Maya's Heartsong

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Characters and More Princesses

We walked into Epcot and found a character spot - Wow - the big guys! Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Goofy! The autograph book is a must-have for a couple reasons. First, it gives Maya a reason to approach the character. It also gives her something to do/say to them. Then to top it off, it's great when we get home to remind her of all the characters she met.

What a perfect way to start.

We headed to the World Showcase. We had reservations for Storybook Dining in the Norway Pavilion at Akershus for breakfast with.......ta da....... the PRINCESSES!!!
The restaurant had a buffet for appetizers and then a menu for entree's . The appetizers? Yummmmm! Asparagus *sigh* (I love asparagus!), cheese, fruit, and several types of fish (well, it was Norway, after all). I had the Grilled Vegetable-stuffed Pasta and Wayne had the Open-faced Chicken Sandwich. Other choices were Traditional Kjottkake and Grilled Venison Sausage.

The waiter brought a plate with three amazing desserts and described them all to us. Maya touched the cake - oops. It turned out fine because it was ours, hehehe. The whole plate was our dessert! Wayne chose the Apple Tart with the most delicious vanilla/caramel sauce. Maya and I shared the Rice Cream (a cross of Ice Cream and Rice Pudding) with Strawberry Sauce and the Chocolate Mousse.

The princesses each came to the table to give us their autograph and have a picture taken with Maya. What a cutie! We saw FIVE princesses - Sleeping Beauty, Ariel, Cinderella, Belle and Snow White.

After lunch, on to the other countries. Mexico was familiar territory from all our trips there. We saw Mariachi perform and a lovely cast member at the gift shop, Gina, showed Maya her native dress. The Mexican traditional dress is perfect for dancing and twirling! Like many Cast Members we came to meet on our trip, she was kind, fun and made us feel welcome. Later in our trip, Maya and I returned here and I tasted the churros with cinnamon sauce - delish! The boat ride, inside the exhibit is a nice one too - first time I'd been on that, I think.

My daughter fell in love with Princess Mulan - we had to see her twice! So kind, she spent alot of time and remembered Maya the second time we went to see her. We may never get to see China, so it was very interesting to view the Disney version. They had a large exhibit of the terra cotta soldiers. We also saw a show of Chinese acrobats. I have to say, not my favorite, looks painful to me and my old joints ;)

After we went around to all the countries, we stopped in Mexico at a Kidcot (craft station). The children could make masks. Each country had a specific tag for the children to collect. Maya loved, loved, loved this. We made our way around again and each time Maya got a tag, she would say, "Can we get ANOTHER tag?" She also made a mask for her friend, Brynn. So cute to see her walk up to the Kidcots and say, "Can I have a tag for my friend, Brynn?" Tags:Canada - a dream catcher. France - a hot air balloon with a fleur de lis. Japan - an origami soldier. Norway - a Viking ship. UK - a teddy bear. USA - a rocking horse (the first toy patent in the US). Morocco - a hand.

Maya had her face painted, she chose the "Celebrate" design. So pretty! She received many, many compliments for the rest of the day.

There are many characters at Epcot! This is Princess Jasmine and Aladdin (does that guy have a smile, or what?!)

There was a small area called "Outpost" that had goods from Africa. Maya loved playing the drums and the other musical instruments.

I can't remember which princess, but one gave Maya a big lipstick-y smooch, hehehe.

At Canada, we saw some strange totem pole characters, hehehe.

This group was called, Off Kilter, and made some good music for such an odd-looking collection of guys.

This is the "famous" USA Kidcot stop, where Lamby wandered off.....lost for several countries...
more later.

Beautiful birds like these, egrets?, where everywhere.

We even ran across Annie from Little Einsteins and Meeko from Mulan.

At United Kingdom, we saw Mary Poppins and Pooh and Tigger.

Wayne found these and win the prize for the coolest "hidden Mickey's"!!

Marie was in Paris - beautiful at night.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Magical Day One

Our bags are packed…..and we’re ready to go…….

Grandma saved us $14 x 12 dollars by driving us to the airport - before the crack o’dawn. Grandma, you rock. More than saving us the money, it was fun to go with you! You even sorta laughed at my knock-knock joke. Knock, knock. Who’s there? Woo. Woo-who. Calm down, it’s just a joke.

It had snowed about an inch over night, about an inch. But Grandma was right on time (even a little bit early) at five o’clock am, yup, AM. Ouch. The snow slowed us down a bit and we got to the airport just in time. We checked our one bag (we checked one for liquid items) and carried on the rest. I was humming the Southwest “Bags Fly Free” song - I know a little rude at the Air Trans counter, but I couldn’t help myself. Our next flight is booked with Southwest and I love their no-charge for baggage and no-charge for changes policy. I do want to write a letter to Air Trans though, our flight attendants were very, very nice. Especially, Angela, who was extremely kind to the old and young on the flight. Maya told her that she was excited about going to DisneyWorld. Even though she had been there when she was two years old - you know, when she was little ;)

It wasn’t crowded at the airport and Midway is fairly calm anyway, so we didn’t have any problems going through security. They even had cute little chairs for kids after the metal detector! (photo 3225) We didn’t break any speed records but got through without a hitch. We got to the gate just in the nick of time, they started boarding immediately. Thankfully it isn’t a full flight so we didn’t have to fight over luggage space, or squish or be stuffy. Maya just said, “are we there yet?” LOL. I’m hoping she’ll sleep at least a little bit in the flight but it’s not looking good so far.

Here’s a pic of Maya eating her muffin on the plane. (photo 3227a)

I had won a contest where the prize included Rainbow Bracelets. Hmm, or maybe they were from BlogHer. Anyway, they are similar to hospital or amusement park id bracelets but you write your phone number on it and put it on your child’s wrist. In the unfortunate chance that they would be separated from you, they will hopefully look for a mommy and ask her to call the number. I pray that we would never have to use it, but it seems like a good idea.

Whoops, Maya fell asleep! Notice Lamby in the seat belt, hehehe. I’m going to take advantage of that and catch some z’s myself. (photo 3229)

I picked up a little suitcase for Maya in her favorite color - purple! She looked so adorable pulling it. She was a trooper, too, pulling it all the way through Midway, but pooping out a bit in Orlando. (photo 3230)

Mickey welcomed us - even a towel hidden Mickey on our bed! (photo 3231) and a bird on the windowsill (photo 3233).

Even our closet is a Disney closet! We’re ready for the princesses! (photo 3234)

We threw on our swim suits and went over to the pool. CUTE pool. It was a little cold outside, but as long as you didn’t get out, the pool was warm. There was a lot of entertainment too. Name that Disney Tune, Dance Party.
Dinner at The Intermission at the All-Star Music was yummy! Wayne finished with Double Brownie Hot Fudge Sundae Super-Duper thingie - HUGE and delicious (photo 3235).

Was the day over? No, no, no! We headed over to the Arcade for some skeet-ball. Maya looooves skeet ball. (photo 3243)

Was the day over? No, no, no! Maya did Wii Karaoke for the first time ever….what a star! (photo 3248)

When we got back to the room, Maya wanted to read a book, so Mommy pulled out the new Chuggington books that I won at a twitter party! (photo 3254)

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Kevin's Play

We went to see my cousin Kevin in the play, "Crazy and a Half" at L'arc en Ciel in Cedar Lake. Very funny!

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Happy Half-Birthday, Brynn!

Today, after soccer, we went to Bob Evans with Brynn to celebrate her half-birthday. Brynn gave Maya some Princess cards taught us how to play Old Maid. They'll be perfect to take with us on our trip next week! The girls had fun playing with Brynn's new tea set and the Valentine's Day goody bags.

My loves.....

Great library! Gingerbread House

Our library is amazing! This is a little gingerbread house.....we were there for quite awhile while Maya "made cookies" with another little girl. (even though Maya wouldn't co-operate for pictures!)

Dance, dance, dance

Maya is taking ballet and tap lessons at Lakeshore Gymnastics. Brynn, Tori, and Peyton are in her class. She's loving it and I'm very impressed with how quickly she learns.

My Soccer Star

Maya and Brynn play indoor soccer at Liberty Bible on Saturday mornings. Usually they play to the audience more than to to the ball. Maybe-not-so-athletic, but definitely entertaining. And all girl, sometimes they run on tippy-toes; sometimes they run holding hands. SO cute.

The Oprah Saga

I can't believe I went 20 days without a post. Sheesh! Okay, time to catch up.

My friend, Mary, and I have been trying to get Oprah audience tickets for ages and ages. Whenever I know of availability, I would call her and we would both wear out our "redial-fingers" trying to call in for tickets. I would also write stories for the last-minute ticket availability and came close a couple times. The first time, I wasn't home and "Oprah" (someone on her staff) called. Wayne answered the phone and told them I wasn't home. End of that. The second time, the phone rang and the caller id said "Harpo Studios". I was so excited that when I picked up the phone, my hand was shaking and I accidentally hung up. End of that. Fast forward a few years, and Mary calls me - she's at a silent auction and they have Oprah tix, how much would I pay? She's willing to split it with me. I tell her some silly amount of money (Wayne looks at me like I have seven heads). I think about it and try to call her back to go even higher, but her cell phone battery has died! It wasn't enough, we lost. End of that.

Now, Oprah has changed the process and instead of re-dialing over and over, you can just apply online during certain "windows" of time and then it's a random lottery. So, I check every day. Window closed. Window closed. Window closed. Window open. OMG, WINDOW OPEN. I post on Facebook, begging people to enter and put me down as a guest. Of course, I tell Mary. A day or two later, Mary calls me. I see the caller id, but don't even think about why she's calling..... MARY GOT TICKETS TO OPRAH. We're going to Oprah, we're going to Oprah. Mary also was kind enough to put my mom's name down too. We don't know who the guest is, and I tell Wayne, watch, it'll be someone goofy like Lady Gaga.

Before Mary called I had written another request for a last-minute show about diabetics. One day, the phone rings the caller id just has a number.....area code 773, I think. Well, I don't know anyone with that area code, must be telemarketing. I don't answer. Then I start thinking, what if it's Oprah? So I call back the number and a voice says, "Harpo Studios". My jaw drops. Yikes. I hear a tone - I have a voicemail. I call and it's someone from audience selection, would Wayne and I like to be in the audience on Thursday (the day before I am supposed to go with Mary). I ask Wayne and he says something like, "do I have to?". Ugh, I do not understand men - this is OPRAH. I ask if I can be in the audience on Thursday and Friday, and the woman says, no, since it's the last year of the show in Chicago, they are strict about the one show per year limit. Hmmmmm, go with Mary and Mom and Mary's friend Jan, who are majorly excited and can't wait, or go with Wayne who says, "do I have to?". No contest. I'm going on Friday!!! A few days before we are supposed to go, Mary calls me - she knows whose going to be on the show! James Cameron, the director of Avatar, and you-won't-believe-it, Lady Gaga! Oh well, it's Oprah, who cares, right? The Harpo staff invites us to a free screening of Avatar, which we can't go to because it's in Chicago and snowing like crazy. Wayne and I end up going to see it in Portage, 3D Imax, wow. Did you think I was never going to put pictures and stop talking-typing? Okay, here's pictures of us at the movie.

Then, oh my gosh, what are we going to wear? I mean, it's Oprah! Mom even tells her foot doctor about it and gets special permission not to wear her stress-fracture-stopping shoes. I mean, it's Oprah! After trying a bazillion outfits, I pick one. Then I sit in front of a mirror. Yikes, you don't look the same sitting in an outfit as you do standing in an outfit. My mom and I do research, we watch several shoes, stopping the picture at audience shots. Hmmmm, you mostly see from the waist up. What are we going to wear? I try on a bazillion more outfits and narrow it down to two. I ask Wayne, "which one?" and automatically decide to wear the one he doesn't pick, hehehe. I mean, it's Oprah! I'm really proud of myself that I haven't bought anything new. No new clothes, no new shoes, no new handbag, no new coat , no new jewelry - and I mean, it's Oprah!

The day arrives..... WOW!!! We are so excited. I have to be at my mom's house at five am. When I told my mom, I said I have bad news and bad news. First, the guest is going to be Lady Gaga, and second, we have to be ready for Mary to pick us up at five am to see Lady Gaga. But we don't care! I mean, it's Oprah! I jump out of bed that morning, which is not how I usually wake up, but I mean, it's Oprah! I'm on time to my mom's house, which is not usual, but you know....it's Oprah! How exciting!

Mary got us to Harpo Studios happily and safely. It was raining very lightly, but Oprah is considerate of her fans and has a shelter thingie for the people in line. It wasn't heated, but it was out of the rain and wind. The line moves fairly quickly and we're in! Wow! They check our id's and we are even on the list. No problem! We walk a little further in - give up our purses, which staff go through and take out all electronic devices like phones and cameras. No pictures or ringing phones during Oprah's show!

Then a very nice man, approaches my mom and says that she should stay downstairs with one other member of our party and the other two should go upstairs. How kind! They don't make pregnant or older women walk up the stairs. I jokingly told my mom that really it was because he looked at my heels and knew there was no way I was going to be walking up and down stairs. I wore my highest fashion shoes - short boots with the long, long toes (think Wizard of Oz munchkins) and 3"+ heels. Maybe 4" and spike-y. Definitely going-to-Oprah shoes.

Okay, enough talk, here's some more pictures and I'm going to bed. More later.....

Getting ready for Oprah..... and no, that is not my bathroom. I had to get ready in the guest bathroom - at four in the morning, I didn't want to wake anyone else up!