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What is a Fish Extender | Disney Cruise Recap

By sunshineandholly on June 14, 2019

As you’d expect from a brand like Disney, a Disney Cruise has about 6.4 billion fun things to do onboard. Shows, parties, waterslides, shopping, pools, mini-golf, tea parties, splash pads, character greetings, you name it, they’ve got it! There’s also an extra gift exchange program called the fish extender program that’s not sponsored by the Disney Cruise Line, but organized and run by passengers. We LOVED participating in the program. My kids had a blast helping pass out gifts and were so excited each time they received a gift.

What is a Fish Extender?

A fish extender (FE) is a pocket organizer that you hang on the fish hook outside of your cabin on a Disney Cruise. The hook was originally used by the cast members onboard to hang information about your cruise. Kind of like a cruise mailbox. But these days, most of the cruise information is delivered via the Disney Cruise Line app.

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Wildwood Grove at Dollywood – Everything You Need to Know

By sunshineandholly on May 14, 2019

A big thanks to Dollywood for inviting me to the media event for the grand opening of Wildwood Grove and for the free park admission for my family!

If you’ve never been to Dollywood, you’re really missing out! Located in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, this family-friendly theme park is packed with award-winning rides, shows, and attractions. Recently, Dollywood opened a brand-new expansion of the park called Wildwood Grove. With 11 new thrilling experiences, it’s the largest expansion in park history.

Here’s everything you need to know about Wildwood Grove at Dollywood!

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Family Fun | fun | holidays | motherhood | spring

Easter 2019

By sunshineandholly on April 25, 2019

We had such a great Easter this year! The weather was beautiful, no one was sick, we weren’t late to anything, and the Easter Bunny even had time to do a fun scavenger hunt for the kids.

We started celebrating Easter earlier in the week when we dyed Easter eggs with a kit from Target. It came with a powder that you mixed to make editable foam. It actually worked really well and made some beautiful eggs!

Super Simple Kid-Friendly Vegetable Side Dishes for Weeknight Dinners

By sunshineandholly on April 16, 2019

When I was a newlywed, I LOVED to meal plan. There was nothing better than going through cookbooks and magazines and searching online for yummy recipes to try. (Thank goodness Pinterest wasn’t around back then – I would have spent way too many hours pinning a million recipes!)

But the novelty of meal planning wore off, especially after having kids. I hate spending all that time picking out recipes, shopping, and cooking, only to have my kids turn up their noses at what I’ve prepared. #momlife

These days I do my best to meal plan, but there are many nights where I still stand in front of the open fridge, looking for inspiration when I haven’t prepared ahead of time. But typically I have a meat and vegetable side dish planned for each night. I like to keep the side dish simple and easy – the less chopping, cooking, or dirtying up pans, the better!

Here are a few super simple kid-friendly vegetable side dishes for weeknight dinners:

10 Reasons We Love Disney’s Bay Lake Tower

By sunshineandholly on April 11, 2019

When booking accommodations for Disney, there are lots of things to take into consideration. Price, location to the parks, and amenities for example, but there are other things that can make an otherwise average hotel stay at Disney into an exceptional one. We’ve stayed at several different hotels over the years, both on-property and off, and our favorite so far has been the Bay Lake Tower at the Contemporary Resort.

Bay Lake Tower is part of the Disney Vacation Club, a timeshare program run by Disney. However, there are ways to book Bay Lake Tower rooms without being part of the club. We booked a trip through DVCrentals.com and had a great experience! (And saved $$$ too! Find out more about DVC Rentals below.)

Bay Lake Tower offers studios, 1-bedroom, and 2-bedroom villas. There’s a pool with a water slide, access to the monorail, and (by far the best part in my opinion) the resort is WALKING DISTANCE to the Magic Kingdom. You heard that right! No need to wait in the long monorail or bus lines. It’s wonderful to be able to walk back to your hotel after a long day at the parks, and not waiting in the long lines for transportation.