When I saw these Mickey ice pop molds on Amazon, I had to try them! Mickey Mouse bars at home? What a great idea! There are even recipes to make the magic shell if you don't (or can't) but it in the store. Since one of our kiddos has a nut allergy, we can't do the bars in the park. Well, let me rephrase. If he can't, we won't. It's not fair. So, this looked to be a pretty intriguing idea...

Follow along with me!

First, you'll gather the ingredients for your favorite ice cream recipe, and put it in your ice cream maker. If you'd rather use store bought, that's fine too! You'll want to let it soften a bit so you can handle it. ​

​I started by washing the molds. They came in sets of four, so I did buy two sets. They consist of a silicone mold Mickey, a hard plastic flat Mickey, and a too short stick.
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Since I make our ice cream, here's a fun photo of that. My youngest says it looks like a...well, I won't tell you what. I mean...boys, right? 

I really love our Cuisinart ice cream machine. We've made all kinds of great flavors, but what I love best is the ingredients are so simple. For vanilla, you just need milk, cream, sugar, a pinch of salt, and vanilla. None of those ingredients you can't pronounce! Whisk it up and dump it in!
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Next was the messy part, and I think if I'd been patient and let me ice cream harden a bit more, and maybe it wasn't over 90 outside, it would have gone a bit better. I filled the molds, stuck in the sticks, and put on the backs. 
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Thankfully, we have a chest freezer, so with the Mickey bars on a baking sheet, I left them in there. I fully intended to make magic shell or decorate super cute...but...and here's where things got dicey. Remember I mentioned those short sticks? Yeah. They are short. They also didn't go into the ice cream very far, so this happened... 
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Those wee little sticks just don't work. I'm thinking wooden popsicle sticks would be better. But, it's not a total loss! My oldest and I love rice crispy treats, and when I've tried to use my Disney Parks sandwich cutter, it's always made a mess. These might be perfect...they are flexible, shaped cute, and I'm actually really excited to do that as I sis here and type about it. It might be easier, too. 

These can also be used for chocolate or to make ice cubes! So if you try them out (They were about $15 a package) and it doesn't work in your house for ice cream, try one of these other fun ideas! If you make soap, it might even work for that. 

Fun or flop...it was both! But there's also a world of possibility out there, and I'm not done with these molds yet! 

It’s no lie to anyone who knows me that next to the Magic Kingdom, where I feel like I’m stepping right into my favorite stories, I love Animal Kingdom. Soon, I’m going to be sharing some of the AMAZING photos I got of KiteTails, Disney’s special 50th anniversary show at Animal Kingdom. Today, however, I’m so excited to share these incredible, in fact, so awesome I’ve got to say it again, incredible National Geographic books. 

National Geographic is a staple in our house. Since a young age, my kids have devoured their books. The photographs are amazing, the facts interesting, and if one ever has had a question: “Let’s see if we can find the answer in a National Geographic Book” is usually what someone says. 

I was thrilled to be sent FOUR National Geographic books to share my opinions on. For a new homeschooling mom, not only are these going to be perfect for this year’s life sciences study in fourth grade, and Greek mythology in ninth grade, they have my kids begging for summer 2023 to get here so we can visit Animal Kingdom again. 

While at Animal Kingdom, one of our favorite things to do is walk the different treks. My youngest likes the Maharajah Jungle Trek,  where he can see the various wild cats! Tigers are his favorite, so he was excited to see that the 2023 National Geographic Atlas had a tiger on the front! He also wondered if it was a typo, (spoken like a true editor’s child!) as he said we weren’t in 2023 yet. 

These books are not only going to teach us about many of the animals found at Disney, but also introduce us to new ones!

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Each of these books are incredible. I’m honestly not sure which is going to be looked at the most. Check out some of these photos! What surprised me about the atlas, was it also had pages like this!
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Do you kids love just random facts? Some of these completely surprised me. I loved the tidbit about snow cones, one of our favorite summer treats! (See photo!) From everything to treasure and weapons, to animals, money, and well, everything in between, this is tied for my favorite of these four books.
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These also make for perfect road trip entertainment, instead of just electronic devices! Even if your kiddo only looks at each page, I’m thinking an hour of silence per book. Maybe more!

The thing I really love most about National Geographic books, is they take into consideration the target age of their audience. You know a kids book is going to be safe to leave kids alone with. It’s going to have age appropriate language, pictures that are engaging, and…I’m going to say it again…are just incredible. 

Now, yes…Greek mythology, that’s not quite Animal Kingdom, right? And everything I review has to have some sort of a Disney slant. That’s my thing. Don’t worry, it’s still Disney related! 

For years, Disney has been teasing that EPCOT may get a new pavilion. Greece is one that many people have asked for. It wouldn’t be a stretch, think about how many times a character from Greece has appeared in a Disney movie. Ahem, Hercules anyone?  What about Mal from Descendants? Did you realize that Zeus was her uncle? Zeus actually makes several appearances in Disney films, everything from muppets and animation, like Fantasia, to in Marvel movies. That’s right…Thor! Loki! Some of the most popular Greek names are in those movies. Maybe Season 2 of Loki will introduce us to a few other gods or demigods? In the meantime, you can get refreshed on your Greek mythology. 

Tell me, don’t these pictures just make you want to read more? What was neat about the Greek mythology book, was it’s not just stories, but interesting facts, too.

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I hope you’ve enjoyed these pictures and these connections to Disney as much as I have! As my husband says, I can turn anything into Disney. Maybe it’s true…I don’t know, but I see these books, and I sure think so! 

Stop by my Facebook page, tell me some of your favorite National Geographic books! How do you connect those to Disney?  

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I'm sure you already knew that the Tomorrowland Speedway track was shortened to make way for Tron. But how much did you lose? When this was shortened in 2019, it was actually the fourth time that the trach had been shortened. 

In 1974, it was shortened to make way for Space Mountain. In 1987, for Mickey's Toontown Fair. 2012 it was for the new Dumbo addition, and of course, 2019 for room for Tron. While I don't know how much total track was removed, and it would be really interesting to see how much longer the ride was when it was first built, I can tell you that the ride is still enjoyable, even if it's a bit shorter than it used to be. And in the summer, that might not be a bad thing as those seats can burn the backs of your legs, even through clothing. 

One thing has not changed though, the smell of fumes, the jerky start stop depending on the driver, and the enjoyable breeze as you go! Do you have a favorite color car you like to ride in? 

This was THE trip that we weren't going to bring our stroller! Little man was going to walk the WHOLE thing! But, little man is also now a covid longhauler, and fatigues deeply. We wanted to enjoy our trip, so stroller it was. But...we weren't sure we'd need it every day, and to be honest, we'd gotten rid of ours a long time ago. We could have bought a cheapy umbrella stroller, but they are a pretty low weight limit. 

So, we ended up renting a Disney stroller. I was sure we'd need to do the double, but he squeezed in nicely to a single and let me tell you parents... I wish we'd always rented instead of bringing ours. 

While I've talked before about strollers to share what (I think) the perfect Disney stroller is, and later I talked about renting a Disney stroller it's great to see these new strollers out! 

The new stroller you can rent for your child to cruise the parks in is a totally different color. Right now, they are all new, which means smooth rides and no wobbly wheels, which was a pretty common complaint in the past. 

While the seats aren't the comfiest, and the stroller hood isn't retractable, it's a very sturdy stroller that can handle a substantial sized kid. Yes, he'd have had more room has we gotten the double, but this was just fine, and not used every moment of the day. A nice feature of the stroller is the pouch to put drinks. Of course, there's also an under stroller basket to drop your stuff and a parking brake so they don't roll away.
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But the best feature? Other than the smooth ride? It's the handle height! This might have been the first stroller ever that Mr. Disney Magic didn't have to hunch much to push. 

If you are in a pinch, your child is about to outgrow their stroller, or you don't want to pack one, a Disney stroller might be a good alternative. Yes...you do have to pay (alot) but there is a discounted price if you rent for multiple days. Be warned that you cannot use a Disney stroller at Disney Springs unless you also put down a $100 deposit. I nearly fell over when I realized that. 

You can, however: 

• Leave the park and return and get a stroller at no extra charge
• Park hop, and get a stroller at your new park
• Push the stroller either to the stroller area to return it, or the final gift stop just before park exit

It is very important though to remember one other thing. While your stroller rental payment never expires, you MUST have the receipt. You cannot have a photo, you must have the actual receipt. And it's a long one. So don't toss it in a shopping bag or throw it out with your lunch at Flame Tree.  Make sure you keep that with you at all times or you will be out of luck if you need a stroller. 

Recently I was sent a copy of this AMAZING book to look at. It instantly made me think of the places we'd seen over the summer at Disney. I mean, Animal Kingdom and EPCOT are just filled with incredible foods from many countries. 

This book is no different. Inside, you'll not only find maps (It IS an atlas after all!) but you'll find it's crammed with so many fascinating facts, beautiful pictures, games, and tasty looking food. What's fun is it's also split up by type of food. For example, grains, legumes, fruits, roots.

​It's always fun to learn about someplace new. This book has just that for both children and adults.

Would you like a chance to win your own copy? Keep reading!

As you read through, you are also going to find inspiration for your meals. I'm curious now about irio, from Kenya. It's one of their comfort foods (page 94) that's made up of potatoes, peas, beans, corn, and onion mashed together. I might need to adjust that a bit for food allergies, but that sounds really good! Maybe even topped with a bit of cheese or sour cream? 

There's a dessert from Iran called faloodeh that also sounds fascinating! (Page 80) This was originally invented by the ancient Persians, but is still popular today, and consists of cooked noodles frozen in a sugar and rosewater syrup with a wedge of lime, and sometimes topped with cherries, berries, or mint. Doesn't that just sound so unusual? I wonder how it is.

​Near the back, there are also some really eye catching games!

Just like all National Geographic books, you are going to learn while being entertained. One thing I really loved about this book in particular was not only the introduction to food from around the world, but that it talked about the crisis faced in getting this food too, like with water, natural disasters, food safety, and more. It was sobering. I'm sure you, like us, have had higher prices, less to choose from, and some absolute scarcity when it comes to finding food. These pages are a great reminder about the larger picture of our food supply. 

Here's a preview of two pages. The others are just as interesting! 
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I can honestly say, I've never met a National Geographic book I didn't like. From picture books to adult books, they are truly one of the few that any age can enjoy. This one is no different and now, something exciting!

You could win your own copy!

These generous people have also agreed to give a copy of this book to one of my readers. Now, the boring stuff! The prize will ship from the PR place for National Geographic. I'm not responsible if something happens and you don't get it. US Entries only, please. The giveaway ends after one week. When it's over, Rafflecoper will randomly select ONE winner and I will email the winner. You have 72 hours to send me your name and address so I can pass it along. If you don't get in touch with me, I'll have to select a different winner. 

Contest ends Aug 9, 2022.

Good luck! ​