I had to opportunity to attend Disney On Ice: Princess Wishes. Man, we’ve gone to Mickey’s Rockin’ Roadshow and Ringling Bros. Circus, but I have to admit I loved Disney on Ice the best!! We had AMAZING seats- 2nd row from the floor. And as a bonus, I got to sit by my friend, Brandy, over at Not So Average Mama. I knew she would be there, but it was fun to discover our seats were right next to each other! (Fun for me anyways… you’ll have to ask her what she thought about my singing the entire show…)  I grew up LOVING Disney. We used to listen to Disney music on vacation… on purpose. So, all the songs were familiar to me and the stories too! Here are few of the better pics I got. I am a lame photographer. Every time I snapped, they bowed, or turned or someone jumped in front of me…

I loved the show and so did Sei, Taj, Liv, Isabel, my sister Ali and Isabel’s friend, Emily. Taj was worried it would be all “girl princess stuff…” Not at all!! Aladdin was the 1st scene of the show and he was loving it. But when the dragon set the ice on fire– Taj was in awe!! Sei didn’t want to go either, but got wrangled in to it. He thoroughly enjoyed himself. Thank you Disney on Ice and Feld Entertainment!!

I took the kids letterboxing. What’s letterboxing, you ask? It’s kind of like geocaching, except you don’t use a GPS. You follow clues and directions left by fellow letterboxers to find the hidden box. In the box is a stamp and a notepad. You also carry your own stamp and notepad. Once you find the box you stamp YOUR stamp in the notepad left in the box and stamp your pad with THEIR stamp. It’s kind of like collecting stamps on a passport combined with a scavenger hunt. The kids and I weren’t quite sure if it would be fun. Tristan, Alec and Isabel had been geocaching before so I was afraid it would pale in comparison. WRONG! They said letterboxing was more fun! We went several times over the Thanksgiving holiday.  We even hid a few of our own. If you go on Letterboxing.org we are “G-Force.” Our stamp is a snake with a G on it.

Stay tuned for more November updates…. I didn’t really do any Black Friday shopping, but will share a couple of Christmas purchases with you in my next post. I did attempt to go to Toys R Us, but the line TO GET IN THE STORE was 1/2 a mile long. So, I stuck with online shopping.

Y’all already know that I am a movie quote nerd. I throw quotes in my post, use quotes to teach (or embarrass) my kids, and pretty much can carry on an entire conversation with my brother in movie quotes. My kids don’t know as many quotes as me, so when we play “The Movie Quote Game” we usually do the “Disney Version.” :)

I’ve always been a huge fan of not only Disney movies, Mickey Mouse, etc…, but also of  Walt Disney – the man. Of course we know he created the Disney resorts, but lesser known is that he received fifty-nine Academy Award nominations and won twenty-six Oscars, including a record four in one year, giving him more awards and nominations than any other individual. He was such a gifted man… A visionary.

I’ve been to Disney World several times and had the opportunity to stay at Orlando Vacation rentals. I love Disney World. Being there has a way of erasing all the “yucks” of the world. I was in the middle of my divorce the last time I went. I was a newly single mom with 3 kids under the age of 6. We went to Disney World and it was awesome. Everything was ok for that week. It was perfect. I believe that is what Walt Disney was trying to do when he created this magical place. He wanted to create an escape from the stress, the yucks, of everyday life.

Thank you Walt Disney.