Magical Memories Part 2

OK.  So it took me a little longer to get back to the Magical Memories than I thought it would.  We got stuck in Wonderland.  If you missed the first five you can find them here.

5:  Roller coasters.  Yep, we spent so much of the summer here at King's Dominion with some of the best roller coasters on the east coast, but it was the coasters at Disney that finally got Jeff to give it a try.  I think part of it is the amazing story that Disney incorporates in to each of their rides.  Waiting in line is often like walking through a movie set.  And the rides tell a story as well as give you a thrill.  We started at Animal Kingdom with Expedition Everest.  Great ride!  Except we didn't give Jeff enough time to get psyched up for it.  He was in absolute hysterics for the whole ride.  Didn't even try to enjoy it.  Whoops.  The next day we hit Thunder Mountain.  We explained it as a fast train ride.  He LOVED it.  Wanted to go right back on.  No real roller coasters at Epcot, but we did love Test Track.  Speeding outside at 60 MPH is pretty awesome.
Finally we hit MGM and the Rockin' Roller Coaster.  Since it's inside, Jeff couldn't see what was coming up.  The one coaster he really enjoys at King's Dominion is a launching coaster so the fact that the Rockin' coaster launches is a bonus.  He willingly climbed aboard, a little nervous.  When we shot into the first loop I could hear him screaming with glee.  Yep.  Loved it.  When we went back later in the week we asked to sit in the first car -- AWESOME!!  Through the rest of the week we hit up Space Mountain and headed back to Animal Kingdom for a second try at Expedition Everest -- success.  Pretty awesome.
If you're wondering about Erin and the roller coasters, there was never any question.  She's my thrill seeker and crazy girl.  We're just lucky that she's tall enough to ride them all at Disney.

4:  Breakfast with Alice.  We headed to the Grand Floridian for breakfast with Alice and friends.  It was our only character meal, but totally worth it.  Since we were involved with Alice in Wonderland at home it was the perfect choice for a breakfast.  The food was great, but the kids barely ate (although Erin drank about 5 glasses of this fancy orange/passion fruit juice.  So much the server left us a carafe).  Erin wasn't willing to get up from the table to go to the buffet because she was so nervous that she'd miss a visit.  One of the great things about this breakfast is that they are human characters and you can have a little conversation with them.  We got to meet Alice and the Mad Hatter and Alice's friend Mary Poppins.  Alice was so cute with Erin and played with her hair pretending she was the White Rabbit.  Pooh and Tigger were also there.  Even though Jeff is 6, his excitement to meet Pooh and Tigger was unmatched.  He ran up to them both with huge hugs.  Pooh even tried to take Jeffrey home with him.  It was an amazing experience.

3:  Meeting Tinkerbell.  One of the characters that Erin was especially excited to meet was Tinkerbell, so we gave in and waited in line for an hour.  Tom and Jeff took off for an extra ride through the Caribbean.  Part of the excitement was that you didn't know which of Tink's friends would be with her.  It turned out to be Terence.  Most little girls were bummed, but not Erin.  She had collected a Terence pin a few days earlier and couldn't wait to show him.  The whole visit turned into pure silliness.  Terence was super excited that he found someone with one of his pins.  He called Tink over and made a special point to show her.  Erin also had her Tinkerbell doll with her and they compared the outfits.  It made Erin feel so special.  And she will never lose that Terence pin.

2:  Jedi training.  This is one of the few things that we had planned from the beginning.  Knowing Jeff's obsession with Star Wars we figured it would be something he'd never forget.  Our first attempt to hit the Jedi training was thwarted because we were 10 minutes too late to get in line and missed all the sessions for that day.  So, on our last day in Orlando we made sure to arrive at the park extra early.  Even still, we were back in the line to get signed up.  Both kids wanted training so we signed up both of them.  The whole training show is based around the kids learning a lightsaber routine and then Darth Vader arrives to test them all.  As is typical of Jeffrey, he was the first to volunteer to take on Vader and did with great gusto.  Erin had studied very well and made sure to have all the moves down before it was her turn.  Either way it was an experience neither will ever forget.

1:  This.

 I don't need to say much more.  Just that he asked her to dance (the boy HATES to dance).  She said yes.  They both smiled.  This will very likely never happen again.  And only happens in the Happiest Place on Earth.
I can't wait to go back.

Thankful Thoughts

My Thankful Essay
by Erin Wallace

I am thankful for family, books and my house.  They make me happy.

First, I am thankful for my family.  They love me.  Watching movies is fun with my family.  They make food for me.  We play games together.  They dance with me. I love my family.

Also, I am thankful for my books.  My favorite books are Little House on the Prairie and Ox-Cart Man.  They both go to the market and bring home candy.  Both stories have men who buy things at the market.

Third, I am thankful for my house.  I have somewhere to sleep and live.  I have somewhere to sit down and eat.  I have a family.

So you see, I am thankful for my family, books, and my house.

Magical Memories Pt. 1

If I were to write a full blog on the entire Disney trip you'd all be sitting here reading for hours (or more likely until you become bored after 3 minutes).  So I'm going to write up a top ten list.  Enjoy.

10:  Pin trading.  A few friends suggested getting the kids pins and lanyards.  All cast members who wear pins will trade with any guests who have pins to trade.  We figured that would help make the trip a bit more memorable.  We started letting the kids pick out individual pins, but realized quickly that those pins would be traded away.  So they each picked out one special pin and then we bought a few packs of pins for trading (had we had our ducks in a row I would have ordered some lots of pins from Ebay before we left).  Both kids loved trading pins.  They would walk up to any cast members and trade pins.  Erin just really liked the experience of trading and wasn't very selective.  Jeffrey was more pointed in his trading.  By the end of the week he had a goal in mind.  He was looking for Fab. 5 Pirate pins and anything with the Queen of Hearts.  On our way out of Animal Kingdom on our last night, we stopped to trade with one last cast member.  She saw that Jeffrey was looking for certain pins.  She opened up a little bag and dug through it until she found one he didn't have.  He wasn't sure what he wanted to trade and she said -- "No trade.  A gift from me."  And then she reached into her bag and pulled out a pin for Erin as well.  Now that's Disney Magic.

Jeffrey's Lanyard Before Our Last Day Of Trading

Erin's Lanyard Before The Last Day Of Trading

9:  This guy.  He was one of the cast members staffing Tower of Terror.  A few things to know.  Jeffrey's not a big thrill ride guy and was skeptical about Tower of Terror, but we wanted to encourage him.  This guy was our "bellhop".  He continued the story set out by the ride as he checked seat belts, ran back as the doors closed trying to tell us "one last thing" etc..  Both Jeff and Erin bought it all hook, line, and sinker.  And then loved every second of the ride.  They was so excited about it that we turned around and walked right back onto the ride.  And when we saw him working the entrance later in the day we asked him for this photo which he served up perfectly.

8:  Watching Erin at the Magic Kingdom fireworks and light show.  We had a great vantage point (Tinkerbell flew right over our heads).  And Erin stood in awe as the castle changed colors and flashed.  Then she started "directing" the show.  She was waving her hands around and flashing them with the fireworks.  When the music quieted, she would kneel down close to the ground and wait for the crescendo when she would shoot up like a rocket herself.  She was totally engrossed in the show.  She became part of it, and it brought tears to my eyes.

7:  Random character sightings.  Not the ones that we had to wait in line for, or get there 30 minutes early for, but just walking by and seeing no line.  We had several visits with Stitch, and a family visit with the White Rabbit, a great time with Chip and Dale, snuggles with Tigger and Eeyore, and even a quick visit with Princess Aurora.  Just like 7 years ago when we took Erin, we found Princess Aurora hidden in a corner with no line.  She took time to talk with Erin and ask her about her "first visit".  I thought back to Erin's true first visit (of which she has no memory) and meeting Princess Aurora when no one else was around.  She picked her up, and held and kissed her cheek.  Amazingly sweet.  And this time Erin got her autograph (we did pins instead of autograph books but the cast member staffing the line made sure she had an index card with her so all little girls could get an autograph).

Jeff's First Character Hug - Terk from Tarzan Maybe?

Always Love For Stitch

"Timely" Visit With The White Rabbit

Erin Has A Long History With These Two, and Jeff is Showing Off One Of His  Dale Pirate Pins.

My Princess With a Princess

6:  Dancing.  Yep, sounds a little odd, but there was lots of dancing on this trip.  Our first night at Downtown Disney we stumbled upon a free kid's dance party and even Jeffrey danced for hours.  Later while walking through Epcot we came across a live performance in Morocco.  We all loved the music and Erin, Tom and Jeff danced like crazy.  Yes, that's right, Jeff danced in public.  Twice.  Actually 3 times, but number 3 will be reserved for it's own highlight.  

What about the other 5?  I guess those will have to wait for another day.  Have to keep both my readers in suspense don't I.  Plus, most of you have seen the 100 plus pictures on Facebook already.  So, I'm just going to make you wait for 5 more stories.

Erin's Monticello Report

While we were touring Monticello there was a woman who had brought a notebook with her and was taking notes on things that interested her during the tour.  Erin thought that was a really neat idea and was bummed she hadn't brought her own journal.  So first thing Saturday morning she popped into our bedroom to show her daddy the journal she'd written about the tour.  I was surprised at the things that she remembered and what little parts of the tour she latched on to.  I encouraged her to type her report into the computer and bring a copy to school as well.  

Monticello

We took a tour. I saw a eagle on the ceiling.  I saw a bad drawing of Thomas Jefferson.  I saw a lot of books.  I saw his glasses and his bed.  Now I know that Thomas Jefferson served 8 pieces of meat and 8 desserts.  I saw a really cool board game.  Then we went outside.  Thomas Jefferson could see the Blue Ridge Mountain.  Thomas Jefferson stored wine and beer.  We saw a cool kitchen and we saw a ice house.  We also saw some people digging for stuff under ground.  Mom says that is called archeology.  We walked through the gardens and saw a marshmallow plant.  We also saw a lot of herbs.    

The Weekend of Fun Part 1

On the Steps of Monticello

The kids had a long weekend this weekend (Friday but not the Monday holiday, clear as mud?).  I decided that we would just have a couple super special days.  The last few months have been so jammed with shows and plays that we haven't done much else at all.

We started with Thursday actually because Jeffrey had a field trip to the mountains.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day to be up in the mountains.  The kids talked a little about preserving the national parks land (Don't pick flowers, don't get too close to animals, etc..)  They played some games in the meadow on the mountains and took a little hike.

While Jeff and I were driving home we came upon a cluster of cars and people in the road.  Turns out there was a bear high up in a tree right at the side of the road.  I pulled over and got the camera out and Jeff and I spent quite some time enjoying watching him pull leaves from the trees.  We were even still watching when he decided to climb down the tree right in front of us.  He was absolutely not bothered by us at all when he got to the bottom.  Simply hunted for a few nuts and moved on his way.  Pretty exciting to be able to watch a bear for that long.

Hello Mr. Bear

Just Rooting Around

On Friday, the kids had the day off for a teacher work day.  I've been promising to take them to Monticello.  At the beginning of the summer Erin picked out a Little House book to read and got through about half of it.  We also listened to 2 Little House books on CD during our summer travels.  Both kids were enjoying learning about life in the past.  So I thought they'd enjoy visiting Monticello.

My Boy LOVES His Maps

There's a new visitor's center at the house with a large hand's on learning room.  The kids really enjoyed exploring that area before we headed to the house.  They got to try out some of Jefferson's inventions, lie in his cool bed, build with architectural blocks etc...  During the tour Erin really latched on to some things.  She even came home and wrote a little report about her trip.  Jeffrey was more drawn to the architectural aspects of the house and got a little bored with the tour.  He did really enjoy exploring the grounds though.  Especially the gardens.

Contemplative Girl

Petting the Herbs

After touring the house, we headed to a nearby apple orchard for some apple picking.  The kids had a great time filling the bags and we quickly picked 15 pounds of apples.  Guess we're going to be having some apple pie and crisp this week!!  It was a really beautiful day and from the "mountain" looking east you can see quite a bit.  Both kids stood on the observation deck and looked out, then turned back to me and said "Mommy!  I can see the ocean!"  Then not to be outdone, Erin decided she could really see New York ;)

Goofy Faces

We met daddy for dinner and then headed to the UVA men's soccer game.  What a fun and exciting time!  The kids had a blast.  The team was handing out little flags at the entrance and Erin waved her flag throughout the game.  It was a close game, and by the final few minutes, most of the stadium was on it's feet waving flags.  I bought Erin a Virginia t-shirt and then at halftime we caught one for Jeffrey too.  At the end of the night, the team lined up at one end of the field and signed autographs for the kids.

Go Hoos!

Autographs From the Goalie

It was certainly a special day that both kids will remember for quite a while.

Taking Center Stage

This year, Erin was old enough to compete in our local C'ville Jr. Idol competition.  She's performed before, but not in the judged category.  She admitted that this year she was really nervous, but mommy couldn't tell.  Such a brave little girl.

Mommy does lose her mommy card a bit this weekend though.  I hardly got any pictures at all and NO video of her second song.  The video setting on my camera died on Friday night and Noni's didn't work yesterday.  So, hopefully someone does have a video of her beautiful singing from yesterday, but you'll have to wait a bit to see it while I hunt it down.

In the meantime, here's the clip of Erin's song from Friday night.  She sang the "Wizard and I" from Wicked.  One of her favorite songs.  There's lots of words to get out and she did awesome.

Also, here is the link to a piece by the local news station.  Tom has a quick interview, and there are some clips of Erin in the group numbers and even a few glimpses of Jeffrey.

Black Box Celebrates 25 Years

Mommy is super, duper proud of her girl for being so brave.  Love my sweetie.

Buttercup the Bike

Erin's bike was way to small.  She got it when she was 5, and has finally outgrown it.  We've passed it down to a great friend who I'm sure will love it.  So, today at the consignment shop, Erin got a new-to-her bike.  The kicker -- no training wheels.  Erin has been talking about taking her training wheels off all summer.  She even tried with Grandpa, but they couldn't quite get it worked out, so back on they went.  This afternoon mommy returned with a great red and white bike -- named Buttercup.  Erin was anxious and ready to give her a try.

We started off slowly, but gained a bit of confidence quickly.  After a few minor tips, we took a break and headed inside.  Forty minutes later we were back on the bike.  This time mommy let go, and Erin rode on her own all the way to the bridge.  Way to go girl.  She couldn't wait to show her daddy when he got home.

After dinner we went back out for a few more runs down the road.  She grew more and more comfortable with each attempt.  She is so proud of being able to "almost" ride her bike on her own.  Give her a week and she'll be tooling around the neighborhood annoying all the neighbors!!

Good Old Fashioned Home Cooking!!

And not by me!

mmmmmm....frosting

Over the summer both kids have taken a real interest in helping cook.  They've even taken the initiative to help plan out a few meals on their own.  We love that the kids are excited about getting their hands into the kitchen activities.

A few of the projects they undertook:

Erin and I arrived home from a later rehearsal to find Jeffrey covered in flour.  He and Tom had decided to make a carrot cake.  Tom offered up the choice to make brownies or cookies.  Jeffrey got into an Alton Brown cook book and pointed at the carrot cake.  "I want to make that!"  And so off they went to the grocery store to get everything needed to make carrot cake.

So Proud of His Carrot Cake

The kids helped make a "Grape Gazpacho".  The big aspect of this project was that both kids learned some simple knife skills.  They were given sharp paring knives.  Taught to hold and cut.  And then given lots of veggies and fruits to chop up.  While the final result was less than "tasty" for the kids they really had a ton of fun cutting everything up.

While visiting Noni, they all went to a close-out book sale.  Erin picked out 3 cookbooks from the children's section.  She has really enjoyed them.  The recipes are very simple, and use mostly already prepared foods.  No matter, it's gotten her into the kitchen and playing with cooking.  One evening Erin decided to make "Princess Fairy Wands" (white chocolate covered pretzels).  They were really good, and absolutely adorable.

Fun Dessert

While visiting Uncle Gary and Aunt Suzy, the kids helped daddy and Uncle Gary make meatballs for dinner. They rolled them and then dredged them in breadcrumbs.  They wanted to put on a good show for Uncle Gary and certainly did.

See How It's Done Uncle Gary?

A few weeks ago, Jeffrey came downstairs and asked if we could make a special dinner for daddy.  "Of course" was the answer.  So we looked through the cookbooks and he picked out a "Meatball and Biscuit Skewer".  And they were really good.  He did almost all of the work.  He helped cut the biscuits and peppers and put all the ingredients onto the skewer.  This dinner was such a big deal for Jeffrey, and he really enjoyed putting it all together for his daddy.

See What I Made For You Daddy!!

Add to these projects other helpful times flipping pancakes, kneading bread, measuring flour....it's been a very fun summer in the kitchen.