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Renting a stroller at Disney World

Posted on January 12, 2010 2:55 pm by TheAngelForever

Last year, at about this time, I was working on plans for our first family Disney World vacation in May. Having been to Disney World countless times in my life, I knew there was a LOT of walking involved each day. My youngest was going to turn two during our stay, so he would need a stroller to rest/nap in during the long days. What I wondered about was my oldest son. NHL was 5 during our trip. Walking at the mall for long periods of time often makes NHL tired thanks to low muscle tone. Even without the low muscle tone, Disney walking is like nothing else you will ever experience. I knew we had to figure something out.

At first, we were going to rent a double stroller for a week at Disney. If you paid out the week, it was slightly discounted. Thank goodness I turned to the DISBoards and stumbled onto an amazing post about stroller rentals. Everyone on the post said the same thing – go to Orlando Stroller Rentals. So I went to their website and looked at the city mini double stroller. It seemed perfect since it could hold up to 100 pounds of children within it. Several of the Moms on the DISBoards mentioned that they had 5-7 years old that fit into it without a problem. I made a phone call to Orlando Stroller Rentals and spoke with Shannon, the owner. She was fabulous and answered all of my questions.

Why did we go with Orlando Stroller Rentals? Here are a few of the reasons:

Strollers are delivered to your resort/location of choice. It was waiting for us at luggage at Pop Century when we checked in.
The cost is significantly lower than Disney rentals. Was happy to give support to a small local business.
Everyone talked about how uncomfortable and small the Disney double strollers were. I did not think my youngest would be able to rest – no less have room for my 5 year old son.
Picture after picture showed children asleep in these city mini double strollers at Disney World
We would be able to take the strollers from the resort to the park and back. Disney strollers must stay in the parks only – so we would not have them to travel around property or shop at Downtown Disney.
When we were finished with the stroller, we simply returned it where we had picked it up and Shannon would retrieve it.

Our Thoughts:

We loved the double stroller from Orlando Stroller Rentals. It made our trip even more magical. We had a place for both of the boys to rest comfortably. Much to our surprise, our 5 year old seemed to use it more than our 2 year old who wanted to walk with Daddy. The stroller was easy to push around the parks. We had plenty of room, even at Pop Century to fit it in our room at night. With a few tries, opening and closing to take on and off the Disney buses was simple. Both of the boys would sit under the shades to keep cool and relax as we walked from area to area. In addition to this, at night when the kids were exhausted from a day in the heat they could sleep as we wandered back to our resort. Another plus is the stroller was easy to pick out in the mass of strollers parked outside of attractions. They were not only bright orange, but Shannon also has a laminated name badge attached to the stroller.

Our experience was so wonderful that when we were planning this quick trip to Disney for the Social Media Moms Celebration, I immediately called Shannon to see availability of strollers. Lucky for us, we were able to get one for the time we will be there. This will be fabulous not only for our time together as a family, but also when TechyDad is flying solo with the boys.

Now I just need to walk up a storm and get my arms ready to push the boys in the stroller that we will be renting from Orlando Stroller Rentals.

Disclosure: This review of Orlando Stroller Rentals that was done on my own, I received no compensation. We paid in full for our trip in May and are doing so again in February. This post was written to let others know about this wonderful business and service they provide to families visiting Walt Disney World.

Categories:
customer service Disney jsl looking back nhl photos Product review travel vacation

Chocolatey goodness from Israel

Posted on January 11, 2010 8:52 pm by TheAngelForever

One of my friends from a Mommy group lives in Israel. Not too long ago, she asked if I wanted to do a goody swap. There were a few items that she longed for from the States. In exchange, she would send some items that are special in Israel for my family to enjoy.

Wednesday afternoon, as I pulled into the driveway I noticed there was a package on our front steps. As I got closer, I could tell what it was. Check out the cool box:

NHL assumed that the box was just for me. He gets grumpy when Mommy gets packages in the mail and he does not. I quickly told him that this was for the entire family. He asked what was inside. I told him he would have to wait. Once the boys had taken off their winter gear, they chased me into the kitchen to open the box. This is what was inside:

These were all new to me and looked really interesting. So what are they? In back (left to right): White & Milk Chocolate Coated Cookie Crisps, White & Milk Chocolate Coated Biscuit Snacks, Crunchy Stars with Whole Cereal Coated Milk Chocolate, and Nougat Filled Crunchy Cereals Coated with Milk Chocolate. In front are chocolate gelt/coins.

This evening, we decided to open everything up for the boys to try (and us to sample as well). Here are their reactions:

As you can see, the boys loved everything. We were nice and allowed them to try a few pieces from each of the varieties. Now, I am on a mission. I need to find the new bags of Tootie Rolls that are marked kosher (they were set to ship Dec 2 to stores). Have been to many stores and still not there, so perhaps they were not shipped to stores just yet. If anyone has seen them in the States, please let me know.

Thanks to my friend for everything. I promise I will hunt down the goodies for you or figure out something else that you would like.

Categories:
bloggy friends food glorious food friends fun jsl nhl photos yummy

Meet Piggy Oink-Oink

Posted on January 5, 2010 9:43 pm by TheAngelForever

I would like you to meet Piggy. Or, as JSL calls her "Piggy Oink-Oink" using snorting noises on the hyphenated part of her name. This is Piggy taking a moment to text message her friends on Twitter.

Way back in October/November, when we were bribing NHL to go to swim lessons, he asked for the Mouse from Kohls Cares for Kids. The deal was to go in the pool with no issues two weeks in a row and we would buy him the Mouse.

Of course, when you buy NHL a Mouse, chances are JSL will want something too.

Rather than pick the Moose, JSL quickly demanded the Pig. I figured that Piggy would become like every other stuffed friend in our house – a dust magnet. Seriously, neither of the boys had ever snuggled a stuffed animal. We would buy them for special events, like at Disney World, but they would rest on their beds with perfect fur.

There must have been something different with Piggy. Since she came into the family, Piggy has been all over. As we noticed how attached JSL was with Piggy, we realized we should probably buy a Piggy Part Deux, just in case something should happen to the original Piggy Oink-Oink. The day before Thanksgiving JSL and I went to Kohls and picked up a back up Piggy.

Piggy goes near and far, to the couch and in the car. He is often on the floor and is a favorite pillow or wrestling buddy. After a month or so, we noticed how loved Piggy has become, she is the first stuffed friend that has matted fur in our house. JSL loves her so much that he even allowed Piggy to try on his new scarf that I made for him. Here is Piggy modeling the scarf.

His love for Piggy makes me wonder. Perhaps there is more to this love for Piggy Oink-Oink. This may be my little guy following in my footsteps. After all, I had several Miss Piggy (a la Muppets fame) dolls that went all over with me and collected pigs growing up. Must locate photos of myself with Miss Piggy from years ago at Nana & Papa’s house to compare to photos of JSL.

Categories:
animals Disney interesting jsl knitting looking back nhl photos play time shopping sleep

Potty time and preschool preparations

Posted on January 4, 2010 8:37 pm by TheAngelForever

NHL went back to school today and I began my mission. No, not the potty training of my two year old. That one is on hold for this minute, Over break, big brother NHL and JSL were both given potty charts in the bathroom. Stickers were rewarded each time they used they potty. Care to guess what happened?

Here’s a quick rundown:

Both of the boys received a Sesame Street chart to fill with stickers.
The little guy saw NHL use the potty and get a sticker.
JSL immediately begged to get onto his Diego potty seat. Within a few minutes of concentration, he had a sticker on his chart.
NHL knew that if he filled up his chart he would get a prize from us.
The 6 year old learned to exploit the system. He went to the potty to pee more times in one day than I can remember. I finally had to set a rule that he could not simply have 2 drops count for a sticker – OY!
2 year old went onto the potty another time. This time he sat there for over 30 minutes (allowing my laundry ready to come out to wrinkle) and did nothing. He got off and wanted a sticker. Mean Mommy told him you need to pee or poop for a sticker.
NHL continued to use the potty and filled over half of his chart in a day.
By day two, NHL was doing potty math. He figured out how many variations of peeing and pooping were required to finish his chart. *sigh*
This weekend, we bought NHL something special for helping out with the potty training Olympics.
JSL’s chart still remains at 1 sticker and new plastic potty training pants are ready for when he expresses a little more interest.

Back to today. While NHL was off in first grade learning more about subtractions, how animals grow and digraphs, I decided it was time to look into preschool for JSL. Denial is rough, but the reality is that September is coming quickly and spots fill up. I made a phone call to a local organization that has lists of preschools in the area with contact information. Less than a half hour after my call, I had an e-mail with the names of about 20 places. When I narrowed the list down, I had five places to call (being Jewish church based schools are not an option).

The locations are all close to us. Still, we need a little more information to compare all of the options. I know that two are 2 1/2 hours 3 days a week. One has a lot of options on days and the other is 3 days a week for 4 hours a day. Two of the locations are higher on my list from prior experiences there. The only issue with one is that we would have an additional membership fee to pay. Of course, then we would have pool access along with a gym and other options. The front runner is the place that I loved last year when we went to see their 2 year old program. The only reason I passed was the price tag for a 2 year old. They also mentioned that they had early drop off option and flexability for extended day. This would be fabulous IF I could line up substitute teaching. You know, keep my foot in the door in some districts/schools while paying for nursery school at the same time.

Wednesday, we are going to see one of the locations, another on Friday. Both of these are my "favorites" and I like their potty training philosophy. The third told me to call back when I can secure a place for JSL (why he can’t go kind of bothers me) and the last has to call me back.

So, do you have any items that you think I should ask when I visit these locations? This is new to me since NHL went to a daycare center that had a preschool program built into the day. Thanks in advance.

Now I am off to hug my baby and try to forget that he will be going to school in the fall along with his big brother. . . even if it is only preschool for now.

Categories:
jsl milestone nhl photos sahm school

Leaping into New Years

Posted on January 2, 2010 7:11 pm by TheAngelForever

Dear NHL & JSL,

Both of you have been enjoying your new Chanukah presents over winter break. Of course, you do appear to have favorites. To celebrate 2010, we went to Nana & Papa’s house for breakfast. Before leaving, we packed up some items to take with us. Along with Piggy, JSL, you wanted to take your Pupberry (aka the LeapFrog Text & Learn). NHL, you immediately asked to take your LeapFrog Didj and games.

When breakfast was over, we decided to watch the parade on television. After a short amount of time, the two of you were pretty bored with the events. Sure it was beautiful, but it was not Disney characters like the parade on Christmas. NHL, you took your pillow and propped yourself onto the ground to play your Didj. JSL, you were a little copycat. You demanded a pillow and quickly took your Pupberry out.

The two of you were concentrating on your learning so much that everyone said it was a special moment.

That signaled me taking out my camera. It was so sweet watching both of you together, quietly playing and enjoying your new toys. Hopefully, you will continue to enjoy these and other items together.

Love,

Mommy

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