February Magical Family Adventures!!~ LAST DAY!! (6/5)

[englishrose47]

Now you ds will have braging rights with his friends. He can say my dad drove a real racecar. Wow! I hope your dh has a blast. I can't wait to hear all about it.

My DGS would prefer he drove it !! His Dad has driven in Drag races and he watched !!Not quite Nascar though!!

 

[Charleston Princess]

That's adorable about your DS! Talk about a serious case of hero worship!

Great photos!

 

[Trentmom]

You and your husband look great

Glad he is excited about the Richard Petty Driving Experience


That is so adorable what your ds said about his daddy driving

 

[Blueyed Girl]

Now you ds will have braging rights with his friends. He can say my dad drove a real racecar. Wow! I hope your dh has a blast. I can't wait to hear all about it.

I know! We are going to have to take lots of pictures. Maybe they will let me get a pic of DH and DS standing by the car together.

My DGS would prefer he drove it !! His Dad has driven in Drag races and he watched !!Not quite Nascar though!!

DS hasn't quite reached that level yet. Although, he does have an electric car that he drives around the back yard.

That's adorable about your DS! Talk about a serious case of hero worship!

Great photos!

Thanks. Oh yes, he loves his daddy!!! Follows him everywhere.

You and your husband look great

Glad he is excited about the Richard Petty Driving Experience


That is so adorable what your ds said about his daddy driving

Thank you
DH is sooo excited. I'm just hoping he doesn't decide to "practice" on the drive to Florida.

 

[englishrose47]

DGS does have a Dirt bike and an electric bike!!he is very good , but I can't stand watching him. I wasfollowing him round the block last summer, when he stood up on the seat and put one leg up !! I near had a heart attack!! He however was in full control of both himself and the bike !!He was 5 at the time!!

 

[Blueyed Girl]

I just heard from ERA and we are going up for our helicopter ride at 1 pm today!!!!

I am excited but at the same time, now that today is the day I am SO NERVOUS!!! OMG, the achy feeling in my chest is coming back. BREATHE CHERIE, BREATHE!!!


I will be back after 1 pm (central) to tell the tale. The lady said I could take pictures so hopefully doing that will help keep me sane and not want to freak out.

 

[carissanboys]

Woohoo Cherie! So excited for you! Can't wait to hear all about it. Have fun!

 

[pooh'smate]

So excited to hear about your helicopter ride. I was just wondering if you had gone up yet. Looking forward to seeing the pictures.

 

[Charleston Princess]

You will have a blast! Can't wait to see all the photos! And breathe deeply!

 

[winkers]

I can't wait to hear about it!!!

 

[Trentmom]

Awesome, can not wait to hear all about it

 

[Blueyed Girl]

We finally did it!!! I conqured my fear today and DS got to fly for the first time ever. We all did really well and had an awesome time!! I got to ride up front with the pilot which was REALLY scary when I first sat in the seat and realized what a small space I was in. DH, DS and my mother rode in the back. Our pilot was super. He is actually a training pilot and took time to explain everything to us and answer any questions we had before we started. He also explained the entire process while doing his "tests" before we flew. That way when I saw the "warning" lights light up before we even started the engine, I wouldn't freak out.

DH said DS squeezed his arm during lift off because we did a really sharp turn and leaned the helicopter almost on it's side. .....or at least that's what it seemed like to us. The flight was not scary at all. The anticipation leading up to it was the worst part for me. Your mind can really play tricks on you if you let it. I had so much fun and was amazed that I wasn't scared at all. It was really cool to be able to see everything. It was amazing sitting next to the pilot and watching him to his thing.

All in all, it was a great experience. It definitely did what I was hoping it would do which is get me unaffraid to go up in the air and for DS to have that experience also. Next feat......AIRPLANES!!

Here are some pictures from today.....

We flew in an A-119 (koala). Not real big but not real small. Here we are next to it with Frank the pilot.

The family being briefed...

Control panel. Just to show how small of an area. This is the pilots hand on the controls. My leg is on the left. Very small space!

This is what my seat looks like.... The control is right in front of me and there are foot pedals right in front of my feet. I planted my feet right in front of me and did not move a single toe for the entire flight! I was so paranoid that I was going to bump that control stick. Frank said it was fine but I was still a little nervous.

Ready for take off...

Scooting over the helicopter "runway".....

Remember how I said DS got a little nervous during the first turn? This is it. What you see in the picture is the window that is next to my left ear. It looks like it's under me, doesn't it?? It practically is!!

Here is a front view during the turn...

Flying over our town....

Flying over a lake....

He took us out almost to the Gulf of Mexico. This is a part of the wetlands that are trying to be saved and also built back up to protect against flooding again during hurricanes.

Part of our very tiny airport. We are STILL under construction after Hurricane Rita a few years ago....

Up next.....we hit the travel sized toiletries aisle at Target and bust out the suit cases!!

 

[carissanboys]

Oh wow! Those pictures taken from up in the helicopter are awesome! I'm so glad you had a good time and that it was such a great experience for you.

 

[Trentmom]

so glad you conquered your fear

It looks so amazing up there

Great pics

 

[GeminiAngel]

OMG!! great photos. Glad to hear you really enjoyed it. I love helicopters.

 

[Blueyed Girl]

Oh wow! Those pictures taken from up in the helicopter are awesome! I'm so glad you had a good time and that it was such a great experience for you.

thank you!
It really was ton's of fun! I'm so glad I did it.

so glad you conquered your fear

It looks so amazing up there

Great pics

It is so peaceful up there.
I had such a good time.

OMG!! great photos. Glad to hear you really enjoyed it. I love helicopters.

thank you.
Helicopters are FUN. I'm so glad we did this. I'm so glad I'm not a big fat chicken anymore.

 

[Blueyed Girl]

Ok, so a lot has happened since my last "official" update. I created a countdown calendar which we started at 30 days. We are now at 18. (my ticker says 19 because I haven't changed it since booking the Driving Experience for DH). We will be in Lake Buena Vista a day early but will check into Old Key West the next day. I also found out that the Residence Inn that I booked for that one night is actually a Disney "good neighbor" hotel. It has also recently been refurbished.

Here are 2 pic's of the countdown calendar. I glued pictures of various things to do around WDW and some characters under the numbers. Each day when he pulls off a number we get to talk about whatever is under it. It really keeps the excitement up around here and it's something for the 3 of us to do together every night. Also, DS doesn't know it yet but starting at 5 days he will get a small surprise to go along with pulling off the number. (thanks to the $1 section at Target! )

About a week ago we recieved that wonderful blue envelope in the mail! This year they have done things a little different. ***SPOILER ALERT****IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHAT'S IN THE ENVELOPE YET THEN SKIP THE NEXT 2 PICTURES!!!

















1st....we got new luggage tags in the new "celebration" theme. Also, the vouchers don't come in the plastic envelope/folder anymore. They are now in a nifty little booklet with perforated pages so that you can easily tear them out as needed. Very cute and efficient! I like that.

Back to the planning and shopping.....

DH and I hit the travel sized aisle at Target one day while DS was at school. We got a few things but really our Toiletries bag was still FULL of brand new stuff that has not expired since our last trip.

Bag on the left is our toiletries bag. Bag on the right is our 1st aid kit.

As you can see, both are FULL....

Thanks to Coteau Chick, I was able to grab a Bagalini messanger bag on sale!! I got the red one since I already have a similar bag in black. I think I will bring both with me.

I love bags that have the zipper pocket on the back so that you can put things you don't want pick pocketed (just in case!) in there. When the bag is on you, this pocket is against you and not facing outward.

DH and I have also busted out the suitcases and other items we plan on packing for our trip. Such as, pop-up hamper(not shown), small baskets for the vanity area, oversized stick 'em toilet seat covers for DS, dollar store poncho's to cover the stroller with.

Don't let the 2 suitcases fool you. I am really not that efficient of a packer. There are actually suitcases inside of those suitcases and duffle bags inside of those.

DH has a BUSY next 2 weeks with work so he will be packing his suitcase this weekend. I will pack mine and DS's over the next 2 weeks.

I have also placed our Garden Grocer order so that's ready to go too! Within the next 2 weeks I will start to verify all of our hotel ressie's, our ADR's, etc.

Can you tell that we are ready for a vacation???

 

[Trentmom]

wow, it is so close now

Love your countdown calendar.

Target dollar section rocks

 

[englishrose47]

Hi Cherie I had already read about you hlipoterride on FB !! These pix are awesome !! I am petrified of heigts and yet don't mind flying, but dn't ask meto climb a ladder!! You re getting soooo close !!

 

[Charleston Princess]

What stunning aeriel photos!!! Glad you had a good time!

Love the countdown calendar -- what a great idea!

I can't wait to get my very own celebration luggage tags. The kids and I watched the 2009 planning DVD last night and got even more excited (if that is possible) for our summer trip!