A Disney Christmas Photo-palooza

Here we are at 8:15 am. Park just opened and there were NO crowds. I guess it had rained the day before. It was also a little chilly (Jackson should probably have been in pants, but he didn't seem to mind). We only planned on staying for half a day or so and wanted to get going. Our goal was to hit up anything Jackson might like. Off we go!
Jackson loves the Mickey and the Sorcerer's Apprentice cartoon from Fantasia. He'll ask for it on several occasions.



This is the giant Christmas tree which is easily visible from outside the park. It towers. I'm right at the bottom. Main Street is also decked out with garlands that hang across the street.


Our first ride of the day was Buzz Lightyear AstroBlasters. Neither Colby nor I had ever been on it. We were pretty excited. Two adults per cart and you each get an astroblaster. The whole ride is set up like a shooting arcade game. When targets are lit, you score more points. Colby was pretty good. He got double my score. We went twice. Go Buzz!

Here's what the ride looks like. Trippy.
Jackson and Colby went on Autopia. Sam didn't meet the height req so I got to do diaper duty.
Jackson's behind the wheel and looking like he belongs there.
They deck Sleeping Beauty's castle in snow, lights, and ribbon icicles. If you remember, there is a Snow White wishing well and fountain to the right of the castle. Also one of Jackson's favs. Ducks were swimming in the pond. Idyllic. Colby took Sam and fed the ducks some of Jackson's veggie sticks, but hurried back. Colby confessed he thought he had killed one of the ducks because after it ate the veggie stick it started gagging and then sank under the water. So we ran over there and clapped really hard and the duck was revived and everything's okay. I'm just kidding about that last part. Ahem...moving on.
We stayed here for 20 min watching the fountain and hearing Snow White sing away. Of course we rode the ride in Fantasyland!
Here's New Orleans street. I really like this one house.
We also rode the train around the park. Jackson was a little confused until we sat closer to the engine.
We rode around one and a half times while Sam finished his bottle and disembarked at Tomorrowland. Colby wanted to check out Tron stuff. We also decided to give Jackson a pit stop and who was hiding by the restrooms? One of his favorite guys Buzz Lightyear! Bathroom got bumped way down the list. He was so excited and didn't really know what to do with a larger than life Buzz.
Once through with Daddy. Then a potty break. Then back in line for round two with Mommy. Jackson gave Buzz a high-five, wasn't sure about a hug so we opted for a hand shake and then he leaned way over and I thought the hug was back on the plate. Turns out, Jackson had spied the buttons on Buzz and pushed the giant red one as well as the three other buttons. Buzz was the strong silent type so I supplied the "to the rescue's" and "infinity and beyond's". Everybody laughed and thought Jackson was so cute for trying to push the buttons.


Disneyland also puts out special Christmas candy which includes handmade candy canes. I'm not a fan of candy canes really at all, but I took pics of homemade chocolate covered marshmallows topped with nuts for Rocky Road. There's also some Jack Skellington apples and Mickey Christmas ones:



Sugar coma.

With that, the damage was done in Disneyland and so we park-hopped to CA Adventure Park, which was also festively decorated.



We discovered that the place is undergoing major construction. Carsland, Ariel's Big Adventure and Buena Vista Street are all big holes right now, but they're gong to be filled.

Next to Carsland is another one of Jackson's favorite guys: Lightning McQueen! Kachow!
This is the first picture when Jackson spied him. Ignore the other kid in the front.
Apparently there was a line. An unseen invisible line only known to a cranky "cast member". I got a little cranky back. Luckily Colby was the only one uncomfortable with my retort (even thought he thought she was a little snarky too), but he didn't let it show until after the pictures were over.Good man! Jackson could have cared less about my humbug behavior. Lightning McQueen was right there!!

Beware of the Doghouse!!!

Jackson's Play

Today Jackson started giving me chalk when he was drawing on his chalkboard and then signing "train". He wants me to draw him a train which he then colors!!!! That is so fantastic!
He's also vocalizing a lot. Vocalizing is different than talking. He's using his voice more, which is also good.
We drive by a train track to get Colby from school and Jackson signed "train" because usually when we drive by the tracks a train comes by. He became quite upset when I didn't produce one.
Today he also signed "train" to Colby in the car and Colby said, "Train, what?" and then Jackson added "book". He had seen The Polar Express book sticking out of the diaper bag. This is also fantastic! He wants a specific book and is still putting two signs together.
He is so much fun to hang out with! Glad he's mine.

A Hint of Nutmeg GIVEAWAY!

Meg is doing a giveaway for TWO rosette hair clips (two people, one clip each)!
Perfect for yourself or for Christmas presents! It’s SO easy to enter!


TO ENTER:
Head on over to A Hint of Nutmeg on Etsy and have a look around. Go to FACEBOOK and leave a comment ON A HINT OF NUTMEG'S FACEBOOK PAGE with what your favorite item in the shop is OR an item you'd like to see.

Additional entries:

--"LIKE" A Hint of Nutmeg on Facebook (If you already do, just leave an additional comment)
--BLOG about this giveaway on your blog and provide a link to your blog.

For each additional entry, leave an additional comment on the A Hint of Nutmeg’s Facebook page. (So you could have a total of THREE entries!)

Winner announced on Dec. 15 and picked by random.org

Be sure to forward this to all your friends and family.
Happy Holidays!
Megan Merrill

New Etsy Shop

And I'm pleased to say, it's my sister's! She's been working hard to get it up and she's finally done it! Go, Meg! She's got cute hair clips like this:
Grey Lulu Lovely clip
and even a Mommy and Me baby girl hair clips.
She also does baby beanies, my favorite is the dragon beanie.

$15 for one of those is a steal if you ask me. Grams got baby J one for about 3x that for the same product! But we've gotten so many "Cute baby" compliments when the tykes were wearing it that I think it was worth it. So for 1/3 the price you can get the same compliments. Anyway...
She's very open to custom creations!
Check it out here! A Hint of Nutmeg! Wahoo!

The Book is Always Better...

The book is always better than the movie? In this case the answer is yes! Jackson loves the movie and so I thought I should get the book. Got it yesterday and all day yesterday he was running around with it in his hands. He'd stop and read it or we'd read it together momentarily and then he'd go back to running. If he wanted something he wouldn't let go. If the book started to slip he's give me whatever else was taking up his hands and he'd carry the book. He LOVES the picture shown on the book cover. He'll wait for me to say. "All aboard...why to the North Pole, of course. This is the Polar Express!" He also points to the hot chocolate being served in the club car, and claps his hands at the picture of all the elves waiting for Santa. So cute!

Reviews

Okay. I'm not a huge Disney fan. Whenever Disney showcases their amazing movie-making ability they always use Little Mermaid (don't like), Lion King (love), and Aladdin. Lion King was in '94. It's been how many years since then? I don't even want to do the math. I digress. Anyway, I feel like Disney dropped the ball as far as kids movies: Hunchback, Home on the Range, Chicken Little, and Meet the Robinson's to name a few. I did have to go and look a few of these up. Yodeling cattle thief and crazy ADHD on Jolt drinks script about a kid who meets his own kid? Really, Dis?
However, Princess and the Frog was redeeming in my opinion. Jackson likes it, the movie is cute, believeable...
Tangled continues to raise Disney in my opinion: dashing rogue, lost princess, magic, and a wicked witch? Fantastic! What it lacks in plot (there are some holes and weird characters) is makes up for in the acting. Mandy Moore is great as Rapunzel. Perfect! And Flynn Ryder is also pretty believable as well. Max the horse grated because he reminded me too much of the horse in Home on the Range. BUT I definitely want to see this again!
I've been battling myself whether to write about this or not. For a month. I LOVED THIS BOOK!
Even though I've got opinions about it (don't I always), it's been jumping on and off my train of thought since I finished it. And certain cool scenes or takes on werewolf or vamp culture pop up and I think: That was a pretty cool book.

The good: It really is well written. I read the cover and thought, "Werewolves, vampires and Victorian England? Are you joking?" But I picked it up anyway. It was fantastic. I loved Twilight in so far as the new take on vamps goes. I liked Soul Screamers because it covered banshees. This book really does meld horror and polite frippery with the greatest of ease! It is wickedly funny and thoroughly enjoyable. And Steampunked out! If you don't know: Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction, alternate history, and speculative fiction that came into prominence during the 1980s and early 1990s.^[1] Specifically, steampunk involves an era or world where steam power is still widely used—usually the 19th century and often Victorian era Britain—that incorporates prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy. Phew! Thanks, Wikipedia. Apparently it's one of the best steampunk books around. And it really is. Miss Taraboutti's parasol is a prime example.
The bad: The only beef I really have with this book is that the romantic scenes, while not overly explicit, were a bit much for my taste. I did have to skim. That being said, I had to skim over a couple of pages in Breaking Dawn. If this book were a movie: STRONG PG-13 rating. It also touches on the gayer aspect of society, emphasis on gay. One of the main characters is more than a little effeminate (but we love him anyway). I personally didn't get uncomfortable with this aspect.
The ugly: There are two more books in the series I will not be reading because it continues with gender-bending characters that get close to Miss Alexia T. BUT
I am waiting for the next book to see if any of that gets resolved because I certainly wouldn't mind reading more from this author!