Whew! It's been busy!!!

Again, I have been neglectful. I'm sorry. Just know that I haven't forgotten about ya'll out in the bloggy world. I have been busy. Between the last two posts, our family welcomed a new family member. For Blog purpose, we'll call him Monkey. He joined the family on the 11th weighing in at a healthy 7 lbs and 14.2 oz and measuring nearly 22 inches long! He's quite a handsome fella and we're overjoyed to have him!

DQ has certainly been adjusting to motherhood and is doing a wonderful job if I must say so myself! Now if we could only get her a car and get her out and about to get a job and do the other stuff new parents are supposed to do. Forget about the dad, he decided he didn't want to be involved and DQ says she's not gonna push the child support issue do to the fact that he's already raising a child on his own (her mom abandoned her with him). It's complicated.

Monkey was right at one month old when we all hopped in the surburban and went down south to visit the Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans. It was quite fun! I'll have to post some pics later.

In the meantime, I'm back to post regularly for my new brainstorm...."Dinner around the world, a different country each month from my kitchen." Since I have been suffering from a severe bout of cabin fever, I have decided that since I can't actually travel around the world right now (if ever), I would bring the world to my kitchen through ethnic dining. It will be quite an experience and I look forward to it!

Now, I'm off to search for travleing DVD's, recipes, table decor, and atmospheric music, as well as perhaps some candles and such to help enhance the experience. If you have read this far into this bloggy post, I sincerely thank you. If you have any suggestions that will help me on my "journeys", feel free to holler at me or give me a link or two!!!

100 Places to Take Your Kids....

....Before They Grow Up

Hubs and I had a date night tonight and ended up at our favorite place again....Target. :D When you walk into a Target store, there is usually a section of 3 or 4 small rows packed with $1.00 items. Tonight I found a real jewel. It's a little paperback book from Frommer's. I googled this title "100 Places to Take Your Kids Before They Grow Up" but all I'm finding is "500 Places..." I think THIS particular little paperback is just a watered down list but what a list it is! I'm not going to get into all the little tips and hints this little book contains but I figured it would be okay to provide you all with the list in the index. If anything, it will give you some summer vacation ideas!

Enjoy the list (in no particular order) and feel free to comment back if you have ever been to any of these places.

1. The Grand Canyon, AZ

2. The Redwood Forests of California, Crescent City, CA

3. Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks,Visalia & Fresno, CA

4. Devil's Tower, WY

5. Arches National Park, Moab, UT

6. Petrified Forest & Painted Desert National Park, Holbrook, AZ

7. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, HI

8. Niagra Falls, NY

9. Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, Durango, CO

10. The Seattle-Victoria Ferry, Seattle, WA

11. Cruising the Mighty Mississippi, Various locations along the Mississippi River

12. Scouting Alaska's Inside Passage, Juneau, Alaska

13. Boston Common, Boston, MA

14. Escape to Alcatraz, San Francisco, CA

15. Mount Rushmore & Crazy Horse Memorial, Keystone & Custer, SD

16. The Corn Palace, Mitchell, SD

17. Wall Drug, Wall, SD

18. Winchester Mystery House, San Jose, CA

19. Carlsbad Caverns, Carlsbad, NM

20. Assateague Island, VA

21. El Yunque (Puerto Rico's Rainforest), Rio Grande, PR

Famous Bridges

22. Brooklyn Bridge, NY

23. Golden Gate Bridge, SF

Fantastic Aquariums & Zoos

24. Monteray Bay Aquarium, Monteray, CA

25. The San Diego Zoo, CA

26. The Bronx Zoo, NY

27. Dinosaur Valley, Glen Rose, TX

28. La Brea Tar Pits, Los Angeles, CA

29. Cahokia Mounds, Collinsville, IL

30. Canyon de Chelly, Chinie, AZ

31. Puako Petroglyphs, Big Island, HI

32. Concord, Lexington, & Lincoln, MA

33. Remembering the Alamo, San Antonio, TX

34. Gettysburg National Park, Gettysburg, PA

35. Pearl Harbor, Honolulu, HI

36. The International Spy Museum, Washington, DC

37. San Juan Fortress, San Juan, Puerto Rico

38. Plimoth Plantation, Plymouth, MA

39. Williamsburg, Jamestown, & Yorktown, VA

40. Philadelphia, PA

41. The Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island, New York, NY

42. Amish Country, Lancaster, PA

43. Mystic Seaport, Mystic, CT

44. Stockyards National Historic District, Fort Worth, TX

45. California Gold Rush Country, Hwy. 49 from Nevada City to Angels Camp

46. National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, DC

47. Black Heritage Trail, Boston, MA

48. Dr. King's Legacy, Atlanta, GA

49. Alabama's Civil Rights Trail, Montgomery, Birmingham, & Selma, AL

50. American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY

51. Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, PA

52. The Exploratorium, San Francisco, CA

53. Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills, NC

54. National Air and Space Museum, Washington, DC

55. Kennedy Space Center, Titusville, FL

56. Edison Historic Site, West Orange, NJ

57. Hoover Dam, Boulder City, NV

58. Griffith Observatory, Los Angeles, CA

59. Mauna Kea, Hawaii

60. The Cable Car Hills of San Francisco, CA

61. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

62. The Art Institute of Chicago, IL

63. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA

64. Graceland, Memphis, TN

65. The Nashville Music Scene, Nashville, TN

66. Rock N Roll Hall of Fame, Cleveland, OH

67. Hollywood, CA

68. Newport's Mansions, Newport, RI

69. Hearst Castle, San Simeon, CA

70. Orchard House, Concord, MA

71. The Mark Twain Home, Hannibal, Missouri

Presidential Homesteads

72. Lincoln Trail, Hodgenville, KY

73. FDR Hyde Park, NY

74. Yosemite, CA

75. The Appalachian Trail, Jump on anywhere from GA to Maine

76. Yellowstone National Park, Cody, WY

77. Nantucket, MA

78. Mackinac Island, Michigan

79. Bicycle the Rim Road, Crater Lake, Oregon

80. Rocky Mountain National Park, Estes Park, CO

81. Monument Valley, Kayenta, AZ

82. Canoe the Everglades, Everglades, FL

83. Sea Kayak in Acadia National Park, Mount Desert Island, Maine

84. Apostle Island National Park, Bayfield, WI

85. Swim with a Million Tiny Lights, Vieques, Puerto Rico

86. Biscayne National Park, Homestead, FL

87. St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands

88. Santa Monica Beach, Santa Monica, CA

89. Baseball Hall of Fame, Cooperstown, NY

90. Fenway Park, Boston, MA

91. Wrigley Field, Chicago, IL

92. Notre Dame, South Bend, IN

93. The Kentucky Derby, Louisville, KY

94. NASCAR Classic, Daytona, FL

95. Ballooning over the Great Red Rocks, Sedona, AZ

96. Denali National Park, Alaska

97. The Cyclone, Brooklyn, NY

98. Millenium Force, Sandusky, OH

99. The Santa Cruz Boardwalk, between Monteray & San Francisco, CA

100. The Mall of America, Bloomington, MN

Happy Traveling!!!

Disney Trip Report

The Disney Trip Report is finally available for your reading pleasure. Grab a cup of coffee (or two) and have fun visiting Disney through our pictures and stories! Feel free to leave comments! I love to read comments!! Hint Hint at Comments!!!

Disney: Pre-Trip TeeShirt Projects

Just wanted to post a few pictures of the Tee Shirts that I had been working on before our Disney Vacation. Since we were at Disney all last week and I had no WIFI signal (not for free anyway), I couldn't post anything. However, I do have a post trip report and pictures that will be coming to the blog world soon.

For DQ

For The Teen

For the Hubs

For the girls

For me

Disney: On Ice

In anticipation of our upcoming Disney vacation, I decided to get my gang in the mood by attending the Disney On Ice show.

We were welcomed to the show by some classic Disney characters.

Following the welcome was a short Lion King production number that featured a pair of skaters representing Simba and Nala. The performance they gave was absolutely breathtaking. They treated us to several stunts, flips, and tricks that literally made me gasp out loud! The athleticism of the cast members left me awestruck.

When Simba and Nala left the skating rink (or stage), Sebastian appeared with some mermaids to introduce Ariel to the crowd. She was so beautiful and skated amazingly despite the little fish tail skirt that had her knees bound together. I couldn't walk around dressed like that much less skate as amazingly as she did!

As Ariel and her fishy friends finished their part of the show, a group of hula dancers (wearing iceskates) came out onto an elevated stage area. They did a little hula number and then Lilo and Stitch appeared to entertain for a bit. I didn't think this particular part was very impressive but
the girls enjoyed it.

Then we had a short intermission where everyone made lines to the concession stands. A 21 oz. bottle sports bottle of iced lemonade was .... TEN DOLLARS!!!! Did I buy one? No. I bought TWO of them!!!! I know, stupid stupid stupid! And these plastic sports bottle thingies aren't even dishwasher safe! THEN I purchased two snowcones in these cute Little Mermaid cups (which ARE dishwasher safe). The snowcones were only three dollars. Much better than the sports bottle but....well, live and learn. I shoulda just found a water fountain.

If the concession and souvenir prices at DOI are any indication of the same at Disney World, then it looks like we're gonna be in trouble!!! Somehow I'll need to get the message across to DQ and The Teen (okay, and me) that we will not be purchasing a bunch of junk while we are there on vacation. I'm thinking that we won't have too many complaints from the little ones. **shrug** Maybe?

Here's DQ sporting all her Disney On Ice regalia. Note the Flounder hat and Ariel snowcone cup. In her Left hand she's holding a bucket of cotton candy and the 21 oz sports bottle.

Little Bird and I enjoyed our snowcones!

Happy little spectators.

After intermission, the show resumed with a big Peter Pan production complete with the "We Can Fly" scene where the Darling children flew to Neverland with Peter. Captain Hook's pirate ship also made an appearance.

Tick Tock the Crocodile was also there AND he ate Captain Hook!!!

The show ended with a spectacular finale. They even had fireworks!!! Then we came home, had lunch, and took a long nap before I got up and cooked some dinner! We're very excited now about our upcoming Disney World Vacation!!!!

Thanks for looking!!!

Disney: The Short Sets

Well, here they are!! The short sets I had blogged about last week (?). I haven't blogged much since then (if at all) because I've been busy sewing and will have to catch up. I've decided to make some pillowcase short sets for our days at the other parks besides Magic Kingdom. We plan to have 3 days at the Magic Kingdom so I'm pretty sure the girls won't want to wear the outfits all the time. Then again, I have been known to be wrong.

Okay, well, before I go chasing a rabbit....here are the outfits. Oh, and I made matching hairbows too. Well, except for the Cinderella one....I bought the wrong shade of blue for that one. I really have been on a roll.

P.S. It is NOT wise to iron Organza!!! :D

Disney: Countdown

I'm trying to catch up on my blogging for this month. I'm so negligent sometimes!!!

First of all, we've been planning our upcoming Disney vacation, so I made a countdown chain for the girls to see how many days away our trip is. The picture shows all 100 links but as of today, we're down to 60 days!!!! Woo Hoo!!! Oh, each link has a little Disney trivia on it that we read each day we tear a link off.