75 posts tagged “travel”

so we're here in niagara falls for a couple of nights.

at the moment, we're hanging out at our hotel, just resting up after touring around to some wineries.

we'll be heading out in about half an hour to walk clifton hill and maybe decide on where we want to eat.

so we're going camping this weekend. which will be strange because it's only for one night. we leave early saturday morning and come back by mid-sunday afternoon.

it will be strange only because anytime i've gone camping, i'm use to three night. two nights, maybe, if we are really pressed for time, but ideally, it just makes sense for me to do three nights. i don't like the feeling of taking down the tent so soon after putting it up.

but... we're also going to keep it really simply. we're bringing the bare-minimum. and we'll only need to cook two meals - dinner the first night and brunch the morning after. for the daytime of our first day, we'll probably just snack a lot on raw veggies, dip, crackers and cheese. as i said, we want to keep it really simple.

of course, with camping, there's really no such thing as keeping it simple. you need to bring all the requirements. but i suppose we won't worry about too much food. i'm not even bothering with toys and craft supplies for chaeli because if it looks like rain, we're not going at all. and she won't have time to really play as we'll be doing a lot of walks. i also won't bother with swimming gear, mosquito repellent and sun block. it will be too cold for any of those things. our first aid pack is always ready so no need to worry about that.

still, i do worry that this will be a bigger production then doug realizes. he's just so desparate in getting one camping trip in this year. we didn't at all last year and this summer has just flown by.

i know it's been a few days since we've returned from our disney world trip.

but i am still thinking about it. a lot. i don't know why... this is probably the first time i've felt this way about a vacation since my amazing adventures in thailand back in 2001 (i backpacked through two cities there with my very best friends - ada, hoa, tai and arvie). even years after that trip, i still think about it with complete fondness. it wasn't just where i was and what i experienced, but it was the perfect group to experience it with.

perhaps that is why i feel similar to our recent disney trip. it has been the best, successful family trip i've had with doug and chaeli. we've been on vacation together before but this is, hands down, the most memorable and most fun we've experienced together!

i know some people can not stand disney - it's a large corporation which is so commercialized, so geared towards branding, marketing and basically, making a large profit. i know the reality behind the perkey mickey ears logo. and while i do prefer a vacation that centres around natural, scenic views and a choice to explore off the beaten path, disney world is different. they really do make a family vacation magical and i wouldn't have known how magical if we hadn't stayed at one of their resorts (which is a first for me - in the past, my parents and i have always stayed outside of disney world which now i have learned, isn't all that much cheaper now that disney opened up four value-resorts).

here are my favourte photos from our trip: http://www.flickr.com/photos/shyeyes/sets/72157622234727185/

i'd like to say that we ended of our journey with perfection. unfortunately, poor chaeli has come down with a fever. it didn't develop until we got back to our resort room today. but i knew she was coming down with something (while doug kept on saying that she was just tired - when will dads learn? mommy-psychic powers should never be challenged).

of course, i'm worried that she will have an unpleasant time tomorrow on the way home, as our flight doesn't leave until 6pm. we will try to keep her as comfortable as possible, of course. poor kid. but at the same time, it's good that she didn't get sick at the beginning of the week. she was, at least, able to enjoy disney.

there were some magical moments for her at disney.

the first was her chance to meet five of disney princesses during our character-dining breakfast. she met belle, sleeping beauty, ariel, snow white and cinderella.

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we took off first thing thursday morning in search for mickey. what we didn't anticipate was to find both mickey AND minnie. chaeli was beside herself as this was the first time seeing minnie up close and personal.

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and as if meeting both mickey and minnie were not enough (as well as the princesses), she got to see them all come out in a spectacular performance infront of the castle. the 'dream along with mickey' is still a family favourite. i always get a tug in my heart during this show but even more so, i love watching chaeli's facial expressions. :)

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lastly but not least, we were waiting to line-up for the musical, 'beauty and the best' today, inside hollywood studios, when a disney attendee started to chat chaeli up. she then gave chaeli and us a vip pass which gave us 3rd row and centre seating. at the end of the show, chaeli was lead to the front of the stage where she was presented with a special rose by belle and the beast (turned back to a prince). this rose is only given out five times a day and can not be purchased anywhere else in disney. she was also given a certificate for honourary princesses.

you can imagine how special chaeli was feeling at that moment. :) here is the video capture:

we planned ahead to take a break mid-week. for those who have been to disney world, you'll know how tiring the days can be. espeically more then two days in a row. breaking it to three days in a row and two days in a row makes it easier.

so for today, we stayed at our disney resort hitting the gift shop, the arcade (where we collected over 350 tickets to exchange for a prize - to do after dinner), and two pools - one shaped like a bowling pin in the 50's section and one shaped like a flower in the 60's section. we're now back in our room, showering and getting ready for dinner.

it's definitely a needed break but i'm looking forward to going back to magic kingdom again tomorrow. this past monday, we didn't have time to find mickey or minnie so we'll try to over the next two days.