Retro Disney - day 3

This day we just relaxed. If you go to Disney, build in days where you just chill. It's nice for everybody - every body - to take a break. And if you can, build in more than just one. It's nice to be able to do Disney at a relaxed pace - not to feel like you have to ride every ride and see every show...it takes the stress off. Plus, seeing Disney through a child's eyes, is worth the slower pace. After swimming and sliding (a million times if you were Hudson!), and sleeping for a while in the afternoon, we ate dinner at the cabin and took the bus to Downtown Disney for dessert and shopping. The notable dessert was ice cream from Ghiradelli's Sundae Shop. That alone may have been worth the flight to Florida! :)

Hudson helping his lil' sis with her shoes to go to the pool

Retro Disney - Day 2

EPCOT (Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow - if you didn't know!) was Day 2. Anna and Mommy took a break on this morning and Daddy and Hudson hit EPCOT. The real story is that Anna and Mommy were going to join in, but Anna was so exhausted from already one day at Disney that she needed a morning nap, and after that, she still needed some down time. (We swam and hung out at the cabin - it was fun being just mama and banana.)

You can see a trend in the first couple of shots - Daddy likes treats and Hudson likes to be the recipient. Hudson and Daddy really liked the "Cool Club" by Coca-Cola where you sample Coke from all around the world. After naps, everyone joined in on the fun and we were able to see Alice and Donald Duck. We liked the kids play areas, rode rides, and watched the trains for a long time. We finished up our evening with Mexican (pre cinco de mayo celebration) and a nice boat ride!

Retro Disney - Day 1

Like I said, it's taken a while to figure out where to keep these pictures (look - Chris decided - I can post! :) so I am now able to take you on a photo-venture of our wondrous and exciting trip to Disney World over Hudson's fourth birthday. I already posted about the actual day, so here are some visual highlights.

Kickin' it birthday style with the ears

Chip and Dale wish Hudson a Happy Birthday.

Back on Main Street for the Electro Magic Parade and Wishes Fireworks - after the kiddies were in bed and with Grandmom of course!

the age-old face off

And the winner is.....Ahh, you'll have to read on. The face-off. The battle of the peanut butter brands. Yup, that's what this is about. Peanut butter. That's cause if you know me, you know that a day doesn't pass that peanut butter and I don't have some kind of interaction. And blessedly, I am married to a man that loves a spoonful of peanut butter as much as I do.

You can imagine my delight in discovering natural peanut butter that wasn't gritty, oily and needed overly stirred upon every use. About 2 years ago, we discovered Skippy Natural. And natural it is. It has four ingredients. Four, really. Roasted Peanuts, Palm Oil, Sugar and salt. No hydrogenated oils or high fructose corn syrup. And it is ah-mazing. Peanut lover heaven. Some health freaks get all fired up about the fact that it isn't really "natural" as it isn't just peanuts. But if you ask this highly refined pb lover taster, it's worth every penny.


Imagine my consternation as I entered the pb aisle at Target and found the Skippy Natural to be sold out. Jif has apparently picked up on the success of 'natural', and has added it's own to the mix. So, we threw it in the cart to try it out. (by the way, also threw in some archer farms blue corn tortilla chips with flaxseed - YUM!) It has five ingredients - the same ones as SN, but an added fifth of molasses. I am pleased with the pb, but it is runny and it does actually need to be stirred to get everything all blended. It's tasty, but a little sweeter and not as 'nutty'. It's worth it, if you can't get the Skippy.


So, my winner is.....Skippy :o)

Stay tuned

I know you've missed me. My clever musings and thoughts on our life. Because you care just that much.

It's ok. You don't need to tell me that you really don't care that much, but this is cathartic to me. I've wanted to post some over the past 2 weeks, but my husband is trying to figure out where to upload our pictures. To the laptop which is faster, or the older computer that has all of our other pictures. It's apparently a really tough decision for him. Because it's kept me from posting.

Mainly because I've wanted to post on our amazing vacation at Disney. But I guess I'll have to do some retro-bloggin when he makes his decision. Stay tuned!

happy disney birthday, hudson!

What a lucky little man - Hudson celebrated his fourth birthday today in the Magic Kingdom!

We started off the day at a nice leisurely pace, made our way to Main Street, USA via a ferry boat and entered a world full of smiles. It was amazing to see how many people wished Hudson a Happy Birthday (as he had been given a special pin upon our arrival on Saturday night). I would venture to say over a 100 cast members and guests gave him special wishes and if they didn't, he made sure to let them know that it was his birthday! The pin also came with some unexpected surprises at various shops along the way - he got treats, but they also noticed a little sister, and she got treats too!

We made sure to stop in the Main Street Confectionery to order our birthday celebration cupcakes for dinner and then we hit the rides. (Not many, mind you, remember - leisurely!) The lines weren't long at all - 10 minutes at most - except for Dumbo. We rode Snow White first and there was a thumbs up from Hudson, snuggling and hiding for Anna. After that we rode the carousel and Dumbo. We picked up lunch at sat at a great table that allowed us to watch the parade at the same time (Mickey, Buzz, Woody and Jessie all in the same parade? Hudson was in heaven! He kept calling out, "Hi Buzz! Hi Woody!")

After naps, the kids and I ventured back to meet Uncle Bryan and Grandmom at the gate where Hudson was greeted by Chip and Dale! They wished him a happy birthday and were elated that they could hold up 4 fingers like Hudson (they only have four, check it!). Bubba got to blast away Evil Emperor Zurg and laugh at Mike Sullivan in the Laugh Floor.

Back on the boat to the cabin for a special birthday dinner (Hudson's fave - Pasta and Salad) with Daddy arriving just in time off his flight to top off the evening with a round of Happy Birthday (twice, cause he likes it so much), complete with Mickey Balloons and special icing-laden cupcakes with four candles. (just enough icing to send him into hyperdrive before bed...i convinced him that if he split his cupcake in half, we could save the other half and sing happy birthday with candles again another night - it worked! :)

He's blissfully sleeping and most likely dreaming of what will come next - EPCOT to see Crush, Nemo and Dory....maybe they'll sing Happy Birthday too!

Happy Fourth Birthday Beautiful Boy!

the dairy

We're country folk now (as opposed to desert dwelling folks) so we are officially in the loop as we have visited the premiere local spot for preschool and early childhood age diary field trips. This past Tuesday the kids and I ventured with Hudson's preschool class to visit the dairy. He was so excited to feed the baby calves bottles, try to feed the mamas some hay and learn about how milk is made then bottled. That's right, at this farm, you can drink pasteurized, homogenized fresh milk literally a few hours after the cow comes in from pasture to be milked. It's pretty cool. As you can see (from the lack of Anna in the pictures), Banana was none to thrilled to get close to any farm animals, even the little hen that was a pet. We had fun and are surely going back there to get milk when we are in the area!