She turned 3, but the DDP's Free, a WL Bounceback PTR

[Wood Nymph]

Yay for the double digit dance. I'm not going to put up a ticker until our date is about three months away.

I think countdowns chains are great for the young kids. When did you first tell Allie that you were going to go back to WDW?

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Love the Rapunzel dress!! I so wish I could sew! It would save me so much money!!

I am kind of torn about the Halloween party too- I have heard its worth it to do it, even if you only do it once..

I don't know what to dress as! That's my dilemma!

Thanks! Allie loves the dress too . I wish sewing actually saved money! Really most of my projects don't save that much unless I'm doing something super custom that would cost a lot on Etsy. Fabric is expensive! The material for the Small World dress was 10 dollars a yard and so it cost about 20 dollars in material. I try and buy tshirts and things on clearance and other clothes to cut apart at thrift stores but it still adds up.
I would be excited about the Halloween party if we decided to do it but the whole costume thing stresses me out. I'm not sure what we would dress up as, or if we would. But if we did I'd probably get all obsessive about it because that's what I do.
Last year we wound up as Prince Charming and the Fairy Godmother to go with our little Cinderella. It was pretty fancy for walking around our little neighborhood, but Allie really got a kick out of it.

Yay for the double digit dance. I'm not going to put up a ticker until our date is about three months away.

I think countdowns chains are great for the young kids. When did you first tell Allie that you were going to go back to WDW?

I'm not sure when we told Allie we were going back, probably right after I got off the phone when I booked the trip. It's just been kind of a given this year that we're going back. I don't know what we're going to do next year when she asks and we aren't going.

It got more definite when we booked the plane tickets. We excitedly talk to her about Mickey's Big House, and she is looking forward to it but sometimes asks for clarification when we are on our way to Disneyland, asking about which Mickey's House we are going to.

 

[glaserjm]

Following along and loving your PTR so far! I can't believe how amazing your sewing is...what a talent! I was going to say you should do MNSSHP just so you could make some amazing costumes for it, but if you'd stress yourself out over it, then I understand why you might not want to do it.

I'll say that we did it in 2012 and absolutely loved it. The character interactions, parades, and fireworks are all pretty exceptional experiences. If you are saving $200 on the renewals, it might be worth it to have the experience.

We dressed in costume last year and it made for some really great interactions with CMs who love it when people get into it!

Looking forward to reading more about your trip and seeing your awesome designs!

 

[kastoney]

Today we're extra excited for our trip because our countdown is under 100 days!

Now it is time to print out a countdown chain. We did it last year and Allie really got into it. We'll post pics once we have it cut out and taped together.

Woohoo! Congrats on the double digits, it will be here before you know it.

Can't wait to see what the countdown chain is. Always looking for great ideas from those that are way creative then me.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Following along and loving your PTR so far! I can't believe how amazing your sewing is...what a talent! I was going to say you should do MNSSHP just so you could make some amazing costumes for it, but if you'd stress yourself out over it, then I understand why you might not want to do it. I'll say that we did it in 2012 and absolutely loved it. The character interactions, parades, and fireworks are all pretty exceptional experiences. If you are saving $200 on the renewals, it might be worth it to have the experience. We dressed in costume last year and it made for some really great interactions with CMs who love it when people get into it! Looking forward to reading more about your trip and seeing your awesome designs!

Thank you so much! We are glad to see people enjoy reading about our plans. We are glad to hear that you enjoyed the party. Having costumes would make the most of it, but we aren't sure we would come up with any great costumes for us. We'll see. It is just so much easier to come up with cute things for Allie.

Woohoo! Congrats on the double digits, it will be here before you know it. Can't wait to see what the countdown chain is. Always looking for great ideas from those that are way creative then me.

Thanks for the interest and following along. We aren't that creative, we just are good at finding ideas online. The countdown chain idea came from the DIS boards here: http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1606287 We are putting one together tonight and will post pictures of it when it is done.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

We got our countdown chain all put together and put it up last night but then forgot to take a link off before bed. Doh!

 

[GrandCalifornian]

I am almost done with the Small World dress. This was the first time I used this pattern and I think the dress came out a little short.

It's right on the edge of being too short so for now I am going to make some pink bike shorts to go under it and have Allie try it on and reassess. If it still feels too short I am going to add another panel of fabric to the bottom of the skirt.

While looking to see if I had fabric to add that panel or if I would need to order it (looks like I need to order something... darn more fabric shopping ) I had a dress epiphany and got the dress for our Crystal Palace breakfast done!

It only took about 2 hours to put together from start to finish. It came out so cute and Allie loves it!

 

[glaserjm]

I am almost done with the Small World dress. This was the first time I used this pattern and I think the dress came out a little short.

It's right on the edge of being too short so for now I am going to make some pink bike shorts to go under it and have Allie try it on and reassess. If it still feels too short I am going to add another panel of fabric to the bottom of the skirt.

While looking to see if I had fabric to add that panel or if I would need to order it (looks like I need to order something... darn more fabric shopping ) I had a dress epiphany and got the dress for our Crystal Palace breakfast done!

It only took about 2 hours to put together from start to finish. It came out so cute and Allie loves it!

Can you make these in adult sizes...LOL! They are seriously adorable though... and I think someday you could really sell them if you wanted!

 

[LuvGoldens]

Just read through the thread and wanted to say that those dresses you sew for Allie are beautiful. You are so creative and talented and Allie is very cute!

We were at WL at almost the same time as you last year and will be at similar times again this year. We also broke the 100 day mark on the weekend and are so very excited!

As for MNSSHP we went to our first one last September and enjoyed it so much we booked a 2nd one for the following week. The fireworks were amazing and the Boo to You parade was very neat. We're going on September 10 this trip as we have a BOG dinner booked that day for 4 pm (I know that's early but the only time I could snag a reservation for) and who knows may even sneak in the Friday, Sept 13 one too. I've heard/read that the Tuesday parties are less busy then the Friday ones for what it's worth.

Look forward to following along!!

 

[WDWKOOK]

Just love the sewing update and countdown chain. Allie looks so proud in her new attire and justifiably - she is the perfect model for Mom's truly original, clever and winsome creations. I don't know how you did that in two hours, but I think you should write a book someday with photos and instructions on all your creations.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Can you make these in adult sizes...LOL! They are seriously adorable though... and I think someday you could really sell them if you wanted!

I think all the time "wouldn't that be cute if it came in my size" then I try and picture myself in it and suddenly it's not so cute anymore!

I do want an embroidered WL polo shirt though.

Just read through the thread and wanted to say that those dresses you sew for Allie are beautiful. You are so creative and talented and Allie is very cute!

We were at WL at almost the same time as you last year and will be at similar times again this year. We also broke the 100 day mark on the weekend and are so very excited!

As for MNSSHP we went to our first one last September and enjoyed it so much we booked a 2nd one for the following week. The fireworks were amazing and the Boo to You parade was very neat. We're going on September 10 this trip as we have a BOG dinner booked that day for 4 pm (I know that's early but the only time I could snag a reservation for) and who knows may even sneak in the Friday, Sept 13 one too. I've heard/read that the Tuesday parties are less busy then the Friday ones for what it's worth.

Look forward to following along!!

Thank you so much! It's so exciting getting ready for Disney! Maybe we'll see you around when we are there! Say hi if you see us chasing Allie around the lobby We are thinking harder about MNSSHP, I'd like to do it I think but we have some financial stuff to work on too. We are number crunching with the ticket price increases, and our first priority is being able to get next year's passes.

Just love the sewing update and countdown chain. Allie looks so proud in her new attire and justifiably - she is the perfect model for Mom's truly original, clever and winsome creations. I don't know how you did that in two hours, but I think you should write a book someday with photos and instructions on all your creations.

Allie is so funny about what I sew for her, right now her favorite thing to say is "I don't like it" before she even sees what it is, so I say "It's ok if you don't like it I can just give it away" then she freaks out and all is well and she's willing to try it on. She's a funny girl. Most of what I sew I use other people's patterns, I'm not creating them from scratch, I just figure out what fabric to use where.
The Small World dress is based on this pattern: http://www.mesewcrazy.com/2012/06/madeline-dress-epattern.html

and the Pooh dress is a pattern out of this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Little-Girls-Big-Style-Boutique/dp/1607051885

The key to finishing a project quickly like that is having all your materials and knowing where they are.

And besides the two hours putting it together, there's the three years that you've had the fabric and been thinking about just what to do with it...

 

[Marsheliz]

OMG! Those outfits are sooooo sweet!!

I would be totally broke if I ever have a girl....

Do you have an Etsy shop or anything?

Love the countdown chain and love the family tree idea in your home!

 

[GrandCalifornian]

OMG! Those outfits are sooooo sweet!!

I would be totally broke if I ever have a girl....

Do you have an Etsy shop or anything?

Love the countdown chain and love the family tree idea in your home!

Thank you!

And yes you would be totally broke, trust me I know from experience

I don't have an Etsy shop although I'd be lying if I told you I hadn't thought alot lately about opening one for a little extra cash, maybe enough to cover MNSSHP. Thanks for noticing my tree! When I told Paul I wanted to paint a tree on the wall I thought he was going to have me committed but he learned to love it I did it with chalkboard paint which is so fun and we have Allie's height marked on the trunk. Don't look too close at the frames, they still have the creepy perfect model families from the store in them... ha ha ha

 

[Marsheliz]

Thank you!

And yes you would be totally broke, trust me I know from experience

I don't have an Etsy shop although I'd be lying if I told you I hadn't thought alot lately about opening one for a little extra cash, maybe enough to cover MNSSHP. Thanks for noticing my tree! When I told Paul I wanted to paint a tree on the wall I thought he was going to have me committed but he learned to love it I did it with chalkboard paint which is so fun and we have Allie's height marked on the trunk. Don't look too close at the frames, they still have the creepy perfect model families from the store in them... ha ha ha

HAHA, that's so funny but I do the same thing about never replacing the pics.. LOL.
You should totally open up an Etsy shop!
I wish I was talented like that.. I need to buy the Halloween tix too but I am having a hard time justifying that much money!!
I am thinking about asking my dad instead of buying birthday for both DS's and both of us, buying us the Halloween tix instead! ))

 

[kastoney]

If you are taking votes Etsy it is. Someone with your talent and eye for color and detail could do well off the dis boards alone : )


Love the chain too. Did you all do anything special to put it together? Looks fairly straightforward but I'm about a negative 100 on the arts n crafts scale. If all else fails I plan on whipping out the ole disney advent calendar,

 

[GrandCalifornian]

HAHA, that's so funny but I do the same thing about never replacing the pics.. LOL.
You should totally open up an Etsy shop!
I wish I was talented like that.. I need to buy the Halloween tix too but I am having a hard time justifying that much money!!
I am thinking about asking my dad instead of buying birthday for both DS's and both of us, buying us the Halloween tix instead! ))

Glad I'm not the only one that doesn't put in new pictures before hanging frames, it really confuses my family. Great idea about asking for tickets as gifts!

If you are taking votes Etsy it is. Someone with your talent and eye for color and detail could do well off the dis boards alone : )

Love the chain too. Did you all do anything special to put it together? Looks fairly straightforward but I'm about a negative 100 on the arts n crafts scale. If all else fails I plan on whipping out the ole disney advent calendar,

Aww thanks! I'm blushing, I appreciate all of the compliments As for the chain, we didnt do anything special just cut it out and taped it together, it's pretty simple. The advent calendar is a good idea too!

Really the chain is super easy, I even did a lot of it. Just print out the pages on a color printer and cut them out into strips. Then we just taped the strips together with scotch tape. There is even a line to show you how far to wrap the strips around so the links are all about the same size. Then each night we tear one link off, and Allie enjoys seeing which character is on it.

It's a great visual for a little one with not much concept of time. It helps with the are we going to Mickey's house tomorrow? questions.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Quick sewing update! I finally sat down and put the applique on this zebra dress. I bought the zebra print dress at Hobby Lobby and then added the Mickey ears. To do it I just had the embroidery machine do the safari Minnie pattern on a piece of felt, then I just sewed the felt piece on to the front of the zebra print dress. It was quick, easy, and relatively cheap. Allie can wear this either to our Boma dinner, or more likely to AK on our Yak and Yeti lunch day.

 

[WDWKOOK]

Quick sewing update! I finally sat down and put the applique on this zebra dress. I bought the zebra print dress at Hobby Lobby and then added the Mickey ears. To do it I just had the embroidery machine do the safari Minnie pattern on a piece of felt, then I just sewed the felt piece on to the front of the zebra print dress. It was quick, easy, and relatively cheap. Allie can wear this either to our Boma dinner, or more likely to AK on our Yak and Yeti lunch day.

We have another winner! So clever and cute, just perfect for AK. You must have so many guests comment on your dresses while on vacation. I know I would.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

We have another winner! So clever and cute, just perfect for AK. You must have so many guests comment on your dresses while on vacation. I know I would.

We did get compliments on Allies dresses, the Mickey and Friends one in particular. But I get WAY more comments on these:

People stop, run across traffic and grab me by the arm and ask me where I got them.

I saw a pair on Etsy and figured it couldn't be too hard to do it myself so I cut a Mickey head out of thin cardboard (think Kohls mailer ad) traced it on the shoes with a pencil and filled in with acrylic paint. Allie has outgrown hers now so I have a new red pair of Toms in the cupboard I need to get to and I got her a pair of white ones as a blank canvas for something new.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

On Sunday we continued our tradition of going to Disneyland on June 9th. Eight years ago we went on a Thursday after work and I proposed to Melissa. We planned the wedding and stuff for 2 years, and we got married on Saturday June 9th at the Grand Californian. In between we even celebrated our -1 year anniversary there (how strange is that?). Our rehersal dinner was at Storytellers Cafe, and that is where we have celebrated our anniversary each year. This year Allie's Aunt offered to babysit, so we took the rare opportunity to go to Disney as just the two of us.

It is very rare for us to get out without Allie, and since she's been born we've done every Disney visit since with her!

After dropping Allie off we headed for Disneyland, but the first stop was our paving stone in front of Disneyland.

He got this for my birthday I think the second year we dated, then later he proposed to me right here in front of everyone standing in line waiting to get into the park.

Then we went in the park and headed straight for a treat that always sounds good but we rarely end up getting...

CORN DOGS! Our dinner reservation was at 5 so we didn't want a huge lunch because we knew we were about to stuff our selves silly at dinner. So we got two corn dogs, one with chips and one with apples, and two large Diet Cokes.

They really are the best corn dogs anywhere. After we finished them, our plan was to go ride the recently remodled Matterhorn together. Well, not together like it used to be where you got to ride in eachother's lap, but at least we were on the ride at the same time.

Yes! I love the Matterhorn, it's so iconically Disney and with Allie now we really don't get to ride it very much at all.

After that, we hit one of our other very favorite rides.

My alltime favorite, Pirates! Allie will ride this ride but what's a whole day in Disneyland without riding your favorite ride?

This is a ride that is just better at DLR. I guess we were hitting the rides that we wouldn't be able to at WDW.

After our ride on Pirates we browsed through the crystal shop (without having to worry about an over zealous child breaking anything) on the way over to the Haunted Mansion to check out the line. It was a little longer than I was willing to wait so we wandered back over to Frontierland. We stopped by the Golden Horseshoe and noticed they had a show in about 30 minutes so we browsed around the giftshop quietly without any whining then headed back over to have a snack and watch the show.

We sat up on the balcony which was different, and we enjoyed the show and our cookie ice cream. We figured out that I really enjoy ice cream on top of baked goods, and when you throw in corny Disney jokes it is even better.

The icecream hit the spot and we were ready to go check out California Adventure. We weren't sure where we were going to go but after we got into the park we thought we'd go check out Tower of Terror because it's something we can't do with Allie. We headed to that back corner of the park and the wait was about an hour.

We decided against picking up fastpasses for after dinner (which turned out to be a great call) so we headed over to Cars Land. We first rode Radiator Springs Racers a year ago during a preview day, but we had never been on it together. This meant we had never been through the entire line queue, so we decided to check it out.

...and we checked it out for 2 hours

After the longest we have waited to ride anything in a very long time, we got to ride. We did the paint side, and unfortunately lost our race by just a little bit...

It was so much fun to get to experience it together. I'm not sure I'd wait that long to ride it again though. After we got off the ride we had about 15 minutes to get over to our dinner reservation. We headed over to the not so secret exit to the Grand Californian Hotel. We learned relatively recently that anyone can use this as an entrance or an exit after about 11:00 am which greatly cuts down on walking out of the park and around to the Downtown Disney entrance.

I love how this connects right to the hotel, and it makes it a nice short walk to some great food. Usually we eat at Whitewater Snacks (the quick service snack bar) but we were headed to Storytellers.

We chose do have the buffet as we always do and we enjoyed a nice quiet dinner where no one crawled on the table or spilled juice.

We did miss Allie though, and we did find ourselves wondering where we parked the stroller. The dinner was excellent, highlighted by their signature Corn Chowder and what I have determined to be the best chicken nuggets around.

My favorites were the Corn Chowder, the Strawberry Panna Cota which was new this year, and the Bread Pudding.

After dinner, we waddled out to the stage where we got married. It has changed with the recent addition of the DVC Villas, so the courtyard is a lot smaller, but the stage is exactly how it was.

We enjoy visiting this spot every year and I'm glad with the construction the stage is still there.

Then we walked through Downtown Disney on our way back to the car. The day was a fun break from the ordinary, and a great preview of the fun to come at WDW.

Now back to our regularly scheduled PTR

Here's a teaser... Look what I caught Melissa doing while she was doing dishes the other night...