WDW Wednesday: My impression de France

Happy Bastille Day!  I’ve never been to France, but whenever I think of Bastille Day, I think of the France Pavilion at Epcot. More specifically, I always think of the movie at the France Pavilion called "Impressions de France" because there is a scene in the movie that showcases all the Bastille Day festivities. Of course, Sister, the Goog and I always, always, always make the comment that it is really nice to see France celebrating the 4th of July with all those red, white and blue balloons because we are those rude Americans that think we better than everyone else.


The France Pavilion also reminds me of the time back in 1996 when Sister, my parents and I were traveling the (EPCOT) world.  When we approached France, we saw a group of people surrounding a mime. Not just any mime though, a mime in a BUBBLE.  This mime went by the name Bubble Nicolas.  My mom was really fascinated by the mime and wanted to stay and watch him, but Sister, who has an extreme fear of all things clown-and-mime-like, was having none of it.

The red line represents Sister. As soon as she saw that mime in a bubble (represented in blue), she sprinted as fast as her legs would carry her all the way through the France pavilion. We are are talking 2 seconds flat.  As if the bubble mime was going to target her and use her as a human bowling pin. It's because mimes are pure evil and can smell fear. True story.

 Bubble Nicolas in 1996. Watch it, he's about to sneak attack Sister.

I wondered what happened to ol’ Bubble Nicolas, so I googled him last night.  To make a very long story short, this guy was born in the Republic of Georgia.  It is the classic story of his parents wanted him to be something respectable like a doctor, a diplomat, maybe a professional curler, but he wanted to be an artist.  So he went on “vacation” when he was 15 and never came back to Georgia.  Instead he auditioned and was accepted into the Marcel Marceau mime school in Paris.  Some time passed and then in 1996, Nicolas created Bubble Nicholas and, naturally, Walt Disney World bought the show and featured the show in the France Pavilion, where it brought joy to some, but terror to people with mime-phobias.

 

Rockin' a fancier outfit and top hat in 1997.

My favorite part of the whole story was the quote about for Nicolas about coming to Epcot.  I think the quote is hilarious, but I'm pretty sure the Goog will die a little inside with Nicolas' description of planet formation:  

 "I immediately loved America.  The first time I did Bubble Nicolas at the Epcot Center, I realized that American people had the dream, and that I could share that dream with them. I knew we shared the magic. That's what it takes to create a new planet - magic!"

(See, even Nicolas agrees America is better than everywhere else.)

How did you celebrating Bastille Day? Do you enjoy clowns and mimes? Do you think the only thing needed to create a new planet is magic?

Sombody's Turning 30...TODAY!

My sister-in-law, Amy, turns the big 3-0 today. I hope she isn't too stressed about the next decade of her life, because from what I hear, 30 is the new 20. It is waaay cooler than being in your 20s. In fact, I should probably cry myself to sleep every night for the next 2 1/2 years until I turn 30.

Here we are being un-planned twinsies in our matching blue shirts that went along with our matching cameras.  Amy always gives me a run for my shutterbug title at all our family functions.  I was going to post some really old, embarrassing photos of Amy, but all the old pictures I had of her were even MORE embarrassing for the Goog.

So happy, happy birthday to you, Amy. JUST for you, I made a huge sacrifice and ate this 4-layer Reese's peanut butter cup cake because I am what you would call a piggy-piggy oink-oink thoughtful!

If only I could remember who else turns 30 in 6 days...

Why you should never let boys pick up food alone

The Goog's best friend, G, came to visit us this weekend. His visits always guarantee a weekend full of food, movies, and sports. Luckily, I like 2 out of the 3 of those things.  Early Saturday afternoon, the guys decide it is time for some lunch, and since I was not completely dressed yet (Saturdays are lazy days in the Mac house), I suggested that they go to McAlister's deli to pick up some lunch so that I didn't have to go out just yet.  It was a risky move sending the guys out in search of food on their own, considering last time the Goog  (and my B-i-L) went out on their own, they came back with matching 2-in-1 shirts.

Half an hour later, I hear banging on the front door and open it to find both guys standing there with the 3 HUGE bags of food. 2 of the bags were from McAlister's, as planned, but then the other bag was from my favorite bakery of all time, Servatti's. That bag included:

Zebra striped doughnuts...

Butter cookies...

and the most delicious, chocolately, dreamy pie on the planet...

Triple Chocolate Flan.

I definitely appreciate them bringing me Servatti's, but if I let them go out to pick up food too often, I'm going to end up weighing 400 pounds.  I just can't resist sweets, especially when they are as wonderful as the triple chocolate flan!!

That wasn't all that they did while out picking up lunch.  While we were eating, they tell me they came up with this BRILLIANT plan on the way home. See, apparently, they want to start a Curling team because there are very few teams that even try out for the USA Curling team, so this would be their best shot at going to the Olympics.  But since curling is such a boring sport, they want to be the Happy Gilmore(s) of Curling.

They already have their team picked out too. The Goog will provide the physics background, G and another of their friends are very coordinated, and they also have a 6'8" basketball-player friend that is (obviously) very athletic. Plus, the Goog and G both are masters of the broom (they both had a job as a janitor). So watch for us in the 2018 Winter Olympics. I will be the one on the sideline stuffing my face with chocolate flan.

South Carolina: Made for Vacation

I had an weird conversation with one of my co-workers today. I'll just call him "WDG". He is out next week on vacation so I was just inquiring where he was going on vacation. Not something, in my opinion, that is very prying. The conversation went like this:

Me: Are you out all next week?
WDG: Yep, Yep.
Me: Where are you going?
WDG: Um....(longer than necessary pause) South Carolina. 

 First off, South Carolina has over 200 miles of beaches.  It is, after all, a coastal state. But I can't rule out a vacation in the Blue Ridge Mountains or on a a lake. Naturally, coming from Huntington, WV, I would guess he was going to Myrtle Beach because that is THE hot spot beach for all Huntingtonians. Maybe I should be impressed that he is going to see and do everything possible in South Caroline in one week.  So i continue:


Me: Well...WHERE in South Carolina? That's a pretty big state.
WDG: Hilton Head (which he said very matter-of-factly, like that is the only thing to do in South Carolina)

What is even weirder is WDG has gone to other beach vacations before and he is always very clear about which beach. It isn't like when he goes to a beach in Floirda. He doesn't just say he is going to "Florida," but will say he is going to Destin or Pensacola. 

I'm a little guilty of doing this because I'll often say I'm go on vacation to "Florida," but you can bet your bottom dollar that my definition of "Florida" is a Disney World sandwich on some Gainesville bread...that is a visit in Gainesville, followed by a trip to Disney, followed by another visit in Gainesville.

I decided that whenever I go anywhere now, I'm just going to give just the state I'm going. Let people try to guess what exactly I'm doing in that state. If I decide one weekend to go to Columbus, I'm just going to say I'm going to Ohio, despite the fact that I work in Ohio. Maybe I want to take a trip to Lexington...that just a minor detail, people just need to know I'm going to Kentucky. So what if I actually live in Kentucky.

Was I wrong to think there were other things to do in South Carolina besides Hilton Head? Do you enjoy awkward small-talk conversations at work? What state are you visiting this weekend?

I'm Bananas...B - A - N - A - N - A - S...for my nephew

I've known since the day Sister told me about her "plus one" that it was a little boy. Obvs, it is my auntie intuition.  The Goog and I had the following conversation on the way to lunch no more than an hour after Sister told us about her plus-one, Squirt:

Me: What do you think Sister will have? A boy or a girl?
Goog: A girl. Your family only has girls.
Me: I think it is a boy. Because I don't know what to do with little boys.

The weekend after we found out about my future nephew/niece, my mom and I went shopping for some gender neutral clothing.  The very first thing I found when shopping was this cute little monkey blanket that said "I'm bananas." It was the PERFECT first present because 1.) monkey stuff can be for boys or girls and 2.) I have bought Sister some kind of monkey (weather it be a stuffed monkey or a monkey on a coffee mug) every Christmas and birthday for probably over 10 years.  Sure, it was blue but GIRLS can wear blue too. I wear blue just about every day. If the plus one ended up a girl, I was going to move the monkey's little orange bowtie above it's ear.



I also got this little monkey bath towel. Because do you know what would make a baby even cuter? If it has a monkey...on it's head.

Sister and B-i-L officially found out last Thursday what Squirt will be, and Sister texted me as soon as she found out: "Squirt is a boy!!! He'd like some buzzz and mickey stuff please!!" Well you don't have to tell me twice to go to DisneyShopping.com, so I headed over there with absolutely no clue what little boys actually like.  Luckily for me, Disney Shopping has a whole section called "boys toys" for all us aunts that don't really know. 

 The boy toy section includes Mickey Mouse, Toy Story, Cars, and Handy Manny.  Which of these toys will Squirt get? Probably all of them by the time it is all said and done. This is going to be one spoiled little boy!

This past weekend, my mom and I went shopping yet again, except this time we were looking specifically for little boy (and little monkey) things. Although I want to keep most of the things I bought a surprise, I can't help but share the most precious little pair of monkey booties!! They are for babies sized 0 to 12 months, so I guess Squirt can wear them for awhile.  They even have little rubber grippers on the bottom so that when he learns how to walk, he won't slip on those hardwood floor!

The ABC's of our Disney Cruise

 Now that I've fully recovered from my week-long trip to Florida and the Caribbean, I'm ready to give a quick A to Z run down of all the fun we had on our Disney Cruise.  While I'm sure approximately 1 of my lovely followers would enjoy browsing through the 2,160 pictures taken between 3 cameras in 5 days (take that, Japaneses couple! Who is the shutterbug now??), I'll spare you THIS time. Instead, enjoy my ABCs of the Disney Cruise Line, with corresponding slideshow below.

Arts & Crafts: We made  frisbees, Sister and B-i-L learned how to fold napkins for their next big party and we all learned how to fold our towels into cute little animals.

Bon Voyage! cake and decorations in my stateroom, thanks to the Goog.

Castaway Club Silver Members: You are automatically a member of the Castaway club once you go on a Disney Cruise.

Disney Dreams: We got to see a Broadway-style show almost nightly, but Disney Dreams was the BEST of all.

Ears: Every time I go to Disney World or on a Disney Cruise, I get a new pair of Mickey ears. This time, I got some pirate ears.

Freebies: The number of freebies that I got this cruise was ridic and really deserves its own blog entry. I'll save that for another day!

Golden Mickeys: Another of the Broadway-style shows. This one was about an Oscars-type show giving out awards to the best Disney films (you know, like the Hunchback of Notre Dame...). Best part was the Red Carpet outside the theater that Sis and I could pretend we were celebrities on.

Hidden Mickeys: Little Mickey Heads hidden all over the boat. My favorite was the Mickey head made out of coconuts on one of the statues on Castaway Cay.

Ice carving: Every buffet had these elaborate ice carvings, and we even watched a demo of the professional ice carver in action!


Jazz Hands: It's a revolution, y'all.


Kickin' it with Goofy: Goofy randomly came over to the Goog and I one afternoon and was making the Goog clap along to the music. It. Was. AWESOME.

Lobster, Peacock, Dog, Turtle and Rabbit Towel Animals on the bed every night.

Midtown- A cover band that was like listening to the Blend on XM, except LIVE. They were Canadian.

Next cruise booked for June 21, 2010: Because who doesn't like to save 10% AND get a $100 onboard credit while only paying half the deposit?

One year anniversary: The Goog and I celebrated our 1st anniversary (a week late) with lots of cake. Chip and Dale made us hold up a #1 for our 1st anniversary.

Pirates IN the Caribbean night: The night where we all dress like pirates and then watch fireworks. Fun fact: Disney Cruise Line is the only cruise line that does fireworks off their ships.

Quiet Cove Pool: The adults only pool. No kids around here to put their wet little hands on you.

Rain in Nassau: The worst day, weather wise AND port wise. Let's just say I was not impressed with Nassau.

Smoothies in Souvenir Glasses: I'm a total sucker for souvenir glasses.

Toy Story 3 Premiere…in 3D: Probably the coolest part of the cruise was we got to watch TS3 in 3D at 12:01 AM the day it came out in theaters!! They even had an "adults only" showing, so we got to watch Toy Story 3 without little kids talking during the movie.

Umbrellas on the beach:Very important for people like me who have translucent skin and burn just by looking at the sun.

Vacation Club:The Goog and I recently joined the Disney Vacation Cult Club, so this was why we got soooo many freebies!!

Wonder: Our boat, the Disney Wonder

Xtra smooth sailing conditions: The best sailing conditions I've ever seen. It was like we were on a lake the whole time.

Yellow lifeboat: Fun fact, Disney was granted special permission by the U.S. Coast Guard to paint the lifeboats yellow, in order to keep with the special color theming of the ship -- the colors of Mickey Mouse himself.

Zombie servers: Our servers, Ferenc and Lidia, were a lot of fun (even if not the most efficient). We took their pictures every night so they started making silly faces during the pictures.

Sand Castles in the Sand

This is a scheduled post because I am on the beach building sandcastles in the sand. 

 Every time I go to the beach now, I always have the Robin Sparkles smash hit "Sandcastles in the Sand" running through my head the whole day. If you don't know what I'm talking about, then shame on you, but also, here is the video. It is pure awesomeness from How I Met Your Mother.



On our final day of the cruise, we'll be spending another day at Castaway Cay. This is one of the very first 2-stops-at-Castaway Cay cruises Disney has ever offered, so our cruise is pretty much history in the making. 

Here's a fun fact. Did you know even water in the Caribbean gets cold in the winter? When the Goog and I went on a cruise at the end of December 2008, the water was a little too cold to swim in, so instead we sat under umbrellas and played in the sand. You tend to get brainwashed after spending 7 nights surrounded by Disney things, so I was making "hidden" Mickeys in the sand:

I'm not the only one that likes to play in the sand.  There was this hermit crab that made the most awesome tracks in the sand:

It was too cold to swim, but we still got to take this cool picture of us in the crystal clear water (ignoring the piece of seaweed on the Goog's shoulder).

Tomorrow morning, we'll be kicked off the boat bright and early.  With that, we will return to the real world where we must pay for food and don't have to clean our hands with baby wipes before every meal. Stay tuned for sights, sounds, stories, and maybe a little jazz hands from our trip (I have another 13 hour car ride ahead of me!!)