June 30, 2018

Camp Kid's Night In

Last month’s Kid Night In box was a huge hit so I was excited for this month’s to be delivered, even more so when it turned out to be a camping themed box! We love traveling and outdoor activities, I knew this was going to be right up our alley. As soon as I showed my oldest son the box, he couldn’t wait to see what we inside!

If you are new to following along with us, Kids Night In boxes are part of a monthly subscription service from Night In Boxes. Each month you are sent a themed box in the category that you are signed up for (Kids Night In, Date Night In, or those with faith options). The boxes include just about everything you need for your night in, except for [most] food items. Last month’s Kids Night In box review can be found here. Let’s take a look at the camping box!



What’s Inside?
night in itinerary*
book related to topic (Tiny Goes Camping)
ingredients for 2 s’mores: marshmallows, graham crackers, chocolate
foil for a solar oven
tape
paper plate
materials for 2 harmonicas: straw, rubber bands, tongue depressors
materials for camp binoculars
stickers
*within the itinerary you would find recipes for your night in, games, and how-to instructions for the solar oven, harmonica, and binoculars.

Camp Themed Menu
Pigs in a Blanket
Homemade Lemonade
S’mores Enhancement
*the menu gives a list of all ingredients needed and preparation directions.

We made some adjustments to last month’s menu, but my kids love hot dogs so I knew the Pigs in a Blanket recipe would be perfect! We did use Pillsbury Crescents rather than a puff pastry as the recipe calls for, but it is the same idea. Once I had the hot dogs cut in half and the strips of the crescents rolled and cut, it was an easy enough task for my kids to help roll them up. They really enjoyed helping out in the kitchen and cooking! We made these for lunch so my kids enjoyed them with fresh peaches on the side.



One of the main activities is creating a solar oven to make the s’mores. My husband and son made the solar oven together using the box the materials came in and the included foil with tape. Luckily, I picked a sunny time of day to do this, so we were able to use the heat of the sun to make the s’mores, but in case it’s cloudy there are alternative directions in the itinerary. I did let my kids place the bottom graham cracker in the solar oven after warming for a few minutes (it wasn’t hot, just warm) and place the marshmallows on top. They enjoyed the extras too! Once the marshmallows were squishy, they placed the chocolate on top, and it didn’t take long at all to melt…hello Florida sunshine! Dinner was cooking while making the s’mores, so they enjoyed these as dessert following their meal. There are points of discussion in the itinerary to talk about solar energy and how the Sun heats up the Earth, they even have fun facts for “Little Campers”, and more advanced facts for “Older Campers”. We make s’mores over a fire quite often, so it was fun to make them another way!





My kids really enjoyed the included book, Tiny Goes Camping, and being a Penguin Young Readers book, it was really geared towards my young kids. It’s about a little boy and his dog who go camping and all of the fun things they do and find. We have read it multiple times SINCE doing the camping box! This is great to go along with the included activities inside the itinerary. Some of the activities include writing the steps on how to make s’mores, making a harmonica and some binoculars, and going on an outdoor scavenger hunt. My oldest really enjoyed taking his newly made camping binoculars out in the backyard to do the scavenger hunt, we almost found everything on the checklist and even after we finished he kept running back to tell me what else he saw. I love that there is always an educational sense to the lessons, even in the scavenger hunt we were looking for objects of a certain shape or color, and even though that is nothing to older kids, it is perfect for my little ones.




There were so many fun things about this month’s box and we even spanned the activities out over a couple of days, although it could be completed in one. We really enjoyed the camping theme! Ready to try out your own Night In Box? Click my affiliate link here to find the perfect night in for you!

Want a chance to win a Date Night In or Kids Night In? Visit my Instagram to see how to enter! @thelittlestadventures

*I received this Kid’s Night In box for free in exchange for a review, all opinions are my own. This post DOES contain affiliate links, which means if you click on them and purchase your own Night In Box using the links posted, I may make a commission.





June 29, 2018

Be Our Guest Restaurant - Stress Free Dining at Disney


We have done our fair share of dining at Walt Disney World, but every time we try to get into Be Our Guest, which is usually last minute, there is no availability. I have been doing a lot of solo days with my kids the last couple months and dining with them isn't always convenient. We like the Pinocchio Village Haus for quick service because of the variety, but because they don't allow strollers in the building it is a really stressful experience if I am by myself with my kids. Carrying a tray full of food and trying to keep an eye on my kids while attempting to find a table in a very crowded space is enough to give anyone anxiety.

A big thanks to the nice gentleman who helped me to get straws and napkins while I stressfully yelled at my 2-year-old to not leave my sight and tried not to drop my tray, as well as the wonderful CM who brought me over a high chair so I didn't have to leave our food sitting unattended on the table.



The most recent solo trip with my oldest was an early morning to Magic Kingdom. We got there at rope drop so we could ride Mine Train, so after riding we needed a place to have breakfast. I was originally going to just get something from the Main Street Bakery, but on a whim I checked the availability for Be our Guest and there was a breakfast time slot open! I quickly booked it and headed over to the restaurant. I knew dinner was a seated table service experience, but I wasn't sure what to expect with breakfast.



The whole process was so easy. Check in at the front and head to the entrance of the restaurant. Once they allow you to head inside, a Cast Member takes your order and you pay upfront. You can then head in to grab your drink and find a table. We were lucky enough to find a table in the back against the "balcony" windows so we could see the whole main room of the restaurant. Another Cast Member then comes by your table to see your receipt and then they bring you your food on a cute little cart. When you are finished, they come by and clean the table for you. It is the perfect mix of quick service and table service, and because you already paid, you don't feel rushed when your waitress brings over the receipt.

The food was delicious and fresh! I ordered the Feast A La Gaston for $25 which included scrambled eggs, herb-roasted potatoes, apple smoked bacon, sausage links, and fruit. My 4 year old son ordered the Scrambled Eggs for $14 which included scrambled eggs, applewood bacon, and fruit. I had a coffee while he had chocolate milk, and the waitress that brought out our food cart had a Mickey straw for my son. The best part of breakfast is that ALL meals come with a selection of pastries. Between the two of us, we had 5 different pastries to try and share.




The restaurant itself is beautiful. It really feels like you are sitting in the middle of the Beast's ballroom! The windows by which we sat made the "outside balcony" look so cold, the windows were frosted and you could see snow falling when you looked out into the sky. It was so realistic, my son was fascinated by all of it. Once we finished breakfast, we walked around a bit to see the rest of the restaurant, which included seeing the enchanted rose!



I would definitely recommend, and I would love to plan a return visit for dinner, I have heard that the Beast pays you a visit and we all know how much my youngest LOOOOOVES Beauty and the Beast. 😉













June 11, 2018

Kid's Night In Box - Finance Club (& Ice Cream!)


For the last two months my husband and I have been trying out the Date Night In box from Night In Boxes, you can revisit those posts here and here if you missed what they are all about. This past month though, I was excited to try out the Kids Night In box…yep, made just for kids! For my family, this box seemed to have worked a little better for our lifestyle as I am home ALL day with my kids and have the freedom and availability to do projects with them whenever. My husband works long days and doesn’t get home until late so by the time we got to the Date Night box, we were rushing!


The Kids Night In Box includes everything you need to spend a day/night with your kids, and have fun learning while doing it. This month’s theme was Finance Club, featuring topics about money, earnings, investments, and interest (all depending on age of course!). The “project” was making ice cream! The box also came with the book “If I had a Million Dollars”, and as a teacher….I LOVED that it came with a great educational book!


What’s Inside?
date night itinerary*
play money (coins & bills)
2 small cups
2 wooden spoons
sugar packets
salt shaker
container of vanilla extract
1 large & 1 small Ziploc type baggy
Book about the topic
*within the itinerary there were learning games, the ice cream directions, & a kid friendly menu

Kid’s Night In Finance Menu
Cheddar Sliders
Mini Vegetarian BLTs
*as with all Night In Boxes, the menu includes a shopping list and the directions for preparation.

My boys really aren’t into burgers, so we did a variation of the BLT. We left out the avocado and romaine that the recipe called for and added bacon and cheese. So basically, they had a BTC…if that’s even a thing! My youngest went right for the tomato—which by the way I had no idea he liked, and my oldest pushed the tomato aside. Because kids can be so picky, making the menu your own like I did is always an option. I served their sandwiches with baked beans and applesauce on the side.


The included book is very long, so my husband had been reading it over the course of a few bedtimes, and that is perfectly fine for a 4-year-old. An older child might be able to sit and take in the whole thing at once, do what works best for your family, and revisiting the book during the lessons is a good idea too.

The foundation lesson is broken into 2 matching games based on age. We chose the game “for the little ones”, which was matching pictures of the coins to their words. My son can’t read yet, but he does know his coins and letter sounds so when he told me the top coin was a penny, I asked what letter penny started with and he was able to match it to the correct word by just knowing the first letter. For older kids, they have to match the picture of the coin to the amount, the dime matches to $0.10, and then adding up some pocket change at the bottom. The money songs on the next page are too cute and we could listen to them on the website. My oldest loved the Ten Pennies one!


After eating their BTCs (I’m definitely making this a thing), we moved on to the ice cream lesson. Since my kids are so young, I didn’t go into too much detail with the money, but I did tell my son that in order to make ice cream, we needed to buy the supplies. I gave him some of the play money and charged him for all of the supplies. For the milk, I asked him to pay me $5, and he handed me a $5 bill, the sugar was $2 so he needed to hand me two $1 bills, etc. He had a lot of fun doing this part, but it was probably because he knew what was coming next…making the ice cream! If you’ve never made ice cream at home with your kids, you should try, it is totally fun and yummy! I do want to add that the booklet was missing the actual how-to directions, but customer service was 100% on it and sent out an email with the directions to all who were to receive the box. Can’t go wrong with great CS! The booklet/itinerary also includes variations for the ice cream recipe, even for DAIRY FREE or those stubborn chocolate lovers like me.



Now, just a heads up because even though I have done this before, I totally failed and poured the SALT into the milk. Seriously. Can you imagine if I hadn’t realized it? We would have had to add some caramel, haha! But Night In Boxes DID send Sugar in the Raw so it was brown, which should help most people not make such a gross mistake. Once I dumped out the salty milk, we started over and made it the correct way. My oldest was really confused as to why I told him a bag of liquid was ice cream. “But where is the ice cream?” he kept asking, so I put a little science into the lesson and told him we had to turn a liquid into a solid…oh hey there states of matter! Both boys enjoyed shaking the bag, but when they tired of it I put in the work. Another tip, I double bagged the smaller ice cream baggy AND the gallon baggy just from prior experience and bags getting holes from the ice or salt.

Once the ice cream has solidified, scoop it into their decorated cups (another part of the fun of creating your own ice cream shop), and let them pick the toppings. My kids added colorful sprinkles. The best part was that there was a little left over that didn’t fit in their cups, so I got to enjoy a bit as well. Once bath time rolled around, I talked a little more about the ice cream we made and how earning money is important for owning a shop. I then asked my oldest how much he would charge people for his homemade ice cream, he started high at $10, but eventually with more discussing he got down to a more reasonable $2. He wanted to name his ice cream shop Super Salad Ice Cream…he is a little obsessed with eating salad, but when I told him people might not like salad in their ice cream, he decided Super Sprinkle Ice Cream would probably be a little better.


This month’s Kid’s Night In box was totally fun, some bigger concepts that we really didn’t touch on because of age, but overall, we all enjoyed it. I love that the box came with a book related to the topic, and that there were age appropriate activities in the itinerary. Once done with all of the lessons, the box can be turned into a piggy bank for kids to start saving their own money. Ready for a fun night in with your own kids? Click my affiliate link here to get started!



*I received this Kid’s Night In box for free in exchange for a review, all opinions are my own. This post does contain affiliate links, which means if you click on them and purchase your own Night In Box, I may make a commission.





June 6, 2018

A Disney Tale of Two Jack's - Dreams CAN Come True

"All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them." - Walt Disney


Dax became a Pirate's of the Caribbean fan sometime after turning 2, more so geared towards Captain Jack. He started off with just a Pirate's of the Caribbean bandanna, a sword, and a hat, but his obsession grew and so did his pirate wardrobe. He isn't like most kids who grow out of a favorite thing in a few months...this Pirate's thing has gone on for YEARS as he is now 4.5. If you follow along with our day to day lives, you even know that his 3rd and 4th birthday had the same theme and same decorations...Pirate's! He requested a Captain Jack cake for his 4th birthday, that was the only difference. Oh, and being 1 year older.

He named his "pirate ship" (backyard play set) the Black Pearl, he only wants green apples because Barbosa likes them, he roll plays with his Play Mobil pirates bringing in characters like Henry and Carina, and at least twice a day he is sword fighting someone. As far as he is concerned, he IS Jack Sparrow. I remember once when he was eating dinner with his pirate hat on, I called him Dax and I was quickly corrected--he was NOT Dax, but Captain Jack.


Now, we have watched this show at Magic Kingdom a few times prior to this, but THIS time was everything. He was the first kid Jack picked from the crowd when he hadn't even asked for volunteers yet which made ME especially happy. On stage, every time Jack asked if he was ready, the audience giggled each time Dax reached for the sword as Jack passed it over his head saying HE wasn't ready yet. Jack knew the wait would be worth it. Dax watched on as the other 3 boys sword fought Jack's partner and when it finally came time for Dax to take his turn, his face said it all when that sword was FINALLY placed in his hand. 



We knew this was how the show went, but in the moment I was just so excited for it to happen to our son. After all, this was his most favorite moment EVER. Standing along side his favorite Pirate, not knowing what was about to happen, Jack shooed his partner aside and stepped in to personally sword fight with him. I probably would have cried if I hadn't been concentrated on filming it all! He gets star struck in these moments so I was surprised that once given a little push...he went all in swinging like crazy. The audience loved every moment! But who wouldn't? A small Jack Sparrow most likely thinking he was fighting the REAL Jack Sparrow, it was perfect.





I know that Disney is all about dreams coming true, and sometimes they don't even know when it happens..this was one of those moments. They saw a little boy dressed as Jack Sparrow, but what they didn't know was that he is almost always dressed like Jack Sparrow. He loves watching Pirate's of the Caribbean and acting out the scenes. He loves playing with his Silent Mary ship and Play Mobil ships and having the toy pirates act out the movies. He loves helping dress his little brother up like a pirate and sword fighting with him. He loves his pirate pajamas. He asks us weekly to give him a pirate bedroom. Pirate's of the Caribbean is one of his favorite Disney rides. When he watched the promotional video of Johnny Depp dressed as Captain Jack on the Disneyland ride..he asked if we could go see him. He loves green apples because of Barbosa. All day, every day...is pirates! Without knowing, they made a little boy's dream come true. I mean, I even broke down and bought the Photo Pass pictures (credit goes to them for the majority of the pictures in this post), and if you don't have photos included with your pass---you know it must have meant a lot to actually buy multiple of them! Ha! It was worth it though. This moment needs to be remembered forever.

If you are interested in watching his sword fight with Captain Jack at Magic Kingdom, I have linked that video here.

Also, about a year ago I made a video compilation of my favorite pirate pictures and video clips of our little pirate, and that video is linked here.

Do your kids have favorite characters that they just can't get enough of? Here is to making their dreams come true!


"To be a pirate captain, all you need is the sea, possibly a crew.....and a really nice hat." - Jack Sparrow

June 4, 2018

Disney's Olaf Themed Birthday

When I plan my kid's birthday parties, I don't just pick the most popular theme of the season. I always try and pick a theme for something that they are most interested in---hence why my 4 year old had a pirate themed party 2 years in a row. My youngest son really isn't into one single thing like his brother is, but he does have a love for Mickey and Olaf, and because I feel like Mickey parties are WAYYY overdone I decided to throw an Olaf party. The theme was so much fun to work with and really can be done in any season so the options are endless. It wasn't a hint girly if that's what you are thinking because it wasn't a Frozen party...just Olaf!

The invitation was very simple and featured Olaf and Sven inviting everyone to "come chill and celebrate" our littlest guy turning 2. Blue, white, and black were the colors and they are so easy to plan around. You can find so many great ideas on Pinterest, which is where a lot of my inspiration came from, and then I pieced everything together. I have my own Etsy shop, so I make the invitations and anything else that adds decor or small touches to the setup.

Cake and cookies were from local friends...how cute were they?! Here is a look at the food, decor, and fun that was had by everyone.

Small Bites
We didn't serve anything extravagant and had just the right amount of small bites to eat. Like I said before, this theme is so easy to work with!
  • Olaf's Noses (carrot sticks)
  • Olaf's Arms (pretzel sticks)
  • Sven's Snacks (fruit tray/cheese & cracker platter)
  • Blue Ice (blue jello cubes)
  • Han's and Anna's Sandwiches (little cuban sandwiches)
  • Love Experts (meatballs)




Cake & Cookies
The cake is always where I spend the most money, I love an amazing cake...and isn't this one just PERFECT?!





Party Favors
I sent everyone home with a marshmallow Olaf to make. To make these you would need:
  • 3 medium sized marshmallows
  • 2 small marshmallows (for feet)
  • 2 pretzels (arms)
  • Orange Tic Tac (nose)
  • 5 mini chocolate chips for buttons and eyes
  • Toothpicks to hold the marshmallows together
We had a few left over and my kids loved putting them together for an after dinner snack.





Party Banners
I always make banners for my kid's parties. I also like having a picture banner to show how much they have grown over the years!





We had so much fun celebrating our little man turning TWO, and I think he enjoyed himself as well! We rented a bounce house and lucked out with having beautiful weather for which we were able to have the house opened up. Until next year!








Being a Disney family, most of our birthday party themes have been Disney.

For our oldest:
1st birthday - UP themed (see here!)
2nd birthday - Buzz Lightyear - TWO Infinity & Beyond
3rd birthday - Pirates of the Caribbean - Sailing the High Threes (see here!)
4th birthday - repeat of his 3rd because he STILL obsesses over Pirates.

Youngest:
1st birthday - Wild ONE (not Disney)
2nd birthday - Olaf

What are you favorite kid's birthday themes??