Fill that piggy with pennies!

My people can spend Days in Epcot, I mean like 4 days just in the World Showcase!

We love to wander from country to country munching on treats from around the world, and watching shows and speaking with the cast members from the specific countries. It is so neat to slow down and take it all in.

This year we decided to spend a day in Epcot without going into the World Showcase. What did you do after Soarin' and and Test Track you ask? A new discovery for my family this year at Epcot.

we Discovered this!

You get a Piggy Bank, and you choose what you will save for.

There are many money savvy games you play to earn money along the journey. We were working to decorate our "new room"

The Piggies were empty when we got them, but as we played those money saving games our pigs magically filled with coins!

Shake it up and listen!

When we were done and our Piggies bellies were full we had to turn them in and we got a cool sticker to commemorate our adventure.

There was also a game you could have emailed to you so you could continue to play at home on your own computer!

The Boy and I made enough money to get the "new room" we were dreaming of!

(really I just dream his room could stay clean, and not be a wreck, but that might require a maid service, Teenagers... Gotta love 'em.)

Check it out next time you are at Epcot we loved it, FUN for ALL ages!

Disney Auditions

Tuesday blog hopping around the web, can't wait to see what your posts look like today!

A few weeks ago we moved from the children's home we were working at We loaded the UHAUL and drove off Friday. We had been informed that DisneyXD and Disney Channel would be in Austin that Saturday to hold open auditions for new talent. We thought, why not, my son fell between the ages they were looking for. This could be a fun experience for him.

So as we drove from Far South Texas to San Antonio we called and secured our hotel room for the night in the Downtown area of Austin. (lets just say this is NOT the place to take kids on a Friday night) We drove into San Antonio and left the UHAUL truck there, had a little dinner, took a headshot picture and had it printed, and pressed onward with Austin ahead of us.

We arrived in Austin around 10:30pm and on our way from San Antonio we reviewed my sons "Bio" for him to say in front of the agents. He was getting pretty good, he sounded very confident in who he was/is.

Here is a view of the State Capitol from the" hoity toity suite" we reserved.

He was feeling like a king.

 (Actually it was one of the only rooms left for the night, so we all felt like royalty for a day, all though a night at the Polynesian Resort in Walt Disney World(r) would've made me feel a little more royal, but we were in Austin, not Walt Disney World (r))

We woke up bright and early 6 actually, a time I am not too fond of. The actual casting call did not start until 9 but we figured we didn't want to miss the front of the line if we went to the trouble of staying in the actual hotel the call was being held in.
Adrian woke up ready to "take over the world."

Dad went down stairs to see what was going on, while Adrian and I got ready.

While Dad was downstairs "wandering" he met and talked to the casting crew for a few moments before he was told to wait in the lobby.

This was around 7am. Adrian and I went downstairs and waited as they started to let the line of people upstairs to register and get a part to rehearse and read.


Paperwork and scripts are handed out.
Head shots are paper clipped to their paperwork here.

Getting a little coaching from Dad.
Practice practice practice those lines...
Not just the lines, but give them character too, and make it memorable.


And we wait.

The boys rehearsed and memorized the lines. about 45 minutes passed and his number was called.

They were taken to a big room with only one parent allowed.
Dad walked him in. The children waited until their number group was called.

He was able to go in with 7 others and say his lines.  No parents were allowed behind the doors.
Then all 8 marched back out.

It was a fun experience all in all an experience worth every penny.

A lifetime of experiences is what makes us who we are today.
I am so glad we had this time with our son.

afterward we walked downtown in Austin and had a mondo breakfast at a small cafe, and then took a trip to the State Capitol just down the street.
 

There was little learning, it was actually a home school field trip gone bad. (which is why I hardly ever take my boys both on field trips, yes I am speaking of my husband and my son.) While there I think my son did learn a few new things, and we got to see a protest led by teachers that was later reported on the news. Which is always neat to be able to say "I was there".

Then as the day ended we were swished back to the reality that we had all of our belongings in a UHAUL truck sitting outside of Nana & Papa's house that needed to be unloaded into a storage unit.

Thus an old adventure ends, and a new adventure begins.

Written by Cindy Fragozo, Your Travel specialist at 3D TravelCompany.