BrerMama
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 4, 2000
Hi all, and welcome to yet another time suck to keep you away from such mundane things as cleaning your toilet or folding laundry. I'll try to make this as entertaining as possible. Shouldn't be too hard, as we're a pretty entertaining bunch here where life truly is a happy song.
So here's a little introduction to our happy family:
That photo is over a year old. Time to get some new family photos taken, people. Anyway, it'll give you the lay of the land.
I'm Kim. 41, mom, early childhood special ed teacher, blogger, scrapbooker, hobbyist photographer. I'm the planner and organizer in our family. The glue, if you will, that holds our travels together. I love to write and record and document. And plan. Did I mention that?
I know that photo is in black and white, but my husband Dan really does have gray hair, and he really is only 43. He's a pretty funny guy. Or at least he thinks he is. He has memory issues. No, that's not fair. He doesn't think he has memory issues, he just sees no need to remember anything because he knows I'll remember everything (I do have a pretty awesome memory). The only time this becomes a problem is when he insists I didn't tell him something, and I did, he just chose not to remember it. I get a bit cranky when that happens. So Dan doesn't remember much, likes it that way, and only wants to be there for the fun. He's an adrenaline junky and his biggest regret in life is marrying a total ride wuss like me. We've been married 21 years and I think he's stuck with me.
Then there's our son. That photo above does not do the current look justice. Let me see if I have something more recent....
That's right people. I'm growing my very own Barry Manilow Chia Pet. Seriously, the boy has not cut his hair since June and in June it was only a very small trim because we were taking senior pictures. He wears shorts and Crocs slides 90% of the time (if he's wearing jeans, you know it's a cold day in Kansas) and he's a vegetarian. My very own hippie. He has a wicked sense of humor and I adore him. He'll graduate from high school in May; we're currently deciding which college he'll attend. He's been accepted into a community college and a state university, both within a half hour of our home. For several reasons, he's going to live at home for at least his first year of college. Mainly because the Keurig is his and I'm pretty sure the rest of this family couldn't function if he took it with him to college.
Joking.
Sort of.
Anyway, I'll just call him Tater here in this trip report. His name is Brady, but back when he was but a babe, my sister started calling him "Brady Mr Potady Head" and he loved french fries and mashed potates and soon we were just calling him Tater. I'm sure a teenage boy loves to be called Tater, right?
Next up are my girls
The oldest (and now shortest... her sister has shot up in the 9 months since that photo was taken) is Kiah (16 next month). She's currently lecturing me because she just read Mombaarjo's trip report and she wants to know why I didn't do a surprise trip this time. Um, because then she wouldn't get all the fun of being my assistant trip planner? She's a pretty good girl... sometimes a little blonde, but she's fun. She's currently in the middle of forensics season and kicking some butt. Two medals in two tournaments. She does Oration, for any forensics parents out there. I'm sure you'll read more about her in the future because I'm sure she'll be reading this. She's a huge trip report fan.
Finally, my youngest. Chesney. I'll just call her that. She just turned 12. She's tall, loves to read, and is caught between being a little girl and being a teenager. So awkward and difficult. I adore her, she's my baby, but she's developing a bit of that teen attitude and I could live without that. She loves Stitch and Harry Potter and I'm praying she doesn't get too cool for all that before we go in June.
So that's us. I've got tons more to write, but don't want to bore you to death before we even get started. Before you sign on, though, I'll give you a little overview of what is to come:
You really want to do this, don't you? Come join us for our pre-trip report... and what promises to be a very long trip report to follow. We'd love to have you!
So here's a little introduction to our happy family:
That photo is over a year old. Time to get some new family photos taken, people. Anyway, it'll give you the lay of the land.
I'm Kim. 41, mom, early childhood special ed teacher, blogger, scrapbooker, hobbyist photographer. I'm the planner and organizer in our family. The glue, if you will, that holds our travels together. I love to write and record and document. And plan. Did I mention that?
I know that photo is in black and white, but my husband Dan really does have gray hair, and he really is only 43. He's a pretty funny guy. Or at least he thinks he is. He has memory issues. No, that's not fair. He doesn't think he has memory issues, he just sees no need to remember anything because he knows I'll remember everything (I do have a pretty awesome memory). The only time this becomes a problem is when he insists I didn't tell him something, and I did, he just chose not to remember it. I get a bit cranky when that happens. So Dan doesn't remember much, likes it that way, and only wants to be there for the fun. He's an adrenaline junky and his biggest regret in life is marrying a total ride wuss like me. We've been married 21 years and I think he's stuck with me.
Then there's our son. That photo above does not do the current look justice. Let me see if I have something more recent....
That's right people. I'm growing my very own Barry Manilow Chia Pet. Seriously, the boy has not cut his hair since June and in June it was only a very small trim because we were taking senior pictures. He wears shorts and Crocs slides 90% of the time (if he's wearing jeans, you know it's a cold day in Kansas) and he's a vegetarian. My very own hippie. He has a wicked sense of humor and I adore him. He'll graduate from high school in May; we're currently deciding which college he'll attend. He's been accepted into a community college and a state university, both within a half hour of our home. For several reasons, he's going to live at home for at least his first year of college. Mainly because the Keurig is his and I'm pretty sure the rest of this family couldn't function if he took it with him to college.
Joking.
Sort of.
Anyway, I'll just call him Tater here in this trip report. His name is Brady, but back when he was but a babe, my sister started calling him "Brady Mr Potady Head" and he loved french fries and mashed potates and soon we were just calling him Tater. I'm sure a teenage boy loves to be called Tater, right?
Next up are my girls
The oldest (and now shortest... her sister has shot up in the 9 months since that photo was taken) is Kiah (16 next month). She's currently lecturing me because she just read Mombaarjo's trip report and she wants to know why I didn't do a surprise trip this time. Um, because then she wouldn't get all the fun of being my assistant trip planner? She's a pretty good girl... sometimes a little blonde, but she's fun. She's currently in the middle of forensics season and kicking some butt. Two medals in two tournaments. She does Oration, for any forensics parents out there. I'm sure you'll read more about her in the future because I'm sure she'll be reading this. She's a huge trip report fan.
Finally, my youngest. Chesney. I'll just call her that. She just turned 12. She's tall, loves to read, and is caught between being a little girl and being a teenager. So awkward and difficult. I adore her, she's my baby, but she's developing a bit of that teen attitude and I could live without that. She loves Stitch and Harry Potter and I'm praying she doesn't get too cool for all that before we go in June.
So that's us. I've got tons more to write, but don't want to bore you to death before we even get started. Before you sign on, though, I'll give you a little overview of what is to come:
- 16 nights
- 2 resorts: Sheraton Vistana (yes, we're staying offsite at Disney) and Royal Pacific Resort
- 6 parks: MK, AK, HS, Epcot, Universal, and IOA
- 2 water parks: TL and BB
- 7 dining reservations (currently... it could change if Dan suddenly remembers we weren't going to do very many... or if he forgets and I throw some more in)
- 1 airport hotel: Quality Suites at Kansas City International
- 2 or 3 melt downs (I'm hoping that's not per day)
- adult beverages for me
- healthy and vegetarian dining for my two oldest
You really want to do this, don't you? Come join us for our pre-trip report... and what promises to be a very long trip report to follow. We'd love to have you!