For my baby girl

It's not hard to see that this year has brought me many blessings. I served on the 2011 Disney Moms Panel and am extremely excited to be returning next year, but most of all, I have a beautiful baby girl. Even though she doesn't let me sleep more than a couple hours at a time, I am so proud to call her my daughter. At almost four months old, she's showing her sweet-natured personality with her vibrant smiles and adorable little giggles.



She certainly is a Daddy's girl as he seems to be the only one to calm her down when she's really fussy. Her face lights up when he comes home.



She is in love with her big brother. She watches him intently when he's zipping past her playing one of the games he's made up. She loves to give him hugs and kisses all the time. I can't wait until she is old enough to keep up with him!



She completes my perfect family of four and I couldn't be happier to have her in my life. I love you, Ava!

Coming out of my shell

I have a lot to be thankful for as a Disney Moms Panelist, but one of the biggest rewards I have to take away from this unique experience is that it has forced me to come out of my shell. I consider myself socially awkward and shy. I have missed out on many opportunities in that past because I have been afraid to meet new people or try new things for fear that they may make me look silly. When I found out during the application process that a video of ourselves was required for Round 2, I freaked out, as I'm sure many applicants did. The me 10 years ago would have quit right then and there. Making the video was just the beginning of things that would normally make me uncomfortable. Next was a phone interview! After making the panel, the next step was meeting all of the other lucky panelists for training...by myself! EEEK! Then a professional video shoot! An interview on TV for a local station! A phone interview for a local paper! And just recently a Moms Panel Meet & Greet! OH MY GOODNESS!

What's the point of all this? I will be the Matron of Honor in a wedding this Sunday where I have to give a speech in front of over 100 people. Terrifying, right? Not so much! Again, the me from 10 years ago would have done whatever I could to get out of speaking at this wedding. Thank goodness I pushed myself to make that video for Round 2 and continue with the phone interview for Round 3. I still have a long way to go, but I have traveled a long way to get where I am today. I always have to ask myself, "what am I so afraid of?"

What are you afraid of?

GIVEAWAY: Disney on Ice Presents Disney-Pixar Toy Story 3

My family has been invited to attend Disney-Pixar's Toy Story 3 on Ice! I am so excited because my son LOVES all things Toy Story. At this very moment, he is running around the house with his Buzz Lightyear bubble blower yelling, "BLAST OFF!" I really think he's going to enjoy this engaging show.

What's the best part? I am giving away 4 free tickets to one lucky family! The show is May 19th at 7pm at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa.

How do you enter to win? Send me a private message via Facebook or Twitter. A winner will be drawn on May 6th. Deadline to enter is May 5th at midnight. The winner will need to submit the names of all 4 attendees to me.

Facebook: Leslie Gruber Krzan

Twitter: @LeslieKrzan

To Infinity and Beyond!

My Dream Came True

As I sit here on this gloomy, rainy, tornado's all over the place day, I'm smiling. Do you know why? Tomorrow I officially become active as a Walt Disney World Mom! I start answering questions as a quarter panelist and I am so very excited! I will be answering questions until the end of June and then I will pass the duty and privilege on to Teronya.

I asked my first question to the panel about 2 and a half years ago and never thought I would be lucky enough to call myself one of them. Who knew? This is truly a dream come true, as I'm sure you will hear all the panelists say.

Planning a Walt Disney World vacation? Stop by the Mom's Panel and ask us a question! We are here to help you plan your dream vacation!

Missing the Mouse

Yes, I live less than 2 hours from Disney World. And yes, I have the opportunity to visit and play more than most. BUT yes, I still miss it every time I leave, like everyone else. I'm sitting here on my couch actually thinking about taking a day trip to Animal Kingdom tomorrow, but one look at the weather report and I am reminded that I live in Florida, and so does the mouse...it's going to rain.

My husband and I took a day trip to Disney last weekend to visit with fellow Moms Panel members, Cassie P. and Marisol. It's so hard to believe we only met each other 3 months ago. Seeing them again was like no time had passed and we have been best friends forever. I'm sad that our time together was so short, but happy that I was able to say hi and chat for a couple hours.

Disney Mom's Panelist's Marisol, Cassie P. and Me

After we said goodbye, my husband and I threw on our swimsuits and jumped into Castaway Creek in Typhoon Lagoon for a few laps around the park. What a great way to relax! It was a short trip for us, but well worth it.

Our next trip will be for my 30th birthday. (That is if I haven't decided to skip my grocery store run and continue driving north one day next week) I must have been sprinkled with pixie dust because I was able to get a dinner reservation at 'Ohana less than 2 weeks away....and it's not at 10pm! For anyone who has tried to get last minute reservations ANYWHERE on Disney property, this is pretty exciting. 'Ohana is one of my absolute favorite restaurants at Disney World, so I will be very happy stuffing my face on my birthday. Aloha!

Surprise!

I spread the word via social networking that my family is expecting another bundle of joy. I will officially be 13 weeks tomorrow, which will boost me into the second trimester. Woo hoo! Here's how we announced our new baby to be:

Pregnancy this time around has been kicking my butt. I'm extremely exhausted...ALL THE TIME! However, I am starting to get some energy back. Slowly but surely. I have also had my battle with nausea, which I had little to none of the first go around.

I'm looking forward to the next 6 months of growing with my new baby and possibly sharing some funny and not so funny stories of my roller coaster through pregnancy: part deux.

Welcome aboard! Or not...

Vacations are officially over until May. What a crazy couple of months! I'm happy it's February 1st.

My husband and I went on a 4 night Bahamas cruise last week on Norwegian Cruise Line. It was our first time sailing on NCL. I've heard really good things about it, so I had high hopes. While we both enjoyed our time away together, we did not enjoy our experience with the cruise line. Even the check-in process before we got on the ship was frustrating to us, so we were already in sour moods before taking our first steps onto the ship. After checking in, we were directed to the back entrance of the ship. I have to admit, one of my favorite parts about a cruise is walking into the grand atrium for the first time and being welcomed by the friendly crew. This did not happen...any of it. To regulate traffic, they were directing some people to enter through the atrium, and others to enter through the back of the ship where all the muster stations are. We didn't even get a single "welcome aboard". Very disappointing. Since it took almost an hour to check-in, we were starving, so we were trying to make our way to the top deck to get some lunch. There were absolutely NO crew members around to direct us where to go. Finally, we stumbled upon a set of elevators that took us to the top deck. The rest of the cruise was pretty much the same.

NCL's motto is "Freestyle Cruising", which to me means THEY don't care what you do. There are no assigned dining times, you just show up "whenever" and do "whatever" you want. I thought I would like this, but I really did not. We ate at the sit down restaurant twice...once for lunch and once for dinner. The service was horrible. At lunch, the beverage guy never came around...not once. Our waiter never made eye contact with us...not once. In fact, I asked him a question and it took him a couple seconds to realize that I was waiting for a response, to which his response was, "what?" The only nice meal we had was one we paid $20/pp for at the Brazilian restaurant where they bring meat to your table. Excellent!

Their private island was about 95% under construction. I'm sure it will be nice once it's completed, but right now it looks like a dump. Piles of sand everywhere with big machinery driving all over. Had to walk past a village of port-o-potties to get to the nature trail. No thanks. I think we spent a total of 15 minutes on the island before we caught a tender back to the ship.

We are not drinkers, so my husband got a soda package. Every time he went to ask for a soda, the bartenders seems put out by it. AND the pool bar and the bar back by the buffet closed before 8pm every night. Who closes a bar on a cruise ship before 8pm? NCl does...and this is why.

It seemed like everyone on the ship was above 50 years old. I think we were the only ones playing BINGO that were younger than about 65. I did win on the first night, so I'm good with that.

I'm happy we didn't bring our son with us. The kids section of the ship was still undergoing refurbishments, so I'm not sure what he would've been able to do. AND no swim diapers are allowed in any of the pools, not even the little kiddie splasher pool, which was the size of a bathtub. Also, there was no kids food on the buffet. I was expecting to see mac n cheese or chicken nuggets everyday, but there was nothing my son would have eaten.

I will say that the staterooms were rather large. We were in an inside stateroom and it was very spacious. I did enjoy not having to shimmy around all the furniture.

Overall, NCL was a big fail.

We are throwing around the idea of a cruise for our anniversary this year. It will either be a Disney cruise on the Magic or Royal Caribbean. Still figuring out pricing and schedules. Of course we would prefer a Disney cruise, especially since they decorate their ship for Christmas and have special Christmas activities during December. It might be nice to check out Royal Caribbean since they were voted #1 for kids and families. Decisions decision!