Archive - June 2013

A Month of Instagram – June

June Collage 2

1.  I guess the box was better than the toy inside.

2. and 3.  First s’mores of the season

4.  Playing Mr. Potato Head with daddy

5.  Selfie with baby.  No duck lips.

6. Mr Potato is all set for Disneyland

7.  Helping Boo do pushups

8.  What kind of person would draw a mustache on the baby?!?

9.  Bip and Pipsqueak watching videos in Bip’s iPad nook.

Efficient Summer

Heat Miser with MinionsIt’s summer.  Blech.  I’ve said it many times before, but I am not a summer person.  Too hot, too sweaty, not enough air conditioning.  Shorts make my knees look chubby.  It’s like I’ve got Heat Miser and his minions dancing around my house. And apparently, my state now has a tendency to burst into flames.

But I will make the best of it.  I have decided to be Efficient this summer!  I am going to Get Things Done!  I have…A Plan, and it’s a good one.

Mainly it is sitting on the back deck, drinking iced tea and hanging out on Facebook.

Ok, not really.  Summer of Sloth II is Boo’s plan, which I delight in thwarting daily. My Efficient Summer Plan involves having one focus area for each week of summer.  Like so…

Week 1. Basement, Round 1
Week 2.Work on the blog (have you noticed?), work on projects with Bip
Week 3 Refine the housekeeping schedule, such as chore assignments. Pumpkin Girl projects
Week 4 Basement, Round 2, Work on projects with Bip
Week 5. Home Ec with the kids
Week 7. Prep for coming school year, Pumpkin Girl Projects, prep for upcoming cruise
Week 6.  Craft Room, Projects with Bip
Week 8.  Home Ec with Kids.

I’m on week 3 now.  I’m sure my minions are extra thrilled with this one!  Too bad, we wouldn’t want them living the Life of Riley now, would we?  Or having me talk to the walls?

So basically, I’m getting to all the need-tos and should-haves that have been building up, along with tackling some projects that I’ve promised to do with or for Pumpkin Girl and Bip.  Also, they decided they wanted to learn to cook and bake.  Or I decided, I can’t remember which.  And that pretty much takes up the summer.  I might have one more week in there, depending on when Pumpkin’s dance studio starts their Fall schedule.

How about you?  Anything as thrilling as I have planned?

Buh bye, Google Reader

Dissatisfied-SmileySo yeah, Google Reader is going away. I find that to be super annoying because I don’t like change when things are going well. But this being a rather minor inconvenience in the grand scheme of life , I will adapt.

Actually, I already have. I’m using Feedly now, which has an app for my mobile devices or I can read on the big computer by logging into their site.  If you are using Google Reader, you need to find another way to get your blogs before July 1. Feedly is nice and easy and will import your Google Reader feeds without much fuss.

 

Passporter’s Walt Disney World guidebook and giveaway

*note: The giveaway is over and the winners have been notified*

So…you’re going to Walt Disney World! A trip of a lifetime, right? An expensive trip of a lifetime! You want to get the most out of this vacation, spending your money wisely while enjoying all that Disney has to offer.

You do a search for Disney planning and you are instantly overwhelmed by the choices. What the heck is an ADR? What is a touring plan? Are these paid planning sites worth it? Who has the time to cull all of the tips out there into one cohesive document?

You slowly step away from the computer and wonder if this whole Disney vacation is going to be entirely too stressful even just to plan.

I get that. PassPorterCoverIt can be stressful. Disney is expensive. And crowded. And hot. But there is help. (Well, not so much for the heat.) Let me introduce to you Passporter. Passporter is the Ultimate Disney Planning Guide. If you’re like me and prefer to sit down with a book, highlighter and sticky-note flags, you will love Passporter. Passporter has planning guides for Walt Disney World, the Disney Cruise Line and Disneyland. This week I am focusing on their WDW guide.

Passporter’s Walt Disney World guide takes you through everything you need to know to plan this trip of a lifetime. They review all of the on-site hotels and resorts, all the rides, all the restaurants. They walk you through all the dining reservations you may need. They include touring plans of all the parks and explain why you even need them. If you are still in the pre-planning stages of your trip, they have a crowd chart to help you decide when you might want to go. (And you know what, I take it back about the heat.  There is a chart of average temps in Orlando by month.)PassPorterResort

We are Disney People, but we go mostly to Disneyland. So when we were started planning our first trip to WDW in 2007, I was pretty clueless. I turned to Passporter’s Walt Disney World to plan our whole trip. We went with my cousin and his family – four adults and 5 children who ranged in age from 2 to 9. Using the advice in the Passporter guide, we were able to plan an enjoyable vacation for everyone.  Even after we had arrived, we decided to try a character meal and out came my Passporter to help us decide which one.
PassPorterRestaurant

What else can you possibly need? Full color pages? Got ’em. Worksheets for your notes and travel details? Yep. Fold-out maps of each park? Oh yeah! Tips for teens? Tips for tweens? Tips for kids and toddlers? But of course! Not only that, these tips are for kids, by kids!
PassPorterRides

It really can’t get any better, can it? How about built-in folders (called PassPockets) for you to store tickets, receipts and other paper souvenirs! And each folder has space for you to log your day, confirmation numbers, money spent and thoughts for your next trip.
PassPocket

Can you see why I love Passporter guides?

I have 3, count them THREE, WDW Passporter guides (spiral bound) to give away. These guides are the 2013 version, which have been expanded for use all through 2014.  There will be 3 winners, each will receive one book.

You can find the easy to use entry form at the bottom of this post.

Contest will run from June 20, 2013 until June 26, 2013 at 11:59 PM, MDT.  Winners will be notified by email and have until June 30 to provide me with a mailing address or an alternate winner will be chosen.

Oh, and Passporter provided me three free copies of their Walt Disney World guide book in return for this review.

You can visit the PassPorter.com site where you will find a whole community of  friendly people who can answer your questions as you plan your trip.  You can also check out all the other books that PassPorter publishes, most of which are also available as e-books.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

First Communion, Bip’s Turn

Last month it was Bip’s turn to receive his First Holy Communion. Our sweet, funny little guy was a bit nervous and excited – just like his mama!  He seems so much smaller than Boo was at his first communion, but Bip wore Boo’s old suit, so apparently they are the same size.

He didn’t really want to wear a suit at all.  But after much glaring and threatening…er, sympathetic nods and patient understanding…he agreed.  He felt better when he saw that some of the other boys in his class wore suits, too.

BipCommunionBanner(r)

It was Pentecost Sunday, so the church was still bedecked in red from Confirmation two days before.  Funny enough, I made my first communion on Pentecost, too, all those years ago.BipAndFatherCommunion

Here we are at the Our Lady of Lourdes grotto at our church. Let us focus on how nice we all look, and not on the fact that Pumpkin is taller than me.

FamilyMaryGrotto

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