Mom and Daughters Go Magical at Disney
On our recent road trip, the girls and I sneaked away for a couple nights and had some much needed one on one time with each other. I have mom guilt so much since I work full-time and so when the opportunity fell in my lap by a wonderful and inspiring mom friend, the girls and I were off to the most magical place on Earth…. Disney.
As you know we were at Animal Kingdom but our first night in the magical land, it was all about Magic Kingdom.
Since my beautiful princesses were in tow, I of course had to make our first stop with a walk through Cinderella’s castle.
As soon as we walked through the royal palace, the girls locked their eyes on the ever so popular Carousel ride. Every time we go to Magic Kingdom, the girls have to make sure they ride the Carousel. I loved the Carousel as a child growing up so to see the glitter in the girls eyes, just makes my heart melt all over again.
Skipping off the Carousel onto “It’s a Small World” ride all the while singing it as loud as we can holding hands….
We glided right off that boat onto our magical carpet to see the ever so cool 3D show that splashes water on you and blows air in your face. The smiles, the giggles, and the nerdy yellow glasses. Memories forever with my girls.
As the darkness was setting in, our hearts were bursting out at the seams for the Electrical Parade. We first heard of the Parade back in February at Disney Social Media Moms, so to be able to experience the Parade in person was really a dream come true for the girls.
We sought out our spot to make sure we had the perfect setting to be able to enjoy the parade and up came a little handsome boy that wanted a hug so bad from L. He held out his hands to her over and over.
L just would give him the cold shoulder and finally he just started pleading “Please give me a hug”, but there was just no hope from princess L!
She is saving her love for her future prince but that is many many years away 
. It was onto the highlight of the night with my two favorite girls.
DISNEY’S ELECTRICAL PARADE
The girls eyes were captured by the first float and their faces were lit up with such delight. Take a glimpse into parts of the parade!
Happy 4th of July America!!!
The night was finished off with the princesses sitting by the castle to watch the skies light up with all the colors we could ever think of.
Mom and Daughter time at Disney ROCKS!
No tags for this post.Animals and Animals and More Animals at Animal Kingdom
Part of our Road Trip included a couple days at Disney. Disney is actually not one of L’s favorite places but we assured her that she would get to go to her best place… Animal Kingdom. This girl is a huge animal lover and her face just lights up so big when she sees any type of animal.
This time was no different. As soon as we walked through the entrance door, we were on a race to find the first animals. It did not take long until we found beautiful surroundings.
We all could have just stood there for hours and carried on conversations about nature’s beauty! L was just amazed at all the animals and how they would walk right up to the fence that we were standing behind. The animals are definitely such a highlight of Animal Kingdom for sure. L and M could care less about the rides there .
Another must see highlight was the Lion King Festival there. We were not able to see this previously when we were there at Disney, so we thought we would check out the production. L was a bit nervous walking in because she just wasn’t quite sure what was going on in this particular building out in the wild! Once we were in though, she was all smiles and clapping hands. I even at one time in the show had tears well up in my eyes. The show as THAT awesome. If you are at Animal Kingdom, make sure to put this show on your schedule.
Each section in the building was part of a group and had to do certain sounds at the beginning of the show. We were all just laughing so hard listening to everyone.
L was just amazed by all the sights and sounds the entire time. She never once complained and was so into the show.
The acrobatics of the show were so artistic and was really putting a wow on for the crowd.
Take a listen into the beautiful music that was sang throughout the whole show! You will definitely add this to your must see list. We can’t wait to go back! Notice towards the end of the video of L clapping her little heart out.
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Happy Birthday America
We are still road tripping, but almost on our way home. We are in Jacksonville, Florida for our last night of our road trip to take in the sights and sounds of 4th of July on the beach.
The whole One Moms World family wanted to take a minute and wish you all a very Happy 4th of July. However, you may be celebrating today… make sure to just take time to enjoy it. Family means so much. Take lots of pictures and smile and smile and smile.
God Bless America!
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Girls First Lake Experience
One Moms World family is continuing their road trip. We have arrived in Gainesville, FL to visit more family. We were here briefly in February but due to unfortunate circumstances with my Grandmother, we had to cut the trip short.
I was excited to see how family friendly the area was this time to see if we would be willing to call this our new home. So far, I am really impressed with it. It is not such a HUGE town like Fort Lauderdale and Miami, so this is definitely on my scale for this mountain girl.
First day out, we took a trip to a near lake. This was the girls’ first experience with the lake and I will go ahead and tell you that this mommy was definitely having anxiety about it all. M was all set and ready to go jump in the lake but I started freaking out. In a lake, you cannot see the bottom and with her being a new swimmer, well you get the picture on how I reacted . Once I calmed down and realized that I needed to let M enjoy this new experience, then all was well in the world.
L on the other hand was not too thrilled with it unless she was right next to the steps!
She is such a ham indeed! Hubby and his son were enjoying fishing so we had to go join in all the fun on the dock. Here is M with the beautiful Ashley!
The girls were so fascinated with daddy fishing so I know what this means… Its time to get the girls some cute little pink fishing poles.
The day started out with such a big prize fish for hubby. Can you believe how big this fish was?
I still love teasing him about that. That was just warming up practice for him. As the afternoon went on, the fish would get bigger that he would reel in.
It really was such a fun and family friendly afternoon! The storms started rolling in and with water/lightning not exactly mixing well, we decided to get the heck out of dodge.
The girls and I are on our way to our next stop… Disney World :=)
No tags for this post.Family Vacation to Fort Lauderdale Tropic Seas
The One Moms World family are continuing their family road trip down the East Coast to Fort Lauderdale at the Tropic Seas Resort.
As many know, hubby’s family is in and around the Fort Lauderdale area. Hubby grew up in Hialeah so it is always so nice to come back and visit. The girls and I had actually not been back to Fort Lauderdale since fall of 2007. It really is an amazing place here in South Florida. Unfortunately, I have been hearing of lots of heat index warnings back home in NC so to be here with high 80’s temps and the graceful breeze coming off the ocean has just been excellent and a dream come true. Also, the beach is not crowded at all so this is definitely a great time to come to South Florida and the Lauderdale By The Sea area.
The first night we arrived to the most amazing sunset over the ocean and pool area here at Tropic Seas.
All of us could have just sat out by the pool for hours and been so content. Most of the time you hear of people saying you need a vacation from a vacation, so that is why we always try to just relax and keep it cool throughout the time we are on vacation. My youngest L doesn’t like a lot of stimulation so we all just content of being cool, calm and collected. AND Guess what? The girls love it just so much!
One of the reasons that I love it here at Tropic Seas is that you can just wake-up and walk out your door and you are on the sand to the Beach.
Also, you are just a short few steps to the pool that is surrounded by the ever so awesome scenic palm trees.
The girls are having a true blast playing in the white sand and trying to build sand castles that usually get toppled over by the crashing waves from the beach. The laughs are so worth it though as they tickle hubby and I so much. There was a point yesterday that I just sat on the beach with my feet in the sand and looking out into the ocean as far as I could. I kept singing Amazing Grace out loud over and over, because it really is amazing to be alive and see all of God’s glory right before our eyes. The relaxation and stress free of our beautiful nature really is the best medicine for the body’s soul at times in your life! Remember…nature is all around us, we just have to take time and enjoy it. God is sooo good!
One big milestone this road trip is the girls swimming. L has realized she can swim with floaties on now. At the beginning of the week, she would have nothing to do with going out in the pool water to swim with floaties. Now, she is a little fish taking off and singing her own songs while swimming! M is so loving being an little fish without floaties this year. All those swim lessons have definitely paid off and it has caused my panic levels to go WAY DOWN since she always wants to be in the deep water treading. I’m so proud of both of them.
Hubby and I are off to spend the day with his family here and so thankful for having this time with everyone on our East Coast road trip.
Hope everyone is having a fantastic Summer! Leave a comment below and let us know what all you are up to this summer 
P.S. Tropic Seas has really been good to our family in letting us experience the beach and pool here. We so appreciate them for hosting us for this review. See a full review on the property at Traveling Mamas.
Disney Social Media Moms Conference Day 1
For a week in February, we decided to leave all the snow behind and head for Sunny Florida. Over the next few days, I am going to do a daily recap of our time at the conference. Let me just say that Disney went way out of their way to make this such a grand time for everyone and including all our families in on the fun.
Day 1:
We checked into the super fabulous Polynesian Resort where we were greeted with such superb Customer Service. As soon as we dropped off all our luggage, we wasted no time in heading straight to the parks. I do have to say this was our first time staying on-site and it was nice to just park your car and take the Monorail or the Bus to all the parks.
Our first park we headed to was the Animal Kingdom. I will go ahead and tell you my youngest daughter L is not a fan of all the Disney characters. She is very afraid of people dressed up and wants no part in seeing them, so we made the decision to let her go see the Animals first!
As soon as we walked in, we were immediately greeted with the animals. L was loving this Disney park. She is a huge animal lover and we just had to stop and see all the animals.
Unfortunately, since we had never been to Animal Kingdom, we didn’t realize Safari was the place to see many more animals, so we made a trip back to Animal Kingdom on our last day. (More to come about the Safari on the last day recap)
As I was hanging out with L, hubby would make sure to make all the stops for the Greet and Meet Characters with M. Just a note of advice… Make sure to let your little one have an autograph book with them in the parks (you can even just purchase a small notebook for them) so they can have all the Characters autograph. M was loving all the autographs with each of the characters.
L was over the moon happy with just having her Lil Tinkerbell Baby to carry in her arms throughout the park.
After spending all day at Animal Kingdom, we headed back for a night of fun at ESPN Worldwide of Sports.
This venue was huge and so awesome to be able to take in the sights while no one was there .
As the moms were attending a Press Conference, all the families were out on the field having a great time partaking in all the sports events.
Back in the Press Conference, the Social Media Moms, were getting a look into all the awesome upcomings Disney is bringing forth for everyone. One of the new adventures is the Disney Dream Cruise that is coming in 2011. I knew I wanted to take a Disney Cruise before, but now I really WANT to make it happen for my family after seeing all they are going to offer for families.
Also, one of the key features of the Disney Cruise is the AquaDuck water coaster. Just watch and see how cool this new water coaster is:
And yet another great feature coming back is the Disney Electrical Parade in Magic Kingdom this Summer. We were able to experience the Electrical Parade when we were at Disney this past Christmas. It was so neat and the girls were just in awe during the whole parade seeing all the floats lit up and the people in the parade all lit up. Definitely a must see when you are at the parks. Here are some photos from our time at Christmas.
After the Press Conference, we all headed to another venue at the ESPN Worldwide of Sports to have dinner and let the kids enjoy a dance party with all the beloved Characters. L was just fine sitting with her mommy the whole time, but M really got up on stage and had the time of her life dancing her little heart out. They even were entertained by the High School Musical Cast.
It really was an awesome way to end the evening. Big KUDOS to ESPN Worldwide of Sports for hosting us and show what true family entertainment is all about!
PS: Keeping it real here at One Moms World. I was apart of the Disney Social Media Moms Conference in which we did get reduced hotel and was given tickets as well some dinners provided. They in no way had us post about our time during the Conference. I wanted to from my own mind and heart and will be expressing my opinions about Disney over the course of this week .
Enjoying The Sights and Sounds of Kissimmee
I am guest blogging over at i.seeKissimmee this week. You have to head over and read all about our adventures as we are blogging about our truthful opinions on attractions in and around the Kissimmee, Florida area!
No tags for this post.Trading Palm Trees For Mountains
We are moving from this:
to this:
Quite a change right? These are actual pictures that I have taken and just love both soooo much!
So I have been a little busy bee packing and trying to get everything organized. Never fear… Spring Weight Off will pick up where it left off last week next Monday. This week is just so much chaos… phew. I am going to time date some blog posts so subscribe to the feed if you do not want to miss out on any action here at One Moms World.
So… As most of you all know, I have been living in Florida for the last year. I have grown to love it here. It’s nice when you can just drive across the road and walk into a Super Target, or grab a joe at Starbucks, or munch on salsa and chips at Chilis.
Or…take a trip down the road and go to the beach whenever you feel like it. Or… hop into the car and go to disney for the day. It has been an experience and I am so glad that I have got to experience this last year. I have always said I would either live at the mountains or the beach.
The only thing I have missed is my family back in NC and friends. You just don’t really know what you have until you are miles and miles apart. Family and friends are really important to me and I thank God for putting each and everyone of you in my life.
With that said, we are making the move back to NC this Friday. It is such a bittersweet moment, because I have grown to love Florida so MUCH and having everything close by, but yet am ready to be with my family and friends. So its like I am so torn, but I know God is looking out for us and everything is going to be ok! God has got me through everything in my life and I’m not so sure where I would be in life today if I didn’t have him… so I’m thankful for his love.
All my in-laws live down here, so I know we will be back to visit. Florida it has been a good year and I have no regrets. I know we have all the pictures that one day we can look back at all the beautiful memories that we have made here.
The girls are just as torn as I am because they love the water, but I have ensured Madisyn we would make sure she gets her water in NC as well. .
So here we are starting back on the adventure to NC this Friday and taking plant into the NC Mountains. It’s been a fun ride and I know it will not stop here .
Is This Really Florida
The temps were 39 degrees a couple mornings when we woke up this week…. I had to scratch my head and think, did I fly to NC in my sleep?
Very unusual, but how am I suppose to tell the girls it is too cold in April to go outside and play when it has been in the 80s and close to 90? Hmmm well lets bring out the winter clothes and go have a blast in the good ole game of baseball.
Click this image to make it bigger:
We had a really good time and it was actually a good break from playing outside in the heat. Also it’s always good when you can save your energy and electric bill of not having to run the wonderful AC. While we are on the topic of Florida…I thought I would take this time and blog about something that has been happening since we moved down here 10 months ago.
Everywhere we go… I get asked: Where are you from? Because we know you are not from here. Well… no I am not. I am from NC. Oh we can tell they always say! Today when we were in the grocery store, I was in the check-out line. The cashier said while laughing, where are you from? I said I am from NC. She said oh I just knew it. Then she had everybody coming over listen at how she talks.. she is from NC. Ok…..hmmm LOL!I get on the cellphone when I come out of the store and call my husband. Hun… do I really stand out of the crowd down here by the way I talk. He said yes dear you sure do! Oh geez thanks. This is coming from the New Yorker himself.
Take a listen at this little audio I just did and see what you think. Love to hear your comments.
Sign off from Southern Gal Jen
My Little Girl is Happy to be back in Florida
So yes indeed I did the 12 hour drive back to Florida with my two girls and my step-daughter in tow. We headed out early at 5:30am and I said my prayers, because I was a nervous wreck.
All was going well and the girls were having fun entertaining themselves with the bag of little toys we had in the van…. then alllll heck broke lose . Lyndsee was having no more of time in the van. My poor baby girl. I was trying everything to soothe her. I could tell she really wanted to nap, but one problem you see, she falls to sleep playing with my hair.
I gave her my hand and left one hand on the steering wheel of course, and yes that worked for about 5 minutes (gah, my hand was going numb LOL), and then she let into the big time crying again. The thing is when she has her meltdowns, she gets herself so worked up, that her asthma takes over 
. So here she is having a hard time breathing and she is sweating so bad, I hurry and get off at the next stop that I could, which was luckily a rest stop.
I got her out and hugged on her, let her hold my hair hehe, and talked to her to calm her down. We stayed there for a bit and then I put her back in her car seat and all was good for about an other 30 minutes and then she started crying again . I felt so bad. I absolutely cannot stand to hear my girls cry. I want to make sure I meet all their needs and well I'm just not a fan of letting them cry. So I sang and told her we were going to see daddy and then big sister Madisyn got her playing with their toys again YAY.
Doing the drive during the day was just way to hard on the girls, and I will remember that next time and we will stick with the night driving!
Click on the image below and you will see a collage I made of my happy girl back dancing and smiling once we got home!
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