It's All About Priorities

NO, Grandma, Little Miss insisted, that's wrong. First we went on Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin where I traded for this pin, then we went on the People Mover where I traded for this pin. She gestured dramatically towards the Chip and Dale with light sabers mock fighting atop a storm trooper's helmet. THIS is the pin that I got when I was at Epcot.

Oh, my mother smiled meekly, as she stood vehemently corrected about when Little Miss had traded for the Minnie Mouse in a parachute pin. I didn't remember.

Silly Grandma. I remember where I got every one of these pins, she boasted proudly, showing off her lanyard filled with the cloisonne Disney Trading Pins.

My mother shook her head in wonder. How is it, Little Miss, she asked, that you can remember all that, yet you still can't learn your own phone number?

We're getting closer. She knows eight of the ten numbers now. Unfortunately, it does us know good unless she knows all ten. And in the right order, too.

Disney Social Media Moms Celebration Recap Part III

The final day of the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration was a little different. In the morning, attendees had three different options of experiences before free time with families and then a final interview and dinner at Epcot.

While I had my fingers and toes crossed that I'd be able to go on the Africa Trek, I wasn't so lucky, but instead I had the joy of interviewing a chef and a sommelier from Disney. They had so much to say about their experiences - from how they came to work at Disney to updates of the menus.

It was inspiring to hear that the chefs don't simply put a dollar value on a meal and then try to work backwards from there to keep it within the Disney Dining Plan requirement but instead go for a more creative approach, just keeping the budget in mind rather than having it be the starting point.

And while every restaurant has its own twist on meals and styles, they have a very effective ordering system. Where there are common ingredients - hamburger meat, tomatoes, chicken, and the like - the restaurants order from a distribution warehouse within Disney. However, when restaurants need something more special and different for their menus, they order from distributors just for their restaurant - allowing both a cost effective solution and uniqueness required for many of the restaurants.

Not surprisingly, adding healthier options has been one of the biggest trends in dining at Disney. I know I've started to see it, where kids' meals now come with carrots and grapes as the first option - although yes, you can still get fries if you ask. There are more salads, and the California Grill at the Contemporary Resort has been hugely successful.

One thing I was surprised by was an area of Disney dining that I'm intimately familiar with: allergens. If you have any food restrictions, allergies, or intolerances, Disney is one of the best places to dine. At each restaurant, there is an allergy chef who will make sure that you meal meets your restrictions. In fact, on the website if you make a dining reservation, there is a place where you can share your restriction. That is noted on the reservation and forwarded to the restaurant where the chefs will not only be sure they're ready for you, but they will come out to your table to discuss everything from the ingredients to cross-contamination with you.

And if you happen to go to one of the quick serve places that doesn't have an allergy chef, there is a black binder at each location that details every ingredient in every item on the menu from ketchup to hamburger to buns and beyond. And many of the foods have allergy alternatives - tapioca buns are available for those with gluten, dairy, and soy issues, for example. I know that I'll always be confident with Little Miss's dairy issues when dining at Disney. The part that had surprised me though? With the growth in allergies for a long time, this is a program that has been around for only the past six or seven years. We've been using it for the past three years coming to Disney, and they definitely have it down pat.

The consistency across restaurants and days and meals is impressive within Disney. If you're ordering a particular menu item, it will be the same no matter when or where you order it, and that's part of the quality control the chefs require. And unfortunately, that is not always the case at all restaurants I eat at.

Disney is always hiring new chefs - obviously, given the number of dining establishments they have! - and many of them come for externships with various culinary programs around the country. I love how Disney helps continue their education and provides them with a foot in the door. That said, the chef admitted that there has been a problem in the past several years with the interns coming in after watching so many cooking shows on tv and challenging how things are run more, thinking that a) they know how to do it best and b) that they're ready for an executive chef position as soon as they complete their internship. I can only imagine the fun that has to be to manage that!

After our day of fun - and yes, in the Magic Kingdom, I ran into a friend from home within the first five minutes, before we got to a ride! - we headed over to Epcot to a mysterious interview opportunity.

When we arrived, we were ushered into an exposition hall where we discovered several interviewees from Chef Gary (my favorite Disney chef for all the help he offered me the first night with the buffet ingredients) to Barrett Ruud of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to Jennifer Stone from The Wizards of Waverly Place to Alyson Stoner from Phineas and Ferb to Daniel Curtis from Zeke and Luther and more.

They were there - along with two winners of the weekend's TRYathalon (an activity aimed at getting kids excited about living healthy lives by trying new things and foods) and a twelve year old who feeds people at a homeless shelter with produce from her garden. She was remarkably mature and inspirational, but I have to admit I didn't catch her name. Shame on me, I was in the parks all day and didn't have my computer on me.

This fall, thousands of kids wrote essays on healthy living. There was definitely a trend about how to get kids to eat more healthfully; lots of kids wrote about how getting in kitchen and cooking helps inspire eat new foods. I am in one hundred percent agreement with that, as I see the wee ones willing to do and eat so much more when they're involved in choosing the recipe or helping me make it.

Our wonderful gardener suggested that kids are more likely to eat fruits and veggies if they're fun. Cut them into shapes, make them dippable, use different textures, etc. I've heard the shapes thing about foods so often. There's something in me though that can't bear to waste the rest of the food, and I've never been able to do cool shapes - except when making pancakes!

Chef Gary brought up a wonderful point, giving me yet another reason to bring the wee ones into the kitchen (and thankfully, I've already started teaching fractions when doubling recipes or using measuring spoons or cups). He suggests that we use cooking as an educational tool. The obvious one is fractions and decimals, but you can also include history and cultures when talking about the foods and where they come from and why we eat them. Really, food is all about science and reactions. Why not talk about them as you're cooking? All in all, it's a great learning tool.

The Magic of Healthy Living also focuses on getting kids involved in meal prep. There are all sorts of suggestions on how to do so, even for younger children who aren't physically capable of cutting and being around hot surfaces. Why not have them add precut veggies to your salad - their choice of veggies so they're more likely to eat it! - or stir fries? There are ways to include our kids, no matter what their age or skill level.

Gardening with our children to encourage them to get involved with their food, eat healthier, and try new things was another focus. One of my favorites was an interesting idea to create a garden and have different planters for each food - e.g., cole slaw or pizza toppings. And yes, Epcot now has some of these themed gardens on site, including the aforementioned pizza garden!

The biggest tip for new gardeners was to make sure your plants get sun and water. Some "easy" beginner plants to start with are tomatoes and peppers, as well as herbs. I know I am certainly inspired to actually do my garden this year rather than say I'm going to an let it get away from me. I will be planting seeds indoors to start them this weekend!

Gardening is obviously a great way to reduce the cost of eating healthy foods. There is the concern and perception that eating healthy is expensive and more than people can afford. If you think about the cost of a seed packet (usually around ninety-nine cents by me) compared to the bounty, it's a no brainer. Beyond that, though, buying fruits and veggies at the store may be slightly pricier than buying processed foods, but they're more filling to eat, so you eat less of them. To keep costs down, combine them with brown rice or quinoa (which counts as a complete protein even though it's a grain) to cut the cost of eating healthy foods. Yum!

There were all sorts of great tips on how to help people eat healthy with limited time, too. A great idea is to cook on Sundays for the whole week so that you can pull out leftovers and have quick meals when you're busy during the week. We all have a two hour block somewhere on the weekend where we can make three or four things for the week and then stick them in the fridge or freezer for later. Beyond that, simply work on making good choices everywhere you go.

My favorite bit of advice on this topic? There are 24 hours in a day, says Chef Gary - use 'em! It's really easy to come up with excuses for why we aren't eating as healthfully as we should be. Daniel Curtis had it right: "I can't" and "It's too hard" are our mental blocks to doing things; we need to just try it out.

Disney is working hard to incorporate vegan into vegetarian options, according to Chef Gary. In his eyes, it's such a small leap to go from vegetarian to vegan, and I personally love how they're the adapting menus to accomodate more people! These adaptations have been well-received, as Disney has served over 440,000 people with food allergies and sensitivities.

Interestingly, Disney isn't focusing simply on pointing out where food is healthy. They don't always call out healthy foods because, according to Chef Gary, "healthy food should just be good food." I admire that attitude. If the chefs make something taste good, that's great. Being healthy is simply a by-product.

That said, Disney is also focusing on getting healthy snacks within arms reach of every park guest. There are obviously the alternatives to fries for the kids' meals, but even the ice cream stands now offer a whole orange or other fruits. Granted, I saw people eating more ice cream than I did fruit, but the option is there - and I know I'm not ordering fries for the wee ones!

They're also doing it beyond the parks with their licensed produce. They've sold over 1.3 billion servings of fruits and veggies so far. Even the television shows have shown changes with a reflection towards healthy lifestyles. You're much more likely now to see a bowl of fruit in the background of a set than you are chips or other junk food. This is a huge change, and the characters are also more likely to be shown eating healthy foods instead of pizza or donuts or ice cream. I like the subtle changes in the message.

There is also a push to improve school lunches, which is one of my personal pet peeves - and no, neither of the wee ones ever gets a school hot lunch for many reasons. Chefs are moving to schools where they are partnering chefs with schools through the American Culinary Foundation. They try to work with school chefs to improve menus and taste, frequently for free. It's worth looking into for your local schools to see if there's an opportunity to make a difference. Most schools around the world have a limited selection - not the thirty choices each week that we offer. It's a smaller selection but healthier, cheaper and easier to prepare. This may be the model we should be following - I know I'd be good with it!

Tampa Bay Bucaneer Barrett Ruud also offered up some tips regarding what works for him - even though to this day he is not a veggie fan! His best route for eating healthy and performing well is to always eat breakfast. He also eats after every workout, and in general, he eats every 2-3 hours. For him, exercise doesn't have to be work. When he isn't in training for the season, he isn't one to just lift weights and run for the sake of it. He suggested that we just do something fun that's an activity that we like, whether it's yoga (he does it) or dancing or golf. Being active is what's important.

Lastly, we discussed what health means to various panelists. This was so telling to me, especially coming from several people who are growing up in an industry that is so image conscious.

"Health is not a look. Health is not a size. It's your self respect." I may need to print that out and pin it to a wall somewhere.

"Reach your own full potential. It's not about comparing yourself to someone else." Gee, I don't know anyone who ever does this....

"Healthy living is freedom and taking the time to make those choices for yourself. And yes, cake is part of healthy lifestyle." This one was a quote from Alyson Stoner from Phineas and Ferb, and even with so much competition, quite possibly my favorite of the evening.

Ok ok ok, one last tidbit of Disney trivia: the average guest walks seven miles each day in the parks. Apparently that gives a little justification to be able to then eat some of the treats there. Like the ones we had after our healthy dinner.

Once the interview session ended, we met up with our families again for a healthy dinner. While I might have hoped that there was a kids' option, both the wee ones had plenty of food to eat. Little Miss, in fact, cleaned her plate and was thrilled with everything from the heirloom tomato water to the polenta to the beautiful white fish. Mister Man wasn't as pleased with the flavors - though he did try everything - but he still at the roasted chicken and multi-grain bread. Personally, I loved it and could eat this kind of healthy food all day every day. And I'm really quite inspired to do so.

Or I was until we got to the viewing party for Illuminations where the healthy desserts were displayed for us. No, I have no pictures of them, but there were very few tables or places to put our food. We ended up squatting next to a curb, which wasn't exactly conducive to attractive pictures. The yogurt panna cotta was beyond compare. I'm begging Disney for the recipe, as I (and Mister Man) want to recreate that at home. It's so much better than my panna cotta, and I'm sure far healthier, as well. I also had blueberry water for the first time, which was wonderful and a very unique taste. I'm going to look at how to recreate this one for summer, as well. It was so refreshing!

And finally, IllumiNations. We watched it together as a family with the fireworks and images displayed on the rotating Earth as the music told its story. It was the perfect ending to our conference and stay with Disney telling the story from chaos to order to meaning. Yes, the conference had it all, and I wouldn't have traded this experience for anything.

Thank you, Disney!

First "recap" post on my family's take of the conference here
Day One recap here
Day Two recap here

In the interest of full disclosure, I attended the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration. The conference ticket also included discounted hotel stay, park tickets, and some gifts for myself and my family. I was not compensated in any way, nor was I asked to write about the conference. All opinions expressed are my own.

Disney Social Media Moms Celebration Recap Part II

On Day One of the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration, we got into the meat of the conference with speakers ranging from Meg Crofton who is president of Walt Disney World Resorts to Matt Jacobson, Head of Market Development for Facebook, to Rene Syler to Fran Capo to to conference favorite from last year Chris Brogan to a performance by Susan Egan and Georgia Stitt. Whew!

I loved the setting of the stage, and the white baby grand piano was ... a real mystery. Fortunately, that was cleared up by the end of the afternoon. Based on the above list, can you guess how?

And of course the centerpieces at each table were pure Disney. It looks ready for a wedding, no?

Meg Crofton shared a ton of detail with us about Disney, much of which really made me think. It is amazing to contemplate how big Disney really is. They are the largest single site employer in US. Their laundry washes more than 300,000 pounds of linens and towels each day. Washing two loads a day in a home would take 27 years. I don't want to even think about that. Disney buses log more than 20 million miles per year. In an entire year, I drive less than half what their buses drive in a single day.

I was most impressed by Matt Jacobson, the eighth employee of Facebook, who is now the Head of Market Development. While he shared lots of facts and figures about Facebook, some of the questions he answered were by far the most enlightening of the day.

Ninety-two percent of moms are using Facebook to check on what friends and family are using Facebook. About eighty-two percent of people are using it to keep in touch with family and friends - meaning ten percent are just stalking their friends and family? Interestingly, fifty percent are finding about brands and companies on Facebook through their friends - and I know I'm amongst their number.

A lot of his discussion was about building a social media presence using Facebook. He discussed a few items I wasn't familiar with - since I only just put up a Facebook page for my blog, after all - from using a notes feature to import your blog directly into Facebook instead of using Networked Blogs to integrating social plug ins into your blog (which I know I need to do, once I figure out how!).

He was also very adamant about keeping your personal and professional identities separate. Your friends should be your "real" friends. If necessary, go through and put them into buckets and lists with different privacy standards (blog, surfing buddies, PTO moms, etc). It sounds like what I ended up doing with my in-laws (shhhh!), but it makes me extra grateful that my blog email isn't the one I used for my personal Facebook account so that I can keep myself separate.

My favorite moment of the day, though, came from one of my pet peeve about Facebook questions. Molly from My Go Mom asked about ensuring that people on Facebook truly are over age 13 as the restriction states. Considering that my nine year old (at the time) niece friended me - I declined immediately - I can see where this is an issue. I don't want or need a nine year old knowing what I'm doing all the time, nor potentially exposed to anything inappropriate, which thankfully my friends tend to be more conservative on that level.

Matt admitted that there is little Facebook can do to guarantee ages, which was a disappointing answer - but also probably realistic. Instead, he used the example of his own daughters. When they turned thirteen, they didn't just get a Facebook account. And he's there; he practically is Facebook.

In fact, he didn’t give his 15 year old daughters Facebook accounts until they could give him a case for why they needed one. And it took awhile. Once he agreed, he didn't just let them set up an account and go. The email account on their Facebook page is an email he has access to. While he doesn't stalk their page or read every email, he sees who they get friend requests from and volume they get versus those they accept – which is a HUGE delta for them.

He set them up so that they are invisible and so have to find friends. It was a pain for them, because they have to work through their friends to find people. This was hard, but the privacy is critical. The good news is that they understand it and are very careful of their privacy and settings. And really, figuring out responsibility and restraint on the Internet is something not enough people figure out. I really like this solution and suggestion.

Our next guest was Rene Syler who was such a hoot but so full of wisdom. She was a news anchor who ... no longer is. She should be back on tv, and I'll leave it at that. She reinvented herself after her firing and eight weeks later her radical mastectomy. Eventually, and finally, she became The Good Enough Mother. And she absolutely is.

As she puts it, "Washed up is just another word for reinvention." After her firing and mastectomy, she still held hope for resurrecting her career, but her agent for 15 years didn’t have the same vision anymore. She had shot a couple pilots, and when she got word that they weren’t going, she fell into a deep depression. She wasn’t the same person anymore – "scuffed up, tattered and torn" is her description.

On a daily basis, she got up, took her kids to school - still in her nightgown with ski jacket - then would stay in bed for seven hours, waiting for the phone to ring (it never did) before going to get her kids again. It was really hard to see the things that were good in her life. Needless to say, she left that agency and was represented by another agency who knew very little about her and instead tried to get her to do something that wasn’t a good fit at all.

And now? She's Good Enough. Two quotes that really spoke to me about her rediscovery: “You may not know what you want to do, but you do know what you don’t want to do. And that’s just as important” and “Every day, I am happy. Every day.” The first speaks to me because I spent so much of my life in that place, fretting and dithering because I knew what I didn't want but couldn't quite put my finger on what I did want - and that wasn't good enough. And being happy every day? That is where I want to be. I know I'm not there yet, but I'm on my way, and I strive to get all the way there.

Real Growth hurts. I have learned more in the last four years than I have in the past 44 years of my life, but that kind of growth, that kind of character building, that soul stretching HURTS. It just doesn’t work if you don’t move and hurt and cry. Look at it in different ways. Listen to things that perhaps when you were up here you wouldn’t have listened to before. Follow your passion because you’ll never go wrong.

It is ok to take yourself off the bottom of the to do list. It’s ok to say to your kids “Mommy needs a break from you” and not feel guilty about it.

The thing I learned that’s most important is that I’m loved. I’m loved by my family, my friends. I have my family who loves me for me, not the image of Rene that the world sees with ever hair in place (sort of). The mercurial mom that they’re treated to, and they love me nonetheless. I have friends who are not of the fair weather variety. I was once the field trip mommy, and I went to watch wheat being threshed. It’s horrifyingly violent, but what’s left is only the good part of the plant. That’s what happened to me. It’s all the stuff that got stripped away, and it left only the good part. The part that’s the nutritional part. The healthiest part.

The fair weather friends are gone because they weren’t there through the nights when I cried myself to sleep every night. I have a core group of friends who were with me through it all, and they love me. Keep hold to your friends and family because they’re the ones who are going to be your lifeline when things are really bad.

I can't say it better than that. I simply can't. Rene is an amazingly powerful speaker, and I am inspired. Absolutely inspired by her.

After a bit of a break, Minnie came out to "talk" to us. She was dressed as Princess Leia, something I still can't tell Mister Man as he'll be too jealous - my little Star Wars lover! Disney officially announced the opening of the Star Tours II ride at Hollywood Studios, a ride that was closed when we visited over Christmas that Mister Man was still hoping to ride this trip. We were on the edge of our seats, hoping against hope that we'd be in the first wave to ride the new incarnation which was why Minnie was there. Sadly, not so much. The ride will open on May 20, and it still has a ways to go, but the next time we come, Mister Man will ride it. I promise.

The next speaker was Fran Capo, who has written fifteen books and is a standup comic. Not knowing this, when she appeared onstage in character mode, I wasn't quite sure what to make of her. She holds the world record for fastest female talker, and I understand how that's possible. Wow can she talk, and it's amazing what she's done in her life but being open to possibility and figuring out how she's going to do something she's finagled after she's finagled it - from speaking gigs to writing books. As she put it, “Just say yes, and figure it out later. When a door opens, just step through it." That may take more courage than I have, but wow is it working for her.

Chris Brogan was up next - and yes, he was again tweeting before he spoke, requesting topics. He was a conference favorite from last year, and he was just as entertaining this year, while still imparting wisdom.

Trying to find your space in the online world can be a challenge, but he has plenty of advice. One of the ones that resonated most was "Don't ask how, ask why all the time." His point throughout was that we are all in the customer service business - and sales and marketing - and we need to think and act like it. As he put it, "There is no magic in the old silk hat. It's putting the work into it and making it happen. Ask 'then what' always."

As the world and our connections to it are changing, there is a lot of fear, but there is also opportunity. He advises that we "create the new dial tone. Now we can connect with people where they are and tap into it in their language. That is so vitally important. You can track them down now! You get information, and then you can do something with it. And you can listen, too – that’s important, as well." And really, isn't that what we're trying to do now?

He gave a few bits of great advice that are definitely not always followed online. First: If you want attention, give attention. Retweet what they're saying. Give them linky love. Respond to what they're doing, and create that connection. It will be noticed. Second: Another secret? Raise other people up. This is something that he finds tends to be uniquely lacking in the mommy blogging sphere. His comparison is that of crabs in a bucket – you shouldn’t get out of the bucket because I’m in this bucket. Really, we're better than crabs, right? Find people who are doing something interesting and lift them up. I love it.

When people ask how to become valuable and sought after in a particular area, he knows what to do. Always be the go to person, the connector. If you’re always putting people together, you’re the one at the elbow and you’re the trust agent that people turn to. It’s less yucky than you just selling your stuff all the time. I don't think I need to expound on that, do I?

He suggests that we look at our websites as our home base. Engage people and make them interested on Facebook and Twitter so that they want to click over to your blog. The other places are outposts. Your job is to use the outposts to get people to the home. Per Chris, Use the Facebook Like Button to share your content but bring them to your home base (blog).
And remember, comments aren't currency. Comments are proof that you hit a note somewhere.

Chris also gave us some really great acronyms to live by. And yes, we all giggled at them - serious though they are in the end.

Always be connecting (ABC). Feed your network every day.
C = Connections everything I do lives and dies by my network
R = Referrals You need them so you can sell to the next person
A = Attention and/or awareness You have to be everywhere, doing great things and sharing it on your blog. Better to write it on the blog than to write it via email
P = Presence You want to be places. You want to be ready & available to be consumed. It's how people get noticed. Post more often, and you get more notice. Get your pics up fast. Post frequently. Be active.

I really loved his recommendations for productivity. Look for pockets of time. Write notes to yourself of things to do and then do them when you find those scraps of time. Stop saying "yes" to things. Stop keeping all your extra tabs open on your browser. It doesn’t work as well as you think it does. Uhhhh, guilty guilty and guilty? And yes, I write this with Twitter open, another four browser windows, and the Food Network on in the background. Ahem.

Did you know he writes his blog posts in 20-40 minute apiece? It makes me feel a whole lot better about the rapidity with which I write and post sometimes. That said, there are some posts - this one especially - that take far more time and effort, and it's important to put that into it when required. He isn't fast for fast's sake.

Chris also spoke last year about not liking when people put their RSS feed directly into Twitter. He expanded on that a bit this year. Don’t put your RSS feed automatically into Twitter. Ask an interesting question or make a point with the answer to go to your blog. Don’t (HootSuite) post the same thing on all social media, as they’re frequently the same audience. What will they do? They will unsubscribe in one or more channels. Likes are more powerful than retweets. Give people a maximum of 2 social media options on your site. Why? Because too many choices leads to inaction – the user pushes nothing. And how many people do you know who do this?

He also chatted briefly (ha! - the joke is coming, sorry) about vlogging. While I don't vlog often, I do put video on my site. Video is the next thing (as he’s said since 2007). Be brief. I’m constantly amazed by people who think I have 11 minutes to watch their video. Talk clearly. Speaking with umms and uhhhs doesn’t help. And edit. Editing is good manners. Brevity brevity brevity – it makes all of those much easier. I'll keep to my three minute maximum. Phew.

Last up for the day were Georgia Stitt and Susan Egan. I'll have to admit that I'd never heard of either before that performance. I know them now. Georgia is a lyricist and composer who plays a mean piano - and sings! Susan was the original Belle in Beauty and the Best on Broadway and was also the voice of Meg in Hercules. They sang, and they chatted. And they were wonderful.

I loved the lyrics of so many of the songs by Georgia Stitt from "The Me of the Moment" to "Nina Doesn't Care" (which almost brought me to tears) to "My Lifelong Love." There was even a song about social media that had us all giggling and nodding our heads sagely. Susan's voice is incredible, and we were treated to her singing "I Won't Say I'm in Love" from Hercules - with the screen showing the scene from the movie in sync with her singing. So cool!

They were a hoot, and I would have loved to have sat and had coffee with them - or better yet - dinner and drinks. I'm so glad they were invited to share an hour with us, especially since they ended with "The Mom Song" - one that the wee ones insist sounds just like me. They tell me it's because I sing. I hope that's the only reason why!

After our day at the conference ended, we headed with our families to Hollywood Studios for a Disney Junior party on the set of "Lights, Motors, Action" - complete with band and dance floor for the kids. There was a fantastic buffet where Mister Man learned he loves prime rib (whoo?) and Little Miss got a whole plate of desserts just for her - dairy free cookies and tons of great fruit. Everyone was in heaven as we heard about the rebranding success of Playhouse Junior to Disney Junior.

Then the band appeared - from Jake and the Neverland Pirates. The music was so fun, and from the show, I believe (shhhh, we don't really watch tv in our house, so we've yet to see this show), as most people seemed to recognize each song. Regardless, they were absolutely age appropriate, something sorely lacking in many family events I attend.

As we continue through the evening, various Disney characters come out to dance with us. It started out with Captain Hook and Mr. Smee - with really only the kids on the dance floor.

The parents quickly jumped in, and more and more characters kept joining us from Daisey to Donald to Handy Manny to Agent Oso and more.

The wee ones were in heaven, and Little Miss continually threw herself at one character after another for a hug. And then she danced. A lot. And didn't want to leave when it was time to go - not that I could blame her!

Mister Man was not a fan of the "bad buys" at the event, but he had a blast nonetheless. He enjoyed dancing, but he was absolutely entranced by the giant television screen overhead. He had a hard time looking away from it to follow along with everyone else. That said, he did his best to dance along with the leaders and following the song's commands. So so cute - I love watching him dance!

By the end of the day, my brain was tired. Really tired. Thank goodness for fast typing at the conference events, or I wouldn't have had anything to write about at all, as my brain got overfull! The next day of the conference was less intense, though we had some great opportunities to interview some chefs and some who are focused on health and nutrition. More on that tomorrow!

First "recap" post on my family's take of the conference here
Day One recap here.

In the interest of full disclosure, I attended the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration. The conference ticket also included discounted hotel stay, park tickets, and some gifts for myself and my family. I was not compensated in any way, nor was I asked to write about the conference. All opinions expressed are my own.

That's My Ummmm Girl?

I'm giving away our new favorite book - Is Your Buffalo Ready for Kindergarten here.

I have a new giveaway up for a Monopoly board game here.

***

Little Miss had her five year checkup today at the doctor. Everything went relatively well. She's still in the 75th percentile in height (43 1/2 inches - whoo) and 10th percentile in weight (yay to adjustible waistband clothing). We were both thrilled that she had no shots, and the doctor found that she was developing completely normally.

As many pediatricians do, she has a great way with kids. She talks to them about things that they (should) find interesting and compliments them when they do things well. And yes, we're still working on her learning her address, but hey - at least the phone number part is done.

Halfway through the appointment, the doctor gave Little Miss a huge smile.

So who's your favorite princess? she asked, innocently.

Princess Leia! Little Miss somewhat lisped.

Oh, I mean who is your favorite Disney princess? she clarified kindly.

Little Miss fixed her with a gimlet stare. I don't like Disney princesses. At that point she tossed her head and sniffed haughtily. My older brother's favorite guy from Star Wars is Princess Leia, too.

The poor pediatrician took the hint, and the Star Wars conversation was off. But those poor Disney princesses. I suppose this is also why Little Miss now has an alien lunchbox instead of the pretty pink one or the lovely flowered one my mom was trying to talk her into.

I have to admit, I admire her for knowing - and stating - her mind so clearly. Even though it makes me giggle sometimes.

Oh Those Things They Say

Soooo, I know I've been somewhat MIA, but I promise I have a good reason. I'm finally back - at least physically, if not mentally - from Orlando and a conference there, with more to be posted on my other blog in the next couple days.

While on "vacation" with my parents and wee ones, I had several ahhhh memorable moments, shall we say.

Proof that my parents spoil the wee ones:
Upon walking into our hotel room, Mister Man turned around to look at us and asked, "Where's my bedroom?"

Granted, when my parents take us on vacation, we usually stay in a rented condo for a longer period of time, so having a standard hotel room apparently came as a surprise to him.

Upon deciding that she was finished with volunteering, Little Miss declared, "I want to go. I don't like this place. There aren't even any 'lands.' I want to go somewhere that has lands. And rides."

So this is why so many volunteer opportunities don't include four year olds....

Upon seeing yet another character at breakfast, "Grandma, did you order Daisy, too? And did you order and pay for Donald? I see them; I see them!"

And yes, that would be a character breakfast at Chef Mickey's that my parents took the wee ones to, not knowing that they were in for more than a typical breakfast place.

Trying to convince Little Miss that it was ok to ride the teacups, as she is not a fan of "spinny rides," Mister Man tried the logic of: "But I'm the Fear Master. It's ok to ride because I'm the Fear Master, and I take away your fears. Fears: begone!"

Nope, it didn't work, as evidenced by:

"Slow down. Slow dowwwwwn! Slowwwwwww! Dowwwwwwwwn!" from Little Miss the entire teacup ride.

And no, we weren't spinning. At all. Fortunately, Mister Man joined me on the ride immediately afterwards where we spun as fast as we could the whole ride. Now if I could just find someone to ride the roller coasters with me, I'd be set.

Being directed to dinner at the Wide World of Sports, Mister Man insisted, "Mommy, don't follow them. They're going to try to trick us. Look, they have red light sabers; that means they're bad guys."

Uhhhh, no. However, I do think that it's time to take away some of those Star Wars books.

Upon exiting Energy Universe at Epcot, Little Miss explained, "It's important to never fall asleep for a nap while watching television. It gives you nightmares, and you'll dream about dinosaurs coming to get you. Make sure you don't fall asleep with the tv on, Mommy."

Yep, that's all she got out of the educational ride about how energy is created. Needless to say, she was very worried when she saw Grandpa the next day asleep with the television on.

There were so many more, but I can't remember them. Maybe once I catch up on my sleep, they'll come back to me. Even if they don't, I know they will always be creating more.

Whose Life Am I Living?

Have you ever felt like someone is following you everywhere you go? Or maybe that you keep running into the same person over and over again, completely unintentionally? Welcome to my life this week.



Last Friday night, I made an offhand comment on Because I Said So wishing Dawn a good vacation at Disney and mentioning that we would be going there for one day but that we were staying at a non-Disney hotel. She emailed me asking which hotel, and it turns out that ... we're staying at the same hotel. At the same time. Hmmm....



She flew United from Chicago to Orlando, and (ok, so this part isn't a surprise) so did we. Same flight. Phew, we were one day later... and our gate was one gate off.

When we arrived, we both ended up paying $200 more for our rental cars than expected. Granted, mine was because my dad insisted that a 7 passenger minivan for five people (ok, six for the three days this weekend my husband is with us) isn't big enough and that we need an 8 passenger minivan.

We got to the hotel and had to change rooms. We meaning both our families. Our room smelled weird, and it wasn't near a pool that had somewhere for kids to play. We both switched to a room that was a bit more amenable to our needs. Fortunately, we aren't in the same building. That would have been a bit much for me (and I think for her, too!).

Although Dawn went to Disney much more than we did, we did end up going on the same day to the Magic Kingdom. Although we criss-crossed paths much of the day, we did end up in Tommorrowland at the same time near the end of her day there (and what we thought was near the end of ours). Weird how far you have to go to see someone who's so close (we're both in suburbs of Chicago). She's a very sweet and nice lady, I must say. And her family is so cute and sweet, too.

After Disney that day, we both came back to the hotel to eat spaghetti and meatballs. That wasn't planned. The spaghetti for both of us was from the local Publixx -- the grocery store down here we both got our essentials from.

See? If only I had four more wee ones and wrote a really funny popular blog and had a book deal, I'd think we were living the same life. Oh, and the clincher? Both of us are now sick. I had almost no voice this morning and could really go for a nice cup of tea wrapped up in bed. Sounds eerily similar, doesn't it?

The good news is that we all enjoyed Disney. Some high and lowlights of the day at the Magic Kingdom for me:

Mister Man was a great sport. The couple rides that he didn't like so much afterwards, he was really good during the ride. The Haunted Mansion, which he insisted on going in, he decided would be better when he's six or seven. He also wasn't a fan of Goofy's Wiseacre Barnstormer (or whatever) roller coaster. It was the first roller coaster he'd ever been on, and he decided he'd rather wait until he's six or seven -- sensing a theme here? -- to go on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. I was mildly bummed because that meant I had no one to ride my two favorite rides with and thus couldn't go on them.

Little Miss was a scaredy-cat, and I blame my mom for that one. She freaked out on the Dumbo ride, so we were stuck at the bottom until the end when they make every elephant go up to the top, at which she panic-mumbled "I don't wanna, I don't wanna" over and over. She also hid during the Snow White Ride, Buzz Lightyear, Peter Pan (or at least when Captain Hook was visible), and Pirates of the Carribbean.

They loved the Mad Teacup Party. The first time we went on it, my dad came with the wee ones and I. My dad doesn't like to spin and stopped us every time I got more than a mild spin going. We went on again for our last ride of the day without my dad, and we spun so fast I could hardly stand up at the end. They loved it! And Mister Man and I had to do a repeat on Buzz Lightyear because we loved that one so much.

Driving the Indy Cars was a challenge. Little Miss came with me and started out upset that she couldn't reach the steering wheel when I had us buckled in tightly. Then she was upset when she couldn't steer perfectly without bumping the track guide. I ended up steering from the passenger seat, which wasn't too effective but got us through.

We saw Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Eyore, Captain Hook, Mister Smee, Alice in Wonderland, and the Mad Hatter at various places throughout the park -- oh, and the monkey from the Jungle Book but I don't remember his name. The wee ones thought that was so cool. It wasn't how I remembered though where the characters wandered the park and shook people's hands and paused for brief pictures. Now, they had a designated space where people lined up with their autograph books and waited in line for a half hour to spend a couple minutes with the character. Call me mean, but we just saw the characters from afar, waved at them and moved on.

We also found some rides that were real favorites that the wee ones truly enjoyed. I think Little Miss would go on the Winnie the Pooh and the Peter Pan ride (hiding during Captain Hook, admittedly) over and over again. Seeing their faces as they experienced the rides was worth every penny.

It was a gorgeous day! It was sunny but not too bright. We had just a little breeze, and it was just warm enough without being too hot or at all chilly. My mom's jacket went unused. And the crowds weren't bad. Most rides for most of the day were either five or ten minutes long. Some were twenty to twenty-five, but we were able to fast track the majority of those, so we went on tons of rides without having to deal with too many yucky people.

I accidentally grabbed the wrong princess dress for Little Miss. You'll see that she's wearing a "normal" yellow dress with two princesses pictured in hearts on the chest part. I had brought down a pink Sleeping Beauty princess dress for her from our collection of dress up clothes in the basement. However, since I'd packed at 11:30 the night before we left, I didn't check too closely. The dress is a 6X, I think. No matter what size it was, it was so big that it fell off Little Miss constantly and was pretty indecent. She was not happy that I wouldn't let her wear the way too big dress to Disney. Bad mom!

We took no naps when we went, and the wee ones were great. No meltdowns all day. For all the walking we did and all the stuff we saw, we had remarkably few disagreements the entire day. If only every day were like that.

No one cooperated for pictures. I couldn't get anyone to sit still and look at me the entire day. I tried for awhile to get some cute pictures but then gave up and just focused on having fun with the wee ones. In the end, I think that's the right theory.

My mom insisted on shoving food in their faces every time they got off a ride. Granted, these were snacks she'd brought along, but let the wee ones eat when they're hungry so they learn the signals their bodies are sending them. They don't need to eat constantly. It wasn't my worry that the food she was giving them was unhealthy but that the message she was sending them (and she does this regularly -- including this morning shoving (literally) strawberries into their mouths) isn't a good one. When we stopped for lunch, Mister Man didn't want anything to eat bceause he wasn't hungry. Grrr!

All in all, I could do more Disney. My mom's not a theme park or ride person though, so she doesn't get why you'd want to go back. I'm glad we aren't there today because it's chilly -- relatively -- and rainy, but I could definitely do this a few more days. But learning from Dawn, I'd definitely intersperse some pool days in between!

Disney Angst!

To preface this, my parents are great. When it was just Mister Man and I worked full time, my parents watched him 2 days a week, meeting my husband at his school and taking him to their house, then returning him at the end of the day. Even now, my parents watch both of them one day a week when I’m working (the other two days – like today – they’re in daycare), and they babysit all the time for us.

A couple years ago, they asked to take Mister Man to Tampa for a long weekend. I was fine with that. They had a great time, and it all worked out for everyone. Since then, we’ve gone back to the same hotel – my dad doesn’t like change – several times with both kids, sometimes with hubby and me along and sometimes with my sister to help wrangle the wee ones.

I’m in a wedding in Houston next month, and I have the option of bringing my children to the nighttime wedding. Uhhh, no. I chose to pass on that option for a number of reasons, the first being that their bedtime is before the ceremony even begins!

Luckily, my parents were ok watching the wee ones, since I’m going down on Thursday, and hubby has classes to teach and isn’t exactly around to get them to preschool and the like. After all arrangements had been made, my parents asked if they could just take the kids to Florida while we were both gone anyway – since it’d been all the way since October since they’d gone last. That was fine with me, too.

Then I got the phone call from my mom. “Well, the hotel in Tampa had no rooms for the time we wanted to go, so we decided to go to Orlando instead. We’re flying down on Thursday morning and will be back the day before Mother’s Day.” Uhhh, what? Wait a second, that is NOT what I’d agreed to. Ten days gone from me? Missing over a week of school (granted, it’s preschool)? And Orlando? Land of Disney?

My parents have an issue with overstepping their bounds. Their argument is that they’re grandparents, so they’re allowed to spoil the kids. I understand that logic, but the problem is that they see the kids easily two or three times a week and spend a lot of time with them. My kids have actually asked if they can go live with Grandma and Grandpa. The difference lies in frequency, in my mind.

As I gritted my teeth, I asked why they were going for so long. Apparently the flights were somewhat expensive, so they wanted to amortize the cost of the flights over more days. And had already booked the flights. And the hotel. Fortunately, it’s a hotel that’s not a Disney property, but not much is far from Disney in Orlando. I politely requested that they not go to Disney for the first time without me. My mom’s reaction? “They’re young; they won’t even remember it.” Uhhh, sure. Mister Man with the mind like a steel trap who remembers everything won’t remember this. Oh, and that isn’t the point!

Finally, she responded that they’d likely spend most days hanging out at the pool, but that probably one or two days they’d end up at Disney. “You know your dad. You can’t tell him what to do.” URG!

I’ve since had a few more conversations with my mom. I think she finally gets it, but she’s falling back on her argument that my dad will do what he wants to do and I have to clear it by him. Yesterday would have been the perfect time to talk to him. I even got to his house early before the movie (see yesterday’s post) so that we could chat about it. Of course, that just meant that he had more time to get to the theater early. And the theater wasn’t exactly conducive to that conversation. Afterwards, Mister Man was so exhausted and whiny, we fed him yogurt and brought him home.

I still have a month before they leave to impress upon them the severe disagreement I have about them taking my kids to Disney first without asking me, but I need to get moving. Any suggestions on how to handle? I can’t and don’t want to tell my parents that they just can’t see my kids or do stuff with them for a number of reasons, but they do not get boundaries.