lessons learned...some the hard way

well, we made it...we survived our first trip to orlando! there were tantrums, tears, and meltdowns (from all of us at some point), but we made it through and despite our original thought of this being "a one time only" trip, we will be going back in a couple years when jordan is taller so she can ride the big coasters! of course, the hubby has only agreed to this if i don't mention anything more about it until the vacation nears in 2014 (he's not overly anxious to head back down there)!


so, here's some of the lessons we learned along the way & hopefully, we'll keep them all in mind before our next trip!


~i did tons of research on disney leading up to our visit, not so much on universal or legoland...in the end, i think i over-planned our disney stuff & way under-planned the other parks. 


~the hotel we stayed in, the caribe resort, was the best choice for us & i would definitely stay there again. they have suites & rooms in the main building & villas in the back of the property. we stayed in one of the villas since we (mainly i) need 2 rooms & 2 bathrooms...i know how my family is & for my sanity, i needed 2 bathrooms! they have a great main pool with a slide (that the kiddos loved) & a smaller pool just for the villas. i was happy to have the space & the added luxury of a full kitchen & washer/dryer in the unit! i was able to do 3 loads of laundry while we were there!

day 1: magic kingdom

~magic kingdom was our longest park day...15 hours total! that's not something that we'll be repeating, it was just too long!


~jordan did the bibbidi bobbidi boutique and while it was a wonderful experience, it's not something that we're likely to repeat! she managed to keep the hair 'do for about 4.5 hours before we had to take the stuff out because the bobby pins were poking her...she was picking at & scratching her her head the whole time before we took it down. so be forewarned that if your little girl isn't used to pins in her hair, it may not be the best choice for her either! also, a week later & there's still glitter on her scalp, even after bathes & pool swimming!

enjoying the pastries before the meal!

~we did the breakfast at cinderella's castle (i booked it 5 months before our trip) after her hair appointment & while it was a big expense, it was worth it for us. the food was ok, not great...the crepes were more cheese filled then meat filled. jordan had her picture taken with cinderella (they give you copies of it while you are at the table) before we were seated & during the meal we had 4 other princesses walking around for pics & autographs...that made it all worth it to me since the lines for autographs were crazy long!


~my kids are not patient, anything longer than a 10 minute wait & they get antsy & irritating! i'll have to keep their ds's with me next time! so that being said, we really loved the fast pass option, made things much easier when we were able to get them!

~fast pass is a wonderful thing! but beware, i had read that you can get one every hour, that was not the case though. some rides make you wait up to 2 hours before you can get another fast pass so be sure to check the time that they print on the ticket.

waiting for the light parade!

~liberty square is the best, least crowded place to see the electric light parade...main street was packed & a cast member even said that liberty square was the best spot.

~food is pricey, but not more than what we expected...it's a step above fast food in taste & price. with the exception of cinderella's breakfast, we did counter service for all other meals. you can save a bit by foregoing the side items, just tell them you don't want the fries or salad or etc. that comes with the sandwich, pizza, hot dog, whatever. that saves about $1.50 a meal.


~we really didn't need to carry all the things that i originally thought we would need. i carried around a ton of stuff while at the magic kingdom, but by the time we went to legoland, 5 days later, my bag was much lighter! we stopped bringing water bottles since we were just buying drinks @ the parks, i didn't even use the ponchos since the kids wanted to get wet on the wet rides & rain wasn't even in the forecast. also, the misting fans are nice, but my kids were just using them to squirt each other so i stopped bringing them along.


~sunscreen (in small rub-on tubes) were always in the bag, along with the camera & extra batteries, and a couple small pouches with our tickets & money. we ended up not eating the snacks that i had brought along.

~taking pre-purchased dollar tree glow bracelets was one of the best tips i found! the kids didn't even ask for the park glow things since i let them know ahead of time that we had our own and they were fine with that!


i could go on & on...and i will, tomorrow! for now, i'll end here and get going on the unpacking that still needs to be done and the house cleaning & laundry that are waiting as well!

broken jars and time off for charlotte

ok, so i have been a little slack in the project department over the last few days, but with good reason...and here's a quick recap of what i've been up to instead!

before heading out of town to charlotte, nc for a little family getaway i found out that broth expands when frozen (as all liquid does) and when there's not enough room in the chosen container it will break that container...leaving bits of glass and frozen broth to be cleaned out of the freezer. yippee. after cleaning up the mess, throwing away the mason jars and frozen broth, i made myself a good/stiff drink and realized that it was a lesson well learned and never, ever to be repeated. 

the trip to charlotte was all part of jordan's birthday celebration...in lieu of a party we went on a trip and since stephen had time off from school it worked out well. we visited discovery place, the kids went swimming in the indoor pool, we walked around concord mills visiting the lego store and the build-a-bear workshop, stephen and luke saw percy jackson while jordan and i walked around some more. all very uneventful until we decided to leave the mall...and that's when all the drama took place.

we tried to start the van, but the van had other plans in mind! after trying for 10 minutes or so, doing everything we could think of (including checking google for solutions...ah, the joys of modern technology & wi-fi enabled phones!) i finally called for a tow truck. luke waited for the guy while the kids and i went to get dinner (lucky for me there were options that included a place with a full bar). the tow truck arrived, towed the van to goodyear, & the driver was nice enough to take luke to the local/regional airport to get a rental. the rental car, a 2 door sedan, was literally the only option since the rental agency was actually closed, but apparently at little airports like that they keep one car available in case someone shows up late (normally a small plane pilot) and needs one. luckily, jordan's carseat fit into the back and we would only need the car for the one night/next morning since the van problem wasn't so bad; turns out that the ignition switch needed to be replaced and not the transmission (again) like we were afraid of.

so, needless to say, i put the project on hold for just a bit. but now, i'm fully on track...having made jordan's birthday cake (and frosting) from scratch yesterday, marinara, stuffed shells and oatmeal bread today. since i'm back on track i figured i should update at least a bit about my time off. i'll post all kinds of pics and more info tomorrow...come on back then, the food pics alone will be worth coming back for!