Picture Perfect Playdate

The girl had a playdate today with her bestie Parker.  They played with Zhu Zhu Pets, had monster pancakes for lunch, played with the Light Bright, made things with the Fazoodles, played with My Little Ponies, got dressed up as royals, played Skylanders, and had just started to play Littlest Pet Shop when his Mom came by to pick him up.  It was a great afternoon.

Prince Parker

Off to slay the dragon!

Fazoodles

Light Bright

My Little Pony

Being Silly

Oh!  And I can’t forget…  they made some plans for their future too.  You see, they plan to get married, and they have now decided that they should have 100 swimming pools and 100 horses.  Important things for any couple to have. 

Misadventures of a snowbound photographer

Tonight I have to direct you towards another url.  As I’ve already chronicled this particular misadventure on my photography website.  I do promise though, the many photographs of our frosty day are well worth the visit.  I know you’ll laugh as much as we did as we battled the environment to get these important shots.

http://tdphotography.me/2013/an-unexpected-snow-filled-adventure/

Hip deep, completely stuck, immobilized by the snow and ice.

 

And a big thank you to Jamie for not only volunteering as my assistant today, but for capturing the entire thing with her iPhone.  LMAO

Breaking the Silence – and 80′s Day

Well, we’re here!  The sixteenth annual Breaking the Silence conference at the University of Saskatchewan is tomorrow!  There is still time to register – though not much.  So if you haven’t done so, get’r done!  There really is no time left.  Get your registration done tonight!  All the details are here:  http://www.usask.ca/education/breaking-the-silence/index.php

And because you asked for it, I’ll be doing my session on understanding sex, gender, and orientation TWICE.  That means you’ve got an extra opportunity to get in on this discussion if you missed it last year.  And even if you did get in last year, because I conduct it as a discussion, it will never be the same as where we go is truly directed by YOU.

Okay…  now for a few fun pictures. 

It was 80′s day at Kid kid’s school today.  Normally I’m all for spirit days and getting dressed up.  But an 80′s day?  Two thirds of everything that the cool kids are wearing these days are totally 80′s inspired – which means every day is 80′s day.  Seriously, every item the girl wore was out of her usual wardrobe.

LOL

That said…  the 80′s were about excess…  so we loaded on the bangles, we loaded on the belts, we loaded on the hair spray…  and we added slouch socks – because that’s one style that didn’t make it back.  And because it’s Thursday, that meant that I had to get dressed up too, after all I couldn’t spend the afternoon at school and NOT take part in 80′s day.  LOL  So I found the perfect jacket (and stuffed socks under my bra straps to mimic shoulder pads), pulled on some black leggings, a gold lamé skirt, and again with the slouch socks.  Then we did our hair and make-up… everything in excess!  It was great. 

The girl and I, with our 80′s popstar diva duck faces.

Fabulous, and she knows it!

Nailed it!

Girl knows how to work it!

Me, with my huge shoulders and huge hair!

Downtown Disney

I have to admit… after listening to folk rave about Downtown Disney, I found the shopping district to be a HUGE letdown.  Most of what you find there are your typical stores that you can find at any mall in any city.  I’m shopping at Downtown Disney because I want to find DISNEY stuff.  So while yeah, you’ll find things at Downtown Disney that you won’t find at any of the Disney parks it’s because it’s not Disney related.

Lily-Ann loved the princess store.  She bought herself a purse and gloves set (courtesy of Karla Amaya, our travel agent, who gave the girl some Disney Dollars to spend), and I bought her a tiara.  We also found a thank you gift for my sister and her girlfriend who watched over our furry and feathered family members while we were gone – a very cool mad hatter tea pot and tea set.  Seriously, if we could have afforded two of them, I’d have got one for myself.  LOL

The other cool shop was the Lego store.  It really was neat to see that many sets all in one place – and I loved the create your own figures center as well as the bulk lego pieces.  That was pretty awesome.  And I adored the amazing lego dragon they had built out front.  It was seriously incredible!

Other than that, there were little bits and pieces here and there…  but overall?  It was a pretty underwhelming experience.  We were glad when we decided to head back to our resort.  It was a MUCH cooler place to spend the remainder of our last day. 

Lego Sea Serpent.

Maleficent!

Prince Philip and Maleficent – created, amazingly, from lego.

Lily-Ann and her lego car – I thought she made a pretty darn nice one. :)

Lily-Ann’s lego car came in second place, that’s it in the middle – pretty good considering she was the youngest one to make one. :)

Hulk Mad! Hulk Stepped on Lego! Hulk Smash!

Mommy’s little princess – always!

Showing off her new princess gloves, purse, and tiara.

One of the window displays – Princess dresses made from princess dolls.

Seriously, we’re the only people who spend a week and a half in Disney World who still get excited to see squirrels. The whole time, whenever we’d see one whomever saw it first would yell “SQUIRREL” and we’d all get excited and look. LOL

Run little dood, run!

Disney’s Hollywood Studios

The last of the four Walt Disney World parks is Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and I realize it’s cliched to say it, but while it’s the last it’s not the least.  Hollywood Studios is AMAZING!  I’ve already shared the photos from the girl’s Jedi Training School experience, which was totally incredible and jealousy inducing, but that was just one small part of our day.

There are just a TON of character meets at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and the lines were minimal compared to many of the other parks.  There’s a bunch to do, yet this park doesn’t feel quite as overwhelming as the others (of course, by this point we had our system pretty much perfected – which really helps).  And it’s not totally kid-centric either, which was great.  This park definitely had the broadest appeal, with everything from Star Wars to the Muppets to Phineas and Ferb to Pixar’s greatest hits to classic Disney as well.  We loved everything about this one.  It was fabulous!

PIGS IN SPACE!!!

Such a great photo op, right outside the Muppet Show store.

Taking a break!

Trapped inside the game waiting in line to see Ralph and Vanelope.

The line to see Buzz and Woody was a longer one, but had all sorts of photo props set up.

Trapped inside the claw game.

“Oooo…. the claw. You’ve been chosen!”

Trapped inside the milk crate at Sid’s house.

Blasting off!

Loved strapping the girls into the rocket… it was cathartic. LMAO

Trapped in a box with Stinky Pete??? Ewwww!

Disney’s Animal Kingdom

When we sat down to plan our trip, we decided to spend six days visiting Disney parks.  Two days for Magic Kingdom, one for Epcot, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios, and one spare day to go back wherever we felt needed an extra day of exploring and fun.  Well…  that extra day ended up with us back at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.  We absolutely LOVED this park.

For those who have never been, Disney’s Animal Kingdom is like a zoo and an amusement park all rolled into one.  And as far as it’s zoo aspect goes, it’s one like no other.  While there are lots of areas where the animals have their own private enclosures, there are also a plethora of spaces where the animals are free to wander around with a multitude of species all sharing beautifully sculpted landscapes.  It really is quite impressive.  And while I promise to share lots of animal photos at a later date, here are a few of us just taking advantage of some cool photo-ops at the park:

These animals were sculpted into almost every available surface. It was pretty impressive.

Lily-Ann in “Asia”.

The great stone dragon (from Mulan for those who don’t recognize it or the reference).

Kid kid loved this sign and thought I should grab a snapshot of it. LOL

Playing around.

This performer was part of the Lion King show. He, and the rest of the cast, were very impressive!

Like me, the girl can’t resist a chance to get up and personal with animals. These pigs (I inquired about) are apparently natives of New Zealand, and are about eighteen months old now. I thought they were just darling!

Checking out an Ostrich egg in Rafiki’s wildlife center (where the many biologists and animal care specialists work).

We hung out with one of the animal scientists for a while, and he let the girl hold a REAL cheetah skull when no-one was looking. LOL She was very impressed!

Disney + Nighttime = Magic!

Another “must do” at Disney are their nighttime spectaculars (the voice in my head says it with a thick Italian accent and REALLY rolls that R).  Meaning get your butt a spot to sit, or find yourself one square foot of space to stand, and ensure you’re there – because even the crappiest of spots is still magnifico!  Truly!  You haven’t seen fireworks until you’ve seen them at Disney!

But do be warned, Fantasmic at Hollywood Studios is not for everyone.  Young children, or those who are impressionable may find it too scary.

Disney’s Mainstreet Electrical Parade – okay, not a fireworks show, but still AWESOME!

Loved the electrical parade!

YAY Pete’s Dragon!!!

“Wishes” at Disney’s Magic Kingdom.

This show brought tears to my eyes. “Wishes” is AMAZING.

You have truly never seen fireworks until you’ve seen them at Walt Disney World.

“Fantasmic” at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

Fantasmic is one of the only places in all of Disney World to catch a glimpse of certain characters.

Terrible photo I know… but it was MEG! One of my favourites, and I only caught a glimpse of her for a second before she was gone.

“Celebrate the Magic” at the Magic Kingdom park.

SeaWorld – just skip it

If there is one thing we did, that I’d advise you to just avoid, it’s SeaWorld.  My husband had great memories of SeaWorld from his childhood, so he considered it a “must do”.  And from my visit to another SeaWorld park when I was nine, I agreed.  We loved all that we learned there as kids.  Education was a huge part of their mandate back then, unfortunately that’s no longer the case.

Very honestly?  Knowing what we know now?  We’d have just skipped it.  It’s not worth the time.

We all enjoyed the kid zone, with it’s mini-roller coaster and other amusement park rides, but that wasn’t worth the cost of admission.  So yeah!  Planning a trip to Orlando Florida?  Hit all of Disney, plan for at least five or six days in the parks…  but erase SeaWorld off your list.  It’s not worth the time or money.  I actually found the entire place to be very disheartening.    That said, we put on happy faces and did our best to act like it was awesome.  After all, it wasn’t really about us.

Feeding the Stingrays was very cool, and something everyone enjoyed.

If you just plan on touching them and not feeding? Head to West Edmonton Mall instead. You can do it for free. ;)

More at the Stingray pool.

Lily-Ann taking videos.

One of the prettiest spots on our trip was this little garden. Really lovely.

The kid LOVED these purple flowers.

Getting an inside view of an aquarium.

Jewles becoming the “mother of pearl” to twin pearls she harvested from oysters grown at Sea World.

One of the only times we just sat and relaxed all that day. It felt good.

Lily-Ann loved watching the free divers in the oyster bed.

Playing steal drums in the kid zone.

Disney’s Art of Animation Resort!

My next Disney World tip?  Can’t make this one any more clear or plain for you.  STAY AT DISNEY’S ART OF ANIMATION RESORT!!!  Unless it’s when we’re going back (because, yes, we need to get back) and then I don’t want it over crowded.  LMAO

Now, I could go into a really long explanation about why this is THE resort to stay at, but honestly?  This is one case where a picture really can tell a better story.  So, here’s a buttload of photographs from our time at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort.  Right from that first night we arrived, until our last minutes on Disney property:

We’re HERE!!!! Moments after checking in. :)

Goodnight Mr. Ray!

Writing letters at the table (which is also a murphy bed).

Loved the steam from the pool (as seen from our room).

The view from our room in the early morning.

The Chihuahua and Dragon enjoying a meal.

We’d always come “home” to the girl’s toys doing interesting things like having picnics.

About to tour the grounds. :D

Our Finding Nemo building.

Better be on your best behaviour!

Doc Hudson!

Truckin’ down the highway of life!

We’d gathered a crowd – people just love watching the kid. LMAO

The Cars area??? Seriously AMAZING!

Ready to fix a few tires.

Now this is MY speed.

Sweet as Sugar!

Fast as Lighting?

TOW MATER!!!

Bug Sized!

The elephant’s graveyard.

Chillax’n with Scar.

Damon, Lily-Ann, and myself… with Zazu.

Heading towards the Little Mermaid courtyard.

Life size!

Hanging with the King!

Chillin’

Mwahahaha!

Conga line!

Giant Mermaid!

Oooo…. Eric!

Dinglehopper!

Sharks!

Just keep swimming…

Awwww…. sweet!

Crush and Dory!

Hanging with Squirt!

Swimming along.

Lily-Ann LOVED this little dood’s big eyes.

Hanging with the fishies

Fish lips!

The side of our building.

Beautiful light fixture!

Our view where we ate most days.

One of dozens of pieces of art.

Hanging with Nemo and Marlin in the spray park.

Jewles in the Big Blue pool

The big blue pool.

Playing at the spray park.

Waiting to leave.

One last picture before Disney’s Magic Express picked us up at 3 A.M.

Chihuahua Puppies Make Me Smile!

The challenge for today was to capture something that “makes you smile”, that was another easy one.    My babies!  And being how I vowed to take this challenge through the lens of my iPhone this capture made me laugh repeatedly as I attempted to capture The Avengers sitting still long enough to be something other than a blur.

Clearly unsuccessful – but cute none the less.  LOL  That’s Rogers on the far left, and as the biggest “goer” in the group I knew I didn’t have a chance of getting him without blur.  Next to him with his tongue out and ears back, licking his own nose is Tony.  In the back, wondering what the heck my husband is doing, is Bruce.  And up at the front, looking like he’s only got one front leg (gotta love the blur) is Thor.

Well that’s a LITTLE better…  and shockingly Rogers is actually standing still – that’s him on the far right self stacking so nicely.  On the far left (on the floor, unimpressed with all the attention the puppies are getting that obviously should be being lavished on him) is our old man, and the puppies Daddy, Sweets.  Tony is blurred next to him behind Thor, who is looking oh so darling sitting on that orange pillow.  And last but not least, between Thor and Rogers, is little baby Bruce.

Yep.  Puppies NEVER fail to make me smile.

Hmmm…  what’s tomorrows challenge?

…oooo.  “Favourite”.  I may have to think on that one.  LOL