Boo passed his Eagle Scout Board of Review.
He was visibly nervous beforehand and more than one person told him to breathe. But he did it and he is an Eagle Scout. His Court of Honor will be early in the New Year. I have to admit, I teared up a bit on the ride home. I sure am proud of my boy.
Just one last look at Pumpkin Girl as Clara. I can’t help it.
Here we are, after the first show. She is holding the flowers we bought her. Pipsqueak loved the show, but fell asleep during the Waltz of the Flowers.
She also made an appearance at a local Barnes and Nobles store. First the Sugar Plum Fairy danced, then Pumpkin danced, then she read the story of the Nutcracker to the children. She was wearing the Clara costume from her ballet company for their performance later this month.
It was an amazing weekend.
So many memorable moments from backstage, but they are Pumpkin Girl’s stories to tell. As for me, I was an emotional mess in the final 10 minutes before the show and the long, long overture. And then she ran on stage to see the Christmas decorations in her house and it was nonstop from there. She was amazing in every way and I just sat back and enjoyed every minute. Two hours later and it was over too soon.
Then on Sunday I was offered the chance to sit backstage and watch the whole show – and I did! It was equally as wonderful, but in a different way. I had my camera ready for the moment it was all over. I took this picture of my beautiful girl at the close of her first major leading role. My Clara and her Nutcracker Prince.
Happy sigh. I am so proud of her.
Boo is a Life Scout. Â He has 27 merit badges, 6 more than required for Eagle Scout.
His Eagle Scout service project was completed in October. Â His team worked at a local, non-profit preschool, clearing their sandbox of wood chips and building a retaining wall to keep more wood chips from getting in.
He held the required leadership position as the Senior Patrol Leader.
He passed his Scout Master conference.
He is just one, fairly short Board of Review away and he will be an Eagle Scout. Â It was scheduled for November 21 at 6:00 pm.
He’s been prepping, reading and answering potential BOR questions that he found on the internet. Â He washed and ironed his uniform. Â He combed his hair. Â He *shaved*.
As his mom, I was excited for him, but anxious to get it over with because he has been wound pretty tightly for a while now.
We had a game plan. Â I would drop Pumpkin Girl off at dance and return. Â Philip would come home early. Â The weather was pretty yuck – snow and ice – so we would leave 15 minutes early to allow for traffic and road conditions. And then we would take all the boys out for a celebratory dinner with our newly minted Eagle Scout.
I left with Pumpkin Girl and I wasn’t even a mile down the road when Boo called me.
“Hi mom. Â They cancelled all Board of Reviews for tonight because of the weather.”
Poor guy. Â It was the right thing to do. The roads were bad and the last thing they needed was a scout and his family getting injured. (Ballerinas are apparently made of tougher stuff since none of Pumpkin’s classes were cancelled that night.) Â I came home to a very deflated, very sad, young man. Â Worst of all, the Board of Review cannot be rescheduled because of logistics. Â The next opportunity will be the regularly scheduled Board in December. Â The 17 boys who got cancelled are guaranteed a spot.
Boo has dreamed of being an Eagle Scout for a very long time now. Â He was an hour and 15 minutes away from achieving his dream. Â But he has only been postponed – he will be an Eagle by Christmas.
The first time I ever saw “The Nutcracker” I was about 8 years old. Â My imagination took over and I spent the next several days dancing around my living room in my white nightgown, pretending to be Clara. Â I never really wanted to be a dancer, though. Â We went to see “The Nutcracker” at least once more during my childhood and that was that.
Years later I find myself as the mother of a dancer.  When we moved to Colorado she had the opportunity to audition for the local production of  Nutcracker.  Like so many other young girls, she had dreams of Clara. Maybe, someday, when she was just a little older.
She was a sheep in the shepherd scene that first year. Â Nothing cuter than a line of dancing sheep, linking arms like they are little swans. Â The next year she was part of what is called the “mini variations” – smaller versions of the Chinese, Arabian, Marzipan and Russian dances. Â Mostly they just run around in the finale, looking cute.
The next couple of years she was a party girl, one of the most sought after roles. Â The party scene is the longest one that the children dancers participate in and the girls wear pretty dresses and boingy fake curls. Â The party scene is a lot of fun, but I really don’t remember much of it because I was mostly watching Pumpkin Girl.
Actually, I’m kind of a nervous wreck right before she goes on. Â And Nutcracker has the longest overture ever. Â EVER. Â Seriously, cut to the chase and let’s see my girl! I knew exactly which family she was a part of and when she was coming on. Poor Boo, who usually sits next to me, has to deal with the death grip I have on his arm and me whispering, “There she is! Â There she is! Â Do you see her?”
It’s tough as a mom, having to sit back and watch and wait. Â I’m so glad none of my kids are Olympic level competitors. Â I don’t think I have it in me! Â I remember the first time Pumpkin had a lead role. Â Her Broadway class was doing “Under the Sea” from “The Little Mermaid,” which is Sebastian’s song. Â And Pumpkin was Sebastian. Â Her number was first in the show and since the kids were actually singing as they danced, she had the only speaking part in the whole show as she told Ariel that “the human world is a mess, life under the sea is better than anything they’ve got up there!”
I was a wee bit tense as the lights went down and the stage was lit with a dreamy, ocean backdrop. Â I knew she was standing riiiiight there, behind the curtain, waiting to side-walk on. Â I think Boo’s finally getting feeling back in his arm, two years later.
And then last year, she was asked to join the Beginning Broadway class as The Artful Dodger in the song “Consider Yourself.” Â That just happens to be the Artful Dodger’s song, by the way. Â And due to an administrative mistake, her tap number was right before “Consider Yourself.” Â She had to leave tap a few seconds early, stage left, in this costume…
And reappear, stage right, in time to take the lead in this costume…
 
I don’t think I even breathed from the moment she left the stage until I saw her pop out and I quickly checked to see that she’d gotten the whole costume on correctly.
Seriously, dance momming is not for the weak of heart.
Anyway. Â Back in August she trudged off for yet another Nutcracker audition. Â She thought she did well, but who really knows with these things? Â Casting took forever – forever!!!- to be posted. Â The wait nearly killed me. Â It was far worse than waiting to see if she’d remember to exchange her tap shoes for jazz shoes before reentering the stage.
And I convinced myself of all sorts of things. Â Or tried to. Â Yes, she has wanted to be Clara for a couple of years now, but most girls will not be Clara and they all go on to live normal, healthy lives, right? Â And really, Clara is a lot of work. Â And she needs to use her own curled hair, not fake and wow, I don’t want to even attempt to get her hair to curl like that. Â And seriously, I am never going to be able to sit in that audience and wait through that interminably long overture and not burst into tears. Â No, don’t really want her to be Clara, it would be much easier on me if she isn’t.
You know what happened right?
Pumpkin Girl is Clara.
Next weekend.
It takes me 2 1/2 hours to curl her hair.
Boo refuses to sit next to me.
Halloween just about killed me this year. It was supposed to be all so easy and yet…it wasn’t. Story of my life, right there. The children cooked up plan for another set of theme costumes and this year it was Peter Pan. Ok, no problem. We needed a Captain Hook costume for Boo, Mr. Smee for Pumpkin Girl, Peter Pan for Pipsqueak and a crocodile for Bip. Just a quick internet search, order them with a couple of clicks and sit back watch it all come together.
This is what really happened.
Turns out, there are no Mr. Smee costumes to be had. Anywhere. At any price. You have to put it together yourself, piece by painful piece. We lucked out and found the right kind of blue and white striped shirt at Land’s End. I got the smallest size I could, which was still too big for Pumpkin Girl, but the bagginess ended up looking good since Mr. Smee wears a baggy shirt to cover his belly. It also allowed Pumpkin to put 2 layers under it to avoid freezing. We found blue basketball shorts at the Nike outlet, striped socks at Marshals and she crammed her feet into a pair of brown sandals I am giving away. I had prepared to make her hat myself but I found just the right one on Etsy and for $20 it was bought and done with. A pair of fake glasses from Claire’s and that was one costume finished. I am carefully glossing over the hours of shopping and searching in thrift stores and digging around my own closet. Some things are best forgotten.
Captain Hook should be a breeze, right? Well, it wasn’t. Capt Hook costumes only go up to about a boy’s size 10. Then there are generic pirate captain costumes available in men’s sizes, regular or large. They are not cheap. Well, some are, but the nice ones are not. And Boo is not man sized yet. So the nice costume we bought needed extensive alterations. Fortunately I’ve been working in Pumpkin’s ballet studio’s costume room for the last few years and I now know how to make those alterations quickly, invisibly and able to be removed.
Peter Pan should be easy, too. You’d think. The Disney Store online does not carry them. All the knock-offs had stupid looking hats. The best looking one I could find was a Disney one from previous years, but in a size too big for Pipsqueak. More alterations. Sigh.
And then the alligator/crocodile. There are several styles available for toddlers. And then nothing in larger sizes. Nothing at all. Finally I found an alligator from the “Where’s My Water” app, complete with shower head coming from the hat. Whatever. I ordered it and found, to my delight, that the shower head was held on by hot glue and a few stitches. Ten minutes of careful work and the shower head was removed in a way that I can replace it.
So, here they are, in all their Peter Pan themed glory. What do you think?
How can it be the end of October already? Gah.
1. Helping me decorate for Fall
2. Just last week (at the time) we were on the Dream…
3. Requirement for early morning Eagle Scout Projects
4. Double cheesy Mickey cracker.
5. Arr! Me pirate!
6. Found her Daddy’s tanker boots!
7. Clara Curls, Trial 1: rag curls, slightly damp, no product
8. Eyelash envy!
9. Clara Curls,Trial 3: sponge rollers, damp hair and mousse
10. Halloween friends
11. My new Origami Owl necklace (birthstones of me, Phil and the kids)
12. Clara Curl win!
13. Harvest Snack Mix – equal parts M&Ms, peanuts and candy corn. Display fallishly.
14. Happy Birthday, Pipsqueak!
Did you actually read all the captions? There are hints to Major Announcements next month!
Ok, I admit it. Part of the reason blogging has been light around here is that we took off on a Disney Cruise at the end of September. It was Disney Vacation Club members-only cruise on the Dream, with two stops at Castaway Cay and a day at sea.
Saying it was fun is an understatement. To sum it up, I’ve been having to make my own bed and cook my own food since we got back and I’m very sad about that. Boo had a blast in the teen clubs. Pumpkin Girl critiqued all the dancing in the shows (nicely). Crush (the turtle from “Finding Nemo”) nicknamed Bip “Niko”. Pipsqueak wandered off with Stitch. We snorkled with sting rays and sang “It’s a Small World” with Richard Sherman. We got to preview “Toy Story of Terror” and see a presentation on the making of “Saving Mr. Banks”. I think “amazing” might just cover it.
 
Disneyland food is not cheap, so if you’re going to be spending a lot of money, it better be worth it, right? People are always asking me about my favorite restaurants and food at Disneyland. Â They’re not stopping me in the streets or anything, but if someone I know is planning a trip, they ask me about food. Â Now, I’m not a foodie or a gourmet or anything fancy like that. I’m pretty easy to please, food wise. Â So all that being said, these are my Disneyland food favorites.
1. Â Mickey Bars, of course. Â You can go for the ice cream dipped in chocolate or the ice cream sandwich, but both are shaped like Mickeys. Â No trip to Disneyland (or Disney World or the Disney cruises) is complete without a Mickey Bar.
photo courtesy of K!ngrum
2. Dole Whips. Â If you haven’t had a Dole Whip, you really haven’t lived. Â You can buy these at only one place in Disneyland, and that is at the Tiki Juice Bar at the entrance to the Enchanted Tiki Room. Â You can stand in a long line outside the ride if you want. Â But it is far better to go through the turnstyle to the shaded waiting area for the show. Â You can order your Dole Whips from inside the waiting area, eat while you wait and *you can bring your treat into the show*. Â Just be nice and throw your trash away on your way out.
3. Â Kabobs at the Bengal BBQ. Â This counter service restaurant is in Adventureland, approximately across from the Indiana Jones ride. Â The kabobs are tasty and filling and not what you’d consider your average park fare.
4. Cream cheese filled pretzels. Â You’ll either love these or hate them. Â I happen to love them. Â They are ooey-gooey, sweetness in a carb. Â What’s not to love? Â You can find them in a pretzel cart near Star Traders in Tomorrowland, across from the AstroBlaster ride, or in California Adventure, over by Goofy’s Sky School, in a little food hut. Â You can also get plain, Mickey shaped pretzels, if that’s more your style.
5. Â Churros. Â Yes, you can get these anywhere now, even Costco and Sam’s Club for much cheaper and much bigger. Â But they taste better at Disneyland. Â Trust me on this. Â I did extensive research, just for the blog. Â See how much I love you? Â Churro carts can be found all over Disneyland.
6. Â Chicken sausage in a pretzel bun at the Village Haus in Fantasyland. Â Mmmmm. Chicken sausage, pretzel bun, add some sauerkraut and mustard. Â Almost good enough to make me wear leiderhosen and play an accordian. Â Almost.
7. Monte Cristo sandwich at the Blue Bayou. Â First off, this is our favorite resturant, in or out of Disneyland. Â The atmosphere is amazing. Â You are indoors (with air conditioning!), but it looks like you are actually outside, dining next to a Louisiana bayou. But the bayou is actually the water of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and the boats are floating right by!
photo courtesy of davelandweb.com
 All of the food is good at the Blue Bayou but my favorite is the Monte Cristo sandwich.  The first time I ordered it, I thought I was getting a croque monsieur, which is a grilled ham and cheese sandwich.  Turns out, I had the name wrong.  So when I got a ham, turkey and cheese sandwich, dipped in batter and fried, dusted with powdered sugar and served with jelly on the side…you can say I was a bit surprised.  And delighted!  It was delicious.  Don’t even think about the calories on this.  Think instead about how much exercise you’re getting walking around all day.  Oh, and you can also get this sandwich at Cafe Orleans.  Both restaurants are in New Orleans Square.
8. Â Clam chowder in a sour dough bowl at the Royal Street Verandah, New Orleans Square. Â My mouth waters just thinking about this! Â I haven’t actually had one in a long time, but hopefully they are as good as I remember.
 9. Anything at the Napa Rose in the Grand Californian Hotel in Downtown Disney (and connected to California Adventure). My friend Shanti is a self-described food snob and this is her favorite restaurant in the Disneyland Resort. In her own words, Napa Rose has “good food, good wine, and really good service.” They change the menu all the time, so she couldn’t tell me her favorite meal. She does say they are good with kids there, too. We might just have to check it out soon.
So what do you think? Â Did I miss your favorite Disneyland food?
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