May 11th, Part 2
We were on the fifth floor, which made zero sense but okay
I just LOVE these rooms!
Of course, we just had to turn on the headboard and listen to the music and watch the fireworks
I've been in a few different rooms here and this type is my favourite. It has a separate little vanity area in front of the closet and it works so well for getting ready in the morning.
We checked out our view, it was about the same view as the last time the three of us stayed here together in 2015.
Standard view but I love it!
The coolest thing was that you could see Black Spire, Galaxy's Edge!
We are very excited about this as all three of us are huge Star Wars fans but we planned this trip so that we could enjoy the parks one last time before the craziness that this new land will bring. We will be back to enjoy it, but it won't be for awhile. Actually, we will probably visit Walt Disney World's version first but we will return here for sure once the initial chaos is over.
We unpacked a little and then headed off to explore.
This sign had a super bright light across the path to light it up. It was so bright that when I accidentally looked into it this first time, it practically blinded me
I made sure to avoid looking into it during the rest of our time here
Under the hat we go.....
Rob is always the last through security. After 8 days, we had this down to a science. I would go through first, just because, well, I like to be first
then Kira would follow because she likes to be first if she doesn't have to talk to anyone, otherwise, she likes to follow me
and then Rob would go last because he always has the most crap and also likes to chat with total strangers. He's one of those people who voluntarily offer strangers his life story and then are best friends after 5 minutes.
This drives me nuts! I want to get through as fast as I can, make no friends and stay in my little introverted shell.
Kira's like me and she often exclaims "Mom! Dad's doing it again!"
I also like to keep this order because I am the photographer and videographer so I like to get a few seconds ahead of them so I can capture certain shots.
I am the planner, trip reporter, photographer AND videographer. I like to lead and I always have a plan and my family know this and count on me for it. ☺
I have two speeds...slow and "Disney." I don't know why I turn into a crazy sprinter at Disney but I do and slow people drive me crazy
I would love to go to Disney often enough to feel like I don't have to make the most of every second I'm there but that's not the case and we're all okay with it. We always manage to do a lot and my uber planning comes in VERY handy.
Oh look, Rob's
still at security
It was even warm enough for him to take off his hoodie
We are total opposites in many ways, which I think is one of the reasons we are still happily married after 20+ years
I always run hot and he always runs cold. I turn the thermostat down and he turns it up.
When packing for this trip, he was asking me what t-shirts he should bring and I'm like "Does it really even matter? No one is ever going to see them anyway!"
Well, I guess he was actually warm enough to just be in a t-shirt here. Don't get used to it though, I don't think you ever see his t-shirt again
I packed shorts and tees, nothing else! I wear capris on the flights because sometimes they blast the air conditioning but otherwise, I didn't pack pants and I only packed one hoodie, which I wore twice maybe.
Kira is kind of in the middle of the two of us but leans more towards Rob's cooler temps.
We were hungry and wanted to eat but they were still serving breakfast and we knew we wanted lunch so we stopped in the stores and perused a little.
Kira was definitely all about the jewelry on this trip. She wanted a new ring and a new necklace but I told her to give it a few days so she can see all of what they have before she decides on something. She was glad she heeded my advice even though she wasn't happy about not spending every cent the second she got it.
We figured out a few trips ago that she does better with a monetary incentive.
So, she has to earn her spending money. She does chores at home but I refuse to pay her an allowance because I think, as part of our household, she needs to understand that taking care of our house and home is just part of being part of this family. I respect a parents' decision to do whatever works best for them and theirs and for us, this is what works.
She gets rather crabby on vacation so a few years ago, we started rewarding her for good behaviour on our trips instead of just giving her some spending money. This has worked out wonderfully for us and although she still has that "teenager attitude" on occasion, the incentive usually keeps the attitude away, which makes for a better trip for all of us.
This trip, we gave a her $25 USD per day earning potential. We gave her $25 to start, as a freebie, just in case she went all crazy and didn't earn anything LOL and then each night, just before bed, we would talk about the day, and if she earned it, we would fork over the cash for her to spend as she wished.
She had a couple of rules...
#1- Mom has veto rights! DUH!
#2 -Stuffy limit of ONE, must be small-ish to fit in suitcase, otherwise she would spend it all on dang stuffies!!
I also would emphasize about thinking very hard about what she bought. To ask herself...am I really going to get use out of this? Is this something I can buy at home? Is it really something I should be buying at
Disneyland?
Sounds harsh maybe but I am trying to teach her, not only the value of a dollar, but also the value of a purchase. There's so many things at Disneyland to buy and trust me when I say, I get it...I want to buy it all! But at the same time, we can't have it all so I try to keep it at smart purchases. She found a necklace and a ring she wanted immediately! She could only get one of them since she only had $25 but I finally convinced her to hold off and see what they had at the parks, that maybe she would find something she like even better. She argued. A lot. But eventually she decided to wait and she was glad she did. That story still to come.
I saw so many things I wanted! I am NOT a shopper (that title goes to my husband
) but when I'm at Disney, I'm like a kid in a candy store...I want it alllllll
There were tons of stuff though that I liked but it was just weird. I don't know who designs this stuff but they need to get rid of most of them.
Take this shirt, for instance...as huge Stitch lovers, we all loved this shirt. And Rob and I might have bought this if it weren't for those odd dark stripey things across it. And well, maybe also get rid of the orange embroidered "Stitch"
And this....ummm.
WHAT!!??
My eyes hurt just looking at it.
Kira would buy the entire wall of stuffies if we let her.
It was finally now lunch time and we were headed for one of my fave...White Water Snacks for my chicken nachos!!!
Remember what I said about Rob being the shopper? Here's an prime example of that for you...and this sums up a lot about us and our marriage...
I saw this Mickey sipper online months ago. I normally do not purchase stuff like this. I (lovingly) yell at Rob when he buys mugs and popcorn buckets on each trip because I know they will just end up on a shelf in my pantry, never to be used again! Total waste of money in my opinion.
However, this Mickey just spoke to me. I debated and debated about getting him and putting him in my office. I ended up NOT getting him because I felt it wasn't the best value and I knew he would take up an enormous amount of space in our suitcase. I'm okay with this decision, I don't regret it and I can live without it.
My husband, seeing me take this photo and seeing me debate about it, proclaims, after only seconds..."Just buy it! And get me a mug too!"
HAHAHA! Totally different
Not only does he get the mug, he also buys his
second chocolate croissant of the day...and it's only 11am people
We ordered our food, found a table and waited for our food.
Kira got the kids chicken strips. Ate every single morsel!
The only thing I had eyes for was my chicken nachos but I knew that they had reimagined them, if you will, and was worried about it. I also wanted to try the burger so Rob and I split the Cali-grilled cheeseburger.
We often would split meals just so we could sample different things. This totally worked out for us.
So, the nachos were good but cold. I think because of the flatter presentation, they don't retain their heat very well because even my first bite was luke-warm. I like hot food so I wasn't super crazy about them. The burger, however, was
divine!! 
It was the total opposite of my nachos...hot! So hot, I almost burned my mouth! The fries were delicious too! We pretty much devoured everything but the nachos. Oh man, I meant to go back and do this again but we ran out of time and never got back.
Making a quick pit stop, I snapped a photo of my kiddo in her natural state...phone-in-face syndrome
My automatic parental response to this is a big eye roll. Having said that, 90% of the time she's in this pose, she is reading fan-fiction so while, ideally I would love for her to not be on her phone so much, I can't complain
too much.
And while I try to encourage her to be more in the moment and enjoy her environment, I think back to when I was 12 and think what would I do if I had an iPhone at that age? I don't think my parents would have ever seen my face
2011 DCL Second sailing of the Dream
2022 Alaska Wonder Cruise
Orange is my least favourite colour AND it totally clashes with Timon!! Why couldn't they have it in grey or black or blue or just about any colour BUT freaking orange???!!! 
Sounds like a FANTASTIC way to spend mother's day!!!! We were jetting off to Cancun for the dd's destination wedding ( which was an awesome trip ) on Mother's day. I couldn't think of a better way to be spending Mother's day than getting on a plane heading to warm sand, water, palm trees and lots of yummy drinks!!!! 
