Grumpy turned Happy for Christmas!

[Monknmom]

This TR is about a fist BIG trip that my little family had taken to WDW during the month of December. We had driven from Long Island, NY to Florida and home with lots of little stops on the way! This trip is all about our journey to see Disney and learn about each other- how funny it is that you can live with someone for 7 years and never know certain things about them! Well those things were learned on this trip and much more! I took so many experiences and learned many new things and met some really nice people on the way and I am glad that you are coming along to read through my adventure!
The title of this TR came to me while we were driving down to Disney and I saw my grumpy husband start to smile and laugh more than I had seen him do in the 9 years that I had known him! As the trip moved on I saw more laughter and smiles and jokes from this guy then ever before- at one point my son and him even started to pull jokes off on me (NOT COMMON FOR MY DH AT ALL)- it became evident that this TR must be named "Grumpy turned Happy for Christmas"!!! So even though this trip was for our little guy, we probably took more from it than he did!

I am going to make sure that I keep up with chapters so you can either go from chapter to chapter or read everything in between as well!

TRIP REPORT UPDATES
Meet the cast (http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=43594850&posted=1#post43594850)
Day 1 part 1-12/9-THE REVEAL (http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=43595800&posted=1#post43595800)
Day 1 part 2-12/9-Getting out of NY (http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=43629384#post43629384)
Day 2-12/10-Poatato chips and the statue of liberty! (http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=43643181#post43643181)
Day 3-12/11- Are we there yet??? (http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=43710782#post43710782)
Day 3-12/11- DTD and wilderness lodge? part 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=43867172#post43867172)
Day 3-12/11-DTD and wilderness lodge?part 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=43982979#post43982979)
Day 4- 12/12- The Animal Kingdom and my missing pictures.... (http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2853005&page=6)
Day 5- 12/13- Epcot Day- Damien meets Zoe and some culture! (http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2853005&page=6)
Animal Kingdom Photopass update (http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=44124038#post44124038)
Epcot's day 1 photopass (http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=44124189&posted=1#post44124189)
Day 6- 12/14- Disney's Hollywood Studios part 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=44146321#post44146321)

LIFE UPDATES
The night before new Years... (http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=43674746&posted=1#post43674746)
Rebekah (http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2853005&page=5)


Up next introductions and then I will start the report!

[mommytominnie]

Subbing!! I read along on your pre trip report and I am excited to read how your vacation went. It's funny in my TR that I just started, I call my DH Grumpy too :-) Can't wait to read more.

[swwake]

Hooray! I'm subscribing!

[tankgirl427]

I'm here too!

[momabaarjo]

I love your title...and had tears in my eyes to think of K becoming happy! I think mine is getting grumpier...

[15isto2]

Subscribing, sounds like a fun trip

[Monknmom]

***The chapters have been moved to the top first post!

[Monknmom]

Just in case there are any new comers that didn't follow along with our PTR I am going to introduce ourselves! And "Driving down to Mickey's for Christmas (http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2694463)" was the name of our PTR and if you click on the title it will bring you to there if you'd like to see some of the prep work I did for the trip!

There is me, Heather. I am currantly 25, but will hit 26 before this TR is over:headache:. I have been married to my high school sweetheart since July 2004. I currently stay home and work on the house projects that come with buying a new house, but I am always at my son's school for volunteering in and out of the classroom! My favorite character is Winnie the pooh bear! I love the old one though more than the new one, but he does fine too! I just love how he's so absent minded like myself, but he doesn't mean to be and he tries REALLY hard to remember! My favorite ride was the tower of terror because I love that feeling in the pit of your stomach when you drop!

Then there is my DH, Kaung (pernounced like the big monkey Kong). He is 26 turning 27 in April! He has been an electrician for the same company since 2003. He is very good at what he does and he really cares about his work- just don't let him know or this might get to his head! He says that he doesn't have a favorite Disney character, but we like to call him Grumpy. Just like Grumpy he pretends not to enjoy or like things, but deep inside he loves it (like the part whee Snow White kisses him on the head and he pretends not to care)! His favorite ride was Kali River Rapids!

*This is a SUPER bad picture taken of us on New Year's Eve after a few "we left the kid at grandma's house and only have to walk across the street to get home" drinks, but I didn't get the photopass yet to put up a better one. So this will be changed when I get that!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/newyears-1.jpg

Then last but certainly not least is our one and only little baby! He's not really a baby anymore in fact he gets mad if you say that to him, but in my heart he will always be! This is Damien. He's a talker as a fellow DIS friend found out rather quickly and he thinks that he knows EVERYTHING that there is to know. Damien turned 7 the day before we left for the trip- the trip was part Christmas and part birthday gift for him this year! His favorite character is Phineas and his favorite ride was test track!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/monk.jpg

[Monknmom]

Subbing!! I read along on your pre trip report and I am excited to read how your vacation went. It's funny in my TR that I just started, I call my DH Grumpy too :-) Can't wait to read more.

Hooray! I'm subscribing!

I'm here too!

I love your title...and had tears in my eyes to think of K becoming happy! I think mine is getting grumpier...

Subscribing, sounds like a fun trip

:welcome:everyone:welcome:!!!

I have to go back and still subscribe to everyone's but thank you and I hope that I can keep you all entertained!

And Tammie I am so sorry he's grumpy... maybe the last few days will change him:confused3

[GrammyJudy]

What a cute family? How did you like ASMo? As you can see we will be there soon

[Monknmom]

What a cute family? How did you like ASMo? As you can see we will be there soon

Oh we liked it! I asked to stay in the Toy Story building and they made it happen. We had a refurbished room and it was nice and clean and we didn't get to the pool or the laundry, but the park was nice as well!

[Monknmom]

This was a surprise trip for Damien- he knew that we were going, but thought that Santa was going to bring us the tickets at Christmas time! So that night before (after his birthday party for our family) we cleaned the house really well after getting him to bed and we packed up the car's trunk only because the next day we had a parent/teacher confrence before school started.
When we got up in the morning things were pretty normal for him other than dad being home, but I said that he wanted to see Damien's teacher for the meeting so he took the day off and Damien believed every word because other than the Easter bunny and Santa I don't like to lie to him which I had to keep doing to him on the trip and felt horrible:guilty:! To me lying it just too much work and I'm not that great at remembering things to begin with! So anyway, we got up and ate all of us had a hot drink (hot cocoa or coffee) and toast with preserves and made our way to Damien's school for our 8:30 am conference! Damien's doing great in school, he adds lots of life to the class (another way of her saying he's got lots to say) and when we ended I once again asked "is there any homework he has to get done while we are gone?" "Nope Mrs. Htun have a great trip and don't worry about it, just make him write in a journal!" So I did! Later at the end of the trip I will have learned that it's code for "he has to make it up when he gets home". And then we came back home finished getting ready for school and just like every Friday I went to help out in his class! While I was gone DH put the box that Mickey and his friends were leaving for Damien outside for us to find when we returned home.
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney%20Planning/100_0046.jpg
Now this gets me... when it was time for his class to go to lunch I always head home and may or may not come back later. Well on this day I told him that since yesterday was his birthday he can come home early with me we can pick up daddy to go eat Thai food for lunch (it's his favorite food)! My son is most likely the only one that would ever have a problem with this! He was crying and carrying on that he didn't want to leave school because they are in the middle of learning about the solar system and he didn't want to miss the lesson! So after his teacher and I calming him down he agreed that it would be fun to go with mom and dad!
When we got home he didn't want to go inside right away he wanted to play on the swings while I went and got his dad then come outside and we will leave. Well this held a little problem because the box was only visable when you came close to the front door. So once again I have to get him to do something he's not okay with (here is where I started to really rethink my nicknames Damien=grumpy and K=stubborn)! So I purposely went in the house and took an extra long time to get things together and make sure that all of our electronics were unplugged, rooms were in order, back doors and such were locked when Damien finally came in with the box... "Here, can we leave now?" I thought 'what'? His dad said who is the box to? Monk replies "I don't know Im hungry." I was almost in tears seeing that this was going to be the next few days and I was going to not only be stuck in the same hotel room with them, but in the same car before and after the hotel!!!! Thinking 'is it possible to take 2 off the trip and get a plane ticket this late?' But Damien came around and looked at the box he was excited to see that it was for him and that it was all the way from Disney! He was looking through everything nicely and read the letter and I thought he understood what it meant and it was just taking a moment to process!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/PartyBalloonStationaryblank.jpg
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0095.jpg
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0091.jpg
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0092.jpg
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0093.jpg
But no he said that it was really nice for Mickey to send him these things for the trip, we should save them for when we go! I explained that NO Mickey had Tinker Bell fly to the North Pole and get the tickets for us! So we can leave right now! And word for word his reply was "You mean we can't go to Saba?" (his favorite Thai restaurant)!!! Yep maybe your jaw dropped just like mine did? Maybe you scratched your head and said 'what is wrong with this picture' kinda like his dad did? Or maybe like Damien you just couldn't understand that if we didn't leave now we wouldn't be able to get there on time for our tickets? We finally got him showered and re-dressed and left (forgetting to eat-- remember this when we are a little further in the next post)!

Next up... Getting out of NY!!!

[swwake]

Great intro! I think you should leave the NYE pic up! :thumbsup2

Damien is so cute!

[annmarieda]

I am here!

It is so neat reading how your reveal went. I am sorry the reveal didn't go quite as planned. I think we all want those moments where the surprised are over joyed and surprised. Sounds like he needed a bit of coaxing.

Can't wait to hear more!

[mommytominnie]

Oh my. Your reveal sounds almost identical to mine. Ours was a surprise for our daughter as well. First trip and all. We picked her up from school, she opened the box, read the letters and..... nothing. She could not understand we were leaving at that moment. She thought we were telling her we were going to Disney World someday. You can read all about it in my TR. Can't wait to read more of yours.

[swwake]

Wow, somehow in replying to you, I missed the reveal post. That was awesome. So funny that he didn't "get it" at first. I hope it ends up going better as the excitement builds along the way.

[Monknmom]

Great intro! I think you should leave the NYE pic up! :thumbsup2

Damien is so cute!

I'm not sure about the picture, but thank you about Damien!

I am here!

It is so neat reading how your reveal went. I am sorry the reveal didn't go quite as planned. I think we all want those moments where the surprised are over joyed and surprised. Sounds like he needed a bit of coaxing.

Can't wait to hear more!

Yes he needed a big ole dose of coaxing! It's okay.... like I mentioned in the PTR he's not so good with change or anything so I should have expected it more, but he has his ups and downs and soon to come K has his "big city lesson"!


Oh my. Your reveal sounds almost identical to mine. Ours was a surprise for our daughter as well. First trip and all. We picked her up from school, she opened the box, read the letters and..... nothing. She could not understand we were leaving at that moment. She thought we were telling her we were going to Disney World someday. You can read all about it in my TR. Can't wait to read more of yours.

I don't see the link to your TR.. maybe I am just missing something? LOL doesn't that stink I was there with the camera and taking pictures of him loving the gifts he received in the box and then BOOM NOTHING! LOL it was funny though because he's so serious about everything that he can't quit comprehend the grasp of last minute things! We went to the city on the 30th as a little getaway and he was fine because we had to let him know the fun things that were there (but the melt downs we had when we found the fun things like the Ferris wheel in Toys R Us closes at 11:30 and not midnight like the store)!


Wow, somehow in replying to you, I missed the reveal post. That was awesome. So funny that he didn't "get it" at first. I hope it ends up going better as the excitement builds along the way.

He always has ups and downs, he's not that great to surprises or changes so I shouldn't have been upset or surprised the way he reacted! But you will see in the TR it goes up and down the whole way!

[veggiemama]

I'm here and reading along.

I was not great at keeping up with your PTR, hopefully I will be better with the TR. :goodvibes

Sorry the reveal did not go quite as planned. It is always difficult when the kids do not get as excited as we would like.

Can't wait to read more.

[Monknmom]

I'm here and reading along.

I was not great at keeping up with your PTR, hopefully I will be better with the TR. :goodvibes

Sorry the reveal did not go quite as planned. It is always difficult when the kids do not get as excited as we would like.

Can't wait to read more.

It's okay, I'm glad your here now though:goodvibes!

Yeah it's okay though I am over that reveal- next time I know not to over achieve it!

[Monknmom]

I am sorry I have not posted the new update.... I have been really sick. I want to get to the doctor, but I don't want to... weird but I'm stubborn and no one else is catching it from me which makes me wonder... maybe it's just that everything (the trip planning, the trip, Christmas, New Year's) is all done and maybe I pushed myself too hard the last few months and my body is just tired? I don't know but I said that if I am still sick by Friday I will go in! So even though that should mean I am on here more I'm not! The only things I have been on the computer for is to watch a movie while falling asleep and to look up stuff for DH while he's working and thinking! Facebook has been done on the IPod and I can't seem to do this on there. But I will be back sometime today to continue with that horrible NY start!

[swwake]

Oh no! I hope you feel better soon. No rush on getting us an update. Health comes first.

[Monknmom]

Oh no! I hope you feel better soon. No rush on getting us an update. Health comes first.

It's okay... thank you though! I feel a little better, it's just my throat is something else!

[Monknmom]

The title sounds quit easy doesn't it? For those of you not familiar with NY let me tell you about NY before I start with what happened so you have a better idea! There are 3 parts of it- NY City which is the most popular, Long Island (which everyone just thinks of the Hamptons), and Upstate (which happens to be anything outside of Long Island and the 5 burrows)! So when I say that we had trouble getting out of NY I mean the city. I did learn that from now on we are going to take the Ferry to Conneticut and drive through upstate to get to NJ or PA or whereever we have to because it would be so much easier and quicker! And for the most part there are different rules for each part of NY. Like the rule that we recieved a ticket for! We never drive to or through the city, when we go upstate we get on the ferry and take that over and just drive up, really the furthest we go is to Queens for the Hong Kong supermarket and Burmese Buddhist Temple and then home. And even those times my father in law is usually driving! So driving through Manhatten we had no idea that when the light is yellow to stay at the white line! On the Island they have these traffic cams that take your picture when you cross on a red, but if your stuck on a yellow most of the cops (I have never gotten one at least) will not give you a ticket. BUT DH pulled up to the car in front of him on a yellow and we were stuck there causing what they call in the city a "grid lock" and when you find yourself in this so called "grid lock" your not given a break! As many times as you explain that you had NO idea about that and as many times as your 7 year old in the back seat rolls his window down to tell the lady cop where we are headed! The cops are standing on the corners and as soon as the light turns red they come and scan your registration and take your license and print you out a ticket quicker than the light can turn green! So yes you guessed it we got a ticket for "grid locking" fun so far right? I really kept thinking 'how much would they charge me to subtract 2 and add airfare?'. And of course we took 3 hours to get out of the city! We were so hungry and could have honeslty (by how slow the traffic was moving) opened the window to a hotdog vendor and ordered, gotten our food and only be a few feet away by the time that the food was done- no joke that's rush hour (between the times of 4pm-9pm) in "the city"! But sadly I refuse to eat from hot dog vendors in the city because I am grossed out by the whole thing!
Okay so why are we in the city at 4pm you ask if we had Damien all packed up and ready to leave by 1pm? And it only takes about an hour from my house to the city, so what was the holdup? WELL..... when I got home I asked K "are you ready?" and he did that silly shaking head thing while holding up his hand to me because he was playing guitar. To me since he's shaking his head yes I figured that means yes but just to make sure I ask again "K are you ready to jump in the car and leave" he replies "YES now go get ready" while he's playing guitar (you can kinda see him playing in the back of Damien's reveal photos). So I stick Damien in the shower, clean up the living room, finish packing up car trip stuff and print out everything I need then jump in the shower while Damien gets dressed and dries his hair. I come out and get ready and get Damien in the car and start it so it's "warm" and tell K okay let's hit the road.... he gets up and says "you have everything? Is everything locked and secure?" Yep on all accounts! And he goes into the bedroom for what I can only guess is to make sure that his gun safe is locked (oh yes did I tell you only 1 week after our house was robbed did that gun safe come that he ordered back in July)! Well instead I walk in on him getting ready for a shower folks! YEP he WAS NOT READY:scared1:!!! And told me to give him 10 minutes and he will be out.... 1 hour later we pulled out of the driveway:sad2:! This guy was never really taught time is all I can think!
But back to the first part, we were now going on 8:30pm and the only one that ate all day was Damien and it was only a bowl of cereal around 7:30am! We were starving but determined to get out of the city before we ate... so we did! But low and behold New Jersey is not all that better from NY city! In fact they are so alike that if you stuck me there without telling me where I am I would guess the city and look for 6th Ave since I THINK Penn station is around there somewhere! But in NJ you have to pay meter parking just like the city (of course not as expensive as NY- NY is $3/hour and NJ gives you 15 minutes free and I think K said $2/hour). So the only place we can park is infront of this high end restaurant and the others are quit a bit away and it was cold, we were hungry and honestly at 9:30pm (yes 1 hour from NY city line to find a parking space in NJ near a restaurant) at night Damien is pooped! So we just went in deciding we will share and let Damien have whatever he wants! The place was called "Winberie's" in Summit, New Jersey and Kaung and Damien really liked the food, I thought that it was too greasy though for me and the chicken pasta had too much tamerind (a thing I am used to, but don't like it in high doses). Kaung in fact would like to take his parents there next time we make a trip to the Burmese pagodoa in NJ! Here are a few pictures of the food that we ate.....
This is the calamari that we all shared together (the pictures are of 1/2 eaten food because we were so hungry)! That orange looking sauce was really good and it was spicy and I liked it a lot! The other sauce was sweet- almost like a cranberry sauce and I didn't like that it was so sweet.
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0096.jpg
We also ordered the crab cakes- I really like that salsa that they put with it! It was tangy and fresh! The sauce that came with it though I can't remember how that tasted and I didn't write about it so it was that memorable!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0097.jpg
This is K and I's chicken pasta that we shared! Again I thought way too much tamarind was used! Kaung says that it tastes like this noodle dish that they used to eat in his country!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0099.jpg
And last but not least Damien had grilled cheese! There really is no way to mess this up so of course he thought that it was good. The fruit that came along with it though was somewhat tasteless... so he only ate a little of that!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0098.jpg
After that we thought about walking around a little to help digest the food, but we had a reservation at a hotel in Carlisle, PA and with being so off track with time already and not going to make the reservation we canceled it and drove on to our first rest area in PA and just slept in the car with it running. Unsafe, yes, but we made lots of precautions and were parked under a lamp post in the very front of the building!
On the way to PA we took photos of these things... Not that great of a picture, but it was fun to try to spot them while we were driving! Both were along the highway and fun to look for! From now on I am going to use the roadsideamerica.com website for traveling and looking for free/low cost things to break up the trips! On the way there we used it and it was fun, on the way home we didn't and Damien was a little bit disappointed!
Shippensburg, Pennsylvania - Tractor Trailer Sign -not a good picture, but a little cook to see this big truck up in the air! THIS (http://www.roadsideamerica.com/search/tip) is the URL for that also!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0100.jpg
Shippensburg, Pennsylvania - Giant Paint Can if you want to read more about it you can at THIS (http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/4183) website!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/giantpaintcan.jpg
And that's how we ended our first day driving to Disney!


Next up.... Poatato chips and the statue of liberty!

[annmarieda]

I am sorry I have not posted the new update.... I have been really sick. I want to get to the doctor, but I don't want to... weird but I'm stubborn and no one else is catching it from me which makes me wonder... maybe it's just that everything (the trip planning, the trip, Christmas, New Year's) is all done and maybe I pushed myself too hard the last few months and my body is just tired? I don't know but I said that if I am still sick by Friday I will go in! So even though that should mean I am on here more I'm not! The only things I have been on the computer for is to watch a movie while falling asleep and to look up stuff for DH while he's working and thinking! Facebook has been done on the IPod and I can't seem to do this on there. But I will be back sometime today to continue with that horrible NY start!





I am sorry you are not feeling well. I hope you feel better soon. I think you are right about kinda being tapped after all the planning and trip. Hopefully you recover soon!

I can't imagine getting through NY like that! I can drive into Seattle fine... but I really prefer not to if I don't have to. And another near by city has traffic cams that are problematic.... you definitely have to know where you are driving since things seem different everywhere.

Isn't it just like a guy to "be ready" and then hold you up? God forbid it was you holding him up though. :rolleyes: Even though you had to cancel your reservation... it sounds like the traveling went ok. (after getting out of the city.. good grief on the ticket!!!) We have slept at a rest stop before. Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do.;)

[veggiemama]

Oh My! That is quite the first day of travel! I think I would have turned around and headed home.... though from what you are saying it would take HOURS to find home again! :dance3:

[mommytominnie]

Oh my word!! I cannot even imagine being in that traffic. I am so glad you all were able to deal with it with great attitudes.

[Monknmom]

I am sorry you are not feeling well. I hope you feel better soon. I think you are right about kinda being tapped after all the planning and trip. Hopefully you recover soon!

I can't imagine getting through NY like that! I can drive into Seattle fine... but I really prefer not to if I don't have to. And another near by city has traffic cams that are problematic.... you definitely have to know where you are driving since things seem different everywhere.

Isn't it just like a guy to "be ready" and then hold you up? God forbid it was you holding him up though. :rolleyes: Even though you had to cancel your reservation... it sounds like the traveling went ok. (after getting out of the city.. good grief on the ticket!!!) We have slept at a rest stop before. Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do.;)

Yeah I think that it is just my body recovering because Damien and K aren't catching it (although K is home today saying he's "sick")! I can't drive in NY city! I don't like it there are too many people just walking out in front of the car and they have the right away whether or not they have the ok or not. So I understand your preferring not to drive! I can, but like you I prefer not to!
That's why he says he waited because he knew we would take a long time... and really if you think about it I had myself and Damien ready plus the living room cleaned and everything in the car in about an hour and a half-- he got HIMSELF ready in one hour!?!?! I wonder sometimes Ann I really do! Yes after getting out of the city we were good! And have lots of fun and funny stories to come from the trip! And the rest area wasn't that bad and we ended up doing it the next night too!

Oh My! That is quite the first day of travel! I think I would have turned around and headed home.... though from what you are saying it would take HOURS to find home again! :dance3:

No it would have been quicker to just turn around and go home because city traffic usually ends around 9pm and Island traffic is done by 7pm, but then we would have missed Disney because I doubt we could have found flights for 3 that late!

Oh my word!! I cannot even imagine being in that traffic. I am so glad you all were able to deal with it with great attitudes.

NO lol not great attitudes! K was yelling and I was yelling and saying bad things to other cars and Damien was in the back just begging for a hot dog because he saw the other cars in traffic getting them! But after this we have a smooth ride! So to me it was very worth it!

[Monknmom]

I'm sorry in advance- this is a long update because all weekend I will be on and off and not able to make one! It's my in laws 30 year anniversary! Congratulations to them!
When we woke up at 4 am from a truck honking at another truck it was very hard to sleep again for K and I (Damien never woke up). So we decided that since the GPS says that we are an hour from Tiny World we will start to head over there... the GPS is always telling you that your going to get somewhere sooner than you really are anyway right? So we start driving and they take us into the middle of nowhere on our route and we only drove for about 45 minutes, we kept making jokes that if we get stuck hopefully the cats will have an automotive service to help us. You see Tiny World is a town that an elderly man built for all of these cats in his yard. He gave them lots of detail like chairs and tables in the windows and made them very easy for the cats to go in and out of. He doesn't charge you to go see it either, but according to THIS (http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/9867) link he is sick and we were going to leave a dontaion for him of cash just because he was going to let us see his creation. But the GPS (only time it's right is when I want it to be wrong) got us there in about 50 minutes! So on that site it also asks that you please respect him and only come during daylight hours so at 4:50am the sun is up, but I don't think that those were the daylight hours that they were talking about so we left the envelope in the mailbox with some cash and told him that we were coming to see the world he made for the cats but didn't make it at a good time and we wanted to give him this money to help buy any medicine or something that he needs. We didn't leave the return address to our house though because quit honestly we had planned this moeny for him and didn't want it back! So after that we figure 'let's head to the potato chip factory' and after typing it into the GPS it's only a mear 2 hours away so off we went! This was not okay because we got there VERY early and they open at 9am so we went to find somewhere to eat. On our way to find a diner or something we saw a statue of this guy.....
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0106.jpg
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0107.jpg
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0105.jpg
This is him I guess? :confused3
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0108.jpg
Not really sure who he is, but we were along the highway and it was a civil war trail. K thought that he looks scary so I made sure to take lots of pictures of him to put in the scrap book! We would have walked the trail, but Damien was hungry and we agreed that this trip is for him! Now on to the diner right? NOPE WRONG!!! K found an antique shop and although this is "Damien's trip" he wanted to stop and said that if he hears anything against it we will skip the Potato chip Factory (I know this might not be a big deal to some kids because they are just chips, but my son's diet doesn't allow him to have this stuff at home so he was excited) and with that we kept our mouths shut and went inside! I had a nice conversation with the lady owner about her 2 kids- one's in college and one's at home still at 34 trying to figure out what he wants to do and she was not happy with this! Kaung looked around and came up to the counter with a basket full of stuff and Damien continued to play with the dog that they have tied up in the closet. Now in NY there is nothing in an antique shop that's cheap or on sale in fact one time K bought this old book with writing in it from the previous owner for $20 because he liked how old and tattered it looked and he likes to see what people write about in books! So he was thinking that this was going to be all of his spending money right here in one shot... well the grand total..... $14.60!!!! We were shocked and I said "What?" in shock and she started to defend her prices like I was going to argue with her about the price, but I told her that my dog's food is triple that amount and I was happy surprised it was so cheap for eveything that he bought! I can't tell you the stores name because the reciept doens't say it and I should have checked that out before we left, but didn't. So if your ever driving on the "main" road in New Market, VA and only see a store every 100-200 feet with that "creepy" guy you know that your in the right spot and he antique shop is right across the street from that statue!!!! So off we went to find a place to eat, she suggested "this cute little place in a white building with some dam good food"! So we tried it! We came to find out that it was this tiny little building that maybe had 10 tables in all and everyone knew eachother (other than us) because they were all going around to eachother's table and talking and saying hi and I guess that one table just had a baby because it was just a man and son and they were given a free breakfast because they were about to go see their "new kin"! It was really nice. I am not sure if I had mentioned this or not, but I had no voice for some reason. I had a voice when I went to Damien's school on Friday morning and when the reveal happened. We hopped in the car to leave and it was gone and no idea why because I didn't have a sore throat either! Weirdest thing! So the waitress heard I was having trouble ordering and just wanted water to drink, so she brought me water and a plain tea with lemon and honey "on the house"! She was really nice! We ordered and people would come over and talk to us... Damien ordered a blueberry pancake and it was the size of his plate!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/pancakes.jpg
K and I both ordered the country speical- which says 2 eggs and either 2 bacon or 2 sausage, we didn't read the whole thing because it also came with grits, toast and country hash browns! VERY YUMMY though! The place was called Southern Kitchen, INC (now I'm looking at the card and wondering what's with the INC? It was such a tiny place!)! We paid about the same amount that we did for the antiques for breakfast and left her a petty nice size tip! Again I know I keep saying this, but NY prices as WAY MORE MONEY but also people in NY are RUDE, she did something I have never heard before that day and wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it for myself, but she came to us while we were paying for the jams and such to give us the cash back- she thought that we mistook the 1 for a 7 and wanted to give us back the $6!!! She said that usually tips are just whatever eh change is- in NY you either double the tax or pay 20% of the bill for the tip and she was surprised now that we pay so much to be serviced! As I mentioned they also had jams and jellies and syrups there that we bought as gifts for people for Christmas and such! We bought ourselves something called Christmas Berry and have been eating that on toast and it's very good! Made right there in town!
When we got back in the car we found that Mickey and his friends left Damien some gifts to complete on the way to and from Disney!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/disney%20notes/Birthday-Boy.jpg
This is the bag with the letter! It had little gifts for him to open in each state!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney%20Planning/100_0036.jpg
So filled up on breakfast and Damien excited to check out his new gifts we head back to route 11 potato chips and it's open, but we are the only people there "touring" the place. What they mean by touring is that you walk in and there are these big thick sheets of plexi glass that seperate you from the potato chip making process and you ask someone for help and they take you around the glass to show you what it looks like! And although it wasn't a "real tour" it was still pretty cool to see how fast that machine cuts those potatoes or when you go upstairs you can watch them flavor the chips- we watched BBQ being made! I need that cutter thing at home! You then get to taste EVERY kind of chip they have all of the way from the pickle flavored to the hottest that they have called "Mama Zuma's revenge" and when they say spicy they mean it's SPICY!!! K loved it so he picked up a bag of that and I got the sweet potato one and Damien picked up some BBQ! They were all really good and just to skip to the end really quick, we opened the bags on this day (the 10th) and didn't touch them again until the 17th when we left because we forgot about them. When we tasted them on the 17th they were still really crunchy and not stale or anything! They said that they sell them at wholefoods (a place I have to shop at often for Damien's diet) so I will have to check that out! If you ever get a chance to check this out it's worth the 1/2 hour or so! And the chips aren't that much we paid a total of $10.50 for 3 big bags of chips! Not that bad of a price for us! THIS (http://www.rt11.com/) is their webiste and THIS (http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/26685) is the article about it on the web. You can't take pictures inside where they make the chips, but you can take it with their mascot so we did! This is Damien and his chips posing with the Route 11 Potato!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0109.jpg
While pulling out we saw some big statues so we decided to stop and see what they were about! They were part of something called celebration America! They have a mueseum that you can go through of all the parade floats from Mardi Gras passed, but you have to pay $10/person- even kids there is no discount for them. So my cheap husband didn't want to go in so we just walked around and took pictures outside since they wouldn't let us take them of the stuff in the lobby without paying for the tour! They had things like.. a big frog..
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0104.jpg
a big Caterpillar...
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0111.jpg
And the funniest--- we drove all of the way to VA to see the statue of liberty! Something that we haven't done yet right here in our home town!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0114.jpg
It was cute and pretty and nice, but I guess that now looking back I have to agree with K that $30 to look around at some parade floats wasn't worth it! Maybe next time when we have planned it into the budget!
Next we drove down the state of Virgina to find my husband... no sorry I mean the gorilla he was named after-- just kidding Kaung is a big name in Burma and not because of the gorilla! So we drove to Natural Bridge, VA and looked for the Natural Bridge that they named the town after, but could not find it and were a little hungry since we hadn't eaten anything but chips since around 7am. So we moved onto the King Kong statue that is sitting in the parking lot of the Pink Cadallac diner and we waited in line with other goofy tourists taking pictures! THIS (http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/12844) is the web address for these next few things!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0116.jpg
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0118.jpg
They have this humpty dumpty sitting on the railing to go inside and if you look close you can see the pink cadallac in the back (we didn't walk over to it because I can't remember if VA has snakes or not).
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0119.jpg
Since Humpty is an egg he was holding this sign that I thought was so cute!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0120.jpg
While typing this out I looked at Damien's trip journal and his favorite part of this day was this restaurant and the thing he learned today (now this is competing with the civil war trails, potato chip factory and some of the stuff I will talk about later in the report) was who Elvis was and what he looked like and when he lived! The waitress had to answer questions about him every time she came to our table, but she didn't seem to mind she even taught him this hip move that Elvis did! K and I shared a chicken burger with fries and ordered onion rings on the side to share as well (those were really good too- very crunchy and not too oily), Damien had a grilled cheese and fruit side just like at the restaurant the night before- but according to him this fruit tasted better! At the end of our meal she asked if she could 'escort' Damien to the ice cream counter for some free ice cream on Elvis! And he was so happy so I let him go (I can still see him because it's just on the opposite wall and I'm closer to the door than they are)! He picked out some Elvis cadallac ice cream (cotton candy) and white as Marilyn (vanilla) it made him happy and when we were paying he asked if he could give the tip to the waitress himself! She gave him a kiss on the check and told him to come see her again when he's 18 (he of course didn't get the joke, but it made K and I laugh) all he heard was to come back and see her! we have learned on this trip that he is going to be all kinds of trouble as he gets older! I'm not sure of what happened to the picture we took of him with the waitress, but we took one and it's gone.... In fact I don't have any pictures other than the statue ones from there... I'm sorry! I was very bad with food pictures on this trip!
Next we made our way all of the way to.... Columbia, South Carolina! In this huge parking lot there are 2 of these works of art by one artist named Blue Sky! They are very good! In the picture you can see the sun, what you don't realize is that the sun really uses light from the building to light up! It looks so realistic it states on THIS (http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/4602) website that "I have heard rumors that birds actually fly into the mural often, and I can believe it." and it's true! It looks really real. We spoke with some locals that were walking to their cars and they said that there are many accidents of drunk drivers hitting into the wall trying to outrun cops and such! Sad, but I can see that happening!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0123.jpg
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/blueskymural.jpg
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/bluesky2.jpg
Then on the other side of the parking lot is a dog's dream!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0121.jpg
It's HUGE!!! THIS (http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/4453) place has better pictures of it, because ours stink! It's almost 40 feet tall and weighs about 5 tons! I think that this artist has more sculptures around town by the way the family that lives there was talking, but they didn't know where exactly so we just stuck to these 2 and figured that if we ever get back we will have to see what else they have! After this we were tired and we didn't want to make it to Georgia where we once again had hotel reservations so we called and cancelled and slept at the nearest rest area. Oh you may be asking what we had for dinner that night? None of us were really hungry so we shared some fruit we bought at a supermarket near the fire hydrant and tunnel vision mural!

Next up..... Are we there yet???

[annmarieda]

:worship: I can't believe how much traveling you got done!!! All the "road side attractions" are so cool. It makes me want to consider a road trip. Can you believe we have never gone on one with the kids? Well, I guess if you count driving to family across the state we have... but we dont stop to do any tourist stuff along the way. You definitely did a great job making this fun for Damien!

[veggiemama]

Very cool road trip so far! :cool1: Sounds like you all had a lot of fun and got to see some very interesting things. :)

Don't think I could do that with my kids anymore. They are much to 'cool' for that kind of stuff but my hubby and I would love to do these kind of things. We have a weird sense of humor and enjoy the different land marks that towns put up. We have some very interesting ones in Canada and we stop at almost all of them..... Best one is a picture of my dd B at 2 1/2 sitting under a statue on the side of the highway going potty. :rotfl::rotfl:

[Monknmom]

:worship: I can't believe how much traveling you got done!!! All the "road side attractions" are so cool. It makes me want to consider a road trip. Can you believe we have never gone on one with the kids? Well, I guess if you count driving to family across the state we have... but we dont stop to do any tourist stuff along the way. You definitely did a great job making this fun for Damien!

I love the road trips that we took as kids! Most of the stuff that we stopped at were not even what we were looking for! Like in New Mexico on our way to Carlsbad Caverns we found "Bedrock" and it was just like the cartoon show! It was so neat and then we also found others things too! Like this ice cream tasting place and make your own flavors! I love that stuff more than planned trips sometimes--- EVERYONE has to be in a good mood for it though or it turns sore really quick! But thank you!


Very cool road trip so far! :cool1: Sounds like you all had a lot of fun and got to see some very interesting things. :)

Don't think I could do that with my kids anymore. They are much to 'cool' for that kind of stuff but my hubby and I would love to do these kind of things. We have a weird sense of humor and enjoy the different land marks that towns put up. We have some very interesting ones in Canada and we stop at almost all of them..... Best one is a picture of my dd B at 2 1/2 sitting under a statue on the side of the highway going potty. :rotfl::rotfl:

K and I actually were talking about taking a trip up through Canada to camp this year instead of staying upstate-- but Damien and I have to get our passports and I have to find out how that works with K's passport since he's a citizen now and the one he has is from when he came here from Burma?
You would be surprised! I was like 15 when we went on a road trip and we had tons of fun with each other especially because we learned how to hook the Nintendo up to the car's TV! YEP the last kid vacation I went on was when we had the popular Nintendo machine with the box games that you have to blow air on to make sure that the dust wasn't in there! How funny the statue with your daughter going potty-- that's a bring home a date picture in our house:lmao:!

[lilpixiebabe101]

How did I miss you had started your TR as much as you have posted on mine!?!

I love all the little stops! We have a few places we always used to stop on the way down to WDW, but we passed most of them in the dark this time. OR we were just ready to be in WDW lol

Buddy and Lexa would have loved the chip factory!

[dara00]

ok, this is funny because I grew up very close to summit, nj! that's not right outside the city, you know, you must have driven 45 minutes? not every town in nj has meter parking either, but summit certainly does. I was excited that you stopped there!

[momabaarjo]

I am here finally...and caught up reading. I am so sorry that your trip got off to a rough start, but you handled it well! Had it been me I would have been in tears and throwing a temper tantrum resulting in a cancelled trip!

I love road trips, when I was growing up that was the only way we traveled and my mom & oma (grandmother) would always find the cool places like you found for Damien. I have taken a few road trips with the kids and my side of the family...Jeff is not so much of a sport of these side attractions! Don't worry about sleeping in a rest stop...the place I most remember stopping at to sleep on a family trip was a cow pasture...we had a camper on a pick up truck and pulled off there on night...woke surround by cows!

That policeman that gave you a ticket needs to go for some CM training! :rotfl:

I have found the best place to eat are the places the locals direct you to...sounds like the locals gave you a bit of magic treatment!

:scared1:You live in NYC and have never seen the Statue of Liberty?! That does it I am visiting you and we will go together!

[lilpixiebabe101]

I am here finally...and caught up reading. I am so sorry that your trip got off to a rough start, but you handled it well! Had it been me I would have been in tears and throwing a temper tantrum resulting in a cancelled trip!

I love road trips, when I was growing up that was the only way we traveled and my mom & oma (grandmother) would always find the cool places like you found for Damien. I have taken a few road trips with the kids and my side of the family...Jeff is not so much of a sport of these side attractions! Don't worry about sleeping in a rest stop...the place I most remember stopping at to sleep on a family trip was a cow pasture...we had a camper on a pick up truck and pulled off there on night...woke surround by cows!

That policeman that gave you a ticket needs to go for some CM training! :rotfl:

I have found the best place to eat are the places the locals direct you to...sounds like the locals gave you a bit of magic treatment!

:scared1:You live in NYC and have never seen the Statue of Liberty?! That does it I am visiting you and we will go together!

Lol.. I can just see us throughout the years. Every other year Disney, the in between year spent in one of our hometowns doing all the local/touristy things!

[Monknmom]

How did I miss you had started your TR as much as you have posted on mine!?!

I love all the little stops! We have a few places we always used to stop on the way down to WDW, but we passed most of them in the dark this time. OR we were just ready to be in WDW lol

Buddy and Lexa would have loved the chip factory!

Thank you! I don't know.. I think that I started mine and have kinda been holding off on doing so many updates until we get the photopass...

ok, this is funny because I grew up very close to summit, nj! that's not right outside the city, you know, you must have driven 45 minutes? not every town in nj has meter parking either, but summit certainly does. I was excited that you stopped there!

I could not tell you where the city ended and Jersey began... we came out of the Holland tunnel and thought that meant we were in Jersey, but never saw a sign that welcomed us.... so we could have been driving in Jersey for 45 minutes and just never known it... Did you ever eat at that place? Maybe we came on a bad night? I just didn't like all of the grease...

I am here finally...and caught up reading. I am so sorry that your trip got off to a rough start, but you handled it well! Had it been me I would have been in tears and throwing a temper tantrum resulting in a cancelled trip!

I love road trips, when I was growing up that was the only way we traveled and my mom & oma (grandmother) would always find the cool places like you found for Damien. I have taken a few road trips with the kids and my side of the family...Jeff is not so much of a sport of these side attractions! Don't worry about sleeping in a rest stop...the place I most remember stopping at to sleep on a family trip was a cow pasture...we had a camper on a pick up truck and pulled off there on night...woke surround by cows!

That policeman that gave you a ticket needs to go for some CM training! :rotfl:

I have found the best place to eat are the places the locals direct you to...sounds like the locals gave you a bit of magic treatment!

:scared1:You live in NYC and have never seen the Statue of Liberty?! That does it I am visiting you and we will go together!

Yeah but I had a feeling that he wouldn't be into the whole surprise thing- like K tells people I did most of the trip stuff for myself and just put a note that said to Damien on it!
Yeah I learned so much on this trip with K-- he likes driving, but not on road trips is one of them- and I love them! I think that it's nice when you can find the silly things to take pictures with! Some of those things are what Damien talks about most from our trip (well that and the lego store:rolleyes:)
I don't like NY cops they don't like to listen to the reason that you disobeyed the law, just that you disobeyed it. We had no idea and it was not fun yesterday when I paid the ticket on the internet-- I was mumbling some bad wods about K the whole time:lmao:!
Yes we found "pre-Disney" magic! That was great! Well Damien did! And it was really nice of her!
Yeah i went there I think in 4th grade or 3rd grade (right before I was given to my father) with my school class. Since then I haven't I think that it's about and hour and a half away and you have to find parking in the city and take the ferry to the island! If you ever come to NY I will take you there and some other places that are great!

Lol.. I can just see us throughout the years. Every other year Disney, the in between year spent in one of our hometowns doing all the local/touristy things!

LOL I would be up for that! I love to travel- anywhere! I like to see/learn/do new things!

[dara00]

I could not tell you where the city ended and Jersey began... we came out of the Holland tunnel and thought that meant we were in Jersey, but never saw a sign that welcomed us.... so we could have been driving in Jersey for 45 minutes and just never known it... Did you ever eat at that place? Maybe we came on a bad night? I just didn't like all of the grease...




The sign is actually in the middle of the tunnel. it says New York on one side of a line, and New Jersey on the other!

Nope I've never eaten there, haven't even heard of it!

[Monknmom]

These are some pictures that we took when we went to the City (Times Square and Rockefeller Center) on December 30th! This is a quick update and then I am coming back tomorrow morning to get back to your TR's!
This is the group of us that went in order from left to right- Carols (my sister in law's husband), Khine (my sister in law), Amaygui (my mother in law), Damien and I! And we are standing in front of some pretty big lights!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/December%2030%202011%20city/DSC09659.jpg
The tree behind us here in both pictures is the Rockefeller tree
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/December%2030%202011%20city/DSC09624.jpg
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/December%2030%202011%20city/DSC09625.jpg
Behind Damien and Amaygui is a replica of the star on top of the Rockefeller tree
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/December%2030%202011%20city/DSC09628.jpg
Some decorations you see as you walk from Rockefeller to Times Square
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/December%2030%202011%20city/DSC09633.jpg
My sister in law's a goob...
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/December%2030%202011%20city/DSC09631.jpg
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/December%2030%202011%20city/DSC09634.jpg
This is right in front of where they drop the ball (from that building that looks like it's in the middle of the road)
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/December%2030%202011%20city/DSC09637.jpg
Damien says that the dinosaur in Toys R Us looks just like the one that scared him on Dinosaur in Animal Kingdom!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/December%2030%202011%20city/DSC09638.jpg
Not sure how many of you know this, but at the Toys R Us in Times Square has a huge Ferris Wheel in it! They even had a Toy story and Mr. Potato head! That's why I'm showing you a picture of the married couple!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/December%2030%202011%20city/DSC09641.jpg
Nivea was doing a lot of promotions for New Years Eve and everything was set up while we were walking around... this is the kissing both!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/December%2030%202011%20city/DSC09645.jpg
He's all ready to go!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/December%2030%202011%20city/DSC09646.jpg
Damien wanted to get a portrait of himself for the first time so we let him!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/December%2030%202011%20city/DSC09651.jpg
Although it doesn't look too much like him it came out cute and we have it hanging up at home!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/December%2030%202011%20city/DSC09654.jpg
I really like this picture of monkey and I! K should have been there but had an emergency call to attend to!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/December%2030%202011%20city/DSC09657.jpg
And to end the night around 1 am (we were walking back to the car) he wanted to take a last picture with his favorite Auntie! He really loves her although you can't tell a lot of the time and is bugging her on when she's going to have some friends for him to boss around!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/December%2030%202011%20city/DSC09663.jpg
That night we ate at Sbarro's and I did not like it! I have some pasta thing with meatballs and Damien had a piece of pizza with everyone else! Nobody was really happy with it, but we ate it because we were hungry! Next time we were told to try Tad's a fast food steak place!

[Monknmom]

The sign is actually in the middle of the tunnel. it says New York on one side of a line, and New Jersey on the other!

Nope I've never eaten there, haven't even heard of it!

Yeah I don't like driving through the tunnel so I focus on other things! That's probably why! From now on I am only going to eat where the locals send me!

[annmarieda]

New Years Eve pics look like you had a lot of fun! Where was K? Taking the pics?

[Monknmom]

New Years Eve pics look like you had a lot of fun! Where was K? Taking the pics?

No he stayed for a job that had called him in. So we just went with all of my in laws! He was there with his parents about a week or 2 before we left for Disney so he wasn't much into seeing it again anyway:confused3

[veggiemama]

Love the Time Square Photos. I could never be there New Year's Eve, that many people would have me shaking in my boots! :lmao: I do NOT like crowds like that.... Disney crowds yes... but only those ones. :)

[momabaarjo]

What a great New Years Eve-Eve! Looks a little cold though...I would love to do that some day, but Disney crowds about drove me crazy at times...I am sure Times Square would put me over the edge.

[Monknmom]

Love the Time Square Photos. I could never be there New Year's Eve, that many people would have me shaking in my boots! :lmao: I do NOT like crowds like that.... Disney crowds yes... but only those ones. :)

Thank you, but that's the night before New Year's Eve!!! Can you imagine how crowded it would be on New Year's? Yeah I wouldn't bring Damien! When I was younger my grandpa told me that at midnight everyone in times square turns into a banana:banana:! I call Damien monkey and if he turned into a banana that would be horrible:sad2: just kidding, but yeah it's crowded and dirty in the city! But what can you do about it?


What a great New Years Eve-Eve! Looks a little cold though...I would love to do that some day, but Disney crowds about drove me crazy at times...I am sure Times Square would put me over the edge.

It was cold, but there were so many people that we probably could have taken off a few layers and been fine! Do you see Damien? He has on a t-shirt, an osh kosh thermal, sweatshirt, hat and gloves and a jacket he was so upset that he turned so plump and had a hard time walking!!! Yeah it's crowded, but something that everyone should experience once in a lifetime! You have to put yourself in uncomfortable situations sometimes and the people are pushy, but in a hurry rush not a mean rush like the island!

[momabaarjo]

Okay...maybe some day I will take you up on the offer and we will go for NYE!

[Monknmom]

Okay...maybe some day I will take you up on the offer and we will go for NYE!

Sounds good!!!


I am going to come back later and type up the next chapter in the TR!

[Monknmom]

*This is not going to have too many pictures because I am driving and of other reasons (read on to find out)!*
Today I had plans that we were going to arrive at Disney around 3:30 pm for check-in, take a shower, get dressed and head over to Wilderness Lodge to explore, go to chip and dale's campout and then make it to the beach for the electrical parade! But before any of that could happen we had to get there first... once again I had attractions for us to see! I had planned the giant 7-up can, the civitas, the Disney welcome center and a giant cow on one side of town then seeing her giant mailbox on the other side of town. BUT Damien and K woke up (in the car in South Carolina remember?) and then instead of saying lets use the bathroom and let mom sleep at 4am they wake me up and ask how far away we are! Now Damien I kinda understand, but he has 2 state gifts left so he should know 2 more states and K well that guy knows how to read! So I tell them we have to make it through Georgia and Florida! They want to leave right away so they head to the men's room to wash up and I of course go to the women's room and I guess that I took longer than them because I got done and waited outside the men's room for about 10 minutes before just going to the car to put my stuff away AND THERE THEY ARE SLEEPING LIKE LITTLE BABIES!!!! I was mad, but let them sleep and drove and drove and drove very happy I might add because in NY we have 1 and a half country radio stations (I say a half because the 1/2 only comes through at certain points of the island since it's broadcasted from Conneticut) and here I had so many choices! The only thing I did not like is just about every other station had on rap or Christmas music-- not much choice! Another difference in NY the fastest that you can go is 55 MPH on the major highways, where ever we were they were telling me I could go 70 MPH!!! I was in happiness! As I was driving I guess that we didn't realize how close we were to Georgia because that rest area we slept at was the last one in SC and I was in GA before I knew it! The GPS said that if we drove right to FL we would get to Disney around 9:30 am, but we weren't driving all of the way there now were we? According to the driver no, but when K heard the blinker turn on he asked why I'm getting off the highway? "Well" I reply "you must to see the attractions, they aren't on I-95!" And all of a sudden I hear Damien chime in from the backseat out of no where "NO, can't we please just drive all of the way to Disney?" And K agrees with a cry in his voice. How can I say no? This is what they want... all of that reesearch and planning on my part for nothing:sad2:! SO I just drive and only pull over for gas every now and then. When we got to FL the time to get to Disney was a little sooner since well I do around 5-10 over the speed limit (we had a Mazda 3 to go to Disney if you touch that peddle you go from 0 to 100 in a second! Very fast car!) so now we are going to get there around 8:55 am. I woke up K and told him that's way too early because check out time is 11am and check in is at 3 pm and we can check in sooner, but I think that 9am is too soon! So we stopped to eat at a Waffle House- we don't have pictures, but it was really good and then we walked over to the parking lot next to the Waffle House and bought a HUGE bag of oranges for $5!!! That's it!!!! I was so happy because I forgot the clementines I planned to eat for breakfast back at the house! So with our bellies full and the oranges in the trunk we were headed to Disney with a desitination time of 10:05am now! When we passed under the arch I had K take a picture! Damien was excited! I was pretty excited too!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0125.jpg
Still too early so I tell K that we will check in and head to DTD for the afternoon and when our room is ready we will come back and take a shower, change and head out to complete my plans! Agreed we get to All star movies to check in and it apears that my TA asked for us to be in the Fantashia building but I requested that we have a Toy Story instead (my son loves toy story movies and the whole reason I did pick this resort I thought he would love that). So the lady helping us with check in (it's around 10 am right now) is very nice and my husband is talking to her about Australia because his family was supposed to move there and moved here instead and he has family there. So they are talking and she's great! She got us into a 1st floor (room 9725) and it's in the woody building. Our room is kinda facing a parking lot and right near the food court, the playground, the pool and the luandry (but I was not going to do luandry)! And she gives us our KTTW cards and tells us that we can head to the room now because it's ready for us! So quickly I asked K to distract Damien by taking him to clean out the car while I "find" the room for us and I will come back and get them when I "find" it! I had to lay out everything for Damien quickly and I did. This was in an envelope addressed to Damien:
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Decorated%20images/scan00012.jpg
Sitting on top of these packages:
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0126.jpg
Inside the packages each of us received a sweatshirt/jacket (K got Mickey's niightmare, I got a MK one and Damien got a red Mickey one) and an aluminum water bottle (K got Mickey, I got Minnie and Damien got Phineas and Ferb)-the pictures of these are in my PTR!
I was so happy now we can even take a nap before we do anything right?!?!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0127.jpg
Nope I am the minority on this trip! And as we showered and got ready I said okay we can do DTD and then head over to the Wilderness lodge! I took Damien exploring while K (who LOVES coffee) filled up his reusable mug for the 1st time-this mug became his best friend the whole trip!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0130.jpg
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0131.jpg
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0134.jpg
This big checker board on the ground that Damien and a little girl started to play on! It was so cute and a good way to release some of the car energy that he had!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0135.jpg
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0132.jpg
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0137.jpg
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0136.jpg
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0141.jpg
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0138.jpg
Okay I am going to leave you with that!

Up next..... DTD and wilderness lodge?

[dara00]

wow, I'd love to check out asm just to see that toy story stuff!

[lilpixiebabe101]

Sorry about the stops you had planned! Best laid plans and all that! They don't appreciate all the planning sometimes lol!

Love all the resort pictures. We've stayed at Music and Sports a dozen and more times but never Movies... always the last on the bus route!

[annmarieda]

I am sorry you missed out on your final stops. HOwever, checking in early is super cool. :woohoo: I love the Toy Story icons!!! I have never considered ASM... usually, I always think Pop... but now? HMMM I mean it looks like Pop, but with Disney characters? Cool!

I love the layout you did for Damien. Santa was certainly good to him. ;)

Can't wait to read more about your trip!!!

[swwake]

I noticed that Mickey made an appearance in your 3rd NYE picture!

Now to go back and catch up on your TR update...

[vikkil70]

HI! Joining in and loving your TR so far. I grew up on LI so I could relate to your travel problems. I live in PA now and hate facing driving in the Bronx when I come in to visit my father, turns a 2 hour trip into more like 3.
We drove down to Disney in 2010 but only stopped at South of the Border, next time we go down I might try to do a few more stops at the fun out of the way places, though I could see my boys being a lot like Damien and just wanting to get to Disney.
Can't wait to read more!

[annmarieda]

Heather, I am really hoping you are feeling better!!!:hug:

[Monknmom]

wow, I'd love to check out asm just to see that toy story stuff!

I guess that every building is something different? They have Mighty ducks, dalmatians and fantasia! We didn't end up seeing the rest of them during the trip except for when we were driving around looking for parking and stuff but I thought that it was fun!


Sorry about the stops you had planned! Best laid plans and all that! They don't appreciate all the planning sometimes lol!

Love all the resort pictures. We've stayed at Music and Sports a dozen and more times but never Movies... always the last on the bus route!

It's okay, thank you though! We id have fun anyway and it was nice because we had the car so we didn't really worry about the buses.

I am sorry you missed out on your final stops. HOwever, checking in early is super cool. :woohoo: I love the Toy Story icons!!! I have never considered ASM... usually, I always think Pop... but now? HMMM I mean it looks like Pop, but with Disney characters? Cool!

I love the layout you did for Damien. Santa was certainly good to him. ;)

Can't wait to read more about your trip!!!

Pop looks fun too! I saw your pictures! They looked nice!

Yes on Christmas day the only things Santa really came with were a few lego sets, clothes, board games and the stocking stuff- Damien said he was surprised that Santa came with more gifts after letting him go to Disney and giving him stuff in Disney!

I noticed that Mickey made an appearance in your 3rd NYE picture!

Now to go back and catch up on your TR update...

Oh my goodness:lmao: let me tel you about those Mickey's, Minnie's and pooh bears in NYC! Damien's grandma asked if he wanted to take a picture with them and say hi since he just saw them in Disney and he told her "no, because I can see that those aren't the real ones" We were all laughing because I showed them the pictures from Disney and these ones had on sneakers with nothing to cover the sneakers and you could see the shirts between the neck and the head part! It was sad looking! But YES they had lots of them walking around- I think that we even saw Dora and Spongebob and only $10 for a picture with each of them (I mean $10 for each character picture)! It was sad!

HI! Joining in and loving your TR so far. I grew up on LI so I could relate to your travel problems. I live in PA now and hate facing driving in the Bronx when I come in to visit my father, turns a 2 hour trip into more like 3.
We drove down to Disney in 2010 but only stopped at South of the Border, next time we go down I might try to do a few more stops at the fun out of the way places, though I could see my boys being a lot like Damien and just wanting to get to Disney.
Can't wait to read more!

:welcome: Thank you for joining! LOL I know I don't think that people on the outside realize that the city they see in movies and stuff doesn't fully exist... To people that live here it's a hassle and a bother! I live on the east end of Suffolk County... where were you from?

Depending on where you are in PA some of the places (like the Route 11 potato chips) were not that far from the PA boarder! But yeah next time I know that my DH and DS can only go for little bouts in the car at a time!

Heather, I am really hoping you are feeling better!!!:hug:

Thank you Ann!!! I really do appreciate it!!! And just in time for a few busy weeks ahead!!!

[Monknmom]

I am sorry that I have been missing for so long! I am going to try to get back on and catch up by tomorrow night- I just have to catch up on some of yours first before I continue with mine! I'm good now! I went into the ER around 11am and I was admitted into the hospital on Thursday and stayed until Saturday morning as the snow was coming down! I was getting sick because my white blood cell count was low and I was dehydrated and my heart palpitations had started again (I think that was unrelated though?) so they hydrated me and put me on meds and that was it! I didn't bring my Ipod though I I didn't keep up with anything! Then this week I have been just sleeping and resting and cleaning up the mess that was left for me while I was there! SO I will be back tomorrow night with the new update!

[vikkil70]

I am so sorry to hear that you had to be admitted into the hospital but glad to hear that you are doing better, and getting rest.
LOL, I know what you mean about people who are not from the area not understanding the traffic. I grew up in Freeport, on the south shore of Nassau County. Only 5 minutes from the beach, which is probably the main thing I miss about LI.
I looked up the Route 11 potato chips, and while it's far from us now (we are in Northeast PA), we are moving to VA after the boys are done with school in June and we pass the exit off of I81 when we travel down. We are heading down next month when the kids have a long weekend to do some house hunting. I think we may stop there on the way down to break up the trip, since it's right on the way.
Hope your feeling better!!
Vikki

[Monknmom]

Okay so last I left off we were waiting for K so that we could go to DTD for a bit before heading over to the campfire at Wilderness Lodge! Here are a few more hotel details I forgot last post:
The army men scale the buildings for Toy Story!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0139.jpg
And when you are walking from the food court and pools and stuff you walk through here to get to the hotel rooms! It says "Andy's room Keep out Except Mom"
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0140.jpg
When we got to DTD we parked right near Planet Hollywood and I was lost as to where to go. I knew that we wanted to go to the Lego store for Monk and I wanted to see the World of Disney store! I wasn't sure which one first though so we were standing there (neither of us are good at maps we plug things in the GPS and go, I'm not even sure I was driving before GPS was in my car) and I turned around and Damien was GONE! My very first time to lose my child and it had to be at DTD where he knows his phone number but doesn't know the area code for it and I didn't even put the laminated ID card in his shoe yet because I thought 'It's just like the tangers he can't get lost'. I am yelling and people are looking at me and this whole time I am panicked because I never really lost him before! It was maybe a whole minute before K tells me to stop and points behind us where Damien was standing next to the red statue. Relieved I tell him to hurry up lets go and he replies that he thinks the statue moved. I see people taking pictures of the statue but it's just that a guitar man statue so I didn't want to take a picture. But as I am starring at him wondering why/who/what it is people are taking pictures with I saw it... the statue gave the girl really quick bunny ears and then went back into pose. I realized it was like the ones in NYC and explained this to Damien (the whole time K is trying to read a map) and he insists on taking his picture with the man! So we did:
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0153.jpg
He also asked for an autograph but the statue doesn't do those!
So with K in the lead we went over to the lego store and took the following pictures:
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0143.jpg
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0145.jpg
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0144.jpg
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0146.jpg
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0147.jpg
Kaung still does not believe that the serpent is made of just legos:
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0142.jpg
Damien was given $200 to spend on the trip from his birthday and early Christmas gifts, but was only told about $100 so we split that up and told him he could spend $25 in the Lego store (knowing as his mom and dad that he's going to want everything else as we go by)! And he did pretty good he spent $30 (that's with tax) and asked if he could buy Kali (his cousin) her first lego set for Christmas and we did! This is him while he was waiting for us at checkout I knew he wanted so much more and I should have let him get it because all together Damien only spent $75 for himself-- he spent tons more of everyone else, but an honest $75 on himself I was so proud, but felt wrong I should have let him buy more!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0149.jpg
They were hungry so I suggested we eat at EOS for lunch since it's right here and then go into the Days of Christmas store and the Goofy's candy company! But K went to look at the menu while Damien and I caught the last bit of the act:
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0150.jpg
He didn't like what they listed (he's not big on sandwiches) so I suggest WGP- the line is too long for him. So I tell him there is another one, but it's where we just came from that's okay he says we'll walk!!! I had to hear Grumpy the whole time asking why we didn't just eat here first and save the trouble of walking back and forth. I wanted to cry because I didn't plan on eating here I like sandwiches and so does Damien and this was his idea! So we get there and he still doesn't like what they have to eat but decides that he will get the california roll with a parfait as dessert. He enjoyed it but was in a bad mood and couldn't really enjoy it- I thought that this was going to be the mood of the trip and was really upset!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0155.jpg
Damien got this white macaroni and cheese with the fruit cup dessert(they were really sweet K was not helping him carry it and I was paying so didn't see and he dropped his first fruit cup and started crying and quickly cleaning it up and as I was going over to clean it up one women told me not to worry about it (which I don't like when people do I want to help clean up the mess) and the other women gave him a new one at no charge! It was our 2nd dose of Disney magic (the first being in the Toy story building)! He did not like the mac and cheese (which he loves all kinds of cheese), they put this crunchy stuff on top and he didn't like that! So I tried to scrap it off and then he didn't like the cheese they used so he ate the fruit cup and a bit of my pizza.
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0156.jpg
And I got the Margherita- very good, but it was A LOT of pizza! And I got the fruit cup for dessert- I didn't get to eat the fruit cup because Damien did!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0157.jpg
We walked around and back over to the world of Disney store, Damien didn't want to spend his money on anything in there and asked if we could go back to the lego store and we explained about all of the other stuff he's going to want and it's not good to put all of your money on the first day and not have any later! When we walked outside he got wet from the stitch that spits on you! It was funny because none of us expected it! He stood there playing with some other kids for a little while before we went over to the Goofy's candy company.
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0151.jpg
I told Damien that he could pick out something to decorate and eat later tonight and he wanted the pretzel rods, but he's not a big chocolate person so he had them dipped in white and sprinkled with cinnamon/sugar and no drizzle. I wanted the rice kristpie treat dipped in dark chocolate and covered in reese's and drizzled with white chocolate. I can't tell you how either of these tasted because we packed them away in the ziplocks I brought with us and we forgot about them the whole trip only seeing them again when we left! Then we didn't eat them in the car and decided to give them to my nieces and nephews we met up with in North Carolina. It looks really sweet and I love reese's, my sister in law said that she thought it was too sweet and the kids ate it right up confirming her thoughts!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0174.jpg
So let's recap our DTD day so far: after all of the trouble we went through to walk back we bought candy we never ate, went to a store we didn't buy anything from and let Damien play in the stitch spitting thing for about 10 minutes! It was around 3pm I think and K and Damien were bored so I suggested we go tour some hotels before the campfire! And that is what we did.... we never got to any of the other things I wanted to go to, but I figured it is what it is and it's silly to be upset over something so silly so I put on my "big girl panties" and kept on to the hotels!
Next post.... To tour and camp or to sleep...

[annmarieda]

What a great update! I think we too did a bunch of walking back and forth. Go to one place..then decide to head in another direction.

Love the pictures!!

[momabaarjo]

I am so glad that you are feeling better and that we get a trip updated...not too happy about limiting your pictures on facebook though...:rotfl2:

I think Damion did great in the Legostore. I kept feeling like the bad guy the entire time of the trip because I did not want the kids to waste all their money on the first couple of shops either...and at Universal they do not make it easy on you EVERY ride drops straight into a themed gift shop! I am happy with what the kids bought in the end...

Sorry about having to put your big girl panties on and not pout...I honestly had a couple of those moments...okay not just a couple but A LOT of those moments on the trip.

I so love all the theming at ASM...and happy that you got the Toy Story area! Hope fun!

[dara00]

aw now I'm mad I totally skipped the candy store! looks yum. too bad you forgot to eat them! hope you're feeling better!

[veggiemama]

All caught up! :goodvibes

Love the pictures of Damian at ASM, he looks like he is having so much fun!

We say Goofy's candy Co. Took pictures of it but never went in it! :rotfl2: I think I'm glad now though that we didn't. Not sure I would have wanted that much sugar and candy though I'm sure the kids would have loved designing their own treats!

Glad you are feeling better!! :hug:

[lilpixiebabe101]

Alexa kept giving me heart attacks running off. My brother wanted to go find a leash.

We didn't even attempt the lego store. Alexa would have gone nuts.

Those treats look amazing...

And sorry about EoS... I think we've all agreed that's a must do on our ladies trip!

[momabaarjo]

Let's see...already planning ADRs for the trip...both her and on Ann's so far I :love: the picks...EoS and Ohana! :woohoo:

[Monknmom]

Okay I have been making lots of excuses for why I haven't come to update. I'm sorry I really am and everything that I have had to do needed to be done, but could have waited. You don't have to read this, it's sad and I don't want pity just somewhere that I can talk/type freely and get things out! I have been trying to keep myself busy because I keep on going to what is going to happen in June. I just need somewhere to vent and type/talk quick where I won't be judged or anything I just want to type and cry and think and everything... I'm just typing so things may not be in order you kinda have to deal with that I'm sorry... But on June 9th, 2007 my little sister passed away from a cardiac arrhythmia caused from complications from the muscular dystrophy she had. It was really hard for so many reasons because so much was going on. My father let her come see my mom and she didn't want to see my mom so I picked her up from North Carolina to take her to my house and then I was going to bring her back to my mom's before my dad was any the wiser! But it didn't fully come to plan there was so much going on in my life back then- K's younger sister was living with us because she didn't like the way her parents were, K and I were fighting crazy often for everything, Damien was 2 and not talking so we were going through testing and everything like that with him, and on top of that I brought my little sister into the mix! But all of this has nothing to do with how she died- I am just telling you because I don't want you to think that I'm nuts when I tell you other things, I just want you to know that my head was in a crazy place and that's why I thought like that! But anyway the day she died we had so much going on and I was driving all day I left my sister with my grandfather for a few hours to get some stuff done quicker and I was arguing with her over something that day because she wanted a hug and I kept telling her that I was too busy. I told her at one point that I am so busy and stressed that I don't even have time to give my own son a hug! The day I picked her up from my mom's was the first time that I saw her in exactly 5 years because I was kicked out of my father's house by my stepmother (she left me in Michigan at age 16 by myself the only people I knew were her cousins, sister and aunts/uncles but that's a different story). But my dad met my mom in a parking lot to give her my sister and my sister's bags then just left, he saw me and damien and didn't want any part of us to say hi or anything and I was okay with that because I didn't want Damien to know him! But Rebekah and I stayed up the WHOLE night just talking about the last 5 years of our lifes- she is the only one that was with me for the majority of my life (we were only not together for those 5 years) so she went through all of the crap I had to as a child being thrown about family members and foster families, being abused and everything else so we really had a strong bond even though I was mean to her sometimes. She was mentally slow on top of the muscular dystrophy so things were hard for her and as a kid I guess I didn't understand and I would have to take care of her a lot of times and again I din't understand what she was going through only what I was going through and I would hate her sometimes for being that way in front of my friends! But she would forgive me! If I was home with no one to play with she was right there to play barbies or house or whatever we wanted to! She was like that with everyone! She could get smacked in the head with a brick by someone and offer them a cup of water the next minute she had forgiveness down to a science and rocked at it! Me not so much! I have a hard time forgetting and forgiving things that have hurt me! So that night that she came we literally stayed up all night we laid down with Damien to put him to sleep and we started talking about everything and by the time we knew it Damien was waking up and the sun was coming up and it was time for a new day to start! Most of our conversation fell to what happened back at "home" after they came back without me and what happened between my dad and stepmom. She told me that my dad cried for me and everyone was surprised because my dad is very cool and subtle at keeping his emotions in check! As far as I know the only other times he has cried was when I was born and had the heart defect and was told that I may pass away before I reach age my toddler years and when one of my sisters (Maddie) was born stillborn. Other than that my dad keeps his cool and you never hear him yell or argue with people! But Rebekah told me that they fought all of the time, they went to therapy and everything and finally settled down a few years later. I was honeslty happy that he showed some type of emotions for me because he had been so absent in my life. So that became the "thing" for our visit- she told me that night that she was going to "teach" me how to forgive people before she leaves back home! So I agreed stuburnly and she knew that I wasn't into it but I don't think that she cared... But the day that she died we were arguing I think I was upset that she was going to be leaving soon and the fact that she could just be so easy going to the point that everyone that knew me kept making the same joke about how I left all of the good qualities for her and I took the bad ones for myself! So we were fighting and what happened was she had walked outside to feed some stray kittens (it was the evening and K was on his way home so before 5 but after 4) and I was telling her not to because when I drive her home no one is going to feed them anymore and they will get sick, she wouldn't listen and I ignored her going outside. Maybe a minute or so later I heard the man downstairs talking about calling the cops on the girl and I had a feeling that they were talking about rebekah so I looked out the window and I thought that she was laying in the ditch and I saw that she wet her pants (something that she had done as a kid and teen so it was normal, but hadn't done in awhile because my step mom "broke" her of that habbit) so I thought that she was laying down because she was worried about what we would say- my step mom would torture her for doing this that's why I was kicked out I stood up for her and my step mom didn't like that I grabbed the belt from her hand. So I told my 13 year old brother in law to stay inside with Damien and I grabbed a blanket and asked my little sister in law to come help me with Rebekah. When we got outside the guy was saying that he was going to call 9-1-1 and I was mad because she was 18 and they would contact my dad and he told me that he would file kidnapping charges on me (Rebekah was not able to live on her own and my father was her guardian so it was not her choice on where to be) so I yelled at the 2 men and they went inside and I hear my own sister in law on the 911 call on the cell telling them to come and I was so mad then I heard this horrbile sound coming from my sister and I was yelling at people for watching what was going on and not helping and I was covering her up with a blanket so that she wouldn't get embarrassed about wetting her pants. Then I looked at her and was trying to put her glasses on her and I can just remember looking at her with her eyes rolled back all I could see was white and then when I picked up the glasses and went to put them on her face the tip of her nose started to turn blue and I yelled for more blankets she's cold now! And then the blue just kept spreading and a cop got there and asked me questions I couldn't answer- I knew the answer I just couldn't think of it. Then it felt like forever before the ambulance arrived but they took her and by that time K got there and told MoMo (my little sister in law) to take Damien and Arkar (my little brother in law) to my mother in laws house until he called them. And I was going to go in the ambulance, but they wouldn't let so K drove and he drives like a turtle and I felt like he drove even slower I remember screaming at the top of my lungs at him for driving so slow because I couldn't see the ambulance anymore. At the hospital he let me go in alone and said he would join me and I sat in this hall by myself with people starring at me like I was crazy. The doctor came out the first time and told me that she was gone and I feel really bad for what I said to him, but he went back in to keep trying because I refused to sign any papers that she was dead. Then the hospital shut the doors in the hall I was in so that people couldn't see me and I was alone and then my grandfather and his girlfriend (now wife) came and didn't believe that she was gone because they had just been at the store with her and asked what happened and I couldn't answer it! Then the doctor tried to come out again and get me to sign off on the form and I didn't want to but my grandfather made me and at that time K came inside and I was so mad at him for not being there. Then they said that we can say goodbye to her and I didn't understand at the time what that meant- I was 23 when this happened and never went through this type of thing before so I thought that she was going to be awake and let me say goodbye to her before she dies so I insisted that I went in first and I went in all by myself and she was just laying on this table with cords everywhere and I kept saying her name and shaking her to wake up and they came in to take me out at the time I couldn't understand anything that was going on I really couldn't I still am missing parts of the timeline in my head from that whole day. But then they took us to this room in the waiting area and shut the door and my grandfather kept asking what happened and my in laws kept calling and by this time my little sister in law called my mom and sister and told them so they were calling and I just couldn't understand anything. Then the detectives came in and they were asking me these questions and I was just answering them not thinking anything of it until my grandfather asked them if they are interegating me or what? And asked them if I needed a lawyer, do they think I did this. They searched my house and counted the medicine that she was taking to make sure that it was equal to what it should be and they were sending it out to make sure it wasn't lace just all of this crazy stuff. The reasoning being that it isn't everyday a fairly healthy 18 year old dies 9 days before her birthday with no known cause. But skip to after that because I can't really remember any of it I know that they found that it was NOTHING that I did and they never apologized to me for that but honestly I didn't even know that they thought I was a suspect. The next few days we had to find out how to get a place for her to rest. My grandfather god bless him helped me with everything I will tell you I remember what K said to me when he FORCED me to sleep in the house that night (yes the same house my sister just died in front of) "I will take your **** and let you cry for 2 weeks, but that's it crying and being angry won't bring her back" yeah he's still not very nice about that stuff and caring when bad things happen I shouldn't cry according to him or feel bad because it is what it is and it's not going to change. That's most of the reason why I am writing on here and not talking to him. Telling my dad was an even bigger mistake than the detectives because he didn't believe me at all that she was dead he thought that I was playing some sick prank on him so that she could stay with me and he called the police on me like he promised! Of course they found that she really did die and then my dad wanted me to get on the phone and let him know what I was doing with the body! That was not even the most shocking part about her death. My step mom started a fundraiser and raised money to donate to a private school in Texas that my little brother and sister go to, but Rebekah never attended there so I was and still am confused about the donation that was made in her name to them! So the next few days my grandfather told me that he can help me with the plot and that's it he didn't have any money to help with, my mom was broke and my wonderful dad told me that she died somewhere that she wasn't supposed to be and didn't have any money to help me with anyway- well no wonder sending 2 kids to private school can get costly. So I had to learn what my options were. There is a funeral home that my grandfather used for my grandmother, aunt and his mom and some other people in the family so we used them. The state refused help because she didn't live in this state and Texas refused help unless we flew the body back there. So I had to have her cremated because it was the only thing that I could afford and really I couldn't even afford that! The funeral home director was nice, he gave us a deal- a free cardboard casket for her if I paid for embalming, makeup and at least 100 directory cards! It was a deal because that casket by itself was just a little under what all of this stuff cost together. So it was open and we had the wake on the same day as the funeral and it was a little over a week after she died because K and I had to find money in places and beg from others so it was starting to go bad so to say an didn't look anything like her. My dad flew down that morning and was flying back out that night. My brother was flown in from Afghan that night before, but started driving to NY too late so came after we sent her body off and Melissa and all of the other siblings "couldn't make it". So it was maybe 15 of us all together! It was sad and I said the eulogy because I couldn't afford the donation the church wanted for a preacher to come. And that's how we sent my sister off! With me fighting with her the day she died and then not being able to afford to give her nice things in death! I had overheard a conversation one time when I was younger about how it would be good for me to take any of Rebekah's qualities and adapt them for my own and that kept playing in my head and I have a feeling that people think and know that the wrong one died! I keep thinking that she was the lucky one that finally got away and then a year later the man that ruined everything when we were kids died and I pray that he's not hurting her right now wherever they are! But I wrote this because I want to do something special for her this year to mark that 5 years.... she loved kids and animals and I want to organize something to raise money for her. I would love suggestions! I don't want any sympathy I told you guys this so you have a better understanding for when I do whatever it is I am going to do and all of the heck that is going to come from it from all of the onlookers! I was thinking raising money for muscular dystrophy, but so many people do that it won't be special for her... She didn't have cancer so I don't want to raise money for that.... I was thinking collecting a lot of animal supplies or money and donating it to a no kill animal shelter or raising money to start a fund for people that were like her- not fully there but wanting to be independent. No one knows that I am trying to do this and I would like to keep it a secret if I can so no facebook talking about this just here (sorry to those that don't want to read...) I would start the fundraiser on the day that she died (June 9th) and end it on her birthday (June 18th) so it was open that long and can raise a lot of money doing something I just want to know what to do it for. She had always wanted a child, but knew that she shouldn't so maybe something for the kids that went through foster care like us? Or we could raise money to build a play area in the family court house- until you have sat in there for hours not being able to talk to anyone in fear you may "collaborate" stories at all different ages (the first time I spoke to a judge I remember and I remember why I was 6, at 6 Damien was playing soccer and learning to read/write the hardest thing he did was move to a new house)! But with that I don't think that many people would donate money or goods for it! So I am still thinking.... any..... by the way, thank you if you read all of this and I really do appreciate the friends I have on here, I tried to talk to one of my friends that I see all of the time about this and she kept changing the subject so I stopped trying and just needed somewhere to put my thoughts and not be judged or talked down to or interrupted! So thank you:hug: And I will get back on here with an update very soon!

[annmarieda]

:hug: Sometimes it is amazing how difficult life can be. I know you don't want sympathy... but you do deserve a hug. That is a lot to go through. I do hope life is better for you now. I assume so since you are in a place to think of fundraising.

As for the fundraising, I don't have any suggestions. I wonder if you should as a family maybe do something to remember her.... maybe volunteer at an animal shelter or something along that line? Might be hard though if K feels strongly about not looking back. Course, maybe you could tell him you are not looking back... but rather forward and you would like this to be a special moment in time to remember her. I don't know... I do know what ever you choose will be lovely!

Good luck.. and if I think of anything I will be sure and let you know. :goodvibes

[momabaarjo]

I agree with Ann...you need a big hug and if I could get on a plane right now I would! Despite all you have gone through in your life you have become an amazing mom, wife, and online friend! I see in your posts all your love and compassion!

I truly believe that all people are put on this earth for a purpose...and no the better one did not die! Don't even think that (although I have to admit sometimes I think that of myself and wonder why on earth I am here)! Words we hear when we are younger tend to always stick with us, and when we are young those words have different meanings to us and most of the time were not meant the way that our young minds take them and hold on to them. Heather, no way will you ever make me believe that you were an awful person when you were younger...there is no way that, that the person you claim to be is the one that I see in posts and texts daily! I envy the love you have for your son and the amazing involved mother you are...

One thing that struck me was that your sister wanted to feed the cats...I think should you save all those little extras from your budget the next few months and then take that money and get some cat things/food and take it the shelter as a donation in your sister's name..take some pictures and then have them framed. Then, maybe you could sit a day aside for a couple of hours (with your crazy schedule) and go work at the shelter as a volunteer in her memory. It would be your way of honoring her each month! I really don't think you need to fundraise to honor her memory to get a BIG donation...I think smaller gestures sometimes are more meaningful because they come from the heart! I also think the volunteering at the shelter will make you feel better...something about a little work is good for the soul!

I am sorry K does not understand, men don't...when my grandmother died last year I felt so alone...because I pushed him aside and tried to be the strong person...I do that with everyone in my...I do not trust anyone to take care of me or give me anything I need (mainly emotional support) because in the past I have always been hurt and let down so I guard myself...

:hug::hug::hug::hug::hug::hug: Remember you can always text or call me! Maybe I can be a better big sister to you then I was to my own sisters! Even though I am probably old enough to be your mother! :rotfl:

[princessbride6205]

I've been following your trip report after popping in because I liked the title!
The photos are great and I love the gems you found on your road trip. I'm looking forward to following along with the rest of your trip.

I'm sorry to hear about your sister and the circumstances of her passing. Obviously I'm just "meeting" you, but you sound like a kind and caring person, and I think we've all done things in our younger years that we regret. I think you are totally on the right track with your donation thoughts. Some shelters take used pillows and towels or blankets. Perhaps you could even start a collection box for these items at Damien's school and donate to several shelters. I agree that if you can find time to volunteer at a cause she would have liked, you may find some more peace. I hope you are able to find comfort here or from friends. I know how difficult it can be when a spouse has a completely different emotional philosophy.

[Monknmom]

:hug: Sometimes it is amazing how difficult life can be. I know you don't want sympathy... but you do deserve a hug. That is a lot to go through. I do hope life is better for you now. I assume so since you are in a place to think of fundraising.

As for the fundraising, I don't have any suggestions. I wonder if you should as a family maybe do something to remember her.... maybe volunteer at an animal shelter or something along that line? Might be hard though if K feels strongly about not looking back. Course, maybe you could tell him you are not looking back... but rather forward and you would like this to be a special moment in time to remember her. I don't know... I do know what ever you choose will be lovely!

Good luck.. and if I think of anything I will be sure and let you know. :goodvibes

I just typed up this big thing to you and it went off into cyber space because none of the words came here:confused3.... anyway, thank you for the hug. Okay since that happened I am going to type it to everyone below!

I agree with Ann...you need a big hug and if I could get on a plane right now I would! Despite all you have gone through in your life you have become an amazing mom, wife, and online friend! I see in your posts all your love and compassion!

I truly believe that all people are put on this earth for a purpose...and no the better one did not die! Don't even think that (although I have to admit sometimes I think that of myself and wonder why on earth I am here)! Words we hear when we are younger tend to always stick with us, and when we are young those words have different meanings to us and most of the time were not meant the way that our young minds take them and hold on to them. Heather, no way will you ever make me believe that you were an awful person when you were younger...there is no way that, that the person you claim to be is the one that I see in posts and texts daily! I envy the love you have for your son and the amazing involved mother you are...

One thing that struck me was that your sister wanted to feed the cats...I think should you save all those little extras from your budget the next few months and then take that money and get some cat things/food and take it the shelter as a donation in your sister's name..take some pictures and then have them framed. Then, maybe you could sit a day aside for a couple of hours (with your crazy schedule) and go work at the shelter as a volunteer in her memory. It would be your way of honoring her each month! I really don't think you need to fundraise to honor her memory to get a BIG donation...I think smaller gestures sometimes are more meaningful because they come from the heart! I also think the volunteering at the shelter will make you feel better...something about a little work is good for the soul!

I am sorry K does not understand, men don't...when my grandmother died last year I felt so alone...because I pushed him aside and tried to be the strong person...I do that with everyone in my...I do not trust anyone to take care of me or give me anything I need (mainly emotional support) because in the past I have always been hurt and let down so I guard myself...

:hug::hug::hug::hug::hug::hug: Remember you can always text or call me! Maybe I can be a better big sister to you then I was to my own sisters! Even though I am probably old enough to be your mother! :rotfl:

Thank you so much Tammie I am really thankful for all of the friends I have made on here! I am so appreciative for all of you I can't even explain it!

Thank you, I was not such a nice person though, I have a low tolerance level and a big temper! Never hurt anyone, the only thing I have stolen was a pack of gum as a kid because I was told I couldn't have it (and was embarrassed so much when I stole it I never did that again!), I have only taken 1 puff of drugs and didn't like the way it tasted or made me feel so I didn't do that and I was allowed to drink so it took the fun out of it and I didn't want to do it anymore. So I was good in that aspect, but I wasn't able to hold my tongue on many occasions I should have! But thank you!

I think that you have a good idea with the cats because yeah she was disobeying me so she could go feed the stray kittens so I think your right! I will do something with that!

Yeah in K's culture they don't do that! So I am trying to understand him but trying to make myself feel better! Thank you for the hugs! I think I know what I am going to do below!

I've been following your trip report after popping in because I liked the title!
The photos are great and I love the gems you found on your road trip. I'm looking forward to following along with the rest of your trip.

I'm sorry to hear about your sister and the circumstances of her passing. Obviously I'm just "meeting" you, but you sound like a kind and caring person, and I think we've all done things in our younger years that we regret. I think you are totally on the right track with your donation thoughts. Some shelters take used pillows and towels or blankets. Perhaps you could even start a collection box for these items at Damien's school and donate to several shelters. I agree that if you can find time to volunteer at a cause she would have liked, you may find some more peace. I hope you are able to find comfort here or from friends. I know how difficult it can be when a spouse has a completely different emotional philosophy.


Thank you for reading along! And I liked those places too... I want to just take a weekend and go see more near our house I like those kooky things!

Thank you! Yes I think that I am going to do something along those lines, but also something like cook a dinner for the ambulance company that came to her (and the first cop on the scene he took over as soon as he got there and didn't stop or say anything about the situation and my crazy screaming at people. I really regret that!)!

I didn't mean anything big, but between family members. Right now Damien's school is collecting dog food, dog treats, dog toys and things like that for their "Furry Valentine" - it's so cute the teachers put them on the animal shelters website and the class took a vote and Mikko won! So that's something I had meant not going out and having this huge thing! But I think I will get some money together and volunteer a few hours, plus last night at the ambulance company dance there was a women that had made a 9-1-1 call because her 3 year old got into the fenced pool somehow and was floating in the pool by the time the mom found her. The mom was crying and said that she was so thankful because the ambulance came so fast and they didn't just tell her that her baby had died they tried to revive her (the mom had been doing things as well until they got there) and I don't know how and neither did the mom, but the little girl ended up living! And they brought the little girl out and the mom had these blankets made for everyone that volunteered for the ambulance company and on the 6 month anniversary she came and cooked for them a big dinner and for the specific workers that helped her daughter she had these "thank you" medals made with the engraved date and name and everything they were so nice looking! I want to maybe do something like that also... I would have to find out if the Moriches is like the one K is for though...

But on the matter of my TR and your TR's I promise I will get to them today. I forgot that I had the open house at the private school for Damien and since I am going to be out there I want to pick up some stuff for myself that I need! So yes I WILL get caught up on everything today!

[momabaarjo]

Heather...we all have our faults, you were a child! And what were you about 20 with a toddler at the time when your sister died with no support of your family? That seems like more than your fair of the burden. Let me remind you that funerals and all that goes along with it are not for the person that died...it is for the living, and I would not worry about that was done and what was not done! You did your best at the time, and that is all that your sister would of asked of you! I think you did an amazing job despite all the circumstances!

I like what you have decided upon, and it also involves Damien!

I saw your picture of last night of...you looked so pretty! I want to remind you how pretty you are on the outside and inside...I don't care about the girl you were in your mind...but the wonderful woman/wife/mother you have become! I can tell in your posts the love that you have for your family...and how much you give to all of them. Chin up, live a life that would make your sister proud!

[annmarieda]

Heather...we all have our faults, you were a child! And what were you about 20 with a toddler at the time when your sister died with no support of your family? That seems like more than your fair of the burden. Let me remind you that funerals and all that goes along with it are not for the person that died...it is for the living, and I would not worry about that was done and what was not done! You did your best at the time, and that is all that your sister would of asked of you! I think you did an amazing job despite all the circumstances!

I like what you have decided upon, and it also involves Damien!

I saw your picture of last night of...you looked so pretty! I want to remind you how pretty you are on the outside and inside...I don't care about the girl you were in your mind...but the wonderful woman/wife/mother you have become! I can tell in your posts the love that you have for your family...and how much you give to all of them. Chin up, live a life that would make your sister proud!

:thumbsup2 very well said!!! I totally agree. :goodvibes:goodvibes

[swwake]

Big hugs to you Heather. Tammie has a way with words, and I totally agree with her. Vent away. It is so nice that you have come to a place where you will honor your sister with a nice memorial that will benefit other people and animals.

[lilpixiebabe101]

All I'm going to say is :hug: .

And agree with Tammie!

I really like the cat shelter ideas. Whether to volunteer the time in your sisters name, or to do a donation of monetary value or items.

[Monknmom]

Heather...we all have our faults, you were a child! And what were you about 20 with a toddler at the time when your sister died with no support of your family? That seems like more than your fair of the burden. Let me remind you that funerals and all that goes along with it are not for the person that died...it is for the living, and I would not worry about that was done and what was not done! You did your best at the time, and that is all that your sister would of asked of you! I think you did an amazing job despite all the circumstances!

I like what you have decided upon, and it also involves Damien!

I saw your picture of last night of...you looked so pretty! I want to remind you how pretty you are on the outside and inside...I don't care about the girl you were in your mind...but the wonderful woman/wife/mother you have become! I can tell in your posts the love that you have for your family...and how much you give to all of them. Chin up, live a life that would make your sister proud!

Yeah I was 21 and K was 22 so I know we were young! I see what you are saying and are very very thankful for you and all of my friends here! Thank you! You really do have a way with words for people!

Yes we have decided that we will volunteer at the animal shelter in the cat section, but before that we are going to ask friends and family to donate some food and treats for cats and we will give a money donation! That way it's simple and still nice!


:thumbsup2 very well said!!! I totally agree. :goodvibes:goodvibes

Thank you Ann!

Big hugs to you Heather. Tammie has a way with words, and I totally agree with her. Vent away. It is so nice that you have come to a place where you will honor your sister with a nice memorial that will benefit other people and animals.

Thank you! I hope so!
All I'm going to say is :hug: .

And agree with Tammie!

I really like the cat shelter ideas. Whether to volunteer the time in your sisters name, or to do a donation of monetary value or items.

Thanks! I got the idea from a combination of here and what they are doing in Damien's class! So I can't really take the credit, but I will do the work for it!

[Monknmom]

Sorry I am so behind (still on the fist day) so I am going to wrap up the first day now and get caught up on yours and start day 2 tonight as well!
After we left DTD we left our car there and took the bus to what listed they were going to the Grand Floridian, but instead stopped at the Wilderness Lodge and then proceeded back to DTD.
Confused we asked the driver and he said that he doesn't go there. After stopping back at DTD we get off and are headed to the car to drive there and he comes to tell us that he is in fact headed to the GF now, but
we decide that it will be faster to take our car- this upset K a little that I didn't know that teh bus didn't go there, but I ignored my grumpy and moved on!
We drove up to the GF and we had to park in staff parking lot #3 because he said that they were full in all of the other parking lots! So walking up it started to just rain like anything and K thinks only of his
phone and takes off running for the doors (we were only feet away)! And we all get inside and there is is... the tree, the piano playing, the smell of gingerbread I was just about in tears at the site and smells
and I look over at Damien (who seemed to sneak his blanket in under his jacket and now is holding it and sucking his thumb- means he's tired) and K asking what we are doing here... this was magic? NO!!!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0158.jpg
So I told him let's just look around for a little and take it in! Well the whole time I am trying to take it in Damien keeps plopping himself where ever he'd like to and K keeps complaining that we are way under dressed and I was trying to wait in line for a peice of ginger cookie, but I couldn't even enjoy that so after snapping some pictures I told Damien about the monorail (perked him up just enough to get him on it) and we headed to the Poly to check that out! But here are some pictures I snapped!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0160.jpg
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0159.jpg
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0167.jpg
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0161.jpg
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0162.jpg
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0163.jpg
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0165.jpg
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0164.jpg
The monorail ride was nice! We got off at the Poly and they were in better spirits here, I didn't know that you can just take the lei's or we would have.
I thought that the water fall was pretty so I took a picture of K and Monk in front of that pool of water that they have the the dolphin statue.
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0169.jpg
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0168.jpg
They were getting hungry so we stopped at the QS restaurant that is in the hotel called Kona. K got the chili side and used a snack credit for it and a snack credit for his coffee (I faught with him all trip about doing this! It made me so mad that he was using the snack credits for a coffee!). I got the Shrimp Pan-Asian Noodles as a dinner and Damien got a sprite as a drink and parfait as the dessert.
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0171.jpg
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0170.jpg
And just to let you see how grumpy I was becoming at this point
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/polyfood.jpg
We shared everything because we were all so tired that we got back on the monorail and headed to GF and then to our hotel to sleep! But when we got to the hotel it was pouring again! So K ran for the car and Damien and I waited snapping these photos first!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0173.jpg
Damien had fun after this picture- a little girl that went to the BBB that afternoon had just finished dinner at Park fare and she was dressed as Cinderella and he was pretending to pull her in the carriage while she also waited for her car to come! I felt weird taking a picture of her so I just have this one, but it was nice!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0172.jpg
Now spleeping was something Damien was REFUSING to sleep on his own! He was scared even though he sleeps in his own room at home! So we let him fall asleep in the bed with us and moved him later (meaning that even tough we went to bed around 9 pm I didn't get to sleep until about
11pm)! And I opted for the phone call at 5:30am and like always K left his cellphone alarm on also-- I'm glad that he did because the phone didn't ring until almost 6:20, Damien was already awake and answered it!
So that was the end of the day! After I catch up on everyone elses I am going to come back and post another up date since K is at the ambulance company tonight!

[momabaarjo]

Yeah I was 21 and K was 22 so I know we were young! I see what you are saying and are very very thankful for you and all of my friends here! Thank you! You really do have a way with words for people!

You make me blush, not telling you anything I would not tell you if you were here! Now, I only wish that I could have the same words for myself...but I never tend to listen to myself...and trust me I talk to myself a lot.

I am so much better with written words, where I sit and think things out before I write...maybe that is part of the reason that I really do not have close REAL TIME relationships with other woman. I so long to have the words for friendships in person. I am not a trusting person by nature of those around me...have been burned too many times by people that I have let close to me...



Yes we have decided that we will volunteer at the animal shelter in the cat section, but before that we are going to ask friends and family to donate some food and treats for cats and we will give a money donation! That way it's simple and still nice!



I think this is a great way to honor her memory!

[momabaarjo]

Sorry about the confusion with the buses...I think it takes a second trip to finally figure out how they all work...buses, monrails, boats, OH MY!

Funny how each of our children have a way to tell us when they are tired...Goo has a thing for ears (ever since he was a baby)...when he is tired he rubs his ears or grabs ahold of yours if you are holding him.

I did not get a piece of gingerbread either...and that makes me both:mad: and :guilty: because that was something I so wanted! Have to find out why in my TR....:rotfl: and at the rate I am going that might be months until you find out!

[annmarieda]

Your trip to GF sounds very similar to mine. Well, at least when it came to a grumpy dh thinking that the resort was too stuffy and that we shouldn't linger. That night was super super rainy. That was the night we were over at MVMCP. So when you say it started to rain... I know EXACTLY what rain you are talking about.

I love your pictures of the gingerbread house. WAY better than the ones I got. I (like Tammie) didn't get any gingerbread :sad2:

Glad everyone perked up when you got to the Poly... I totally get btw not feeling to pleased about a sc being used for coffee. It was all I could do when ds used one to add doritos to his lunch. DORITOS!!! :confused3

[Monknmom]

Sorry about the confusion with the buses...I think it takes a second trip to finally figure out how they all work...buses, monrails, boats, OH MY!

Funny how each of our children have a way to tell us when they are tired...Goo has a thing for ears (ever since he was a baby)...when he is tired he rubs his ears or grabs ahold of yours if you are holding him.

I did not get a piece of gingerbread either...and that makes me both:mad: and :guilty: because that was something I so wanted! Have to find out why in my TR....:rotfl: and at the rate I am going that might be months until you find out!

I am not good with "in person girls" either I think because I have so much that I say without thinking that it comes out wrong! Even when I type it comes out wrong most of the time, but it's easier to fix here!
You should listen to your own advice! Your a smart accomplished women and have a lot of good things going for you!
I love the ears thing-- at least it's not some goofy looking blanket that's tattered looking and then he brought it into this fancy hotel... I just about melted from embarresment!

Your trip to GF sounds very similar to mine. Well, at least when it came to a grumpy dh thinking that the resort was too stuffy and that we shouldn't linger. That night was super super rainy. That was the night we were over at MVMCP. So when you say it started to rain... I know EXACTLY what rain you are talking about.

I love your pictures of the gingerbread house. WAY better than the ones I got. I (like Tammie) didn't get any gingerbread :sad2:

Glad everyone perked up when you got to the Poly... I totally get btw not feeling to pleased about a sc being used for coffee. It was all I could do when ds used one to add doritos to his lunch. DORITOS!!! :confused3

Now that you both say that I don't feel so bad that I waited in that line and just left without the ginger! I love those kind of cookies though!

Isn't it weird reading about someone's time where you were? Reading your report about going back to the hotel for Alex I remember the texts you were sending me about them and I wanted to get him some medicine!

Yeah I started to make him buy his cups of coffee and then at the end of the trip when we had 17 credits left he was the one upset!
I think this is a great way to honor her memory!

Thank you Tammie! Now I have to sadly keep it a secret from my Texas family otherwise my stepmother will see it as a challenge instead of a way to remember her....

[momabaarjo]

Want to talk blankets...Boo had a blanket (forget what he called it...that I took so he would have it for a keepsake) and Ab has a little rag doll (literally RAGS now) called Mattie that she still sleeps with today! She did leave Mattie home on this trip, but usually Mattie goes anywhere she sleeps!

Seriously...Stepmother would make this a competition when she could not even help with a funeral...piece of work...now where does she live, I might need to make a road trip to kick some hiney!

[Monknmom]

For today like I said I woke up at 5:30am because the park had EMH for the morning so I wanted to be there for the opening at 8am! K and Damien were pretty good about getting up I have to say- I mean why shouldn't they, they were the ones getting all of the sleep lately! On the drive over there I explained to K that he was going to run for the expedition everest fastpasses while I ran to get in line for Kilamonjaro safari... he wasn't okay with this so I had to go with him and instead of fighting I agreed!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0175.jpg
So we get to the park and there is really not that many people there at 7:30am, so we took our time looking at the tree and such!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0176.jpg
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0177.jpg
After that they let us in to the Oasis part to wait. It was nice we got to walk around a little and see the animals that are right there, I told them that later we will make it back to see/find the lady devine! We had a really nice view of the tree of life from here too!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0179.jpg
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So we wait and wait and wait and they finally let us in... I know that most people are going to go through the the Discovery Island to get there so I listened to a tip that people told me to go through Dinosaur land and that was a really nice tip because we got there pretty quickly! There was no line (wait time was 5 minutes) so we decided to jump on! We hurried through the line thinking that we will come back and see it again later and got to the ride. I had prepped Damien for the scary rides! I told him that are going to try every ride 1 time and what he doesn't like he doesn't have to ride again. As far as K- he's a grown man and shouldn't be scared! Now we get on the ride and the man that K is sitting with I hear asks him if this is his first time and K replies "yes I have never been on a ride like this before"- Kaung is from Burma, they don't have things like this there and here he has only been to a carnival and rode those rides! He was in for a treat I thought because I LOVE rollercoasters! These are pictures of K and Damien going up the mountain!
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http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0181.jpg
Damien and I heard screaming and I look back thinking that there is a little girl somewhere only to find out that it was my husband! Yep he screamed like a little girl the whole ride and the man said (after the ride) that he thought K was going to break either the bar or his fingers for how tight he was holding that bar! Damien didn't like it because he was scared of the yeti! This is the picture from the first ride that we took on EE- he didn't know what was going to happen and it was his first roller coaster too so he put his hands up hesitantly and look at his face I love it!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0182.jpg
We got fasspasses and we convinced Damien to go back on! Again we just walked right on, but took a little longer to go through the line so we could read! Reading was a mistake because Damien can read and it made him frieghtened- I couldn't understand why tough he just went on the ride! So quickly going on we promised if he went on again we would go to see the animals on the safari! And he agreed! K did much better this time! I didn't hear him scream, but then again I couldn't hear either of them- I sat in the front and they sat a few seats behind me!
Next we made it over to the Kilamonjaro safari! We got there and again we walked right on! There were even vehicles that didn't have anyone in them! I think that we had only our family and one other in the vehicle! Damien just loved this tour! He liked to spot the animals and the baby giraffes were kinda playing tag while we were on our tour! He got a big kick out of how they run and play! He was spotting animals before the driver could tell us them and he would shout out what they were and ask questions- the other family and the driver didn't really mind so K and I just let him go for it! These are some photos that we got on the ride!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/100_0185.jpg
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When we got off he was wanting to call his Auntie and tell her about the poachers that we caught and the animals that we saw! He just wanted to tell her everything, but he couldn't because sadly Auntie Khine is not the nicest person in the morning when you wake her up! Now this is where I loss my camera! I knew what time it was because I just showed Damien the time telling him he couldn't call his Auntie Khine (it was 9:27am) and I had given my camera to K to hold (he was my personal walking suitcase the whole trip and carried the bag too I could call him a camel but I think that is a little meaner than a suitcase)! So anyway, I ask him for my camera so that I could take another picture of the tree of life from a different point of view. He had it in his cargo pants pocket with the string hanging out and grabbed it by the string and did this thing where he holds it by the string and slings it over to me and I guess that he thought I grabbed it because he let go of the string and all of this happened in seconds and as I type this my heart is dropping once again with the camera to the ground! No big deal you would say right? It was maybe 2 feet at most that it dropped? BUT remember in my PTR my house was robbed and they took my good camera? Then on black Friday my sister in law (Auntie Khine) bought me a cheap camera just to take to Disney (not cheap, but cheap I can't explain that)! It was a Kodak easyshare! And it broke! Well smart me didn't listen to K the whole trip who kept telling me that I should go buy another one because well I know better than him I thought! So after my camera fell we picked it up and walked quickly to make the first Lion King show! It says to get there a 1/2 hour in advance to the show to get a good spot! So we did and waiting in line Damien made friends with some kids from Tenesse while K and I tried to figure out the camera- yes he was still telling me to go buy the disposable ones from the souvenier carts, but I still didn't listen! It was flashing and turning on so I thought that maybe just the viewing screen was broken? So the whole trip I continued taking pictures with my camera and K with his phone! Guess who got nothing? Yup, me! Everything after the safari is a white picture! Okay so back to the time at hand! We got to sit in the very front row of the lion section! It was nice! He was picked to come up and play an instrument for the parade! K video taped it, although it's not that great of quality this is the video!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/th_IMG_0263.jpg (http://s1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/?action=view&current=IMG_0263.mp4)
Here are some pictures that K's phone captured!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/lionking2.jpg
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/lionking1.jpg
Damien really wanted Timon's signature after the show but I guess they don't do that?
When we left the Lion King show it started to rain a little, but we were one of the few families that got to take a picture with there two before they headed back in to their rabbit hole where it was dry! Between the 3 of us we didn't know who she was until I saw her signature and still I guess she appears in the 2nd Bambi?
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/msbunnynthumper.jpg
Then we proceeded to Mickey first, tried for Donald but was told the he was going to join Goofy soon so we went over to Goofy's line and whenever someone came we let them go first so that we would be there when Donald came over- which he finally did! Then we planned on Minnie mouse, but they moved her in with Mickey and put the bunnie where she was so Monk didn't want to see Mickey again (another time... right?). So we finished the greeting trails with the friends that were put in Donald's spot- Chip and Dale! They loved Damien's shirt! They made a gesture that they were laughing at the fact that Donald was trying to catch them and they tried to play tag with Damien because we were the only ones in thier line for a while! But we had to say goodbye to move on!
We then made our way over for the 1pm flights of wonder show, but we had to wait a few minutes so decided to grab an egg roll (I got all 3 of us 1, but only 2 of us ate them! Yes my food was robbed from me 1/2 eaten- this is a pattern the whole trip)! When we sat there listening to the women talk about stuff Guano Joe starts to come in yelling for his tour group to follow the flag! That guy was hilarious I could have watched him all day and not gotten bored! He had Damien, K and I cracking up! The birds were amazing to watch as well! LOL the part where baby Elvis comes out just had K with this burst of laughter and Joe points to him (because he laughed so hard) and says from behind the tree "you thinkit's funny that she's trying to lie to me so I can be food for a bird?" It made him laugh even more! I loved it too, just I think that K loved it the most! Damien just wanted to talk to Joe!
By this time we were hungry (we only ate some stuff that I brought from home for breakfast), so I told them that Yak and Yeti is said to be pretty good... and we went there! K had the Beef Lo Mein with a coke and a banana pudding, I had the sweet and sour chicken with a rootbeer and a triple chocolate mousse, and Damien had the honey chicken with a sprite and a frozen lemonade! None of us were too happy with the food though. I thought that maybe it was because they put too much sauce on it? If it didn't have as much sauce it would have probably been alright! But a good thing is while we were eating there was a lady sitting mext to us to had come with her husband for the 30th wedding anniversary! They had never been here before and there were no more table so we let them sit with us! Damien did remind me that we souldn't because we don't know them, but I explained that we are here it's okay-- he is a smart cokie and not just smart in his brain but with his mouth sometimes!!!! I know that he gets that from me, it just upsets me that he got that from me! But we eat and talk and have a good time with them! They were really nice, but I didn't write the names down and forgot who they are~ but they gave us some great tips for the other parks and such! When we were done we went over to a bugs life and watched the show with no waiting! We nicknamed him Monkey so we took this picture!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/monknmonkey.jpg
I liked the show- Damien kept cracking me up though he says that he didn't breath when the bug farted because he could taste it? and when they sprayed he said that he stopped breathing so he wouldn't taste it? He is so weird sometimes! We were a little above the schedule that I planned so we let him explore the bug trail there and see the trantula and the bug view things! I think that this is where he lost his Phineas and Ferb water bottle- it never turned up in lost and found though so really I have no idea where he lost it, but he did because he didn't want to put it into the backpack with the others! After this we used the restrooms and heard people talking and Winnie the pooh bear being somewhere and wouldn't you know it the trail was right next to the bathrooms! We got in line- my favorite character! I love him! First you see Pooh bear- Damien really could care less though! He walked up and told him I need your signature because my mom likes you! And he took a picture (because we made him) and moved on quickly to Eyeore! And he checked the tail to make sure that it was there! Took a picture and was SO excited when he went over to Tigger! He started bouncing like Tigger as he went over (instead of walking) and Tigger bounced with him, then signed the book! Now every character wanted to hand the book to me after they signed and everytime Damien told them "No that's mine" and he would put the marker back in it's place before taking a picture. So with that being said there is a funny picture on the photopass of Tigger leaning on Damien's head acting like he's bored waiting for Damien! I can't wait to get the CD back to show it to you! After that we headed over to the Dinosaur ride! Monk loves Dinosaurs and was telling us all about them while we walked over there and waited (we did have like a 10 minute wait here, nothing too big)! And then we get on and this little monkey is scared I mean scared! He ducked and just laid his head in my lap the whole time! He was crying and just terrified of this ride! I couldn't undersrtand why either- in fact I still don't understand because he LOVES dinosaurs! But it was just funny! We then went on Primval Whirl 2 times in a row and were going to go to Finding Nemo but they didn't want to so we headed over to Kali river Rapids!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/kali.jpg
I have a little neice that is my sister in law's baby named Kali- spelt justlike that- and we call her cauliflower! So we took that picture above just for his cousin (she's only 2, but it was a cute gesture and he smiled nice)! I didn't like this ride because all day it was misting and on and off rain and I don't like walking around wet! But I went on! There was no wait we walked right up and onto a boat before I could change my mind! I was worried about the bag getting wet (and it did)! I put on a poncho and Damien and K opted to keep it off! We sat with a family that was "on holiday" (I love how they say that) from Ireland! They were really nice! I put my big girl panties on and rode the ride- K and Damien were sitting on the side that went into the plunge 1st. That made them want to ride again and we did in fact I didn't even get asked if we wanted to get off because both dads in the families asked if we can go again and they let us because there was no line! And once again K and Monk got wet! This time I let the guy know I wanted to get off-- I didn't want to chance my luck any further-- and they let me off and K and Damien rode 4 more times! That brings them to a total of 6 times they rode and wanted to keep going, but the line got long by that time and they would have to wait in line which they (nor I) wanted to! So we continued on our way! They were cold surprisingly to themselves- they didn't expect to be cold? and they had nothing to change into so Damien wanted to go back and K wanted to go back so they went into the bathroom to try to dry off what they could and I got the almonds as a snack (oh my they were good from what I can remember of them) K and Damien came out and they took my snack! I had maybe 5 almonds from that bag! OKay Okay I let them have it and didn't have the paitience to stand in line agian. So we went into the (LOL I went to lookup the name of the trail because I didn't write it and instead of looking at the park map that I haveinfront of me with notes on it I opened up a new window... oh I need sleep)! So we went into the Maharajah Jungle trek and that was amazing to see! I got a kick out of the orange trees that were there too! I kept telling K to take an orange down to snack on, but he wouldn't because he said you weren't allowed! I wonder if they have to sweep those up sometimes? By this time they were so cold and still wet I couldn't ask them to go on any longer so we went to the car where I had a change of clothes for them. They changed (well Damien did K did not) and we made it over to tour animal kingdom. They were bored though and didn't want to stay so we were there maybe a total of 10-15 minutes. We headed over to our hotel and it was only around 5:30pm so we headed to the food court for dinner. K got a Philly Cheesesteak, seasonal muffin and a monster to drink. I got the chicken quesadilla, cranberry orange muffin and a sprite to drink. Damien got the kids chicken nuggets with fries and a blueberry muffin and chocolate milk to drink! Damien didn't like his so he ate mine and I was stuck with the chicken nuggets so as far as I know the quesadilla was really good according to Damien! K said that the cheesesteak was really good too and the muffins we didn't eat until the next morning for breakfast- but they were really good too! So that ended our day! When we got back to the room we were surprised with a signed picture of Mickey Mouse in front of the castle! Damien was really happy and I was surprised! It was nice to come back to! So that ended our day! We brushed out teeth and got to bed!

So to recap- there will not be too many more pictures until I get the photopass CD because K was worried his phone's battery would die (the IPone's drain quickly) so we took some, not all pictures. No more food pictures because he thought that was a waste of memory! Silly guy!

Next up.... Disney's Hollywood studios!

[Monknmom]

Want to talk blankets...Boo had a blanket (forget what he called it...that I took so he would have it for a keepsake) and Ab has a little rag doll (literally RAGS now) called Mattie that she still sleeps with today! She did leave Mattie home on this trip, but usually Mattie goes anywhere she sleeps!

Seriously...Stepmother would make this a competition when she could not even help with a funeral...piece of work...now where does she live, I might need to make a road trip to kick some hiney!

Damien calls it his "tag"! LOL oh my.... I don't think that I ever had anything I had to sleep with? I can't remember!

Yeah she's a piece of work! Like I said when it happened she raised money for a bench to be put at Angleton Christian school (I think that's what it's called), but Rebekah never went there just our 1/2 sister and 1/2 brother did. And she made this ceremony for the bench and everything- even had a memorial service at the Angleton 1st baptist church for Rebekah! But that's where they live! She's getting her karma though- I know it's not right of me, but she has lost both legs since Rebekah has died and seems to keep losing more and more of it from infection! So I know that she's getting hers! But thank you!

[dara00]

EE doesn't go upside down, right? just backwards? I didn't go on when we were last in AK, but my husband did! I think we actually missed a lot of AK because I remember thinking it was basically a Disney themed zoo. We couldn't even figure out how to get close up to the tree!

sorry about your camera!

[Monknmom]

EE doesn't go upside down, right? just backwards? I didn't go on when we were last in AK, but my husband did! I think we actually missed a lot of AK because I remember thinking it was basically a Disney themed zoo. We couldn't even figure out how to get close up to the tree!

sorry about your camera!

Yes only backwards! i liked animal kingdom, my son loves animals! If you went to it's tough to be a bug I think that when you got that close you could see the tree closer, but I think that when you were a little ways away and zoomed in that was the best way to see it!

Yeah that silly camera! I just have no luck with those things!

[annmarieda]

Yeah I started to make him buy his cups of coffee and then at the end of the trip when we had 17 credits left he was the one upset!




I did the same thing... I didn't want us to "frivolously" use credits in the beginning and then we ended up with a ton in the end.

And ... your update!!! I love it!!

I was literally :rotfl2: when your wrote about EE and K. You will have to wait for my update...but just wait till you read about our EE adventures. :goodvibes Your pictures of it turned out great.

I am sorry though that your camera didn't survive the drop!!! I remember seeing the cracked screen and thinking that it might still be ok. :sad2: I wish I was not wrong.

Your safari pics were awesome too. You got a great shot of the lion... which is hard to do.

How exciting that Damien was chosen at FOTLK!!! :woohoo:

I was not brave enough to ride Kali this trip. I was too afraid of being wet. And as you mention, that part of December was misty and or rainy.

Yak and Yeti qs people do tend to like... but I wonder if it is not just for the quantity. I too find it a bit..saucy. Very cool you had someone to dine with!!!

I don't blame Damien for being scared on Dinosaur. It is the one ride that even though I know it isn't real, startles me. I mean... the noise is a bit :scared1:

Can't wait to read how DHS went!!!!popcorn::

[Monknmom]

I did the same thing... I didn't want us to "frivolously" use credits in the beginning and then we ended up with a ton in the end.

And ... your update!!! I love it!!

I was literally :rotfl2: when your wrote about EE and K. You will have to wait for my update...but just wait till you read about our EE adventures. :goodvibes Your pictures of it turned out great.

I am sorry though that your camera didn't survive the drop!!! I remember seeing the cracked screen and thinking that it might still be ok. :sad2: I wish I was not wrong.

Your safari pics were awesome too. You got a great shot of the lion... which is hard to do.

How exciting that Damien was chosen at FOTLK!!! :woohoo:

I was not brave enough to ride Kali this trip. I was too afraid of being wet. And as you mention, that part of December was misty and or rainy.

Yak and Yeti qs people do tend to like... but I wonder if it is not just for the quantity. I too find it a bit..saucy. Very cool you had someone to dine with!!!

I don't blame Damien for being scared on Dinosaur. It is the one ride that even though I know it isn't real, startles me. I mean... the noise is a bit :scared1:

Can't wait to read how DHS went!!!!popcorn::

Thank you Ann! I am so glad that others were conservative with the snack credits too! I am excited about your update on it! I loved it! K.... not so much and Damien... yeah he talks big talk now that he's not faced with it:lmao:! The camera looked okay right? I showed it to you and I really did think that it was just the viewing screen... I should have listened to K and bought the disposable ones! It's just that it was the first day and I didn't want to use money that I didn't have to! Oh my... a BIG lesson learned! The tour guide said that! He said that you rarely see the lion out and the lioness is most of the time on that rock though...

Damien was happy! He was proud and asked if I saw that! You know I was worried that they were going to really get sick, but think about that for a second... I went on only 2 times and didn't get wet- they went on 6 times and were SOAKED! I came back home and was sick for almost a month and they really didn't get sick! I am wondering if there is something to their immune system to mine!

I was wrong:blush: it's not DHS next... it's future world- the day we met you guys!!!

[Monknmom]

Okay I should be making up the chocolate pops to take to the nursing home on Monday evening, but I didn't get to the candy store for the chocolate and sticks so I can't do that right now, plus I have to still buy the bags for the crumb cake cupcakes! So I have a little free time while my Monkey is ignoring me in the other room and K is at the ambulance company- before he left though he had to help me out with some of his new learned skills! Trying to reach as high as I could for Damien's Valentine's present I don't know what happened, but I twisted my ankle! It hurts very bad so I have it up with ice on it right now! I did however get everything else done, I just have to wrap some of the stuff for Valentine's day and it's all set to go for Tuesday(still have to buy a stuffed animal for Damien and Emily and a picture for K's stufed animal and the dog cookies for Emily from Fetch tomorrow, plus I just found out on facebook that Emily's "boyfriend"-she's fixed- bought her a Valentine so I have to sneak in something for them while we are at Fetch!)! I figure that on Monday I can clean the house and make up the chocolate pops for Monday night and tomorrow Damien can make the cupcakes and put them in the bags while I take Emily to her play date- that's going to be fun with my ankle! Although I really do want to take Damien because I would like that picture, I will have to see how they are treating each other tomorrow! Okay now that I have that all cleared up in my head and on paper/computer I can move on with the trip report! I was wrong! I am not at DHS day, I am actually on the 1st day in Epcot! Now this whole trip I thought that I should give MK or DHS 2 days instead, but I am happy that I gave it to Epcot because that ended up being the park that we all agreed we liked the most! I am warning you there are not a lot of pictures because we have no really camera and still I didn't break down and just buy one (I am so mad at myself)!
Future World had EMH in the morning on this day so we got to the park around 7:30 am and ate the muffins we bought the night before while in line for opening! I have to say I love that opening where they are saying it in all of the different languages! I really wish that I had the time and patience to sit and learn some languages! In the way the US is going I better start to learn spanish and maybe even Chinese (at least if I live in NY)! But I love that learning about other cultures and the way that they do things and believe in different things it's just amazing to me! So anyway, we started our day with K actually (all by himself I just about FAINTED- but then again it was right next door so not such a big deal) going to Mission Space and getting fastpasses for the 3 of us. While he did that I took Damien to the bathroom and such then we met at test track all together! There was no line so we walked right on and Damien LOVES that ride! It's his favorite of all the Disney rides! He still talks about it and everytime we went on we put the photos on the photopass- I love that this ride let you do that! I wish that they all did! Then we went over to Mission Space- since there was a 5 minute wait we decided not to use the fastpasses and just went on the green one! K loved this ride and Damien enjoyed it as well! We walked right on 2 more times- K wanted to try green again and then orange- K liked the orange the best! Damien and I felt sick after we went on orange so we stayed away from that! Then we head over to Spaceship Earth! I liked it, not what I expected and not a ride we did again, but I enjoyed it! Damien was bored and kept asking when we would be done and K said that everything went too fast for him to see anything in detail! Afterwards we spent a few minutes in the area there when you get off! I thought that I took a picture of K and Damien's future (they sat together) but I can't find it so maybe I took it with the camera? Then we were headed to the Seas with Nemo ride and Turtle Talk with crush, but I got a text from a friend.... she said that she was running late and still wanted to meet up today. I told her that I would wait for her, but she didn't know how long she would be so she told me to go ahead. BUT the part she really didn't know was that I had read the text to K outloud and told him we can keep on going... well my little bug heard it too and remembered that I told him Zoe was Ann's daughter so he associated Ann with Zoe (he only knew that Zoe was a little girl that was near his age he can go on a ride with). Now he was tired- even though he slept a lot in the car I guess that he was wearing down still so he didn't want to go on another ride without her. So I told Ann that we will wait to go on the Seas with them! And we did, we went on Turtle talk while waiting and then after meeting Ann and helping her find her family we went on to the seas! Oh my I was embarresed because my son wanted to sit with Zoe on the ride and was kinda throwing a little fit right there and I had to get him in the shell with me! I was so embaressed I really was! Ann is so smart and nice and her husband and son were too, although I didn't get to see them too much! Zoe is so smart and polite and a mini version of her mom! She seemed to have lots of paitence and understanding and her mom says how easy going she is most of the time and I am sure that a lot of parents say that, but Zoe really is! Oh my I was just in awe of how mature she was! Anyway... this (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43838621&postcount=268) is the link to what my friend had to write about that time! I don't have the picture from the 4 of us on the computer, but I have this one of Zoe and Damien- I have to steal some of Ann's!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/zoenmonk.jpg
After the ride Damien wanted to go on test track with Zoe, but I knew that Ann was running late with her plans and we were going to see them and another DIS friend on Friday so I said that we can wait until then for that ride- now remember that when I get to Friday and remember that my son isn't good with change and has the memory of an elephant!! And we parted ways! We walked over to Figment and on our way in we had Damien saying he's hungry and wants to eat and thirsty so we went back over to Sunshine seasons to eat and K picked up our Sourin passes as well (I can't really remember what time it was- maybe 12?- but our return window for sourin was not until 7pm! At sunshine season we had been a little confused on how to order and where to order, but figured it out! That place is very confusing for me! The last few meals we ordered Damien would say he's super hungry and then not really eat too much so from his meal so we decided that we would just let him share off of our plates- he's not that big of an eater to begin with and being hot on top of that he really just wanted to drink whenever we would go eat! So we got 2 orders of the mongolian beef- K got fruit salad as his dessert and Damien picked out an Itzakadoozie ice cream for ours plus the chocolate milk drink for him (he went crazy with these all trip because he can't have this at home) and K got an iced french vanilla coffee. Damien ended up eating K's fruit cup and I ended up drinking K's drink and Damien ended up also eating most of both of the beef plates so to say that the food was good was an understatement, but the place was busy and we knew that we were going to walk around world showcase and snack there so we didn't bother waiting in line for more food. Instead we went on living with the land to cool off and take a break! It was nice I enjoyed it! Damien told me that when I go to plant the garden this year he's going to make sure that I make my tomatoes from trees.. I wonder how they did that! The thing with that is he likes pasta sauce, but doesn't like ketchup or tomatoes so to show him what tomato sauce was made from I had him help me pick a few tomatoes from my garden to make sauce with and he thought it was so nasty that the vines on the tomato plants let some of the tomatoes touch the ground! He wouldn't eat sauce until recently after that! After the ride we were all refreshed and feeling a little bit fuller so we went back to figments- this time Damien wasn't hungry and grouchy so he noticed the jumping fountain! He was trying to get the water to hit him and K could have stood there all day filming the fountain! He thought that it was cool! It never missed a beat and I had to pull them away to continue on my plan! We went on figment! I liked it, until he tests out the fart or skunk or whatever I didn't like that the rides kept making me smell this horrid smell, but looking back on it I would ride It's tough to be a bug or figment any day before I ride stitch again! Then we headed over to the world showcase to experience all of the shows about the different countries! We took our time and walked slow taking in things and looking through stores! Damien sat in on a few of the Christmas shows that the different countries had- he asked if we could start to "celebrate Norway". I knew that on Friday we were going to be doing these again so I didn't want to wait for every show! Oh that's right Canada! My son is so weird he asked what they speak in Pennsylvannia when we were there, but we have gone to Niagra falls with him on the boarder of the Canada side (didn't have our pasports to go into Canada) so he knows that it's connected to New York and for that country he think's it's US, but for states he doesn't know what languages they speak- when my friends fom Texas and Michigan call he says that they talk differently so I guess that's why he does it? Who knows? But he wanted to buy things in Canada! His Auntie Khine likes nice things, she's expensive! But he found this collection of chapsticks on a paddle. The padle has ways to use it- like a fly swatter and such and the chapsticks have funny names like beaver butt and moose spit I think it was and another one I can't remember, but they are SO NOT what his Auntie Khine likes, but he insisted and bought it for her with his own spending money since I would not- I didn't think that she would like it but when she opened it on Christmas she laughed and thought that it was really funny. When she was passing it around my little BIL noticed that it say "no moose spit was used to make this product"! And he also bought himself the cutest little beaver that's in the shape of a ball! This is Damien and I in Canada!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/canada.jpg
While we were walking and listening to some story tellers we heard the drums from the Morrocan storyteller! He told us about Ramadan and he had Damien come up and assist him wiith the drums!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/ramadan.jpg
While that was going on I went into the store that was right there to look around. When the women go to the monestary they have to wear a shawl to lay in front of them while meditating so I found this really pretty silk one with hand wooven beads on it for my mother in law and bought it! I was going to buy my FIL some of those shoes- K caught up to me by this time and told me that he wouldn't like them because they had those in Burma and they never bought them! So we bought the scarf- I LOVED that send it back stuff because we did that with everything other than the last day! Walking through Germany we smelled that caramel and had to make it in there- K and Damien hate choclate, but could eat caramel by the buckets if we let them! So I shared some carmel corn with Damien- oh so good and warm! And K got this carmel cupcake with I think vanilla cake used as the cake part I don't know because he took the stuff and went outside and I went to get Damien from the glass- he was standing there watching the guy drizzle the caramel over something I just can't remember what and telling him that he's doing a great job and he must have gone to school for this and everything he had the guy laughing and I felt bad for him distracting the guy so if any of you got some funny looking drizzles on something it may have been due to my little moneky and I apologize! By the time we got out of the store and met up with K he was done with the cupcake (yeah I made sure I said thank you for the taste) and was off to use another snack credit for yet another cup of coffee! This guy!!!! In the store Damien grabbed a guide map and I was looking it over while he was eating his caramel corn. I guess was looking at it and not really looking at it because Damien asked me what something said and I told him sound it out like I always do and he let me know he couldn't and K walked up and said "what language is that?" I was surprised, here I was looking at the map for a god 2-3 minutes and I didn't even notice that in the world showcase when you go to the countries the world maps are in that language so it was German! I put that mental note in my head to grab a map from each country when we spend the day here Friday! I thought that was so cool! And we moved on! Damien was getting bored of the shows from the countries and it was getting to be around 5pm I think so I promised him one more show and then we will go on a ride! So we did! We went to see the reflections of China and then to the Grand Fiesta tour! After this Damien was BEGGING for real rides and food so we headed back to China for food at Lotus Blossom! I have to say China was very pretty! I liked how it looked and the music! I want to get to China one day- although the pictures my FIL took of China look nothing like this one, K said that this is modeled after Northern China and the pictures I saw were more of the business district of China! I was quit hungry, K was a little hungry and Damien was asking for soup (he's a little odd he asks for soup quit often)! So I got the shrimp fried rice with an egg roll, a cinnamon/apple egg roll for dessert and a sprite to drink! Damien got his own meal here since he was hungry- he ordered the beef noodle soup with a strawberry red bean ice cream and a strawberry smoothie to drink and K ordered the orange chicken (I told him this was a bad idea), a strawberry red bean ice cream and a coke to drink. Now we get to the table and Damien realy likes the soup- this little guy loves soup! He wants to know why I never order it for him at home because he loves it so he ate all of his stuff up real quick and then wanted my egg roll that came with the meal and I let him have it! K on the other hand complained that he didn't like the orange chicken- my quotes from my notes that day "There's a big orange taste in it" That is exactly how he put it! So he took my friend rice and I nibbled at the chicken, but didn't like it either and I didn't like the apple egg roll too much either because it was too sweet for me! I guess though if you like apple pie you will like it! So after we get done they want to go ride test track a few times before heading out! So we do, I forgot how many times, but quit a few! And then I told them it's time and K wants to ride Misson space so he did- on orange! He came off the ride and told me that he got sick (Damien and I thank goodness were on green)! So he cleaned up while I went on with Damien one more time and then remembering the sourin passes we headed over there as the park was going to close soon! All day we had really good luck with rides- even the day before we had good luck with rides because we barely waited on lines! Tonight I thought that it would be nice because we can hear the fireworks for Illuminations going off so I told them that I hope we can ride at least 2 times before the fireworks stop and then when everyone is coming from that we will leave to beat the rush! That didn't happen. In fact we didn't even come close to that plan! The wait time for Sourin was 95 minutes and we had fastpasses so we thought that we were just going to breeze through the line like everywhere else, but you don't! In fact we waited close to 45 minutes (with fastpasses) to get on the ride! I have to say though that I loved the ride! Not to give anything away, but you can smell the stuff as your souring through the air! It was a really great ride! We were in the 2nd row and it wasn't bad at all! Damien and K agreed that it was a great ride! And with that we made it back to the hotel I think around 11pm! We quickly did our nightly routine and got to bed! It was a good day and we were excited for the next day at DHS!!!

Here are some pictures from the World showcase we took that day!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/viking.jpg
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/Disney2011/troll.jpg

[momabaarjo]

I am so sorry about your camera...I probably would have died and then found a taxi to the nearest Walmart and done a cheap replacement. I can't live on a vacation without my camera.

I love that Damien got picked to participate in so many shows! How super magical for him!

I still am jealous that you and Ann got to meet up...but I know that in 18 months we will all get to meet up...put my first money in that hidden sock if you know what I mean. I have decided all my tutoring money on the side will go in that sock...not out of my monthly budget. I consider that my blow money anyway and to not figure it into the budget.

Sorry about the ankle...I can't even imagine trying to control a dog for a playdate with it hurting...take care of yourself.

I think Jeff's favorite park was Epcot too!

[momabaarjo]

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n255/loghan85/comments/mickey_valentine-4-miny02.gif

[Monknmom]

http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/stitchvalentine.jpg

[annmarieda]

Thank you Ann! I am so glad that others were conservative with the snack credits too! I am excited about your update on it! I loved it! K.... not so much and Damien... yeah he talks big talk now that he's not faced with it:lmao:! The camera looked okay right? I showed it to you and I really did think that it was just the viewing screen... I should have listened to K and bought the disposable ones! It's just that it was the first day and I didn't want to use money that I didn't have to! Oh my... a BIG lesson learned! The tour guide said that! He said that you rarely see the lion out and the lioness is most of the time on that rock though...


I thought it was just the view finder too... so thought it looked ok... So nothing comes up on the card? :sad2: That totally sucks. I am sorry.

Okay I should be making up the chocolate pops to take to the nursing home on Monday evening, but I didn't get to the candy store for the chocolate and sticks so I can't do that right now, plus I have to still buy the bags for the crumb cake cupcakes! So I have a little free time while my Monkey is ignoring me in the other room and K is at the ambulance company- before he left though he had to help me out with some of his new learned skills! Trying to reach as high as I could for Damien's Valentine's present I don't know what happened, but I twisted my ankle! It hurts very bad so I have it up with ice on it right now! I did however get everything else done, I just have to wrap some of the stuff for Valentine's day and it's all set to go for Tuesday(still have to buy a stuffed animal for Damien and Emily and a picture for K's stufed animal and the dog cookies for Emily from Fetch tomorrow, plus I just found out on facebook that Emily's "boyfriend"-she's fixed- bought her a Valentine so I have to sneak in something for them while we are at Fetch!)! I figure that on Monday I can clean the house and make up the chocolate pops for Monday night and tomorrow Damien can make the cupcakes and put them in the bags while I take Emily to her play date- that's going to be fun with my ankle! Although I really do want to take Damien because I would like that picture, I will have to see how they are treating each other tomorrow!

You have a very full schedule! I am sorry about the ankle... with all you are doing... can't be fun with an achy ankle.

Okay now that I have that all cleared up in my head and on paper/computer I can move on with the trip report!



I did not know that there was much of a production for RD at Epcot. Different languages:confused3 so sad I missed that!

You are too kind in all you said about Zoe and I. And.. you should NOT be embarrassed about the ride and the slight mix up of who was sitting with whom.... it is so understandable that we all were kinda confused!! I thought the kids would sit together... Zoe thought she would sit with me... I don't know what dh and ds though.. probably that they would sit together. I think it all worked out fine.

If you need to snag some pictures..go ahead. I think all you have to do is copy from my TR and you should be able to use them in what ever way you want.

Reading over what you did, I think we should have stuck together. We went to SS for lunch and then to Living with the land.. figment... :rolleyes: Oh well, at least we got to spend the time together we did in the aquarium... even though you are right... where did my guys go? :confused:

I do wish though that like you we had toured WS that day. Instead, we went to tour the Epcot resorts (YC, BC and BW) Hindsight is 20/20... but I really wish I would have figured that the first day we had in Epcot would have been a better day to be in WS than the one we planned on.

I have tried only the apple egg roll in China... and I wasn't a fan. Just didn't seem right..:confused:

Soarin always has a line... even with the fast pass I think we have rarely had a short wait time. :confused3 Glad you liked it though.. that is one of my favorite rides. I loved it in DCA... and was so happy that they brought it to WDW!

[Monknmom]

I am so sorry about your camera...I probably would have died and then found a taxi to the nearest Walmart and done a cheap replacement. I can't live on a vacation without my camera.

I love that Damien got picked to participate in so many shows! How super magical for him!

I still am jealous that you and Ann got to meet up...but I know that in 18 months we will all get to meet up...put my first money in that hidden sock if you know what I mean. I have decided all my tutoring money on the side will go in that sock...not out of my monthly budget. I consider that my blow money anyway and to not figure it into the budget.

Sorry about the ankle...I can't even imagine trying to control a dog for a playdate with it hurting...take care of yourself.

I think Jeff's favorite park was Epcot too!

Yeah that dang camera... it drives me crazy to think about it and I would have gone and bought a new one, but I couldn't find time... I was either at the parks or sleeping by this time in the trip and I honestly thought it was fine and didn't want to take away trip spending money for something silly that I thought I didn't need- as you can see even Ann thought that it was fine!
Awesome, yes I put some money away- not too much yet because I am trying to get everything for the renovation together, but a little that won't be too much missed! I am excited about that trip really! I can't wait to meet everyone!
Truthfully it wasn't so bad with Emily as it was with Damien! He came with me because I wanted him in the picture and that little guy we went to a park that you can either take hikes or play on a playground after the pictures. So I let Damien play for a little while Emily sat and then it was time for the walk and he was giving me the trouble, not her! I was so confused!


I thought it was just the view finder too... so thought it looked ok... So nothing comes up on the card? :sad2: That totally sucks. I am sorry.

You have a very full schedule! I am sorry about the ankle... with all you are doing... can't be fun with an achy ankle.

I did not know that there was much of a production for RD at Epcot. Different languages:confused3 so sad I missed that!

You are too kind in all you said about Zoe and I. And.. you should NOT be embarrassed about the ride and the slight mix up of who was sitting with whom.... it is so understandable that we all were kinda confused!! I thought the kids would sit together... Zoe thought she would sit with me... I don't know what dh and ds though.. probably that they would sit together. I think it all worked out fine.

If you need to snag some pictures..go ahead. I think all you have to do is copy from my TR and you should be able to use them in what ever way you want.

Reading over what you did, I think we should have stuck together. We went to SS for lunch and then to Living with the land.. figment... :rolleyes: Oh well, at least we got to spend the time together we did in the aquarium... even though you are right... where did my guys go? :confused:

I do wish though that like you we had toured WS that day. Instead, we went to tour the Epcot resorts (YC, BC and BW) Hindsight is 20/20... but I really wish I would have figured that the first day we had in Epcot would have been a better day to be in WS than the one we planned on.

I have tried only the apple egg roll in China... and I wasn't a fan. Just didn't seem right..:confused:

Soarin always has a line... even with the fast pass I think we have rarely had a short wait time. :confused3 Glad you liked it though.. that is one of my favorite rides. I loved it in DCA... and was so happy that they brought it to WDW!

Well yeah something comes up that I took a picture, it's just white though. All of the pictures that were taken after the safari are just big white pictures!

Yeah it wasn't fun! Damien was the hardest though- I wouldn't have taken him, but I wanted him to be in the Valentine picture with Emily and I that we were giving to K! So he had to come!

And Epcot's opening is not a big thing, it's just the loud speaker comes on and I can't remember if they say "welcome" or "god morning" in every language and the CM's helping you scan the cards say the phrases too!

Thank you about snagging some pictures! LOL you have no idea! I would have let him sit with you guys, but I was so unsure like you said! It did work out though and it was nice! Oh and you and Zoe deserve it! I knew that you both were very strong to deal with what's going on with her and then the wedding Kira had and Zach leaving and Alex being home schooled all at once! But believing someone is strong and kind is something different then actually seeing it!
Oh we should have then, but I knew that you were running late and I didn't want to push it! I saw that we were very close to you in your TR but I don't remember seeing you in any of those places. There were lots of people and really I would have liked to tour the hotels too! I want to see more of the hotels next time!
Yeah the apple egg roll wasn't that great I agree!
Yeah sourin was nice! I loved that you would smell the things too! It was awesome, but I'm a little upset that we never got back to it!

[Monknmom]

I hope that everyone got to spend time with loved ones for Valentine's! I got to make lots of little treats and goodies for my family and got to have a great night with them just playing games! For Valentine's day K bought me insulation as a gift- to me this was such a wonderful gift because he had actually listened to me that means! I told him that I wanted to start buying some of the materials for the house now so that we don't have to worry about buying it all at once! So I thought that it was pretty romantic! The day after Valentine's day was not so great though because Damien is learning about President Lincoln in school and got himself into so much trouble with it that he was sent to the principal's office and I had to get him out! He was allowed back in school today though and I had to sign a note that I understand that type of behavior is not allowed and that I spoke with him about it! It was about racism... I don't think that he meant to be racist because he doesn't really know what that means other than what they taught him about slaves in school! And he made remarks about slaves being richer than President Lincoln's family (he grew up without shoes) and some other stuff. But he was asked to stop and he didn't he wanted an answer and was sent to the principal for it! So that was fun! I told him from now on save his questions for his dad! But that has been my day... I will be making another TR update in a few days (if I do them so close I will be done before anyone else and WAY too early to start the PTR for the ladies trip)!

[annmarieda]

Oh man! That sucks about the school. I am sorry you both had to go through that. I know the kids learn about slavery a lot here. I imagine it is a sensitive subject for some.

[lilpixiebabe101]

I hope that everyone got to spend time with loved ones for Valentine's! I got to make lots of little treats and goodies for my family and got to have a great night with them just playing games! For Valentine's day K bought me insulation as a gift- to me this was such a wonderful gift because he had actually listened to me that means! I told him that I wanted to start buying some of the materials for the house now so that we don't have to worry about buying it all at once! So I thought that it was pretty romantic! The day after Valentine's day was not so great though because Damien is learning about President Lincoln in school and got himself into so much trouble with it that he was sent to the principal's office and I had to get him out! He was allowed back in school today though and I had to sign a note that I understand that type of behavior is not allowed and that I spoke with him about it! It was about racism... I don't think that he meant to be racist because he doesn't really know what that means other than what they taught him about slaves in school! And he made remarks about slaves being richer than President Lincoln's family (he grew up without shoes) and some other stuff. But he was asked to stop and he didn't he wanted an answer and was sent to the principal for it! So that was fun! I told him from now on save his questions for his dad! But that has been my day... I will be making another TR update in a few days (if I do them so close I will be done before anyone else and WAY too early to start the PTR for the ladies trip)!

Love all the updates.

Pohh on the boys not waiting to do the monorail hopping. You and I can go on the ladies trip cause I never have been to them! Sounds like a good mid day break from the park one day!

Buddy and I do that for holidays too. "Oh honey Happy Birthday... got the oil changed in your car that you've been needed to get changed for 5 months!"

Eek about the school thing. Hopefully you got it settled.

[Monknmom]

I came on here and had every intention of writing an update, but I didn't get to it I caught up on other TR's! I will be back tomorrow night after catching up on Amy's! Have a good day off for President's day tomorrow!

[Monknmom]

Oh man! That sucks about the school. I am sorry you both had to go through that. I know the kids learn about slavery a lot here. I imagine it is a sensitive subject for some.
Love all the updates.

Pohh on the boys not waiting to do the monorail hopping. You and I can go on the ladies trip cause I never have been to them! Sounds like a good mid day break from the park one day!

Buddy and I do that for holidays too. "Oh honey Happy Birthday... got the oil changed in your car that you've been needed to get changed for 5 months!"

Eek about the school thing. Hopefully you got it settled.

Yes the school thing was something and I really never sat down with Damien to describe color and race before- at 7 years old I still don't think that he has to be explained that people with darker skin have more pigment (or is it less?) than we do and that's why they have darker skin. I think that to teach them about racism in such a young age is putting that into their heads, in the end the principal and teacher did understand that he wasn't trying to be racist with his comment but asking something about shoes. It was a mess and I fixed it and then went right back into the school on Friday to help with the class!

Ashley- you know I would rather him do that for me than buy me things- I really don't like fresh cut flowers I find them to be a waste of that flowers life and money! They look prettier and last longer when they are in the ground and I can show them off in the yard! But the insulation showed me that he listened to me!!!! And we went to the home show today with the 3 of us... that was good because I was able to kinda give him an idea of what I have in mind for the house and he learned something to bring back to his work!

[shocky5]

Just as I feared... I didn't have my sub' to your TR set!! :sad2: I'm so sorry! SO HERE I AM! Late for the party but promising to stay til the end! :goodvibes

Now to go get caught up... :surfweb:

[lilpixiebabe101]

I came on here and had every intention of writing an update, but I didn't get to it I caught up on other TR's! I will be back tomorrow night after catching up on Amy's! Have a good day off for President's day tomorrow!

Haha you sound like me getting distracted from updating my own TR!


Ashley- you know I would rather him do that for me than buy me things- I really don't like fresh cut flowers I find them to be a waste of that flowers life and money! They look prettier and last longer when they are in the ground and I can show them off in the yard! But the insulation showed me that he listened to me!!!! And we went to the home show today with the 3 of us... that was good because I was able to kinda give him an idea of what I have in mind for the house and he learned something to bring back to his work!

Me too. Buddy gave me a potted orchid for Valentine's day because he hates wasting cut flowers! The home show sounds awesome. We will see if K listened to you :)

Just as I feared... I didn't have my sub' to your TR set!! :sad2: I'm so sorry! SO HERE I AM! Late for the party but promising to stay til the end! :goodvibes

Now to go get caught up... :surfweb:

Sounds like me for your TR Amy. I think some of them get sucked into cyberspace.

[Monknmom]

Just as I feared... I didn't have my sub' to your TR set!! :sad2: I'm so sorry! SO HERE I AM! Late for the party but promising to stay til the end! :goodvibes

Now to go get caught up... :surfweb:

It's okay as long as your here! It's not going anywhere!


Haha you sound like me getting distracted from updating my own TR!
Me too. Buddy gave me a potted orchid for Valentine's day because he hates wasting cut flowers! The home show sounds awesome. We will see if K listened to you :)
Sounds like me for your TR Amy. I think some of them get sucked into cyberspace.

:goodvibes Yes I get distracted easy... who was it.. Amy that gets called Steve from Up? I think that I am like him too!

Yes he listened! We set up some appointments from the home show and we start those in the next week! We will have people tramping through the house for a few days giving us quotes and estimates!

I really do think that things get lost on cyberspace!

[Monknmom]

Since I didn't get the photopass CD until a few days ago I haven't shared these yet, some have fun stories that I want to tell you about!
The first photopass picture that we took we took it at Camp Minnie/Mickey. It was really nice with the different Christmas trees and all! Our first Characters were Thumper and Mrs. Bunny (that picture wasn't photopass and can be found in the AK day), then we started with the Fab 5!
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While we were waiting for Goofy they told us that a surprise (Donald) was joining him:
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At this time we were going to go to Minnie, but the rain had begun coming down harder and they moved Thumper and Mrs Bunny (I think) into Minnie's spot and put her with Mickey, Damien didn't want to go see Mickey again to get her so we skipped it (will we get a picture of her in another park?). When then headed over to where Donald's spot is and Chip and Dale were in there! They had TONS of fun with Damien because of his shirt-it had a picture of Donald trying to catch them. They would point and laugh and tagged him and ran away from him it was fun and there weren't really any others in line so we were able to spend a good 10 minutes with them before anyone else came over, but surprisingly they didn't take those photos!
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After that we continued with out day as I mentioned! When we went to Dinosaur there was a greeting trail that had Pooh Bear, Eeyore and Tigger! I forced them to come with me (I love Winnie the Pooh)! First you get up to Winnie the Pooh first. When Damien got up there he wanted the signature and then walked away saying "my mom likes you"- we had to pull him back to take them picture. But I got it!
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Next you come to Eeyore. Damien had fun with him while Eeyore was signing the autograph book Damien was asking about his tail and if it was still there. When Eeyore shrugged Damien checked for him and he says "yep it's still there"!
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Then it was time for Tigger! My son LOVES Tigger if you make him choose from Winnie the Pooh! He went bouncing up to Tigger
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/photopass/Photo0193FourBySix.jpg
And Tigger bounced back
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Then my "I'll do it myself son" had to put the cap on his marker and put the marker into the marker holder on his own before taking pictures. Which I guess got Tigger bored?
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/photopass/Photo0200FourBySix.jpg
All in all we loved Tigger and all of his interactions with Damien!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/photopass/Photo0202FourBySix.jpg

These are just some snapshots that we took while walking around and when leaving!
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Next up: Epcot Day 1 photopass! *Good thing we had shirts for each day of these would be confusing*!

[Monknmom]

Most of these are straightforward so there is not much explaining to do for them!
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I love that test track lets you scan your card to put the picture on the photopass I really think that every ride should do that for you!
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/photopass/Photo0260FourBySix.jpg
My friend that went to Disney the week before we did (she's the PTO head at Damien's school) showed me the Santa in Epcot and I had to take a picture of Damien with him! He was really great and so realistic looking! He even let a little boy before Damien pull on the beard (which was awesome because Damien kept denying that he was real)! This was him asking Santa about the elves and the telling him about the fake Santa he saw at the mall!
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I want to say Germany, but I can't remember and didn't write it down...
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb378/poohcl13/photopass/Photo0278FourBySix.jpg
China
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Okay now that I have the CD I have more pictures and don't have to list the whole day at once! I can break it up and keep you hanging like Tammie!

[mommytominnie]

What a great update!! Love the PP pictures. Chip and Dale were one of Princess' favorite charactor interactions as well. I like the way Grumpy smiles in his pictures. My Grumpy was in the Marines and he still has that serious look when he takes pictures. It is very rare I can get one where he is smiling.

Oh my gosh!! I love your Santa pictures at Epcot. I did not know Santa and Mrs. Claus was there.:headache: I would of loved to have a picture with them. Actually, you got a lot of PP in Epcot that we did not know where there.

That's it, I need to book another trip so I can go back and get those pictures ;) Can't wait to read more

[Monknmom]

What a great update!! Love the PP pictures. Chip and Dale were one of Princess' favorite charactor interactions as well. I like the way Grumpy smiles in his pictures. My Grumpy was in the Marines and he still has that serious look when he takes pictures. It is very rare I can get one where he is smiling.

Oh my gosh!! I love your Santa pictures at Epcot. I did not know Santa and Mrs. Claus was there.:headache: I would of loved to have a picture with them. Actually, you got a lot of PP in Epcot that we did not know where there.

That's it, I need to book another trip so I can go back and get those pictures ;) Can't wait to read more

Thank you! Yeah K has a really nice smile- it gets him out of trouble with people all of the time!

Oh the Santa was great! There were 4 kids (that I know of) that went to Disney a week or so before us so they were telling me lots of stuff! And I like the different Santa's so I researched that! I can't wait to hear/read more about you guys too! What happened? I hope that everything's okay and your just taking a break! :goodvibes

[momabaarjo]

I love the picture of Damien bouncing up to Tigger. The crowd was so bad on the Character Trail that we did not see any characters and just wanted out of the area. I really wanted to look at the Christmas trees. K looks like he fits perfect in the EE area! He does have a wonderful smile.

I am also jealous of all the photo pass photographers at the different countries in Epcot...I swear the only one we found was at France! How on earth did you get TT without anyone else in the car with you?

[Monknmom]

I love the picture of Damien bouncing up to Tigger. The crowd was so bad on the Character Trail that we did not see any characters and just wanted out of the area. I really wanted to look at the Christmas trees. K looks like he fits perfect in the EE area! He does have a wonderful smile.

I am also jealous of all the photo pass photographers at the different countries in Epcot...I swear the only one we found was at France! How on earth did you get TT without anyone else in the car with you?

Thank you! I love that tigger one too! I have to say it was one of the ones I was most excited to see how it came out! Thank you!

We actually accidently kept finding the same guy walking through the countries at kinda the same pace as us (because he was taking photos and then would move on) and so we would stop him, I thought that we had more in the countries, but they are not there:confused3. LOL when I just read that comment about no one else in the TT with us to K and Damien, K said without hesitation:rotfl2: "we were there at the crack of dawn":lmao: I can't wait to show him some of your crowded Disney!

[Monknmom]

This day started out great because since they had no extra park hours on this day we got to sleep in a 1/2 hour later- doesn't sound like a lot though when I type it:rotfl:!
I had been nervous for this day to come because everything that I read said that the 3 rides I wanted to get onto get crowded fast (RNR, TOT, and TSM) so I made a plan! K was going to do the mad dash to TSM and I was going to get Damien over to TOT so that by the time K got there we would all be there and ready to ride (Damien had to use the bathroom so it would take us a few minutes)! This park doesn't open like the other ones (well I guess that AK opens like this because they let you into the Oasis part before the park opens). So K went to the TSM way and I went to the TOT, little did I know that Damien likes Starwars (he's never seen it before) and heard the other child talking about the Jedi training so I thought about heading over there, but it would have messed up my plans that I had worked really hard on! So I convinced Damien that we will get over there later and we headed over to the TOT! When we got to the bathroom we saw other people being turned away from the ride, but I kinda ignored it thinking they just weren't opened yet (lucky for me right?) and proceeded with my plans. When we got out and K was heading to us we walked to him and snapped these photos:
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They wanted us to look scared and the guy tells K "you're smiling, look scared" K replies "I smile when I'm scared" Oh too funny!
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On our walk to the TOT K was telling us about the TSM crowd and people were pushing him for fastpasses and everything, he was glad that we didn't have Damien over there because even CM's got pushed I guess:confused3. Then we get to the TOT and they say that they are not opening it yet :scared1:(I forgot the reason they gave us- I think that the eleveators got stuck in the 3rd dimension?), so we rush over to RNR and we rode that 3 TIMES without wait! Damien and K loved it, but my head was killing me! I wish that they didn't have it so jolty and with the music right in your ears! When we got out we saw that the TOT was working :banana:! My son had been excited to ride it in the morning and then he was still okay when we were getting on. We finally get to the part where they sort us into rows and he chickens out! I mean he REALLY starts to act up:confused:! He was screaming and crying that he didn't want to go on and this and that and the lady was so good about it and letting me try to calm him down a second to get him on, but it was a no go:sad2: and after a little more screaming and crying that I was going to go on:headache: (he wanted me to send K first to make sure that the ride was okay... talk about loving his dad!). K took him out and I went on. When I came off I was letting him know that all of these little kids were on (and I showed him) and he still didn't want to go on and K just wanted to get out because he was embarressed! So we did and on our way over to One Man's dream we had more photos taken:
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K stood and read everything in the museum and Damien and I went into the movie to watch- I loved the movie and the stuff in the museum! I thought that it was so nice to have saved so many of his things and have the originals there and such! I liked it a lot. My husband had not realized that he had started out with no money and enjoyed reading about all of the downfalls that Walt Disney had to go through to get to the point where he was when he passed and to make it become what it is today! I agree with K that it's very inspiring! But as interesting as it was it was not interesting enough to keep my son's interest so we headed over to the backlot tour!
On our way over there I think it was we saw these guys taking pictures with fans so we had to jump in line! Little did I know that they don't give signatures:rolleyes:
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The action sequence and the museum and tour were interesting! I just about wet my pants when the water came gushing down because I wasn't paying attention to what they were saying (I think I was fumbling with the camera that wasn't working) and I was on the side that was closest to the water and all of a sudden you hear it coming and BOOM!!! Let me tell you that from there on I didn't let my mind wonder on any other rides! Then it was time to eat! We chose Studio Catering company. K got the Buffalo Chicken Sandwich with fries, a cheesecake and a coffee (go figure since I was refusing any more coffee snack credits). I had the grilled vegetable sandwich with fries, an unsweet iced tea and a holiday cupcake. Damien decided on the turkey club with a chocolate milk and a cookie for dessert. Everything we had was pretty good, but it was just so hot this day that we all wanted to rest, but none of them wanted to head back to the hotel to do so. So we let Damien play in the HISTK playyard for about a 1/2 hour! I wanted to catch the Lights, motor action because it had McQueen and I thought that he would like it, plus it was going to start in about 10 minutes, but instead Damien decided to met with McQueen and Mater instead and give up on the show! So we did as he wanted!
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The whole time that we were standing in line for the pictures with the cars we heard singing and laughing and such and I could recognize the songs and voices, but could not for the life of me figure it out... but Damien did which made him so excited when he turned the corner and.....
UH-OH:scared1: a Tammie cliff hanger was there:lmao:...

[lilpixiebabe101]

OH NOOOO A Tammie CLIFFHANGER!!!!!!
haha :hug: Tammie.

Eek about the ToT deal. Sorry RnR gave you such a headache. Yeah, we've always found it more entertaining to watch the other ppl's reactions to that Backlot Tours!

I'm going to guess... Phineas and Pherb are around the corner. ( or is it really Ferb? idk haha and its one of Alexa's favorites.)

[shocky5]

I'm with Ashley - Phineas and Ferb around the corner?? Great cliffhanger!

I'm loving looking at your pictures! It's fun seeing some of the common locations with your family in them as I have with my family in them. I giggled at the one of Damien standing under the gorilla that's carved into the tree of life roots... on the way to Its Tough To Be A Bug... my boys were picking his nose... :sad2:

And as for TOT... I don't know what to tell you about it psyching kids out at the load on... as you know... there's the "I'm too cool for this ride" exit that my children know well! :goodvibes

I love all of your roadside attraction pictures on your way to Florida! This is really why I want to make the drive one time in our lifetime with the kids... now to just get Eddie to pull his fingers out of his ears!!! :rolleyes:

[Monknmom]

OH NOOOO A Tammie CLIFFHANGER!!!!!!
haha :hug: Tammie.

Eek about the ToT deal. Sorry RnR gave you such a headache. Yeah, we've always found it more entertaining to watch the other ppl's reactions to that Backlot Tours!

I'm going to guess... Phineas and Pherb are around the corner. ( or is it really Ferb? idk haha and its one of Alexa's favorites.)

Oh my yes that backlot tour was something! I am not so good at Tammie's cliffhangers! I have to leave them up to her!


I'm with Ashley - Phineas and Ferb around the corner?? Great cliffhanger!

I'm loving looking at your pictures! It's fun seeing some of the common locations with your family in them as I have with my family in them. I giggled at the one of Damien standing under the gorilla that's carved into the tree of life roots... on the way to Its Tough To Be A Bug... my boys were picking his nose... :sad2:

And as for TOT... I don't know what to tell you about it psyching kids out at the load on... as you know... there's the "I'm too cool for this ride" exit that my children know well! :goodvibes

I love all of your roadside attraction pictures on your way to Florida! This is really why I want to make the drive one time in our lifetime with the kids... now to just get Eddie to pull his fingers out of his ears!!! :rolleyes:

Yeah I guess that I should not have made it so obvious? I am not good at the cliffhangers!

LOL about that monkey! Damien gets called monkey so I wanted a nice picture (took forever and still came out blurry)! He was picking the nose of the troll in Norway of world showcase!

Yeah I guess I shouldn't have pushed him so on the TOT, but I thought that he would really like it!

You should go on a roadtrip! I will give you the website when you go and you'll see that there are so many little things that you find that weren't even on your map! I liked the drive there because we went along the back roads down to see all of that stuff.

[momabaarjo]

I just love all your family pictures...I really wished ours would have come out better...I seem to always have 1/2 of my face hidden by one of the kids...grrr. Sorry you did not get to Lights Motor Action...Damien would have loved Lightnings appearance!

[annmarieda]

:eek: I had no idea that you had posted so many updates and I had missed them!!!! I am so sorry!

I love all the pictures. You all look like you are having a good time!!!

The Santa looks to be a great one! We stopped for the one in MK, but not Epcot. Now I am super jealous, cause I do think yours was much better.

I don't blame Damien for being scared to ride ToT. I don't do that ride. I tried this last trip, but chickened out at the last moment. One and only time I did ride it I spazed out and bit dh...so really... I wouldn't find Damien crying about not wanting to go embarrassing. At least he harmed no one. :rolleyes:

popcorn:: can't wait to read more. you and Tammie and your cliffhangers ;)

[lilpixiebabe101]

:eek: I had no idea that you had posted so many updates and I had missed them!!!! I am so sorry!

I love all the pictures. You all look like you are having a good time!!!

The Santa looks to be a great one! We stopped for the one in MK, but not Epcot. Now I am super jealous, cause I do think yours was much better.

I don't blame Damien for being scared to ride ToT. I don't do that ride. I tried this last trip, but chickened out at the last moment. One and only time I did ride it I spazed out and bit dh...so really... I wouldn't find Damien crying about not wanting to go embarrassing. At least he harmed no one. :rolleyes:

popcorn:: can't wait to read more. you and Tammie and your cliffhangers ;)

Ann... you bit your husband... why doesn't that surprise me..

At least you've ridden it. I have not ever nor will I ever ride ToT. I can't deal with that stomach going into your throat feeling!

[annmarieda]

Ann... you bit your husband... why doesn't that surprise me..

At least you've ridden it. I have not ever nor will I ever ride ToT. I can't deal with that stomach going into your throat feeling!

That is my trouble to Ashley! So I held on to dh with my hands... then my arms wrapped around him. I couldnt "grab" with anything else... but my teeth. So that is what I did... grabbed his arm with my teeth. :rotfl: