A Whole New World

As many of you know we have always loved Walt Disney World. We even joked in the past that it would be awesome to live here! It wasn't until January 2015 that my husband accepted an in-house council position with Siemens in Orlando that our "dream" came true. Let's just say that living here and visiting are two different things! Where does vacation end and real life begin? This has definitely been something tough to balance with the plentitude of theme parks just minutes down the road. Living here has been an adjustment to say the least. When your children start to make excuses as to why they do not want to go to Disney, maybe it's time for some everyday "normal" activities.                                                                 All of a sudden, watching a movie together on a Friday night is more exciting than seeing the fireworks at the Magic Kingdom. Riding bikes through our new neighborhood and swimming in our pool is more fun t

Travelling with small children under two is always difficult.  Going to Walt Disney world with them is incredibly difficult, but manageable. We have done it a few times and find ourselves doing it all the time now.  Back when we had our first son I thought the idea of going to Disney World with him was a bad idea and a waste of time.  The child would have no memory of the experience and Disney is just for kids.  Well my attitude has changed a lot over the years.  Now we look forward to taking our infant to the parks, but it still isn’t easy. Taken into consideration are the rides available and the spots where you can get out of the hustle and bustle of the crowds or the hot sun. The added bonus is that  Disney always takes every detail into consideration, even babies.   Parks ranked best to worst 1.  Animal Kingdom  We feel this is the worst. There are few attractions available that an infant can go on, but there are the jungle treks and shows.  The safari is always good, but

I never thought I would be wishing for summer to be over but we are just not used to this insanely HOT and HUMID climate that is Central Florida in the summer! Today it was 98 degrees AGAIN! Back home in the north, when we have a few days like this it's considered a major heat wave. In fact, forecasters put out warnings and occassionally schools close. Here, it's just another day in Florida. I know that come January we will be more than pleased with the fact that we won't need to shovel or even put on a coat. So in that sense, we can deal with the heat for now. I am loving the fact that the beach is so close and we can have a longer summer than normal. I thought I would share some of my MUST HAVE pieces for the beach this summer. Stella&Dot recently released tunics into their summer collection. I have one for my daughter and one for myself. It is the just an awesome piece for our wardrobes! Even perfect if you are pregnant! We wear them over bathing suits or with leggin

Some of the best things about going to Disney World are the dinner shows. These are great but they are costly.  Yet you should try to do at least one during any adventure.  Now a dinner show is different than the other categories of meals that Disney has.  We break down the dining categories into four separate categories, quick service, table service, buffet and dinner shows.  Some of these categories get blended together depending on where you are at.  The Disney dining plan breaks their meals down in a different manner, basically putting the meals into a different type of four categories, snack, quick-service, table-side service and meal events that cost two table-side meals.  We have never used the Disney dining plan. We have never found it to be worthwhile. We just don’t eat that much food and we think we would end up spending everyday trying to get to the next meal.  Plus we are pretty aware of every dining option and what they cost so we are able to figure out what we are doing

These amphicars are some of the coolest things we have ever seen! These boat/cars are adjacent to the Boathouse and can be rented for a ride around the lake along with your own personal captain. There is a funny story behind these cool amphicars. My mom and I were having drinks on the Boathouse dock when she saw them for the first time (actually her 2nd time). She went crazy because she told me this story about how she saw one of these amphicars in 1964 drive out of a lake in Pennsylvania! She and my grandparents thought this was going to be the future...although they obviously are not very efficient and never made it very far in either the boat or car industry.  Still, they are pretty awesome to see in person and we hope to go for a ride someday!                                              The cost is $125 for 3-4 guests and includes your own private Car Captain. In true Disney fashion, they have purchased original amphicars from across the country. Each one is detai