Pin trading

This post is mostly for the Pfiester family. I posted about Disneyland on my other blog and this was a whole other experience so I thought I would post it here. SO, Aunt Cari, this is for you.

The first day I was more into the pin trading than the kids. I tracked down a few Cast members with lanyards. I didn't have my pins and missed out on a Cinderella pin, very sad. Anyway, as the day wore on Anneke kept retrading the same pin over and over and Marcus accidently traded his favorite pin. Luke would just randomly trade them, which was fine.

That night we reevaluated. They took every pin off that they really liked to leave at the hotel. Anneke's lanyard was empty. We divided up all the extra pins and tried again the next day. Anneke was on a quest for Belle pins. (Did you know shops have pin trading boards and so did our hotel?) Not much luck, but Luke would trade for anything interesting.

The last day I said, "You will be going home with all these stinky pins unless you trade them away." That did it. Here is what they ended up with:

Marcus's lanyard:

He really likes Mickey. He has a hipster Donald, Pluto silhouette, Goofy star, 3-D movable marathon Mickey, then three Mickey Mouse pins. The other side: you can't really see the top one, but it is the lion from Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Simba, S-Stitch, Good Stitch, Good Chip and a Mickey Mouse storm trooper. His goal was Star Wars and Pirates, but gave up and just traded for cool ones.

Luke's lanyard:

 It was fascinating to watch him. He traded for some odd ones and then would refuse the ones I thought he would like. He has - Fillmore from Cars, Mikey Moose, a duck car, Nemo, a bird; the other side - Mickey shaped Pooh, Mickey shaped lightning, paisley Mickey, Jiminy Cricket, and a cat

Anneke's lanyard

 I helped her get a few of these. She finally found a couple of Belle pins. She has - Belle, B-Belle, Minnie star, Ariel flower, Daisy square, Daisy silhouette, Dopey in a box, Pink Mickey, heart Aurora; other side - Chest of Drawers from Beauty and the Beast, pink shell, Snow White flower, Snow White, Minnie, Snow White Wicked Queen bowling pin*, Sleeping Beauty's castle

My lanyard 

I traded for the kids. I really wanted the Princess shoe set, but never found one. I ended up with a Wendy pin because it reminds me of my sister, Cari. Andy got a Goofy pin because he likes him. My original Repunzel shoe and Tinkerbell Mickey shape. The other side are the perfume bottles. It is a set of 5 and I have 3 - Cinderella, Jasmine and Tiana. (Missing Ariel and Aurora)

*There was a bowling pin set of Villains that would have been cool to collect. We saw quite a few of them and they were really neat looking.

It was fun. If we were there longer I think it would have been different. It took until the last day to really get into the trading.

Disneyland shirts

One big Disneyland project was making matching t-shirts. It was suggested by more than one person for various reasons. The biggest reason for us was being able to keep track of everyone. If someone got lost we could easily say what they were wearing. Each person will pair their shirt with jeans. It turned out really fun. We all chose and designed our own. 

Day 1 is orange Pixar themed; Day 2 is grey Disney Star Wars themed. Day 3 is dress up/blue shirts.

Mallory chose her Star Wars shirt picture. She was very adamant. Her Pixar shirt was chosen by her sister and they match.

Luke's favorite Pixar characters are Cars, but most of all Finn McMissile. He was excited to have Mickey dressed as Luke for Star Wars day.

 Anneke wanted Princess Atta and Dot and that is how we came up with the theme for the day. She was excited to have a sister picture. Not too many Disney sisters. Her Star Wars day is Princess Leia dressed as a Disney princess. She knew it was the picture for her.

 Marcus has always liked Bu and Woo-ee. It was the perfect picture for him. He wanted Stitch as General Grievous for his Star Wars day and it was fun that it kinda ties his and Luke's shirts together. The last day he didn't want to dress up. He chose to have Disney characters as Avengers on his shirt.

I am very simple in my style. I didn't want anything big. I found the Elasti-girl shot and loved it. Andy made me the Minnie Leia and I really wanted a Cinderella shirt.

 (My last picture I figured out the best way to photograph them. Sorry.) Andy's first shirt says "Cut Rate Organization" and has all the characters voiced by John Ratzenberger. It is a play on the line from the end of Cars that Mack says. For Star Wars day it is a picture of Goofy/Pluto (there is a debate which it is) as Darth Maul with Disneyland written in Star Wars lettering. Andy made a Sher Khan picture with "Dad the biggest villain of them all" for his last day.

This is the Chernabog (from the original Fantasia) belt buckle Andy made. It is for Day 3.

 Mallory's autograph book. I am not sure if she will want to do it, so I didn't want to put forth the effort I did with the other ones. It is an index card notebook. I made the cover to insert.

Anything we missed for Disney prep? Autograph books are done and we have lanyards for the pins. We are ready. I would post the finished autograph books, but they don't look much different than the covers, so it seems silly. 

Disneyland Prep

The princess dresses for Disneyland dress up day. Mallory was so excited she wore it all day and danced and sang for us. She even wore it over her pajamas for a while because she did not want to stop being a "pin-sis".

We have been prepping for our Disneyland trip. We have been planning shirts, autograph books, belt buckles, etc. Aunt Carianne felt the children needed to participate in pin trading. We got 50 pins in the mail today. Everyone picked 10. (This is for Cari and her children to see, I doubt anyone else cares. BUT, there are other pics after.) The picture order ended up really weird. Sorry in advance.

Luke's set:

 Marcus's set:

 The left overs AKA mine and Mally's:

 Andy's (also mostly leftovers):

Anneke's anything girly or princess set. (I want to collect those princess shoes, bottom right):

 The hair clips that I made for my girls. (The button pack was supposed to have 11 in it and actually had 12! Yay!) Top row is for the toddler, they are smaller.

Marcus's autograph book covers. The front is the Mickey Mouse and the back has his name, that is the way he wants. (Which made me nervous to have something with their names on it that they carry around, but I think we are okay in this area. We will be careful.)

 Andy made a belt buckle to wear. (He used an old one that was too big and refashioned it. He will be making one more at least for the trip.)

 Anneke's autograph book cover. She wants her name as the front cover.

 Lukers autograph book covers. His name is the front. (He wants it that way.)

We have shirts that we are making. Pixar for the first day (orange shirts, Luke's choice), Star Wars for the second day (gray shirts), dress up day is the last day. Andy and I are doing Dad and Mom shirts on blue that day and Marcus is going to do Disney Avengers (also on blue) while the younger 3 dress up. Luke got his Luke Skywalker costume today so I hope to post a photo of that soon. He has worn it all day and is super excited. 

We are also watching Disney movies in preparation for our visit. Any suggestions?