That Time Again

I now have a couch in my kitchen. I'm not sure which is worse about this-- the fact that it's just plain weird to have a couch crammed into one's kitchen (and it really is crammed; I can't open the cupboards that it's pushed up against), or the fact that Craig thinks that's an awesome place to keep it. I think he's envisioning sacking out on the couch after work and watching me cook dinner for him. 'Cuz that's gonna happen...

Anyway, in case you didn't already guess, we have officially started working on the rec room.
Up to this point, this room has sported the darkest wood paneling imaginable, making it feel like a very dark cave, except less homey. Craig has removed a couple sections of this paneling and discovered lighter wood paneling underneath it, and then the cinder blocks. But no insulation. Hmmm.
Craig also pulled up one corner of the carpet, revealing linoleum underneath that is meant to look like dark wooden tiles. Apparently whoever chose the paneling and the linoleum never got that tree house they wanted so badly as a kid.

Craig also found some wiring that is being held together with electrical tape. So let's make that a tree house that you're secretly hoping to burn down, but on accident. Perhaps this was all meant to be an insurance scam?

In any case, I have the feeling that this couch is going to be in my kitchen for a while.

This will effectively cancel any plans of entertaining that I may have even been considering. Fortunately, I don't have parties very often, so this isn't much of a sacrifice. But if you do find yourself at my home for whatever reason, please try not to laugh too openly at the current state of things. It's really not my fault. Instead, try to be impressed with the fact that I helped Craig carry the couch up the stairs. What I lack in homemaking skills, I try to make up for with sheer grunt work!



P.S. to my fellow Manass-assassins: I hope someone out there is enjoying this snow. How worthless is it for it to snow on a Saturday?!?!

Things You Can't Live Without (Once You Have Them)

Have you noticed that there are certain things that, once you have them, it's impossible to get by without them? And once you're used to having them, you wonder how on earth you survived without them in the first place. How did they become so completely indispensable so quickly? It's kind of amazing, really.

Anyway, here are some of those things that I believe are like that, either from personal experience or from what I've heard from people lucky enough to have them:

Cell Phone: It was cell phones that got me started on this list, actually, when I realized that I don't feel safe driving without one anymore. I used to. I drove for probably ten years without a cell phone. But now suddenly it feels like a bad idea. And while I'm on the topic, how do you ever meet up with anyone in a public place without a cell phone? How did people do it back in the day? Did they just plan better? How?

Boppy Pillow: this is only if you're nursing, which I am not right now (thank goodness for that). When Kendra was born I didn't use the boppy for a while, and ended up giving myself a sore back. Once I figured out the reason, I used that thing religiously. It's a life (and back) saver.

Craig: I assume everyone feels this way about their spouse. At least, I hope so. But in my case, I have to point out that Craig is better than anyone else I know at keeping me both sane and happy. He has a gift for it, which I appreciate.

Bentley: for someone who didn't even exist a few years ago, it's sort of weird when I realize how much this kid means to me. Just now we were sitting and discussing the merit of having eyes on one's bottom. He's almost got me convinced that this would be a good idea... What did I do with myself before he came onto the scene?

Kendra: no, I certainly couldn't leave Kendra off this list, either. And I'm sorry if this just feels cheesy or clichéd to you or whatever, but it's really true about one's children. You get by just fine without them, and then as soon as they pop into your life, suddenly you have no concept of ever not having had them... It's completely weird, but in a perfect sort of way.

Internet: surviving without reliable internet for a couple years was near torture. But when I think back to the days not that many years ago when internet wasn't even a concept, it sort of blows my mind. How did people find restaurants or do research or get directions to places? It must have been such hard work...

Caller ID: it's also hard to remember what it must have been like to answer the phone with NO IDEA who was on the other end. Doesn't that almost sounds like the beginnings of a horror movie now? Like something bad that parents would warn their children against?

Call Waiting: what if talking on the phone too long just meant that you would miss anyone else who tried to call you? I can't even imagine that kind of pressure! It must have been horrible when you're in your prime dating years and your roommate is hogging the phone and you could potentially be missing calls from members of the opposite sex!

King-sized bed (probably): I survive with a queen, but I would imagine this is one of those things that is very hard to downsize from. It's hard to stop sprawling in your sleep once you've gotten used to it. And by the same token, I doubt Craig and I could squeeze onto a double or a full-sized mattress now...

HD TV (or so I've heard): the people I've talked to all say that once you get used to HD, regular TV just looks ugly. I guess that's reason #2 for me for why to not ever switch over in the first place-- heaven forbid I let myself become even snobbier than I already am!

Remote Controls for cars (clickers!): does anyone else think it takes FOREVER long to unlock a car with the key now? Who has that kind of time any more?!

Actually, remote controls for anything: seriously, getting up just to turn down the volume? What a drag.

Any square foot of living space you currently possess: each time Craig and I move, our first reaction to our new place is, "It's so much bigger!" And then usually within a matter of hours, we're wondering how we'll possibly fit here much longer. How does anyone ever survive a downsize?

Garbage Disposal: we didn't have one of these growing up and I never thought much about it. But since having one, it's like I don't know how to do dishes without knowing that any muck still left on the plates can just be eaten by the garbage disposal. Seriously, how did that used to work? I don't remember our kitchen sink getting clogged up, so I'm sure we got all the gunk out each day, but gross!


So those are my thoughts on the matter. Any to add of your own?

Postscript to The Princess Problem

Just now as we were watching Mulan, Kendra declared, "Bad guys! Fight them!" and proceeded to poke the Huns on the TV screen* with Bentley's plastic sword. I'm very proud.











*This is one of the many reasons why I don't think we'll be investing in an expensive HDTV for a very long time...

WDW, Part VI: Hollywood Studios

So after staying so late at the Magic Kingdom, I was a totally awesome sister and actually got up early the next morning so I could see my sister Leah (and her husband) one last time before they left. I wasn't that nice to Natalie, who'd had to leave the day before, but Natalie was leaving at some ridiculous hour-- 4:30am?-- and if I would have tried to go, I would have been grumpy enough that Natalie would have been wishing I weren't there. Promise.

So I hung out with Leah and family for a while, and then eventually went back to my room to shower, wake up Craig and the kids, and get ready to go to Hollywood Studios for my very first time! The first thing we did there was to, of course, get fast passes for the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster and the Tower of Terror. Then we headed over to the Toy Story ride, which already had a surprisingly long ride for only being nine in the morning. It was while we were waiting in line that I absolutely fell in love. With this:


Can you see it in the background there? It's the Pixar light-- you know, the one that comes bouncing across the screen and starts jumping up and down on the letter "i" in Pixar until it flattens it? Yeah. They have that light outside of the Toy Story ride! It will randomly pop out of those doors and BEGIN DANCING! It was the greatest thing ever. Not only did it dance, but they played various types of music-- classical, disco, blues-- and the light did different dances each time AND they were always appropriate to the music. It was incredible. I could have stood and watched that light all day. Fortunately after about ten minutes of dancing it would bow and then hide back behind those doors again. Good thing or else I might have never left. But I did drag Tracy back and make her watch the entire sequence while the rest of the family rode Toy Story again later in the day.

I love that light.

The Toy Story ride was fun, but mostly because-- like the Buzz Lightyear ride in Magic Kingdom-- it involves shooting things and getting points and I totally beat Craig. That made me happy. And being the awesome parents that we are, we totally sat there shooting away and not even trying to show our kids how to play, so neither one of them got any points. But Bentley and Kendra didn't seem to mind. Craig did ride it again later, mostly so he could beat me, and he did beat my previous score his second time. I opted not to ride it a second time, so I'm still the clear winner in my mind.

We discovered my other favorite thing after leaving Toy Story-- the toy army men! I didn't get any pictures of these guys, so I'm just going to steal a picture off the internet:

Aren't they awesome? And they're even more fun in person-- they ran around shouting and yelling orders at people. We saw one jump into a stroller with kids in it and scoot along with his feet yelling for people to get out of the way. They were hysterical.

Eventually Craig managed to drag me away from all that, and we headed towards the stunt driving show. This was all set up to look like they were shooting a car chase scene in a movie, and we got to see how the stunts were done. Bentley loved watching the cars zoom all around, Craig enjoyed hearing tricks of the trade (or, noticing details that they weren't bothering to explain to us, is probably what interested him even more). And I just enjoyed getting new ideas for how to drive my mini-van and make it even cooler than it already is!

Next up was "meeting" Lightning McQueen and Mater. This turned out to be slightly anticlimactic. Given Bentley's obsession with the movie Cars, I thought he would be thrilled to meet these characters, but he was mostly confused by the whole thing. Once he got used to the idea, he really liked them, and we ended up going back several more times to see Lightning McQueen again. So it all worked out in the long run! (Pictures of this to follow-- I need to borrow some more from family members!)

I have to admit that the rest of the day is something of a blur. I know that we eventually made it to the Tower of Terror and the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster. Tracy and Rachael watched the kids while Craig and my Dad went on both rides, and I have to say, I loved them! I was slightly petrified at the same time, but in that delightful way that really is too fun. A random sidenote that I have only learned from scary rides like this: when I'm frightened, I smile really, really big. Who knew? My Dad, on the other hand, looked like he was taking a nap in the picture they flashed. Apparently he falls asleep under duress, which explains the many memories I have as a child of my father napping!

Thinking back on it all now, I'm still impressed by how fast the ride takes off for the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster. It goes from 0-60 in 2.8 seconds. And you can feel it. And it is awesome. And the Tower of Terror has taught me that I am definitely afraid of heights. Or at least, I'm afraid of falling from heights. But it's good to know these things about yourself, right? The other cool thing about these rides-- aside from the actual ride itself-- is the entire set-up. I love how both rides tell a story while they scare the pants off you; even while you're waiting in line, you're standing in a set that is part of the story. Such attention to detail is why I can't help but absolutely LOVE Disney.

After all that, we headed home fairly early (for us). We put the kids to bed, turned on the baby monitor, and let my Mom listen to the quiet static while Craig and I visited the hotel's hot tubs. A nice soak in hot water felt lovely after a long day of walking. Another good day!



On a totally different note, this is a picture that my brother-in-law, Brian, took while we were at the Animal Kingdom. Just in case you didn't believe me about how close they got to the tigers:

How amazing and beautiful is this?

If you want to see some of Brian's other, very impressive photography, check out his website, www.maddenstudio.com.

Cheers!

Optimism

So has anyone else been excited about afternoon church solely for the purpose of utilizing your crock pot? Because that's the one big advantage that I can see to this day where my children don't get to nap...

This morning, I made minestrone soup, which is one of my favorite crock pot recipes. I'm already excited to come home from church this afternoon! I figured I would share this recipe with you. I hope you like it, too!


Forgotten Minestrone, makes 8 servings
1 lb. beef stewing meat
6 cups water
28-oz. can tomatoes, diced, undrained (I use petite diced)
1 beef bouillon cube
1 med. onion, chopped
2 Tbsp. minced dried parsley
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 med. zucchini, thinly sliced
2 cups finely chopped cabbage (I always skip this-- I'm too lazy....)
16-oz. can garbanzo beans, drained
1 cup uncooked small elbow (I use small shells-- macaroni noodles seem so childish!)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1. Combine beef, water, tomatoes, bouillon, onion, parsley, salt, thyme, and pepper.
2. Cover. Cook on low 7-9 hours, or until meat is tender.
3. Stir in zucchini, cabbage, beans, and macaroni. Cover and cook on high 30-45 min., or until vegetables are tender.
4. Sprinkle individual servings with parmesan cheese.

I also like to get a couple loaves of Pillsbury dough French bread. I cook one for the first day, and save the other for the next day's leftovers.

So easy, and so yummy. And so "all the work is done now so when we come home dinner will be ready and I won't have to do a thing!" The best of all worlds.

The Princess Problem

It's not that I actually have a problem with the Disney princesses. I was just as enamored with The Little Mermaid as anyone else my age when that movie came out; I have fond memories of trying to swim like a mermaid whenever possible (and being thrilled that one of Ariel's sisters was named Alana!). And in all honesty, I think Beauty & the Beast's Belle is a fabulous role model for little girls. But despite that, there is something in me that cringes when I see the way princesses have been thrust upon young girls as the ultimate life goal. It was for this reason that I smugly purchased Mulan for Kendra this Christmas, rather than any of the other more princess-y movies that Disney has to offer. Mulan takes charge of her life, becomes a warrior, and saves China. This is the kind of role model I can fully approve of for my little girl.

Most of my ideas about this came from Marjorie Williams' essay about Princess Di's death, titled "The Princess Puzzle." Williams noted that "it is rare the little girl who wants to grow up to be queen. To wish to be a princess is not simply to aspire upward, to royalty; it is also to aspire to perpetual daughter-hood, to permanent shelter. To dependency." Williams explained more precisely than I could ever say the problems I had long felt about our obsession with princesses. I have seen this in friends who come home from visiting their families only to sink into a depression because "mom is no longer around to take care of me." And this has always perplexed me, because while I absolutely love spending time with my own parents, there is always a sense of relief when I return home and can be more fully in charge of my life once again. I worry for these friends who would rather be taken care of than take ownership of their own lives.

After mentioning the several bad romances that Di was involved in during her life, Williams states that "for all her fame and her thirty-six years and her accomplished motherhood and her millions, the life of a princess prepared her very poorly to look after herself." And Williams finally concludes that, "The moral of the story is that whether she's riding in a gilt carriage that bears her to St. Paul's Cathedral for the wedding of the century, or in a black Mercedes that bears her to her death, a passenger-- which is the most a princess can hope to be-- is never in charge."

I don't want that fate for myself, or for my daughter. I may call Kendra my Princess, and occasionally Principessa (thank you, Life Is Beautiful), but in reality I want a lot more for her. I want her to be strong and independent. I want her to aspire to be a queen some day. And while I am sure that she will one day discover and fall in love with all of the other Disney princesses (I know I can't keep her watching Mulan for forever), for me to encourage this would feel akin to pushing her to try to come in second in a competition. Why would I hope for her to win a silver medal when what she should be striving for is the gold?

Irony

Why is it that my hair turns out the absolute BEST on rainy days? I wish you could see it right now-- it looks like it has a bit of body (compared to normal, at least) and I got just enough gel in it to keep the static electricity at bay without it looking greasy or flat. Even the little mini-clips went in perfectly! But I know with absolute certainty that by the time I get to church, it will be drenched, flat, slightly frizzed, and ready to be put back into its usual ponytail. It's a good thing I like ponytails or this might be downright depressing!

WDW, Part V: Epcot and Staying Out Late

In case you didn't bother to look at the Post Title, we're getting back to Disney World now...

So on Tuesday, Day 3 1/2, we had a slow start, enjoying the buffet breakfast at the hotel (and enjoying even more the fact that Aunt Tracy took the kids outside to play so I could relax while eating and not worry about who was smearing what where!). Eventually we made it out the door and headed to Epcot. We went on the main rides there-- Mission to Mars (I did the easy version-- Craig opted for the hard one later in the week), Spaceship Earth (I was pleased that I could recognize Judy Dench's voice), and Finding Nemo. And then we headed over to see the various countries. We had some lunch in Mexico and the rest of my family joined us there.

As we kept walking we came upon the boat ride in Norway called Maelstrom, which we decided to ride, just Craig and Bentley and I, while everyone else kept moving. That turned out to be a big mistake. The line was way longer than advertised and it was the most BORING wait ever. That's one thing I'll say for Disney-- you may have to wait in line for forever to ride on anything, but at least they usually keep the lines fairly entertaining and moving fast enough that you keep feeling like you're getting somewhere. Norway has not caught on to this concept. We were dying. The only good thing about the wait was the nice family in front of us who discussed the vikings with us and one statement Bentley made. This was after we'd been waiting for 40 minutes and he suddenly looked around and said, "Mommy! Where's Kendra?!" That just about killed me. She'd been gone for FORTY MINUTES and he JUST NOTICED?!?! So I guess he's not ready to babysit just yet...

Anyway, after all that waiting Maelstrom turned out to be the most disappointing ride ever. The nice family in front of us threw their arms up in exasperation and demanded their money back. I would have liked to have gotten time out of my life back. But what can you do? We mostly just made it the joke of the entire trip-- any time we had a few minutes to spare, we'd suggest going on Maelstrom again and then groan in annoyance.

We caught up to my family in France, where they were waiting with delicious French pastries for us. That was nice, at least!

Then we went on Soarin', which is one of my all-time favorite rides ever, and had dinner and were going to go home and put the kids to bed when Craig had an idea: what if we just mosied over to the Magic Kingdom and watched the 9:00 parade? Part of me thought he was nuts. But the other part of me-- the part that has mostly been suppressed since becoming a mom-- had to admit that it did sound like fun, and the kids seemed to have gotten a second wind since eating, and, well, why not?

So the four of us went to the Magic Kingdom. And we got there maybe fifteen minutes before the parade. And it was PACKED. Too packed. There was nowhere we could sit that the kids would be able to see a thing. We wandered hopelessly for a while until I finally asked a worker, ahem, cast member (!) if she had any advice. She looked me in the eye and said simply, "Eleven o'clock."

I think I said something brilliant, like, "Huh?"

"Really," she countered, "it's way less crowded for the eleven o'clock parade."

"I don't think my kids will make it that long." I said.

"No, it's perfect. They're already asleep"-- I checked, she was right-- "just go shopping or something for now, the fireworks at ten will wake them up, and then you can enjoy the parade at eleven!"

Maybe it was because I was already so sleep-deprived, but what she was saying made sense to me. I turned to Craig to get his opinion, saying hopefully, "Do you think that could work?"

Craig surprised me by bursting out laughing, "I knew that was the best idea in the first place! I just also knew that if I suggested it, you'd say I was crazy, but if it were someone else's idea, you'd think it was a good idea."

My husband knows me too well. So we alternated watching the kids and riding on Pirates of the Caribbean (no line!) and Thunder Mountain (my favorite; it really is). The fireworks started while I was on Thunder Mountain with Tracy, who had joined us. I'm not sure which was more fun-- watching the fireworks from up high while zooming around like that, or sliding drunkenly into Tracy with every turn we took (that ride turns almost exclusively to the left, so beware to those sitting on the right!). Either way, I was having a blast.

The kids woke up, and Kendra began crying. That very sad, "Why have you kept me up this late and forced me to sleep in a stroller that leaves me uncomfortable no matter which way I turn?!" sort of crying. Fortunately right then they began some performance in front of the castle. "Look, Kendra," I said, pointing, "Mickey Mouse!" That shut her up. She only had eyes for Mickey after that.

The parade was next and it was great. We sat right in the front where we could see, and no one was even standing menacingly near us, trying to edge us out of this great location. Several of the characters gave my kids high fives, and Chip'n'Dale pointed at them with two fingers-- I think they thought Bentley and Kendra were twins. This is a mistake a lot of people make, especially when they're sitting down and you can't tell that Bentley is a good three inches taller.

Staying up late was a fabulous idea. Good thinking, Craig!

Relief

I am loving this warm weather. In my past experience with Virginia winters (only a few, but still), this is more like what it's been like: it will get really cold, and then it will warm up. Then it will cool down, and back and forth and back and forth. So you'll have some cold days, but never too many in a row. This winter I think it's been in the 30's for nearly a month now, and I have been hating life. I know this isn't the first time I've moaned about how much I hate being cold, but my fear and dread of it just don't seem to go away. If I had my druthers, I would just hibernate all winter long.

Anyway, this bit of warmth (57 degrees today!) has been fabulous. I feel like I can go outside without tensing every single muscle against the cold. And I just wore a sweater without freezing. And if the kids want to fight me about wearing a coat, then who cares? And perhaps best of all, Craig can finally take his saw outside and cut down our closet shelves so they'll fit (this, of course, will be done with the help of his trusty little sidekicks). I might have closet shelves again some day! Hallelujah! Does it get any better than that?

If you're not already convinced that this is a big deal to me, just wait: in celebration of the warm weather, I actually left the house today! And not just for groceries! I went to yoga, brought the kids to the bookstore to play (they were actually more interested in the books than in the trains; that's a first), visited with some friends, and am planning on going to the basketball game at Manassas Park High School tonight. Look at me, leaving my little cocoon-of-a-home! All because it warmed up a bit.

Not to get too political, but I think this is a big reason why I can't ever get myself worked up about global warming: truth to tell, I sort of like the idea of things warming up. It sounds so pleasant and lovely to me! A period of global warming was one of the factors that brought about the Renaissance that spread all over Europe and which people like me continue to get great joy out of. If I had to sit down with Al Gore and talk about, I think I'd probably say something wildly inappropriate. Possibly, "Bring it on, Al!"

Blink

It consistently amazes me how quickly the kids change. I know this is nothing new or profound, but that doesn't mean that the actual reality of them getting older and learning new things is not shocking to me on a near-daily basis.

Kendra used to have a phrase, but she's already moved on from it. But I have to write about it here so I won't completely forget it. She used to come up to me and pat my leg and ask, "Duning, mommy, duning?" This, of course, meant, "What are you doing, Mommy?" But I liked her version better. As I said, this is already obsolete. Now she asks, "What doing?" which is much closer to a complete sentence and signals a definite transition in her speech. But that previous phrase sure was fun while it lasted.

Because this involves the same word, I also have to mention: Kendra just mastered the art of rolling her wrists or whatever you might call it-- the classic gesture associated with the song "Do As I'm Doing." She calls it, "I'm Doing I'm Doing." Close enough.

Gasp!

I was horrified to discover that while I thought my house was simply being festive all during the Christmas season, apparently the dust bunnies were hiding out behind all the decorations procreating like crazy. Gross. On so many levels. You'll be pleased to know that I've been vacuuming and dusting all day, with plenty still to go. (This is the best thing about holding meetings at my house-- I finally get around to doing all this stuff!)

And, since most of my activities for this week involve staying home, I finally ran out of reasons to keep putting off the inevitable. We started potty training today. (Cue the scary music right here.) More on this one later.

WDW, Part IV: Picture Time

Going on the assumption that a picture is, indeed, worth a thousand words, I'm posting a bunch of pictures. Yes, I still have a lot more. Yes, I will be posting more later. No, you're not finished hearing about Disney World yet.

Enjoy these anyway, okay? :)

The Gingerbread House inside the Grand Floridian hotel.
I think it's nicer than my own house; it certainly tastes better...!

Here are the ingredients for the Gingerbread House. Now you can make your own next Christmas!

The tree inside the Grand Floridian. And some random guy. Honk if you know him!

I should probably make my kids watch Star Wars some day soon...

Aunt Tracy carefully makes sure they don't fall off while mommy is busy snapping pictures.

Sleepy Kendra.

Inside Bruce the shark's mouth. Nice.

Look! Kendra found Nemo!

I'm not really sure if this whole set of sculptures was designed for kids to be climbing around on them, but it was one of the kids' favorite things to do...

I couldn't get over how beautiful the castle looked at night with the Christmas lights. Breathtaking.

Craig couldn't get over how beautiful Epcot is at night.
Notice how he got the monorail in this picture-- he was very proud of that.

More to follow. Consider yourself warned!

One of those moments

Yesterday afternoon I said to Bentley, "I think I need a hug, Bentley."

He stood up grinning and said, "Then I guess I'd better give you one, Mommy!" and proceeded to do just that.

I think it made my life.

WDW, Part III: Magical Day

This is probably the last day that I'll go into tons of detail about our trip, so if I'm boring you to tears with all this, the end is in sight. But this day was too awesome to not tell you all the ins and outs of it.

We started out by splitting up, actually. Craig and Natalie and I took all the kids to Chef Mickey's first thing in the morning. For those of you unfamiliar with this, Chef Mickey's is a buffet breakfast in Disney's Contemporary Resort, where a bunch of the characters come around to your table and meet you while you eat. It's exactly perfect for little kids, and ours LOVED it. They got to meet Mickey and Minnie, Donald Duck, Goofy, and Pluto. Plus the food was really good. Plus the chef made special milk-free waffles for my nephew Samuel. The whole experience was that perfect Disney magic that I just love.

Mickey wiped Kendra's face off with a napkin before hugging her.
I was impressed with his ability to be self-preserving AND adorable all at the same time!

Pluto balanced Bentley's binky on his nose. Bentley thought it was great.

Random side note that you probably didn't know: Craig's favorite character is Pluto.
He was totally excited to get to give Pluto a hug.

We LOVED Chef Mickey's.

While we were there, however, the rest of my family was also having some crazy adventures. My sister Leah apparently knows someone who is friends with someone and we ended up with our own private tour of the Animal Kingdom, led by one of it's founders, who has since been promoted to be in charge of ALL of Disney's environmental awareness activities. (Yes, you read that right-- ALL of it.) This very kind woman took my family to meet the tiger trainers and they got to feed the tigers. I had the time of my life at Chef Mickey's, but I have to admit that I was a tad jealous when I learned that this was what I'd been missing out on!

We quickly caught up with everyone, though, and were able to jump to the front of the line for the Safari ride (and watch as the cast members quickly offered to park our strollers for us when they saw who we were with). Then we got to go and speak with a bunch of the people working on Disney's conservation efforts, learning about elephant communication and turtle eggs and all kinds of things that made me sort of wish I'd stuck to my original major of conservation biology (until I remember with horror bio 130, and then I know that switching to English was a good idea...). At the end of all this, they allowed the kids to pet... (wait for it, wait for it...) a bunny rabbit! They were thrilled. And the bunny was very cute. (Her name was Ella, short for Cinderella.)

Next we got to go eat at the Tusker House. This was exciting mostly because Craig had tried to get us reservations there exactly ninety days ago, only to be told it was already booked solid. So it was kind of funny to be told they could fit all twelve of us in that afternoon! But we were happy to take it, and ate WAY too much food there.

Then we dashed away for VIP seats at the Lion King show. No waiting, and we got to sit in the front row. AND Craig got to be in the show. The audience is already divided into four sections, and each section is in charge of making an animal noise. You guessed it: Craig got to lead our section in making warthog noises!!! I was so proud. (He also had the singer flirting with him. One of those things that I might have been jealous of, if I hadn't been so in awe of her amazing voice....)

And as soon as the Lion King was done, we had to hurry for our VIP seats for Finding Nemo! Really! I think I need to start spending more time with Leah so I can live the charmed life that she leads...! Finding Nemo was fun-- the music wasn't spectacular, but I enjoyed the amazing puppets, and the look of wonder on Kendra's face was perfect. (Not that it takes much to impress her-- bubbles never failed to completely delight her!)

The final awesome thing was that we were given 24 fast passes for any ride at the Animal Kingdom, good for our entire stay. These are pretty much the Golden Tickets of Disney.

It was a truly magical day.

Bye-Bye, Binkies!

Craig and I finally took away the kids' binkies! This was long overdue, but I'd been waiting until after Disney World. I wanted an easy way to calm the kids down when they were over-tired and out in public (which was pretty much the entire trip!), but once we were home, there wasn't any good reason to keep putting it off. For me, it also seemed like a good idea to hurry up and do this while Craig was still on vacation and could help me deal with the additional whining!

So 2010 will be a pacifier-free year!

We had already told Bentley months ago that we would be giving his binky to a tiny baby who needed it. When the time actually came, he suggested that Baby Jesus could use a binky, so we put all the pacificers in an envelope labeled "Baby Jesus" and put them in the mailbox. (And then promptly threw them away the minute the kids were in bed-- mostly so we wouldn't be tempted to get them back out again!) In addition, we had little presents for each of them to reward them for helping out the tiny baby. Bentley got a Lightning McQueen watch (thanks to my friend Lenee) and Kendra got a little chalk board with Mickey Mouse on it from the dollar store.

It took Bentley a while to fall asleep that first night, which means Kendra was up late, too. At one point when I went into their room, Bentley was crying, "I need something to suck on!" So Kendra joined in by wailing, "Scuba diver took Nemo away!" and doing her best fake crying. That's her favorite thing to say any time, so I wasn't too concerned about her. And there wasn't much I could do for Bentley except tell him everything would be okay.

And eventually it was.

I love this picture for a lot of reasons, but for the purposes of this post,
I'm just showing you how they both looked with their binkies.

WDW, Part II: First Day and a Half

After we got to the hotel, Craig and I were delighted to be able to shower. After being in the car for 18 hours, that felt awfully good! Then we grabbed a quick lunch and I proceeded to sit around chatting with my sisters until Craig finally was able to move me (and most everyone else, too) out the door to the Magic Kingdom.

And what a magical moment that was! Bentley and Kendra were already pretty excited just to ride the Monorail, but we managed to enter the park right as Mickey's Once Upon a Christmastime Parade was beginning. The kids were thrilled to see Mickey and Minnie right from the beginning! Unfortunately, the place was so packed it was difficult to get where they could see much of anything, but Craig and I managed to hold them on our shoulders long enough to see the important characters.



Then we shoved our strollers through the crowds to 'Toon Town, and took Bentley on Goofy's Barn Stormer ride, a fairly easy roller coaster for kids. I was sort of worried that if this ride scared him, we might scar him for the rest of the vacation, but he enjoyed it. Then we pushed through even more crowds to do Buzz Lightyear-- mostly because my Mom already had fast passes for that one-- and finally decided to call it a day. Yup-- two rides and we were done!

But no one said that Saturday, near Christmas, at the Magic Kingdom wouldn't be crowded...


The next morning we got up super early and headed back to the Magic Kingdom. We were thinking we could grab breakfast on Main Street before the rest of the park opened, but that turned out to be a big mistake. Unlike Disneyland in California, NONE of the park opened until, well, it opened. So we sat around feeding fruit snacks and goldfish crackers to the kids and feeling like the best parents ever. (I do a lot of that even when I'm not at Disney World, though, to tell you the truth...) As soon as the park opened, we rushed in and, completely forgetting about food, rode on Peter Pan and It's a Small World. While we were having fun, others in our group (Mom, Dad, and sisters) went to get fast passes for Space Mountain. And we rode the Motor Speedway, which Bentley thoroughly enjoyed. Some time in there we figured out that we should probably eat something, so Tracy, Rachael and I headed to the bakery on Main Street while everyone else went on the merry-go-round (a raging success amongst the three-and-under crowd). We bought so much stuff at the bakery that the workers made fun of us. Always a good sign.

Okay, I just realized that listing every single ride we went on is incredibly boring for you, so I'll try to stop doing that and just give you the highlights/funny stories.

So one last thing of note from the Magic Kingdom was meeting Winnie the Pooh and Tigger. It turned out to be WAY too long of a line and the kids were really grumpy by the time we got to meet them, and just as I was resolving to never, ever do that again, Bentley and Kendra walked up and gave them the biggest hugs. Bentley actually hugged Tigger for so long it began to get a bit awkward-- one of those times where I bet the guy in the costume was thinking that this poor kid didn't get much love at home! But it was all very sweet... I especially liked it when Pooh gave Teddy a hug.




That night, then, we headed over to the Animal Kingdom Lodge for a big family dinner at Sanaa. It was delicious-- African foods with Indian spices. The best of all worlds. ;)

More soon!