Why we keep going back...

We just came home from another Disney vacation...this one was our best so far, and we've gone there a lot! In fact, someone recently asked me if we ever vacation anywhere BUT Disney World. Well, the answer is yes. In fact, in 2014 we didn't go to the land of the mouse even once! And, by the end of the year, we knew we were missing it. And so, here are my reasons for why Disney World is just so awesome, and keeps us coming back so often.

I'm sure I could list 1,000 reasons for why we love Disney World and why we keep coming back. But for know, I'll settle for my Top 10, in no particular order. 

1. The Cast Members LOVE their job! Years ago, Walt Disney named the employees "cast members", as they all have a job in a making memories and moments special for the guests. Well, Disney World employees have NAILED it! Ticket takers, security guards, bus drivers, custodians...you name it, they all love their jobs and have a way of making you feel like a valued guest in their home. If happiness truly is contagious, they are spreading it everywhere! On other vacations, we assume that people will love their jobs just as much, but they just don't. Disney sets the bar high for customer service and experience, and that is addictive! 
2. It's so clean! I'm not a neat freak by any means, but with young children dirty bathrooms freak me out. I mean, at any given moment a child will likely be crawling on the ground, laying down and then picking their nose with those same filthy little hands. Given the large volume of people that enter the parks daily, it is truly miraculous that you never see trash on the ground, gum on the curb, or even full trash cans. Like magic, it is all clean, all the time. We stepped off property for lunch once this past week, and instantly I knew we weren't in Disney any longer as there was "gunk" in the corner of bathroom sink. That just doesn't happen at Disney...and it's so refreshing! 
3. Exposes myself and my family to people and cultures different than our own. Raising children in the suburban mid-west of the United States, we don't hear foreign languages very often. Disney World attracts people of all cultures, from around the world. Employees work hard to teach children about their own country and Elliana even got her name translated in three different languages! How often does that happen on vacation?! 
   
   
   

   

   loved shopping in "Morocco" 

4. We grow stronger as a family team. Waiting in line, answering new questions, enjoying new experiences all outside of our normal routine requires all of us to step up and become team mates even more so than normal. Maya gives Elliana bravery that she might not naturally have, and Elliana gives Maya praise and encouragement for her new accomplishments. We web and flow together, in unison...and the results, are pretty awesome! 

   

   Driving already?! 

   
   

   

   Maya's first roller coaster ride! 

5. The little touches. And there are a lot! "Mousekeepers" create beautiful towel creations, arrange stuffed toys on the bed, and overall truly care about the home away from home. Our headboard in our room lit up in LED lights mimicking fireworks above our head. The little touches go far beyond the resorts, and are a part of everywhere you look. 

Maya with her Mickey Mouse towel

6. Ignites the creativity and magic within us all. Nothing quite like watching your little ones squeal in uncontrollable delight when they see a favorite character or witness the magic of larger than life performances. Broadway style performers, interacting with your kiddos and including them in the show...my goodness, what an experience!

Maya and Elliana were selected to be in the Lion King Show!!!  

Participating in Belle's Enchanted Storytime

My Knight in Shining Armor at Enchanted Storytime

7.  AMAZING FOOD! And, we tend to participate in the Dining Plan which gives a plethora of options, snacks, dining experiences and DESSERTS! We all gained quite a few pounds this last trip and it was worth every calorie! 









Banana Creme Brulee- Kona Cafe






Elliana with her favorite snack, a MICKEY BAR!






Unlimited bottomless fresh berry cobbler with fresh vanilla cream on top

8. This particular year we were able to share pieces of our trip with some close friends. You know God has intentions for our friendship when we booked the same trip, same flight and same resort without talking to each other ahead of time! What a joy it was to watch these sweet friends celebrate and laugh together in the magic of the mouse, and share in the meltdowns of young ones with their grown up counterparts. :) 

9. I love to sew, but rarely make the time to do so. A Disney trip inspires me and gets my creative juices flowing. I love when we are all "matchy matchy" and not only does it make our photos look great, but I have noticed a marked difference between the interaction of cast members and our family when we are wearing Disney threads and when are not. This year, the staff went kuckoo over the Duffy dresses my talented cousin made for her kids, and I modified to fit my girls, even awarding Elliana a special celebration button adorned with Duffy! 







t-shirt dresses






patchwork skirts, appliqued shirt



Sulley really loved the Monsters Inc applique on the dresses and even danced for the girls! 






My favorite! Monsters Inc shirts/dresses for us all! 






Daddy's custom made Mike Wasowzski shirt...blocking Mike as per usual 



showing off their dresses...

10. This year was the first year we participated in the Wilderness Explorer program at Animal Kingdom. I can't believe we never did this before! The girls LOVED searching for the little emblems, answering questions, performing tasks and earning badges for nature/geography/science based questions. On safari they identified animals and marked them off in their books. Elliana played African & Indonesian instruments, met people from other countries and learned about currency conversion rates. We were so busy acquiring badges we missed out on a lot of the theme park, but discovered a whole new side of it we had never before experienced. 

playing an Indonesian instrument






On safari








Preparing their adventure books for the next badge

P.S. Last year, the Frozen sisters overtook the world by storm making their songs and personalities a part of nearly every household in America. My girls were no exception to the craze, and their little wishes came true when we met the beloved princesses along side their friends. This was Elliana's highlight of the trip and insisted it be represented in the blog! 

Bye Bye Crib!

We knew this day was coming. In fact, we held out longer making this transition than we had with Elliana. After all, Maya is our baby! Our last born! But, we could hold out no longer....we have a trip quickly approaching and Maya simply won't fit into a pack and play any longer. She needed to get ready for a big kid bed!!

In traditional Berndsen family tradition, we took a photo documenting Maya's last night in her crib. We had already given her room a fresh coat of paint changing it from a "nursery" to a "big kid room" with just the removal of brown and the addition of gray. Disassembling the crib and making the move to her new bed was the last step.

The next morning we began taking apart the crib that has been a part of our house the last 6 years! I was determined to not cry, as this was a good thing. But, a bitter sweet reminder of just how quickly the time goes.

Practicing in her new bed...

Comfy and Cozy with her new bedding

Currently we have her bed on the ground to make it as low to the ground as possible, and get her comfortable with her new big kid bed!

Big Kid room in the making, with a few friends to join her!

The first night...Maya went to bed like a champ! She crawled right into bed, fell right asleep! It was hard to believe it was that easy!! Well, it was until 2:00 when a bad dream awoke her and kept her awake most of the night.

Night #2, was MUCH better. Pre-bed time, Daddy removed all "scariness" that Maya was concerned about and tucked her in tight. Just look at those cuties smiling so proudly. Maya slept all night long and even slept in until 8:30 am! Whew! What a big girl!!

And tonight marks night number three. We officially have a big girl on our hands. Maya, we are so very proud of you and all that you have accomplished! 

Happy Birthday Elliana!

Oh, my goodness. Another year older. I was only half joking when I teased Elliana in the weeks leading up to her birthday that I wasn't ready for her to use two hands to show her age. I mean, seriously, two hands! A whole hand no longer was enough to show how hold she is?! Randomly, Elliana would flash up six little fingers and giggle with delight knowing how I felt about adding a hand to the mix.

I am constantly amazed at the beauty and intelligence of this little girl. In fact, here it is 2:00 am following a full day of birthday celebrations, and my mind is racing with gratitude, eager to capture it all before any details slip my mind.

We began our birthday celebrations at Busken Bakery, where they just happened to have pink iced donuts with purple sprinkles! Matching her birthday outfit! What are the chances?! :) Then off to the Disney Store to look around and the girls enjoyed coloring while watching Frozen on the big screen.

Then we ventured to an annual birthday tradition. BOWLING! Maya was into it for about 10 minutes, before she declared she was done, but I was able to snap this cute photo of sisters sharing the love after Maya bowled. This photo tugs at my heart strings, as it truly embodies their love. Elliana, has such a big heart for her little sister and I love when she naturally encourages and cheers Maya on. This photo was one of those moments...pure, unprompted, spontaneous love. Elliana, that is you! 

We took a brief nap (well, the birthday girl rocked out a great nap,  while Maya kept the rest of us awake) and then continued on with another birthday tradition. Shopping at Toys R Us with her birthday coupon. Making a selection took a bit longer than we had thought, and the more I think of it, I'm rather grateful that Elliana took so long to make a selection. She showed discipline, thoughtfulness and responsibility by comparing costs, evaluating options, etc. I'm pretty sure most new six-year olds don't think through such things. :)

 Happy Birthday sweet girl! Today and many more to come!! I am honored and blessed to be your momma!

Secret Sewing Project

Looking back, I still find it amazing we kept this a secret. We realized last winter that we needed to have at least one warm weather vacation each winter to keep our spirits lifted from the cold and dreariness of living in the mid-west.  And so, last March, we began planning for Winter 2015. Originally, we arranged and booked a Disney Cruise out of Miami for February. However, when we began looking at flights to Miami during peak travel season, we were shocked to find flights were close to $400 per person! We began looking into our options, and given we were already excited for Disney, we rearranged some things and booked a trip to Walt Disney World instead.

I am a dork, and I like our photos to be matchy-matchy and themed to our vacation...and so, I began sewing. Sewing with two small kids is a bit tricky in and of itself, but sewing secret clothes for a trip they didn't know about...well, that was even more difficult!

By Christmas morning, I had finished 2.5 outfits. Not the 7 I had planned on, but hey...a girl needs to sleep too! And so, we wrapped up the goodies below along with a few Disney goodies and put it under the tree for Christmas morning.



 And so, at last...Christmas morning came. We saved this gift for last.

And now the countdown begins until we venture down south to meet our favorite Disney friends. I'm hoping to make a few more outfits for our family before then, but if not...that's okay too ;) 

And after all of that prep work, I am 150% okay with using an advent calendar from the clearance Christmas aisle to use as our countdown. Tomorrow...only 24 days until we leave, and there just happens to be exactly 24 days in this countdown. :)

 

Our Day Starter

I've heard stories, urban legends is how I prefer to think of them, of women who wake up early, clean, workout, and accomplish a million things before the kids wake. As much as that sounds amazing, it's not really how we roll. 

My kids are early risers and I am not. I have no trouble having full conversations with my Hubby as he prepares for work in the early morning darkness, and then flipping back into sleep mode moments later. I try to sleep until I hear the little ones stirring. 

Most days, this is how we start our day. Snuggled on my lap, in my arms or across my legs. We wake up together, engaged in one another. 

I cuddle my babies, and sip coffee, careful not to spill it on those cute little heads beneath my chin. Somedays for twenty minutes, other days for much longer. Sometimes I feel pangs of guilt, thinking we "waste" time each morning. Society frequently tells me that this routine is not productive or yields any fruitfulness, and I must ignore such nonsense. This is important stuff we do! 

The reality is, this is one of my most favorite parts of our day. And the girls too. We all sit on one tiny couch cushion leaving the rest of the couch empty. Our arms are intertwined among each other, and we enjoy just being together. 

  I know that these days of relaxing mornings will end all too soon, interrupted by the schedule of school, or perhaps in the further future, the reality that cuddling mom just won't be that cool. So until then, I will keep cuddling my babies, watching animated shows, explaining what we've learned during the show. And kissing their heads, every few minutes. 

This momma is beyond grateful for these mornings, and the little girls I share them with.