Scrapbook Woes

The closest to scrapbooking I’ve ever come has been the girls’ baby books.  I’ve put together photo albums certainly and from time to time added little bits of memorabilia to those albums but never have I done a traditional scrapbook.

With a trip to the most magical place on Earth and having happened across a beautiful scrapbook I thought I’d give it a try.  Unfortunately by the time I saw the lovely book I wanted we had really spent quite enough on souvenirs and had no room left to pack it if I bought it.  Naively I was thinking some abstract thoughts about ordering it online or picking it up at the Disney store in Minneapolis eventually and we left it behind.

Well as it turns out I should have figured out a way to stuff it in a bag. We have no plans to head off to Minneapolis until the spring time at the earliest so unless I want to put it off and start forgetting things before doing this scrapbook option A was out.  So onto online purchasing….well once again shipping costs heading north of the US border make online purchasing a royal pain in the behind.   

So what to do? Well we had another option as we knew of several people heading to Orlando in the next few weeks and so to save on shipping costs we asked if they found themselves near that particular Disney store to grab it for us if they could. The first wasn’t able to but the second group we knew picked it up for us and I was very excited to get started.

I printed off all the pictures I want to use and gathered all the materials that I want to make part of the book.  Sunday afternoon I got the book from them and despite pictures and dimensions being sent it’s, you guessed it, the wrong one!  Right design wrong book, album rather than scrapbook.

Of course I didn’t tell them that, I just graciously paid for the book they brought us, thanked them for looking for me and sucked it up.  I am thankful after all that they put in the effort to do me a favour and I can’t fault them for grabbing the wrong one. The two books are identical in everything but size and I know they thought they had the right one.

Inside however there was a little girl whose new balloon had just been popped and was in the process of throwing quite the un-ladylike tantrum. I’m much too far up the path to stop the project now. I’ve purchased materials and started arranging pages which will only fit in a full size scrapbook and I’ve put in a lot of effort to get that book home to me.  I've invested myself in the project and so I'll follow through.

Unfotunately it's now going to cost me much more thanks to paying for the wrong book and those terrible shipping fees never mind the extra time and effort.  Lesson learnt.  If you find something thousands of kilometers from home that you really want don’t let little things like how much room is left in your bag stop you from buying it.  I’m sure if had really tried I could have found a way to stuff it in.

Picture Day - Favorite Vacation Shots



Main Entrance







Epcot, Spaceship Earth





Mickey and Minnie Mouse





Festival of The Lion King





Cinderella's Castle Night





Cinderella's Castle Day





Me With Chip N' Dale



Osbourne St. Lights





Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular



Main Universal Entrance



Studios Entrance



Across Islands of Adventure Lake



Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry





Aztec Entrance



The Most Magical Place on Earth

Yep still stuck on Walt Disney World but really can you blame me?  On our trip to Orlando we visited the four Disney parks and the two Universal Parks. Although we had fun at all of them Disney is where IT was at. 

That’s not to say Universal wasn’t great in its own way. Universal is home to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and since our entire family is huge fans that park is placed firmly in the number 2 out of the 6 parks we visited.  In the end however, aside from HP, Universal just feels like any other theme park.

Walt Disney World, in particular The Magic Kingdom and Epcot, is like stepping into another world. A world where all the faces are smiling, where people (cast members and tourists alike) dance in the street, where the rides are “experiences” and foot traffic is so well managed that even in the midst of a parade it flows smoothly.

It isn’t just for the kids either and I think that is a big part of what makes Disney so special.  It turned out my husband and I had just as much fun as our daughters did.  While we walked into the parks as Mom and Dad we left as kids having had a day of fun. 

Perhaps it is because of rides like Dumbo which in most parks wouldn’t be designed to seat adults but small children only.  Nothing at Disney is kids only or adults only everything is designed to be an entertaining and fun experience for everyone regardless of age.  Sharing in the fun as a family changes the outlook entirely.  

It’s all in the details and Disney does the details well.  One of those subtle details is the different music for each area which emerges from bushes and along walkways each sound evoking memory and lifting your heart.  Another detail is in the food, everything is specially made for Disney.  A bag of nuts “manufactured” by Chip n’ Dale, Mickey ears ice cream and Minnie Cookies.  Each of the rides are more than just rides they are immersive from the moment you step into line until you step back out into that glorious Florida sun.   The shows are spectacularly put together and the cast members treat you like royalty. 

In no other place have I felt that overwhelming feeling of being a kid again.  Disney focuses on learning and imagination; it is forever optimistic, encouraging and hopeful.  It makes you think about our potential as humans and it truly is magic.

Disney Done

Well that’s it summer is officially behind us, but what a way to top it off. Our family spent the last week in the wonderful Florida sun and after 8 days of bliss we returned mid snow storm.  While we were there I wasn’t giving anything back home a second thought while blogger faithfully posted my pre-written and scheduled posts. 

Stepping off the plane in Orlando was magical in and of itself, having gotten used to near freezing temperatures the warm and humid air was pure bliss.  Palm trees swaying in the breeze, geckos running across sidewalks, flowers in bloom everywhere and of course visits with a very special mouse made this the best trip our family has ever had.   

I’d mentioned my intent to surprise the girls with this trip and did we ever succeed.  Their reactions to the letters I made for them were priceless.  While our youngest went from curiosity to pure excitement as soon as she realized what the letters said our oldest went through several stages (including a rather doubtful one) before reaching that def-con 10 level of excitement herself.  

Since we were leaving the very next morning our vacation started as soon as we told the girls and I couldn’t be happier with our decision to surprise them.  Since we were left so soon after telling them it seemed we were in full-fledged vacation mode from that moment forward without even having left the house.

Another little bonus that wasn’t strictly necessary that helped bring the vacation home even before we stepped onto the plane was by starting off our trip by renting a limousine for the ride to the airport. For the girls this was a new experience and certainly worked to make it special.

This was also their first experience flying and so we made sure to talk to them about what to expect from the flight, the different noises and sensations that they might experience and brought along as many distractions as we could. I admit I was a little nervous as my husband is not a good flyer and our youngest shares his fear of heights so we did need to consider she might not do well. Thankfully it turned out that neither of them had any issues flying and enjoyed seeing everything from up high.       

Our flight had been slightly delayed and so our first day’s plans were a little rushed on arrival but we also arrived with a flexible mindset and so it didn’t cause any undue stress.  We were very happy with our hotel and the anticipation of our first parks day kept the stress of getting prepared for our week in check.

I think this was probably one of the most important elements that made our trip successful, planning.  I’d done a huge amount of planning long before we left but having that plan while remaining flexible really seemed to make everything flow smoothly.  There were times we forgot about the plan and lost track of time yet we still seemed to always find ourselves in the right spot at the right time for all the shows, parades and fireworks we wanted to see. 

All of our planning and research into when to go, where to eat, what to do each day, deciding whether to rent a car or not, the best location and hotel to stay at all these big things were figured out ahead of time and so the little things just worked.

Leaving to come home we were of course saddened to go but we all felt content and happy with all we had done and our tired feet were ready to call it a day.  We got one last week of summer fun before walking off the plane at the end of it all and straight into several feet of snow. Disney may be done but the memories we have brought home will last a lifetime and the snow doesn’t feel so bad.