We met Mickey! Mouse that is...

Welcome to Disney!

As many of you know, we surprised our children last week with a trip to Disney. I have only been once when I was young and the rest of the family has never been. So it was a HUGE surprise! We left early on Tuesday morning so we could make it in time to hit Epcot and left on Saturday morning to come home. Three and 1/4 fun filled days of Disney and here's what I learned...

1. The best money I have ever spent? Renting nice strollers. 

I rented two single City Select strollers from Kingdom Strollers. I was a little concerned the kids would think they were "babies" but they only hesitated and then hopped right in. The strollers were delivered to our hotel's bell hop and we dropped them off there when we were finished on Saturday. I opted for two singles so we could navigate the crowds better and if we needed to, could split (which due to an epic meltdown one day, we did split for a short bit). I also made sure it was a single handed collapse so it was easy to take on and off the buses. 

 I promise my kids had fun. Those are tired faces you see. Plus they were tired of mommy taking pictures. 


2. My kids love, I mean L. O. V. E., a buffet. 

We were on the dining plan (a must in my opinion) and chose to have 2 character meals, both of which were buffets. Charlie essentially ate rice and any and all seafood on the buffet. Cole added some salad and fruit to his. It was 100% their jam. To be able to walk through line and choose their own meal without mommy or daddy telling them they had to eat something...well let's just say they wish I served a buffet every night. Sorry, boys. This momma is not a short order cook. 

An additional bonus: we got to meet Goofy, Donald, Daisy, Mickey, Minnie, Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, and Piglet. 

3. My kids like being scared, going upside down and are apparently have a genetically predisposition to be thrill seekers. 

I thought we might start out slow on the roller coasters and see what they liked. I thought they might like them but I wasn't sure to what degree. So we started with some mid-scary, mid-size, less intimidating coasters. They loved them. 

Since those were a hit we amped it up. This is them in front of the Twilight Zone of Terror (below). It's a drop zone in a spooky hotel. They could NOT wait to get on it and after it was over I got "that's it? Can't we go longer?!?" Cole's pointing at it because he thought it was so fun. 

Perhaps their favorite was Aerosmith Rockin' Rollercoaster in Magic Kingdom because "it's the first time we have ever gone upside down!"  Space Mountain (a roller coaster in the dark) was a close second. This should show you how excited they were to get on. Bless Cole and his closed eyes in so many pictures.

4. Fanny packs are back in fashion but cute shoes should not be worn at Disney. 

A certain friend made fun of me because I ordered a small black "fanny pack" from Amazon just to hold my phone and lip gloss. I knew that would be all I wanted to access easily and the rest could go in our backpack. See? You can totally still wear one!

Shoes. I brought 2 pairs of Sketchers that were slip-on and comfortable. Daniel told me they were hideous. But honestly, they were the only comfortable shoes I had that didn't make my ankle hurt. And since the people watching at Disney is much like that of Walmart, my shoes were the least of the disasters (58 year olds in tube tops and no bra anyone?).

5. Our family likes one full day at each park. 

We weren't sure if we needed one or two days at Magic Kingdom. I had mixed opinions from other families so we chose two days. Having done so, for our next trip, we'll opt to do a partial day at Epcot, then one day at Magic Kingdom, one day at Hollywood Studios and one day at Animal Kingdom. 

6. Late summer is still HOT. 

It was 91-92 degrees when we went, which is normal for even where we live in SC so we knew what to expect...but that doesn't mean we are immune to the heat. We learned many tricks to escaping the heat. Shows, waiting in lines inside buildings, indoor rides...all great ways to escape the heat and cool off. We also bought the kids little fans with a water bottle attached to cool them off. And we drank lots of water. This is us on the People Mover so we could get a breeze, rest and get out of the sun for a bit. 

Waiting for a 4-D show while we cooled off.

7. I loved spending time with my family. 

Perhaps one of the greatest joys in life is seeing your kids happy and having fun. While we still had tears and meltdowns (tired + overstimulation is no joke), there were more happy smiles, laughter and hugs. I wouldn't trade those for the world. 

8.  I still love holding my kids. 

They may be 52-55lbs and not so easy to pick up anymore but I still love holding them. You see, I recognize that pretty soon, they will be too big for me to hold or (insert teary eyes) won't want me to. So while I can, I'll hold them. 

9. Going with friends, especially if they know Disney, is a blessing. 

We went with close friends who have a daughter  and all knew ahead of time that we'd be going in different directions because we have boys and they have a girl. But the fun part? We always met back up for dinner and shared our day. Having adults to text and chat with during the trip was an added blessing. We also met up with a friend from high school and they know Disney really well too. Double bonus! (To said friend: you notice I didn't post your picture? You still remain anonymous. 😉 )

10. The parades are awesome. 

We were able to see the Death March (or whatever it's called) for Star Wars, part of a character parade and then the parade for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween. They really do an awesome job and are completely entertaining. The fireworks are pretty fantastic too. Oh, and I have apparently very limited knowledge of Star Wars characters but my kids know every  single characters, their genealogy and/or reporting structure. 

Star Wars show at Hollywood Studios

Headless Horseman starting the Halloween Parade

So there you have it. My download on our trip last week. I have finally recovered from the "Disney Hangover" and no longer feel like I've been beat to a pulp or run 5 marathons in 5 days. I'll leave you with a few more cute pictures of our trip. 

Have a magical day!

SSS Fun

It's so hard to believe that summer is almost over. For many school starts back this week, for us it's the end of an 'era' because the boys will start preschool in less than two weeks and we no longer will have our sitter. That officially marks the end of summer for the Schralls. Usually we don't ever notice because our schedules just continued as normal. Now it's about to turn topsy turvy as we adjust to preschool schedules. 

Anyhoozle, I thought it was a good time to reflect on some of the Sun and Sand time we had this Summer. (SSS get it? sand sun summer. It was the best I could come up with people. The children are making me sleep deprived.) 

I already told you about the mountains here but we also had plenty of time on the other end of the spectrum. Ahhh, I love sand and sun. 

The boys and I went to visit Nana and Pop-E at the beach for a week while poor daddy had to work. The new trick we learned this year was dribbling. No, not dribbling that you think of when you typically associate dribbling and boys (although that happens often too and I find it gross). I'm talking about when you take a bucket of watery sand and dribble it to make tall columns or castle tops. That was a huge hit with Charlie...

Cole preferred a more destructive pattern of pouring his out and stomping on it or anything else he found someone made. One thing they both loved was sitting with Pop-E and building sand castles. 

I think one of the cutest moments I captured was finding Pop-E and Charlie in the hammock. They were sharing squirrel stories. Yep, you read that right. Stories about squirrels.  It was a cute little moment that warmed my heart. I can picture many more conversations and stories being shared between them. I couldn't ask for a better influence for my boys. 

OK moving on before I start to cry...

Cole has just started getting in to dressing up. Not cross dressing thankfully but dressing as bad guys, super hero's or in this moment, a pirate. (but notice the super hero t-shirt)

It started as a little walk to the bank with Pop-E (all of 1/2 block down the street)...an hour later they came rolling in with pirate gear, candy and pirate money. Apparently they got lost on the way home and went to the museum, rode a trolly, found some ice cream and bought some pirate gear. 

This is Cole's "ARRGGH MATEY" face over a bowl of oatmeal. Yep, he wore the eye patch to breakfast the next morning. 

And not to be bested by his little brother...

Nana and Pop-E's is always an adventure...and full of lots of love. 

Perhaps one of the things we did most this summer for the first time was go to the lake. The "Other Anna" has a lake house and we got to go on day trips throughout the summer. The boys were so excited each time we got to go. I mean, wake me up at 6am with "can we go to the lake house now?" excited. I'm sure I never did that as a child. I was always patient. 

(see how I distracted you from that whopper of a lie with a cute picture of Cole?)

They would play and play and play with their best little friends and even some new friends! On the last day trip we took them out tubing for the first time. I thought for sure Charlie would skip it (he usually doesn't like to try new things) but he jumped right on! At one point, after being popped up high by a wave he yelled "woohoo! yeah!" 

It helped that his best friend, Christopher, was joining him. 

Somehow when I joined them I think they were a little less enthusiastic and a little more "what is she doing" . I mean I have no idea what they're talking about...isn't this how most people ride? 

Needless to say, there were some happy kiddos every time we got together.

Summer may be over but the memories are not. I'm excited about starting a new season of life and building some more fun memories as the holidays approach. 

Wait, is anyone else panicking that Christmas is only 19 weeks away???

You can thank me for that panic attack later. 

Fires and Bears and Rocks?? Oh my!

It's been a fun and busy summer here at Schrallville. I often have lulls in my business and I try to take advantage of those by spending them with family. This summer has been no exception - beach, mountains, lake - we've pretty much covered it all. 

Just a few weeks ago we went to Banner Elk, NC. I admit I was happy to go but wondering what we'd do. I'm a beach bum so the mountains in the summer were throwing me off. Little did I know it would totally make all three of my boys super happy AND bring up so many fond childhood memories spent in the mountains. I even realized that this was our FIRST FAMILY VACATION with just the four of us. That in and of itself was special. 

Our first stop was Grandfather Mountain, just 10 minutes away. Cole was especially excited to go see the B-E-A-R-S. Seriously, he couldn't wouldn't stop asking about them. The boy loves a bear...and a lion...and a tiger...and a wolf...and a dinosaur. Those are his favorites at the moment. 

Here we are at the bear exhibit (we visited twice that day)...

Note the sign in the bottom left corner "Do not feed the bears" so this is pretty much how it went down: 

Cole: Mom can we feed the bears? 
Me: No honey, we aren't allowed. 
Cole: whyyyyy? 
Me: Because the bears would bite you.
Cole: They'd eat me? 
Me: Yes
Cole: whyyyy? Can I touch the bears? 
Me: No honey, they are dangerous.
Cole: whyyyy? Can I go down there? 
Me: No
Cole: whyyyy? 

You get the picture.  

We also went on a little hike while at Grandfather Mountain; a simple 0.4 mile trail that was a good tester. The boys really got in to seeing what was under rocks with daddy, especially when we found a newt or a salamander (I forget the difference).  

And Cole began continued his life long obsession with rocks. 

He carried that rock the entire trail. It's now back home with us because he couldn't bear to part with it. Get it? Bears. Bear to part. I'm so not clever. 

There was even a "I'm the king of the world!!!" moment. No literally, Charlie screamed this when he was on the rock. And well Cole...he was just happy to be near another big rock. 

The next day we ventured to the original Mast General Store just to look around. Here is where we discovered one of Charlie's favorite things: Coke in a bottle. Seriously, it's like crack for him. I understand. Truly I do. If they had had Coke Zero in a bottle, I'd have been there every day. 

Oh who am I kidding. Twice a day. 

Then there was Tweetsie Railroad. The promise of riding a big train (one of the original steam engine trains). The promise of seeing Cowboys and Indians. The stage was set...

And then we made them ride a ride first. Take a close look at Charlie's face. FOUL would be an understatement in describing his mood. 

Finally we made it on the train and it was full steam ahead (no pun intended). They were mesmerized by the skit they do throughout the train ride through the mountain trail. Watching the Cowboys and Indians "fight" and the "gunfire". It was game on. 

There was candy...(they tossed these two licks in)

There were animals...

There were snow cones (also a bust)...

And mining for gold...(a huge hit)

And one of my favorites...riding the ferris wheel.

It goes fast giving you a tickle in your tummy since it's also looking over a valley. Perhaps the funniest comment of the entire trip was from Cole as he cackled and said "Mommy! This makes my pee pee laugh!" 

Tweetsie brought back memories and flashbacks of when I was a child and our 4-H trips. We'd camp every year as a group and take our horses (yes we brought our own horses) along the trails. So much fun. 

There was an abundance of things to do for toddlers and we stayed for f.i.v.e hours. I literally carried Cole out of the park sound asleep. He just passed out. 

Then the big hiking came the day before we left. We found a hiking trail just around the corner from our condo that was beautiful and more difficult (difficult = more fun). Cole christened the trail by of course, finding a big rock. Charlie christened it in another way which we won't discuss in a documented way. 

And then we hiked...

Surprisingly, this was right up Charlie's alley. I knew he would like it but I didn't realize how much he'd love it.  He led the way and we often found him singing to himself looking at nature. Totally and completely content to be in his surroundings. 

Made my heart smile! I'm a total nature girl (despite also being a girly girl) and can't wait to do it again with them. 

The trail followed a creek for a good bit and of course both boys couldn't wait to get in and throw...wait for it...wait for it....rocks. So in they went. 

We could be those parents that say "no you can't get in, you'll get your shoes and clothes wet" but I say "why not?" That's the fun of being spontaneous! Speaking of spontaneous, they also wanted to hike back...in the creek. They saw two other boys doing it so they of course wanted to try. I quickly realized they couldn't really do this safely on their own so...in I went. 

The boys had *the best* time hiking in the water. It was a complete adventure and I have to say, I totally enjoyed it too. Reminded me of camping with my extended family at Cherokee each summer and the fun I had with my cousins in those creeks. Although I did forget how cold it is!

The trip wouldn't have been complete until we roasted s'mores in the fire pit. They didn't really care about eating them; maybe each took only one bite. It was more about the fire. I daresay that this might have been the pyromaniac Daniel's favorite part of the trip. 

We are so excited to go back again next year (and have Nana and Pop-E join us...or since it's their timeshare maybe I should say join them). A fun new annual family vacation has begun (thanks Nana and Pop-E!) 

How about you guys? Where do you like to vacation?