There was a time when I was an obsessed scrapbooker. Thinking about
scrapbooking most of the time, and taking every opportunity to create
layouts in the evenings. I spent many hours sitting with my meagre
supplies creating pages which look very dated now. However,
somewhere along the way, I started reading about scrapbooking more,
and actually doing much less. Lately, I’ve barely created anything.
I’ve been wanting to, but there is something that stops me from moving
past want to actually create.

I think part of the problem is now I have too much stuff, and too
many optoins. When I had a small carrier bag of papers, then I just
got on with it. Now I have a roomfull and I just stand there
overwhelmed.

I haven’t conquered my scraproom yet, that is a challenge for another
day, but I have created something. Captured a memory and recorded a
day out, and I am very pleased about that.

I have dabbled in Digital before, but I am fairly sure I will be
moving more and more to digital, keeping paper scrapbooking for crops
and digital for home. I won’t be giving up paper altogether. There is
something very satisfying about playing with paper and glue, but this
is definitely more feasible when time is short.

This layout is from a trip to visit my brother this summer. The
journalling reads
"Ruth said, Let’s walk to the pub for Lunch. Sounded like a great
idea to me, so off we all set. We walked and walked but there was
no sign of the pub. Mark started to look a little worried after about
an hour, but we kept assuring ourselves that it was just around the
next bend. Eventually, we did arrive at the pub, about 2 hours
later than we had expected. I was quite worried that they would no
longer be serving lunch, but fortunately they were still serving and
we had a lovely lunch. One most well earned. After lunch, we
briefly contemplated walking back, but then we came to our senses and
called a taxi. We really couldn’t believe how quickly we were home
in the taxi! The pub was very very close to home, however, the path
we had walked along followed a very windy river and had caused us to
walk much further than we had anticipated. It was a long walk, but
a very memorable afternoon!"

We have been talking about holidays lately,  actually given the choice I’d talk about holidays everyday.  I love to dream about traveling and places to visit.  Generally we return to the same few places over and over,   but one day I want to visit some more exotic places.

Australia

I was born in Melbourne,  but we left Australia before I was 2.   I went to some amazing places before I was two,  but sadly I don’t remember any of it.   I have never been back to Australia and I really must go one day.   I’d love to travel around the country for a couple of months and really have time to soak it all up and see how Australian I really am!

Italy

I’ve never been to any part of Italy, and there are some many things there that I’d love to see.  Rome,  Venice,  Lake Garda, Sorrento, Pompeii.  There are so many famous places, places I’ve read about in books or seen in the Movies.  There is so much history there,  and I want to see it all.  I think I’d need 3 or 4 visits to really see everything.  It all sounds and looks fabulous,  but a little daunting.  I’ve travelled to quite a few places but for some reason Italy makes me nervous,  I think the traffic worries me and I don’t speak any Italian at all.  I am sure like most other European places you can get by with English.  I shall get there one day.

Greece

I know for Brits,  Greece is a very common destination and one that many people have visited,  but it’s not somewhere I have made it to yet.  I have an image of a beautiful tranquil place,  with candlelit restaurants and walks on the beach.  It’s this side of Greece I want to visit,  I don’t want to stumble into an 18-30’s party by mistake!

West Coast / San Francisco

I’ve never been to California,  or indeed the West Coast of the USA,  and there are so many places there that I’d like to see.  I would quite like to drive right up the West Coast from California to Vancouver.     That seems to be a bit of a recurring theme!

I am looking at my list and thinking that they are all very safe places.  I like to believe that I’d enjoy traveling around the world like Michael Palin and around the world in 80 days. seeing the real world and not the tourist’s view,  but truth be told,   I don’t know if I am brave enough.  Maybe when I am retired I will take bus tours through Asia and Africa,  seeing the world from the safety of a bus and then going to stay in nice luxury hotels.  It feels a bit like cheating though.

Shimelle has asked us to think today about how much of our life we want to share online.   It’s an interesting topic,   I am a fairly open book online,  I don’t like to live in fear and tend to believe that as long as you are reasonably sensible it’s no more dangerous posting on a blog or forum than it is to have your photo in the newspaper.    Then again,  I’m not a ‘celebrity blogger’ with 1000s of people following my every word.   I read a couple of celebrity blogs (by which I mean the bloggers have become online celebrities,  not that they are celebrities who blog),   some of these blogs get 1000s of comments and there are 10s of 1000s of people reading there every word.   I would probably feel differently if I was in that situation,   and as unlikely as it is,  I suppose they all started out as small bloggers and once you have put the information out there you can never take it back.

However,  I digress…..

The one thing I am aware of,  is I tend to blog/share the positive and keep the negative to myself.  I just never really thought it would make an interesting post to say ‘Had a crap day today and shouted at my kids’  so I don’t post that sort of stuff.   Which does mean that there are a lot of days when I don’t have much to say,  because unfortunately I have those kinds of days rather too often at the moment.   I am finding it hard to be the parent of a nearly teen, and I don’t seem to be handling it as well as I’d like.

On a more positive note,   in the past I have organized a number of Scrapbooking Retreats at a local venue.  When I spoke to them last year they told me they could no longer accommodate us,  so I haven’t held one this year.  I have been really wanting to get away for a retreat shortly,  so I decided to call them again and see if they would be willing to change their policy,  and the person I spoke to said it was not a problem and we could again hire the venue.   I am so pleased,  we have always had a lovely time there, and I really couldn’t think of an alternative venue that would work as well.  So now I have a bit of organising to do, and then a lovely weekend to look forward too

This photograph is off the first retreat which was very very cold!  We are all sitting scrapping in our coats and gloves.  Fortunatly,  since then the heating has been upgraded in the centre  so it is much warmer,  but it does make me  smile to think of us all sitting there shivering!

I am taking an online class run by Shimelle, I am hoping it will inspire me to blog more often and do a little bit of scrapbooking too. I love the idea of blogging and scrapbooking, but I don’t do either as often as I’d like, so I intend to change that in the next few weeks.

One unexpected side effect is all the class members are sharing their blogs and I am finding all sorts of interesting and fascinating posts and ideas.  I’ve added a new sidebar where I will link anything interesting I find.  Straight away I’ve seen this amazing wreath on http://doublehdesign.blogspot.com/2009/11/tis-season.html I have a roomful of papers so i quite fancy having a go at this.

Now, onto the photograph, last weekend we went down to the lighthouse for a walk. Unfortunatly, the clocks had gone back and by the time we got down there it was starting to get dark. We had a quick walk across the causeway, and then as we walked back we saw the coloured lights on the lighthouse. It looked amazing.

I only had my pocket point and shoot and it doesn’t do well in low light situations, but with the aid of a handy bin and the timer, I managed to get one non-blurry shot which I am really pleased with.

Once upon a time I was a programmer and spent all day engrossed in lines of code.  But those days are long gone and it’s quite a few years since I’ve spent days lost in the code.

However,  i was determined to find a way to jazz up this blog, and discovered that it is possible if you use the Sandbox theme and CSS code.   I don’t know CSS code but I hate to be stumped,   so I found a skin that sort of worked and then hacked it apart to make it work the way I want too.  I will credit the designer, but she might not be too happy with the hack job I’ve done too it!!

Nevertheless,  I am chuffed to have achieved something I wanted too,  and I’ve quite enjoyed delving into the code – I know I am a geek at heart.

I started with the idea that I wanted to use a House of 3 Blog Background,  and found the Hourglass  theme which worked for me with a little tweeking.

OK,  enough geek talk.   The reason for wanting to jazz up the blog is I am taking an online class ‘Blogging for Scrapbookers’ so hopefully there will be lots of posts in the next few weeks.

Day 15 – the very very last day…..

I don’t sleep at all,  I am cold and hot and bothered and wake up with a sore throat and feeling ropey.  I think my body knows it’s going back to England today.   Despite packing yesterday,  I still seem to have an awful lot of packing to do and it takes us a while to get everything in the bags.  We end up with 5 big bags and a myriad of carryon bags and assorted junk.   I spend ages trying to convince the girls they don’t need 14 colouring books on the plane,  but they are adament they are all essential.

Next trip I am definitely travelling light…… (Yes,  I do say that every time).

We decide to check in at Downtown Disney,   well I decide,  Phil objects that it’s $40 that could be better spent,  and well,  I over-rule him.  Somedays it works like that (and somedays it doesn’t)…..   I just wanted to be rid of all the bags,  they were feeling cumbersome.   We had bell services bring the bags down to the car,  and amazingly they all went into the boot,  for a small car this has a huge boot.   Although,  It was quite funny as they were shoving the cases into the car Molly starts yelling,  her seat wasn’t properly locked and they were coming through into the passenger compartment!   We fixed the seat and still managed to get them all in however,  so all was good.

We drove around to Virgin’s check-in.  It’s quite a few years since we did this,  and now you have to park across the road,  not a problem for normal people but we don’t have wheels on many of our bags since we bought them in the dark ages and they refuse to break.   We did manage to get everything across the street in one piece but I made another vow I am sure I will break – new cases with wheels for the next trip.  Preferably those nice cases with 4 wheels that seem to walk themselves along.  yes,  that will do nicely.

As we are waiting to check in,  they are calling over passengers flying to Gatwick.  It seems the flight is cancelled.   I didn’t catch what they were offering the passengers in way of compensation,  but they all headed off with their cases and 24 hours to kill.  I know it sounds lovely to have an extra day,  but honestly noone looked very happy.

We were checked in and our bags were weighed.  the Lady at the scales laughed as we had loads of bags but they were really light – one was full of cushions,  it looked really stuffed full but there was hardly anything in it,   she was most amused.

All checked in,  and our pre-assigned seats completely disregarded,   and we are free for most of the day.   We decide to visit Animal Kingdom,  so drive over and park in Dinosaur.

We are in a fairly relaxed mood and not bothered about hitting the big rides,  I head into Guest Services first and get ADR for Tusker House, and then  we do lots of character meets,   we go over to Camp Minnie Mickey and the Lion King show is in full swing so it’s really quiet .   We meet everyone,  Minnie,  Mickey, Goofy and Daisy Duck.

After all this character interaction it’s time for lunch,  so we head around to Tusker House.

This was fabulous,  the main dining hall is massive and noisy but we were in a small side room with just 3 tables in it,  so it was nice and quiet and secluded.  The food was lovely and we all went back for more many times.   It was all going very well until the waitress brought out the bill and reminded me that gratuity was not included in a really snotty way.   I felt like removing her tip altogether,  but we had enjoyed the meal so she still got her tip.   just.

It’s just about time for the Lion King show so we raced around there,  and just managed to squeeze into the last row.  It must be quiet today as the last row wasn’t very far back at all, and I manage to get one or two decent photos.

The Nemo show started just before the Lion King show ended,  and the next show wasn’t for 2 hours,  so we sadly decide we will have to miss Nemo and head out of the park.   I pop into the shops to spend the infamous giftcard,  whilst Molly goes to see Lilo and Stitch.   Whilst she is there the Photopass photographer asks her where her sister is,  she had recognised Molly from earlier in the day.

I found a nice black t=shirt with Walt Disney World in rhinestones,  and Katie finds a pink t-shirt with Mickey on it,  so we make some final purchases and then head out of the park.

When we get into the car,  the car is showing 109F,   no wonder we were hot.

It’s about 3pm and our flight isn’t until 8.40  so we still have plenty of time to kill,   so I suggest something radical…. More shopping.

we drive upto the Florida Mall and pop into Target.   I thought I’d heard of nice laptop bags in Target but they just had the normal black ones,   however we found the girls some nice shoes,  Katie got pink Converse and Molly some new trainers which have laces.

I make one last stop into Scrappy Boutique and manage to buy a couple of albums and then we head over to the airport.

At the airport we change into warmer clothing and take a look at the shops.  I am after some crocs but I don’t like the new styles they are offering.   We have a bit of tea in the food court and then it’s off to the gate.

We had a short wait at the gate,  which I passed by Dibbing.  Apparently someone else was Dibbing from the gate too, but I didn’t spot them.

The flight home was long and boring.  We had a 3 and a 1,  so I sat alone for a little while and watched Angels and Demons,   but then it got late and Molly couldn’t settle so I moved back and sat in between Molly and Katie.   They both fell asleep across me,  so I just sat pinned into my seat for a few hours.

It all gets rather boring and mundane now,   we collect our bags,  and I again vow to buy new wheeled cases,   and then call to get our car delivered.   We can’t find our mobile phones so we have to use a call box,  I haven’t used a call box in years!   We seem to wait a little while for the car,  but it does arrive eventually and apparently it started first time,  which was a relief as it can be a little tempermental.

It’s a long drive home,  up the M6 and we once again discuss the merits of Newcastle airport,  it seems we alternate,  we fly from Newcastle one year, and then the next we decide to go for the cheaper option  and then on the long trip home we remember why its so much nicer to fly from Newcastle.

Home at 2pm,   so it’s been a very long journey but it’s been a great holiday and will be long remembered.    We don’t know when we will be back,  but already we are talking about 3 weeks instead of too – the idea being that we will be able to take a slower pace.    We shall see…..

After our very long and late night,  we have a slow start to the morning.  We want to go into Epcot later because Katie wants to do more Kim Possible missions and we haven’t seen Illuminations properly,   but first we just chill out,  and then after 5 minutes of that I make them all go shopping.

I have done very little shopping on this holiday and I am determined to rectify that.   I make up a short list of stores I want to visit,  and make Phil drive me to them.  First stop is Joann’s on the 192 where I am after some craft things.  I had a 40% off coupon  and was hoping to buy a tote  for my scrapbooking things,  but they didn’t have anything I fancied,  so I bought some papers and then at the last minute I picked up a Cuttlebug.  I;ve been wanting one for ages, but they are a bit pricey.  i decide if I can use my 40% off then it will be reasonably priced.  The lady at the till can’t decide if I can use my coupon,  but eventually decides I can.  Then she rings the machine through and it comes up with a sale price,   so I can’t use the coupon in the end,  but the sale price is pretty good,   so I decide to get it or I will kick myself later.   Phil is muttering about the weight of the bags,  and the amount of craft stuff I already own,  but I know how to ignore mutterings when I need too

After Joanns I go over to Lane Bryant which is in the same carpark,   this time I leave Phil and the girls in the car and shop alone,   much better plan!   I am after some jeans and work trousers.  I bought work trousers here last trip and have lived in them ever since,  but I didn’t find any today.  I did however find some jeans and was really pleased with them.  I would have bought a few pairs but they only had one colour in my size.   Painfully aware the kids were waiting in the car,  I just took the jeans and left without trying anything else on.

Next stop,  Michaels,  another craft shop,   still no totes here either,   and I have a feeling I left with nothing.   Which is unheard off!  Actually,  I must have bought something as I can remember using my coupon – I think it was 2 sheets of stickers!

Across the street from Michaels is Bed, Bath and Beyond.  Katie has recently had her bedroom decorated and I am hoping to find her a ‘room in a bag’ set to complete the look.  For some reason I thought BB&B was quite a posh store,  something akin to Pottery Barn,  so when I walked in and it was piled high with boxes of Kitchen stuff I thought I must have walked into the wrong store.

What a strange place,  it’s like a B&Q for housewares,  and they had every single one of those random ‘only for sale on tv’ things that you never knew you needed.

Once i got over my shock,  I quite liked it, and could probably have bought loads of random stuff I didn’t need,  but I focused, and found Katie who had found some bedlinen.  Pink & green bedlinen for her new lilac bedroom.   She was in love with the bedding and was not going to be detered by the slight issue of it not matching her bedroom.  I searched around for something lilac instead but there was nothing as nice,  so we left with this.

I had my eye on some towels as well,  but Phil was muttering about cases again,  so I had to leave the towels behind.

Still hoping for a tote,  and an album for Molly,  we make one last stop – I know this really is the last one as the kids (and Phils) patience for shopping is wearing thin.  Earlier in the week we had spotted a scrapbook store near publix,   so we go back there.   It’s quite small,  but they have some nice cruise papers  so I buy a couple of sheets,  and also some cool laser die-cuts that say Hollywood Studios and Epcot,  etc.

That’s the boring shopping done, and it wasn’t particularly successful but at least I got my jeans which was my most important purchase.     We head back to WDW and make a stop at Downtown Disney.   Molly still has $60 on her gift card so we took her to Once upon a Toy.   She is really not sure what she wants,  but she likes the look of the My Little Pony,  so we stuff a box full,  we get 2 ponies in there and every possible kind of princess hat, skirt, shoe etc  that they have.  She also buys some Mickey Dominoes and a set of Princess rings.   I think she spent $40,  so she still has $20 to spend.

We had lunch at Earl of Sandwich, which was very nice and quite reasonable,   I had to laugh at the menu though,  they have all these specific sandwiches listed but for kids it’s just PB&J  or Turkey and Swiss.  I ask a CM if we can make substitions and he says we can order anything we like,  so the kids get Ham and Cheddar which is rung through the till as Turkey and Swiss, hold the Turkey, hold the Swiss,  Add Ham, Add Cheddar.   I had a hot roast beef which was lovely,  and Phil had a Club which was enormous.   It was all very nice, and I really enjoyed it.

More shopping ensued,  with Molly attempting to buy something with her last $20 but she really wasn’t about to be parted with it for anything less than the ‘perfect’ thing and nothing really took her fancy.

Eventually we gave up and went back to the hotel for a nap.   I tried to pack and everyone else just flakes out.  Phil was keen to go into Epcot at 4,  but the fireworks weren’t until 9 so I felt we could leave it a while longer,  so he took the girls swimming whilst I finished all the packing.   We came out with 2 cases and are returning with 5.  To be fair,  one of them has a cuttlebug and 2 cushions in it,  and the other is full of bedding and nothing else,  so it’s really only 3 proper cases.  At least that’s what I am telling myself.

The half hour quick swim they are having takes about 2 hours,  but eventually they return to the room and we head out to Epcot for 6.30,   Katie really wants to do Kim Possible and I am quite worried it will have closed for the evening,  but there is a station near the entrance and we manage to get an appointment (like  a fastpass) for 7.15 in Norway.

We walk around to Norway via Japan where we stop for some tea,   the counter service place here is lovely and we all have Teriyaki Chicken and rice.  After tea,  we go into the Japanese store and Molly decides to buy a Hello Kitty cushion with the last of her money.  I am so pleased she’s finally decided on something.  I take it up to the till and am informed we can’t use the Birthday gift card in this store,  so it’s up to Mummy to buy the cushion,  and now I am the proud owner of a $20 Disney gift card.  It’s the card that can’t be spent….   It’s a long walk to Norway and I keep remembering the bus driver telling us it’s 3 miles around that lake!   But we do get there eventually and our sent on a mission to save the world in China.

We have rarely entered the Chinese pavilion,  so it was quite interesting to go inside and take a closer look.  I was fascinated by the display of pottery soldiers.

We had to solve a number of clues,  which wasn’t really very hard as there were a lot of kids doing KP challenges,  so you just had to look for the other teams to work out where to go next.  Regardless,  the effects are clever and the kids enjoyed it so much they fancied another one,   so we headed over to Mexico for a final challenge.  This was all inside the pavilion,  so nice and cool as well.   We were not offered a further challenge after Mexico so I think KP must stop running around 8pm.  We took a ride on the Donald ride, (and had to queue! for at least 3 minutes,  but really a proper queue,  I should have taken a picture)   and then we went outside,  where it was dark.   Molly couldn’t quite comprehend that it had been light when we went inside and it was dark now.

We want to watch Illuminations,  and preferable from near the International Gateway so we can leave shortly afterwards.   We are quite late so there aren’t a lot of good spots and everytime we see a potential spot there is a massive tree blocking the view.   Phil is all for taking a tree-blocked spot,  but I am on a mission to find ‘the perfect spot’,   and remember reading about the garden behind the Fish and Chip shop.   We get there just before 9 and it’s pretty crowded so I think I’ve blown it,  but then I notice that at the railing there is a little path off to the left that doesn’t really go anywhere,  and there is space down there, in fact there’s a lot of space,  I think it’s quite secluded and most people don’t even realise you can go there.  We really have scored the most perfect view,  it’s almost the same view as from the Rose and Crown but lower to the water.

There is a wall to our left but the action is all in front of us so the wall doesn’t really block anything.   I was very pleased and felt a little like we’d cheated,  you aren’t supposed to be able to walk up at 5 to 9 and find a great view.  But we did.

The fireworks are great,  and I am sad that we have to go home,  but as the bellboy later tell us,  if you don’t go home then it becomes your job,  and then you really do wish you could leave….  I can almost see his point.

We take the boat back to our room,   and head off to bed.

Day 13 – Molly’s birthday

We really want to see teh Fairies today, and Toontown opens at 10 o’clock,  so I allow everyone a lie-in as long as we are at Toontown by 10.   Yeah,   right!    Everyone sleeps in,  then we have to open the presents,  get ready etc.

We finally leave the room just before 10 and walk down to the bus stop.  There is a CM at the stop who says he has requested a bus for MK but it takes quite a while to arrive.  Whilst we wait,  they have games out for the kids to play with. When we get to the park,  we have to go to the Will Call gate to collect Molly’s birthday gift card. As a result, it’s nearly 11 before we get to Magic Kingdom.   This was not the plan!

Molly decides she wants to do Tomorrowland Transit Authority which is supposed to be reopening today,   so we start to walk around to Tomorrowland when we hear the music starting for the street show.   We end up watching the show for about 20 minutes and then on the way around to TTA we stop for a photo in front of the castle,   so it’s around 11.30 when we get to Tomorrowland.  Unfortunately,  the TTA is still closed,   but Buzz is a 10 minute wait,  so we decide to do that.   After Toy Story Mania and our awesome scores there,   we are a bit rubbish at Buzz.

Whilst we are riding, I look at my watch and realise something fairly important,   we are supposed to be at the Crystal Palace for an 11.30 lunch,  and it’s 11.35 already,   so we save the universe and then dash straight over for lunch.   They seat us fairly quickly and fortunately, don’t chastise us for being late,   it’s about 11.45 before we get there so we are quite late.

As it’s Molly’s birthday,  I had ordered a Goodie Bag for the table, and they have it all nicely decorated with Mickey Glitter and Streamers and the bag is waiting for us.  It’s pretty much all tat but Molly thinks it’s fantastic,  there is a party hat,  a fancy straw,   some magnets and a colouring book,  all in a nice canvas bag.

All the characters came around to visit, and they all made a big fuss off Molly,  in fact 100s of people wish Molly Happy Birthday today.  She seems to forget she is wearing the Birthday Button and just wonders how everyone knows it’s her birthday.

The food here was really good,   amongst many many other things, I had some Salmon which was delicious,  I went back for seconds and then thirds.

When we were finished eating,  they brought out a cupcake for Molly,    Molly being Molly immediately cut it into quarters so we could each have a piece of birthday cake.    It was very nice cake as well.

Lunch was $90 + tip (now that Katie is 11 we have to pay adult prices for her, which rather increases the cost of the buffets,  however,  I really enjoyed the food in here which lessens the blow considerably)

After lunch we walked over to Toontown Fayre to see about those Fairies,   the queue was 75 minutes which is about 60 minutes longer than I was prepared to wait,  so we agreed to try again later,  and went into Minnies house instead.  Minnie wasn’ there,   she was visiting Mickey,   so we toured through his house and then met them both in the Judges Tent.   Molly was pleased because Minnie was wearing her ‘proper’ dress,   we have met Minnie before but she’s been wearing the wrong clothes and Molly really wanted to see the Red and White spotty minnie.

Minnie was thrilled to see Molly’s dress,  and showed her how to hold it for her photograph.

The girls decided they would like to see the Princesses next,  this was a 40 minute wait but they said,  yes,  they would do it.  It was actually much shorter than that,  I think about 15 minutes and then we met Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and Belle.

Molly spends a while in the shop here trying to spend her giftcard.   She really doesn’t have any idea what to buy,  I suggest a princess dress, btu she’s already got them all (sadly this is true),   the only thing she fancies is a charm bracelet,  so she buys an elastic string and some beads for the grand total of $7,  she still has $60 to spend.  Just as she finishes her purchases,  some music starts playing and they are dancing in the shop,  they are doing ‘Cha Cha Slide’  one of the ‘rink songs’ which they both know well,  so they are straight in there dancing along.   It’s good fun and they are given a Magical Moment certificate after the dance.

It’s hot now, and I want to sit in the cool,  so we do Mickey’s Philharmagic.   They come on the tannoy and repeatedly ask everyone to move all the way to the end of the aisle,  and it’s pretty busy today so they really do need to move down,   except of course for the people sitting slap bang in the middle of our row,  apparently that instruction didn’t apply to them.  We all had to push past them,  and they sat looking annoyed that we were disturbing them to get past.

After the show,  Molly wants to do Dumbo  and it’s Molly’s birthday,  so we do Dumbo,  there is a queue but it’s not too bad considering,  I think it was about 15 minutes.

We are ready for a snack, so we wander down Main St. to the Bakery,  and I spot Toll House Ice Cream cookies on the menu.  They used to sell these with the Mickey Bars but they don’t anymore,  so I order one.   However,  this isn’t a packaged cookie ice cream,   this is the real deal.  The waiter takes 2 fresh chocolate chip cookies and puts loads of gorgeous vanilla ice cream in the middle to make a sandwich.

It was devine.

After we have revived a little,  we head down to the Chaperau to see if we can get Katie’s Mickey Ears embroidered.  She bought them on the Cruise Ship and they don’t do embroidery on the ship.   We have to wait quite a long time as the customer in front is trying to return an embroidered item and the manager has to come down.

After the manager has sorted out the return,  she starts talking to us and wishes Molly a happy birthday.   She asks the girls to come around to the sweetie shop (which she also manages),  and gives them both birthday marshmellow treats (dipped in chocolate and sprinkles).  Then she asks them if they will come back later to be the Chefs of the Day.   Of course,  we agree.

Our plan had been to look in the Main Street shops for something for Molly,  but we totally forget to go into the shops in the excitement,  and we get on the train for Adventureland,    we have to go and visit The Pirates!  This is one of my favorite rides,  I don’t know why as it’s quite cheesy but I always enjoy it.  On the way out,  the girls decide to ride the Flying Carpets and it’s got a very short queue  so on we jump.  We seem to have a dodgy carpet though as we can’t control it at all.

As we are walking out of Flying Carpets,  Molly spots the Jungle Cruise and asks what it is,  I reply a ‘very long line’  but it turns out not to be too bad,  so we go ahead and ride this.   We have quite a good CM and the jokes are most definitely groaners,  but it’s good fun,  in fact Molly declares it much better than the AK safari.

We have fastpasses for Peter Pan so we walk around there (and we may well have had a quick ride on IASW as well),   and whilst we are waiting for Peter Pan I see someone that looks familiar.  I can’t quite place her, and think maybe she was on her flight or staying in our hotel,   when I realise I recognise her husband and it is some friends of ours from quite a few years ago.   The last time I saw them they had just had a baby,  and the baby is now 6!   They see me staring at them and we do that ‘Oh My God, fancy seeing you here thing’ very briefly as they are about to step onto a moving platform to fly over London.  We are on the ride not long after but barely see it as we are chatting about what a strange coincidence.

When we get off the ride,  our friends are waiting at the exit so we stand and catch up with them for a little while.  Eventually we say goodbye,  and we walk back down to Sweet Shop on Main Street for the Chef of the Day experience.

Whilst we are waiting for the manager,  we stand and watch them make these enormous rice krispy cakes,  they are massive and the chef did tell me how many pounds of rice crispies were in the bowl – I think she said 17lbs per batch.

the manager comes out and kits the girls up with hats and aprons and then they are given a rice krispie treat to decorate,  they have melted chocolate,  sprinkles and m&ms to put on it.  They work really hard at getting it ‘just right’,  and then they are put in the fridge to harden for a few minutes before being presented with them to take home.

After all the excitement of baking,  we decide to give those elusive fairies another try.  We get the train around to ToonTown fair,  and check the queue but it still says 60 minutes and the CM says it really is that long,   so the girls decide not to bother as it’s getting late and they would miss the parade.

They have a little play in the kiddy playarea, although really they are both too big and then we walk back to the Carousel whilst everyone rides except for me who sits for a while.  My feet are really aching at this point.

It’s nearly time for Spectromagic,  so we walk down Main Street looking for a spot,  I really want to watch the fireworks from near the gates so we can make a quick getaway afterwards,  and we end up watching the parade from right near the gates where it starts.  I try, for the 7th trip running,  to get some decent photos,   and once again I fail.  Even using the trashcan as a tripod.

After the parade is over,  my feet are done and I really don’t think I can stand any longer.   We had actually booked the Wishes Dessert Party earlier in teh week and then cancelled it as it seemed expensive,  but right now I would pay a lot of money for a chair.   A lot of people seem to leave after Spectro and the crowds really disappate,  which manage to get a spot near the flagpole in the centre of the island and Phil and the kids sit on the ground and wait there.   I go and find a bench near the loo and sit there for 20 minutes trying to feel my feet again!

I rejoin the family for Wishes and we have a superb view,  this is a really good spot.  After they are over,  then we head quickly out of the park and to the bus stop,   I don’t fancy a long wait for a bus at all,  but we are in luck and manage to get seats on the first bus.    the bus driver is quite amusing and tells us her life story and various anecdotes,  she tells us at the Boardwalk that she kept talking all the way home so that we didn’t fall asleep.

We are really dragging out feet back to the room, but we have one more important task to do,    Molly hasn’t had her birthday cake yet.

I have also failed to buy matches, so we get out the cake,  look at it,  pretend to blow out the candles and then fall into bed.  A very very long day.

Day 12 – Epcot

The days are really slipping by quickly now,   and Phil and I are both thinking we need a 3 week trip next time (when next time will be is anyone’s guess…..)  There are just so many things we want to do and not enough hours in the day.

We are all quite tired this morning and really want to sleep late,   however,  we also want to ride Soarin,  and Katie really wants to tackle a Kim Possible mission,   so I rouse the troups.  Molly in particular is not keen on waking up,  in fact,  she is like a dead slug,   but we do eventually manage to get them up and dressed,  heck,  they even bathe which is quite an achievement.   We have some breakfast in the room,  cinnamon toast,  bagels,  cookies,  nutritious stuff to set us up for the day,  and then we head over to Epcot.   It’s raining,  periodically quite hard,  and then it stops,  and then drizzles,  it really doesn’t know what to do with itself.   I debate buying a poncho but decide that in WDW you are never more than 3 feet from a shopping kiosk selling ponchos,  so I will risk it.  The girls both have raincoats so they wear those.   We take the ferry over and it arrives just as we get to the dock,  which is the kind of timing I like to have.    The boat goes directly to Epcot and very shortly we are attempting to enter the park,  and once again Katie and I have trouble with our tickets.  I don’t think we’ve entered a park smoothly yet this trip.   It’s all resolved quickly and we are allowed in,  but it is most strange as we’ve never had any problems with tickets in the past.

As we enter the park,  we see a Kim Possible recruitment station,   so Katie is straight over to request a mission.   We are assigned a mission in Italy at 11.15,   It’s not long after 9,   so we have plenty of time to do Soarin’,    we walk around through England and Canada and I suggest that we try the new O’Canada film later in the day as I’d heard it was very good.    We walk through the rose garden and stop and chat with the gardener who is tending to the roses.  She tells us that she starts work at 4.45am!   but at least she is finished by 12.    She gives us all a rose while we talk to her, and then we head of towards Soarin’ with our roses.    We decide to send Phil in for the fastpasses,  and we wait on a bench for him.   He phones me a few minutes later to say the standby line is only 10 minutes,   so we walk into the Land and meet him,   and walk straight onto Soarin’,   there was barely any queue at all,  the 10 minute was basically the time it takes to walk up to the show.    It is a great show, and we all really enjoy it.   I am afraid of heights but this doesn’t bother me at all,  I find it quite relaxing,  which is bizarre as I asked the cast member how high we really go and he tells me it’s 40 feet.   As we are exiting the show,  Molly asks if we can ride again.   Phil magically produces fast passes for 10 minutes time,  so we take a short bathroom break and then we are straight back onto the ride.   This time I am sat next to a lady who is really scared of heights,  and her family are teasing her that she won’t like it,   but she loves it.  As soon as it takes off she starts laughing and saying how fantastic it is,   it really adds to the ride to hear her experiencing it for the first time.

We once again land back on earth and head out of The Land.  We are headed over to Test Track to collect some fastpasses,   on the way we pass the Character Connection and I hear myself  promise that we will return later.   We pop into MouseGear as Katie wants to get her Pirate Ears embroidered,  but unfortunately they don’t do embroidery at MouseGear.  Whilst we are shopping,  Phil collects the fastpasses.    It’s nearly time for our mission,  so we head over to World Showcase.   The fastest route appears to be a boat to Italy but just as we approach the dock it sails away,   so we resort to walking.   We walk straight through Mexico, Norway and China,  no time for dilly dallying,  we have the world to save!   When we get to Italy,    we find the Kim Possible station and are given a mission.

We have to go to Japan and save the world from some evil robot babies.   The Kimmunicator gives us instructions,   and without giving too much away,    we make a bit of magic happen,  all around Japan,  and eventually find the robot baby and save the planet.     We all really enjoyed this,  so we opted to do another mission in France.   This involved blocking a transmission from the Eiffel Tower,   and rather cleverly our photograph was taken from the Eiffel Tower and displayed on our telephone,   sorry,  Kimmunicator….  Whilst the kids are saving the world,  I make a small detour to buy an eclair.  Well,  when in France,  right?

Still keen,   we head over to a final mission in England,    this is the cleverest one yet,   I can’t claim to understand the plot,  something about golf taking over the world,   but some pretty cool things happen all over the area,  all right under the other tourists noses but obviously this is a secret mission so we make sure we aren’t seen.

The third mission over,   and we decide on a mission of a different kind,   we head inside to see Pooh,  Tigger and Eeyore.   The girls get photos and autographs,  including a photo with all 3 characters at once,  I am hoping that turns out well.

It’s almost time for lunch,  but we have a little time,  so we ride the Figment ride.   As usual there is no queue,   I am wondering if there is ever a queue for this?  Although to be fair,  the park is very quiet today but even on busy days I’ve never queued for Imagination.    This is a run ride,  and we spend a little time playing in the Kodak area afterwards,   and then we walk over to the Coral Reef for lunch.  This is my most anticipated meal of the holiday,  and therefore,  I should know what is going to happen,  right?   We are seated quickly and have a nice table in the middle tier with a good view of the aquarium.   It starts out ok,   Phil has the corn chowder,  I have the lobster bisque and Katie orders corn chowder as well,   however they bring her lobster bisque.  this isn’t a huge problem as they bring her a bowl of chowder and I get to eat 2 bowls of lobster bisque which is absolutely delicious.   Molly have carrot sticks for her starter.  The kids menu here is particularly poor and the only starter choices for kids are veggies sticks or soup.

Before we have finished our starters,  the main courses arrive.  This has only happened to me once before at WDW and I find it incredibly rude.   It really makes you feel they are pushing you out of the door as quickly as possible.   The food is delivered,  and I discover my biggest mistake,  I had ordered ribs,  at least I thought I had ordered ribs but it turned out to be some sort of braised  steak short rib,  and it really wasn’t very nice.   In fact,  it was horrible.   The waitress did offer to bring me another meal ,but by that point everyone had nearly finished eating and I just wanted to leave the restaurant so I didn’t bother.   Phil had Mahi Mahi which he said was ok but he didn’t rave about it,  and both girls have meaty pasta which frankly looked like a school dinner.   I was really not a happy bunny.

I decided to have dessert to try and cheer myself up,   and ordered the Wave which gets rave reviews,  and to be fair,  it was delicious.   Phil had a Bailey’s and Chocolate Mousse which he also loved,  and the kids had make your own sundaes which they also enjoyed.    So basically the starters and desserts were lovely  but the main courses were disappointing,  mine particularly so.  I think it’s mostly my fault for not reading the menu properly,  I presumed ribs meant ribs,   and didn’t even register the word braising,  but it was really braising steak which I don’t particularly care for anyway.   At $100 it was our most expensive meal of the holiday,   which made it all the more disappointing.

After lunch it was time for our Test Track fastpass,  so we headed around there and walk straight in with the fastpasses.  Katie has ridden this before but not for a long time,  and Molly has never been tall enough before,   so it was a fairly new experience,  it’s certainly new that all 4 of us can go on a ride together.   Katie is a little bit nervous in the briefing room when they describe all the tests,  but she gets in the car with no bother and we are off.  I end up in the middle seat which only has a lap belt,  that adds a certain degree of terror to the ride!   It’s a good ride and we all love it,  I glance back at one point and Molly is laughing her head off,   she seems to like the speed test!  As we leave the ride,  they are showing ride photos but ours never appears.  I am a bit disappointed as this is one photo you can add to your Photopass card,   but the CM sends me round to another desk and they are able to retrieve it and we add it to our card.

it’s now time to leave the park as we need to do some shopping,  apparently someone has a birthday tomorrow,  although we keep teasing her that it’s just an ordinary Thursday,  but she is not daft and she knows it’s her birthday.  She’s quite worried as we haven’t bought any presents yet.    and as she keeps informing me,  it’s not a birthday without presents.  I just keep telling her it’s an ordinary Thursday,  she’s not amused.

On the way out,  Molly gets completely drenched in a water fountain,   Katie opts to sit on the bench and watch.  I’m kind of disappointed,  Katie’s always played in these fountains in the past,  but I guess she’s getting too sensible for such silliness these days.

We get the boat back to the boardwalk,   and go up to our room to change Molly and have a rest.   To be honest,  I could use a nap and a lazy evening,  but it really is Molly’s birthday tomorrow and we must do some shopping.

First stop is Premium Outlets,   We are most confused when we get here,   it’s about twice as big as the last time we visited!   We don’t want to spend hours here,  so make a quick list of must visit stores,  and go into the Character Warehouse first.  I’d hoped for a few bits for Molly’s birthday but don’t really see anything she’d like.  They do have some nice Cruise t-shirts  and I am tempted  but decide I’d probably not wear them at home so they stay behind as well.  In fact,  we leave with nothing.

I stop into the Bass shop next, and they are having a massive sale,  everything is 50% off and then somethings are 50% off the 50% off price.   There were a lot of confused customers!   I went in for a pair of shoes but came out with a handbag,   it’s lovely leather and was $30 reduced from $60,  I thought for £20ish  it was a real bargain.

We check out Eddie Bauer but buy nothing,  and then round to the Crocs shop,  this is the main reason for visiting Premium Outlets,  my Scutes are about 5 years old and they have gone all soft and floppy so I want a new pair.   Unfortunately I am informed Scutes have been discontinued.  They have lots of really random shoes,  high heels,   proper shoes with canvas tops,   walking sandals,   but they only have a few pairs of Scutes and they are mostly size 11s or bright red,   so I leave without any crocs.      I am quite disappointed,   I have lived in my Scutes for the past few years and really wanted a new pair.

Katie pops into Claires and buys herself an earring holder,  and then we head out of the Premium Outlet and down to Walmart.  As we walk in I suggest that Phil and Molly go shopping and Katie and I go shopping,   Phil tells me he doesn’t need anything.   I give him a quick glare,  and remembers he wanted to look at some t-shirts,   so with Molly out of the way Katie and I head back to the Toy Department.  It’s really pathetically small and I’m a bit gutted,  I am sure we have seem much bigger Walmart Toy departments in the past,  but that was possibly closer to Christmas.    We do managed to find a few things we think she will like,   she’s asked for surprises and arty things,  so she gets a lot of arty things including a box of Crayola crayons with over 96 colours in it. I think that’s pretty cool,    I hope Molly agrees.

Katie and I look for a cake in the Bakery section,  they have quite a few but they are mostly enormous and very sickly looking,  however they have a couple of very small cakes and we find one with Hannah Montana on it,  so we get that.  I think it will meet with her approval.

We manage to get it back into the car without her seeing,  and head back to the Boardwalk with a small detour to Denny’s for tea.

Once at the Boardwalk,  I stop at the Concierge desk to ask for a Birthday Badge,   or course Molly being Molly will not go away,   so she keeps appearing to see what I am doing.   The CM is most amused by her.

We get back to the room,  and Phil puts Molly to bed in our bed,  whilst Katie and I wrap presents and hang some birthday banners.   Apparently,  tomorrow is not just an ordinary Thursday after all.