Princess Ashlyn's Birthday Trip - That's 2 For 2! September 2010 PTR (Started my TR!)

[martinolichfamily]

Let's Dance to your double digit start!!



How exciting!!!


Love your Lion King movie night. Great idea for the MK dinner night too w/the Mickey pizza! And those brownies....yum-o! You're so creative!!

We've yet to get to a movie/disney dinner night...but hoping here soon..maybe at least once before we go I can get one done!

Cute countdown chain too! Ashlyn is the little artist! She's so cute!

 

[BabyEeyore]

Let's Dance to your double digit start!!



How exciting!!!


Love your Lion King movie night. Great idea for the MK dinner night too w/the Mickey pizza! And those brownies....yum-o! You're so creative!!

We've yet to get to a movie/disney dinner night...but hoping here soon..maybe at least once before we go I can get one done!

Cute countdown chain too! Ashlyn is the little artist! She's so cute!

Thanks for dancing with me! I'm definitely excited.

And thank you for all your sweet comments! Ashlyn really does love art. She always gets so excited when I ask her if she wants to color. She squeals and runs over to get a seat at her table. Too sweet.

Your trip is coming up so soon!!! I can only imagine how excited you are.

 

[crissy1974]

Tonight was our latest movie night! We watched The Lion King. My dad had a copy and sent it to us.

Here is our table. I decided not to decorate the dining room table this time and just focus on our kitchen island thing.

I couldn't keep the baby Simba up there long because it is one of Ashlyn's absolute FAVORITE stuffed animals and she wanted to hold it.

When planning this movie night I knew exactly what Ashlyn was going to wear. I thought this dress that she had was perfect for the occasion!

I told her to act like a lion and this is what she did.

She can be such a goofball sometimes.

Before dinner we decided to go on a Safari for Simba!

Where's Simba?

Ashlyn hasn't really tried to find stuff like this before so we decided to go a little easy. Aaron would take her into the kitchen and I would just hide Simba somewhere not too hard. During the safari, she found Simba in her doll bed...

.. and in her tent!

After that she didn't want to give Simba back to me to hide. She just wanted to carry him around.

For dinner we had Wildebeast Steaks, Pride Rock Baked Potatoes, and Jungle Broccoli Trees!

Man, the broccoli looks so skimpy. At the last minute (like, 30 minutes before dinner would be ready) Aaron asked if he could invite his friend over to join us. His wife and son are off island visiting family so we had him over. So we didn't really have enough for all 3 of us. Oh well!

For dessert was Rafiki's Banana Pudding! I alternated between Nila Wafers and animal crackers for that wild animal look.

I am really happy with how everything turned out! I was really excited to be able to play a game like our Safari for Simba. I love the crafts we do (and we have a few planned on our 100 day countdown calendar... I'll be starting to share that soon! ) but it was a really fun change.

I love this movie night. I haven't started movie night yet, but really want to do it. I think I will try it on a Friday night. We have dance recital practice this Friday, so maybe next!

BTW - Ashlyn looks sooooooo CUTE in that little floral dress. I wish my daughter was that size again!

 

[BabyEeyore]

I love this movie night. I haven't started movie night yet, but really want to do it. I think I will try it on a Friday night. We have dance recital practice this Friday, so maybe next!

BTW - Ashlyn looks sooooooo CUTE in that little floral dress. I wish my daughter was that size again!

Well thank you!! If you decide to do a movie night I hope that you share it with us on your PTR!

 

[BabyEeyore]

In a couple of days I'll update with a few of the little things we've been doing that we had listed on our countdown calendar. Nothing big yet, but it's been fun pulling off a link each day. Today, though, I have a question for everyone...

Who has been to MNSSHP? Aaron and I had briefly talked about going this year. We quickly agreed that since it is pretty expensive we would wait a year or two until Ashlyn is a little older. Well, I found out recently that there is a discount for military! I'm not sure if it is for all party dates, but I know it is good for the party dates in September. I told Aaron about it and he started talking about getting tickets! I was really at first, but then I was thinking... would it be worth it? I know we'd have fun and I think Ashlyn would like it... while she's awake. I know she'd stay up a little longer than usual and she sleeps comfortably in the stroller we're taking (it lays all the way back and the canopy part can be pulled all the way down to where she is completely covered). In fact, here is a picture of her sleeping in it from a couple of trips ago.

Our little Sleeping Beauty. Anyway, I have heard of plenty of adults going without any kids and having a blast, but I was wondering if anyone has gone with kids who slept through part of it. Did you still have fun? In your opinion was it worth it? We're going to talk to Aaron's parents tomorrow and see if they are even interested, but I really value all of your opinions and wanted to see what you had to say!!! Thanks!! And an early HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to all the Dads out there!

 

[lexmas]

We went to MNSSHP when DS was 21 months. We loved it so very much...worth every penny.

He stayed awake for the first parade, a couple rides, some character meet n greets, and to get a piece of candy or two "trick or treating". He fell asleep at the fireworks, and then DH and I walked the candy trails, met a few characters, watched the second parade, and maybe went on a ride or two. I seem to remember going on a ride, so I must have transferred DS from the stroller to the sling. It was so great walking around soaking in the atmosphere.

DS loved the part he was awake for, it was really cute. I mean, he didn't have any memories of Halloween so this was all new to him, which made it even cuter!

It was so much fun, and DS didn't have any trouble sleeping or anything. (Obviously, since he fell asleep during the loudest part!)

 

[BabyEeyore]

We went to MNSSHP when DS was 21 months. We loved it so very much...worth every penny.

He stayed awake for the first parade, a couple rides, some character meet n greets, and to get a piece of candy or two "trick or treating". He fell asleep at the fireworks, and then DH and I walked the candy trails, met a few characters, watched the second parade, and maybe went on a ride or two. I seem to remember going on a ride, so I must have transferred DS from the stroller to the sling. It was so great walking around soaking in the atmosphere.

DS loved the part he was awake for, it was really cute. I mean, he didn't have any memories of Halloween so this was all new to him, which made it even cuter!

It was so much fun, and DS didn't have any trouble sleeping or anything. (Obviously, since he fell asleep during the loudest part!)

I really, really appreciate your input! It helped put my mind at ease about a few things.

 

[BabyEeyore]

So we talked to Aaron's parents last night. Most importantly to wish his dad a Happy Father's Day hug and while on the phone, Aaron asked them about MNSSHP. They said they thought it sounded like fun! So it looks like we're going!!! I am super excited, but I wish we could buy tickets right now. Since we can buy them at a military discount we're going to wait until we get there. I guess that's not too bad because we can always change our mind and not buy them if it looks rainy. I sure don't mind the rain, but I don't want to keep Ashlyn out in it. But I am reading the official MNSSHP thread and am just psyched! If it all works out, we'll be going on Sept. 23rd!!

 

[-Hope-]

Hurray for MNSSHP! I'm really looking forward to it as well!

 

[BabyEeyore]

Hurray for MNSSHP! I'm really looking forward to it as well!

 

[BabyEeyore]

92 DAYS LEFT!!

I thought I'd share what we've been doing each day with our countdown calendar. Nothing too wild and crazy yet, but we've still had a lot of fun taking a link down a day. Here is what our chain looked like when we started:

And now this morning:

It's cool to see a little bit of progress! Anyway, here is what we've been doing:

100 Days: We had the special dinner that I already posted about.
99 Days: We chose a style of autograph pages that we liked best and I saved them to my computer to print out later. I'm still going back and forth about whether to do it... and I think I probably will... but it doesn't hurt to have them ready just in case.
98 Days: We ordered Ashlyn a cute dress to wear on our full Disney/MNSSHP day. She has a beautiful Cinderella costume, but in case she gets uncomfortable and/or hot in it, we ordered her this from the Disney Store online:

97 Days: We made yummy popsicles with beautiful, fresh strawberries and watermelon. They were delicious and all 3 of us loved them. We're going to be making these a lot!
96 Days: We went to story time at the library (every Friday). Ashlyn picked out the Disney version of Prince and the Pauper (she's drawn to anything with Mickey, Minnie, or the princesses... plus all the Disney books happen to be on a low shelf in the children's section) and I got her The Tawny, Scrawny Lion.
95 Days: We ordered Ashlyn some shoes to match her dresses! We thought these were really cute. We didn't want to get her sandals because we didn't want her cute little toes to get hurt. We got these from Payless.com.

94 Days: FATHER'S DAY!!
93 Days: We started talking about who to invite to Aaron's birthday get together next month... we didn't talk much about it, though, so we'll be continuing that today.
92 Days: TODAY! I'm just going to look around for some good deals on pins and lanyards for trading. I have a few so I'm not too worried about it, but you never know what you'll find. Plus I slept wrong last night or something and my back hurts super bad so it's a perfect day for just looking around online and relaxing. I think I'll put on one of Ashlyn's favorite movies after her nap, too, and we can cuddle on the couch and eat some lovely fruit we picked up.

We have some cool stuff coming up to do, so I'll keep posting with some pictures! I think each time I do so I'll put a picture of the progress of the chain, too, because I happen to think it's kinda cool to see it shrink. What do you think... should I put up a pic of the full chain to compare to, or the pic from the previous update? For example, next time I post about this, should I put the full 100 day chain or the 92 day chain?

 

[crissy1974]

92 DAYS LEFT!!

I thought I'd share what we've been doing each day with our countdown calendar. Nothing too wild and crazy yet, but we've still had a lot of fun taking a link down a day. Here is what our chain looked like when we started:

And now this morning:

It's cool to see a little bit of progress! Anyway, here is what we've been doing:

100 Days: We had the special dinner that I already posted about.
99 Days: We chose a style of autograph pages that we liked best and I saved them to my computer to print out later. I'm still going back and forth about whether to do it... and I think I probably will... but it doesn't hurt to have them ready just in case.
98 Days: We ordered Ashlyn a cute dress to wear on our full Disney/MNSSHP day. She has a beautiful Cinderella costume, but in case she gets uncomfortable and/or hot in it, we ordered her this from the Disney Store online:

97 Days: We made yummy popsicles with beautiful, fresh strawberries and watermelon. They were delicious and all 3 of us loved them. We're going to be making these a lot!
96 Days: We went to story time at the library (every Friday). Ashlyn picked out the Disney version of Prince and the Pauper (she's drawn to anything with Mickey, Minnie, or the princesses... plus all the Disney books happen to be on a low shelf in the children's section) and I got her The Tawny, Scrawny Lion.
95 Days: We ordered Ashlyn some shoes to match her dresses! We thought these were really cute. We didn't want to get her sandals because we didn't want her cute little toes to get hurt. We got these from Payless.com.

94 Days: FATHER'S DAY!!
93 Days: We started talking about who to invite to Aaron's birthday get together next month... we didn't talk much about it, though, so we'll be continuing that today.
92 Days: TODAY! I'm just going to look around for some good deals on pins and lanyards for trading. I have a few so I'm not too worried about it, but you never know what you'll find. Plus I slept wrong last night or something and my back hurts super bad so it's a perfect day for just looking around online and relaxing. I think I'll put on one of Ashlyn's favorite movies after her nap, too, and we can cuddle on the couch and eat some lovely fruit we picked up.

We have some cool stuff coming up to do, so I'll keep posting with some pictures! I think each time I do so I'll put a picture of the progress of the chain, too, because I happen to think it's kinda cool to see it shrink. What do you think... should I put up a pic of the full chain to compare to, or the pic from the previous update? For example, next time I post about this, should I put the full 100 day chain or the 92 day chain?

It's neat to see the progress of the chain! I wish I had your ambition!!!!

Also.........love the shoes. We purchased the same pair, but in gold last year for our trip. We took the Christmas Belle dress and she wore the gold shoes. Sooooooooooo cute!

I also love the Cinderella dress. It's awesome! She's going to look so cute in it!

 

[lexmas]

Great progress on that chain!

I love all the activities. That dress is very cute, and I am just in love with those shoes!

I think you should compare it to the original chain. More impressive that way!

 

[Dancegrl624]

The Cinderella dress is adorable and the shoes are just too cute! I think that's a great idea for a costume. It's most likely going to be pretty hot outside and she'll probably be more comfortable. Great progress on the chain!

 

[BabyEeyore]

It's neat to see the progress of the chain! I wish I had your ambition!!!!

Also.........love the shoes. We purchased the same pair, but in gold last year for our trip. We took the Christmas Belle dress and she wore the gold shoes. Sooooooooooo cute!

I also love the Cinderella dress. It's awesome! She's going to look so cute in it!

Oh, how cool that you got the same kind but in gold. Was she comfy in them walking around the parks? I can only imagine how cute she was in the Christmas Belle dress. I love that dress!

Great progress on that chain!

I love all the activities. That dress is very cute, and I am just in love with those shoes!

I think you should compare it to the original chain. More impressive that way!

Aaron actually liked a different pair better (while I was secretly loving the pair we got, but I let him decide between the two since they were both nice) but all the reviews said that they slipped off easily so we knew we didn't want to deal with that all day!

I was leaning towards comparing it with the original chain because, like you said, it will look more impressive. Thanks for your thoughts! That's what I'll do.



We hit 90 days today... I need to think of an extra special little thing to do at the 10 day intervals (especially if our activity that day isn't exactly Disney related). What, I don't know, but I'll figure something out.

 

[BabyEeyore]

The Cinderella dress is adorable and the shoes are just too cute! I think that's a great idea for a costume. It's most likely going to be pretty hot outside and she'll probably be more comfortable. Great progress on the chain!

Thanks! I had heard that it's super hot that time of year so I know she won't want to wear the big Cinderella costume all day. I'm going to put it on at least for the princess lunch and some pictures during MNSSHP but for the rest of the time I'll let her decide if she wants to keep it on or wear the Cinderella dress we ordered recently. We'll just play it by ear. She has a few opportunities to wear the big, poofy Cinderella costume at home (a Halloween costume birthday party, a Halloween party the elementary school always throws, and of course Halloween itself) so I'm not concerned about getting our money's worth out of it this trip.

 

[martinolichfamily]

Super cute Cinderella Dress!!
I would post a pic of the full chain and then the most recent pic. Yes...I think it is cool too to see the countdown "shrink"!!

 

[BabyEeyore]

Super cute Cinderella Dress!!
I would post a pic of the full chain and then the most recent pic. Yes...I think it is cool too to see the countdown "shrink"!!

Thanks! I'll definitely be posting the full chain and then the most recent.

 

[Charlefours]

Hello--catching up!

Great Lion King night! It is so cute Ashlyn's attached to her one specific stuffed animal. Are you going to bring him to Disney with you?

Since I missed your dance:

double digits woohoo!!!! ​

Cute 100 day party! I want to do theme park dinners closer to our trip (sometime in August I think--I need to get those planned! )

Hooray for MNSSHP! I think it will be a lot of fun. We are going on the 14th, so if you want me to look for anything specific or answer any questions since it will be the first of the year, let me know!

Cute Cinderella dress and shoes! I think it is a good idea to have a back up outfit for MNSSHP--I know I am planning the same thing because of not knowing exactly how the weather is going to feel.

 

[BabyEeyore]

Hello--catching up!

Great Lion King night! It is so cute Ashlyn's attached to her one specific stuffed animal. Are you going to bring him to Disney with you?

Yep, he's definitely coming with us to Disney. She's super attached to her Sleeping Beauty stuffed doll, too, so I'm sure she's coming as well. Those are the two she will ask for by name. She has other stuffed animals she loves, but those (and a particular stuffed dog) are her favorites. She's just too cute with all her babies.

Since I missed your dance:

double digits woohoo!!!! ​

Thanks for dancing with me! We're at 89 days now.

Cute 100 day party! I want to do theme park dinners closer to our trip (sometime in August I think--I need to get those planned! )

Thanks! I think it would be so much fun to do different nights for all the different parks. We're only going to be there long enough to go to MK so maybe if we take a long trip next time I'll do that. Please share pics on your PTR if you decide to do them!

Hooray for MNSSHP! I think it will be a lot of fun. We are going on the 14th, so if you want me to look for anything specific or answer any questions since it will be the first of the year, let me know!

Thank you very much! I might have to take you up on that offer. It definitely should be a blast!

Cute Cinderella dress and shoes! I think it is a good idea to have a back up outfit for MNSSHP--I know I am planning the same thing because of not knowing exactly how the weather is going to feel.

Thanks again! I can't wait until they come in so I can have her try them on. Yeah, I know they'll fit, but I just want to see how cute she is. You're right, you never know if the weather is going to do something crazy!