Spring Break...Part 1 (Holiday Park)

The week has seriously dragged on. Spring Break that is...

I don't know if it was because George didn't take leave (hmmmm, how'd he finagle that anyhow?)

Or maybe that our Disney trip thwarted high expectations for us meaning anything after paled in comparison?

Ooooh, maybe it was that fact that every night I didn't go to bed until at least 2am catching up those "snarky" housewives of NY?

Long winded or not, I am a Spring Break planning junkie and I love planning activities to keep these chil'ren of mine busy. Otherwise, they would be happy with just sitting around...bothering me.

So we used one of the days this week to head to Holiday Park and meet up with my geographical counterpart...Farrah and her lil chil'ren, Lennon :o)

Holiday Park was completely desolate. Which I liked. We practically had the whole park to ourselves....which also meant I didn't really have to have my Teage goggles on as I do in any normal crowd. Plus, it made for some quality girl talk in between rides.

Holiday Park can only be described as a broke man's Disneyworld. It's very mom and pop....which again, I like. The mascot was Holly the parrot along with his sidekick Dolly the ..."Squirrel". (I am using the Dug voice from UP when I say squirrel, I don't think I will ever be able to say the word normal again)

There were several rides, some intense...like the Lighthouse Tower that no one dared step up to, except JD. He wanted to go on (he had never done the one at Disney and rightfully so)...who wants to drop from the sky like that surrounded by a casing of steel, really? He went up alone...well, he sat with three other girls and I'm sure flashed them his million dollar smile :o) As soon as he went in, I started to panic. I thought this could go really good, or this could end in disaster. He doesn't do anxiety well, so until he came off, I could only picture him making it all the way to the top and then saying "Nevermind, I wanna get down".

JD is on the far left

But he didn't...he just screamed his head off as they dropped (all...the...way...down). What a trooper. He walked towards me at the exit screaming..."I SURVIVED!!"

Teage decided early on that he would be Lennon's personal caregiver. He was really sweet with him...it almost made me want another...PSYCHE, I'm crazy but not insane. However, he really took to Lennon...and it was adorable.

(I didn't mention it then, but I LOVE the cherry blossom diaper bag, don't you?)

I could tell Saige was starting to wonder when we were leaving this joint...so I threw her in some photo ops (which always grabs her attention).



She did have fun on a few rides with JD...



OK, so this next part of the story is something I was debating putting out there...but, I gotta keep it real.

Almost as soon as we arrived to the park...I was clicking away on my camera when suddenly I heard my son utter these words...

"Mom look, it's an angry dwarf (insert tween chuckle)"

I snapped my head over to him so fast...I knew I had given myself whiplash. Then, I spot-checked the surroundings and saw a little person whizzing away on a razor scooter. You know...a little person. Farrah and I cut our eyes to one another and I almost fell out. WTH? So I calmly called JD over and asked "Why did you say that?", he replied, "WHAT?" My parenting skills instantly became put on front street. It went something like this...

"You know he's not angry right?"

"I'm sorry"

"And do you know he is not to be called a dwarf, he is a little person?"

"Sorry MOM, but he's just like from Bedtime Stories"

(sigh)

"Would you yell out, WOW that guy has brown skin?"

"Well, No"

"So you shouldn't say things about how a person looks...it's mean. AND, it might hurt someone's feelings. I don't think you would like it if someone said something about how you looked, would you?"

"No, I said I'm sorry"

"Oh and again...Bedtime Stories is a MOVIE...not real life"

"I know Mom"

Now, I must say to you that Mr. Scooter worked at the park. He was most likely a guide or assistant to the mascots, because he followed them throughout the park all day. Later on, we ran into him again and my son walked right up to him and said "Hi", with a warm smile ear to ear, ended with a glance my way for approval. Good start I guess. Mr Scooter ended up being in the parade later and he totally posed for my camera...there is nothing angry about this guy...just sayin'.


What a fun day...and I enjoyed spending it with Farrah and Lennon, too. Here are some other pics.



Next up, the Zoo and Gartenshau Park...stay tuned.


Thanks for looking,

Around the World..Disney

*click to enlarge pics*

We successfully managed to visit the last stop on our Worldwide Disney adventure this past weekend (ok so we haven't been to Hong Kong Disney yet, but I'm gonna guess the one in Tokyo is just as comparable). Disneyland Paris was fabulous. We did, however, take the Express tour...so that means we will be back with an extended visit later. This time it was a one day, one park, feet wet kinda deal.


They have two parks, Disneyland (aka Magic Kingdom) and Walt Disney Studios (aka DisneyMGM). They also have Disney Village (like Downtown Disney). We chose the classic of the two and pushed forward. Of course everything was written and spoken in French (Thyme would have enjoyed that), but since we were in Europe...it was also subtitled in English for all those Londoners :o) BONUS! So that was a nice change. I think I said Danke (thanks in German) like 15 times to the French and they would stare me down and reply Merci...MY BAD. Anyway, some of the staple rides were there...Space Mountain 2, Thunder Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, Peter Pan, Dumbo, Le Carousel, Buzz Lightyear, It's a Small World, etc. There were some odd interpretations here and there though...


Haunted Mansion was referred to as Phantom Manor


and Cinderella's Castle was replaced with Sleeping Beauty's Castle.

But what I was really excited about was the Mad Hatter Teacup ride. The excitement quickly turned into despair...Mad Hatter was on hiatus. That effer didn't even leave a note. So there I was, reminiscing my days as a young child growing up in Disney"World" territory, never once spinning myself in a cup o'blivion. My chance was once again thwarted by that schizo Hatter...one day I'll make it down that rabbit hole.

The new additions...they had the Indiana Jones Temple of Peril roller coaster. JD thought he should be able to climb the temple...we almost let him, but the line was moving too fast. He settled for an Indy hat that his big sis bought him instead...he rocks it pretty well.


Teage had a BLAST to say the least. I caught many moments of him just staring in awe at the Happiest Place on Earth.


We spotted a few characters as well...even though Teage wanted NOTHING to do with Capt Hook. "I don't like him...he's too mad", he said.


Oh, and Ratatouille is HUGE there...being French and all. They have rat hats, statues, shirts...all about it.


The weather was perfect, the park was hoppin', and the food was great. What a great beginning to our jam packed Spring Break. Check out the rest of our pics...




P.S. You simply cannot leave France without a croissant or some creme brulee...so I had both, and I wanted to slap my mama...it was SO GOOD!


P.S.S. I'm gonna say it, the French ARE rude. They lived up to the hype on several occasions. One in particular in trying to push my Teagie out of the way to let their kid jump ahead on the slide line....I think I saw Saige's head spin and she almost took some lady out :o) (What they didn't realize was that the Isla's don't back down!)

P.S.S.S. Nothing says Europe like being able to buy Pez AND a lighter at the same Disney stand LOL



Bon Voyage and Merci,

Holland + Softball

Been working my heiny off (well not exactly, my heiny is in fact still there...in full force) on getting the house to look like home for weeks now. SO OVERWHELMING to go through boxes and boxes of "stuff". With the exception of our photos...I just wanna trash it all and start over sometimes. But, since I married a full blown hoarder I guess we'll hold on to that early 90's first year promotion Caller ID box we got from Bellsouth (back when we actually "lived" in FL)...seriously?? NOT!! I finally got through to George, I think, and convinced him that these artifacts WILL NOT be worth money on Ebay someday. Right after I researched how much my old beanie babies would be worth today...hee hee. Purging these things has been extremely cleansing for me. I feel so much lighter and more organized than I already am. It IS taking a year and a day though...will it ever be over??

Moving forward...we spent our first weekend in our new home, away from our new home. Saige had her first competitive softball tournament held in the Netherlands and the whole Fam Bam was in tow to cheer her on.

(Note to self...while it was great being together, next time we are doing a one parent swap out. Teage had his fill of sissy playing ball about 3 hours into day one and all JD kept saying was "Is it over yet?")

Let me first start by saying that we were shacking up old country style. Our accommodations were in the middle of two dairy farms (which was pretty, but smelly) and so our rooms were like little farmer rooms. No sheets, no pillows, no towels, nada...you had to bring all that stuff with you. You were guaranteed only a bed for each person who paid. Something I didn't really understand until we arrived (there were communication breakdowns all leading up to this trip). I imagined it being quaint, but not bare. What did they have there you ask?? Self serve kegs and wine...go figure. Europeans are all about prioritizing.

Once we got settled and rested, we were off to the field...I mean gym! This was going to be an indoor softball tourney for our girls. Can you imagine playing softball in a gym?? There was no right field in existence. If the ball bounced off the ceiling and you caught it, it was an out..if it bounced off the wall it was foul, that kinda $hit. BIZARRE! But the girls were excited to play no matter what...

She was totally nervous, but confident she would kick butt (her words). She played left field two games and third base another game. She normally plays shortstop or second (like someone else we know). So it was new for her, but she did awesome. The girl has an arm I tell ya. Here are some shots of her playing from the weekend (as a spectator of an indoor softball game, you are separated from the gym by a curtain of nets, so forgive the blurry ones here and there).



The scenery was incredible there. We were all so surprised how much the homes there looked just like any old neighborhood in the US. It was refreshing to see that. No wonder so many people retire there...and I thought it was just because of the good coffee ;o)

George just wanted to find a McD's like he does in every country we visit

This is a running joke I have with him...every time we see a windmill he says "Look everyone, that windmill is so HUGE".

Eerily calming

It was good to get back home...and open more boxes, woo hoo. I think the kids felt the same way we did about going home...


Overall it was a great experience and I'm glad we could go and support her...little did we realize that four days later she would come home from school tryouts and tell us she made the Varsity Softball Team!! We are so proud of her...and will be making permanent appearances at all the upcoming games. I have a feeling my camera will transformed into a sports only camera before too long.