Wordless Wednesday

Nothing like Sheriff Woody to start hump day off right!

40 Years, Tears and Cheers!

So this weekend we officially celebrated my parents 40th wedding anniversary.  Wow, talk about an accomplishment.   40 years is a big deal in today's world of quickie divorces.   It isn't everyday you find that anymore.   My sisters are and I are so proud and truly look to them as an example for our own marriages and lives.    While the road has never been easy (I mean they did raise us 3 girls!), it has been filled with lots of tears, but mostly cheers.    So raise your glass and let's toast to another 40! 

Here they are at dinner at Nick & Sam's where my sisters (and BILs) treated them this weekend for a nice steak dinner.

The Attack of the Texas Snowman

Well pigs do fly, because we got almost a foot of snow here in Texas recently  and we might get more this week!   Kids were in heaven with school closing for most this past Friday.   Will's day care closed and so I was stuck at home with him, not that I am complaining.  Although it would have been more enjoyable if we had heat and electricity, which didn't come back on until late morning (and went off at 3am!).   Talk about cold!    William did enjoy playing in the snow, we built snow balls and threw them at the ground.   I saw more snowmen than I have in all my life- including very unique ones, like the snowman family of 4, with two 'minis' down the street.    Great to see all the kids and adults enjoying some good old fashioned snow.  It's such a rare treat here!

PARK HOPPER PICKS- WEEKLY DISNEY NEWS AND TIPS

So I've decided to start blogging each week with some updates on all that is new at Disney Parks (and sometimes beyond).   I'll try and do this each Friday.   So here we go:

TIP OF THE WEEK
It's pretty basic, but I think the key to any good WDW vacation is starting with a great travel agent!   I recommend you try and find one that specializes in Disney.  I used to book all my trips my self, I figured I knew the intricacies of getting the best deal, but boy was I wrong.    I've used  Dreams Unlimited Travel a number of times now and they've been able to find us fantastic deals beyond what I ever could.   Being a control freak, it wasn't easy to hand off my vacation to someone else, but it worked.    I was able to have whatever level of involvement I chose, in fact, Dreams offers to make all your Advance Dining Requests (ADRs) for you, but I decided I wanted to do that myself, so if a certain date/restaurant wasn't available, I could juggle the schedule around.   They were able to get us discounted rooms by putting us with another room block for a special event going on one time- savings us hundreds of dollars.   It saved me the headache of having to be on the phone all the time to make any adjustments or changes or inquire about new discounts.    So even if you think you know it all, give a specialized Disney travel agent a try- you might be surprised.    Give it a try, you might be glad you did!

DISNEY NEWS

• They've released the artwork for the 2010 Star Wars Weekends at Hollywood Studios -  Disney's Star Wars Weekends start in late May and continue through June for four weekends.  

• Disney's beloved Main Street Electrical Parade will be making its return to Walt Disney World this summer.   I don't believe it will be permanent, but you never know.  It is part of the new Summer Nightastic.   It features a new Tinkerbell float too and updated LED lighting.  It will premeire in early June. 
• Toy Story 3----Can't wait for this one- the new trailer was just released this week- be sure to check it out.  TOY STORY 3 MOVIE TRAILER.  It includes 14 new characters, including "Peas in a Pod", "Ken" (Barbie will be so thrilled!), "Unicorn" and more.   Toy Story 3 hits theatres June 18th!
• McDonald's Shutting Down- the McDonald's located in Downtown Disney Marketplace area is closing down, to be replaced by a Pollo Campero (Latin chicken chain- i know, strange pick?).  This is just one of many changes going on as Disney reinvents the Downtown Disney area.  
• New Pizzareia in Italy- Epcot will be opening a new pizzareia in the Italy pavilion and is scheduled to open later this year.  Let's hope they make real pizza and not the crap that is often served throughout all the various counter service in WDW.  
• Disney's Give a Day, Get a Day program is a huge success with over 600,000 volunteers already!  By signing up for one of their selected volunteer opportunities, you receive a free voucher for a one day ticket to a Disney park.   This voucher can be used to apply the value of a one day ticket ($79) towards a disney park hopper pass, annual pass or other length of stay ticket. 
• Beginning February 7, guests dining at Cinderella's Royal Table at the Magic Kingdom in WDW will have a new dining experience.  The Fairy Godmother will no longer be available, but many 'princess' friends will join Cinderella instead. 

COMING SOON TO WDW
* Disney's 17th Annual Flower and Garden Festival- Epcot- begins March 3rd
* Disney's Princess Half Marathon Weekend- March 5-7th- now in it second year!

A Real Boy's Boy

Well it's true, he's all boy.   Now in the terrible twos, William is starting to display the climbing, jumping, roughousing and car loving little guy that he is- all man!  We attended our friend Dwight's birthday party at My Gym this past Saturday and William had a ball.   It was a great place, but you know what, I have one complaint about all these wonderful gyms and kids activity centers.......they do NOT cater the 9-5 working mom like me.    While they do offer a few weekend classes, they fill up quick and are pretty limited or more expensive.  And some places I have checked out only offer 'free time' during the weekdays.  What good does that do me?   Thankfully Will is in a great montesorri school that he loves, but I wish these type of places offered more availability on the weekend for us working moms of the world.   Gripe over.

My First Wordless Wednesday

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY
Every Wednesday, I'll post a pic withOUT a lot of senseless chatting.....impossible?  Maybe.  I am long winded.  See, I already stretched this out!

Practicing sitting on the potty. 

Let it Snow- oh no?

well us Texans got more snow today and Will absolutely goes gaga for it. He can't get enough of the stuff, unless of course, you ask him to actually touch it, then well, it is just a little too frosty for him. I did make him a mini snowball and he took it in the car with him to day care. I am sure they will just love that. good mom, good mom!

In other news, we also have officially become DVC members- we have purchased 200 points at Bay Lake Towers at the Contemporary Resort at Walt Disney World (for all you non disney folks out there). so this basically guarantees we will travel to my favorite place in the world at least every other year, if not every year! We are taking our first trip as DVC members, Dec 4-11th, 2010! We are going to stay in a one bedroom suite that has a fully appointed kitchen, two bathrooms and more. pretty nice digs! Plus we can just head downstairs and WALK to the Magic Kingdom- how cool is that?

Will is very excited too- I am getting him prepped by asking him if he wants to go to Disney World and he answered last night and said "eat with Pooh Bear". We did eat with Pooh Bear on our most recent December trip, so I guess he wants to do it again and let's face it, the boy gets what he wants! So stay tuned for more adventures as I slowly mold my son into the disney-freak that I am! Heck, even Dad is slowly converting- he agreed to shell out the big bucks for DVC, so i must be doing something right? that, or tinkerbell just dumped a little pixie dust on him when I wasn't looking?