Christmas at Gaylord Palms Resort makes holiday dreams come true. This is a statement that was read to me a couple of weeks ago before I attended this year’s ICE event at the Resort. I was already shaking my head in agreement before I even was able to capture the event in person. This was my third year of attending the Gaylord Palms ICE event. Each year it has got better and this year has topped the charts. Watch out Gaylord, you have your work cut out for you next year to make it even better. The entire family was in awe the whole time we were visiting the Gaylord Palms. I am going to share our ICE and Snow adventures with you today and then tomorrow share even more adventures that are included in this year’s holiday package.

The highlight of Christmas at Gaylord Palms, ICE! is open daily (till Jan. 2, 2012), including
holidays. With more than 16,000 square-feet of frosty 9-degree bliss played out in a winter
wonderland of exciting hand-carved sculptures, ICE! Is a favorite holiday tradition. This year it features
five 30-foot ice slides and an all-new, tribute to the unforgettable DreamWorks’ Animation TV classic
Shrek the Halls. The attraction is carved by a team of 40 artisans from Harbin, China, an area best
known for its annual International Ice and Snow Festival.

I am always so amazed by the work and carving skills. Let’s take a virtual stroll through the ICE event. Passing the hot chocolate around. Be prepared to be amazed!

Isn’t this just breathtaking? Believe me, it is even better in person. You will be in awe the whole time. M and I had to create laughter and family fun on the ICE slides. Yes, you are sliding on ice!

Gaylord Palms always over the last three years included a nativity scene in ice. The beauty, the twinkle of the light shining down has me in awe every time. We caught L standing in front of the Angel for a good three minutes. She would talk to the angel and just stare upwards. Hubby and I both got chills.

A new feature that was added last year is SNOW. Yes, really there is snow in Florida. The Kung Fun Panda Awesome SNOW! features more than 130-tons of snow is freshly made daily to allow kids of all ages to build snowmen and forts while playing in over 3-feet of the cold stuff. The best part? We did not even have to wear a coat. The atmosphere is kept at a crisp 55 degrees. The girls were having so much fun throwing snow balls and not having to worry about freezing. We built a snowman, had fun sliding down the slides and catching each other off guard with a snowball.

Truly a magical and wonderful holiday experience for the whole family. What are you waiting for? Go create memories and have a blast. Believe me, you will not regret the experience. Merry Christmas!

Disclosure: We were invited on a FAM trip to the Gaylord Palms to experience all the holiday festivities. All thoughts and opinions are of my own.

The Disney Celebration fun continued Friday night with a Disney Junior Jake and the Neverland Pirates Dance Party. The girls danced their hearts out the whole night with not only Bones & Sharkey, but also Donald Duck and Handy Manny. The stage was set at Hollywood Studios right in the Disney Junior area of the park.

The DJ really kept the kids on their toes and kept the excitement going all night with surprise guests from Disney Junior filling the dance floor all night. Join in with the fun and get ready to dance as you watch the video from the night.

Here is the first of many posts over the next week to share highlights from our fun at the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration. It indeed was that, a fun celebration. We were so honored to have a room on the water at the Grand Floridian.

Grand Floridian Waterfront Room View

The first day was just full of awesomeness that started out with some splishing and splashing in the uber cool beach pool.

Open Your Eyes Mom

The pool starts off on one side like an ocean. Then proceeds to get deeper the farther you go in. This allowed kids of all ages (including moms and dads) to have fun in the water. No tears were ever shed that the pool water was too deep. Now, to add to the already cool pool was a fun waterfall slide. M was really enjoying the slide over and over and did I mention over?

The slide is super fast in the words of M!

After playing so long in the water that our skin was so wrinkled it was time to go have fun on the Grand Floridian lawn and sandy beach.

Disney Princess Brides

M playing with her friends in the sand at Grand Floridian

The night was filled with great food, great music and the biggest surprise of the night Mickey and Minnie Mouse!

M so happy to be with Minnie and Mickey Mouse

Since our room was right on the water at the Grand Floridian, we had the most perfect view for the nightly electrical water parade and the fireworks over Magic Kingdom castle. Here is a short video recap of the fun we had in the great outdoors of Grand Floridian.

We are having a blast down here in Florida for Christmas. Over the next few days, I am going to share with you our little adventures we have been on.

First up is this family in Kissimmee, FL that decorates their house every Christmas and puts the light sync with music. We ventured over to the house and was in awe of all the lights and music. We just sat there and took it all in!

I loved that they put Jesus is the Reason for the Season! Many times we can forget with all the hustle and bustle. Enjoy this short video of the sights and sounds.

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!

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.

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!

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 :=)

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.

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 .