31 days of Disney World: Toddler Tips

Each trip with our kids is a new experience because each age is a new experience and every kid is different.  On our last trip J and E were 25 months and just shy of 11 months and they both had a blast.

A lot of people say they want to wait to take their kids so they remember.  I totally understand that!  Disney World is expensive! We work hard and skimp all year in other things so we can afford to go once or twice that year because it's just important to us, but for others the trip is something they'd only care to do once or can really only afford to do once or maybe they just want their kids to have other vacation experiences too.  J still remembers things about our trip and talks about them daily.  I think that's so great, but I know he will not remember this trip in 20 years and most of his memories of going this little will mesh together.  That's ok with me.

A lot of people also say you can't take babies or toddlers to WDW because they won't enjoy it.  They do!  Even if your baby doesn't know who Mickey is (E did because he sees him in Mickey Mouse Clubhouse all the time), he'll love the bright colors, the costumes, and all the things to see and do.  Both of my kids got into rides even as young as 5 months ("It's a Small World" blew their little baby minds!) and I will agree that it all can be overstimulating, but how much they're stimulated in a day is up to you.

So here are my tips for Disney World with toddlers:

1. Go back to the resort (or to your hotel) for naps!!!  I cannot stress this to people enough and even to myself!  There were days our boys fell asleep in the stroller and we pushed on (which was fun) but when they'd wake up they'd be really stressed from still being in the stroller and unable to relax and unwind.  And I get that.  As much as we might have liked to eat some good desserts and do a little shopping and take turns riding rides each day while they stroller slept, we knew it was better for them and us to go nap.  We tried to leave the parks around 1 each day and got our kids back to the resort by 1:30 (we used the WDW free bus transportation).  Sometimes one may have taken a cat nap in the stroller and wouldn't be interested in napping in the room, but they still enjoyed the time to rest, play with their toys,  watch a little TV, color... it was a good break and a little bit of their "normal" routine from home they needed.  Most nights we didn't go back out after naps because we were all still too tired and we didn't want to come back late on the Disney buses (I'll write about this all later), but lots of people do and we will as our boys get older for sure!
2. Bring snacks they're used to.  Every kids meal at Disney World comes with french fries.  You can get fruit instead, but if your two year old is like mine, he learns quickly the beauty of the constant french fry stream and finds WDW that much more magical.  We knew our kids meals would be a little greasier sometimes, so we wanted to control what they ate outside of those meals.  My boys love applesauce in the squeeze tubes and we brought so many of those.  I'd also really recommend any of the baby food brands of toddler squeezers in an attempt to get even more fruits/veggies in.  We also made sure to buy plenty of bananas and string cheese there to keep things healthy and even though a fruit bowl is expensive, buying one every day can be so great.  My boys love melon but only grapes or apple slices come with kids meals.  They would gobble up the melon when I'd buy them the fruit cups and I felt better watching them eat that too.  We also brought the favorite treats for when we needed to buy time (waiting for a bus, etc)... goldfish, pretzels and of course suckers!  My family loves the organic vitamin C juice suckers.  I bought a huge bag at Target and my boys ate lots of those and got an extra boost of vitamin C at the same time.
3. Get them water bottles.  Josh and I bought Camelback water bottles at Target before the trip.  They have straws you bite to suck water out so they don't leak.  These bottles were so great for our boys.  They'd just hold them and drink water all day which was so great because it was hot!
4. Rent a stroller.  We rented a stroller from www.kingdomstrollers.com* and were very pleased with the quality and service and price.  We flew this trip and didn't want to pack bulky strollers when we knew J would just walk through the airport.  This stroller was so great and we loved having them side by side instead of back and front.  It also came with an awesome rain cover which was so needed while it rained and good shade covers.  You can also rent a crib through this company and a few other things, I believe.
5. Be prepared for things to not go as planned.  Kids get cranky or tired or they fixate on something and want to do it over and over.  No matter what happens, kids will change even your best plans.  Try to stay laid back and go with the flow and just watch your kid love seeing everything come to life!
6. Load up your iPhone/iPad/whatever with favorites!  My kids love "Toddler Teasers" app and watching Toy Story.  There were many times we needed to pacify our baby who just so happens to LOVE Toy Story and playing that on our iPhones was so handy and helpful!
7. Go at park opening.  Little kids are up early anyway, so try to push yourself to get out the door (you'll be back for naps in the afternoon and can rest then!).  That first hour the park is open is the time you can get the most rides and character meetings done because so few people are there yet.
8. Make time for normal play.  We're Disney Vacation Club members (discussing more in another post) which means we always get to stay at the deluxe level resorts.  Fortunately all these have parks and pools (actually all the Disney resorts/hotels have pools).  Sometimes a trip downstairs to the park or to walk around in the pool was more fun to my toddler than rides.  Likewise, playing on drums in line queues or at the set ups in Epcot or Animal Kingdom was a blast for both of my boys.  Every park has a splash pad and areas designed for kids to play.  Sometimes these places can be crowded with older kids, but if you can get in there and let your kids out of the stroller and be a little independent, they'll be better for it!
9. Eat early!  The time change (for us it was one hour) may have you thrown off, but if you can try to eat lunch at 11 and dinner between 4:30 and 5.  It's early and foreign, but eating that early means getting a table and getting your food quickly.
10. Wear a backpack.  Josh did this most of our trip this time and it was AMAZING.  When you have to park your stroller for rides it's annoying to load up with a diaper bag and a camera bag and all this stuff along with your kids.  The backpack was so nice because everything tucked neatly inside, was easily accessible, and it was so simple to take on and off rides!
11. Character dining! It's available in every park (usually in buffet form) and is so great!  The food is wonderful and the whole time you eat the characters of that eatery (they're listed on Disney's website) will come around and spend time at your table (not just snap a quick pic and go) playing with your kids, posing for lots of pics... it's great and personal and E loved it!  J, however, was really scared of the characters when they got too close to him which is funny because normally he's quite fearless!  (Above is E with Jake from Jake and the Neverland Pirates!).

If you have any more questions, please feel free to ask!

*Not being paid by Kindgom Strollers - these thoughts and opinions are my own! :)

31 Days of Disney World: When to Go

This picture was taken on our first day in the Magic Kingdom on this last trip we took which was in September.  I wanted to post it today not just because that castle looks incredible, but also because I wanted you to notice the people in the picture. ...Mainly how few people are in the picture.  This photo was taken on a Saturday around 10am and there are that few people!

If you can choose any month of the year to go to Disney World, I'd recommend September.  The crowds are extremely low.  We walked on most rides and 20 minutes was the longest we waited for anything we couldn't walk on.  If you have toddlers, you may not be surprised to find out September is one of the busiest months for parents of toddlers to attend (no school!) but having so many other toddlers around can be really nice because your kids enjoy "toddler watching" and you enjoy not being the only parent who's kid is having a meltdown... people are understanding.  ;)  The weather in September is also great!  It rained almost every day we were there, but our stroller rental came with a rain cover and the overcast skies and rain was a nice break from the Florida humidity.  Most days it never rained more than an hour.

Our family has also gone to Disney World twice in January.  January tends to be fairly uncrowded as well but for us, there are disadvantages that hold us back from going that time of year again.  The sun sets earlier so days are shorter, the temperatures are colder and tots need jackets at night/morning which is just one more thing to carry, the Christmas decor is all being torn down so there's a big crane parked by the castle your whole trip (very unattractive), and it's too cold to swim which can be a nice break from parks for tots!

Before kids, Josh and I went to WDW in April twice.  In Oklahoma, Spring Break is in March so we assumed by the end of April Disney World would be dead with people being back in school.  This was NOT the case and one of the times we were there in April there was a National cheerleading competition happening (the other time I was pregnant!).  We approach vacationing at Disney World in a very laid back way so combatting crowds and feeling claustrophobic isn't for us.  We will always try to avoid March, April, June, July and any holidays at Disney World.

I want to say also that we've been in mid-August; for our honeymoon actually!  It's hard for me to accurately say how busy Disney World was then because at the time there were hurricanes in Florida and it poured daily.  The parks were almost abandoned except for us crazy few running around in panchos hopping from ride to ride.  We had a blast that trip, but I highly doubt if we went mid-August again it would be like that because even if it did hurricane, we'd be hulled up in the hotel with our kiddos anyway.  ;)

In the future, we'd like to try to go to Disney World in May, December and October.  I've heard the middle of May isn't so bad when it comes to crowds and I'd like to see for myself!  The week after Thanksgiving to about the week before Christmas are also supposed to be VERY abandoned at Disney World but all the Christmas decor and festivities start happening just before Thanksgiving. I'd love to see Disney World at Christmas and if we can't this year, I'd love to next year when our boys are 3 and 4 and will have even more of an appreciation for the Santas of the world, hot cocoa and Mickey's Christmas parade.  And that just leaves October which is more crowded, but it's when Epcot has their food and wine festival and I'd love to go!!!

So what are my tips for deciding when to go?!

1. Use a third party site.  We use www.touringplans.com and LOVE that service*.  They let you see what they're estimated crowd calendar is for 30-60 days from the day you look.  They are VERY accurate.  We followed their predictions our whole last trip and it worked wonderfully.  If you want to be really sure, you can pay $10 for their subscription and see they're estimates for the next 365 days.  I'd really recommend this because things can change and you can use their app while you're in parks.  You can also see ride wait times on their app while in parks which is SO nice!  When our boys would wake up from naps and we'd discuss going back to a park, we consulted which park they said would be least busy and took note of wait times since we'd be going later in the day.
2. Google something like "Disney World event calendar."  After being there for that cheerleading competition I swore up and down I'd never let something like that happen again so now I always check to make sure there's no big events happening while we're there.  Things like the Food & Wine festival do mean WDW will be more busy even if it's just with locals coming to sample all the delicious goodies .
3. Watch for deals!  Disney is ALWAYS running promotions - especially in the off seasons (not summer or spring break or Christmas).  I strongly encourage people to never pay full price for a Disney trip!  Usually 3-6 months out they'll run a promo for a certain percentage off of rooms or for free dining when you stay on property (which I recommend and will discuss why another day) or even for a gift card as part of your stay (in April '10 we got a gift card for $250 as part of our package and used that to cover our food costs).  
4. Try to avoid going in the busy months I mentioned (March, April, June, July & around holidays) if possible.  If you have school aged kids I know this sometimes is a must and if you want to take off the least days of work I know it's a must, but if you are not in that situation and can book in the least busy months (January, September, after Thanksgiving to mid-December) please do!  Low crowd levels means a less stressful vacation which means more fun and Disney Magic!

*Touringplans.com does not know about this blog or my writing about them.  These are my opinions of them that I was not paid to share.

P.S. I promise not every post will be so wordy.  ;)

31 Days of Disney World

I'm really excited to be linking up to The Nester for her 31 days series this October! So many bloggers are doing this, but if you're unfamiliar with what's happening, basically people are linking up and writing for all 31 days of October about one topic on their blog.  I've seen a lot of my favorites putting up their topics all day and was feeling sad not to have a niche when it hit me, "Um, duh, I know Disney World!"

For the 31 days of this month, I'm going to be talking about our family's favorite place in the whole entire world: Disney World!  We actually just got back from there a few weeks ago.  The trip we're returning from was my 7th, the Mister's 20th+ trip, J's 3rd trip (he's 2) and E's 2nd trip (he's 11 months!).  So yes, we love it.  And we love talking about it.  And I love helping people who are interested in it!  So for this month my plan is to enjoy talking about it each and every day.

I'm going to talk about our last trip, Disney World with toddlers, Disney World with babies, traveling to Disney World, when to go, money saving tips, how to make the trip easy for you, on-property resorts, Disney Vacation Club, and all my favorite things! I don't have an outline written up yet, so if you have a specific question, please feel free to ask me in the comments! I'd love to help anyone with any questions they have.  Hope you enjoy this series!

And P.S. I don't work for Disney nor am I paid by Disney to write about them.  I just love it.  ;)

Day 1 - Deciding When to Go
Day 2 - Tips for taking toddlers
Day 3 - One of my favorite "eats"
Day 4 - Tips for taking babies

Do-Be-Mem: Live Simply

Oh hi, world! It's been awhile hasn't it? I really had the BEST intentions when I started this blog of posting regularly... I thought that it would challenge me to be more creative if I made a blog centered around creativity.  Little did I realize all those months ago TIME to be creative or blog at all (my own little private blog I use to document our family is seriously suffering as well!) would become very, very limited and full of other things.

The truth is that I miss blogging a whole lot.  I miss sharing my thoughts and projects with these people of the Internet I've formed relationships with!  I've actually managed to do a lot of great projects lately, have another little baby's birthday coming up, and want to share things like details of our trip to Disney World with you!  There's lots to blog about, but I've got to get back into the swing of things.  Link ups are great about putting you back into the swing of things... they challenge you to think about things someone else thought up and that's just what I need! So today I'm linking up with my sweet blogging friend Maegan in her new link up, "Do, be, mem." Essentially her weekly challenge is for you to DO one thing, challenge yourself to BE something and for you to MEMORIZE a little something of your choosing, so this week I'll share my goals for next week with you.

DO: 

Blog!!! I think I've explained this pretty well already.  ;)

BE:

Simple.  My mantra this year has been "live simply" and yet it is so easy to become obsessed with living extravagantly and spending money frivolously.  I've seen a lot of bloggers lately "loving what they have" and even my friend April encouraged me in a blog post she wrote when it came to fall decorating to search my home before spending a lot of money and I did and I think what I ended up making was so much better, cuter, and more "this family" than I could have purchased.  The challenge here is to love what I have, look in the clearance section, hit thrift stores/garage sales, save more money, cook good meals, opt for the backyard over the gas to the park... not always, but more.  All these little things will add up!

MEMORIZE:

Along that line, I'm aiming to memorize this quote by CS Lewis:

source

Making Friends As an Adult

source

I'm a young Mom.  Most people my age are just settling into their careers or starting to get married.  The majority of people who were my friends when I was still school-aged are single and the few who are married are childless.  Actually, only two of the people I graduated high school with (granted my graduating class was about 75 people) are parents and as fun as it'd be to coordinate with these women, they're working Moms, not stay-at-home-Moms so schedules are challenging and it just doesn't happen.  I actually only have one local Mom friend who I get together with semi-regularly which is a funny thing to confess because I feel like one should have a lot of friends.  I am so very thankful for this friend and am always so happy when we find the time to get our kids together to play and spend the hours talking away.  We relate well to each other and conversation comes easily.

And the truth is, I've met other Moms.  I've met Moms in the neighborhood, at Chick Fil A, and in passing at Church.  I've even managed to have a few play dates with Moms I've met, but it's always a challenge because kids get sick or schedules get busy.

Talking to other Moms is pretty easy.  My Mom told me when I was pregnant with J that once you become a Mom it is so easy to talk to and relate to all other Moms because you're all "in the club" together and everyone can talk about their kid non-stop which makes conversation easy.  I think this is really true.  I can't tell you how many women I've sat with at Chick Fil A while I bounce E and watch J climb through tunnels and have thought, "Wow, we are having really great conversation!"  But then the conversation ends.  The six-year olds stampede in and we Moms of younger toddlers rush our children down while saying how we enjoyed the conversation and then a toddler (sometimes mine) sees the door to the play ground open and goes running through the restaurant so you have to take off.

These encounters always leave me a little dumbfounded and I wonder, "That went so nicely and I feel like we could be friends! Should I have gotten her number?"  And then "Call Me Maybe" pops in my head and I feel lame for not knowing what to do or how to connect beyond play ground conversations with other women.

The Church our family attends is huge and the way people get connected is through home group situations.  Josh and I have found it difficult to get plugged into a home group in our time at this Church because of our having such little kids.  Recently though, I started taking the boys with me to a group for stay-at-home-Moms.  It's been so lovely to visit with other Moms every other week the last few weeks, but even within that group, I feel like we're all having great conversations, but no one is really meeting or talking outside of the group.

...And that makes me wonder, do other people want friends?  Why are friends important?  I know for me the friends I have (married, not married, Moms - whoever) are important.  They encourage me.  My Mom friend and I can text frustrations about our nap time (and let's not forget the Twitter friends I have who share in these woes with me too!).  Other friends with their other lives challenge me in other ways - in my faith, in my individuality... friends are good and important and healthy.  And it used to be so easy to make friends, but is that just because environments like school and college made it easier?  Now as adults and parents we can be so easily distracted when it comes to having conversations and getting to the heart of the matter and isn't it the getting to the heart of the matter that makes such great friends?

I did have some luck in this area lately with a friend I met on Instagram of all places!  We "met," became online friends and then finally met up at the zoo a few weeks before she moved to Texas.  I felt like our kids got along great, we got along great, we had similar views, values, etc and I felt like it was so natural and easy to be her friend.  It helped that as soon as we met up she dived right into real conversation.  So is that what it takes?  And how hard is it to make yourself vulnerable only to be rejected or to even be the only one of the two making yourself vulnerable in the first place?

I have no resolution on this issue, but it's a topic that's weighed heavily on my mind.  I'd love to hear from you.  What stage of life are you in and how does that stage effect your ability to forge friendships?  Any advice for someone who feels like they're starting Kindergarten all over again in the friends department?

P.S. I remembered after writing this the friend I mentioned, April, wrote a post about friendship lately too.  You can read that here.  It's good!

A Toy Story 2nd Birthday Party

I've spent the last few weeks working on J's 2nd birthday party.  It was this last Saturday (even though his birthday is tomorrow).  If you didn't know he is OBSESSED with Toy Story.  We watch it every day (and boy am I glad there's 3 to choose from!), he plays with his Toy Story toys all the time and is always asking about Woody's hat.  I was excited to have this party for him & to see his reaction to everything we set up.  He was definitely excited when he walked into Grandma's house and saw everything, but let's be honest, the balloons were by far the highlight of the decor.  Haha.  Oh well, I've packed it all up and intend to reuse it again when he's older and will appreciate it even more!

We had two parties with him with our two separate families.  This first batch of pics was with my family at my Mom's house (our house is too small to hold all the people who came to this one!).

(The easel was a gift from my parents and my youngest brother drew the Woody. Everyone at both parties signed.  This was my Mom's idea & I loved it!)

Most of my time spent crafting was on this photo booth.  I saw the idea on Pinterest and loved it but wasn't sure how it'd pan out.  It ended up being so much fun for everyone and the pictures are incredible!  I'm so glad I ended up taking the time to do it and thankful to my sister who helped me with the props!

Special thanks to my husband who helped so much w/ the party & who dealt w/ a crazy woman as a wife last week.  ;)

Party two was at our house with Josh's family.  It started immediately after J's nap & he was pretty excited to wake up and see the party as still happening and his Nana & Pa had arrived for the fun!  My Mother-in-law contributed a few more decorations she picked up at Party City.  My favorite things were the giant Woody & Buzz and Jessie, Rex & Mr. Potato Head posters she brought.  J was impressed too.  They're now hanging in his room and spicing up his plain white walls.  Here's a look...

I'm typically not a fan of posting my kid's names or pictures on this blog, but since this is a birthday post here's a picture of the little man from the side admiring the large Woody poster during his second party.  I really can't believe he'll be two tomorrow and I've just celebrated that with the people who love him.  Time really does fly way too fast when you become a parent.  :(

Thanks so much for everyone who helped with the party! I'd like to put up a few tutorials soon, but in the mean time here's links to websites I drew my Pinstert-piration! 

Photo booth.

Banner.

E turns 1 on October 15th and I'm already planning (and pinning) the best Mickey Mouse Clubhouse party for him (he LOVES Mickey!) but I think everyone around me deserves a birthday party break.  We go to Disney World soon, but once we're back I'll switch over to party planning mode for my littlest man.  Hope you all have a good Monday! :)

5 Minute Guacamole

In June, I did a pin review on copy cat Chipotle guacamole. We make it frequently because as I mentioned then, Josh loves it.  I've come to just like it.  I'm not the biggest fan of raw, crunchy onions and I just don't like the random heat that comes from jalapeño chopped up in the mix.  Sometimes you don't taste it at all, sometimes you taste too much.  Josh disagrees with me and finds no fault with the recipe so if you like it, stick with it, but if you want something different, I have something for you!

I've been playing with guacamole a lot and I've finally found something I really like.  Guacamole is only time consuming when it comes to chopping everything up.  In this recipe, there's less chopping and the whole process is much quicker.  I'm able to make this in 5 minutes which is perfect when I want a little something fun with my lunch or when I'm mixing up some guacamole for our Mexican food night (although I'm only ever making this version if we're out of onion or jalapeño).

And, by the way, this recipe yields about 1 cup of guacamole.  If you eat it all it'll cost you 6 Weight Watcher points, but if you eat 1/3 a cup (like I do) it's only 2 points! Win!

...So here we go! 

Ingredients:

2 avocados (mine were medium-ish)

1/2 small tomato

1/2 tbs lemon juice

1/2 tsp lime juice

1/2 tsp jalapeño juice

2 tbs cilantro (unpictured)

1/2 tsp garlic powder

salt to taste

When making the guacamole I first get my avocado mashed.  I slice, de-pit, score*, scoop into a bowl, and mash.  I like to leave some chunks initially because by the end of the process there's been a lot of mixing and I don't want it to be free of some chunkiness in the end.

Next, I cut my tomato, scoop out the seeds and liquid and chop it up.  Set it aside and do the same with the cilantro.

Now take your juices - lemon, lime, and jalapeño and add them to the avocados.  Toss in your salt (less is more when you're starting) and garlic powder.  Give the mix a stir and give it a taste (preferably with a chip so you can measure the saltiness against the chips saltiness - you can tell this is serious business, right?).

Mix in tomato and cilantro and stir once more.  Now, have your official taste (the previous taste was more like a teaser) and decide if you need more salt or more garlic or more spice or more acidy.  Guacamole is so personal so this is more of a jumping off point and what I specifically like.

I hope you enjoy this!  As always, be sure to let me know if you try it!  For me it's so easy to mix up and there's something about the process of making guacamole that makes the fact your infant is pulling up on your leg to be held and your toddler is covering himself with infant saline solution that makes the world still seem ok.  ;)

*By scoring I mean slicing the avocado while it's still in it's "shell" as pictured above.  I saw this on Food Network once and my life was forever changed.  It's genius.