So I’ve debated which blog I’m going to write all about our first trip to Walt Disney World on, and I think I have it all figured out… I’m going to do it on both… but in two very different ways. This blog is all fun and jabber, where the other one is all about business… so here goes..

When I got the email from Hanes, asking if I’d like to be a part of the Hanes Comfort Crew, and join them in Walt Disney World, (most) expenses paid… for a week.. with my family… I couldn’t say no. We figured out a way to buy airfare for Hubby and the girls, and went from there. We didn’t tell the girls anything… except that we were going on vacation, and we got to take airplanes to get there. I wanted to tell them so badly… but didn’t want our night before to be anything like this one:

I mean really.. it was bad enough that Daddy and I were up till 2 am the night before… barely tired, packing, and really “too excited to sleep”. We did get everything packed and together before we finally went to sleep that night… Thank goodness because the next morning was a crazy blur!

Monday morning, Daddy and I woke up, got ready, packed up the last of our toiletries, got the girls up and dressed, packed up the van, and were off to the airport. I couldn’t help but think I had forgotten some things, but it was too late… There was no turning back now! We turned in our luggage, made it through security and waited to board our first flight out of Jacksonville, NC… The girls were beyond excited, and so were we.

Our first flight was quick and smooth… We landed in Charlotte without any crazy deals with the girls. They watched a movie on our iPhones, and that was good… They used their new MyPhones, and loved them! We grabbed some Jamba Juice in the airport… a small treat since we don’t have one of those anywhere near us in Jacksonville… and went on to our next gate. Ahhh Jamba…

The flight from Charlotte to Orlando was a nice one too. The girls had some fun coloring and working on their workbooks. The flight went by so fast… not including the anticipation of our Magical ride to our Magical resort! When we landed, we didn’t have to worry about our luggage. We had a trip aboard Disney’s Magical Express, thanks to Hanes… We made our way to the shuttle, and let them take care of everything! One of my fellow Walmart Moms, and author of ChicShopperChick.com,  Erika Lehmann arrived at about the same time as us, and joined us on our shuttle ride over to the Polynesian!

This greeted us in our room

We got checked in, walked the beach out our back door… (yes, I said beach!) relaxed for a little bit, and grabbed a quick bite to eat before meeting our group in the lobby for our first trip out to the park! We met our awesomely cool VIP Tour Guide, Zane… More on him later… and our girls made instant friends with another girl in our group. Her parents are lots of fun…and from North Carolina too!!! LOL.. too cool! We all got on the bus, and rode into Disney’s Hollywood Studios through the back lot. It was really cool walking into the park through “secret” doorways, and just appearing in front of the coolest ride evah! Oh yes… Aerosmith’s Rockin’ Rollercoaster.

Hanes Kids' Spot

Daddy and I took turns sitting with the girls as Zane took groups in to ride the Rockin’ Rollercoaster.. Ok, Space Mountain used to be my favorite coaster… but this one totally took the cake! I only wish it had an encore! Oh, and the kids… they were too small for this ride, so instead, they got to hang out at the craft area out front… which happened to be sponsored by Hanes!

From there, we headed on to Toy Story, and a couple of other very cool things… The Little Mermaid, and more that I just can’t remember right now.. We did get to be part of the audience at the American Idol Experience. I almost felt like I was at the real show. We were at the last show of the day, so we were able to listen to all of the finalists from the whole day’s performances, and vote for who we thought should get the “Golden Ticket”. The “Golden Ticket” was basically a Fast Pass to the front of the line at the real American Idol auditions. We heard 5 very talented singers, but at the end of the night, we had to vote for the only male singer in the group.

The winner for 2/8/2010

He was AMAZING! He sang one of my favorite Tim McGraw songs “I Like It, I Love It”, and he got the audience cheering. Everyone was pretty amazed at how close he sounded to the actual song…  We all voted  with our little dial pads on our chair arm rests, and he won! It was so exciting!

At the end of the day, we were taken back to the Animation Studios where an amazing dinner awaited us. They turned the studio into a little restaurant and it was delicious! We walked in and were handed our very own set of Mickey Mouse ears… with our names embroidered on the back! I thought it was so cool that even the grown ups got a pair!! I never had any Mickey Mouse ears with my name on them, so this was super special! While we ate Mr & Mrs Incredible came by to visit, and a little later on, Mickey came to visit! The girls even got autographed Mickey Mouse gloves!!! They were in heaven! After dinner, we went back to our rooms and were surprised by a special gift bag from Hanes full of goodies for us! Our first Pins for our lanyards with a Rockin Rollercoaster Guitar Pick, some sunglasses, lip balm, a Comfort Crew Tee for me, and some other goodies. It was awesome. Needless to say, we pretty much crashed after this day of travel, rides and tons of excitement. We couldn’t believe we still had 4 more days to go! Phew..

For more photos from Day 1 of our trip to Walt Disney World with the Hanes Comfort Crew, check out my Gallery!

** Thank you to Hanes who paid for our trip to Walt Disney World (my airfare, my family’s hotel, park tickets and most meals). I covered Airfare for my husband and girls and some incidentals (souvenirs) while on our trip. I was sent to WDW as part of the Hanes Comfort Crew**

On Sunday, we went with Meemaw and Peepaw on our annual cemetery trip to visit our relatives. I know I know. I should go more, but it’s so hard to get there with the girls.. I’d just rather wait until someone could go with me. Anyway… So, we all got up at a decent hour, got ready, and came downstairs. Meemaw and Peepaw arrived a short time later, and we all had a big breakfast made by Daddy. Yum! 

We got everything together and headed out of the house around 1030am, and went off to the cemetery to clean up around the family’s graves, give them some fresh flowers, and remember. We made sure my Great Grandpa, and Grandpa each had their flags there representing they both of their service in the US Army. I remember as a child, my Grandpa would walk around with us, and tell us stories of each person we took flowers to. I only wish I would have taken a video camera, just once. I miss hearing his stories. Now my dad (Peepaw) is the one telling as many stories as he could remember to my daughters. 

Anywho.. after the cemetery, we got lunch and came back to our house. My parents wanted to get home, but we convinced them to stay… We turned on the Wii.. and it was all over.. Peepaw started bowling, and then I played him… Yeah. I lost. I called around on a whim and ended up finding the Wii Fit at Walmart by my house… Thank Goodness… I got the last one that they had too… Neener Neener.. LOL I ran out and got that, and as soon as I was home, I heard the girls were up and Wii-fishing. It was so cute.

Daddy started cooking dinner while I ran upstairs to start changing their bedroom over. Yes, we took the cribs apart and turned them into the toddler beds.  He met me upstairs to help put the hutch onto the dresser, and take apart and put the toddler guard rail on one of the bed. He came downstairs to finish dinner and Peepaw came up to help put the guard rail on the second bed. I vacuumed and dusted the whole room, and then made up the beds with their brand new Princess bedding. I had also purchased a couple of new princess nightgowns that matched their bedding… They were so excited to see those after their bath.  It was so cute. Before they went to bed, we made sure to call Meemaw and Peepaw upstairs so they could see the girls’ reaction to the big girl beds. I had already snuck into their room to video tape them from the moment they opened the door… I must say they were pretty happy! LOL… Of course I had to tell them not to jump on their beds…

We got them to calm down a little and climb in bed. We tucked them in and everyone kissed them nite nite. We then turned out the lights, closed the door, latched the gate at the top of the stairs and prayed they would stay in bed… Not to be. We heard the pitter patter of little feet running out of their room, and into ours. I think they got up about 4 times each, and finally fell asleep. They didn’t get up at all during the night. In fact, when they woke up the next morning, they stayed in their room and talked and played. We had to go in and get them! It was crazy! The next hurdle to jump was going to be nap time. They’re growing up too fast!

Here are some pictures of their room, and them all tucked in…

Ok.. now if 2008 isn’t the luckiest year so far.. i don’t know what is… well, besides the day I met my husband, and the day he proposed to me.. Oh and the day we got married… and then there’s the day we found out we were pregnant. Ah yes, and the day we found out we were having twins… Or maybe it was when they were born… but anyway… back to now… So.. in the last few months, I’ve won so much stuff, it’s crazy!!! I seriously need to buy a lottery ticket… or a few..  Now we didn’t win the last Mega Millions Jackpot, but it was a long shot anyway.

Just in  February, I won a 4 pack of tickets to Disney on Ice Princess Wishes, from KXTV Channel 10. Then two days later, I won a 40 Pack of tickets, plus a dinner party & meet and greet with the Princesses to the same Disney on Ice show from CBS13. Now, today, I get home from a good morning out of shopping with Daddy and the girls, and I have an email in my inbox from a Mom whose blog (Motherhood Uncensored) I love to read! I read it, and was in shock! I won a contest on her blog! OMG! This is just too freakin’ cool! The owner of Julian & Co. was offering a “Birth Necklace” to one lucky MU blog reader… and I was that lucky reader!!!! I honestly couldn’t believe it! I remember when the contest first began that I was just drooling over these necklaces… and now I OWN ONE!!! Well, I will own one.. and the owner, Tania, is just the sweetest lady!

I looked around the store a little more, and found the “Our Story” page.. OMG… I was just ready to cry! I can only imagine how she felt when she went into pre-term labor… She even has a  picture of her little sweetheart on there at 4 days old… He is just precious.

I  have a sneaking suspicion that I’ll be buying more from Julian & Co. later on down the road. I loved her Kids’ ID bracelets. The coolest part.. They offer free up-sizing and polishing for the lifetime of the bracelet! Now that’s awesome!

Now I can’t wait to get my necklace.. I’m going to be standing near the mailbox waiting for it to get here.. hee hee.. You can bet I’ll share pictures of it.. and maybe even model it when it gets here!!!  Meanwhile… Go check out her store!!!!

So.. KXTV 10 had a contest for 4 ticket vouchers to Disney Princesses on Ice… and I won them! I had to post my little fingers off on their Calmoms.com Forum… It was fun.. although it was very slow… not a lot of activity there. I did end up 3rd in the rankings on their post count though.. I got the email yesterday, letting me know I had won, and that I could pick up the vouchers for the tickets during their open hours today. I got the girls up, and out of the house early today.. We went down to KXTV 10 and picked up our vouchers… They still didn’t know what was going on.. So, we went to the gym. I did my yoga class, and then picked them up from the daycare there. We then went to Arco Arena’s box office to see what kind of tickets we could get.. They were upper level.. Ehh.. we had figured we’d give them away to someone who otherwise couldn’t afford them.. Besides… Daddy and I had already planned to take the girls to The Wiggles… and I’m buying those tickets up front!

Well, the girls found out what I had, and they wanted to go so badly.. But i had already promised them to someone. I put them down for a nap, promising them we’d have a good Valentine’s anyway.. They were ok with that, at least they seemed to be. Well, around 4pm, the phone rings. I’m just relaxing while they sleep, so I answer it, although I didn’t recognize the Caller ID. It was the Sales/Promotions Director for CBS13… I had won their big drawing for the Disney on Ice Princess Wishes … This package includes 40 Tickets, a pre event party, a meet & greet with the cast, and VIP tickets to the show… I was in shock! I started shaking, I wanted to cry! I just thought… this guy must think I’m a bumbling idiot.. After it sunk in that I actually, truly, honestly did win these tickets, I called Daddy, and my parents, and then made a list of people that I had phone numbers for that had kids, that would want to or be able to go.. I couldn’t believe it. I still can’t.

So, now, we have 32 friends going with us.. We’re all set to go.. The girls are currently napping. I’m just too excited to do anything right now… Their Princess outfits are drying, I have to go and get ready. Daddy will be home soon, and then we’re off… This is going to be a HUGE night for the girls… I think they’re going to forget all about being up past their bedtime.

All I have to say is.. THANK YOU CBS13 for making my little Princesses’ dreams come true. I don’t know how I won, but I thank you from the bottom of my heart! Daddy & I both do!