Slice of Heaven: June 2009

June 30, 2009

WordFUL Wednesday - Captain Bitty Bottom

Arrrrgghhh!
Me britches were gettin' in de way of me steerin' me boat!

I nearly fell off the couch when Cate came downstairs and yelled, "Arrrrgghh" and then I noticed she had taken off her pants and pull-up! She giggled all the way back up the stairs. I told her that anytime she played pirates with "Bubba" aka Max, she would now be known as Captain Bitty Bottom!

For more Wordful Wednesdays, visit Angie @ SevEn cLoWn CirCuS

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

After our very busy and fun day in the sun, we continued our fun weekend by an afternoon musical! I took Max, his best friend, Matthew, and his mom, Kim to see Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the Dallas Summer Musicals at Fair Park.

I have had season tickets to the Dallas Summer Musicals since I was a little girl and would go with Me-Maw. They took me each summer while I was visiting. Then, when I graduated and moved to Dallas, she and I continued to go. Each summer, they have about 8 shows beginning in the late spring and going until the Texas State Fair in September/October.

I have been waiting for him to be big enough to go and sit still and enjoy the show. I thought this would be the perfect show to start this tradition. Later this fall, during the Fair, is Mary Poppins. I can't wait to take him to that!

Anyway, we got to the theater with enough time to get him a souvenir program and rent a seat booster. These boosters are a big foam insert for the theater seats to make them a little taller so they can see better over the people in front of them. I was afraid they would run out of boosters, so we got there a little early. However, it worked out because we had a chance to get them the programs and take a bathroom break!

We walked into the theater and got to our seats. The boys were in awe of the size of the place. As the musicians began warming up, we took them down to the front to see them. Max is obsessed with the tuba. He says he wants to play one in the band...can you just picture my little string bean being weighed down by that big ol' horn! So, needless to say he was super excited to see that.

As the muscial began, we told them to be quiet and NO TALKING! Max took this a little to seriously as he would shush me when I would laugh out loud! They clapped furiously after each number! They really seemed to be into it.

Intermission came and I was hoping that Max was understanding the plot. Sure enough, he thought that the intermission meant it was over and he had great concern about what was going to happen to the grandpa in the story (the cliffhanger at intermission). We quickly explained to the boys that this was like a halftime during a soccer game or a long commercial break!

Once it started up again, the music began and Max was afraid it was starting all over again, but I explained it would start where it left off!

They loved the flying car and the cool inventions. By the end, we were clapping to the beat of the last song and singing along.

Max was a little tired after we exited the theater so he wasn't in the greatest mood for Mom to ask him to pose in front of the musical poster.

On the way home, they fell asleep on each others shoulders!

June 29, 2009

Fun in the Sun

This past Saturday, our dear friends asked us to their lake house for the day! It is on Cedar Creek Lake about an hour and a half southeast of us! We got to their house at around 10am, and the kids were eager to get out on the boat, so out we went to get on the life jackets and hop in the boat!

This was Cate's first time being on a boat. She had no hesitation. Of course, she is our little daredevil who has no fear!

Once we got out there, the wind in our face did keep us cool. It was harder to notice the 100+ degree heat...except when we stopped or slowed down! The kids sat in the front of the boat with my friend, Lesley and Matt and I sat in back as Barry drove!

We got to a great spot in a cove for them to jump in and hang out in the water. The water temp was 90 something degrees, but they said if felt great! I had not put on my swim suit, so Lesley (who is 8 1/2 months pregnant) and I hung out on the boat and took pictures.

After hanging out for bit, we decided to let them ride the tube in the back of the boat, each taking a turn with Matt! Max was up first. We were pretty sure he was going to love this as he is our thrill junkie. Another hint, was that he kept asking Barry to go faster and faster on the boat! Well, we were right, he loved it!

Then, it was Cate's turn...she did it, but squealed "Mommy, Mommy!" the whole time!

It was Brooke's first time, too. She seemed to love it as well!

We headed back to the house and got cooled off and ate some lunch! But, pretty soon after finishing, the kids wanted to head back out on the jet skis as Barry had promised! As they each loaded up, their Dachshund, Jimmy, was all too protective and barked and paced around the boathouse. Eventually, jumped in the water after them! It was too funny.

Max rode with Matt and Brooke with Barry. Matt told Cate he would be back for her, so she played out in the yard until it was her turn. Once again, Max couldn't get enough!

Once Matt returned with Max, we gathered up Cate and got a life jacket on her, and off she went!

However, about a minute and a half later, Matt returned with her. She didn't like it. We were shocked at her hesitation on both the tube and jetski. It might have been the life jacket as this was her first time wearing one...not sure!

Max went back out one more time with Matt and loved every minute of it. Matt said he would love to have seen his face as his squeals and giggles were an indicator that he was having the time of his life!

Once we left their house later that afternoon, Max said he wanted his Nonnie and Pop-Pop to get a tube and jet ski for their lake house. We are heading their during out NJ trip in about 2 weeks, so we'll see if he gets his wish!

All in all it was a fantastic day in a beautiful home and lake area! It actually made Matt and I wanting our own a little!

June 28, 2009

Say Cheese!

Worried that you won't find a passerby to take your picture in front of Cinderella's Castle, or that at least one person from your party won't be in the picture?

Never fear, Disney's PhotoPass is here!

This is a fantastic service that Disney offers. All over the parks, you will find photographers waiting to take your family pictures and capture those magical moments for you. Once you enter the parks (or sometimes even outside the front gates), you will see photographers in khaki shorts and vests that have the Disney PhotoPass logo on it. Ask them to take your picture and once they have done so, they will give you a Disney PhotoPass card that they have scanned with your photos. Hold on to that card. You will give it to the PhotoPass photographers each time they take your photo!

One important tip I tell all my friends is to take a picture of the back of the card (where your card number is) either with your phone or your own camera. You can also write down the number and put it somewhere safe. The reason for this...if you lose that card and don't have the number, your pictures are LOST (you can fill out a lost card form online, but it is no guarantee that they will be able to find your photos)! However, if you lose your card, but have done what I suggested....HAKUNA MATATA! No worries, once you decide to look up your photos, you will have the number!

Another important thing to note is that you can have more than one card. On past trips of ours, we have separated to do different rides and I have had the card, so my husband has gotten another card for those pictures he got while away from me! At the end of your trip, you can enter multiple card numbers to look up all your photos.

Not sure where you would find these photographers? Here is the section where you can look at maps to find out where the photographers typically are!

Now, you can view and purchase your souvenir pics either at the parks, or you can wait until you return and order them online! You can choose what works best for you.

There is no initial cost for this service. If you don't like any of the pictures (that would be rare, the photographers are fantastic), or you choose not to order any, there is no obligation to buy!

Now, my final tip about PhotoPass is the option to pre-purchase a CD with your digital photos that the photographers take. You "pre-purchase" the CD prior to you leaving for your vacation. They don't actually send you a CD, but rather a special promo code to enter when you actually input your PhotoPass card numbers upon arrival back home. By doing this you save a huge chunk of change. We did this on our last trip there and when we returned entered all the cards we accumulated among the 5 families and purchased our CD. It was fantastic. Now we have a CD with all of our photos that we can print and share at our leisure (if you don't purchase the CD, you don't have the copyrights to share or print your pictures and they only save them on their site for 30 days from the date you enter your PhotoPass card numbers). For more information, click here for the option to pre-purchase your Disney PhotoPass CD!

For more fun and options, you can also visit the Disney PhotoPass website to purchase photo cards (ie, holiday cards), mousepads, or even leather bound photo albums. We chose the pre-purchase CD with photo book option and made a beautiful photo album once we returned. It is leather bound and is engraved with our name at the bottom. You have lots of layouts to choose from depending on the look you want to achieve or the number of photos you want to incorporate. You can also add text to remember those special moments!

So....don't forget your camera for those other candid park moments, but if you do, never fret, Disney PhotoPass is there to help you out!

For more great tips, click on the button at the top of the post or in the sidebar to the right and come back next week for more of my personal tips.

Disclaimer: These tips are soley based on my personal experience and opinion and are in no way endorsed by the Walt Disney Company!

June 25, 2009

12 of 52 - Whoosh!

At our recent trip to the local waterpark, Hawaiian Falls, I was mostly behind the camera, but Matt managed to get at least one of me! It was a ton of fun to act like a kid on the slides and in the splashing water!

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52 Weeks is a year long challenge for YOU to be in a picture once a week for 52 weeks. We are always the ones behind the camera, this is YOUR chance to get out in front and be in the pictures with our family. We are glad you are joining this challenge. More importantly your family will really enjoy having you in the picture. Thanks for playing along! Oh, you can just jump in now with 1 of 52, you're not getting off that easy! Now go take a picture!

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Thanks Carin for hosting this challenge. For more photos with Moms, click on the button at the top of the post!

June 24, 2009

Is it you?

Who wants to be my 50th follower?

No contest, I am just so close, I thought I'd ask the question!

UPDATE: THANKS, STEPHANIE@BELLE'S WORLD FOR BEING MY 50TH FOLLOWER!

Feelin' Hot, Hot, Hot!

Well, it is what is becoming an annual occurrence with our upstairs A/C unit.

It is not working.

Shortly after we moved in to the house in 2007, it started out not cooling as well as we wanted partially due to the fact that the upstairs hallway is open to the stairs and the entry way below. Therefore the heat rises from the downstairs. The second problem is the intake vent is at the wrong end of the hallway. It is at the end where there isn't as much hot air that it needs to recirculate. According to the A/C guys, this was probably done for aesthetic reasons as the intake vents are not as attractive on the ceiling. Last but not least, the unit really isn't big enough to support the square footage it is responsible for cooling.

So, each summer, it all starts. The last two years we have done things to take care of the problem temporarily.

However, after going up to the playroom yesterday to get Cate down for her nap and find the A/C thermostat registering 87 degrees (it got to 101 on my exterior car thermostat) and supposedly going full blast, we need to do something and something more permanent! By the time we were ready to put the kids to bed (whose rooms are upstairs), it was 92 upstairs. It was cooler outside!!!! So, the kids slept together in the guestroom. We rigged a makeshift bedrail for Cate on one side with the backs of dining chairs. They actually slept quite well together.

We are on the list for the A/C guys to come out once again. No telling what they are going to say. I would like to just bite the bullet and get a new unit, but that could cost upwards of $5K. The other solution could be rerouting the duct work and putting the "unattractive" intake vent somewhere in the playroom. Who knows what that will cost, but hopefully cheaper.

I just want it fixed....the kids' rooms are up there, the playroom and their TV is up there, and I can't go up there one more time to fetch something only to be blasted with the hot air as I reach the next to last step to the top! Thank goodness for camp to keep Max occupied and Cate and I plan to have lunch with friends and head to the pool again!

June 23, 2009

Disney with Darcie

This is not my regularly scheduled Bit of Pixie Dust, but I had to share something exciting with regards to Disney trip advice!

My bloggy mentor, Darcie is venturing into a new way of sharing her love for Disney planning through her new show, "Disney with Darcie" on MomTV.com. As many of you may know from some of my previous posts that mention her, she is one of the original Disney World Moms Panelists. So, she knows her stuff. This new live show of hers will premier tonight at 8pm EST time and will continue every Tuesday at the same time. If you are unable to watch it LIVE, don't worry, the episodes will be archived for your viewing pleasure. There will also be an opportunity to ask questions via a chat text box, but not sure if you have to be a "member" to the site to do so!

I am thoroughly looking forward to it! Even though I am a Disney nut, I still could learn some new stuff and YOU COULD, TOO! So head on over tonight and check it out!

Click here for the link!

Go Darcie Go!!!!!

June 22, 2009

Aloha!

Yesterday for Father's Day, we got up and gave Daddy his goodies and donuts. Then, we hurried off to early mass so that we could meet up with our good friends at a local waterpark called Hawaiian Falls! The kids were good all week so for a treat and to do something fun as a family, we packed up our cooler, towels and camera and headed to a tropical oasis in the middle of the Texas heat.