Monday, August 31, 2009

Blog-o-versary

Hard to believe today marks 2 YEARS that I broke down & started this blog. Even harder to believe that anyone actually takes the time to read it!! I am grateful for the people that I have "met" in blog land!

Though I haven't been the best blogger lately, I think blogging (both reading & writing) help keep me sane (slightly anyway). I like going through old posts & remembering the details that may be fuzzy in my dilapidated mind. ;)

In honor of today (sorta) I made up a new blog banner (finally). I was going to try & make it all matchy matchy with the new background but then I figured it's easier to make it more "me". Even thought about going back to the white/clean background.....

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Eight Things

Found this on Amy's blog & thought it was fun.

8 things I'm looking forward to:
1. Disney World
2. Staying at a different hotel on our next trip
3. Having my sister Chet come on vacation with us.
4. Date nights at Disney
5. Girls going back to school....we have a late start this year....
6. Getting back to a more normal routine.
7. Scrapbooking more
8. New Moon Movie..... Just 81 days to go!

8 things I did yesterday:
1. Went to Best Buy, Chili's Staples & BJ's.
2. Finished my new blog banner.
3. Wasted a lot of time on Facebook.
4. Fed the girls 83,000 times. (feels like it anyway) ;)
5. Gave the girls baths.
6. Laundry
7. Baked a chocolate cake & made rice krispie treats
8. Wrapped birthday presents.

8 things I wish I could do:
1. Get a mani/pedi.
2. Loose weight.
3. Have someone else clean my house.
4. Make my girls get along with each other.
5. Control my temper
6. Take better photos.
7. Stay in Cinderella's Castle.
8. Work at Disney World being a Princess (have to work on #5)

8 TV shows I watch:
1. Grey's Anatomy
2. Brothers & Sisters
3. Desperate Housewives
4. 2 1/2 Men
5. The Big Bang Theory
6. CSI Miami
7. Food Network Challenge
8. Ace of Cakes

8 things I collect:
1. Coffee Mugs
2. Tote Bags
3. Scrap Supplies
4. Disney Snowglobes
5. Disney Collector pieces
6. Movies
7. Books
8. Hotel pens

What are 8 things you are excited about?
1. Going to Disney!
2. Spending more time with Joe...more on this later.
3. Having my baby start Kindergarten this Sept.
3. Having both my kids in one school.
4. Meeting the girls' new teachers.
5. Getting more space in my Scrap studio....sometime after Disney
6. Making over our guest room.
7. New Moon movie in November.
8. Going back to Hawaii in a few more years. Joe says when Gianna's 10 we're going back...I'm holding him to it!!! ;)

Friday, August 28, 2009

Vacation Albums (Non-Disney)

OK here they are!! The non-Disney Vacation albums!! Ta-da!!

I stuck to the same American Crafts albums as the other albums so they'd match. I have a thing about matching. Don't judge me!

I used some pink binder clips I had picked up somewhere (maybe Michael's bargain bins?) And yes I realize the numbers are crooked...don't ask me how I missed that when I was rubbing the numbers on. Again don't judge me!Found this Making Memories die-cut....Got these Creative Imaginations papers at Michael's & thought it would work perfectly for these albums. They are double sided too. Cute!! (You can see the other side in the next pic) For the title I used the Cricut Printing 101 cartridge.This was our very 1st trip together & I was SO excited about it!! Used a couple of postcards in there too since I didn't take any of our hotel. This was before my scrapping/taking pics obsession grew. Used a regular page protector for the Siegfried & Roy show program. Used the Cricut Alphalicious cartridge for the Bahamas title.Added our Honeymoon pics to this album since in theory it's a vacation too. Same Cricut cartridge for the Hawaii title. Sorry some of the pics are blurry...too lazy to re-take them after I realized it. Don't judge me!!


Used a "road trip" themed paper also from Creative Imaginations. Used the Cricut Plantin Schoolbook cartridge for the title (same for Hershey).
Used the scraps I had left over from the 8x8 album I did. Sorta wishing I hadn't done the smaller album now that I plan on doing all the vacations like this but it's done.
Got to use some really old paper I've been hanging onto for this!


All together in the non-Disney albums I managed to fit 3 trips to Vegas (didn't bother showing all the pics), 1 trip to Bahamas, 1 to Hawaii & 2 road trips. See?? We do know there's more places to visit than Disney!!! ;) Don't judge me!! LOL!

Monday, August 24, 2009

For Today

FOR TODAY August 24th, 2009

Outside my window...it's warm & sunny.
I am thinking...about how much I have to do before we go away to Disney.
I am thankful for...my amazingly patient & wonderful husband.
From the kitchen...grilled steak, mashed potatoes & corn on the cob.
I am wearing...shorts & a brown tank top.
I am creating...nothing lately. :(
I am going...to install Gianna's new "big girl" car seat.
I am reading...Scrapbook Trends magazine...saving the books for the trip.
I am hoping...that the girls will behave during my haircut tomorrow....crossing my fingers!
I am hearing...the girls complain how hungry they are.
Around the house...there toys scattered in almost every room.
One of my favorite things...quiet "me time" after everyone has gone to bed.
A few plans for the rest of the week...getting my hair cut, cleaning, laundry & finding birthday gifts for my F-I-L & his girlfriend since we're celebrating them both this weekend.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Summer Project

I didn't start the summer with the intention of doing this project. Especially since I only heard about it in June on Laura's blog!

I'm talking about the Vacation Albums.

Yes that's plural. As in 5 albums so far. Not sure how many to go before I'm caught up.

4 of those 5 albums are just Disney. Shocking right?

Thursday night I was done with the journaling cards for album 2 when I realized I'd need more year tags. So I decided to pull together all our "non-Disney" trips out so I knew how many tags to make. Makes sense right?

I am now done with the "Non-Disney" album as well. Only I didn't journal it. Eventually I will but I'd like to get back to some regular scrapping eventually.

Baby steps.....

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Hershey Gardens

During our stay at Hershey you can't help but notice the beautiful flowers everywhere. Apparently Mrs. Hershey loved flowers so Mr. Hershey made her a spectacular garden.

We made it to the gardens on our last day after leaving Chocolate World, with bags full of chocolate. It was the hottest day of the weekend too so we didn't spend as much time in the gardens as I would have liked but we had to save the chocolate!!

As we were walking in I started taking pics of the girls & this man came up & offered to take a family pic. LOVE that!! I think both the girls and I want a bench like this in our yard. Gianna declared herself a fairy.
Marissa was a Butterfly....and said the seat burnt her butt. It was so HOT!!The gardens are HUGE! It's 23 acres of just flowers...can you imagine pulling all the weeds?? This pic doesn't do it justice.There are rows & rows of roses...7,500 in total...we counted. LOL!! ;)

The gardens have some themed areas...not sure which one this is.


Gianna thought it was funny that the statue of the girl was catching butterflies barefoot. She's a funny kid.



There was a Butterfly House there too that was beautiful! So many varieties of butterflies zooming so close to you. I would have loved to spend more time in there.
This fountain was outside the Butterfly house. The girls were amazed at how the ball would stay in the stream of spouting water. I liked the Hershey Kisses seats.
This hibiscus flower was H-U-G-E!! Seriously GINORMOUS! It was the size of a salad plate!
You can see the park in the background....


This is a view from the garden of the Hotel.
As we went back to the hotel to get our car I had to stop in the middle of the road to take this one. And to catch my breath--it was an uphill hike from the gardens!!
See??

Monday, August 17, 2009

Hershey Park {long post}

We went to Hershey Park for a 3 day weekend. It was a 3 hour car ride. {Can you say FUN!!?}

We were all pretty excited about going since the girls & I had never been there & the last time Joe had been there he was a kid. We left Thursday afternoon figuring we could beat the traffic, get to The Hershey Hotel, have dinner & relax the 1st night. Mission accomplished.

We had dinner at the Harvest Restaurant at the hotel. It was ok, we ended the meal with shot glasses of various desserts (sorry no pic).

The next morning we had reservations for the Hershey Park Character Breakfast. We took the shuttle bus over to the park & upon arrival we saw the characters.





Family pic with the Hershey Kiss...


At breakfast they served a fruit & muffin/bread platter with chocolate butter. Sounds better than it was (can't believe none of us liked it). Meanwhile the characters walked around dancing to music by a singing guitarist (there was also a juggler entertaining everyone). I personally thought it was cheesy but as long as the kids were happy who am I to argue?


See? Happy!!Then they brought out everyone's breakfast of eggs, sausage, french toast & potatoes. {This is where the happy part disappeared.} Gianna does NOT eat any of the above mentioned breakfast items. After struggling to get her to try some eggs or french toast I found out they had cereal. Of course they did not have her favorite cereal & this is when it got real ugly & I threatened to go back home. WHY oh WHY does my kid have to be a SUPER picky eater???

After breakfast we head to the park gates....The day was overcast (cruddy pics) but it wasn't super hot & the park wasn't crowded. The girls by the statue of Milton S. Hershey.We then took the girls on some rides. This is probably where I discovered I was a Disney snob. See at Disney everything is themed to Disney (& the food is better-LOL). As we walked around to the rides they seem like regular rides you'd find at a carnival. I was expecting Hershey themed rides. Needless to say the girls didn't care...especially if they were the driver of the rides making them go up as high as possible to scare your mother/ride buddy.Too high for me! Joe kept trying to convince me to go saying stuff like "You'd get the best pics of the park up there". No thanks--not interested!At the far end of the park is the waterpark. (cruddy pic alert)The girls couldn't wait to go to the waterpark, they weren't thrilled when we told them we weren't going until the next day when the weather would be nicer.It took awhile but I finally found something that was "Hershey" related...Another part of the park is Zoo America. It's a walk through park that has this guy along with some of it's larger relatives. This eagle (?)
In a "Nocturnal Animal" building this fox was hysterical. He was behind glass in his habitat dashing back & forth like a ping pong ball.
After we left the park we walked over to Chocolate World. Now that's my kind of place! First you see the iconic factory chimneys.
Then there's the Sweetest Place on Earth!!
We took the Chocolate Tour that's animated since it's not sanitary to have millions of people walking through the actual factory. But on the bright side you get a free sample of the newest Hershey Kisses at the end of the ride....Then there's this Utopia of Chocolate...Did you know they made extra long Twizzlers?? (You can insert your own dirty joke here)
I can't begin to tell you all the delicious things I could make with a couple of these babies....My favorite spot....
Gianna in her glory...
And no that is not a real bottle of chocolate syrup much to her dismay, just a coin bank. There was also a food court inside along with tasty treats. They looked so good! But we settled on ice cream....well actually Joe & Gianna had ice cream but I had to sample some since Joe was raving about it (yes he was right). Marissa & I had milkshakes, can you say YUMMMMMMM!?!?! She had a chocolate shake & I had a chocolate peanut butter cup shake. It was THE BEST milkshake I have ever had!! From there we went back to our room & crashed....it was a long fun-filled day.



The next day we hit the waterpark, but I didn't bother with pictures. That night we went to "The Fountain Cafe" in the hotel, named after this....

Outside the cafe was a verranda with a beautiful view of the park & the flower gardens. We relaxed here awhile. Gianna was trying to look innocent when we know all about her flower picking obsession.

Marissa wasn't into my taking her picture so I didn't get a lot of her as I would've liked. She's hitting the "TWEEN" stage hard!View of the hotel from the parking lot... The next day was our last day so after check out we headed to the park for more rides. Gianna had the ride to herself. Marissa declared herself too big for this one & thought it was kiddie-ish. **sigh**We went on the Monorail that took us around the park & outside by the factory.We got to see the Hershey Kiss lamp posts. There are wrapped & unwrapped Kisses around the streets of town.Had to hit one last ride which we made Marissa go on with her sister, & despite the attempts at looking cool she enjoyed it too!
Believe it or not, despite my mocking the park a little we did have a good time! It was 3 days of family time which you just can't get enough of...tantrums and all! LOL!

Next up our Hershey Gardens experience!