A Whole New WDWorld: NEW 8/9, Crystal Palace!

Claire is absolutely adorable!
What a hectic morning!
Glad you had a smooth flight. And having your luggage definitely came in handy.
 
Ugg, I hear you about the squeezy baby food! Everett will still eat it on occasion (its the only way I can get him to reliably eat vegetables! :laughing:) and I have to watch him like a hawk to make sure he isn't squeezing it all over himself! Glad you have extra clothes handy!

It seems like you had a pretty good flight! I'm sure Claire is a pro by now with all her international traveling!

Yay for POR! Its my favorite moderate, I hope you had a wonderful experience! I'm interested to see where your room was!
 
Joining in. Claire is adorable and I can't wait to read about her first trip to DW! :)
 
Glad the flight went smoothly and the man wasn't too angry about getting bopped on the head by Claire!

I can just picture the food squirting everywhere. :lmao:

:rotfl: I still laugh when I think about Claire hitting that guy on the head!

Hurray for a good flight! It would be exhausting to play, "Pass the baby," for two hours, but like you said, I would rather to that than deal with a cranky child. :goodvibes

Oh, no about the pears and mangos! At least they probably smelled good, and you hadn't handed Claire something vile smelling like peas. :crazy2:

Teenagers are so judgemental! I know because there is one living in my house right now. :laughing:

Yes, the pears and mangos smelled delicious, so I really couldn't complain too much!

:rotfl: Maybe Chelsea would have THOUGHT that I was an idiot for blatantly disobeying bus rules, but I doubt she would have given me that look!

Yay! Glad the flight went well. Claire is such a sweetie! Not good that you did not get the ME tags but it looks like it was probably for the best. You would not want to wait around for hours wearing mango-pear stained clothes. Can't wait to hear more!!

You're absolutely right. It was a relief that we were all able to change out of our stained clothes!

Glad the flight went well! I remember playing pass the baby a few years ago. Hey, whatever works to keep them happy! I'm getting nervous for our flight in 2 weeks. Owen was fine when he was a baby, but we'll see how he does this time. I figured we could entertain him with the ipod, but it's been MIA for about week. Really hoping to find it before we leave.

Sorry about the food on the bus, what a mess, luckily you had the luggage with you!

Yay for the Disney sign!

Yes, anything that works to keep them happy is worth it.

Did you find the iPod yet?! I'm telling you, I would bring just about anything on a plane if it kept Claire quiet. There was a little one on our flight from Chicago to Switzerland that cried for about 75% of the flight. Very loudly! I really didn't mind it, but I'm sure some of the other passengers did.

Ahhh teenagers!! Doesn't she know when babies are hungry, they are hungry? :rotfl2::lmao::rotfl:

I'm glad the flight went well for you, I can't imagine traveling with a baby and trying to keep them quiet, it must be stressful.

Yay for Port Orleans Riverside!! :banana:

Seriously! Giving Claire the food was an effort to keep her happy and quiet on the bus so everyone could enjoy the video. Teenagers indeed!

Yeah, flights used to be a relaxing, enjoyable experience for me. Now they're just a necessary evil of travel for me!

You made it! I stayed at PO when it was Dixie Landings. It is very nice. I can't wait to hear all about your trip. I remember my daughter's first trip, a very special memory.

POR is definitely my favorite Disney Resort. I feel very at-home there.

It was wonderful to be able to take Claire on this trip. I am very happy that my mom was there for Claire's first trip also.


Claire is absolutely adorable!
What a hectic morning!
Glad you had a smooth flight. And having your luggage definitely came in handy.


Thanks!

Yes, at first I was very annoyed about the luggage tag issue. But in the end, it was a blessing.

Ugg, I hear you about the squeezy baby food! Everett will still eat it on occasion (its the only way I can get him to reliably eat vegetables! :laughing:) and I have to watch him like a hawk to make sure he isn't squeezing it all over himself! Glad you have extra clothes handy!

It seems like you had a pretty good flight! I'm sure Claire is a pro by now with all her international traveling!

Yay for POR! Its my favorite moderate, I hope you had a wonderful experience! I'm interested to see where your room was!

As much as those squeezers can be a messy pain, I miss them!!! They don't sell them in Switzerland. They are so great for travel, too.

We have been very fortunate with Claire on airplanes. She has always been great. I hope she keeps it up as we have much more flying in our future!

Joining in. Claire is adorable and I can't wait to read about her first trip to DW! :)

Thanks for reading! Welcome!
 

I'm interrupting the TR for an update on our life in Switzerland.

We've now been here for a little over a month. Life in Switzerland has been great so far. We live in a beautiful town on Lake Geneva. DH is enjoying his job. Claire and I have made quite a few friends here and we keep ourselves pretty busy with meeting up with friends. The weather has been sunny and warm this week, so we went the beach yesterday with friends and then again today, we went to a different beach. I truly feel like I am on a permanent vacation! Poor DH gets home from work and hears about all the fun we had all day! I definitely get homesick and I miss my family and my friends, but it's not nearly as much as I thought it would be.

Now for some photos!

Here are Claire and I, on the lakeside path in the town we live in:

IMG_1633.jpg


Posing with Charlie Chaplin. Apparently, he lived in our town for the last 20 years of his life.

IMG_1642.jpg


Here's Claire playing in the kiddie pool in our town. A lot of kids just strip down and jump in the fountains here. I decided we should be more civilized, though, so we use the kiddie pool!

IMG_0015.jpg


Claire is obsessed with all the fountains here! If she sees one, she must play in it. The water from the fountains is perfectly safe for drinking, so she often takes a sip.

IMG_1681.jpg


There's a bakery right around the corner from our apartment. Very dangerous!

IMG_1727.jpg


Here's a picture from a day trip we took to Annecy, France, which is considered the Venice of France.

IMG_1752.jpg


A photo from our first hike. We have made good use of that hiking pack since we arrived!

IMG_1810.jpg


Another day of hiking here. We found this awesome slide in the mountains and had to test it out.

IMG_1885.jpg


Me and my sweet girl:

IMG_1893.jpg


My wild child in the wild flowers

IMG_1950.jpg


Continued in next post...
 
Cowbells! Enormous cowbells hanging from a little barn in the mountains. I want one!

IMG_1981.jpg


Here's Claire in her pack again.

IMG_2016.jpg


IMG_2019.jpg


IMG_2020.jpg


A Sunday afternoon spent at the beach in our town:

IMG_2106.jpg


Continued in next post...
 
Last weekend, we packed up the car and headed to Verbania, Italy for the weekend.

It was a 3 hour drive. The prettiest drive I have ever been on. I can't even describe the beauty of these mountains here. I really can't. And the pictures don't do it justice. Anyways, we stayed at a great, child-friendly hotel that was right on the beach and had a great pool and playground. We had a relaxing weekend full of time at the pool, strolling the streets of the old city, and eating delicious Italian food!

The view from the balcony of our hotel room:

IMG_2169.jpg


Part of our dinner from our first night there:

IMG_2175.jpg


Claire thoroughly enjoyed the dinner!

IMG_2172.jpg


We went to the farmer's market on Saturday morning. Look at all this cheese!

IMG_2183.jpg


I had to wear a swim cap in the pool!?!

P1010517.jpg


Playing at the playground:

P1010526.jpg


Lake Maggiore

P1010544.jpg


A photo from the town:

IMG_2205.jpg


Claire had her first gelato. She was in love!

IMG_2199.jpg


Two happy girls!

IMG_2201.jpg


Oh, here's another pic taken from the beach in our town.

P1010486.jpg


Sooo...we've been having a great time here so far and I can't wait to have many more adventures!
 
caught up...

glad the flight was uneventful and Clarie had a good time even though you and Grandma were a bit tired ;) don't you just love the bus ride over there :goodvibes the trip has begun! can't wait for more!




A photo from our first hike. We have made good use of that hiking pack since we arrived!

IMG_1810.jpg

the mountains in the background look like a backdrop painting...just amazing :goodvibes I loved seeing and hearing about what your new life is like abroad and so glad to hear it is going great!
 
Lots to catch up on. Yeah for arriving at Disney. So glad that you had your luggage with you after the squeezable food incident. We love those, both are boys love them although like Claire the younger one likes to over squeeze and make a mess at times bit they are fabulous to travel with.

Looks like living in Switzerland is such a fun adventure. I am so jealous of all the beautiful places you are visiting. Was it weird not to be in the US for the 4th of July or did you not even notice?
 
Wow. Look at everything that you have done. It looks like you are having a fantastic exploring your new town and the areas around you. Your pictures are so beautiful, looks like a lovely area to live in. :goodvibes
 
Your town looks absolutely beautiful!
And that village in Italy is just charming.
 
Your pictures are so lovely. The beautiful mountains and water and the quaint towns. I would love it there. I am so glad you are able to enjoy the area with your family and make precious memories.
 
Hi! I am joining in too! With 3 little ones, I love reading about baby's and their first trips to Disney. Sounds like you guys had a rough first morning. I am hoping that means you got nothing but pixie dust once you arrived!

Your photos of Switzerland take me back to the summer I backpacked across Europe. Switzerland was my absolute favorite country. We stayed with a friend who lived in Geneva and did some touring around the lake while we were there. What awesome memories you and your husband will have and amazing stories to share with Claire!
 
I am so glad you had a nice flight and that Claire was good. My youngest is only 2, but we didn't have the squeeze babyfood. I will have to look for that if we ever have another.

Your pictures are beautiful. I am glad that she likes the backpack carrier. It makes hiking with kids so much easier - although it does get heavy after a while. I love your pictures from Italy. I love Italy. We have been twice and I can't wait to go back. Gelato = yummy!
 
Your new home looks like a movie set -- one of those great old movies -- I would be expecting Audrey Hepburn to round the corner at any moment! :goodvibes

Living so near a bakery would be very, very dangerous for me! Yum!
 












Receive up to $1,000 in Onboard Credit and a Gift Basket!
That’s right — when you book your Disney Cruise with Dreams Unlimited Travel, you’ll receive incredible shipboard credits to spend during your vacation!
CLICK HERE













DIS Facebook DIS youtube DIS Instagram DIS Pinterest DIS Tiktok DIS Twitter DIS Bluesky

Back
Top