I've been debating where to fit this into the report and now seems as good a place as any!
PIN TRADING!
The boys each got a few pins for trading in their Easter baskets. Each boy got 8 pins. They were a "grab bag" so the pins were random and ranged from a
Disneyland pin to Kermit the Frog, to Elvis Stitch. On our 2007 trip, we bought lanyards and each boy chose a pin or two to purchase as a souvenir, but we really didn't do any trading. Dan, who was 12 at the time, did trade once or twice, but that was the extent of it. They were excited to give it a try this trip and they had their pins on their lanyards ready to go!
It started at DTD the night we arrived. Dan saw the new puzzle pin set and decided he would go for that. He got the hang of the trading pretty quickly! The other two boys were not far behind! By the time we hit AK on Monday, they all had the
itch to trade. Isaiah, my Stitch fan, decided to try to find all Stitch pins. Jonah was on the lookout for the Pirate set with Mickey, Pluto, Chip, Dale, etc.
The Trading BEGAN! I think the boys stopped to look at pins on EVERY CM who had a pin lanyard! I wish I were exaggerating! It became a running joke if one of the boys was lagging behind..."oh, distracted by shiny objects!" They had a blast!
Unfortunately 8 pins was not
nearly enough once they had been bitten by the pin trading bug! Dan completed his Puzzle set fairly quickly. Jonah took a little longer finishing his Pirate collection, but did complete it. Isaiah came home with a hat (he moved them to his safari hat) full of Stitch! By Wednesday morning all their "grab bag" pins had been traded and they no longer wanted to trade the pins they had! They continued to ask to see the CM's lanyards, but now only
JUST IN CASE they came upon something great or just because they liked to look at pins!
The great thing about the pin trading for me, was to see the boys work together. Rarely does this happen, mind you! If one of the boys saw a pin that he knew one of his brothers was looking for, he would trade for it and give it to his brother. That happened several times on the trip. It was a great thing to see as their MOM!
We hit the Pin Trading Store in DTD one night and Dan bought a book to put his pins in for safekeeping. The boys could have spent hours in that store looking at pins, starter sets, talking to the CM's etc! In fact...I'm not sure we walked past a single pin station the entire trip without at least glancing in that direction!
The boys learned a lot about pin trading and the pins themselves from the CM's they traded with. We also met several other guests who wanted to see the boys pins and talk about trading in general. It's a GREAT ice breaker! Several CM's talked to the boys about which pins are worth more than others, the strategies of trading, what kind of pins they've received, which go the fastest, etc. I am so glad the boys enjoyed this because it was an AWESOME experience.
The Easter Bunny will just have to bring more pins next time!
Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the actual trading, but here are a few of the pins we ended up with as well as apicture of the pins we had to begin.
This is what we started our trading adventures with.
This is what we came home with.
I
PROMISE the rest of our Animal Kingdom day will be posted later today! Patience is a virtue, my friends!!
It wasn't good! 
Can't wait to hear about the next trip to Guest Relations. I'm nervous for ya!
Oh well!
I am making his cake and special dinner today...better late than never I guess!
Until then...
I really need to pay better attention to those signature links. 
We ended up eating at a little snack shop and got breakfast sandwiches that were pre-wrapped and positively YUCK!
