Wordless Wednesday: Pinkalicious

Wordless Wednesday: Magical Disney Mardi Gras

Wordless Wednesday: Details at Disneyland

100 day of Kindergarten

If you have (or had) a child in Kindergarten you will understand what a big deal the 100th day of school is. For this school year it is fast approaching and I am in shock that my little girl has been in Kindergarten for 100 days! Where did they all go?

To celebrate this day the kids have been asked to bring in a collection of 100 items. We started thinking what would be the perfect collection for Princess D ... pennies? seashells? stones? Then it dawned on me ... jewels!



There is a gift shop next to the Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland. Princess D likes to get a little bag full of the plastic jewels every once in a while so that she can bury them in her sandbox. I knew for sure we had to over 100 of these so I dug them out.

First, I had Princess D separate the jewels by color then count how many there were in each group. She located the matching marker color to write out the number. We mixed them all back up and I had her separate them again, this time by shape. She counted how many jewels were in each group. Then she drew the shape and wrote the number next to it. We created a little flip book and put the jewels in a jar for her to bring to school.

It was so much fun working on this project with her. Counting, colors, shapes, writing ... it taught so much in a fun and simple way! She is really proud of her collection and I am so proud of her. I can't wait for her to present it to her class. I love Kindergarten!

Wordless Wednesday: A Year in Review from my Blackberry

January 2010


February 2010


March 2010


April 2010


May 2010


June 2010


July 2010




August 2010




September 2010




October 2010




November 2010


December 2010

Dear Blackberry, Thank you for a capturing my year! You traveled the world with me. You captured some priceless moments when my Nikon was not available. But, a new year means a new mobile. No hard feelings. Much love, RLM

A failed plan can still be magical

I am a planner. PERIOD.

The "fly by the seat of my pants" concept is so scary to me. In some ways I envy people who can live spontaneously, but the idea of that makes my heart race and my anxiety rise. I feel like if I don't plan then I might miss something. My life is mapped out on 3 Google calendars that is synced to my phone along with my work calendar. I even made a career out of my ability to plan.

If you don't believe me ask Miss. I knew that this past weekend would be the only time I could take Princess D to Disneyland to see the holiday festivities and I didn't want to miss anything. I checked the Disney website to see what they were doing this year. Then I sent her a Google calendar invite with the following plan and map:

CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE:

• Santa's Seaside Pavilion (will probably be crowded so I think it should be first)
• "a bug's land" (will be decorated for the holidays)
• Cocina Cucamonga Mexican Grill - holiday tamales

DISNEYLAND:

• Small World
• A Christmas Fantasy Parade - 2:30
• Toon Town (will be decorated for the holidays)
• Santa's Reindeer Round-Up
• Haunted Mansion Holiday
• Café Orleans - for dinner & beignets
• Main Street U.S.A. Christmas Tree lighting - 7:30
• "Believe... in Holiday Magic" Fireworks Show - 8:40

Most people would think I was beyond neurotic, but Miss knows me really well and simply dismisses my planning as the quirky OCD side of me because when it comes down to it if my plan completely derails I either have a back up plan or make the best of the situation. And like most of our Disneyland trips this one did not to go as planned! The day looked more like:

CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE:

• Santa's Seaside Pavilion - it wasn't crowded at all
• Silly Symphony Swings
• "a bug's land" - decorated, but we could have skipped
• Cocina Cucamonga Mexican Grill - holiday tamales

DOWNTOWN DISNEY DISTRICT:

• Lunch at Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen - the kids food lasted ALL day
• Getting toys at Build-A-Bear Workshop
• Holiday cupcakes at The Cupcake Store
• Riding in the front of the Monorail to Tomorrowland

DISNEYLAND:

• Small World
• Santa's Reindeer Round-Up
• A Christmas Fantasy Parade - 2:30 5:30
• Toon Town (will be decorated for the holidays)
• Café Orleans - for dinner and beignets - it was totally booked up
• Main Street U.S.A. Christmas Tree lighting
• Wintertime Enchantment Holiday Lighting of Sleeping Beauty's Castle
• Chimichanga and corn on the cob from the food cart while we waited an hour for the firework show to start
• "Believe... in Holiday Magic" Fireworks Show - 8:40 - which was canceled due to high winds
• Enchanted Tiki Room
• Pirates of the Caribbean

Also, I forgot that my camera battery was already low and I didn't pack my back up battery. Thank goodness for my Blackberry camera. The quality of the photos are not that great, but at least I captured something.







No matter how many times we have gone to Disneyland (which is at least 12 times a year) we always learn new ways to make the visit better. Next year we will spend the weekend so that we can get up early to get handmade candy canes, take a tour in order to preferred seating for the parade, and make dinner reservations the day before. As for this visit, we might not have been able to do everything I had planned, but we had a great time together and that really is what the day was all about.

Share

Wordless Wednesday: Magic is in the Details

Share

Wordless Wednesday: Halloween at Disneyland

Share

San Diego "Staycation"

You have probably wondering where I have been. I actually didn't go anywhere! I was on a "staycation" while The Boyfriend and his little Terror came to visit from England. Even Miss, Anthony and The Kid came down for a couple of days.



Did I forget to mention that The Boyfriend brought his ex (Terror's mum) with him!

For the past year The Boyfriend and I have been trying to figure out how we can get us in the same country. I am unable to relocate Princess D to England, so that ruled Plan A out immediately. Plan B presented itself. The Boyfriend's ex mentioned that she wanted to move to the US. So we invited her to join us for the week. We figured that if we showed her the perfectly sunny and 75° San Diego she would WANT to move here immediately.

I took them to San Diego Zoo, the USS Midway and Disneyland. I took her shopping, fed her huge American food portions, and set her up with university and job interviews. What was even more important was showing her the sibling bond her son Terror and Princess D are developing.



Unfortunately, Mother Nature decided that San Diego needed lots of rain. Typically this time of year we have Santa Ana winds causing brush fire warnings. This past week instead of hanging out at the beach in our swimsuits we wearing rain ponchos and boots.

We don't know if she will want to move here which is forcing us to start working on Plan C, but overall The Boyfriend, the kids and I had a wonderful time together.

Share

Ultimate Family Vacation

Sponsored By


Cheerios® is giving you the chance to win a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, your ultimate family vacation. As part of a paid promotion for their “Do What You Love” Sweepstakes, Cheerios® is sponsoring my post today about what my ultimate family vacation would be. Read mine, Enter the Sweepstakes for a chance to actually win your own fantasy family trip or one of a bunch of other great prizes.

When I think "ultimate vacation" I think ocean front penthouse in Maui or traveling Europe or a spa trip in Bali.  Then you throw "family" in the middle of those two words and it becomes a totally different itinerary! My family consists of me and my 5 year old Princess D plus The Boyfriend and his 4 year old Terror. Vacation for them means amusement parks, swimming pools, and room service. So, how to you make a family vacation "ultimate" for the kids and the parents?

I live only an hour away from the original Disneyland in Anaheim and we have annual passports, so I think ultimate for us would have to be Disney World!  I haven't been to Disney World since I was a kid, but everyone tells me you have to give yourself at least 5 days there. To make this an ultimate magical experience ... fly direct first class on Virgin America from San Diego, CA to Orlando, FL and stay at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa in the Grand Suite.

All four of us LOVE Harry Potter and since we would be in Orlando, FL might as well go to Universal Orlando to see The Wizarding World of Harry Potter™! To make this an ultimate magical experience ... staying two days at Loews Royal Pacific Resort in a Jurassic Park Kid Suite.

After a seven days of theme park fun The Boyfriend and I would need to seriously decompress and the ultimate place in Florida would be at The Breakers in Palm Beach.  We would want two ocean front rooms with an ajoining door - one with a king size bed for us and one with 2 double beds for the kids - so that we would have some privacy. A couple of days of indulging in spa treatments should get us ready for the trip home and back to reality.  But spas aren't for kids, so to make this an ultimate experience for them ... Kids Camp at the resort!

One last note that would make this truly the ultimate vacation ... going in the Spring when the weather in Florida is still mild.

Now that would be THE ULTIMATE family vacation ... a mama can dream!

Don't forget to enter the “Do What You Love” Sweepstakes, for a chance to win your own ultimate family vacation. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do.

Share

Happy 5th Birthday, Princess D!

Share|

What wasn't very magical at Disneyland Paris

There was one thing I did not like about Disneyland Paris ... the adults!

Like the Disneyland in Aneheim, Disneyland Paris had designated smoking sections to prevent people smoking freely around the par. Yet, you found people smoking while walking from ride to ride, standing in line for rides, while eating lunch, or browsing the outdoor shops. As an asthmatic this was not ok for me. By that evening I could feel the gunk clogging up my chest. Adding to the poor air quality is the cigarette butts littered all over the park. Why Disneyland Paris employees don't enforce their non-smoking rule is beyond me.

The bathrooms were disgusting. Toilet paper littered all over the floor and feminine hygeine product packages were thrown in the toilets as if there were no trash cans available. There were no toilet protectors offered either. The worse experience about the Disneyland Paris bathrooms was when I walked out of my toilet stall and found a man hanging out in ladies room as if it was a unisex bathroom. NOT OK. Shockingly this also happened in the women's locker room at the Disneyland resort hotel swimming pool. I don't think myself as prude, but I don't want some random man hanging out where Princess D and I are attending to "private matters".

At Disneyland in Aneheim you can find characters all over the park. People queue up to meet the characters to get their autograph books signed and take pictures. At Disneyland Paris if a character is found it is like a mob scene. No one queues. No one cares if a child is trying to get a picture taken with Mr. Incredible. Parents are pushing and shoving their children (or people WITHOUT children) towards these characters, so autograph books aren't signed. These adults don't care if someone was there first. Because of this there are very few times and locations you will find characters. By the Fantasyland train station is one of those "mob scene" locations, but if you go over to Woody's Round Up in Frontierland people are forced to queue to meet 7 characters. This was the only location where I didn't want to throw an elbow at a pushy mom.



Overall, did Disneyland Paris match up to the original Disneyland? Not to me. Would I recommend Disneyland Paris at a place to go? Of course. It is still a magical place for kids ... and that's what really matters!

Share|

Bonjour Disneyland Paris!

One of the things I love about England is how easy it is to travel to other countries. If you have ever driven on the East Coast of the US you know how quickly you can be in another state. It is like that in Europe. Hop on a "puddle jumper" and in an hour you are in Spain or Germany. For $10 you can fly to Ireland. From England you can drive your car onto the Euro Tunnel train and in 30 minutes you are in France.





If you read my little blog regularly (or know me at all) you know how much I love Disneyland. The Boyfriend knows, so he made plans to take us and his 3.5 year old son, Terror, to Disneyland Paris. Princess D is an old pro at the Disneyland in Aneheim, but this provided her a totally new adventure.



Since we were staying at a resort hotel we were able to go into the park 2 hours before the general public could. The entrance to the park looks like a French sea side chateau. Main Street and the 4 different "lands" look and are laid out so different. Overall, the park is smaller with less rides making it seem even more crowded than it really was. There is a lot of construction and cleaning going on since it is their "off season" causing quite a few of the rides to be closed causing lines to the open rides to be quite long.



Many of Princess D's favorite rides are there: Dumbo, Peter Pan, Pinnochio. There are some that look like same, but are named different, such as "King Arthur's Carousel" is named "Lancelot's Carsousel", or the treehouse in Disneyland Paris is still named "The Swiss Family Robinson" while the treehouse in Aneheim has been changed to "Tarzan". There are rides that you think will be exactly the same, but are totally different, such as Small World, Space Mountain (which I have to admit is in fact BETTER in Paris), or The Haunted Mansion.

This was Terror's first time to any Disneyland. That little boy has more energy and a lot less fear than Princess D. As much as he brought her a little more out of her shell she was still very cautious. He loved Pirates of the Carrbean and The Haunted Mansion while she was too scared. Terror is all boy compared to little Princess D. Between the cars, space ships and pirates he was in heaven.



By the end of the day the kids were happy and sleepy, but The Boyfriend and I were exhaused! And, we still had one more day to go!

Share|

Wordless Wednesday: Disney at Night

Share|