Five For Friday {February 21, 2014}

I'm home from a fun-filled week in Orlando, Florida and I have some great pictures to share for Five for Friday with Doodle Bugs Teaching!   

We spent two days at Magic Kingdom. The first day (last Saturday) it was about 65 degrees but we loved it! We went back to the resort in the middle of the day and took naps to return in the evening for fireworks. The only part of the park we made it to was Fantasyland. The second day (Wednesday), it was 83 degrees and we went to the other areas. 

Here are a few pictures of the Magic Kingdom days. We met even more Disney characters than this but I didn't want to overwhelm the post with too many pics! In the near future, I am going to write a more detailed post of our day and what we experienced in case there are any other first timers out there that are looking for tips before heading to Disney. :)

On Monday we went to Animal Kingdom and are so glad that we chose this one for our young kids. They LOVE animals and it was a more relaxed day than Animal Kingdom.

We started the day with a buffet breakfast at Tusker House Restaurant. The kids met four Disney characters (Mickey, Donald, Daisy, and Goofy).

We were lucky to have a family member give us points for their timeshare and stayed at the Fountains Bluegreen Resort. It was great having a suite with two bedrooms, two baths, living room, and full kitchen. The pool areas were amazing too!

On our pool day, my daughter and I took a mini SCUBA lesson! Here we are getting our gear on. My face is in the water and Lilly is with the SCUBA instructor. Getting SCUBA certified is on my bucket list and now I know for sure that I would love it! I have always loved the water and used to snorkel when I was younger, diving as deep as I dared with my fins. I have been a lifeguard at our local outdoor pool in the summer for ten years now, teaching aquasize, wee woozles (Mommy and me class), and some limited lessons for only a few hours a week now that I have my own kids but I enjoy it! 

What could make a trip to Disney even MORE AMAZING? Meeting my BBB, Joanne from Head Over Heels for Teaching in person, of course!!! She is the sweetest (which I already knew) but she is even sweeter in person if that is even possible! We had such a blast hanging out! Our daughters are both named "Lily" and are only a couple weeks apart in age. I think they don't really understand how far away we live from each other. :( Our hubbies bonded over several games of ping pong (little boys trapped in big bodies!). Here are some pictures of our time together!

 This was a ride that simulated a roller coaster. My two are closest in the picture and her two are on the farther seat. Aren't their expressions priceless? :)

 Being goofy!

My sweet friend, Molly, and Lucky to Be in First is celebrating her One Year Blogging Birthday! I can't believe all that she has accomplished in just ONE year!! Her giveaway is HUGE with 25+ products donated from bloggers at both primary and intermediate levels. You have to check it out!

Also, don't forget to check out this amazing deal on Educents with ten "Tricky Math" products for just about $1.00 each! Included are two of my popular math centers.

Have a great weekend everyone!! 

Tried It Tuesday {Disney App}

Wahoo! I have been in sunny Florida since Friday and am loving my time off here with the family! It is going to be rough going back to the snow and cold! If you are headed to Disney World anytime in your future, check out my post below. :)

It's Time for Tried It Tuesday! 
What have you tried recently at school or home?

My Tried It:

Disney App

I heard about this My Disney Experience App from my friend, Matt, at Digital Divide and Conquer. He always has the best, innovative technology tips to use in the classroom!
I am not sure why this app has only 3 stars at Amazon because we are loving it here on our trip to Disney World! People probably just have much more experience using apps than we do. I am still fairly a newbie in that department. On Friday we tested the app out at Magic Kingdom and used it again yesterday at Animal Kingdom. The more we used it, the more we found we were relying on it for real time information.
Here is a screenshot from Animal Kingdom yesterday. The "blue compass" is where we were at and the little arrow is pointing in the direction we are walking! The purple stars are rides with no wait times and the other purple squares show rides with their wait times in real time. Isn't that cool?

 This is another screenshot where the purple Mickeys show where there are character greetings at that time. You click on the park you are at, then "characters", then "map" at the top instead of "list". The blue compass again shows where we are. The map can be zoomed in and out too.

 Here is a screenshot of Magic Kingdom. We took this when we were at Animal Kingdom so this is why there is no blue compass. The white square with purple star shows the name of the attraction when it is clicked.

 Click on the restaurant choice in the main menu and you see info to make reservations if they are available, make reservations right with the app, and see the menu options.

Once you are logged into the app, all your reservations are automatically inputed even if you didn't make them using the app! It is really useful in my opinion and FREE of course!

I am a first timer at Disney and it really is truly magical! 

It was made even more magical because I was able to meet my BBB, Joanne from Head Over Heels for Teaching in person!! She is the first blogger I have "met"! She is even sweeter in person than I imagined. Our daughters are both named "Lily" and are only a couple weeks apart in age! Here we are:

Here are two of my favorite pictures so far with our daughter meeting Rapunzel and our son all tuckered out yesterday at 7:00 when we arrived back at the hotel. :)

Don't forget to check out this amazing deal at Educents that I have submitted two math products for! It is only $10.99 for ten products and first time buyers get an additional discount!

An InLinkz Link-up