Bad week....or is it?

It's been a week. Bradley has been out of town on business. Anthony has had yet another ear infection (that would make #5, one more and off to the ENT we go).
I'm still waiting for news on whether I will move on to Round 3 of Disney Parks Moms Panel (hopefully I will hear something by Wednesday since it has been said that emails won't go out Monday or Tuesday).
Last night, this happened....

3 of my 4 kids were happy and getting along! It's rare that there isn't screaming of some sort, so this was a real treat! ha!

Even funnier was the baby....every time Ally or I would go to take a picture, he would smile and then want to see the picture.

 

Reminds me that even if the week seems to be not perfect, little things can turn it into a perfect one!

Disney Value Resort....3rd times the charm!

That's how many times I've tried to write this post and also how many times my computer has messed up and deleted it......
It's ok though because each one I've written hasn't been exactly right. I started out wanting to talk about Disney on a budget. Honestly, there's so much information that I have in my brain that I don't think I could fit it into one post without overwhelming you. So, I've decided to break it down. The first thing I'd like to talk about is the value resorts at Disney World. There are 5 different hotels in this category.
All Star Movies

All Star Music

 
All Star Sports

 

 Pop Century

 and Art of Animation.

My family has personally stayed at the All Star Music and All Star Movies.
These resorts are full of in your face Disney décor. (that's one of the things that I love about them). They all have nice pools, arcades, food courts, and bus service to and from the parks and Downtown Disney. 

The standard rooms have either 2 double beds or 1 king, a full bath, closet and dresser. They do not include a mini fridge or coffee maker. However, the food court does have coffee, tea, and soda. You can purchase a refillable mug in the food court that you can refill as often as you like during your stay. (you can only refill it in the food court of the resort you are staying at. If you purchase a meal plan, you will get this mug for free).

All Star Music and Art of Animation resorts both have family suites.
The suite at All Star Music is one bedroom. There's a queen bed in the bedroom, a double pull out sofa sleeper, an ottoman that becomes a twin bed and a chair that also is a twin bed. There are 2 full bathrooms and a kitchenette with fridge and coffee pot. It's location is close to the food court and a quick walk from the parking lot (some of the regular rooms are a bit of a walk from the parking area).

The Art of Animation suites are also 1 bedroom. There's a queen bed in the bedroom, a double size pull out sofa sleeper, and a dining room table that turns into a Murphy bed. This room also has a kitchenette and 2 full bathrooms.

 

These suites are themed with Finding Nemo, Cars, and The Lion King. There are also standard rooms available here that are Little Mermaid theme.

 

As you can see, Disney has quite a few choices for value resorts. Our experiences have been great. I will say, our last stay in December was at All star Music. We requested 2 connecting rooms. We did get that but the rooms were so far from the parking lot. It was quite a hike to take all of our stuff from the car to the room. (Plus, at the end of a long day at the parks, it was not something I looked forward to). I loved staying in the family suites, there was plenty of room for all of us (that particular trip we had 3 adults, 2 teenagers, 1 child, and an infant). Being close to the food court and the parking lots is a great perc to these rooms (at least it was for me!)

 

(with the exception of the family suite bedroom photo, all photos are courtesy of Disney)

 

I want to go to Disney when my child is old enough to remember.....

I've heard this statement more times that I can count. My reply is always "but you'll remember!"  My kids may not remember their first interaction with a character, or the first time they saw Fantasmic or even the first time they rode Pirates of the Caribbean...but I remember. I remember their faces the first time they met Mickey Mouse, had a Mickey bar or Dole Whip, and rode It's a Small World. That look of pure happiness (or confusion, depending on the age of the child). I will always remember these moments....
  Disney has so much to offer for kids age 0-100. Last year we went to Disney in December when Anthony was just 3 months old. He rode in the stroller or the baby carrier and just went with the flow.

(I wore him in the carrier through the lines)

 Traveling with a baby was fairly easy.

A tip: if your traveling with a little one, use the Baby Care Centers, there is one located in each park.  They have a private nursing area with rocking chairs, changing room with changing tables, a feeding area with high chairs, an area with a TV and toys for any other children you may have with you. They also sell Diapers, formula, wipes, etc in case you forget anything or run out.
Also, for Anthony, I found out really quickly that he didn't like the dark rides so I had a bottle ready to go. He would start fussing and I would feed him and it worked out good.

Andrew (the now 5 year old) went for the first time at about 7 months. He was wide eyed and loving everything. He played in the playgrounds/splash pads and rode the rides.

 In case you aren't aware, there are rides that don't have a height requirement.
Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, The Tommorrowland Transit Authority (otherwise known as, the Peoplemover), All the rides in fantasyland, among many others.  This being said, don't be afraid to take a baby to the World if you want to go to Disney. No time is a bad time. Just know that depending on the age of the child, you may need to adjust your touring time. 

Andrew on Toy Story Mania. (I promise, he was having fun!)

Character interaction with kids of all ages is fun! We've had a few moments like this one.

Bottom line, don't be afraid to tour Walt Disney World with small children just remember to take your time, take in all the sights and create wonderful memories with your family!

Grilled Oysters!

Yesterday we had our friends The Cumbests over for lunch and drinks. We have been friends for a long time (the 4 of us graduated high school together). We each have 4 kids which makes our time together completely hectic but fun, especially since (with the exception of Amber) the kids are all close in age. So, we decided yesterday to grill some oysters and drink some bullfrogs which were left over from our Halloween party.

Bradley is the master oyster maker. Last year sometime we bought a case of oysters and Bradley shucked them all. Once we finished with them, I ran them through the dish washer to sanitize them and we now reuse them for our grilled oysters. (This way if we don't feel like shucking them, we can just buy a quart or 2 and put each oyster in a shell).

This recipe is per Bradley....

1/2 packet BBQ Shrimp mix (this is in the grocery store over by the other packets of seasoning)
4 Sticks of butter.
Melt butter and add in shrimp mix. We then put this in a squeeze bottle.

dry mix:
1 bottle shredded parmesan cheese
1 cup Panko bread crumbs
1 Tablespoon onion powder
1 Tablespoon garlic powder
Add all this back into the container the shredded parmesan came in.

If you are using fresh oysters, sprinkle bread crumbs over the top of each oyster, place on grill over high heat. Baste with butter mixture.
Grill for 15 min max.

If you are using a quart of oysters, like we do. Put a small amount of butter mix in the shell then put oyster in, add a little of the oyster juice over each. (you don't want the oysters too dry), sprinkle with bread crumbs, then baste in butter mix.

When done, I just dig in with a fork, while Bradley uses a saltine and crystal hot sauce.

I was too busy eating to get a proper picture. This is just so you get an idea of what they should look like. (Next time I'll do pictures of the whole process).

Impromptu meet up!

Yesterday Amber found out the Todrick Hall was going to have an impromptu meet up at our local mall. I decided I'd take her, so we loaded up the whole family and off we went. There was a small crowd waiting for him in front of Great American Cookie.

 

He was a few minutes late but that's ok. He was a real sweetheart and took time to take pictures with everyone there. After a while, mall security came up and told him he either had to buy something or leave. He ended up buying  $100 worth of cookies to share with the kids that came to see him. Even after that, mall security still kicked him out! He moved the meet up outside and still talked to his fans.

 

 

For those of you who don't know who Todrick Hall is, he was on Season 9 of American Idol and is a current you tube star.

His videos are fantastic! Of course, I love them because he does twists on Disney themes!

Here's one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAUZIw95ueM

 

You have to see it!

5 Things to do at Disney

I'm sure you all have noticed that my blog says Food, DISNEY, and Family. Well, so far, I've covered the food and family but where's the Disney?!
Well, I've decided this morning to go ahead and give you all my 5 must do's at the World. If your a frequent visitor to the world, (hello Cumbest Clan!) your 5 things may be different than mine. Keep in mind when reading this list, this is what my family and I like to do when we go!

1. When visiting the Magic Kingdom, ride Space Mountain (for us it's numerous times). Alice (my mother in law) and I started this tradition of finding all the cameras on the rides. You know, those cameras that take pictures of you screaming your head off!? We have take so many funny pictures on Space Mountain.

This isn't on space mountain and it's not taken with a Disney cam but it gives you an idea of what I'm talking about!

2. When at Animal Kingdon, ride Expedition Everest . We love this ride! Even Andrew loved it (he rode it at 4 years old!) If your like me and don't mind seeing a little of the Disney Magic, ride in the very front. Otherwise, ride anywhere else!


3. For Adults, have a margarita at La Cava in Epcot (in Mexico of course). If your like us, you can order a bit of everything. (Pictured is a tequila flight, liquor flight, and 3 margaritas. I don't remember what they were, maybe Sherry does?)

 

If you don't have time for all this because you'd rather run back to ride test track one more time, you can grab one of these beauties at one of the carts. (It's strawberry, lime, and mango flavors!)

 

 

4. See the Osbourne Lights at Christmas. This is an amazing sight! To get the full effect, make sure you get there before the lights start (although if you don't make it for the start time, you can always go and check it out anytime between when it starts and when Hollywood Studios closes).

 

5. Eat at Raglan Road in Downtown Disney. I'm sure most of you know that my family is a bunch of foodies! We eat...a lot. It's actually the one thing we look forward to doing on every vacation. Raglan Road has wonderful food (I would recommend the Risotto), drinks, and live entertainment! Make sure you get the bread and butter pudding for dessert. It won't disappoint!

 

 

This is such a short list, it's hard to skim Disney down to just 5 things....I think I could almost write a book on the things I love to see, do, and eat at the World.

 

 

 

Halloween Fun!

Every year at Halloween we get together with our friends, The Cumbests. I cook a big pot of chili, Sherry makes a dessert or an appetizer (or both as she did last night). We take kids trick or treating and have a great meal together.

Now for the kids Halloween costumes......

Anthony was a Disco dancer. (I had a cute afro wig but he wanted nothing to do with it!)

 

Ally the pink cat!

 

Amber the scarecrow and Hayley (Amber's best friend) the doll . Nice try! Ha!

 

My Best Friend Sherry (as supergirl) and I was a warrior dash racer. Original, right? I had my Mickey Ears on earlier in the day but it was too hot to wear what I wanted to go with them so settled on this little number.

 

I'm a horrible mother and somehow didn't get a picture of Andrew. He was a Power Ranger. Bradley was a party pooper and didn't dress up.

 

I also meant to take a picture of the Chili but forgot to do that too. I will, however, share my recipe with all of you. It is really the best chili I've ever had. My dad has supposedly won competitions for his chili "back in the day", I've never had it or seen a recipe. Hint Hint dad! Make me some chili.....or some lasagna. (When I was younger, my dad made us Lasagna...once. It was delicious and we've told him so for years but he's never made it again!)

 

Hope you all had as good of a Halloween as I did! Now onto the chili recipe!

This chili is best made the day before so the flavors can marry overnight.

 

3 lbs ground beef

1 medium onion, diced

8 cloves of garlic

1/2 green bell pepper, diced

1/2 red bell pepper, diced

7 tablespoons chili powder

4 teaspoons garlic powder

2 teaspoons hot sauce of choice

4 - 15 oz cans Kidney beans (drained)

2 - 15 oz cans diced tomatoes

2 - 15  oz can tomato sauce

1 can beer (I use whatever I have on had)

6 tablespoons cumin

2 tablespoons Worcestershire

 

Sauté Onions, garlic, and bell peppers in oil until soft. Add meat and cook until browned. Drain fat off  (its ok to leave a little bit on). Add everything else to pot and let simmer 15 min. Let cool and refrigerate over night. Reheat and eat the following day.

 

This makes a huge pot (enough to feed 4 adults and 8 kids and still have some left over). It freezes really well so even if I'm just making it for my family, I will still make this big batch, then I will freeze it in gallon Ziploc bags (or for my mother in law, quart size bags). It makes enough for one meal doing it that way.

Just a little tip, if you don't normally freeze meals but are thinking of doing it, using Ziploc bags is a great way to do it because you can lay them flat in the freezer and stack them on top of each other. (just don't forget to label the bag!)