OUR DISNEY COUNTDOWN

 I wanted to get the ones everyone was talking about from Home Depot that had Mickey's head shape already on them. But as you may have read, they don't have them anymore. So I got paint chips from our local paint center. ALL of them have them. I got several colors and tried to arrainge them from light colors to darker colors. But I wanted the colors to be true enough that it wouldn't confused the little ones. Blue-green and Green-blue's are very strange for preschoolers to understand. 

I searched the house over, and over looking for anything round that could be the head ... then searched more for the right size ears. I finally found that my DH had all kinds of protractors, compass, stencils, you name it - all this stuff was in the office ... LOL ... who knew? (please keep in mind, we just got married a year ago, and I didn't live with him beforehand, so I don't know what he has - or where)

Any Who ! I found the shapes I needed and 




Cut out Mickey heads shapes.










Using double sided tape (you could use glue) I centered a Mickey cutout on a white paint card. I thought about putting them each on a different color paint chip, but that just looked too busy for me, I like things simple.
I only made 12 because I think that my grandsons might get tired of this game if it takes too long. So 12 days should be long enough. The oldest has already figured out that we are going to Disney World, so he has started asking his mommy 'how much longer' ... LOL ... So she has started handing him her phone with a calendar and showing him just how much longer it will be. Lucky for her he is only asking about every 5 -7 days. But I think NANA is going to make it more fun! 














On the last 2 I tried to make them a little bit more special. 
(as you can see in the picture) I also added Disney stickers to some of them ... 

I wish I had a machine that could cut out the numbers perfectly ... but no time for that now. Magic Marker is it. 




Just a little more than 7 weeks to go. And I'm so excited! 

Laminated Puzzle sheets 

55 Days Left till our trip

I wish the photos did them justice. But knowing that my 2 little grandsons are going to be tied in an airplane seat for most of the day - I want to try to help keep them busy. During our lay over in Houston, Texas I hope they have a place for little ones to play, jump, run and play ... just expend some of the energy they are bound to have! I truly hope that Airports have kept their littlest passengers in mind. Neither of the boys will be able to ride for free, so they are paid passengers just like everyone else. I know other passengers don't want to hear little ones crying or yelling ... and believe me when I say - the mommy's and daddy's don't want to hear that either! It is their worst nightmare ... 

As the Nana ... I hope I can help! I made a Flight bag for each of the boys (ages 5 and 2). 

Color Sheets and Puzzles pages ... This is how I made them. 

I made these in the hopes they will be educational as well as being fun. 

I found puzzles and color pictures online. I downloaded the pics and printed them 4 to a page. 

Cutting them apart using metal rulers and a box knife took a while. But I don't have any of the fancy machines they sell today ... LOL. If you do, you can cut your time way down. 

Using laminate paper I found at Walmart I covered each one and cut a hole in the top. Then placed a key ring threw them, They can each be removed for the boys to color or work the puzzles and then put back on the ring. 

The twist up crayons I got for the boys don't show up very well on these ... so I'm looking for markers or a better choice of something they can use on them. 

Mouse FootprintONLY 75 days left ... (Dec 16, 2016)

I think I have gotten almost everything done.

• Made reservations at Disney World, park tickets and memory maker
• Booked flights both ways (Okla to here and here to Orlando, and home again)
• Created grocery list, need to place the order 30 days before vacation
• Ordered our Magic Bands and selected colors.
• Made a character meal reservation.
• Made luggage tags for my daughters family's luggage. 
• Made flight bags for the boys, and luggage tags for each bag.
• Found double stroller to borrow.
• Made stroller tags.
• Bought new suitcase for me!
• Made my own luggage tag.
• Got first aid kit.
• Poncho's (for all 5 of us in case it rains).
• Made window decorations, so the boys can find our room easily, got 2 way tape for hanging.
• Downloaded full Bible Audio to my phone.
• Bought batter backup charger for phone (doesn't need to plug into outlet). 
• Printed off all information I think we may need (reservation #'s, flight info, etc.)
• Taking multi-plug strip, to charge all our phones, computers, tablets (whatever we need to charge)
• Made Door decoration magnets.
• Made Mouse footprints for surprise gifts for the boys.  

Still need to get glow sticks from Party Supply Store, perhaps order T-Shirts to match (but that's questionable),

Now I can relax and till time to start packing.

I have found them online and we got a little chuckle from this ... the add says 100 glow sticks for $7.99 or 200 for $7.89 ... HUMMmmm ... wonder which would be the better deal ...

But wait ... did you catch the line that reads:
Used glow sticks from $6.86 ????? Huh, what would anyone need 'used' glow sticks for? 

I looked into it and they are damaged packages that the seller can't guarantee all items are not - activated. 

Flight Bags

For the Boys airplane ride to Disney World

This will be the first airplane ride for both my grandson's. They will fly from OK to TX with Mommy and Daddy, which is only about 1.5 hrs long. In TX (I)Nana will join them and we will all fly to Orlando, FL. This is a longer flight averaging almost 3 hrs. 

So for my half of the trip I have prepared what I am calling "Flight Bags" for each of the boys. I'm hoping they will be interested in watching the take off and landings first. But these will be new and interesting for them.

Here's what I did: I purchased 1/2 yard each of two different fabrics with airplanes on them and made each boy a bag. 

I went to the Dollar store ... there are many different ones depending on where a person lives. 

Dollar Tree

Everythings a Dollar

Dollarfanatic

I'm sure there are others out there also.

But for the 2 yr old (that is turning 3 at the end of our trip) I got:




4 pack of Disney puzzles (6 pieces each) and yes, I know it says it is for age 5+, that's why I got 6 pieces each, and with a little help from Mommy, Daddy or Nana, he will do fine. (picture of them put together is at the bottom)













6 Paw Patrol figures (it's one of his favorite cartoons right now)























Sticker book,





















3 Little Story books ... hopefully This will entertain him a bit.

I'm not sure what these are called, but they are squishy and rubbery and feel funny.

And for the 5 yr old:

4 pack of Disney puzzles (12 pieces each)

6 toy airplanes 




























A larger 24 piece puzzle, 





















This was new to me as well, Sparkling Scratch & Reveal. (if anyone knows anything about these, I'd love to know if you think it is appropriate for on a plane)

 Coloring & Activity pages with crayons

And this is one of my childhood favorites, Silly Putty. I will put a comic page or newsprint in the plastic bag with it and we can make silly faces from the prints. And we can pass it to the 2 yr old to play with part of the time, too.

And a sticker scene, Ethan loves stickers.

My thought is that by sorting items into Ziplock bags the boys could pick 1 baggie at a time, play with the items in it for a bit, put it all back into the bag before picking the next bag.

This will make clean up much faster and easier. And keep from having too many items out a once. On a plane there isn't that much room to spread out lots of toys.

The 4 pack puzzles were all in 1 bag - yes, mixed together. I was afraid that would be too hard for the 2-3 yr old to understand. I put each puzzle together and took a picture of them. I will print them and put the picture with each puzzle in its own snack size baggie. Then I placed all 4 back into the box. Now he can put 1 puzzle together and see what the picture is supposed to be. 

Using large gallon size baggies I placed 6 small toys (Paw Patrol figures for the 2-3 yr old, and Airplanes for the 5 yr old). This will help keep them together in their Flight Bag.

And there's a pencil bag (like kids use for school in a notebook) for the crayons. 

I've added a couple containers of candy - I mean you can't have kids without candy, I'm a Nana ... It's my job!

I'm going to see what kind of bag I can find to put all these items in, and I will keep both in my carry on. Once we are on the plane I will pull them out but not while we are in the terminals (or while we are waiting to board). 

Great ways to introduce (or break the news) of a Disney Trip to the little ones ... 

• I wanted to send my grandson's letters inviting them to come to Disney to meet Mickey Mouse and stay for a visit. Or announcing that they are expected for a party, a parade, or to see some cool rides ...  
  
• We could just tell them and film their reaction (but they have never been to Disney and may not even know what we are talking about.
•  Maybe we should enjoy each step of the trip. Tell them we're going to see airplanes on our way to the airport. Then that we can ride in one (after they have gotten to watch them landing and taking off). And once we're on our way to Orlando, let them know we get to ride on a big bus, and just take it one step at a time. Allowing them to be excited about each event.

What do you think? How did you tell your little ones "We're going to Disney" ? 

Makes you say, "Hummm"

Saving A Little on a Lot

My researching has taught me that there are some ways to save money during our trip to Disney World. 

One is on food, drinks and snacks. I know everyone already knows these things, so this is more of a 'note to self' to keep me from forgetting which sites I liked the most and wanted to try.

Since I don't live close to my grandsons, I really don't get to see them as much as I used to. (maybe 4 time each year) So I'm going to need help from Missy as to what the boys 'like' to eat and what they 'will' eat. (and drink) 

I booked 1 character breakfast during our stay. I don't want to have a set schedule every day we are there. And 1 special breakfast (or meal) will be plenty. I can't imagine any child 'needing' to have a character meal every day they are in Disney. In fact it sounds kind of selfish. Pick one and let others have a chance to do the same. 

So to help just a bit on expenses, I've decided to try one of the delivery services available for regular grocery type items. This will also help us not need to pack every thing in our luggage. Items like water, juice, crackers, fruit, cereal, milk, paper bowls and spoons, finger snacks like granola bars, yogurt on the go, or fruit. We will, of course, have a few on hand for the flight to Orlando. But we won't need to bring the entire box of granola bars, or several bottles of water & juice. Perhaps bring a small number of baby wipes (Lysol or Clorox wipes) and have a larger container delivered to the hotel. There will be plenty to take back with us on our return. And for those with little ones in diapers, it would be so much easier to have a box delivered to the room.

Garden Grocer is the one I am going to try on this trip. I have saved items as favorites that I believe will be useful:

Bread

Peter Pan because 'We Are At Disney World'

Peanut butter & jelly

Juices

Milk

Bottled Water

Cheese - It crackers

For our Snack at Animal Kingdom

Animal cookies

Chex mix

Small boxes of Raisins

Yogurt

Bananas

Baby wipes

Infant bath soap (no more tears)

 cereal

and Missy will be able to add items she would like for the boys. 

I will place the order 1 month before our vacation. And we'll see how it goes. It costs $2.00 for delivery if your order is over $200 and only $14 if it's under that amount. Considering airline charge at least $25 per checked in bag ... this could save some money!

Side note: I may order items from the local Wal-Mart to surprise the boys. Like T-Shirts or PJ's, or a special toy. I can have it delivered to the hotel as well. 

If you haven't noticed, I am having a lot of fun planning and making things for my grandsons trip to Disney World.

Today, I am going to try my hand at making some kind of 'Mousekeeping' envelopes.
But with trying to make everything myself, work and running my new household (did I mention, I have only been married a year) this is getting to be a challenge. I want to make it all myself ... so here's one idea I came up with.


In my home office,  I have sheets of labels that I use on file folders. I plan to print a sheet out and let the boys each put the sticker of their choice on a business envelope and put the money inside themselves. 

Here are 2 of the stickers I'm going to use

If you are planning a trip and have looked around the web, you have probably ran across a list or blog where "who to tip and how much" is mentioned.

I found that it is customary to tip 'mousekeeping' (that's the person that cleans your room each day) $1.00 per person per day... and what a cute way to leave this little tip. I saw several posts on the envelope idea and here are some of my favorites...



http://www.thepurplepumpkinblog.co.uk/2014/07/mousekeeping-tip-envelopes-free-printables.html



http://www.couponingtodisney.com/mousekeeping-envelopes-httpluckysevendesign-comitem_138mousekeeping-tip-holder-htm/

(love that one)


I have copied pictures from searches online like this one

then printed "thank you mousekeeping" to one side. I have Tweety, Mickey, the monkey and the Genie from Aladdin, paw patrol, simba ... and many more. I think the boys will like making their own envelopes ...  

HAVE you made Mousekeeping envelopes? How much did your little one's like the idea?

98 days and counting ...