Top 6 of DW: What's that on top of your head?

            Are you keeping up with us (or am I boring y'all to tears yet?)?  We just had so much fun on our recent trip to Disney World that I wanted to "talk" about all the unique experiences we had.  To catch up on our adventure, read about our fun visiting several countries in a matter of a few hours, or hunting for all the hidden mickeys, or take a look at all the fabulous Christmas decorations we saw.
            As for now, we are down to number 3 of our Top 6...........

What's that on top of your head??

          If you have visited the World recently, you will notice an overabundance of hats on top of Disneites heads.  I mean there are a lot of hats for sale at all of the parks and resorts.  We had way too much fun trying some on:

Some "traditional" DW hats

and not so traditional:

We found great hats in a few countries we visited.  Can you guess what countries these are from?  If you saw the "Countries" post, this should be easy-peasy.

 Number 1

 Numéro 2

3 عدد 

 Idadi 4

5號

Nummer 6

Número 7

 Not every country had a fun hat to try on, but we did always find an interesting prop or 2 to play with...

Germany

        

Italy

and the American Experience....what's wrong with a nice cowboy hat?

Where's the Baby Boy?

            It had to have been Christmas, or 2 weeks off with the kids?  Must have been our trip to Disney?  Or just my general forgetfulness?  I seem to have blocked these past 2 months- they have flown by so quickly- so filled to the brim with life, that I forgot to take a moment to see what is new with the baby boy.
            He is growing so quickly now- 7 months and so much has changed for him these past 2 months.   He is now sitting up, as I mentioned last week.  He is quite vocal and loves to screech...especially when his older brother and sister screech back at him.  He is a wonderful sleeper-giving us 10-11 hours each night (I know, right???).  He LOVES to go outside...walks are his favorite!  Too bad it is getting cold around here.  He is curious about the world- his favorite spot is on his momma's hip as I am doing stuff around the house.  A few other things he has been up to this month:

"helping" big brother build a enormous lego set

playing with zippers

attempting to crawl

being such a good eater- his favorite is a banana in the mesh eating contraption

just hanging out

being a ham for his sister (she took this shot)

charming the pants off everyone at Christmas

(the hat is a joke- it belongs to a stuffed animal)

makin crazy faces

smiling for everyone

see what I mean?

      Mommas, can you ever grasp how much love you have for your babies?  It is endless......

Top 6 of DW 2009-Watch for those Hidden Mickeys!

              Onward with our countdown.............Number 4!  Hidden Mickeys!  Say What?

The Disney official history goes like this: Hidden Mickeys started in the late 1980’s in Epcot as an inside joke among the Imagineers. Hiding Mickey around WDW was just plain fun! However, Jim Hill (jimhillmedia.com) believes in this "unofficial history": Hidden Mickeys were born as the Imagineers were designing Epcot in the late 1970's and early 1980's. At that time, Disney management felt that the characters belonged in the Magic Kingdom only. The Imagineers disagreed and began slipping Mickeys into Epcot! I suspect that Mickey Mouse designs that were previously in place in WDW (and Disneyland) also became known as Hidden Mickeys. Because of the popularity of HM’s, Imagineers are encouraged to place them in new construction.

     There are tons of "hidden Mickeys" to be found all over Disney World and the kids and I had a ton of fun trying to find them.  One evening we were too tired to head back to the parks, so we decided to take the hidden mickey tour that our resort, Wilderness Lodge, created.  We were tasked to find 12 different hidden mickeys on property and they ranged from the lobby to the rooms to the restaurant to the pool.  We spent 2 hours finding hidden mickeys.  Some were easy:

          But many were pretty hard, like the one on the ceiling of the bar on the horse's rear.  Huh?  Don't ask- we had to get help from the bartender on that one!  As difficult as it was, the kids and I had so much fun doing it.  And the last couple of days were dedicated to finding mickeys everywhere.  Some were easy, like on the drains all over the world, others were hard to see, like the 3 plates in the Haunted Mansion set up to look like Mickey's head.  The obvious ones are not considered "hidden", but my kids didn't care. See if you can see some of the mickeys in the following pictures:

        There are websites & books dedicated to the art of finding the hidden mickeys.  What I found is that if I was too busy trying to find a mickey on a ride, I didn't get to relax and enjoy the ride so much. So I stopped.  The hunt, while fun, would be something we can save for a later trip- when the kids are older....much older.

It Was A Great Year

            Looking back, you could say that 2009 was not the best year for us.  But I don't.  I had a great year.  I lost my job.  It rocked my world.  But God gave me an even better opportunity to be at home for my family and that has been the most rewarding experience.
            So, I look back on 2009 fondly- A year filled making fun memories, welcoming a new member into our family, and experiences filled with happiness.  Take a look:


2009 in 100 pictures from Rebecca Darling on Vimeo.

A Christmas Recap

          I can't believe it is already New Year's Eve!  How quickly this time has flown by.  It feels like just yesterday the kids were getting out of school for two weeks and now they have to go back to school in just a few short days.  But we have had a wonderful time off and a great Christmas.  Our first on our own as a family.  And although I was a little sad to be without family Christmas Eve, we had a great time creating new memories with just the 5 of us.  Here's a little recap:

We met a guy named Santa

And sat in a new chair

Played with a little gingerbread

And made a mess with sprinkles

Caught Daddy frosting cookies

And took the perfect Christmas Eve shot

What a sweet family I have

So very blessed

Santa was very good to my kids

And even Mom & Dad brought some smiles

You think she wanted this?

Bubba charmed my Grandma

(and everyone else)

It was a great first Christmas for the baby.  And we had a great one too.

Oh, BTW, he's 7 months now!

          Bad Mommy!  With all the hustle & bustle of Christmas, our fun trip to Disney, and the lack of a brain lately, I have neglected to post about our sweet Bubba Boy's progress. You know, as his momma, I think every thing he does is simply amazing.  He makes us oh so proud.  Except for the time when I took him to his 6 month check-up and they asked us if he was sitting up yet.  Huh?  I don't know.  So as we tried, he just wobbles his roly-poly ole self over and refuses to sit up for the good doctor. Ok, not yet.
          Fast forward a month to today- he is now:

          I snapped a quick photo (thank you iPhone) and emailed my hubby to show him what our amazing son was doing for the very. first. time.  He replied back- "he did that for me yesterday."

         Uh, thanks for telling me.

Top 6 of DW 2009-Where Am I?

China? Yes!  France? Oui! Morocco? Uh huh. Mexico? Si!  

        As we count down our top favorite things at Disney World, we come to number 5....the number of countries we visited in one day!!  I can now officially say that we enjoyed a beer in England and a margarita in Mexico all in the same day.  Played with drums in Zimbabwe, watched trains in Germany, and spun plates in China....all in the same day.  Yes, we walked 10,000 miles, but it was worth it.

         One of my favorite parks of the trip was Epcot.  Not only were there fantastic rides (Soarin and Mission Space were our favs!), but we took a long walk around the World Showcase and were able to see 12 countries in less than 3 hours.  And the best part about it?  All the countries were celebrating Christmas in their traditional ways, so we leaned a little along the way!

Canada

O Canada

England

France

Morocco

Japan

Italy

Germany

China

Norway

Mexico

9 countries in 2 minutes from Rebecca Darling on Vimeo.