Frozen Ice Palace

This past weekend, Eliot and I went on a Frozen Christmas adventure!

I've been wanting to do something to get into the Christmas spirit.  Eliot and I have been really busy the past month and we still haven't gotten much decorating done around the house.  We thought about putting more decorations up over the weekend, but we decided to go on an overnight getaway instead.  For months now, I've been begging anyone and everyone in my family to go to the Yankee Candle Flagship Store in Massachusetts.  I haven't been in 10 years- since my 20th birthday.  Christmas is a great time to visit.  Then, in November, I'd heard about a Frozen Ice Palace at the Westfarms Mall in Connecticut.  (Hmm... they're only an hour away from each other... perfect!  The adventure begins!)

Photo Source: Google Maps

Eliot and I drove down to Hartford late Saturday afternoon to stay at a hotel near the Westfarms Mall.  Sunday morning, we got up and went over to the mall.  On the way over, we saw a Christmas display with Tigger and Eeyore!  (So cute!!!)

As soon as we arrived at the mall, I knew it was going to be a good day.  We saw a lady with a Sulley hat on in the parking lot.  The family walking into the mall in front of us had WDW sweatshirts on.  We entered the mall in JCPenney right next to the Disney section.  Finally, I saw a man with a Disney Store bag walking through JCPenney.  (Wait, what?  This mall even has a Disney Store!?!?!  Woo-hoo!!!)

Photo Source: Westfarms Mall (copyright Disney) 

We saw signs for the Ice Palace as soon as we got inside.  We made our way to the center of the mall and found the 30 foot ice palace.  The Frozen Ice Palace theme was designed to coincide with the November 18th release of the Frozen Sing-Along Edition of the movie.  The display was locally sponsored by the Hartford Courant.

Eliot and I got into line and it wasn't that bad.  We weren't there as early as we'd planned to be, but the line was still only half way down the first loop.  (By the time we left, it was almost all the way down the second one- probably a 2+ hour wait.)  We probably waited about an hour to an hour and a half.  Thankfully, I was there to see the display so I took a lot of pictures and kept myself busy dissecting the design aspects.

I loved the Ice Palace.  It had great details of snowflakes on it.  It was great how the columns and arches changed colors every few seconds.  My favorite part of the display were the snow globes.  There were a few snow globes scattered throughout the design.  One had Elsa, one had Olaf, and another had Anna, Kristoff, Sven and Olaf!

There were interactive activities throughout the display while waiting in line.  Some of the kids played with the karaoke machine.  (Cute until they started screaming into it.) You could leave a hand print in the snow at the Icy Hand Print experience.  (Brr!)  Or you could see how tall you were compared to Olaf and Sven!  (Fun!)

Once you were inside the Ice Palace, you could watch televisions with clips from the Frozen sing along.  They only showed a few sections of each song.  I wish they played the entire song.  I was surprised none of the kids were singing with the songs.  The only people I heard singing were Eliot and me!  (Because we're cool like that.)

The Ice Palace also had "snow" falling from the center.  There was a projector with a snowflake on the floor near where the snow fell.  The kids in line loved it.  In fact, a few of them were completely covered in it.  However, it wasn't real snow- so it wouldn't melt.  (Not such a great idea to roll in it before your photo op kids!)  The Ice Palace was really cute though.

After the Ice Palace, you had the option to have a photo taken with a plush Olaf at the Ice Throne.  This sounded like a must do to me, until we realized you had to buy a Santa package and it was an add on.  If you could just do the Ice Throne, I would have been all over that!  (I like warm hugs Olaf!!!)

Santa Claus was waiting at the end of the ice palace display.  Eliot and I let the mother and son behind us go through and we snuck past Santa.  We didn't want to pay for the full photo package.  Although, part of me was curious about the "special gift" Santa handed out afterwards.  (Aww man!  It was a Frozen look and find book!)

After Santa, there was a small "gift shop" with Frozen merchandise.  Eliot bought me a small Olaf make up bag and an Olaf back pack.  (Early Christmas Gifts!)  Both were half off the original prices!  (Score!)  We think they were just trying to get rid of it since there were only a few more days until Christmas!

We went upstairs and took a few photos of the display from above.  Then we made our way over to the Disney Store.  (Yay!)  We went to a few other stores and had lunch before leaving the mall.  I'm so glad we went; I had a blast.  (I'm a dork and I know it!)

After we left the mall, Eliot and I traveled an hour north to the Yankee Candle Village store.  We poked around and shopped for a few hours.  The best part of the store is that it's an experience all on it's own.  The store reminds me of a miniature Walt Disney World.  (Hey, a girl's gotta get her fix somehow.)  We checked out the Wax Works section where kids (and adults!) can make their own wax hands or jar candles.  There's even a show with animatronics like the Country Bears at Disney!

We also explored the Bavarian Village and Black Forest.  The Bavarian Village is a German-style village where it’s Christmas year round.  The Black Forest has Christmas collectibles like ceramic villages.  (I had to get a few pictures for ideas on how to display Nana's village at my parents' house!)  It also snows every 4 minutes.

We took pictures around the Nutcracker Castle and explored Santa's Workshop!  The countdown clock was there to remind Santa he only has 3 more days until Christmas! Eventually, we selected our merchandise and paid for it before starting the three hour car ride home.  (Totally worth it!)  The weekend was a lot of fun and I'm really glad we went!  I definitely felt the Christmas spirit!  °o°

Christmas 2013

Hey Everyone!  Wow, it's been quite a while since I visited my blog!  (About a week and a half!  Ouch!)  You know how it goes: the holidays sneak up on you, then they're here, and you're scurrying around like crazy trying to get everything done!  But, now I'm back!  

I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas!

Our 2013 Christmas Card!

Our Christmas was really nice this year.  Eliot and I went to my parents' house to join them, my grandparents and my brother for our Christmas celebrations!  Eliot had quite a few days off from work so we actually got to drive up Saturday and come back later Christmas Day!  It was nice to get away for a few days!

On our drive up Saturday, we stopped by my Mom's side of the family's Christmas Party! We were starting to get another winter storm so my parents and grandparents actually stayed home.  Eliot and I stopped to get the presents since it was on our way home anyways.  My Aunt Sherrie graciously fed us while we were there.  (Yum!)  And we did get to visit with a few of my relatives before we had to leave.

While we were there, we gave my little cousin Emery (our ringbearer) one of his gifts.  He loves Jake and the Neverland Pirates, especially Captain Hook.  Eliot and I found him a Captain Hook ornament!  He was so excited!  He tried to stuff it in his pocket, which was hilarious.  (I wish I'd video taped it!)  Eventually, Captain Hook made it onto the tree!

Sunday and Monday, "Downeast" Maine got a major ice storm and we were basically stuck inside both days.  We had plenty of food and a wood stove if necessary, so there was no reason to go out in the storm. The rain froze on contact and everything was covered in ice.  The tree branches bent over and a lot of trees fell over onto the power lines.  We lost power a few times during the storm.  During one outage, we started to get a little bored staring into the darkness.  To liven things up, I had Eeyore wave around a flashlight "light saber" for a few minutes.

  
Monday I decided that I better finish up my Christmas presents just in case we completely lost power.  I had planned to make a wreath for Mom and Dad as well as Nana and Papa.  It was my first attempt at making a wire mesh wreath, but they came out pretty good!  I really love how Mom and Dad's Chip and Dale Candy Cane Wreath turned out!  (Now I need to make one for Eliot and me!)  Later that night, Dad drove us into town so we could have dinner and visit with Katie.

On Tuesday, Christmas Eve Day, Eliot and I decided that we were going to finally go see Frozen.  (We had wanted to Monday, but the ice storm spoiled those plans.)  My brother Jeremy still hadn't seen it so he came with us too.  I even wore my new Elsa t-shirt, my snowflake earrings and the snowflake hair clips that I made!

We ended up getting to the theater just in time for the 3D show!  It was so amazing.  I'm bummed out that it took us so long to see it!  The music was incredible.  I'm still humming "Let It Go" over and over in my head.  The animation was also superb!  I want an ice palace like the one Elsa made!  And I'd love to live in Arendelle.  And I want a dress like Anna's coronation dress... and Elsa's ice dress.  And Olaf was hilarious!  And how cute were baby Sven and Kristoff?  It was so great; I wanna go again!

While watching the movie, I even saw a few of the hidden Easter Eggs!  They were really quick, but I did catch Rapunzel as well as the chocolates from Wreck it Ralph.  I pointed them out really quick, but the guys both missed what I was pointing at.  (I think Eliot was too busy trying to pet baby Sven in 3D.)  I was so entranced by the movie that I totally forgot to look for Mickey Mouse!  Maybe next time!

Photos from Disney's Frozen.

We thought it would be pretty funny to bring Eeyore to see Frozen.  He "snuck" into the theater inside of Eliot's drawstring backpack.  Eliot even found some 3D glasses for him! He was pretty cute with his giant glasses on.

After seeing Frozen, we did a few last minute Christmas errands.  I took a lot of picture of the ice from the storm.  Check out how much ice is on those trees!  It's like Elsa made her return! I'm a total dork and I also took a picture of Eeyore in the snow (ice) making snow donkeys.  

We spent Christmas Eve hanging out in the living room.  Mom and Dad finally kicked us out around 11:00 so Santa would come.  We made sure to "hang" our stockings up first!  I even found a small one for Eeyore!  (Jeremy also bought me a small Bumble one!)

Christmas morning we came down to many presents from Santa!  We all opened our stockings and took turns with opening presents.  I'm so excited!  Santa brought me the tabletop easel that I really wanted.  I also got the silk paint set that I've been looking at for about 2 years!  (Stay tuned for lots of crafty stuff!)  Jeremy got Eliot and me a ton of Disney Infinity figures.  (Now I just need to learn how to play Infinity!)  And Mom and Dad got me the Minnie Mouse Build-A-Bear that I'd asked for.  She has pink and lime pajamas for our wedding colors!!!

We also got Eeyore a few "gifts".  Ok, they're actually Build-A-Bear items, but they'll work for Eeyore and for our family's ever growing BAB collection.  I had gotten him a Santa hat to wear for Christmas, and we thought it was time he have a hockey stick and puck to go with his Sharks jersey.  We also found a Red Sox hat and shirt, some sunglasses and a basketball and hoop.  Jeremy even bought him a Patriots outfit!  (And it actually fits!  Dad squeezed him into the pants.  See photos above!)

Of course, no Christmas Day is complete without the Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade!  This year was even the 30th anniversary of the parade.  (I'm 29, so it's been on television as long as I can remember!)  Unfortunately, our cable was not working correctly due to the ice storm.  We missed the first hour and when the second hour started, it fuzzed in and out the remainder of the parade. 

This is the first time that I've ever missed the parade Christmas morning.  However, I was really thankful that we had power to begin with.  A lot of people in the area didn't even have that for Christmas.  Plus, Eliot and I were DVR-ing the parade back at our house... so I could watch it when we got home anyways!  (On a side note, some of the people without power still won't get power until this Wednesday!  It'll have been out for a week and half!  Yikes!!!)

Christmas afternoon we ended up watching our Disney Wedding DVD with my family. None of my grandparents had seen the DVD yet, and neither had my Dad and brother. Even Mom had only seen bits and pieces of it.  It was a lot of fun to re-live the memories with all of them together.  We really did have an incredible wedding at Disney!

Around 2:00, we ended up losing our power.  We had literally stopped the Wedding DVD about 5 minutes prior.  After a few hours, it was apparent that it wasn't going to turn back on anytime soon, so Eliot, Jeremy and I packed up our stuff before it got too dark out. When Eliot and I left Mom and Dad's house, they still didn't have power.  Luckily, they called us about an hour after we left to say that it had turned back on!  Once Eliot and I got home, we unpacked the car and watched the part of the parade that we missed!

We had a great Christmas and are incredibly thankful to have spent some time with family and friends!  Now we're shifting our focus to New Year's Eve and going to Walt Disney World for the Half Marathon!  It's going to be another few busy weeks!  °o°

Our Disney Wedding DVD

Hello again!  I’m sorry that I’ve been MIA the past few weeks.  I had an unexpected back injury and I’ve spent a good amount of time on our couch or in bed.  Instead of spending countless hours on my computer I allowed myself to get completely sucked into a certain book trilogy where hungry teens fight to the death in an arena for entertainment.  And then I re-read the series a second time, you know, for good measure?  Anyways…

We finally watched our Disney Wedding DVD last night to celebrate our 8-month anniversary.  I’ve been dying to watch it since it came in the mail, but I wanted to really enjoy it.  The stabbing backaches I’d been having didn’t really make me want to suffer through it in misery.

I’ll admit, I was also a little nervous to see the final product!  Our wedding photos came out so good that I had a lot of expectations for the video.  I’m not a huge fan of seeing myself on video and I was afraid that I’d laugh through our entire wedding video at my own ridiculousness.  And who likes the sound of their voice on a video?  I sound so weird!

Before Disney did the final edits, we had to send in information for the DVD style, music and the credits.  I had spent a few weeks stressing over the music for the video.  And even once I picked a few songs that I knew I’d like, I was still terrified of it being awful.  So with our 8-month anniversary as the perfect excuse to watch finally it, we took the leap.

I have to admit that it was even better than I expected it to be!  I wasn’t 100% sure what to expect.  I knew that they’d have a 10-12 minute montage of wedding images and that we’d have complete footage from our Ceremony.  I knew that we had video at our Reception and our IllumiNations VIP Dessert Party but I didn’t know how they’d include it!

We got a very professional DVD in great packaging.  When the DVD starts it says Disney’s Fairy Tale Weddings and goes to a “room” where a book on a table opens with “Once Upon a Time…”  Then we selected to watch our wedding and were pleasantly surprised with the mash up between our post-wedding interview and images from our wedding day.  Both Eliot and I had forgotten that we even took a lot of the interview shots.  So it was kind of fun to see those again. 

After that, we had our full ceremony coverage and then footage from our reception.  This was probably my favorite.  It was great to see the introductions, our first dance, the toasts, our father/daughter and mother/son dances, our cake cutting and then everyone partying on the dance floor with Mickey and Minnie!  I was fine until we got to our dance with Mickey and Minnie to “Remember When” by LeAnn Rimes.  Then the tears started falling down my cheeks.  Finally, we ended the wedding portion of the video with the full IllumiNations show.  They cut to us as well as a few of our guests watching the show.  And the video quality is awesome!  I’m so excited just to have a professional quality video of IllumiNations!

After that, we skipped Chapter Selection assuming that was how we could jump around the previous “wedding” section.  We selected our Through the Years Montage and it was a simple slideshow of the photos I emailed Disney set to the music that I selected.  We probably didn’t need the Through the Years Montage on our actual Wedding DVD, but that’s ok.

It was fun to re-live our wedding memories!  I’m so glad that we decided to spend the money on the video.  We’re also planning to have a viewing party with our friends sometime, so stay tuned!

RunDisney and Registrations and Wedding DVDs, Oh My!

Well, it’s officially official.  My husband and I are registered for the 2014 Walt Disney World Half Marathon!  We’ve been talking about doing it for months now, but we decided to wait until we “had” to register.  Tonight, my husband saw that the race was 90% full and he decided that it was time. 

I am super excited and a little nervous, but according to the runDisney website, I have 247 days to prepare myself for the race.  We’ve already started with walking 3-4 times a week to slowly work my knee back into shape.  I had a knee injury playing volleyball in college and I tore my cartilage.  My surgeon was not able to fix it, so I have limited padding in my right knee. Over the summer, we’ll work up to more jogging, intervals, and longer distances.  Thank goodness we have a nice walking trail nearby!

I’m determined to finish the race.  I’m not doing it for the time this race.  In fact, as long as I can keep a 14-15 minute overall pace, I don’t care about the clock at all.  I’ll have gone 13.1 whole miles from Epcot, through the Magic Kingdom and back to Epcot.  I’m doing it so I can proudly say that I did it.  I finished it.  And the finishers medal is pretty good motivation too.  Who wouldn’t want to rock one of those around the theme parks after the race?

  

On another note, our Disney Wedding DVD came in the mail today!!!  I’m SO excited to finally see it, but it’s going to have to wait until this weekend when the hubs and I are both awake enough to enjoy it!  I’ll let you know how it turned out!  J

Melissa