Summer & Steven's Fairytale Wedding TR, 20th Aug SBP Baby Pics!!!

[pixie921]

Oh my gosh, how cute is HE! And all that hair! What a doll!! I hope you're enjoying every minute of mommy-hood ... it truly does fly by (mine is almost 19 now). Take tons and tons of pictures and video ... they'll be pricelss to you when he's grown!

 

[Summer-Caitlin]

Awww thanks girls, you don't realise how much it means to me that you all seem so genuinely interested in how I have been doing and of course my new bundle of joy

I am enjoying being a mommy so much. I underestimated how much love I would feel for him and how protective I am of him. I am currently on maternity leave and will be up until the end of January. I currently still live in Scotland as the Canada thing just didn't work out due to various reasons. However since having Joshua we still want to move away as we realise that giving him a better life is so important and we don't think we can offer him that here. So it has been decided that Steven, Joshua and I will be moving back to Malta hopefully in April next year and my mom and his mom will follow hopefully about 4 months later. It isn't Canada but it will offer us a better life and whats more is it is safe. The sun shines most of the time, there are beaches and a more relaxing lifestyle and it is nice that we will have both mothers there. They can see Joshua grow up and hopefully be beside us when we decide to extend our family once again. Steven and I are both excited about this, we have both wanted to move forever. We are so close to getting the house on the market, should go up in the next few months and I will be sure to update when I get more news.

I have not finished my TR yet and I say yet as I still intend to finish it. I don't think I will have the same detail as even I, the one with the awesome memory, has lost some details, but I will do my best when I get around to it. Right now we are so busy with the house and move I am unsure when I will get round to it.

As for taking pictures of Joshua, I have almost 2000, yep, I am so enthusiastic with my pics. You can get me on Facebook if you want where I have loads of photos of him, Summer Carson-Dines, Aberdeen, don't think there will be many of us If you do locate me, don't mention the move abroad on there as I have work buddies and some family that are unaware of it as yet. Thanks!

Joshua's trip to Disneyworld I am hoping will be in the next few years, assuming I am not pregnant by then. I would like him to experience it as a child as I think the memories and photo opps we would get of him will be awesome. I think he would love it, his favourite toys are Disney ones, got to start him young

Thank you to everyone who has joined me on this TR, it has been a wonderful experience sharing it with you and it has been great to be able to update you on the next chapter of our life. Will be sure to update with news soon

Summer xxx

 

[DisneyLaura]

Summer ~

He's beautiful! Welcome to the world Joshua. I'm still here even if you just want to post pictures LOL/ I have three children myself (12, 10 and almost 6) Two boys and a girl (the girl is my youngest). Nothing like a mother's love. Enjoy every minute with him, he will grow up fast before your eyes.

 

[meryll83]

Congrats Summer! So much has happened!!!

 

[Pooh_Girl]

Congratulations Summer!! He is absolutely precious!!!

 

[starrzone]

He is just gorgeous! I've been following your TR since the very beginning...you truly are living a fairy tale

 

[keenercam]

Oh, Summer! What joyful news and Joshua is absolutely gorgeous! Howard and the kids and I were in Malta this summer and it was so beautiful and peaceful there. I hope your life is truly a fairytale come true!

 

[Kirsteen]

Oh Summer, Joshua is a little darling. I love his soft toy collection Good luck for your move to Malta. Wishing you all the best. Kxx

 

[Summer-Caitlin]

Hi ladies

Long time no speak! Anyway thought I better post a life update. I am now living in Malta with Steven and Joshua and my mum has also came over and a got a nice little place for herself. We have been living here for 6 weeks now and are finally beginning to settle in. I dont know whether Malta will be our final destination but for now it ticks all the boxes and Joshua is enjoying it so much. I am now doing an Esthetics course, that funnily enough, is internationally recognised. I thought it best that I keep my options open. I may still have my heart set on Canada at some point in the future. The course will enable me to become self employed in the future if I wish and this of course will allow me to spend more time with Joshua.

We managed to get a beautiful apartment just seconds from the marina and I am really enjoying the nice weather which exisits 99% of the time! Joshua turned one here and has blossomed since arriving. He is walking all the time and although he can be a bit of a handful at times, he is mostly a star. I have posted loads of pictures on Facebook and you can see how much he has grown. I tried to upload some on to Photobucket but an error keeps occuring. I have copied this link from Facebook though so I hope this works...

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.327175144002563.92796.100001302394064&type=3&l=fdf40e1827

As for this TR, I am sad to say that I can't see how I can finish it the way I had hoped to. However I do want to post some sort of conclusion as it has to end in some way. There was a lot I didn't get to write about, the cruise, Universal, Seaworld etc but although I have a very good memory, even mine doesn't remember 5 years back in all the detail I would want for this TR. So I am going to write up a conclusion to end it. It will be a lengthy one with photos and I have already started it. I am very sorry that I didn't get to complete it as promised but I did my best and I did manage to write my wedding report which is something I will treasure forever. You know I still haven't got around to doing my wedding scrapbook yet!!!! I have to get on top of all that as I would love to have this as a keepsake. Tonight I went through a lot of these posts and it brought back so many memories. I have enjoyed this journey so much. Hope you are all doing well, will be back soon xxx

 

[DisneyObsession]

Summer...I followed your TR from the planning, to the wedding and am absolutely ecstatic about your handsome little boy. I pray that you & Stephen continually are blessed! Thank you for sharing yourself with us...can't wait to hear when baby #2 is on the way!!!

 

[meryll83]

I noticed your FB photos you posted the other day and was trying to figure out where you could be that looked so sunny!!

 

[Maddiesmum03]

Summer, it was lovely to see your photos and hear about Joshua, it felt as if all us brides from around the same time were on a journey together and its wonderful to see yours turning out so well. Your latest update made me smile...I'm still doing my wedding scrapbook too, it'll probably be a few more years before it's finished

 

[MUDisneyCouple]

He is a adorable, Summer! Good luck with the scrapbooking too

Happy Mother's Day!!

 

[pjstevens]

Summer, looking forward to your 'conclusion'. I am so glad for f/b though as it's easier to see you and see how big Joshua is getting. I love the pics you've posted since moving to Malta.

 

[JuneChickie]

Please Hurry Back , I can't believe it's been 5 years ,, wow , it seems like yesterday you had us all breathlessly waiting for an update to your wedding plans and then your wedding and now we love to wait for baby pics too.

Your family is beautiful and best wishes always ,

Come back to Florida and visit us. ( Soon )

 

[Summer-Caitlin]

Well I know it has been a LONG time since I visited this TR, I can't believe I am about to actually post an update, but I have made a promise to finish this and I intend to keep it! So better late than never and all that. I have set aside a timeslot every week to update this TR. I really want to finish this so I can have it as a keepsake from our wedding. I started reading this from the beginning the other week and I can't believe how the memories just came flooding back, it really is like stepping back in time. I don't suppose many of you will still be following, and if you are in fact you may just keel over in shock when you get a notification that I have posted here LOL. This is a short update and there are no pictures with this one as it was an unplanned day

Anyway update on us first, we are now living in Salisbury and I am working as a Legal Assistant. I love my job and we have settled in really nicely in the area. We both miss Malta, definitely miss the weather, but our prospects are better here and we think this is the better place for Joshua.

Joshua is getting along well and is growing up right before my eyes. As there are no pictures of my TR, I will post a couple of new ones of him. He is now 26 months old.

Joshua at Christmas



Joshua a few weeks ago, note the Mickey T-shirt





He is the most wonderful boy I could ask for and is so content. He still LOVES Winnie the Pooh and carries him around with him everywhere.

So our holiday plans... We are going to Disneyland Paris in September. In fact we are spending 3 nights in the centre of Paris first, then 4 nights at The Sequoia Lodge in Disneyland Paris and 3 nights in London. I can't wait!!!! It will be Joshua's first real holiday and I am doing my best to make it as wonderful and magical as possible.

Well enough about that for now, where was I...

This was the first day AND the ONLY day where we, I mean I, decided to go with the flow! Now as most of you know by now, I am not one of those girls that go with the flow, well ever, but I was well aware that I am can be a little too organised shall I say, when it comes to holiday planning and the like. So this was it, my one allocated day for freedom. First things first, breakfast.

I was truly in love with The Grand Floridian and their breakfast and the fact that it was free was even better. As usual they had an abundance of food. Steven opted for the mixed fruit with yoghurt and a cheese pastry and I had the more carb laden breakfast, a cheese pastry and ahem, another cheese pastry. They are WONDERFUL, what can I say?

So no plans, we decided to head out and go to DTD. We hadn't really 'shopped til we dropped' and although we didn't really want anything in particular, we thought it might be a nice change of pace to head back to DTD.

Now although I love the layout of DTD, I am not a huge fan... I am well aware that there are great plans in the future to overhaul the whole place and the plans sound fantastic but I just hope they really make the best of what could be a brilliant shopping and entertainment district. They have some fab restaurants there (I still have a soft spot for Raglan Road) and I must say I love the cinema, but overall I don't think there is that much there! The first time I visited DTD I was quite disappointed as I had been led to believe that it was THE place to be when you wanted a break. Maybe I missed the point?

Anyway we headed to The World of Disney (a store I do love at DTD) so I could find some souvenirs. There are so many things in this store I absolutely love, I could fill a shopping cart and still go back for more. They really do have everything you could think of, just Disneyed up! I looked at clothing and I actually regret not buying a top or a tote bag, just something that I could have kept for myself. I have a really bad habit of never buying myself anything when I go on holiday. I end up buying souvenirs for family and friends but I always forget about myself. On this occasion though I decided to buy a beautiful dark wooden photo frame with Mickey on the front and leaves trailing round both sides of the frame. This frame now holds a picture of our baby boy in his Santa outfit. I see it every morning when I wake up, it is one of the best things I have ever bought. A honeymoon purchase holding the next step in our relationship, I just love how many memories looking at that picture and frame gives me.

I decided to buy my grandparents (well my Grandma really) a Mickey Mouse tray for her biscuits. She is one of those Grandma's that HAS to have a biscuit with her tea. I am serious about this and so is she. She has, on occasion, taken a biscuit tin with her to people's houses just in case they don't serve biscuits with tea LOL. I also bought her a Mickey Mouse tea towel and a smaller mahogany photo frame with cut-out Mickey faces at each corner. I knew neither of them would like anything over-the-top Disney so this was as 'normal' as I could find.

I ended up buying an ice cube tray, yep, wow, what a big spender I am, but it is silicone, it is red and it is Mickey I also bought those 4 packs of multi flavoured popcorn bags as they were literally calling to me. I am not a popcorn lover really, but OH MY GOD, these are just fabulous. They cost $15 which I thought was a bit pricey considering the size of the bags, but they taste gorgeous! I saw so many other things that in hindsight I wished I had bought, shoes, jewellery and housewares and I had my eye on the Mr and Mrs mug set but it was $25 and I just couldn't justify that on 2 mugs! I am well aware how silly that sounds considering how much we spent on our wedding and honeymoon! What was another $25? But, I left it on the shelf and quickly walked away before I changed my mind.

We wandered around and considered going back to Disney Quest but again there wasn't really much there unless you fancy a nostalgia trip and a game of Qbert! So we headed to Pin Traders. I wasn't looking for anything specific but Steven was, he was looking for Rex! It is his favourite cartoon character but there just isn't a lot out there with Rex on it. We did come across some pins but most of them were $15 for a tiny pin and none of them were great, so reluctantly we put them down as it just seemed too much. We moved on to Disney's Days of Christmas and I was so sure I would buy something here as I LOVE Christmas, but although there were some beautiful items and I mean stunning items, I couldn't bring myself to buy Christmas things in August! Plus, at this point in time I had a theme for my Christmas tree and one Christmas decoration or two just wouldn't cut it, I would need a whole set and that looked like it would cost a fortune. I have since, every year, purchased one beautiful Disney Christmas ornament for our tree and I love how they all mean something to me. Last year I bought a Mickey Mouse Santa ornament standing beside a chimney with a bag full of gifts. This represented Joshua watching his Mickey Christmas DVD over and over again, day after day and sometimes hour after hour LOL. He just loved Mickey and his OTT attitude to Christmas. Last year I bought a Winnie the Pooh 'Baby's First Christmas' Ornament which this year Joshua saw, grinned, pointed and kissed. Aww it just makes my heart melt. Anyway this year when we go to Paris, I intend to pick up something for our Christmas tree, probably French but most definitely Disney.

So we were getting hungry by this point, and lo and behold I hadn't booked anything for lunch. I had back-up restaurants noted that I had researched and considered, depending on which park or area we were in so I pulled out my mental list, (you didn't think I meant an actual list did you? I'm not that bad!) Planet Hollywood was always somewhere I had wanted to go and although this restaurant had received mediocre reviews, I was willing to give it a chance.

Planet Hollywood is a unique restaurant with beautiful memorabilia, but unfortunately we were seated right in the middle of the restaurant and although this gave us a good overall view of the restaurant, we couldn't read any of the wall plaques as we were so far away. The place was busy too, so there was no way we would have felt comfortable walking around after our meal to check out the displays.

We ordered two cheeseburgers and two diet cokes, something nice and simple and just enough to take us through to dinner. Our burgers came in about 15 minutes which I was really impressed with, considering how busy it was they were definitely on the ball with their timings. Out came our towering burgers with a side of fries (so they say). The portion was huge and the fries were almost a meal in itself! The burger was awesome, so juicy and cooked perfectly. The fries were crispy and most importantly hot. As far as burgers go this definitely goes down as my hands down favourite so far and now that I have visited a few Planet Hollywood's, I must say that every time I have had a burger from them they have been consistently good.

When we had finished as much as we could and neither of us managed to clear our plate, for a split second, I did consider buying a dessert. I was full but I knew I wouldn't be coming back to Planet Hollywood and the desserts sounded so good. I tried to convince Steven that we should get one to share but I he said if he ate another bite he would quite possibly be sick and although this amused me somewhat and was almost worth the challenge, I decided it best to leave it. Unbeknownst to Steven I decided we would get a Ghirardelli ice cream a little later on in the day. There was no way I was going to miss out on that!

On our way out we had to manoeuvre quite carefully as the tables are so close together but other than this minor flaw, I give Planet Hollywood a huge thumbs up, service and food were excellent and I would have no hesitation in trying them again.

Coming next...

I don't like unplanned days, I don't, I don't.

 

[pjstevens]

Summer,

I am SO EXCITED that you are indeed going to finish your TR!!! It brings back all the beautiful memories of your wonderful wedding. I can't believe how big Joshua has grown already. He's a treasure. I completely missed you had moved from Malta. Glad you are settled in and that this new place is good for your family.

I will wait anxiously for an update!!! I love your TR!

 

[DisneyLaura]

I'm still here too!

 

[meryll83]

You have an amazing memory, or very detailed notes! (Possibly both!)

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[keenercam]

I am still here, too! I LOVE seeing you posting again, Summer. Joshua is so beautiful! Look at that smile! He seems like a very positive person. I am so glad to "hear" you sounding so happy. Can't wait to read more!