Erin Akin Carroll

Snow!

Feb132014

I’ve lived in Columbia, South Carolina for ten years. (Let’s not talk about how it’s been ten years since I started graduate school.) Columbia is known for being “Famously Hot.”

When I was pregnant with Hayes we had a pretty decent little snow the day after Christmas. And then it snowed a couple of weeks ago when we were at Disney World. We were a little bummed to have missed it because it almost never happens here.

But then, yesterday, we had another snow day! (We had a lot of ice, too.) And it’s snowing again today. This is just unheard of for where we live, and this was my boy’s first time to really play in the snow.

We moved to Indiana from Louisiana when I was in the 8th grade, so for five years, I experienced what it’s like to live with some serious snow. My parents live in Indiana and have been surrounded by snow for months. But when it happens here, everything shuts down. We don’t have the plows but we are thankful that it will melt in a few days.

And Boudreaux is content to settle down by the fire.

In the meantime, though, my kids and I want to make the most of it because it may be a long time before we see it again.

Were you in the middle of yesterday’s snow storm, too?

Valentine's Day Gift Idea: The Heart Knot

Filed Under: fashion

Feb122014

I love to shop local, and even more than that, I love it when I find out that something I absolutely love is handmade right here in Columbia, South Carolina.

At the beginning of 2013, I started seeing these stunning rope, heart-shaped necklaces on everyone I knew. And I finally asked about it and they said, “That’s The Heart Knot.”

Then I got them for my mom and for Nina for Christmas, and gave Todd a strong hint that I’d love one for Christmas, too. And, y’all. I get stopped every time I wear it because someone wants to know about it. It’s just so beautiful.

I chose the big, gold, braided rope because I love that it can really turn a basic outfit into something special.

Because I love The Heart Knot, I just wanted to share it with all of you. These beauties are all handmade by Mary Kent Hearon right here in South Carolina. And Mary Kent even told me that she is on standby for Valentine’s Day gifts. (That’s precious Mary Kent Hearon in the photo below wearing her gorgeous heart knot that is the longer version of the one I have. Gah! I love that one, too!)

This post isn’t sponsored. I just wanted to spread the word about something I love and thought you would love, too! I’m already trying to decide which Heart Knot I want for summer time…. I think I love the coral one!

Are there any beautiful, handmade things where you live? I’d love to know about them!

Carrolls do Disney World: Day 7

Filed Under: Disney World, Travel, vacation

Feb112014

Day 7- Magic Kingdom (again)

We woke up on our last day at Disney World and, yep, it was raining again. But it wasn’t raining hard, just like all the other days, so we got up, got dressed and got on the boat with our stroller to Magic Kingdom.

Todd and I loved the Disney ponchos!

On that day, we really just wanted to soak up our last day. We had a FP+ (Fast Pass plus) for Peter Pan, Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, and Winnie the Pooh because those were the favorites of the trip and the crowds had picked back up for Friday. But not by much.

The first thing we did, was hop in line for the Haunted Mansion. I thought the kids might be scared, but it was a ride and all the “ghosts” were very friendly looking. Not too haunted.

We rode It’s a Small World again and The Little Mermaid ride again. We tried to ride as much as we could before they just couldn’t go anymore.

My kids love a carousel and wanted to ride Prince Charming’s Carousel every time we passed by. It never had a long wait, so we would always just hop on.

We went over to Fantasyland to ride Goofy’s Barnstormer and after decided to leave our stroller at Fantasyland just take the train around Magic Kingdom. It was a good way to duck out of the rain and the kids loved an easy train ride.

Hudson had been begging for an ice cream sundae all day, so we thought, “why not?” We got off the train at the Main Street station and took the sweet boy to get an ice cream sundae. And while we sat there and ate it, the Move It, Shake It street parade began!

Hayes loved loved loved dancing along and we have some fun video of that.

On the very first day, the boys were overwhelmed with “the gimmes.” They wanted everything they saw. We had prepared ourselves for that and my friend Amy gave me some fun ideas to help curb their wants. I told them that I loved all the things they loved, but they needed to make a list with me of all the things they loved and on the last day we would go shop and pick out their one favorite thing.

This seemed to appease them. They got their mouse ears, and then on the last day, after we had ice cream, we told the boys we could go into one of the stores to pick out a prize to take home. (We do not need ANY toys. No clutter. White space! ha! But I didn’t want to be saying “no” all week, so promising them one thing at the very end of the trip was a good solution.)

Hayes picked out a talking Woody doll that has stayed in his hands ever since he picked it out. And Hudson picked out a Mac truck from Cars and it opens up and had 15 other Cars characters inside. He made a good choice!

We made our way back to the boat, and before we got on the boat, both boys were like this. They stayed like this all the way to the hotel room and even slept a little more in their beds for a long nap.

For our last night, we put on dry clothes and headed over to The Contemporary to eat at Chef Mickey’s.

We loved getting to see Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Pluto again. The food was pretty good, too, and we had the nicest servers.

Todd and I had the best time on this trip. We never thought of ourselves as “Disney people.” We each went once as kids and I got to go with cheerleading in middle school. And we never went back. We were originally very overwhelmed at the thought of planning this trip, but nothing about it was stressful or overwhelming. Every little thing about it was fun and it was all so magical. So, so magical!

Carrolls do Disney World: Days 5 & 6

Filed Under: Life, Travel, vacation

Feb102014

Day 5- Hollywood Studios

The morning that we left for Hollywood Studios was the first rainy morning of our trip. Thankfully, we packed the boys’ raincoats and Todd went to get us some Disney ponchos. We were surprised at how cold it was that day, but, again, the crowds were really manageable.

Hudson wanted to pose with this frog at Wilderness Lodge before we left.

When I reserved our Hollywood Studios fast passes a few weeks prior, I made sure to get an early morning Fast Pass for Toy Story Midway Mania. So we headed straight there when we arrived for our 9:30-10:30 fast pass.

When we got to the ride, we saw Buzz and Woody at their character spot right outside the ride, so we hopped into that line. We probably waited about 15 minutes to meet our favorite friends.

All of the lines at Disney World have fun things to entertain your kids. When else can you strap your child to a rocket?

My boys are obsessed with Toy Story and Buzz and Woody. Hayes, especially, but Hudson really loves them, too. They met Woody the day before at Magic Kingdom, but it was so fun to see them together. And they were so big!

We told Buzz the story about Hudson giving Jessie a big kiss, and he had so much fun with it. He found Jessie’s autograph in their autograph books and drew big hearts around her name and put his name next to it. (Buzz Lightyear doesn’t use a pen to sign his name. His costume makes it too hard for him to write, so he uses a stamp.)

These guys just did the best job hamming it up and giving each kid a good amount of time without feeling like we were holding up the line.

After we met Buzz and Woody, we headed across to the Toy Story Mania ride. Todd and I loved it! I think Hudson and Hayes didn’t really get the hang of the game and couldn’t quite figure out how to rack up points by shooting at the targets. It was probably a little advanced for them, but they were highly entertained all the same!

When we left that ride, we saw the Lightning McQueen and Tow-Mater characters. When it was the boys’ turn to get up there, Hudson was very very disappointed (as you can see) that they didn’t talk and didn’t even move. Ha! I’m not really sure how else they would do a Cars character. But we laughed about it. We officially have photos of a pouting child at Disney World!

Hollywood Studios has a ton of fun attractions, but not a ton of rides. We had reservations at Hollywood and Vine for lunch to meet the Disney Junior characters. It was a really fun, interactive character meal and the boys just went nuts for Jake.

I loved that the restaurant had the theme songs from all the shows playing inside. It’s fun to sing-a-long with your kiddos. Doc McStuffins!

Before Sofia walked up, Hudson declared that he didn’t want to meet her because “she’s for girls.” And he officially melted when she walked up. I’m telling you. My boys love the Disney ladies.

We don’t ever really watch Handy Manny, but they still knew who he was and were excited to see him!

After lunch, we headed over to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground, which I remember being one of my favorite things from my last trip in 7th grade. The boys loved it. They crawled and climbed and slid and we followed them everywhere… crawling around on our hands and knees, too, just to make sure we didn’t lose them.

And then we lost Hayes. For about 90 seconds he was out of our sight. He had gone left in a tunnel too quickly and we didn’t catch which direction he went. Luckily, they were wearing bright-colored rain jackets and when his green jacket popped up out of a tunnel we scooped him up. Super fun playground, but also full of anxiety for every parent there!

We headed over to the Disney Junior Live show and Hayes dozed off in my lap before it even started. But he woke up just in time for the show and it was a ton of fun!

This rainy day was kind of tough on them because they just got so tired and we were really cold, so we were ready to go earlier this day. The boys took long naps in the room and we went back to Magic Kingdom that night to ride a few more things.

Day 6- Animal Kingdom

We were so excited for our day at Animal Kingdom. Columbia has an amazing zoo, but I had heard such great things about the safari at Animal Kingdom and about so many of the rides, that I really wanted to go.

We started our morning at the Tusker House character breakfast in Africa. And it was, by far, my favorite character meal of the trip. The food was yummy and the characters were just having a fun time. They finally got to meet Daisy and Donald and got to see Goofy and Mickey again.

After breakfast, we headed straight for the Kilimanjaro Safari. It was another rainy day and Animal Kingdom was so empty that day, but it was barely raining and we were so happy to be able to see so much!

The safari was one of my favorite things of the whole trip. Getting up close to so many enormous animals was so much fun for the boys!

Next, we did a fun walking trail to see a few more animals. And then we went over into Asia to ride Expedition: Everest. We had a Fast Pass, but, again, no lines. So we saved the Fast Pass and jumped right on the ride. Todd stayed back with Hayes while Hudson and I rode. And we both loved it! And then lucky Hudson got to ride it again with Todd. We came back to it a few times throughout the day because of the lack of lines and Hudson rode it a total of six times. Whoa boy.

Can’t you tell how much fun it was? (That’s us in the third row)

We ran into Baloo and King Louis a little bit after that and Hayes kept saying, “Bye Balouie!”

Okay, then we went over to the Nemo musical and we all absolutely loved it! Wow! It was just incredible. The performers were amazing and the costumes and props were just so creative. Definitely worth seeing.

We rode just about everything they could ride at Animal Kingdom. They loved Dino-land, but the Dinosaur ride kind of scared Hudson… and me, too! Yikes!

We had the best day there! Definitely one of my favorite days at Disney World. And we ran into Tigger and Pooh again.

We headed back for a late nap and an early dinner, and then we caught the Celebrate the Magic show and the Wishes fireworks show at Magic Kingdom again. It was late, but we were able to do it because of naps. And then we took Hudson on Space Mountain for the first time and Hayes got to do the Buzz Lightyear ride again. Todd and I each rode Space Mountain with Hudson and I just love this picture of Todd and Hudson on it! (I had to reach over Hudson’s shoulder and hold his hand the whole time. Nervous mama.)

It was such a great day!

«Previous Page