellectual modern art that challenges the conventions of language and human perception, I really love the movie “Dude, Where’s My Car.”


moar funny pictures

12. I can’t even think about Big Mouth Billy Bass without laughing hysterically.

13. I am totally cracking up RIGHT NOW. [Taaaake me to the Riv-ER!]



14.You would never guess this from my blog, but I also love LOLcats.

15. My real cat’s name is Shadow.

16. In the future, I am determined to have a pair of some kind of pet and name them Oliver Boliver Butt and Zanzibar Buck Buck McFate. Hopefully soon, or it will be too late.

17. I can recite about 40% of everything Dr. Suess has written from memory.

18. I don’t have a special fondness for Dr. Suess.

19. I do tend to remember things I hear like they are recordings - especially things that rhyme.

2.I find it almost impossible to memorize maps or diagrams.

22. The worst grade I got in high school was in geography. Go figure.

23. I majored in kinesiology in college, but switched to engineering after attempting to take physiology and organic chemistry because there was no way I was going to be able to memorize all that information.

24. On the third day of undergrad physiology at my college, they give you a toolbox filled with bones from a dog skeleton that you are supposed to carry around with you and study.

25. I really don’t regret changing my major to engineering.

I’m really not the sort to “tag” anyone so here’s the deal: I tag you. Leave me a comment with a link to your post, and I promise to come read it and comment back.

*Sob* Little Boy

Isaac went in for his first haircut today.  I had put this off way too long.  At the last birthday party we went to, people kept calling him "her," even though he was wearing a green shirt with a pirate on it that says "argh."  I was having a little infatuation with his golden-blonde locks, and I was not ready to see them go, even today.

Before:

After:

Princess or President?

This is not a post about Caroline Kennedy trying to get into the Senate. I just want to save you googlers some time. You're Welcome.

This Christmas was the Year of the Princess for my 4-year old daughter. Her gifts were a Disney Princess bicycle, princess Barbie-style dolls, and a craft kit with gemstones and tulle to turn her bed into a princess bed. In her stocking, she got a Cinderella DVD and a 6-pack of princess underwear.

She is obsessed with all things princess and with looking pretty.  She is so concerned with how she looks that she often fights wearing a jacket because she wants everyone to see her clothes.

Where did this little girl come from?  I am about as far from "girly" as any girl can be.  When she tells me how she wants to be a princess when she grows up, I have to fight the urge to argue with her, "Why not a scientist, or an astronaut, or an artist, or the President?  How about a ballerina?  (I would totally take ballerina over 'princess' these days) Don't you know you can be anything?" 

I try to keep my defensive reflex responses in check, though.  While I do think it's important to teach her that "beauty" is about more than her dresses and hair, I also want her to know that she really is beautiful.  "Princess" is her ideal right now, and I don't think I can argue that out of her.  I have faith that this, too, shall pass.  As long as it does last, I have resolved that I don't want to somehow give her the idea that she is less than qualified to be a princess, whatever that means to her, so I choose my words carefully.  

And put up with enough plastic high-heels, crowns, and necklaces to provide the wardrobe for our own production of Victor! Victoria!

New Year's Resolutions

I don't do Resolutions,(OK, I just did in the last entry, but not normally) but to these I say AMEN!