Shaken, Not Stirred, With a Twist of Pixie Dust! A Food and Wine Trip!NEW! Pgs.75,76

[manntra]

Awwww....Chelsea's costume is adorable! Very good choice!
Thanks so much for the Disney family link.....I love the bookmarks....going to have to print them out and maybe I will try out my pumpkin carving skills on some of the pumpkins that I grew this year. I love the Mickey!

Your HM day looked like a lot of fun and thanks for sharing! Although I would have really liked one of the cupcakes too!

 

[Lovemy3babes]

What a nice, relaxing night for you two. I'm glad you were able to maintain your full set of lips after the hot sandwich!

 

[Charleston Princess]

I love Capture the Castle too...-Anita-you are in for a treat...

Who wouldn't love Cassandra writing in the kitchen sink?

and actually -if we wind up with a DVC..I guess that you'll be an even bigger enabler than Jackie...

So true -- but considering how badly I want DVC, it wouldn't take much enabling.

Unfortunately-I could see one of Emily's best friends absolutely loving the idea of being a Ghost of a French Maid......kind of "sassy" and goth-ish all at the same time...

I can see Chelsea getting all into this one!

I'm happy to be a DVC enabler, we love our Disney ""welcome homes"!
I think the french maid ghost would be really cute!

I have started "I Capture the Castle" and really like it!

I need some Welcome Homes for the next fifty years!

I love Chelsea's costume.

Haunted Mansion Day sounds like fun. I love the cupcake cemetary.

So Jackie, where's your Halloween costume?

Thank you! We are still working our way through the cupcake cemetary. LOL!

A costume? For me? If I had been thinking about it, I would have totally gotten a pair of Minnie ears while I was at WDW -- as it is, I think I want a pair for next summer.

CP & Charles?

​

I just found our costumes for the next MNSSHP! I do look pretty good in purple!

Love the updates!
Chelsea is so cute in her costume. Hope Connor finds something. Emily is going to be a bumble bee and Amy is going to be Dorothy from the wizards of oz.

I hope he finds something soon, too! Emily and Amy sound like they are going to be precious!

Love the cupcakes. I was just thinking before what halloween goodies I'm going to be making this long weekend.

I have so many Halloween recipes, I have to rotate them from year to year. Too bad Halloween is only for one month.

Where did you buy the giftcard wristbands? Are they for every park? Do they sell it all the time or just for food and wine? It'd be great to just get the kids a gift card and make it last the whole trip.

The wristband gift cards are just for Food and Wine, but you can get regular-size gift cards all year long. I think I want to do that for Chelsea and Connor next year.

Have a good night.
Hope everybody is feeling better.
I hear some coughing now in my house.

We are -- thank you! Hope your coughing disappears soon!

Poor me has little time to DIS.... and catches wind that I am being blamed on stuff!

You can't ever let your guard down, Laura!

I need some new read alouds... oh that is right I am in a darn testing grade level and barely have time- boo! Honestly though I am head to B and N to check out some new stuff this weekend, sans kids or at least Luke!

Barnes and Noble is always my escape from the kids -- sometimes I even take a friend along. LOL!

I think we all enable each other on this board.... I have spent this month in a funk because everyone went to WDW this fall... everyone being people who I have never met

Oh, don't be in a funk, Laura! Just remember that you own DVC now and can go every year until you are old and gray!

I've purchased and have read Jullian's first book and now we are on to "More Stories Jullian Tells". My students love them. Tonight I ordered the Huey books and the Gloria books.....
I'm going to have some excited 2nd graders!

I love it when kids are excited about books!

Sounds like you and the kids had a really full, fun day!

Denise

We managed to keep ourselves occupied which was a good thing having so many days off this week.

 

[Charleston Princess]

This is great

I totally want to be the Wonder Twins next year! LOL!

I'm glad Chelsea found an outfit that works for her. She is adorable in it.

Thank you! I was so happy that she found something she liked.

Your Haunted Mansion stuff is fun. 'Ariel Girl' and I rode it together on Tuesday night. It is so funny just to watch her face as she tries to figure it all out.

Was it Brooklyn's first time riding it?

I did get the praline bread pudding at F&W, and it was everything I had hoped for. I could have eaten three of those!!!

I would love to have a big heaping portion of it right now!

Where did you find Haunted Mansion Clue!? I must have it!!!

Toys R Us, I think. It was a Christmas present a couple of years back -- Connor loves Clue -- I think I am going to get the Tower of Terror Clue for him this year.

I love Chelsea's costumer. Very cute!

What great HM finds. The cupcakes are adorable.

Thank you! They are pretty tasty, too.

Chelsea looks cute in her costume. Hope Connor figures something out soon. I got hitchhikers and the masks off the link you posted. The cupcakes graveyard is cool! Haunted Mansion (the movie) was on Disney Channel yesterday. Hannah was watching it when she got home from school and I had a "Doh!" moment. I wanted to record it but forgot it was coming on. Need to check to see if it'll be playing again. She loves the Halloweentown and Twitches movies. She watches those every year.

We always seem to watch a lot of those Disney Channel movies every October. Sadly, I am not a big fan of the Haunted Mansion movie though .

I'm currently reading the Sookie Stackhouse books and really enjoying it. Hannah brought home a book from the school library yesterday. It's called "The Mystery at Disney World" by Carole Marsh. She's reading it for her 15 minutes of reading every night. It looks like a really neat book. The author uses real children as characters in her books. All of the books are mysteries and are set in various locations (i.e. Biltmore House, Freedom Trail, New York, Underground Railroad, etc.). So, you get an historical/educational mystery! Isn't that a great concept?

Love the Sookie Stackhouse books -- I think they get better and better as the series progresses. I will have to check out the Carole Marsh books -- those sound really neat and something I might enjoy as much as the kids!

Check out this e-mail I just got:



Disney Digital Books introduces a revolutionary way to experience books.

Now children of all ages--and their parents--can experience new and classic Disney stories in more engrossing and interactive ways than ever before--from any computer!

Disney has combined its rich legacy of storytelling with online innovation to create the future of reading: Disney Digital Books.

Dive into an ever-expanding library of over 500 books--featuring beloved Disney and Disney/Pixar characters--that grows with children's abilities and interests. Easy-to-use, built-in reading help and engaging, exclusive features make Disney Digital Books feel more like play time than story time.



The Magic Pen
Click to hear words aloud, see definitions, turn pages on screen and highlight words while reading!

Story-Builder Activity
Create original books full of Disney characters, and print them to share or read again later.


Register now to sample 7 books, including 1 Look and Listen book plus 1 Story-Builder activity. No credit card required!




Get 3 separate child accounts and a parent account with your subscription!




Hundreds of books brought to life at the click of a
a bug's life
Aladdin
Beauty and the Beast
Bolt
Camp Rock
Cars
Cinderella
Classic tales like Pinocchio,
Bambi and more
Disney Bunnies Disney Channel
Disney Fairies
Disney High School Musical
Disney Princesses
Enchanted
Finding Nemo
Handy Manny
Hannah Montana
Little Einsteins
The Little Mermaid Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
Monsters, Inc.
Pirates of the Caribbean
Ratatouille
Snow White
Toy Story
Up
WALL-E
Winnie the Pooh
And much more!

Cool! I will have to go check out that site!

I am totally with you on the champagne thing. I've tried to like it, but I can't. I am definitely interested in hearing about the food.

We found lots of good things to eat at Food and Wine!

I love Chelsea's costume! So cute! I hope Connor finds something, too. Poor guy.

Thank you! Connor is being a bit of a diva over this whole Halloween costume thing.

I need to track down Capture the Castle...

You would love it! One of my favorite books of all-time!

Awwww....Chelsea's costume is adorable! Very good choice!

Thank you!

Thanks so much for the Disney family link.....I love the bookmarks....going to have to print them out and maybe I will try out my pumpkin carving skills on some of the pumpkins that I grew this year. I love the Mickey!

I thought about doing some of the Disney templates on Funkins, but then I saw the prices on those funkins and thought, "Maybe next year!"

Your HM day looked like a lot of fun and thanks for sharing! Although I would have really liked one of the cupcakes too!

I still have some cupcakes that I am willing to share!

What a nice, relaxing night for you two. I'm glad you were able to maintain your full set of lips after the hot sandwich!

Me too! I might have looked funny without any lips!

 

[Native NYer]

Wonder Twins and your wristbands

I have to post a pic of my Disney-themed costume on Facebook next week

 

[MEK]

Oh Poor Connor,,,,not being able to stand any more disappointment. I hope he finds the perfect costume. Maybe he did already, cause I didn't read through the most recent posts. Hope I didn't miss it.

I love Chelsea's costume. OMG .....this may be the last year she goes for something so cute and girly like that. So cute!

Love the tombstone cupcakes. What a cool website. Fun post ....thanks!

 

[Happydog]

Very very cute cupcakes!!! I didn't realize that you had updated! !!! I could eat a couple of those! Cute toppers! AND we have that same clue game! WE took it to the cabin in Shennandoah this past weekend, it is a fun one! And I think you are right -- Toys R Us I think this was one of my black Friday shopping purchased, to be honest!

Chelsea looks very cute.. I love Connor's response about not being able to take any more disapointing news

 

[wigdoutdismom]

We have found ourselves under the gun so to say for Baylor's costume as well. His school party is Wednesday, then he is our for fall break while we finish up conferences.
What is it that Connor wants to be?

 

[ladybugmom]

Cool wristbands!! What a great idea! Disney thinks of everything!!

Love Chelsea's costume! Poor Connor--I hope he finds something!!

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

Looks like you had a good start! I can't wait to be that close to Epcot...seeing as how I'll have to win the lottery to ever stay at one of the Epcot deluxe resorts!!!

Along the topic of the kid's books...I've read the Carole Marsh Christmas/White House mystery to my class in December the past few years (though I know what you mean, Laura, about being in a testing grade and not having much time), and a few of my kids got started on the series. They really liked how she used "real kids."

 

[LOVEMY3KIDDOS]

I had no idea you updated! Your cupcakes look great and the whole HM day sounds fun!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Wonder Twins and your wristbands

I have to post a pic of my Disney-themed costume on Facebook next week

Oh, I can't wait to see it! Hints?

Oh Poor Connor,,,,not being able to stand any more disappointment. I hope he finds the perfect costume. Maybe he did already, cause I didn't read through the most recent posts. Hope I didn't miss it.

Nope, he still hasn't found anything!

I love Chelsea's costume. OMG .....this may be the last year she goes for something so cute and girly like that. So cute!

I have a feeling that next year, it might be a totally different type of costume.

Love the tombstone cupcakes. What a cool website. Fun post ....thanks!

You are welcome! I had fun with that site!

Very very cute cupcakes!!! I didn't realize that you had updated! !!! I could eat a couple of those! Cute toppers! AND we have that same clue game! WE took it to the cabin in Shennandoah this past weekend, it is a fun one! And I think you are right -- Toys R Us I think this was one of my black Friday shopping purchased, to be honest!

Thank you! What a great idea to bring Clue to the cabin! We are board game junkies at our house especially in the winter when it is too cold to do anything outside.

Chelsea looks very cute.. I love Connor's response about not being able to take any more disapointing news

Connor does come up with the cutest comments. His sister lost a tooth yesterday in the car so we were talking about the Tooth Fairy. He said, "I wonder what the Tooth Fairy does with all the teeth she gets?" I said, "Well, nothing with any of your teeth since you won't let her have them" (which is a whole other story) to which my darling son responded, "I can't help it if I want to be buried with all of my body parts -- even the ones that fall off."

We have found ourselves under the gun so to say for Baylor's costume as well. His school party is Wednesday, then he is our for fall break while we finish up conferences.
What is it that Connor wants to be?

Good luck with Baylor's costume! Connor has no idea what he wants to be which is the problem -- if he would just have an idea I would move heaven and earth to get it together.

Cool wristbands!! What a great idea! Disney thinks of everything!!

Love Chelsea's costume! Poor Connor--I hope he finds something!!

Disney does think of everything! Thank you -- I think Chelsea looks pretty cute, but Connor is stressing me out not knowing what he wants to be. We are at a week now to decide!

Looks like you had a good start! I can't wait to be that close to Epcot...seeing as how I'll have to win the lottery to ever stay at one of the Epcot deluxe resorts!!!

Me too! Or we will need a really good deal!

Along the topic of the kid's books...I've read the Carole Marsh Christmas/White House mystery to my class in December the past few years (though I know what you mean, Laura, about being in a testing grade and not having much time), and a few of my kids got started on the series. They really liked how she used "real kids."

That sounds like another good book -- thanks!

I had no idea you updated! Your cupcakes look great and the whole HM day sounds fun!

It was just a little update -- we enjoyed our HM day!

 

[DisneyJo]

Glad you got your wristbands and matching ones too

It sounds like you had a lovely romantic evening just strolling the Boardwalk

 

[Charleston Princess]

Glad you got your wristbands and matching ones too

I was all about the matching wrist bands! LOL!

It sounds like you had a lovely romantic evening just strolling the Boardwalk

It was a very nice evening!

 

[Charleston Princess]

As Charles and I approached the World Showcase Promenade, I reminded him that the number one key to our success in trying as much as possible was to share all of our food choices. Charles does not share his food well with others, so I was concerned about that. I also still had two waters in my park bag -- there was no way I was paying Disney prices on water.

Arriving at the Promenade by way of the rose walk, we were near Santiago, Chile. While I managed to take a picture of both the kiosk and the menu board, we did not try anything here. This would become a bad habit of mine -- I would take pictures of kiosks we didn’t eat at, but forgot to take pictures of the ones we did try. Go figure.

We did stop at San Juan where we got the Arroz con Pollo (chicken with rice) and a Dragon Berry Colada.

I took one sip of that Dragon Berry Colada…

Me: Oh my! (Sip)
Charles: What?
Me: (Sip) Oh my! (Sip)
Charles: WHAT?
Me: (Sip) I (sip) think (sip) I (sip) am (sip) love! (Double sip) Here, try it.
Charles: (Sip) I’ll be right back.

As soon as Charles tried my Dragon Berry Colada, he headed back for one of his own. The chicken and rice were very good as well.

Hello, my Lovely!

Before we went too far, Charles got a second Dragon Berry for each of us (we weren’t about to share our drinks).

Next was Buenos Aires, Argentina where we tried the Beef Empanada. It was tasty, but the beef filling was very hot (not spicy, but heat hot).

Onward to Mexico City! Here we tried the chicken tostada -- another winner! I could have eaten about three of these, and it was probably my favorite food of this first round.

Here was our view while we munched.

It was rather hot by this time so we “ducked” into the pyramid to find Donald, and Charles got a margarita as we strolled towards China. In China, we got the Chicken Urumqi and the Pork Pot Stickers -- good but not anything we would be dying to repeat.

Again, here is our view while we ate.

In Cape Town, South Africa, Charles wanted to try the seared beef tenderloin with sweet potato puree and mango barbeque sauce. Wonderful, but extremely difficult to cut with a plastic knife balanced on a bench. When I went to went to take a photo, Charles rolled his eyes and I had to comment, “I have to have something for the trip report -- you’re behaving yourself, and we don’t have the kids acting goofy.”

We passed by Thailand, Austria, and Germany (it was getting even hotter at this point) and stopped in Italy for cannelloni and a Primavera. The Primavera was very cool and refreshing!

Suddenly, as if my comment had just penetrated to his brain, Charles said, “Are you saying you have to take pictures of the food because I am DULL???” Judging by the tone of his voice, it was time for somebody to get out of the sun and tucked into the cool hotel room for a nap. I didn’t want any Epcot meltdowns on this trip!

See you tonight, Food and Wine!

On our way out of the park, we talked about doing Spaceship Earth if there wasn’t a line. There wasn’t one but it was because the ride was down. Yikes! Glad I wasn’t stuck inside!

Back at the resort, I was barely able to take off my shoes before I fell fast asleep -- guess Charles wasn’t the only exhausted one.

UP NEXT: Canada and Some Geese!

 

[2xcited2sleep]

Poor Charles. Of course he isn't dull! I am so bummed b/c I never did try that dragonberry colada. I'm going to have to go back! I wonder if the recipe has been posted anywhere.

It sure was hot, wasn't it! I ducked into Mexico more than once to "escape" and, ok, to get a margarita.

BTW- loved your Halloween/Haunted Mansion TR interlude report. Your house is so much fun. Please adopt me!

 

[wsushocker]

Did you answer your husband's question about being DULL?

 

[tiggrbaby]

What a lovely morning! Your pics are fab!

 

[Lady Lallie]

Too funny about your comment catching up with Charles. Marc does that all the time. It takes like 10 or 15 minutes for him to get it. Pffft.

I don't blame you for not sharing your alcohol at all! Smart choice.

All the food that you took pictures of looks so YUMMY.

 

[momof2TNboys]

Great update! The food looks yummy. I totally understand your comment about Charles not wanting to share food. I live with this everyday! Can't wait to hear more.