Christmas shopping.

Yes you read right, today I started my christmas shopping. :) In my defence I didn't actually mean to, I went for coffee with my Mum and she wanted to go to our local Argos warehouse to look for a birthday gift for my niece. Well we didn't find anything for her but found loads of lego sets, k-nect sets and other bits my two would love. Well i couldnt turn down those bargains could I!? lol. Ended up with a trolley full of toys for £40. Very pleased. :)
Quick post today as really didn't do much, but very funny comment from Caitlin this morning. I was upstairs tidying when she called me into her room to help tuck her 'baby' into bed. I do so and she then informs me 'I need to put her to bed now because in two days I'm leaving my baby and my husband.'
Seriously worried about her future lol

Loooooong day

I don't know why but today seems to have lasted ages, it really should be saturday by now! Camerons friend came round to play and I think with it being half term, and poor weather they were just over hyper, running about, bouncing off things. More than one toy got broke and I banned them to Cams room after they skidded into the wall and almost smashed my collectable Tinkerbell clock. Out of curiosoty I looked to see how much it would be to replace if they did smash it and found it going on Ebay for £158! I only paid £20! Granted that was in 2010 but still quite a mark up lol. Might put it somewhere safer.
Anyway the crazy boy is off to karate now so Caitlin is sitting watching Snow white. We rented it from Blockbuster after her loving the disney ride. I thought it might be a bit dark for her but shes enjoying it so far.

Ok I'm now sitting here with tears streaming down my face. Caitlins going through a phase where you can't laugh at her, she gets upset, no matter how much you tell her you're not laughing AT her iykwim. Anyway shes watching the film and suddenly shouts 'But Grumpy said not to let anyone in the house!! Its the witch!!!!' I can't laugh but it's so funny! Think we'll take her to a pantomime this year at Christmas lol, can see her sitting screaming 'They're behind you!!!' Either that or getting up on stage and telling them. We did take her to see Cinderella a couple of years ago but right at the start the ugly sisters joked if they saw anyone eating they would take their food. Well Caitlin then spent the whole time guarding her crisps like they were gold, lol. And yes I AM already planning Christmas, Mark thinks I'm mental but I've seen other crafty friends even making Christmas cards already so its not just me!

Creative kids :)

Well today is Marks birthday, both kids wanted to give Mark a a gift and despite me saying we'd got him want they wanted to do their own. Caitlin made him a card and Cameron wrote him a story :) Mark was thrilled and it was so touching that they had done it off their own backs rather than me telling them to.

This is Camerons story for those who want to read it

Star wars
Once upon a time, the storm troopers were looking for a magic bomb to blow up Yoda. Yoda was trying to get there first so he could blow up them instead, so while running he fought them with his light saber and it worked. he got there first, he blew up the storm troopers, then a huge storm trooper came out of his hiding place but Yoda had two of the magic bombs so he blew up the storm trooper and won.
The end.

Ok so it won't be on the best seller list anytime soon but he really worked hard on it, concentrating on his spelling and his handwriting and he was so proud of it :)
As it was marks birthday and half term we went to the cinema to see Epic. It was really good :) Kids loved it and it was funny and interesting for the grown up too. Its nice they're getting older so we can see films we all like, much better than when they were kids and we had to sit through endless Thomas films lol.

We also went to dinner at The Harvester, with vouchers and getting small meals it didn't work out too bad, hopefully we'll get some compensation from the police too so that will help.

Tomorrow Camerons friend Jack is coming to play so hectic day I'm imagining! Hes all excited though so well worth it. :)

Quiet with only one

This morning Caitlin went to her friends house to play, well i say this morning she was there for 4 hours! We dropped her off at 10 and offered to get her a couple of hours later; Lucys mum said not to worry she'll txt us when the girls were bored. Well I tidied the house, played with Cam, then we all sat in silence playing computer games until even Cameron asked when Caitlin was coming home lol. It was so quiet without her! Apprently the girls had a great time though, they played nicely together and were quiet there too. Lucy is the same when she comes to our house, she is such a peaceful, well behaved little girl she seems to calm Caitlin down somehow. Pity we can't keep her. lol
After we'd picked her up we went to visit my Gran. Shes up and down at the moment so trying to see her as much as possible but on a good note the exercises the phisio gave her seem to be helping. Caitlin turned back into the crazy girl again and when mark was playing with his phone and taking nice pictures this is how she posed.

Funnily enough I really like it, ok its odd but it shows the unusual colour of her eyes.
Well I'm staying up late trying to book tickets for Epic tomorrow. because we're with orange we can do the buy one get one free but can only book on the day. Typically the website has JUST gone down so don't think Im the only one doing it, wish me luck!

As easy as riding a bike? Total rubbish!

Well just had a visitor I didn't expect! Police again, and they caught someone for the damage to my car. Really surprised as obviously there was no evidence or anything but apprently she'd damaged a police officers car in the past (clever of her) and they recognised the MO, asked her and she admitted to it. So hopefully I might get a little bit back for my tyre.
Well today was a lovely day so we decided to take the kids out on their bikes without stabilisers. Well that went down like a ton of bricks! Poor Cameron was ready to throw his bike in the bin at one point lol. I bribed and begged and threatened and they managed to make great progress though so ended on a high. Hopefully we'll have a few more sunny days and they'll be riding by the holidays.

Sunny day :)

Wow HOW great was the weather today?! Usually on sunny days I'm either out with the kids, or doing washing. Today though I threw caution to the wind and sat outside and relaxed :) I borrowed Camerons 3DS to have a go, oh you should have seen his face! I said I was going to have a go and he looked at me distraught and wailed 'But WHY?!' You'd have thought I just told him he was being given up for adoption. He still 'let' me though, not that it would have mattered I'd have took it anyway lol.
Did do some work though, tidied the back garden and did start to weed the front path. Stopped that pretty sharpish when i took hold of one lot of weeds and a load of ants started running up my hand! Good job Mark didn't do it, he hates them bless him. Always makes me laugh as hes so huge and the ants are so small lol.

Catch up

Wow another 2 days without blogging. Not doing well am I! At least this time its not been been because of something bad, its just because I've done nothing interesting lol.
Thursday was a little dramatic granted, woke up, took kids school, came home and planned to do some cleaning before going to get some shopping for my Gran. Then the door knocked and I opened it to see a policeman standing there. No joke in the seconds between him saying 'Mrs Steele?' and saying 'Its nothing too bad don't worry' about a million thoughts went through my head, my sisters ex has killed her/the girls, mum and Bri have been in an accident, somethings happened to granny? it was horrible! So when he told me someone had slashed my tyre it was almost like 'Oh is that it?' lol. Turned out some hooligans had gone on a spree and wreaked about 26 cars around the town. Most only had one or two tyres done but some had been scratched or spray painted. Gonna cots us £50 for a new tyre. Not impressed. :( Felt for the officer though, he ran through what they were doing to catch whoever it was, going door to door, reviewing CCTV and all that, honestly sounded like so many man hours being wasted on such a stupid act. He was really apologetic though as there wasn't much to go on so he wasn't too hopeful. I got the impression he'd had it in the neck from previous houses he'd been to but if there's no evidence what can they do?
So Thursday we were stuck in because it's been 10 years since I changed a tyre so didn't want to do it until Bri was home and could help me, lol, Friday we were stuck in too waiting for Bri to come round so did lots of ironing and caught up on my dvd rentals.

Pitch perfect was really funny! I wasn't expecting much of it as its been compared to bridesmaids etc which I wasn't too fond of but it was really good. More like mean girls meets Glee.
Now this I was expecting a lot from but was really dissapointed.

It just seemed to go on for aggggggggges, I'd seen the other film with Liam neeson years ago and loved it but this one went on just a little too long for me.
Now scrapping has gone out the window because Blockbuster finally sent us this! Woo hoo! I'm a HUGE Tomb radier fan but the last couple of games have been dire. This one was supposed to have gone back to the orignal idea and while there arn't as many puzzles as I would like it's still very addictive and fun. Don't think kids are complaining either because I lost track of time playing it yesterday while they were outside and next thing I knew it was 9pm! They're usually in bed by 8 at the weekend lol.

So the spare wheel is now on the car, off to the shops tomorrow to get some plants for the front garden which is now all weeds then will try and get a spare tyre next week. See, boring, lol.

Rubbish photo

Ok so it's a rubbish photo but this is a layout I did last night :) I really wanted to do some scrapping but needed inspiration, a friend pointed me towards thhe Onwards and upwards blog event on Jennifer Grace creates and found some great challenged on there :) This is my first one but do plan more. Its nowhere near as blue, not sure why it's turned out that way but there you go.
Rules were:

Use a piece of twine to break a border in your background - Yellow twine on the left.

Add some Stickles or glitter as ‘highlights’ on an object - I used some glitter ribbon to highlight one of my photos

Cluster some buttons and gems - Ok I forgot gems, but I used lots of buttons scattered about. I wanted to use them to show the sweets being scattered everywhere as the kids went mad lol.

Photos are all from the kids birthdays last year, is it wrong I'm already trying to work out what to do for their party next year? lol.

Up and down

Wow, its been a few days since my last post! If I'm honest its been a really rough few days. I was avoiding blogging as don't want to seem miserable but really the reason I do this is to look back on getting through the bad as well as enjoying the good.
I've mentioned about Marks physical health getting worse but his mental health has been in decline too. As a result his depression has got worse and he's been doing the typical guy thing of bottling it up then snapping at me. I get why he's depressed, it must be dreadful not to be able to trust your own judgement and know what is real and not real, and since he can only go out with me he doesn't leave the house often which doesn't help. On top of that I've not been feeling 100% either, I HATE not working, and often wonder what is going to happen as the kids get older. I love Mark, but being his carer for the rest of my life and never having a job or anything again feels kinda like a waste.
Anyway the weekend went by with mark mainly sleeping and me just getting through, then Monday it all blew up. Mark was snippy at me and I lost it and it went into a huge row. It was good though, we both got a lot off our chest and he's going to go to the dr and see if he can get some different anti-depressants and I'm going to make a list and try and do more about the house, clearing out the loft, emptying the garage etc. OK so its not a job but it will do a bit for now to make me feel like I'm doing something. God knows what the future holds for me but I'll manage I guess :)

On a lighter note Saturday morning was amusing. Mark took the kids into the bathroom to brush their teeth. Few minutes later I hear him shouting me. I go to see whats wrong and Cameron, for some unknown reason has shut the door and the handle is now stuck and they can't get out! I tried to take the handle off, pull it up, down, but nope it was stuck fast. I rung the council and asked if I could break the door down but the woman said (between giggles) that she'd have to send someone out to rescue them. The kids were having a great time playing with their bath toys so I sat in the peace with a cup of coffee. Most relaxed I'd been in ages, should lock them in the bathroom more often :p Well about an hour later a guy comes and........breaks down the door, well I could have done that! Poor marks standing there in a t-shirt and his super hero pants lol. So now we have no door handle. No idea when they'll replace it but there you go. Was a bit of drama to wake everyone up anyway.

Like mother like daughter

Tonight Caitlin decided she wanted to do some crafting. While I was up town I found a Ben 10 story book in Poundland for Cam, and bought Caitlin a 'grown up drawing' book so she would have a gift too. Amazing how happy a cheap gift makes them at this age :) Sure it won't be long before they're asking for £90 trainers so Ill enjoy this while it lasts! Anyway Caitlin couldn't find her scissors, so stole mine. Then she stole my punches, then some of my glue dots. Think I'm going to have to start hiding my stash.

Not like she doesn't have any of her own! She gets all of my offcuts and freebie papers, plus any alphas I don't like and loads of little embellishments plus some kind donations from some of mummys friends too. Not sure who makes a bigger mess while crafting, me or her.

Who do you think? lol

scrapping

Look I scrapped :) Its the first I've done in ages and I'm actually pretty pleased with them. Both are from sketches from the UKS group which I'm now up to date on (woo hoo!) I've also used up most of a realllllllly old kit which always feels good :) I actually can't remember where I got it from its that old!
These are both photos of the kids in Turkey. I was a bit worried about Cam as hes not a big swimmer, so I was pleased he took to the water so well. Not as well as Caitlin granted, couldn't get her out of the pool! One day she spent 9 hours in it, only coming out for food and then going right back in.

Before we went we had read on Tripadvisor to bring our own inflatables as they were really marked up there. We almost didnt as thought they would be heavy and they couldnt be that overpriced surely?! SO glad we did, an inflatable bodyboard similar to this was £35! this was £6 from the range lol.

A simple one but I really like it. I stuck with the 'home' theme. to use up these cute little die cut houses. This is Cameron, again in Turkey, on our first day there. We arrived very early in the morning so even though the kids had napped they were both pretty tired. Caitlin was content to paddle in the baby pool while Cameron curled up in his 'Gollum' pose and played on his DS

Another cute little house :)

I would say I might scrap some more tonight but the TV is calling. greys anatomy, bones, chicago fire. I'll be curled up on the couch :)

Disneyland days seven and eight.

I've been doing each day seperate but we didn't do a huge amount of day 8 so decided to combine the last two

Day seven was our last full day so we were up early and in the park for extra magic hours. We went on pinochio but unfortunatly peter pan and snow white was broekn down which was dissapointing. My daughter even said 'Disneyland isn't supposed to be like this' which broke my heart. A quick ride on Dumbo and the carousel cheered her up a bit, and a refill of popcorn and a special Tiana straw soon had her smile back full force
During our visit we had met all the princess' except for Rapunzel and Belle, so wanted to visit the princess pavilion as much as possible to try and manage that. Caitlin even wore her Belle dress to get soem luck, Her Rapunzel dress was covered in chcolate from an ice cream lol. Our first visit was Snow white however, and guess who we saw walking in as we walked out! Belle! So frustrating.
We raced back to the queue to get another ticket but our slot wasnt for another 2 hours so we went on a few more rides, bumping into a few friends at the same time

Cameron and Caitlin LOVED Abu, I love how Cameron and Abu seem to have the same smile lol. There was also the white rabbit and mat hatter but they didn't want to see them. I think they had seen a lot of characters by this point so were kind of cherry picking their favourites. By now it was time for princess pavillion and we got to meet.....

Yey! Caitlin was thrilled and Belle was lovely. She showed cameron how to stand like a prince and made a big fuss of Caitlin dress. We only had one more chance to try and meet Rapunzel but decided to cut our losses for the day and try tomorrow morning. Both kids wanted to go on Pirates again so we made our way there and look who we saw!

I knew Diversity were dancing there from reserch but as I'd seen nothing else since I thought it had changed or it wasn't a public thing, so I was thrilled to see Ashley Banjo dancing on the hill outside the castle. We decided to go to city hall and ask if they were doing a show and were told yes at 7pm. Was so excited! However we had reservations at Beaver creek at that time. The original plan was to eat there Saturday and at Silver spur steakhouse before we left on Sunday but obviously that had to be changed lol. Issue was everywhere else was booked that night, and very few places were open for lunch the next day. The poor woman tried everything she could but could only get us into the Silver spur that night at 5:30 but nowhere for the next day. After discussion we decided to go back to Annettes the next day. We would lose money on our vouchers but we didnt mind as the food was great last time.
All sorted we went to the Studios for the last time. Felt quite sad walking through the gates. The kids went on the usual faves, the Cars ride, Slinky dog and then over to Stitch live once again. We timed it well as there were lots of characters out again including Woody and jessie who we hadn't seen yet.

Stitch live was fun as usual. Felt half sorry for one guy though, Stitch picks on a Dad during the show, asking him to get up and wiggle or dance. Most dads just do it, Rob however who was picked just stood and said 'no' No matter what Stitch said he was having none of it. Would have been less embarrasing to just have a go in my opinion but there you go lol. Stitch ended up telling him to 'lighten up, you're on your holidays' and moving on.
Back to the main park, did a few rides in discoveryland before going to dinner at the Silver spur steakhouse.
No photos from here as I was asked by my son to please stop taking pictures of his food as he just wants to eat it lol. But it wasn't too bad. Both adults had the Beef Carpaccio with chopped hazelnuts. I didn't like it but hubby ate mine and his so think it was just me, lol. Kids both had sweetcorn and cheese in a funny tangy sauce. Neither ate it but that was the only option they had.
Mains were fish and chips for Cameron, and 4 cheese ravioli for caitlin. This was the only time in the holiday where the menu in the park differed from the menu on here so this was a last minute choice as I thoguht she would have a burger. Anyway ended up she didnt like the filling, so I had to open up all the ravioli to get the cheese out, and she ended up just eatign 2 bits and her brothers chips I had the Meat skewer with devil sauce and Mark the Roasted duck, balsamic cherry sauce. Both were ok, except for we asked them to be well done. Mine wasn't too bad except for one bit I left but Marks still was very raw.
Pudding was the best bit all round. Mark had the Thunder Mesa Cheesecake, me the Chocolate, pecan and caramel gâteau, Caitlin the yogurt and Cam the chocolate brownie. I don't think I'd choose here again but it wasn' dreadful if you know what I mean.
Dinner over we went to see Diversity!!!! There was a huge group waiting to get into the area right in front of the stage, so we decided to take our chances and stood over to the side where there was a Disneyland carpet running down to the stage. This turned out to be the best decision of the holiday. Not only where we right next to them as they walked down (about 18 times bless them to get the right take) but we met another family (Karen and Pete with their kids Jamie-Leigh & Ruairidh) there who were so lovely.

See how close we were. Ashley was lovely, chatting to us in between takes. Once that was done they moved the carpet and everyone could go to the front to watch the dancing. The kids had really hit it off so the kids ran around playing, while the dads stood chatting, and the mums ran to the front to scream and wave lol.

We had planned to go back to the hotel room for an early night but the kids were having a great time so we decided to stick about for dreams. Turned out to be the best night of the holiday
The next morning we arranged to meet Karen, Pete and the kids at the play park in frontierland. we asked the kids if they wanted to do any rides first but they just wanted to see their new frends lol. So after a couple of final rides we went to the park. 3 and a half hours the kids played happily We were lucky as the weather was great so the adults just sat chatting when the kids played. It was a shame we hadnt met earlier really.
With our train at 4pm though we said goodbye and went for lunch. the kids shed more than a few tears on the way so I promised I'd buy them a treat after they'd ate. For our last lunch we went to Annettes. The food again was amazing. Too much for Mark to finish so he decided to build a palm tree. Dont think he realised the waiter was standing over his sholder watching him lol.

We had plus vouchers which were worth more than our meal but they waiter gave us extra drinks and even gave us back one of the kids vouchers to use again. As we were leaving it was no good to us so we tried to give it away but everyone looked at us like we were mad so ended up keeping it lol.
After a quick bit of shopping, and a few more tears from the kids we boarded the train to go home. Over all it was just an amazing holiday. Cant wait to go back!!!

Bit of a break :)

Ok so I've been going on about Disney for a bit now so thought I'd take a break :)
Well today I've been scrapping! Ok I only managed 3 layouts all day but a lot of destractions came up but I'm pleased with the oens I did and it also takes me up to date with the sketch group over on UKS so yey :) My rug is a mess again though lol.

Also used some of my new bargain from the other day. £10 for the lot! great as I'd paid £3 for one not long ago.

Sitting watching 'Alex cross' at the moment. Not sure about it to be honest. I love the books and can't help but watch and think 'that doesn't happen in the books'. That said its an ok film so far in its own right, but we'll wait and see :)

Disney day 6

Yey its the weekend :) Im just relaxing a bit this morning before taking Cameron to a party this afternoon. Its at a very loud, busy play center so guessing I won't be doing too much relaxing once I'm there! Almost done with the Disney reports now :)

Today was a very special day Just as we had spent Camerons 6th birthday in the park, today was Caitlins 5th birthday. We didn't plan them so close together but it worked out well! lol.
This morning was our last morning having breakfast in the park and we were back in Chalet de marionette. It was another late start at 9:45 and not much left again. We wern't too bothered this time though as we had the princess lunch booked for 2:30 so knew kids would be eating soon anyway.
Even though she was going to meet princess' later Caitlin wanted to go to the princess pavilion. We were usually there when it opened but managed to get a ticket for a slot an hour later. To pass the time we went on the usual rides Caitlin loved, Peter pan, Casey jr and its a small world. Going into the pavilion we met Sleeping beauty who was lovely. She chatted away to Caitlin wishing her happy birthday and admiring her dress.

Leaving we bumped into these two guys Pinnochio accidently signed Caitlins book upside down and Gepetto waved him finger at him lol.

As it was Caitlins day she got to pick what she wanted to do. Amazingly enough she wanted to go on Crushes coaster. Of all the things she could ask to do I think that was the last thing I expected. Poor Mark, as both kids were going on he had to to. He's not good with fast rides and his medication give him pretty bad motion sickness so you can imagine how pleased he was to go on it lol. Amazing Daddy that he is though he did it Kids (and Mummy lol) loved it but Daddy was feeling ill so we went to the stage area outside Stitch live for him to sit down. We were very glad we did as suddenly loads of characters came out! I won't put all the pictures as theres loads, just the two best ones.


The kids where thrilled to meet Stitch, even more so when he picked his nose with their pen and wiped it on Mark! They found Mushu very funny too as he snuck up behind me and scared the life out of me. Obviously very funny.
Now was time for Caitlins princess meal, sad to say was quite gutted with this. The princess' were great. They interacted with the kids and posed for photos etc but after seeing pictures I thought the princess' danced with the princes a bit. There were tables all over the 'dance floor' though so obviously they didn't do that. Our waiter didn't really listen to us either. The kids starter was listed as 'Fairy's delights' we asked what this was and he said it was cheese and bread. ok no problem. then he brought out some pink stuff and toast. We asked what it was and he said 'childs food' before walking away. Mark tried it and it was salmon. Glad he did as Caitlin is allergic to fish. The adults food was lovely though, I had the truffle stuffed quail with pear chutney while Mark had the salmon tartare. We ordered grilled beef burger and gravy for both kids but it took an age to come. This in itself wasn't a problem as Cinderella and snow white came around in that time so the kids were happy. However when the food came it was cold so we had to send it back. When it came back again we noticed the burger was pink inside. We decided this must be a French thing and wern't about to send it back again so told the kids to just eat the edge and the rest of the food. That didn't work too well for Cam however as he complained his mashed potato had bits in it. I tried it and yeah it was really lumpy. I mashed it with his fork a bit and mixed it with gravy and told him to do his best.
Obviously for Caits birthday we had ordered a cake. There were a couple of birthdays while we were there and we noticed only the waiters brought the cake out. We asked if one of the princess' could be there as well and told 'if they can' I was surprised as I thought that was a given if you booked it there. In the end sleeping beauty and the prince brought hers out along with the staff which was nice.
Over all for the price I wouldn't do it again. I get you're paying mainly for the princess interaction but I expected more than cold food and lumpy mashed potato

Caitlin loved it though, and the cake was delicious and HUGE. Cameron couldnt even finish his slice.

See his surprise at actually being full?! Doesnt happen often, boy is a bottomless pit!
Caitlin wanted to see dreams so we went back to the hotel for a nap returning to the park about 5pm.
The kids were hungry so we treated them to some popcorn. Funnily enough Disneyland is the only time they will ever eat the stuff lol. Bit like me and the hot chocolate On the birthday girls request we went onto the runaway mine train, which Mark strangely enjoyed, and the haunted manor before returning to wait for Dreams. tonight there were a number of carts about selling light up toys. It was really clever as there was a big sign on the cart saying 5 EUROS. However when you go look at the toys more closely most of them are 18 euros and only the Mickey headbands they keep on the side are 5 lol. I saw a lot of parents grudgingly handing over money while their kids walked off with their more expencive toy. I stood my ground though and only got the kids the cheap ones. Mean Mummy that I am.

Dreams was amazing again. i took loads of photos but will only bore you with two lol.

Not my best photo but I love the Brave section
Only 2 days left now :( Seems like it was ages ago we were there. Starting to get post-disney blues I think lol.

Disneyland day 5

This morning we got up early planning to go to Studios for extra magic hours. I forgot that studios didnt actually HAVE extra magic hours so opps lol. It was freezing and foggy and wet which while yucky made for some interesting photos.

Caitlin finally got to go on the mad hatter tea cups :) She'd been asking to go on them all holiday but neither Mark or I really like spinning rides but as breakfast wasn't for a while we figured it's now or never! She made me laugh though when she asked 'How will they put sugar and milk in the cups when they keep moving?' lol. It wasn't as bad as I thought and didn't spin too much which was good.
Caitlin then spotted Cinderellas carriage, she asked why it hadn't changed back into a pumpkin so I told her that Disneyland is full of magic so it never runs out. She accepted this with a big grin. Love that its all so real to her.

More foggy photos :)

Breakfast again was in the Plaza gardens and was even worse this time. We got a later slot at 9:45 and a lot had run out and they wern't refilling it. After a quick breakfast we went on a couple more rides then got a ticket for the princess pavilion. The cast member gave us a choice of either Tiana or Ariel, we obviously choose Tiana as had met Ariel before. It was lovely how it was set up, there are two seperate areas screened off so you get time with the princess without people standing over you. I took some photos of myself but there was a professional photographer there who took some too and I LOVED this one of Cameron.

Tiana was so sweet. She asked the kids what their favourite part of her story was (not film, story :) ) and when Cameron said it was when the crocodile played music and scared everyone she told him all about how Louis lives in the lake outside the park, but he doesnt come out often as he worries he will scare the children. The kids adored her and Caitlin now wants to be a chef lol.

After a couple more rides (casey Jr, its a small world) we went to meet Jack Sparrow. The kids haven't seen Pirates of the carribean and Caitlin was a bit scared to meet a pirate, then this crazy man came running down the street waving his arms and screaming and she burst out laughing, not so scared of him anymore :) Interaction with jack was great, he asked the kids if they wanted to join his pirate crew, this was a bit much for Caitlin who stepped behind Daddy but Cameron said he did. He then asked Cameron to show him some sword fighting so cam waved his arm about like he had a sword and Jack pretended to be scared. He said to make scary pirate faces for the photos which was different and very cute.

After meeting Jack the kids both wanted to go on 'his ride' again, which Mark and I both said was darker and louder than before. I also had to cover baby Stitch with my coat as Caitlin was worried he would get wet. Stitch doesnt like water remember. ;) After a quick walk abotu the treehouse (not much fun for poor Daddy) we went to watch the celebration train. We'd been warned the characters get mobbed when they came off the train but didn't realise how bad it would be! We managed to meet Dale but decided against trying anyone else as it was just so busy. It was the first time I didn't see cast members trying to create some kind of order too.

Walking back we saw Winnie the pooh who Caitlin was very excited to see. Surprised me as shes not a huge fan of the stories but as long as shes happy :) Felt sorry for poor Winnie though as the temprature was rising very quickly and he must have been very hot!

As it was so warm we decided to go back to the hotel and change into some cooler clothes and pick up the sun cream. Hard to believe the horrible start to the day turned into the hottest one we had! Caitlin wanted to be Tinkerbell as that was her coolest outfit and she could wear her wings without her coat on.
Poor daddy was struggling today so when we returned to the park we went into the disneyland hotel to see the desent of the stars. As it got closer to 4pm when it was supposed to be I kept thinking 'are we in the right place' as there was only about 16 people there! Then staff sat all the kids on the floor at the foot of the stairs and the music started. It was great to see and so quiet and cival. Mark managed to sit and rest for the whole thing as I could easily keep an eye on him and the kids at the same time.

There was Mickey, Minnie, Eeyore, Chip and Dale. As we hadn't met Dale we spent some time with him first then I got a photo with Eeyore.

We didn't have too long left before dinner so went to see the dragon. Can you tell Caitlin didn't like it? lol.

She made my whole holiday though, we were going on Casey Jr again when she said this:
Caitlin - Lets pretend this is a dream and we can go anywhere on the train, where do you want to go?
Me - I don't know, where do you want to go?
Caitlin - Disneyland!
Me - But we're at Disneyland.
Caitlin - But being at Disneyland is like a dream.
Seriously! Made all the saving, planning and organising worth it. :)
After the dream ride we went to New york hotel buffet. It was one of the strangest buffets I've ever been to. The starter was either lots of different fish, or pickled veg, or soup. The soup wasn't labeled in English so I have no idea what it was but it tasted exactly like macaroni cheese. It was yummy, but strange lol. The mains selection was odd too, there were loads of meat dishes, but the only side was rice. no chips, mashed potato or anything, then for kids there was plain pasta, but no sauce. The food they did have out was mainly delicious (except the duck which was mainly fat) but I wouldnt go again as didn't feel it was a meal iykwim. Caitlin loved the fact the pasta was disney shaped though and ate a plate of that and cheese. Can you guess what she had for pudding?

Disneyland day 4

Is it the weekend yet? lol. As fun as Disney was last week it was get up and go from the start and non stop all day. Let me put it this way, we ate all you can eat breakfast every morning, crossants with jam, pan-au-chocolate, hot choc with full fat milk, cheese, ham etc. Then ice cream, coke, snacks during the day, then a huge meal with drinks etc every night. We ate LOADS, and in 8 days I gained.......1.5lbs. I ate less at Turkey last year and gained a stone and a half in 7 days lol. Poor Mark has pretty much slept since we got back and his legs and feet are all swollen up. Think the kids are feeling tired too, Caitlin was watching tv yesterday and shouted 'That Turkey is huge!' it was a donkey, lol. Well while we're all tired it was so worth it, and on that note onto day 4. :)

Had a bit of a lie in today and went into the park for breakfast at 9:45. We were at the Plaza gardens today which while prettier wasn't as well laid out in my opinion. There were 2 sides and only some things on each side which led to a bit of hunting. Also there were no trays which I assume was to stop people piling on loads of food then not eating it, but was annoying when I was trying to get breakfast for two children plus myself. Still nice food and a better selection than the hotel though.

Today we decided to spend mainly in studios so set off there. After taking photos in the Monsters inc setting (got to be done lol) we went to see Animagic.

This is usually my favourite show in studios but there seemed to be a lot less fish in the little mermaid section and less bubbles and puppets over all. It was still a great show though and the kids both loved it.
Still doing shows we went to the Lights, motors, action! Stunt show. I had shown the kids some pictures of this beforehand so they would know what to expect. Caitlin obviously had been very excited about the one with the man on fire as everyone who came out she would ask 'When's he going to be set on fire?' She must have sounded like a mini pyromaniac to anyone listening. Cameron however was much more impressed by Lightning McQueen.

His part in it was quite short but fun to watch and great for cars fans. The staff were great again. One sitting near us at the start had a pin of Mickey dressed as a pirate. Cameron asked if he could trade with him but at this point only had a few, more boring pins himself. The guy was great though and took a fish pin from cam, making a huge deal of it and even shouting to the crowd how he had a little mermaid fish pin and they didn't. Seemed they would do anything to make the kids laugh .
Next stop was playhouse Disney. It was the exact same show we saw when we came 2 years ago but the kids couldn't remember it from then so was all new to them anyway lol.
Must say though I would NOT like the cast members job there. Its an interactive show so theres a huge green section in the middle of the room, two small green sections either side at the front and a yellow path running around the room. Very simple request, no flash photos and stay off the yellow sections. during the 20 minute show we counted 45 times the poor woman had to get up and ask people to move, or turn off their flashes. Was so disrespectful.
Coming out we were greeted by large groups of people in circles, yey the characters were out! We managed to get quite a few photos and autographs at one time.


We met Ariel again but was a bit more trouble this time. There was only a small amount of people around her including a few grown ladies who were next to be seen as Ariel was working in a circle iykwim. Caitlin and I stood next to one of the ladies with Caitlin standing in front of me. The lady looked down at Caitlin and stood in front of her, hitting her in the head with her bag as she did so. I picked her up to check she was ok and the cast member standing with Ariel called us over to get our picture taken next. Bless him, I wouldnt have minded waiting our turn as the ladies were there first but after that I was more than happy to go before them. They must have spotted it and Ariel even brushed Caitlins fringe out of the way and asked 'how is the little princess?' Happiliy this was our only bad experience while waiting to see characters as I've read a few other horror stories.
There was also Tigger, rabbit, mulan, goofy, donald and daisy duck, remy, gaston, queen of hearts and a few others we couldn't really make out behind the crowds. They stayed for a fair while but after sitting so long on shows the kids wanted to go on some rides so we went on the cars and slinky dog.
While Caitlin didn't seem bothered about the rude lady earlier I was feeling bad so decided to treat the kids to a little gift. They had both seen themed Stitch soft toys on the first day and had asked about them a number of times since so we took them to get them. Cameron got Yoda Stitch and Caitlin baby Stitch, which even I thought was adorable. With their new toys they quite predictably wanted to go to Stitch live again to show him lol.
The show was just as fun as before, though this time Stitch talked to Caitlin, asking if she had a boyfriend lol. When she said no he picked a little boy, David, from the crowd and asked him to be Caitlins boyfriend. Caitlin is usually really shy at home to was amazing to see her chatting away and giggling in front of so many people. In honesty her confidence really grew this holiday it was wonderful. She even attempted french a few times.

After Stitch it was time for dinner at Cafe Mickey. They had lost our reservation when we called to check that morning so rather than the 6:30 we had booked we had to go at 5:30. No big deal but I was very glad we had checked otherwise we would have had no table at all.
As the charecters didn't start until 6 the staff sat us at 5:30 but didn't really take our orders until 5:50 This didn't bother us but the family sitting across from us were less than pleased as they had a young boy with them who was falling asleep. I think their mood was worsened however when a mouse ran across the room, and not the clubhouse kind! I'd read about this happening however and as it was raining outside I wasn't really surprised.
We got our starters at 5:55, which was fine, the kids were happy watching the tv and chatting until they came and we wanted to wait about for the characters anyway. I had the Fantasia Mushrooms which were nice but surprised me by coming with a huge bulb of garlic. Is this a french thing? lol Was very yummy and very filling though Hubby had the Cappuccino de tomate which was very prettily presented in a large glass with whipped sour cream on top.
Kids had vegetable soup for their starter, which tasted exactly like the sauce Heinz Spagehtti comes in lol.
Not that they really ate it as they were too excited as a few friends came round

It was all very organised and nobody got up or ran over to the characters that I saw. They went round all the tables and spent some time with each one signing books and doing photos. Goofy was also being daft and hiding behind bread rolls and playing peek a boo with a baby
For main hubby and I ordered Pièce de Bœuf, the steak was nice as was the sauce but the vegetables were drowned in oil so we didn't touch them.
Cameron had the chicken burger and Caitlin the pizza which they both ate. Nothing special but good food for the kids. You were paying for the interaction anyway which was great. Halfway through our main Tigger came round. Cameron got really excited and started jumping up and down so of course Tigger started bouncing too lol.
Next was Pluto who nosed Caitlin in the stomach until she gave him a pat on the head.

The main mouse we didnt get too long with as a birthday cake came out just as we took the photo and he went off to that table, but we'd met him a couple of times before so didnt mind. Pudding was the best bit in my opinion I had Fondant au chocolat, chocolate and cherries, my two fave things lolHubby had profiterole thoguh the chocolate sauce was too rich for him so he gave it to me. I didnt say no, lol. I think the kids were on a extreme high by this point as when their puddings came out, and we told them they could eat the bowl they both squealed like they'd won the lottery.
By this point Goofy and Minnie were coming out again so we guessed we'd seen everyone and decided to take two very excited, happy kids back for the night.