Off to an Icy Start in 2014

You may have noticed that I haven’t been around the blog a lot, though I have been popping in and out of Facebook, Google+, Instagram, and Twitter. It’s been an interesting — and challenging — two months.

It all started with a computer crash…and then recrash.

Since the end of November, we’ve celebrated 6 birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, rebuilt my computer three times, bought another laptop to have as a backup, moved this blog from one platform to another, redesigned some things to help eventually make it super-easy to navigate and find what you’re looking for {still a work-in-progress}, and battled over 5 weeks of illness. And, while the kids are all better, I’m still struggling through four-times-daily breathing treatments and coughing with chest pain.

And fatigue… oh my, the fatigued is a killer.

So, we’ve pretty much been housebound since Christmas.

Until yesterday.

 

 

The kids have been waiting for Disney on Ice to come to Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. We were so excited to be given tickets to attend {though under no obligation to post a positive review — we truly adored the show}. It was a perfect first-time-out-in-four-weeks evening.

The show was all about celebrations, and the kids were treated to princesses, classic characters, and a mixture from other holiday themed movies as well. Trevor loved the technical aspects of the show — rings of fire, lasers, lights, and scene changes. Isaac danced and clapped his way through the first half of the show, and then passed out for the entire second half. Logan adored “Princess Minnie,” and clapped every time she saw her.

 

 

But Molly… well, she melted my heart.

The show was made for a dreamy six year old girl. She gasped, oooohhhed and aaaahhhhed, and grinned for the entire show. Each moment was better than the last for her, and I could barely stop watching her reactions to catch some of the action myself. I was so happy to be the one sitting next to her as she experienced the show.

 

 

The one criticism I had of the experience comes from walking in. The souvenir merchants were, in my opinion, completely over the top in their hard-sales approach to every child that walked by them. We had already prepped the girls on their boundaries for purchases {and usually, we don’t buy anything when we go to shows, but had planned an exception this time}, but while they were quietly contemplating their choices, three separate salesmen pushed whirling, twirling things into their faces calling out to them that they would “want them” in the show.

I get marketing. I understand that licensed merchandise at shows like these are a huge money-maker for the company. But it’s Disney… Even when you disembark from a ride at Disneyland and have to walk through a carefully targeted gift shop to exit, you’re not harassed. It’s subtle. This was not. It was overwhelming, and felt like badgering.

Thank goodness my girls knew what they wanted and showed gratitude for what they received. We bought their princesses, found our amazing seats, and settled in for a magical night. Everything else was amazing.

 

 

And today?

I was exhausted. We slept in, ate brunch at noon, and watched Disney movies all day. I may need another few weeks of recovery.

How has your weekend been?