Luvin the update. Poor Henry on Big Thunder Mountain. I don't blame him for crying. I won't go on coasters at all
I hope Henry grows to love coasters because Joe and I really do. It will be fun to ride with him as he grows up!
I was in a bit of a panic watching Briar Fox go down by the canoes and put on a lifejacket.
I was like Oh Heck No - You can not put a large HEAVY Furry costume in a canoe. What if it tips????
Once I saw the size of the lifejacket I was confident he was just Goofin'.
I had visions of a drowning Briar Fox. In water I cannot see the bottom of.
Can you imagine? That would have been a nightmare! He sure was acting like he was going out though. Remember when they used to send Goofy on skis in Bay Lake though? Goofy would also show up at River Country and go down the slides! (that had to be sooooo cool for the kids)
Your photos are awesome as always! I really need to get into a better habit of looking up. I miss so much.
I understand the Mom of the Year guilt. I "encouraged" my DS to go on TOT when he really didn't want to, but he is one you just never know if he'll like it until he tries. I should've known better.
Isn't walking from park to park the greatest thing?! If one is too busy, that's OK because you can just wander over to the other one.
Disappointed to say DD showchoir will not be headed to NY. Money is a huge factor for many kids in our school district, and they just didn't have enough kids able to afford the trip.
I got in the habit of looking up during college - all my architecture classes! Our professor would DRILL it into us that half the beauty of a building is usually at the top - he was right!
I adored park hopping in
Disneyland! I'm honestly not much of a hopper at WDW because of the time it takes (except Epcot to DHS because I love the boat ride), but in Disneyland it was fantastic!
That stinks about the show choir!
NYC can be a very expensive trip though, I can see why it's a problem. BUMMER!!!!!
You are the meanest mom in the world! !!!!!!
I know!
Great updates! I have got to get back to DLR ASAP!!!
Jill in CO
Thank you! ME TOO!
Don't feel bad, Brook- Henry needs SOMETHING to talk about in therapy when he grows up!
LOL!!!!!!
Ok, so I have a LOT to catch up on...but just wanted to say hi!!
I'm here!
Hello!!!!!!! Thank you for reading!
I have coaxed my dd into trying something (actually just this last trip) and having her absolutely be terrified. I don't think you are a bad mom... sometimes a gentle nudge and our kids find something that they love. My oldest dd would not go on a rollercoaster for anything. Her dad bet her real money she would like it and she took the bet. Now... it could have been one that my dh lost and we would have been horrible for coaxing her... but SHE lost and also won because she LOVES roller coasters and has from that very first one she road.
I like BTMRR in DL a bit better. I think there are more drops?
The canoes crack me up... you have to actually "work" to do them. My dd had a bit of a fit on them.
Love the shop pics!!!
That was my hope. Henry is such a timid kid, he often needs coaxing - like down the tunnel slide at Legoland! Remember that? But, I do think, after that experience, I'll hold off a bit. I will encourage him to do the Barnstormer (which I already know he likes), Test Track and the kiddy water slide at our pool on this coming trip. I know he can handle those! Gotta take baby steps yet!
Too funny about the canoes! I wonder how often they tip?? I think it's a great addition to the park, it really is fun to watch, but it's quite low on my "fun" scale...
Don't feel bad about taking Henry on BTMRR. On our last trip our DD was finally 40" tall and wanted to go on everything!!!! Well that backfired!! DH went to take her on Space Mountain (she wanted to go) but by the time they got to the ride vehicle she was not feeling it and was crying. Needless to say I was already there to take her away before they got on (I had a feeling she wouldn't go). Then my DH did take her on BTMRR. She laughed until they did the first drop! Cried the whole rest of the way. Then I took her on Radiator Springs Racers (similiar to Test Track). She liked it until the race started (the fast part). Cried the rest of the ride. Oh well. Did I feel bad yes but you never kow if they are going to fully like it until you get them on it. And yes we were that family that would take our screaming, crying kids to see the characters cuz we never knew when the breakthrough would happen. Now we have the kids who are running up to them to give them the biggest hugs ever!!!
We also say Hi to Walt every time we walk by the firehouse. Now I have another reason the firehouse will always hold a special place in my heart. Over the New Year (while I was in DL) I lost a freind that I had known since elementary school.
He was a former firefighter and had been teaching classes to our local school.
That is VERY true about taking kids on rides and such. It was my hope he'd have a break through, since he enjoyed Gadget's so much. All well!
That is a great way to remember your friend when you are in Disneyland! You can say hi to Walt and him.
I hate to say that I've coaxed my kids onto rides before and they either came out crying or ran off to a corner and sucked their thumbs. Okay, so I'm exaggerating a little. Seriously, Henry probably got over it much more quickly than you did.
I'm glad I'm not the only guilty Mom here! LOL! Sounds like several of us have done the same! And you are right, I'm sure he was over it sooner than I was. I STILL feel bad. (stinkin' Mommy Guilt!)
Brook -
I think that my last post about New Orleans Square's decorations got buried at the very end of the previous page, right before the page turned, so I'm not sure if you saw it...but I thought of something I wanted to ask you anyway!
If I recall correctly, in looking at DISboards' e-mail alerts/subscription notifications that came through I think I saw that you use SmugMug (or is it Smug Mug?)? The photo links had a SmugMug reference. Do you like SmugMug? Is it worthwhile to join? What are the advantages?
The reason I ask is because I am a longtime Photobucket customer and they have been reworking their website so much lately that it is now full of bugs and very non-user friendly (especially for people who post hundreds or thousands of photos of forums!). They basically forced everyone into a half-finished new website that is missing some key features we all used to use. I am looking for a good replacement, but there are so many image hosting sites that it is hard to decide which ones are best.
One thing I need is the ability to be able to choose a size for uploading multiple photos at once. I don't want my photos to turn out gigantic when I upload, but I also don't want to have to go through and individually resize each photo one by one to get them at the size I normally use. One great feature of the old Photobucket was that we could choose the size we wanted before uploading many pictures at once. However, they do not have that feature working on the new site. So if I can find another image hosting service that has that feature, I will gladly start uploading any new photos there. Does SmugMug have that function?
I'm sorry, I did miss your post!!
I do use SmugMug, it's a paid subscription (I think $40/year?). SmugMug does NOT have the feature to resize your pictures as you upload because it's main function is for professional photographers to showcase their work-either for sale, or for galleries to show clients. You get an unlimited amount of space and can upload videos and pictures. So we use it as a back-up storage for our photos, uploading them in full size. Then you can choose what size you want to share them on message boards and such, and that is all very easy.
I REALLY like SmugMug because it's a solid site that loads very quickly and we have an unlimited amount of space - that's important since we take just a few pictures.
It's worth the price to me and I feel like even if our server fails here at home, we have an online back up. It's really easy to download an entire album too.
I hope that helps, let me know if you have other questions too! If you do go with SmugMug, let me know - if I refer a friend, I can save $5 for next year!
I am a little behind on your TR but I saw the title of the latest update and had to peek! Part of being a great mom or dad is coaxing our little babies into being big kids and expanding their horizons! It's not always going to work out in our favor, but someone's gotta do it! Believe me, I have been on the "Mother of the year! NOT" list myself a time or two (I recall specifically last summer we took dd on a child's roller coaster in Six Flags. She started crying before it took off and got so worked up that she literally threw up on herself. MOM OF THE YEAR, right here, looking to take your trophy! lol
But don't self-bash too hard, even if you had a moment where you felt like YOU made your darling boy sad, you are still the mom that takes him on all of these wonderful adventures and there is a reason that he leans into you for comfort when he is sad or scared! To Henry, you are the best Mommy in the whole entire world.
Thank you for making me feel better! Sounds like quite a few of us have made this list. I have to say, I'm REALLY glad I didn't have throw up to deal with after that ride though!