Oh Mickey you're so fine. . . .

. . . .well, I wouldn't call him fine, but he is pretty cute!

(a pic of the boys in their custom-by-Mommy tee's. I'm thinking of making a few for Etsy- they were so cute in these running around the parks!)

 

We had a great trip (minus the flu-bug I acquired the last 2 days of the vacation)! A much needed trip! A trip that has given us a taste of wanting to plan another mini-vacation soon! ;o) With M's business, we don't have the luxury at the moment to plan week-long vacations months in the future, but we can take long weekends and half-weeks here and there. We've been state resident seasonal pass holders since J was 11 months old and have enjoyed long weekends ever since. We've heard from several friends, both locally and in blog land, about upcoming trips that they are taking to see Mickey, so I thought I'd take a moment and pass along a few tips.

The 4 P's of advice:

--Ponchos- buy them at home and bring them with you. Our weather here is pretty unpredictable and if it looks like it may rain (and of course it's Murphy's Law that it will rain when you're here), you'll want to have a few ponchos ready so you don't have to pay their inflated prices in the parks. We prefer to purchase the thinner more-disposable kind because they tend to get musky after a few uses. The dollar spot at T@rget has had some really great ones in the past. And a perk about them is that since you get them so cheaply, if you do use them, you can just toss them before you head back home.

--Pin Trading- We've taken to this sport in the past 2-3 years. We started out buying each of the boys a starter set of 4 pins or so and a lanyard. When they see a cast member (WDW's term for employee) with pins, you can trade one of yours for one of theirs. We've gotten some pretty fun pins on our trips. Since then, we've purchased additional pins for trading on eb@y MUCH cheaper than full price- I'm talking for a buck and a quarter per pin. They'll be random pins, but you're getting them to trade anyway. This is also a great way to pass time with a younger/smaller child who may not be able to or does not want to ride something another child does. We've done this in our family- Dad rides with J while H & I go pin hunting! Makes for a happy family.  And a public service announcement about pin trading:

--Penny Press Machines- Again, another great hunting activity for the kids and I. We started this on this most-recent trip. For 51 cents, the kids get a nice shiny souvenir. We bought the foldable book to hold the pennies in 1 spot. On the next trip, I'll be sure to bring plenty of quarters and shiny new pennies for the machines. They also have quarter presses, but they're $1.25 a piece, so we're stickin' to the pennies for now.

--Portable, Hand-held fans- WDW sells the kind that spray water, which are great. Expensive (I think something like $17 a pop), but great. The water spray is nice, but really, just a cheaper fan-only version would also be good. And, they'll store a little easier when you're traveling.

 

We begin school tomorrow.The boys are both very excited! They've met their teachers (J's is a good friend of ours and he's known her since he was born- it'll be cute to watch him correct himself when he accidentally calls her by her 1st name. We've been practicing calling her by her "school name." hehe) We ate dinner this evening, bathed, and  prayed for their sleep and their 1st day of school. I walked back into my room to finish up a few more projects that I'm in the midst of. I was pretty proud of myself as the clock only said 7:54 at this point! Then I heard the pitter patter of little-ish feet run across the house and my oldest barrel through my door proclaiming his accomplishment- he lst a tooth! His 1st top-tooth-loss. And the humor wasn't so much that he was in bed for the night when this happened, but rather that this particular tooth wasn't even that loose! There was no "hanging by a thread" or eating apples to help it along. LOL! Which reminds me- better go switch that out for cash before I forget! Night night!

Comments

[Debbie]

If you do make the shirts send me the link. I've got a couple of friends might be interested if you can make a girl style.

Great tips! Hope the boys had a great first two days.

[Kristine]

Really cute t-shirts Jenn! sounds like you had a blast.

[Ally]

Sounds like so much fun. I'll definitely be contacting you soon about some details about Disney before our trip. And please let me know if you do sell some of those shirts. I would LOVE a couple for my boys before we go!!

[christen]

Great advice! It sounds like you had a lot of fun - minus the flu. :/ You definitely should sell those on etsy. I'm sure people would buy them. Maybe you could do girlie ones with black and pink, too?