Mother’s Day 2018

Hannah made Mother’s Day 2018 absolutely perfect from start to finish!

When we woke up I was asked to stay in bed while she prepared breakfast.  She called me downstairs when her masterpiece was ready.

I was welcomed by a path of Hershey Kisses.  Chocolate?  Yes please!!

She created a delicious breakfast for us to share!

After breakfast it was time for church.  I will say that Mother’s Day was one of the few days each year that I really struggled going to church before Hannah was born.  I wanted so desperately to be a Mom but since I had never married (I was not willing to settle for a guy just to be married and be a mom) so I spent many single years going to church with an aching heart on Mother’s Day.  My heart still goes out to other singles and couples who do not have children as I do not know if that is their choice or if becoming parents is a challenge for them.  Regardless, I think of them and pray especially for them on Mother’s Day.  Singles and couples without children are those my heart reaches out to on this day.

On Mother’s Day our church provides gifts to Mom’s in the congregation who meet different criteria each year.  This year one gift went to the mom with the picture in her wallet of her child that was taken the longest ago.  One mom had a picture in her wallet that was taken in 1945!! Hannah was selected to help hand out gifts to the moms who won each gift.

After church Hannah blessed me with a number of sweet gifts!  (Thank you grandma for taking her shopping at Dollerama the week before Mother’s Day!  Hannah looks forward to this traditional shopping trip with you before each special day!)

So sweet!  Hannah created a number of ‘Sap’ day coupons for me!  It will be a treat to use these coupons and spend special times with my girl.

An annual tradition we enjoy is our dinner at a local restaurant with Grandma and Grandpa and then dessert together in their home. 

We love you Mom/Grandma!!!

Thank you Lord for my sweet Mom and amazing daughter!!!  I am blessed beyond measure and could not be more thankful!!!

Fitting a Week’s Worth of March Break Fun Into a Single Day!

Although Hannah was off school for a week in March, I had to work each day except for Monday so we decided to fit a week’s worth of fun into a single day and we had a blast!

The morning started with breakfast and board games.

Next we headed to an early showing of Beauty and the Beast and enjoyed the newly refurbished theatre that included these great recliner seats!  Oh yah!!

After the movie we hopped across the parking lot and tried out the glow in the dark mini putt Hannah had been asking to go to.  It was really neat and we’ll go back!

Our final part of the adventure away from home was enjoying ice cream for supper.  LOL, went with the popcorn for lunch!

Evening was for baking cookies together.

The next day we were both sad to go back to reality as I took her to daycare and I went to work.  Thankfully she enjoys her daycare and she made my return to work early by sending ‘Baby’ to work with Mommy! (My coworkers are quite used to walking into my office and seeing Baby or an assortment of stuffies helping me with my work. )

The following weekend we decided to end March Break with some family fun.  We met my brother, SIL, niece and nephew for supper followed by an evening of Rock ‘n Bowl.

Thanks for a great day Hannah! 

Disney Jan 2018 ~ Magic Kingdom Day 1

This picture from our first morning captures our trip perfectly!!

Hannah and I switched up our touring plans this year and is worked really well as the crowds were higher than what they normally face when we visit in September.  We decided to ‘rope drop’ (arrive in time to be inside the parks when they open) and it made a huge difference!  I can see this being a touring style that works well for us in the future too as we’re both excited to get up early at Disney.
The first morning we had an 8:00 reservation at Be Our Guest.  This reservation allowed us to enter the park early and ride Seven Dwarfs Mine Train before the crowds hit.  Perfect!  SDMT is the ride where Disney captured the picture above.  After that I’ll say we had a ton of fun and didn’t stop to capture many pictures.  Dumbo:

it’s a small world:

Hannah was chosen as one of the names to be displayed at the end of the ride.  It’s something we knew was there but the first time we experienced it.

Mmmm afternoon snack Dole Whip.

While we were listening to the Casey’s Corner Pianist he offered Hannah the opportunity to help him play.  Sweet time for Hannah!

We had a reservation at 1900 Park Fare for supper with Cinderella, Prince Charming and friends.


Lady Tremaine

Hannah took a Character Dictionary with her for autographs this year.  Lady Tremaine felt her information was inaccurate in the book so made some 'adjustments’ so that it read better.  LOL!!


Anastasia

and Drizella

felt their information was inaccurate too so they also made some adjustments too.
After dinner we stopped in the Grand Floridian for some pics courtesy of a Disney Photographer.  This resort is amazing!!

I wanted to see the Magic Kingdom’s new firework show called, ‘Happily Every After’ so we took the monorail back to the MK.  It was drizzling out but I had confidence it would improve so we headed back into the park and staked out our site for the fireworks.
Let’s just say Hannah was totally the smart one in this situation and her requests to leave and see the fireworks another night was the right decision.  Too bad I hadn’t listened to her earlier!  D’oh!!

We still laughed and memories were built even though we should have called it a night at this point

and I would have saved myself a 1 hour date with the hair dryer back in our room at the end of a great first day in the Magic Kingdom!!
Tomorrow….Epcot!

Disney Jan 2018 ~ Travel Days!

(Jan 26 and 27, 2018)
FINALLY the day was here!  After cancelling our Sept 2017 trip less than 24 hours before flying due to hurricane Irma, our replacement trip was here!  Woo hoo! 
One of the added bonuses to this trip was our traveling companions – my parents (aka Grandma and Grandpa)!   My aunt and uncle are staying in FL for a few months so Grandma and Grandpa travelled with us and then we parted ways at the Orlando airport as they headed to The Villages while Hannah and I headed to Disney.
We drove to the airport together and Grandpa quickly found Hannah’s princess ears and made sure they didn’t get lost.

Earlier in the morning Hannah tore off the last of her countdown chains.  Woot!

Our drive to Buffalo was great and we enjoyed a day of shopping with Grandma and Grandpa before heading to the airport hotel and settling in for the night.  The next morning we woke up and celebrated ‘No more sleeps!’ 

It was breakfast then off to the airport!

Hannah is a pro at airport navigation and this time she took us through the check-in process.  It was neat to see her learning this new part of our trips.

Up, up and away!  We’re going to DISNEY!!!

Once in Orlando we helped Grandma and Grandpa get settled with their rental car and then said our goodbyes for a week.  Have a great time Grandma and Grandpa!!  We love you!!

Hannah and I passed back through the airport (stopping for our traditional pic in front of the Disney Store)

and made our way to Disney’s Magical Express.  Our trip had begun!!

Hannah, we’re here!!!!

Let the magic begin!!!

New Disney Countdown–137 More Sleeps!!

Unfortunately I had to make the very difficult decision to cancel our Disney vacation last Thursday evening.  We were scheduled to leave for the airport in less than 12 hours and I’d held off making this decision as long as possible.  Hurricane Irma was still a frightening Category 5 and the word ‘catastrophic’ was in almost every newscasters vocabulary.  Nobody really knew where she would make land but since she was wider than the entire state of FL I knew it wouldn’t be a wise decision to continue with our trip.  While millions where trying to get out of FL, why would I take my daughter and willingly enter this frightening situation?

Sometimes doing the right thing isn’t the easy thing to do.  Poor Hannah cried and cried when I shared the news with her as I’d sheltered her from news and pictures of Irma so she was blindsided by my news.  Oh the tears….from both of us!

She was a trooper though and I know she handled the news better than Mommy!!  The following morning when we woke up and Irma had been downgraded to ‘only’ a Category 4 I was suddenly second guessing my decision.  (What was I thinking second guessing???  D’oh!!!)

When I took Hannah to school Friday morning and then continued on to work, over and over again teachers, friends and co-workers were thrilled to see us and expressed how thankful they were that we hadn’t gone.  Me too!

Anyway, Disney gave us a 100% refund for our trip and Southwest gave us a travel credit for 100% of our flight costs as they hadn’t actually cancelled our flight.

The great news is that Hannah and I have already rebooked our trip and will be heading to Disney late next January for an awesome Mommy-Daughter trip….without Irma!!

Thanks to all who have checked in after noticing our countdown in the sidebar.

I’ve never posted about our Disney Cruise from earlier this year so my new goal is to get a Disney fix by working on those posts soon.

Summer Adventures

Hannah and I recently enjoyed a morning  of mini-golfing with Ange (Hannah’s wonderful daycare provider) and her boys.  We went to a new mini golf location and it was beautiful! 

After mini golfing we enjoyed lunch together then Hannah and I were off on the second part of our day of surprises – Tree Trekking!  The adventure started by getting all her gear on.

The place we went to had installed a kids course this year that was 3 – 6 feet off the ground and she loved it!!

Her favourite part (in spite of the look on her face) was the zip line that she got to do each time she went around the course.  In reality she was asking me to quickly take the picture so that she could go around the course again!

We’ve already decided that we’ll visit here again next year!  Hannah is hoping she’ll be 2” taller so that she can do the intermediate course.  Mommy’s not sure I’m ready for her to be 25’ up in the trees!

There is a second play place at the same location so after the tree trekking Hannah and I enjoyed time running though nets and treehouses in the sky!

We both enjoyed this as I went up in the nets and treehouses with her some before watching from the safety of a bench below.

I’m so thankful these places were recommended to me by my friend Tammy.  Thanks Tammy!  New summer traditions have been born!