Well, we did it!  We pulled off another surprise Disney trip again!  It is truly the most fun sort of surprise I can ever pull off on my kiddos.  I love having to be super sneaky, and boy did I have my work cut out for me this time!

So why did we do another one?  Well, you can see our first surprise trip here.  My younger two kids didn’t really get to experience the first one too much.  Macy was two and Landry wasn’t even born yet.  So, I wanted to do this for them too.  Plus, I love a good surprise!  I decide to keep things really simple this go round.  So be sure to keep reading to find out how we surprised them this time and how to pull off your own surprise too!

We woke everyone up to a surprise box filled with Disney-themed items and topped with a Mickey balloon.  This was 3:00 in the morning folks!  We left for about 3:30 and made it in about 12 hours with 1 STOP!  I’m so proud of my kids!  They slept all the way until our first stop, and made it the rest of the way.  It was a true miracle!  For this trip, we decided to stay off property.  We’ve always done Art of Animation, but I wanted to try things differently.  It was a great decision!  This year, we stayed at the Wyndham Grand Bonnet Creek, and I’m going to do a whole post on that place for you guys plus a video!

After arriving and pulling off that surprise, I decided it was time to celebrate with a nice frozen sangria and a glorious cheeseburger at the hotel pool bar and grill.  We had a big day the next day, and we were pretty exhausted from our early wake-up time, so we called it a night shortly after this.

The next day we headed out to Magic Kingdom!!  It’s everyone’s favorite park, and I just couldn’t wait.  I just love the way that park makes me feel!  

It was a magical day!  We rode all the things too!  We like to take a little afternoon break, so we headed back to the resort for a swim and then we were back at by 5:45!

Oh this resort was so fabulous!  It was right there in the middle of Disney everything!  I cannot wait to share all about it!  
For those wondering, we did not get a dining plan this time.  It actually worked out great!  We just stopped at quick service destinations and snack carts to grab a bite or a drink as we got hungry.  Not having reservations was kind of freeing!

The next day was Hollywood Studios!  We kind of had a rocky start.  Landry was not feeling well, and we think he might have had a little bug.  He and B.J. stayed back at the hotel for the day, and then headed back with us that afternoon.  This was such a FUN day despite a rough start.  We had the best time on the rides here!  My little kiddos are fearless!  They ride more than me and the big kiddos!

The next day, we ate a yummy buffet breakfast at the resort and headed out to Epcot!  I love this park!  

The next day we enjoyed the resort!  After 3 full park days, we really wanted a relaxing day.  More on that in an upcoming post soon!  So, if you are thinking about ever surprising your family with a Disney trip, here are some tips!

How to Plan a Simple Surprise Disney Trip:

Pick up Disney-themed items your kids would like for their ages.  Here are some examples I have done.

• Disney beach towels
• Disney goggles
• Pixar gummy snacks
• Family Disney shirts.  I purchased mine here.
• Disney swimsuits for little ones
• water bottles  ( I found some really cheap red ones at Walmart this year and put their names on them).
• mouse ears
• Disney card game
• Visit a Disney store where you can find more ideas too.  

Get a large box and fill with your items.  This can be as simple or extravagant as you want.  When my kids were little, we did a lot more of the Disney swim stuff.

Don’t forget to put in your Magic Bands!

Close the box and tape a helium-filled Mickey balloon to the top.  I then cover the whole thing (box and balloon) with a blanket.  When it’s time to reveal the surprise, have them take off the blanket and the balloon pops up with this box filled with goodies!

What was in this year’s box?  I kept it really simple this year.  I put in their road trip binders, gummy snacks, family shirts, water bottles, and Magic bands.  

And that’s how we did it!  We woke them up at 3:00 in the morning.  I mostly had them all packed up.  We told them to get dressed and that we had a little surprise for them.  It was so much fun!

Follow on Instagram for More Recipes and Fun!!

Be sure to check out our other Disney post too!

Our First Disney Cruise

• Check out our Tennessee Road Trip here!
• Check out our Colorado Road Trip Days 1-3

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I waited a long time to finally take a trip to New York City, and it was definitely a bucket list trip for me.  When my husband surprised me with a trip last Christmas, I was so excited I thought I would literally burst.  I was absolutely giddy.  For the next few weeks leading up to the trip, I completely immersed myself in all things NYC to make sure we maximized our three days there.  After all, I had waited my whole 38 years to go, I was going to make the most of it for sure!

I’m pretty meticulous when it comes to trip planning for us.  We have a google doc with links and the whole nine yards.  I love to plan trips and travel…I really should be a travel agent.  Anyone want me to plan a trip for them?  This trip was no exception.  I had a complete google doc ready to go, so here are all the details I share with you.  

Disclaimers:  1.  I am by no means an NYC expert.  But I can tell you how to have a good three days and see A LOT even on a last minute trip!  2.  We didn’t do anything that required a long wait in a line.  We were there the first weekend in December, so there were lots and lots of lines!  But it was such a beautiful time to be there!  3.  We WALKED quite a bit.  My watch said 23,000 steps on Day 1 and that was with a flight that day.  With all that being said, I cannot wait to share all the fun, so here we go!

DAY 1 -Friday

We took an early flight from Houston to New York.  We made it there by 10:30 in the morning.  It was a perfect time to arrive for a fun-filled day.

We took a cab from the airport, where I got a nice introduction to being car sick in the New York traffic right after we snapped this photo.  Y’all, it was a bit of a rough start.  I didn’t expect that and luckily it went away once I got some fresh COLD air.  We checked in to our hotel, the Millennium Times Square New York.  We booked it through Expedia, and it was such a great location!  

After we checked into the hotel, we had a nice walk towards Central Park for lunch. But first, right around the corner from our hotel was this!

We had to start with a quick walk through Times Square.  I loved that we got to walk through this area so many times.  It was totally surreal!  We headed towards 8th Ave. so that we could walk through Columbus Circle on our way to our lunch spot.

I made lunch reservations on the OpenTable app at Sarabeth’s Central Park.  I think that’s one of the biggest tips I can give you!!  Make reservations as soon as you can!  This app was so easy to use!  I made them for around 1:30 to give us plenty of time for a nice walk.  We made it with enough time to see this!

The Food Hall NYC at the Plaza Hotel was incredible!  Obviously, I’m a foodie.  This place was like a dream.  I really wanted to grab a bite, but I had to resist since we had reservations.  But folks, this would be a great option if you didn’t have reservations.  They had so much to choose!!  It was also a great spot for souvenirs.

But off to eat!  Sarabeth’s was a cozy stopping point for us to rest.  We had a nice view of the park as well.

I just kept pinching myself!  Was I really there?  

After lunch, we took a walk in the park.  It was kind of misty and really cold, but we didn’t care!  We just took it all in and loved every minute.

Next, we headed west through the park to the Upper West Side to see the famous brownstones!

We walked 69th Street.  I’m so glad we did that.  I’ve always wanted to see these since I was little.  After all that walking, it was time for something warm.  We stopped in at Magnolia Bakery on Columbus Avenue for a coffee and the most wonderful cheesecake brownie.  I nibbled on that brownie for the next two days.  It stayed so yummy and moist.  I even grabbed a cookbook while I was there 🙂

Next, we headed to a subway around the corner.  I don’t have any pictures of this.  It was our first time doing this and it took us a minute to figure things out.  By the end, I’d say we got pretty good at it.  There were a few trips where we wondered if we were headed the right way though!  On this trip, we headed back to Times Square.  By this point, it was dark, and we got to see it lit up for the first time.  We took that moment to FaceTime the kids to see all the lights!  

We headed up to the room for the first time!  Here is our view!  We changed for dinner and headed out again.

We decided to walk to our dinner reservations.  It was about a 25 minute walk in a new direction that included passing by some great spots like Macy’s and the Empire State building as we headed down Broadway to 29th St.  Our dinner location was one of our favorites of the trip!  It was a cozy place called Tavern 29.  We sat in this cozy nook under the stairs, which made for a perfect spot to reflect on all the fun of the day and the fact that we couldn’t believe we were actually there.

The food was so darn good!  We shared this flatbread with figs and truffle fries.  After this, we weren’t ready to settle in for the night yet, so we headed towards Rockefeller Center to see the Christmas tree, of course!  We headed up 5th Avenue and took in all the lights at Saks.

Oh Christmas Tree, you were so beautiful!  And crowded!

We just took it all in because there was so much to see right here.  There was the Today Show studio and NBC Studios.  Also, right around the corner was Radio City Music Hall.

Our walk back to our hotel down 6th Avenue meant we got to see more Christmas decorations too.  It was only about a 10 minute walk back, and even though we weren’t ready to call it a day, we knew tomorrow would be just as fun!

Day 2 – Saturday

The next morning we headed out towards downtown via subway from Grand Central Station to see…

Like I mentioned earlier, we wanted to see all we could in 3 days.  That meant we didn’t actually take a ferry to the statue, but we were good with that!  There was much to see and do on the schedule today!  From there we walked to see all the Wall Street things…

And then we walked to see Freedom Tower and the 911 Memorial.  This is definitely something I’d like to take more time on for our next trip.  I really wanted to go to the top of Freedom Tower, and we should have gotten skip the line tickets (which still had a line).  We would have had we gotten out even earlier that day, but we knew we had lunch in Little Italy planned and an early dinner that night, so we had to keep on schedule!

We headed towards Mulberry St. in Little Italy.  It was about a 25 minute walk.  This would have been a great chance to take some pictures at the Brooklyn Bridge too, but that was the plan for tomorrow.  We were not able to make lunch reservations in Little Italy, so we wanted to get down there and we were starving by this point.  I had done my research and had a few places in mind.  A few of the places were crowded already, but one on my list Il Cortile, didn’t open until right at noon.  We decided to wait for that and did a little shopping.  It was so worth the wait!!  We were one of the first customers of the day, and we were able to grab the most picturesque spot!!!

The food was fantastic!  That’s fried mozzarella right there, and it was glorious.  We got to try our first cannoli too!  

We left the Little Italy area after a brief little walk through Chinatown and headed to the Soho area to…

Even though, I was still full from that awesome lunch, I could not pass up coffee and a cupcake at Georgetown Cupcakes!  I can’t wait to take my kiddos here one day too!  We settled on a few we liked, but the decision was not easy at all folks.

By this point, we knew we had dinner reservations at 4:30.  Yes, crazy early, I know!  We had Broadway plans that night, and 4:30 was about all that was available at the restaurant we wanted.  So we took a quick subway trip back to hotel to get ready to head out for the night again.  Dinner plans were for Carmine’s!  The Times Square location was booked solid, so we had reservations for the Upper West Side one.  One walk in that place, and you would have never known we were there at 4:30 in the afternoon.  It was like we were in the middle of a busy dinner rush.  There were so many people and it was just so lively and cheerful!  I loved the atmosphere so much!  We sat in another cozy corner 🙂

One thing I wish I’d known about Carmine’s was that it was an enormous amount of food.  And this was not exactly the best for an early dinner.  We probably should have done this one on another night.  But it was still wonderful!!

When we got out of there, we took a subway to Broadway to see…

It was our first Broadway play ever!  It was so good!  I liked our seats too!  It was definitely a cool experience, and I cannot wait to see another one next time!

It was almost 11:00 by the time we got out of there, and we walked through Times Square and back to the hotel.  We were exhausted.  We definitely packed in the fun on this day!  And we had more in store on Sunday.

Day 3 – Sunday

Today, was our last day to pack in all the things on our to-do list.  The weather didn’t exactly cooperate for us, but we made the best of it and still had a great day!

We started the day with mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral at 8:00.  This picture does not do this beautiful building justice.  It was gorgeous.  It was just a quick walk from our hotel.  After mass, we headed to a highly recommended brunch stop that I will now highly recommend to you!  It’s called The Smith.  We had reservations at the 2nd Avenue location.  The food was so good, and I will visit again on my next trip!  The Breakfast Pot Pie was amazing!

After this, we headed towards 3rd Avenue to visit Dylan’s Candy Bar!  We sent the kids a sneak peak photo, and they were super excited for the treats that would probably come home.

After this, we walked around the Upper East Side a bit towards Serendipity.  This will be on my next trip when I have time to wait in a little line a bit.  Then we headed back to take a peak at the Christmas tree one more time before heading to do some shopping or browsing at Saks and then Macy’s.  

Next up for the day was a subway trip to Chelsea Market…a foodie’s dream place as well.  I wish I would have been more hungry!  I will definitely visit this place for a meal next time!  It was super cool to see and do a little shopping!

We headed back to the hotel to change for dinner.  The weather was really misty and foggy at this point.  The plan was a walking trip across the Brooklyn Bridge to have dinner at Julianna’s Pizza in Brooklyn.  We made the best of it and got some foggy pictures.  I had no idea how long that bridge really was!  It was dark by the time we got over it. 

Once we got over the bridge, it was dark, navigation was sketchy, and we got a little lost.  In the dark…
It was not a great moment.  I got a little nervous when we didn’t see anyone around.  Finally, we found the restaurant and the people!  There was a little line, but it wasn’t too bad.  Next time, we will make this a day visit for sure!

The pizza and cannoli were so good!  I think it was my favorite cannoli of the trip too.  At this point, I was a little sad.  I knew we were headed home the next day, and the weather was just too foggy for our plan to go to the Empire State Building.  I was bummed.  So that will be on the next trip!  We took a subway back to Times Square and headed in for the night to pack up.  We missed our kiddos and couldn’t wait to see them!

Doing this little recap has completely brought me back!  I’ve never enjoyed a vacation in all my life like I enjoyed this one.  I guess that’s why it was on the bucket list.

I thought I’d wrap up this post by giving you some other suggestions I found when doing my research for the trip.

Tips and Suggestions for a First Time Visit To New York:

• Make reservations through the OpenTable app.
• Look into purchasing tickets ahead of time for:  Top of the Rock, Empire State Building, Freedom Tower
• Skip out on lunch reservations and eat at The Plaza Food Hall NYC or Chelsea Market

Other Dining Suggestions:

Here are some other dining options, I’d like to try on future trips:

• Balthazar (French Bistro)
• Serendipity
• The Mercer Kitchen
• La Pecora Bianca (Breakfast or Lunch)
• Hunt and Fish Club
• The Loeb Boathouse (Central Park)
• Joanne Tratorria

I hope you enjoyed my little recap of our trip and this first-timer’s guide to three days in New York City!  I sure did enjoy making it!  

Want to see other trips we’ve taken?  Check these out!

Our First Disney Cruise

Tennessee Road Trip

Colorado Road Trip Days 1-3

The post First Timer’s Guide to Three Days in New York City appeared first on Diary of A Recipe Collector.

Seriously…my kids said they liked our Tennessee Road Trip better than our Disney Cruise!  I’d say that is a successful trip!!  So get ready for picture overload, but this is the place to be if you are planning your own Tennessee vacation soon!

Our first stop was Memphis.  We woke up around 4 am and  arrived around lunch time.  We need some serious food, so we headed to Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken!!  It was fabulous and the perfect way to start our time in Memphis!

It was a fast and easy stop before we headed to our next destination….Mud Island River Park.  It has a huge pedestrian bridge that was really beautiful to walk across and head to a scale model of the Mississippi River.  It’s a great FREE activity to do if you walk across the bridge and tour the model only.  They do have a museum and a tram, but we did not do those.

After all that activity, it was time to go to the hotel to cool off at the pool.  That night we ate at Central BBQ.  I had the pulled pork and B.J. had the ribs.  We loved it!

The next morning we woke up and ate at Staks.  Can you tell we plan vacations around food?  I had the best cinnamon roll pancake!.  It’s huge, so we definitely did some sharing!

We quickly wrapped up breakfast and headed to The Peabody Hotel to see the Peabody Ducks walk the red carpet.  They do this everyday at 11:00 and 5:00.  It’s really cute, and doesn’t take very long.  They let all they kids sit along the carpet.  Get there early because it was pretty busy.  

After that we headed to the Memphis Children’s Museum.  It was FANTASTIC!  My kids had the best time!  There is even an outdoor splash pad, which we didn’t have time to do, but it looked fun for sure!

After that, we grabbed some snacks and drinks in the car and headed 3 hours away to Nashville!  Our first stop was to eat an early supper.  We knew the CMA Fest was going on that weekend, so we headed to The Gulch area to eat at a great restaurant called Emmy Squared.

We shared an award winning cheeseburger that was divine, and tried their deep dish pizzas.  I was so glad we stumbled upon this place.  I love Google!  On our way into Nashville I was a googling machine looking for the best Nashville eats, and this one popped up!    After that, we headed to our hotel and let the kids swim before settling in for the night.

The next morning we woke up and went to church at the Cathedral and headed to breakfast at Another Broken Egg.  We went to the location a block from Honky Tonk Highway.  We found a parking garage right above the restaurant, so that it was easy to sight see for a few hours.  Since the CMA Fest was this weekend, it was PACKED with people, but it was neat to see.  We walked around and even got to hear some music.  

You might notice one of the kiddos is missing.  She was having a bit of a meltdown at that moment.  There was at least one a day.  And now it was the other one’s turn to have one.  

After our walk, we went for ice cream and headed to see the Parthenon.  This was very cool!!  It’s a full scale replica of the one in Athens.  

It was massive.  It was also pretty hard to get all four in this picture apparently.

After these two city days, we were off to the cabin in Pigeon Forge for 5 nights!  To say we were excited is an understatement!  It was the highlight of our trip.  When planning this trip, I originally wanted to stay in a cabin for three nights.  Well after researching and finding all the zillion things to do in the Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg area, I quickly changed that to 5 nights.  Here are some of our highlights!

We loved our cabin!!!  I rented a 2 bedroom cabin from Outrageous Cabins.  They have a ton on their site, and I looked at everyone and every picture before I booked one.  We stayed in the Tennessee Dream.  It was perfect!!  Air hockey, pool table, jacuzzi, and stairs equal happiness for my kids!

After all that restaurant eating we had been doing we were so excited to cook in that night.  After checking out the cabin, we headed to the grocery store for a few dinners, snacks, and lunches for the week.  The next morning, B.J. and I enjoyed our coffee right here while the kiddos slept upstairs.  It was bliss!

The next morning we woke up early, packed lunches, and headed to our hike to Grotto Falls.  This is a great easy hike for kids!

These Hiking Trails in Smokies are great for families.    This has specific information on Grotto Falls and Laurel Falls.  This link has more information on how to access trails.  This is another great link for trails.  These were about a 30 minute drive from our cabin.

Sheer joy!!  We had a little picnic lunch by the waterfall and we knew we needed to head back because rain was coming.  We ended up getting caught in a pretty scary thunderstorm.  It’s pretty much Macy’s most memorable moment of the trip.  When people ask her about our vacation, this is what she tells them.  And with every dark cloud in the sky, she gets nervous now.  

After getting soaked in the storm, we headed back to the cabin to warm up and chill out before heading out to the Dixie Stampede.  This is one of Dolly Parton’s dinner theatre shows, and it was definitely a FUN part of our trip.  It is PERFECT for families.  I bought our tickets a few months ahead of time on their website.
The next morning we woke up and headed to Dollywood!  My goodness…this was a fun day!  And Landry isn’t scared of a thing.  He would have gone on every ride if he was tall enough!  We made some great memories that day!

That night we stayed in at the cabin and cooked steaks.  The kids played pool and air hockey.  I loved how relaxing this cabin life was!

The next morning we woke up and went to Ober Gatlinburg.  This one started out kind of rocky, but it ended up being the kids’ favorite day.  We all rode the big lift tram to the top of the mountain where they have alpine slides, a mountain coaster, ice skating, water slide, mini golf, kiddie play area, rock climbing, and more.  We were a little overwhelmed and confused about what was the best price option for us.  You can buy bracelets for unlimited activities or you can pay for ticket booklets.  Different activities cost different amounts of tickets.  I had to take a moment and figure out what was best for us knowing that this was going to be an expensive day.  In the end, I can tell you it was worth it for our family, but I was not sold at first.  If I did it again, I would buy my kids the unlimited bracelets and buy ticket books for my husband and me to share.  My youngest was free, which was nice.  I can also say that I will never ride a mountain coaster again…just sayin’.   And I like roller coasters.  But my husband and my oldest loved it!  The older two could have ridden the ski lift and alpine slides all day!

After leaving Ober Gatlinburg, we walked around Gatlinburg a little.  We stopped to eat at the Smoky Mountain Brewery for supper.  It was great!

For our last full day in the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge area, we went to visit Cade’s Cove.  This is a beautiful valley full of wildlife in the Smoky Mountains National Park.  You can drive the whole loop or just part of it.  There are spots to stop and view along the way.  We even got to see a bear RIGHT NEXT TO OUR CAR!!  I don’t have a photo though…. i just took a video!

After driving through Cade’s Cove, we stopped at the picnic area and had lunch by this little stream.  It was such a nice surprise, and it was definitely a memorable part of the trip!  They had so much fun walking through those rocks!!

That night we went to the Island at Pigeon Forge.  We ate at Paula Deen’s Family Kitchen because it was on my “Must-Do” list.  It’s kind of neat because you order 3 main dishes and four sides, desserts for each person and everyone shares.  The food was great!!  It was our most expensive meal though, and Landry was free.

The next morning, we said a reluctant goodbye to our wonderful cabin home for the week and headed a few hours away to Asheville, North Carolina.  We went to see the Biltmore Estate!!!!  All you Downton Abbey fans would love this.  Plus, I was reading The House at Riverton too during this trip.  It was one of my favorite things we did!!  The kids loved getting to go into a mansion with 250 rooms, 43 bathrooms, and a bowling alley!

After that we made our way back to Louisiana.  And that wraps up our 8 wonderful nights in Tennessee.  We will definitely be doing that one again!  There are still so many things we didn’t get to do!  Looking at you Clingman’s Dome!

Send me an email or leave a comment if you have any questions about planning a trip!

Other Family Trips:

Our First Disney Cruise

Colorado Road Trip Days 1-3

Colorado Road Trip Days 4-6

Colorado Road Trip Days 7-11

The post Tennessee Road Trip appeared first on Diary of A Recipe Collector.

#1
One True Loves

This book!  Oh it was so good!  I read it very quickly.  It’s a great summer beach read for sure!  This was my first read by this author, and I just loved it.  I felt like I was there in the story!   So if you are looking for a good read this summer, I highly recommend this one!  I’d love to know if you’ve read it too!
I have a few other books on my list to read next.  I really want to read this one and this one after reading:
THIS ONE!! 

I could not put this one down when I read it!  Everyone I know who has read it has loved it!  It’s definitely a great summer read!

#2

Macy Paige has been a painting princess here lately!  It’s the sweetest thing ever!  She will sit at the island and paint forever.  My older two children have never been the type to sit at a task like this for too long.  She is definitely the most like me in the house 🙂

#3

Oh the joys of summer!  We are so out of our napping and bed time routines lately.  It’s going to be bad when we go back to school.  We are going to need a week of normal nap/bedtime practice for sure.  This little guy climbed into bed with big sister and passed out!

#4
Rimmel Provocalips

I love this lipstick.  It stays on forever!    Drinking, eating, and the usual things that take a toll on lipstick during the day do not affect this one.  I wear “Wish Upon a Berry” for a nice day time look, and sometimes I’ll wear “I’ll Call You” when I’m in the mood for a darker pink.

#5
Stack the States and Shake the States Apps
      
We love these apps!  My kids started playing them last year on our big 11 day road trip.  They are so educational and perfect for children in 2nd through 5th grade.  It was great entertainment on those long days in the car.

Well that wraps up our Friday Favorites this week!  See you this weekend for our Weekly Family Meal Plan!

You can find our MAIN DISH RECIPES HERE.

You can find ALL RECIPES HERE.

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The post Friday Favorites #3 appeared first on Diary of A Recipe Collector.

I am so excited to share our first Disney cruise pictures with you!!  We had an absolute blast, and my kids will talk about this vacation for a long time to come for sure.  We were newbie cruisers, so we definitely learned a few things along the way.
As a first cruise, we did not want to do a 7-night, so we opted for the 4-night Bahamian cruise.  It had two ports of call:  Nassau and Castaway Cay.

We started off driving from Louisiana a few days before our sail date.  We made a two day trip out of it.  The day before the cruise we stayed in Port Canaveral, FL.  We hung out at the hotel pool a while, and then we decided to check out the beach nearby.  The kids were super excited!  Can you tell?

The next morning we were cruise ready and headed to the terminal!

Our shirts came from this Etsy shop 🙂
We stayed at the Radisson Resort at the Port in Port Canaveral, FL.  It had a huge pool, and it was a great place to stay before the cruise.

We were finally on the ship!!  It was so exciting!  We started off by just walking around and exploring.  We must have told the kids to slow down and let us catch up 100 times.  Grant has been watching Disney Cruise videos for the past year, so it was so neat to get to be there in person!  He was still watching one yesterday saying, “Hey!  We were right there, Mom!  We were right there!”

After we met a few characters, we went to check out the amazing Kids’ Club!

There is a nursery for kids under 3, which Landry went to a few times.  There is a charge for that one.  He did love all the toys in there.  It was just like a little daycare.  It made it really nice for us to enjoy some adult time one night.
The other kid’s area was the Kids Club which was without a doubt AWESOME!  Holy Cow!  They had a little open house on the first day, so we got to explore the whole thing.  Let me just start by saying the hand-washing station was super cool, and we were all impressed!  You stick your hands in this thing, and your hands get a little high-powered washing!  Grant thought it was so cool!
That club went on forever.  It was huge!  The kids loved going…begged to go!  You check them in and out.  You must have your key card and a password, and they know where the kids are at all times with the help of their Oceaneer bands.  I felt very comfortable about the whole process.

The first morning we arrived in Nassau.  We decided to try out the Atlantis Aquaventure waterpark excursion.  The grounds of this resort are gorgeous!  You get a nice little walk to see a lot of it when you are there.

There are a couple of beach areas you can visit while you are there too.  I thought that was pretty neat because you can knock out the waterpark and the beach on the same day.

I think the kids really enjoyed their day.  The not-so-lazy river was the hit of the day!  But my favorite…

…was the water slide that led to the shark tank!!!  Yes, the tube slide goes into a tank where sharks are all around you…and you go pretty slowly through that part.  It was very cool.  That’s Grant and I checking out the view!

So would I recommend the excursion?  I’m having trouble with that one.  It’s really expensive, and I don’t think my kids were old enough to take full advantage of all the slides.  I love a good waterpark, so I wish we could have done more for the money.  It seemed like before we knew it, it was time to go.  We probably only had about 3 or 4 hours in the park because we had to get back on the ship.  But in the end, I am glad I got to see Atlantis.  I’d like to go check the resort out more one day when everyone is a little older.

So that night we dinner at the Royal Palace restaurant.  We ate there two nights.  This was one of our waiters, Sam.  He was fabulous with the kids!!  They seriously talked about him all day long and couldn’t wait to see him at dinner!

Later that night, all the kids wanted to go the the Oceaneer Club, so we took advantage of our adult time, and checked out this nice Pink Champagne bar and walked around the ship a little.  All the other nights, we chose to go the shows, which were great!

So onto my favorite day!  Castaway Cay!
The ship docks right on the island, and you get to go at your leisure.  We wasted no time, and got right off the ship.  We took the tram and stopped at the second stop by the big water slide.

We bought the sand toys right on the island.  And the big kids loved the waterslide!

We did the stingray excursion that day.  The two little ones and I actually observed from the side, but it would be easy to take turns if you needed to do so.

The big kids really LOVED this!!  After getting to feed and touch the stingrays, they then got to snorkel with them!  It was very cool!  Olivia was not too excited at first, but by the end she was following them around 🙂

 So after a long day on the beach, we went back on the ship to get ready for this…

Pirate Night!!  And as you tell by our lovely family photo, someone was not happy.  She wanted to wear that Tinkerbell costume, but she was beyond exhausted that night.  That girl needs her sleep, and we were so busy the whole time.  She just wasn’t getting it.  We sat down to dinner with the meltdown continuing.  I finally talked her into going back to room to change into her t-shirt like the rest of us, and she was good after that.   Our t-shirts came from this Etsy shop.

The next day was our day at sea.  We got ready early for our Frozen character meet and greet.  Then we hung out by the pool a little.  I rode the Aquaduck slide with the big kids a few times.  Macy rode the other swirly slide.  Later, her and I went back up to the room so she could rest and I could start packing up.

This cruise was so fun!  And sometimes you were so tired, you fell asleep on your burger!  That night dinner was in Animator’s Palate, which was really cool.  But Landry couldn’t keep his little eyes open!

The next morning, we disembarked the ship and headed to…

…Disneyworld!  We went for a few days since our cruise was only a 4 night one.  I am glad we did it.  Macy Paige was 2 last time we went, and I was pregnant for Landry.  We kept it really simple only went to Magic Kingdom.
The gray t-shirts were from this Etsy shop.  I ordered the red monogram ones a long time ago on Groopdealz.
***And part of the Disney fun on the ship is decorating your stateroom door.  I ordered cute magnets for our doors at this Etsy shop.

Well that is it!!  It was a trip I know my kids will be talking about all year!  And since I love to travel, I am already starting to plan next year’s road trip!

To check out last year’s 11-Day Road Trip, click here.

For my recipe home page, click here.

Need a good idea for dinner?  Here are some of our quick and easy favorites.
15 Best Weeknight Dinner Recipes

The post Our First Disney Cruise appeared first on Diary of A Recipe Collector.

Pizza Sloppy Joes are a welcome dinner idea around here since we are back in full swing after our wonderful spring break, and the countdown to summer is officially on!   I must hear the question, “How many days until our Disney Cruise, Mom?” at least once or twice a day.  We leave for the cruise right after school is out.  It’s our first one, and we couldn’t be more ecstatic!!

My 8 year old is so pumped up about it.  He’s been on YouTube Kids watching other families go on their Disney Cruise.  He’s going to be our little tour guide when we get there.  Since it’s our first cruise, we are only going on a four-night one.  I figured less is more when it comes to being scared of motion sickness.

I’m that annoying person that gets sick in cars and such.  My husband totally doesn’t understand it.  He can look backwards, spin around, and do whatever he wants in a car.  Not me 🙁  I’ve gotten sick on just about every trip in the mountains except for our 11 day summer road trip, which is a true miracle for sure!  We even road a train in the mountains (I was on Dramamine for that one)!

So maybe I’ll be okay for this cruise…  I’ve heard from others like me that it is not too bad on a bigger ship.  I will be taking precautions though.  I don’t want to spend money for this vacation and then be miserable.  Any advice?

So as we wrap up our school year, I love easy dishes like these pizza sloppy joes.  Dinner in 30 sounds good to me.  In my opinion, there really is nothing better than a homemade sloppy joe sauce.  Even my picky eaters loved this one!  Hope you enjoy!

Tips for Making Pizza Sloppy Joes

• Buy the bakery section kaiser rolls or hamburger buns.  These are light and make the perfect sandwich!  I always put them under the broiler!
• You can totally use shredded cheese if you don’t have sliced.  I do this all the time.

Pizza Sloppy Joes

Yield: 4 to 6

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

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Ingredients

• 2 lbs. ground beef
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped or 1 tsp garlic paste
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 15 oz. can tomato sauce
• 1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
• 1 tbsp. sugar
• 3 tbsp. butter
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/2 tsp olive oil
• 6 kaiser rolls
• 1/2 cup parmesan, shredded
• 6 slices mozzarella cheese

Instructions

1. Brown ground beef. While browning add salt and pepper.
2. Add garlic, oregano, basil, and crushed red pepper flakes and stir.
3. Add both cans of tomato sauce and sugar and stir. Simmer over medium heat for 10 to 15 minutes.
4. While sauce simmers, make garlic butter for rolls: In a small sauce pan, heat 3 tbsp. butter, olive oil, and chopped garlic over medium-low heat for 3 to 5 minutes being careful not to let the garlic burn. Slice kaiser rolls in half. Brush inside top and bottom rolls with garlic butter mixture. Place on a pan (garlic butter side up) and put in oven under broiler for a minute or two or until golden brown. Watch them carefully.
5. Add parmesan to meat mixture and stir. Remove from heat.
6. Top each bottom bun with meat sauce, a slice of mozzarella cheese and top bun. Serve warm.

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Looking for more easy dinner ideas?

Not Your Average Sloppy Joes

Barbecue Meatloaf & Cheddar Oven Sliders

Pizza Patty Melts

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It’s almost the end of summer vacation around here.  #letthesobbingbegin

We start back to school in a little over 2 weeks. It feels like summer just began, and it is always so bittersweet to see another summer break gone.  But boy did we have a great one!  It started off with such a bang with our big Colorado Road Trip which you can read all about here.  Then we filled the rest of the summer with LOTS of swimming, vacation bible school, basketball camp, and even a fabulous week of scuba camp!  It really has been one of my favorite summer breaks ever!

So, I’m not sure if you guys remember or not, but I did go back to teaching last spring.  It was a temporary position and an extremely unexpected, life-changing course kind of event.  You can read all about this big change and how blessed I felt at the true wonder and awe of how God works in our lives here.

So with all the great things that came along with that teaching position, I have decided to stay at that same position in the school.  And even better…my kiddos will be joining me this year too!!!!!!  We are so excited!

Now I’m not gonna lie to y’all and tell you it was just peachy going back into the classroom after being out for 3 years and now having 4 kids.  It was a transition for the whole family.  I’m also not going to tell you I think it will be a breeze keeping up with this blog I LOVE so much while I work full-time for the whole school year.  It almost brings me into a panic state just thinking about it.  However, I know I need to trust in God’s plan for my family.

I am going to give this blog as much attention as I can because it is like my 5th child, and I cannot let it starve either 🙂
I just may not be the most consistent I’ve ever been as I go throughout the year.  But I know you guys just want some good recipes, so I’m sure you won’t mind!

And speaking of good recipes, this Sour Cream Breakfast Casserole recipe is one of the BEST breakfast casseroles I’ve eaten to date!  My mom made it for a bridal brunch shower we had recently.  It is so creamy and delicious with all that sour cream!  I had to make it again!  My kids loved it too!  Heck, we might even be having it for an easy supper one night at the start of school.  We love breakfast for supper!  We used challah bread, which is so perfect for a breakfast casserole, but you can certainly substitute a french bread.  You just need a pretty sturdy bread.

And the best best part of this recipe….you make it ahead…whoop whoop!!  Hope you enjoy!

Sour Cream Breakfast Casserole

Yield: 8

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Ingredients

• 8 1 inch thick slices of challah bread* (about 1/2 loaf), cubed
• 8 eggs
• 1 lb. breakfast sausage
• 3 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 2 cups milk
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 tsp salt
• 3/4 tsp pepper

Instructions

1. Brown breakfast sausage until cooked through and drain on a paper towel.
2. Spray cooking oil spray inside a 13 x 9 casserole dish.
3. Place bread cubes into bottom of casserole dish followed by sausage and cheese.
4. In a bowl, beat eggs with milk, sour cream, and salt and pepper. Pour this mixture over the other ingredients in the casserole dish.
5. Refrigerate overnight.
6. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes covered. Uncover and bake 30 more minutes.

Notes

*French bread can be substituted.

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Other recipes you might like:

Sausage, Egg, & Cheese Croissant Bake

Tator Tot Breakfast Casserole

Breakfast Pizza Bake

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This round up has more than 20 great ideas for any travels you may have ahead of you!  Hope you enjoy it!  And safe traveling to you and your family too!

You can find more MAIN DISH RECIPES HERE.

You can find ALL RECIPES HERE.

For more ideas, follow me on FACEBOOK, PINTEREST, INSTAGRAM, TWITTER, AND PERISCOPE.

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The post 20+ Road Trip Snack Ideas appeared first on Diary of A Recipe Collector.

On Day 7, we left Moab, UT and headed to Vail, CO.  Let me start by saying I did my research pretty well for this trip, but there was one area where I failed miserably.  That would be the Vail/Breckenridge portion of the trip.  So I’ll explain how I should have planned better…

But first, let me just say that the stretch of I-70 heading into Vail and Breckenridge was the most beautiful stretch of road ever!  I had tears in my eyes thinking of how long we had planned this trip, and I was in awe that we were finally there doing it!  It was a great moment on the trip.

So we booked a condo at the Vail Raquet Club several months before the trip.  We knew we wanted to spend some time there and figured a condo would be a great way to relax.  I booked it through Expedia.  We stayed in a 2 bedroom, and we liked it.  It’s not the newest condo ever, but it was perfect for what we needed.  I loved the property too.  The Gore Creek runs right behind it and we could see a little waterfall in the mountains.  It was that perfect “mountain feel.”  And because it was the off season, the condo was pretty cheap.

This was Memorial Day weekend, and it was pretty darn cold for us!  See that pool picture.  It was cold, but they wanted to try swimming in the heated pool.  It was pretty warm as long as your whole body was in the water.  So needless to say, they didn’t swim long.  So we warmed up inside the cozy condo and cooked hot dogs and watched a movie.  It was a great night!  And I had big plans for the next day…but the weather did not want to cooperate very much.

We woke up with plans to walk around and explore the property around the condo.  And the kids wanted to find some snow!  We saw some across the street near the waterfall.  They were so excited!

We were FREEZING!  It was a pretty dreary day with off and on rain.  We kept hoping that sun would come out.

And here is the part I should have planned better.  I didn’t realize that we were going in an in-between season where the summer stuff wouldn’t be open yet.  I was really sad about the gondola ride being closed.  That was the one thing I was really looking forward to doing.  Next time, we will go a few weeks later when all the summer stuff opens.  Despite the dreary weather, I could see how beautiful Vail Villiage was!  I can’t wait to go back!

But despite the bad weather, my dear high school friend and her four girls came to meet us for lunch.  She lives in Colorado, and it has been 9 years since I’ve seen her.  We both have a few more kids since the last time we hung out!  We ate at a pizzeria in Vail Villiage and had some ice cream..in the freezing weather.  It was so good to see her!  It was definitely a highlight of my trip.  In fact, her family is one of the reasons I wanted to take my family on this road trip.  I went with them to drop her off at college when we were 18.  We stopped at many of the same locations on our road trip.  It brought back a lot of great memories!

The next day we woke up, packed up the van, and headed to see Breckenridge for the day.  Again, I had great plans for this day.  Even though the weather was prettier for sure, the summer fun park wasn’t open yet leaving this a destination we will have to visit again.  We did do one important thing however…

I knew we had to stop at Crepes a la Cart!  So we grabbed some lunch and headed to to the crepe stand.  I didn’t know it would be an hour wait, but I knew it would be worth it.  I got the Strawberry Cheesecake, and the kids got:  S’mores, Strawberry/White Chocolate, and Strawberry/Nutella.  I think the S’mores one was my favorite!  Next time, I want to try one of their savory crepes.

And Breckenridge sure was beautiful too!

We headed out and stopped at the breathtaking Hoosier Pass to take this picture.  Plus the kids wanted to play in the snow one last time.  As we traveled down south, we saw gorgeous country again.

At this point, we headed out and started making our way home.  We stopped in Trinidad, CO for a night and Fort Worth for a night.  That last day driving home was a little scary in the car.  None of those kiddos wanted to be in there.  We all just wanted to be alone…

Once we made it home that day, we all happily found something to do on our own, including the baby.  He must have sat and played with his toy trucks for hours.  And the look on his face, when he saw our house was priceless!!

Overall, it was the trip of a lifetime.  I cannot believe we did it!  My husband and I were pretty darn proud of ourselves.  The plan is to take another one, but we will wait a few years for that!  🙂

Thanks for following along on our trip too!  If you’d like watch, I made a quick video of all the fun too!  Click here to see it.

For Days 1-3, click here.
For Days 4-6, click here.

And if you need some supper ideas for the week, check out this week’s menu plan.

Going on your own road trip?  Check this out!
20+ Road Trip Snack Ideas

The post Colorado Road Trip Days 7-11 appeared first on Diary of A Recipe Collector.

So for this part of the trip we stayed at my in-law’s house near Durango, CO.  This was nice since we had been staying in hotels the previous 2 nights.  It gave the kids a chance to run around and play since they live on several acres.  It was just what we needed!!

So on the morning of Day 4, Monday, we woke up and hung around their house a while before heading out to see the sights.  Today it was all about Durango and Four Corners!!  
We headed out to go walk around Main St.  We did a little shopping (notice the hats purchase) and found a little brewery to go get a bite to eat.  After that we stopped for some ice cream.

Now this wasn’t the kind of ice cream my kids are accustomed to getting.  It was artisan ice cream with different/natural flavors like lavender and ginger.  After that, we got in the car for about an hour and a half drive to the Four Corners Monument!

This has been on my bucket list since I learned about this as a child.  When we first started planning this trip and telling the kids about it, I told them how they could stand in four states at one time.  They thought this was so cool and couldn’t wait to try it out!

Now this little monument is in the middle of nowhere.  I don’t think I really expected that.  However, it was still super cool!
Our time here was very short and sweet.  I would have liked to have walked around a little more and explore the vendor booths set up all around it, but we had a 4 year old that seriously needed a nap.  Meltdowns and monuments are kind of awkward if you know what I mean.  So we got back in the car and called it a day.  We headed back to my in-laws house for a nice home-cooked supper!

So on Day 5, Tuesday, we woke up early and headed out for this:

We took a train ride from Durango to Silverton, CO.  It was an old steam-engine train, and it was one of the coolest experiences in my life! I’ll admit that I was a little scared since it was a 3 and a half hour ride and I have 4 kids.  I was also a little scared to get sick since I have pretty bad motion sickness.  But I couldn’t let this opportunity pass.  I took a dramamine, and it all worked out fine.

The tour guides were great, and we even got to walk back a few cars to visit the concession stand for some hot chocolate.  The kids loved it!  It was definitely worth it!

We stopped periodically so the train could get water 🙂

And this little guy slept most of the way, but woke up just in time to see some pretty sites.  He now thoroughly knows what a choo choo train is!

So we arrived in Silverton around lunch time.  It is a beautifully preserved in time little town reminiscent of the Old West…so very cool!

The town even has a few people dressed in the 1800’s attire.  We ate lunch at a saloon.  Afterwards we walked around and did a little more shopping.  I highly recommend this little excursion.  It was probably my favorite part of the entire vacation.  They do have the option to take the train back to Durango, but we chose to take the charter bus back.  It was quicker, and the kids passed out on the smooth ride home.  You also got to see different sites on the ride home, and it was just as beautiful.

The next day we woke up, said goodbyes, and headed out for Moab, UT.  I got the opportunity to go here 18 years ago with my friend and her family.  I have talked about it to my husband our entire relationship.  I couldn’t wait for the kids and him to see it.  It was a 2 hour drive from Durango.

We went to Arches National Park to see some of the most incredible, majestic sites on this Earth.  This park is HUGE y’all.

And the kids were very ready to do some hiking.  They had been talking about it for 5 days.

We definitely will make a trip back when everyone is older.  We knew we would be limited on what we could see with the little ones.  But they hung in there for a while.  They were very impressed with the Balanced Rock.
So the picture on the left above was a very sought after picture.  I have one of myself there 18 years ago.  I could not remember where in the park it was, but on our very last stop, we finally found it.  Now we had a few missing members here because the little ones were done at this point.  The big kids and I quickly walked to find this, and headed back to the van to head out.

It was time to swim a little before supper!  And supper plans were amazing!!

We ate at the Sunset Grill in Moab.  It’s on a little cliff where you can see the most beautiful sunset.  The kids enjoyed their frozen lemonades too!  It was a nice ending to great day!

And I had to snap this pic of hotel life…

So that was days 4-6!!  I can’t wait to show you the rest!  Thanks for visiting!!

For Days 1-3, click here.
For Days 7-11, click here.

The post Colorado Road Trip Days 4-6 appeared first on Diary of A Recipe Collector.