Shake and Bake! TR link up FINALLY!!!!

[AZMickeyfans]

Back yard pictures

Jake by lemon and red grapefruit

One of the sagos in the back. Isnt bad but doesnt look as good as the front.

Deadly Pineapple palm. He just trimmed this baby up big time. Thats why he still has his war wound. Usually it stretches out beyond the trunks of the Queens and shades the Ginger plants below. It looks reallly pretty that way but he hates to trim it so he only does it once a year and cuts it up as high as he can stand. He is still in pain from it.

A few years ago we purchased those topiary Disney frames from Disney Shopping. Not thinking that nothing much that forms a topiary grows here. Well, rosemary sort of does and that is what we are working with now. We've tried different other stuff but they all die.

Here is the backside of Pluto.

Goofy got taken over by a Passion vine. We need to get out there and untangle him but we kind of think it funny considering its Goofy.

More citrus. We have 10 citrus trees in the yard. Most are producing this year for the first time. I'm so excited.

Double Mexican Fan Palms that were babies from the parent palms at my parents. Just like I was.

Dont mind the fence, I need to paint it but our garden (which is dead is back this way. Grape vines grow on top of it from the other end and the middle and some other vine from this side that I cannot remember the name of. The hibiscus is really pretty in bloom. We have many of those too but none are in bloom now. And that is a pink grapefruit tree.

I dont know where the mickey picture is but here is Minnie and we have donald too.

He sometimes puts the baby Queens in the barrels until they get established and he figures out exactly where he wants them so we have 3 like that now. See how brown they are? They have a hard time getting started in the desert but they do well once they adapt.

 

[OneTreeHillAddict]

Gosh look at that perfect grass!!! I LOVE your yard ~ it gorgeous!!! I hear the Queens are extremely vulnerable to storms. The huge ones here at Home Depot were $119. Not bad, even cheaper than the ones I saw in FL. Your sagos are big too! They look very healthy so the shade must be good for them! My favorite one is hidden under a palm too. So which is the pineapple palm? I wanna see. That just sounds like a nice looking tree! I can see Jeff now...at WDW he'll be pulling seed pods off all the trees and bringing them back home. Hey...that's not a bad idea.

 

[AZMickeyfans]

The Pineapple palm is this one. He chopped it way up so he doesnt have to do it very often but usually its very full. Thats why he is still hurt from 3 weeks ago!

And thanks!

 

[OneTreeHillAddict]

The fruit trees have a LOT of fruit on 'em. We've tried citrus several times and it doesn't do well. Pear trees, Blueberry trees, and grapes do great here though. Speaking of he has a HUGE grapevine made back there! Ya'll have a bunch of the Queens! I hear they grow pretty fast. Mine are probably about 15 ft right now. I wish they were about 6 ft taller. Is that a firepit amongst the backyard queens? I LOVE that area! The double Mexican fan is cool too! I had about 6 of those but only one survived. It doesn't look too healthy. Holy cow there's a downpour here right now! Must be Fay. Jeff needs to open a nursery. He's in the wrong field of work. You guys have an amazing place! LOVE it! The pineapple palm looks like the ones I have by the road...the canary island date palm? The thorns look the same! They supposedly get huge mongus!

 

[The Marsons]

Loving the trip report and i too have been laughing out loud!

Looking forward to reading more!

 

[AZMickeyfans]

The fruit trees have a LOT of fruit on 'em. We've tried citrus several times and it doesn't do well. Pear trees, Blueberry trees, and grapes do great here though. Speaking of he has a HUGE grapevine made back there! Ya'll have a bunch of the Queens! I hear they grow pretty fast. Mine are probably about 15 ft right now. I wish they were about 6 ft taller. Is that a firepit amongst the backyard queens? I LOVE that area! The double Mexican fan is cool too! I had about 6 of those but only one survived. It doesn't look too healthy. Holy cow there's a downpour here right now! Must be Fay. Jeff needs to open a nursery. He's in the wrong field of work. You guys have an amazing place! LOVE it! The pineapple palm looks like the ones I have by the road...the canary island date palm? The thorns look the same! They supposedly get huge mongus!

Thanks! Last year we had 1 grapefruit out of the whole bunch! that is what Jeff thought the Pineapple palm was. They might be called different names in diff regions? We call this our oasis in the desert!

Loving the trip report and i too have been laughing out loud!

Looking forward to reading more!

Thank you for reading along! I promise I'll get back to the planning portion of it but I cant promise I'll stay on track! I get easily distracted! Feel free to jump in and chat about any topic on your mind. This should become a planning chat thread!

 

[kathleen27]

The party looks like so much fun!
I love throwing kids parties but it is exhausting.
47 is a lot!!!! I can see why you gave her a limit this time.
That was really sweet of her to add "Sally".

No Jasmine look at BBB.

Now I'd do the Cool Dude package for all of us another day. That would be fun. So let me know!

I don't know the details, but I've read about trips to the Barber shop on Main St, where they will do stuff with gel or color or glitter.

Your yard looks awsome!

 

[irky416]

I love your countdown calendar!

 

[AZMickeyfans]

The party looks like so much fun!
I love throwing kids parties but it is exhausting.
47 is a lot!!!! I can see why you gave her a limit this time.
That was really sweet of her to add "Sally".

No Jasmine look at BBB.



I don't know the details, but I've read about trips to the Barber shop on Main St, where they will do stuff with gel or color or glitter.

Your yard looks awsome!

Oh, I might have to check out the Barber shop on one of our MK days. I think we've given up on BBB completely. Today she told me she doesnt even want the Jasmine crown because Jasmine wears an elastic headband with a jewel in the middle and she wants me to make that and the practical side of her came out when she said it would be less frustrating on rides!

And thanks! I will pass that on to Jeff.

I love your countdown calendar!

Thank you! We had placed them in the shape of Mickey's head and then when Jake started glueing he lost all recollection of that concept. I had to remind him that we were trying to make a Mickey so he peeled them off and placed them again. It was funny to see him do it. I glued about half and he did the other half. We are coloring them black each morning because tearing them off leaves an ugly white mark where the poster rips. Morgan hated that and suggested we colored them with Marker. She's a smart cookie.

 

[AZMickeyfans]

Today my Magical Express tags came! That made the trip so real. YEAH! Not much longer to wait.

We've never done ME. Here is my arrival plan.

We come in just before 4pm and are catching ME to POP. I have reservations at Chef Mickeys that night around 8pm. For those who have done ME do you think we have enough time? I will have our clothes for Chef Mickey's with us in the carry ons so we dont need our luggage but I would like to get to the TTC or even better, EPCOT and have a ton of time to ride the monorail ALL the way to the Contemporary because my kids just love the monorail at Disneyland and we rarely do it.

Ok EPCOT might be stretching it. But if it takes about 45-1hour from airport to resort then check in, get semi settled in room without luggage, change and have travel time to Chef Mickeys I thought it might be cutting it close. I dont want to be super fast rushing just off of the plane.

This is a surprise for the kids. Shhhhhh I just thought it would be a great way to start the vacation. We plan on picking up some autograph books in the POP gift shop or at the Contemporary itself.

So ME experts let me know if you think this is doable? How long have you waited for a bus or on the bus waiting to leave? Does it wait to fill up? Of course i'm planning on the flight not being late.

 

[OneTreeHillAddict]

Well this year it looks like ya'll could make a years supply of grapefruit juice! They must have just turned into adult fruit trees or something. Those babies are full!

 

[Alysa]

As for the ME - you will definitely make the Chef Mickey but you might not have time for anything else. It could take 2 hours from landing, depending how many people are on the bus and how many places you stop. And good plan with the clothes in the carry-on. Our last trip they brought our luggage by at 2am at the animal kingdom. They called us at 1am to ask if it was okay to bring them by in the next 15 minutes. And strangely enough, an hour later, they didn't get a tip.

 

[Philadisney]

I think that sounds like enough time. Cool surprise!!

 

[AZMickeyfans]

Well this year it looks like ya'll could make a years supply of grapefruit juice! They must have just turned into adult fruit trees or something. Those babies are full!

Lets keep our fingers crossed Jake doesnt use them as baseballs before I get to eat them!

As for the ME - you will definitely make the Chef Mickey but you might not have time for anything else. It could take 2 hours from landing, depending how many people are on the bus and how many places you stop. And good plan with the clothes in the carry-on. Our last trip they brought our luggage by at 2am at the animal kingdom. They called us at 1am to ask if it was okay to bring them by in the next 15 minutes. And strangely enough, an hour later, they didn't get a tip.

Thanks for the info and time estimates. 2am luggage! I'll throw in jammies just in case. We do not change planes but we have a stop over in St Louis I think. I keep thinking that could get delayed, I should have taken the later nonstop. I was hoping to get in an hour earlier. Hopefully I dont get in an hour later! That would SOOOO be my luck! I figure the 8pm dinner will be 5pm here. I'll bring snacks on the plane. Can you do that now? We dont fly much I need to be finding out don't I.

I'm thinking jammies, essential toiletries and maybe clothes for the next day in case luggage gets lost by airline and it takes a day to get there. that would stink.

I wouldn't have tipped either!

I think that sounds like enough time. Cool surprise!!

Thanks! I thought lets bring on the characters right away. It will be a good test for Jake to see how he takes to the characters. If he just loves it I can get with the Disney Dining and see if I can squeeze in any other character meals.

I hate being late. It makes me nervous and I get all antsy. I seriously think I break out in hives when I'm late and I have no control over it.

 

[hlrababy]

I promised some funny pics of my mamas sagos so here they are...

My mama called me and said come over here...HURRY!! You gotta get a pic of this thing! It looks like a _______________________________

Here's some from far away

And one more....

I hope for God's sake Jeff does NOT "like" these pics but anyway...they're tropicals!

Holy moly!!!! I just spit mountain dew all over my computer screen!!! I soooo need one of those in my yard!!

 

[AZMickeyfans]

Since my kids have been in school I have been doing some shopping. In my defense I have been getting some cute things for great prices at the Disney store for our trip.

Here are some back packs for the kids. We talked that Mommy is not going to carry all of the water bottles and autograph books this time. I really didnt expect Jake to do this but Morgan is old enough to carry a little back pack and put her autograph book and her wallet into. She even said she wanted to carry Jake's autograph book too. So I was going to get something else but they saw these and Jake wanted one too. They were half off. I picked up the activity books for the plane as well.

Plush Mickey and Minnie backpacks.

I grabbed a ton of $5.00 t-shirts. I have a thing about wearing Disney stuff in the parks. It always made me happy as a CM to see people all decked out in Disney clothes so I make sure we try to wear something Disney most days.

Matching shirts for Jake and Daddy

Morgan and I

Shirts for Jake, Jeff and I

And Morgan and I

We have a lot of Disney stuff and I picked up some Disney fabric if I ever get around to sewing a few outfits then I should be set.

 

[AZMickeyfans]

Holy moly!!!! I just spit mountain dew all over my computer screen!!! I soooo need one of those in my yard!!

I know that tree ROCKS.

 

[AZMickeyfans]

I was going to get to my first few days plans because It so confusing but we are starting to get one crazy storm coming in right now which is very odd. So I better get off the computer til its clear.

 

[Philadisney]

I love the stuff you picked up, especially the backpacks! So cute.

Good luck with the storm, I hope it blows over fast!!

 

[Alysa]

I LOVE the backpacks!