One Family's Disney Vacation: The Beginning

As I mentioned in my previous post, we just returned from a week long stay at Walt Disney World in Florida.  It really was a great trip!  We are so glad we did it and think we timed it just right for our family.  Ellie and Maggie are 8 and 7 years old, respectively, and were the perfect age for a trip of this sort.  Young enough to still want to hang out with their parents, but old enough to have good stamina and patience for a busy, go-go-go type of trip Disney can be.

Our trip started with a 4:00 am taxi pick up at our house to take us to Logan Airport.  After a quick breeze through security (I mean really; who else is flying at that hour?) we grabbed breakfast at the airport before our separate flights.  Due to the fact that we wanted to use frequent flier miles, Paul and Ellie took one flight and Maggie and I were on another. 

America runs on Dunkin!

Maggie and I arrived in Orlando first.  We headed over to the area of the airport that housed the Disney Magical Express bus service that would take us to our resort.  This was a great addition to our trip.  Since we were staying at a Disney resort, it saved us the extra expense of renting a car, and also since we used their bus service, we did not need to pick up our bags at the airport; Disney took care of that and delivered them to our hotel room.  I loved this perk!!!

After a short wait in the cue, Maggie and I boarded our bus and off we went to our hotel.  We were staying in the Wilderness Lodge.  What a great resort!  It is a favorite of families traveling to Disney World and it is easy to see why.  The grand lobby is quite a site to see and the amenities and activities are great for the kids! 

View of the lobby of the Wilderness Lodge

After another short wait in line to check-in (we had done online check-in a couple of days prior to our leaving, which really cut down on our wait time) Maggie and I went to check out our room.  There was nothing too special about the room.  Very standard hotel room, but since we would be spending minimal time there, it was perfectly fine.

Paul and Ellie arrived at the resort a couple of hours after Maggie and I did, and after a quick lunch in the hotel's casual restaurant, the Whispering Canyon Café, Paul went up to the room to relax while the girls and I did a little tour of the resort.

Maggie and Ellie on our tour of the resort grounds.

 

Later that afternoon we took the boat from the resort over to Fort Wilderness to partake in a long standing Disney tradition, the Hoop Dee Doo Review dinner show.  It is a classic show, filled with one liners, puns, and silly jokes, but entertaining non the less.  We dined on fried chicken, BBQ  ribs, corn, baked beans, corn bread and strawberry shortcake (and one vegetarian meal for me!).  Nothing to write home about, but you aren't there for the food, really. 

 Lots of vittles to eat.

 By the time the dinner and show were over, we were all starting to feel the effects of our early wake up call that day, so we headed back to the hotel to relax and hit the sheets early.  We wanted to make sure we got all the sleep we needed for the next day.  Our first full day in Disney World and our first theme park adventure.  

Stay tuned!!!

A Little Disney Magic

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, but I do have a good excuse.  We just returned from a week long stay at Walt Disney World!  It was a vacation two years in the making and we are so glad we went.  The whole family had a wonderful time.

I will be posting more about our vacation, so stay tuned!

I Could Never Work at Dunkin Donuts!

I started playing this game online on Facebook.  It is kind of addicting, especially since it gives you the chance to win a $10 gift card to Dunkin Donuts.  Let me tell you, while we did love living in Minnesota, one of the many drawbacks was there are no Dunkin Donuts there.  I don't know how I survived the four years!

Anyway, have some fun with this game and maybe you can win a gift card!

Brownie Newtons

So, I was looking through my cabinets the other day and found a forgotten container of dried figs I had purchased about a month ago.  Now, I could go the obvious route and make a homemade fig jam or fig newton bar, but why be obvious?  And, since I was in a chocolate kind of mood, my creation became:

Brownie Newtons!

Chocolate and Fig?  Maybe it sounds a little strange, but make this recipe and you will find out very quickly strange can be delicious!

Brownie Newtons (adapted from "The Bon Appetit Cookbook" by Barbara Fairchild)


For the filling

• 1 1/2 cups finely chopped dried stemmed figs
• 1/4 cup water
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/8 teaspoon allspice
• pinch of salt

For the brownies

• 3 1/2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 2/3 cup sifted all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 extra large eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup plus 6 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the filling
Combine the figs, water, sugar, lemon juice, allspice, and salt in a heavy large saucepan.  Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar. Reduce the heat to low. Cover and simmer until the figs are tender and all the liquid is absorbed, stirring occasionally, about 8  minutes.  Remove from the heat and cool completely.


For the brownies
Line a 9x9x2 inch baking pan with aluminum foil. Butter foil and dust with flour.


Melt chocolate and butter in a heavy small saucepan over very low heat, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat and cool completely.


Preheat over to 325 degrees.  Sift flour and salt into a small bowl.  Whisk eggs, sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl to blend.  Whisk in melted chocolate.  Fold in flour mixture. Spread 1 1/4 cups of brownie batter in prepared pan.  Scatter the fig mixture over the top.  Spoon the rest of the brownie batter over the figs and gently smooth. (Batter may not cover all the figs).  Cover pan tightly with foil.


Bake the brownies for 15 minutes.  Remove the foil and bake until a tester inserted into the center comes out with some moist crumbs still attached, about 30 minutes longer.  Transfer to rack and cool 5 hours.