If it’s Crazy, I Don’t Wanna Be Sane: Just Me and My 2 to Disney-June 2012 PTR

[luvmy2babies]

Just on a break and popping in to say I crossed something else off of my "things to buy" list this morning.

I ordered Safety wristbands for the children. I went over all of the choices and settled on these mainly because they are water proof and reusable.

I got this one for dd (ages are 3 to 9). I ordered the purple one. Hey, it has to be cute.

http://www.vitalids.com/Child-Safety-Identification-Wristbands-childid.htm

I ordered this one for ds (ages 2 to 8). Important thing here is he won't be able to remove it. They are also water proof.

http://www.vitalids.com/Child-Safety-Identification-Wristbands-childid.htm

Last time dd carried a card on her, but I think this will be better.

 

[luvmy2babies]

Okay, so I had this post going last night and my computer jumped and I lost it. So I put it in another document first to copy over.

How I earned my ebay good buyer’s certificate.

Something I never thought I’d earn is a certificate for shopping. I do love ebay though, especially when I’m preparing for a trip like this. I like to pick up little things for the children to use and play with during and after our trip. Saves me money on souvenirs and time looking at them with dd. I will say I’m not done yet. I still have some stuff I’m ordering for ds in my “watch list”, so I’ll be adding another post later.

I was bidding on a Handy Manny plush for him, but I lost the bidding. I can’t say I was upset about it. I had bid on it before I looked at the shipping charges (something I have been working on not doing) and after I bid on it, I found the shipping charges a bit unreasonable. I was relieved when someone out bid me. So, I have added a couple more to my watch list and will be placing my order on it, and Buzz Lightyear plush toy this weekend. Today I ordered him two Cars 2 playsets. The Disney Store is having all Cars toys at buy one get one free this weekend. I ordered him 2 sets of 3 cars. They are pull back racers.

But here’s the stuff I scored on ebay for us.

Lanyards for dd and me. I love the little purse on the end.

Disney Princess jewelry for dd. I love these. Her ears are pierced, but suddenly about 2.5 years ago, she started refusing to wear earrings. Ebay had these sticker earrings. One pack is 36 pairs of earrings. The other is 7 rings with matching earrings.

A couple of necklaces

A necklace and bracelet set and some hair accessories.

Minnie Mouse hair clips (2 sets) and a Winnie the Pooh and friends hair bow.

A couple of autograph books for characters we see outside of restaurants. I’m hoping these last a couple of trips plus our cruise next year since I’m storing meal autographs separate.

Dd’s park bag. I’m planning on it holding her camera, an extra shirt and shorts/skort and a snack or two.

Pool bags

Dd’s purse and wand for BBB

My park bag. It’s microscopic compared to the one I carried the first time. We are happily free of formula and baby food on this trip and I’ve traveled with him several times since he’s been on regular milk and table food. It makes a huge difference even though we are not diaper free yet. He’ll wear pull-ups.

A few more pictures of goodies in the next post: clothes

 

[luvmy2babies]

I am all done shopping for summer clothes for the children including swim wear. I’m early on that this year. Last year I did it late April/early May. So once I do our shirts, we’ll have our trip clothes. I haven’t bought much as far as Disney themed clothing items mainly because of the t-shirts I make, but we do have a few things.

First though, I got dd two dresses from a seller on etsy.com. The pink one is the one she will wear for BBB. It’s really soft inside up top and won’t itch in the bottom because there is a satin lining underneath the crinoline. I bought the Rapunzel dress as a surprise because she loved it so much. She’ll probably wear it later. I was a bit concerned with how it fit when they came, so the maker is sending me extra extender strips for each dress to add more room so she can wear them longer. She has been wonderful.

Here’s the pink one. It is ankle length. And no that isn't dd, which is why the face is cropped out.

Here is the Rapunzel one. It is also ankle length.

I posted before about the Minnie Mouse pillowcase dress my dd wanted. Here it is. As you might guess, ds rolled over into the shot right as I took the picture.

While we were shopping for swim wear, he saw some Lightening McQueen swimming trunks and went nuts. So I picked these up and added a white and gray rash guard. Both have some spf protection built into them. They are from Target. The short sets in the picture came from Wal-Mart. They were on a clearance rack marked down to $3.00. I couldn’t resist them at that price.

I’ve messaged another etsy seller about a Disney Princess pillowcase dress I really like. It has the exact princesses we should see at Akershus and she added little sparkles on each princess’s outfit. I messaged her to see if she could make the dress a bit larger, but if not, I think we’ll still get it and she can wear it as a tunic. I think that would be a great choice since we are doing breakfast there and touring Epcot afterwards.

 

[Tink-erin-belle]

I’m here! I’m glad to see that you have another trip planned! Your kids look so cute in their Easter outfits! I checked out jiffyshirts and it looks like a pretty good deal! You are a super shopper! It looks like you got a lot of really great things for the kids and you’ve made a lot of nice projects! The dresses you got for your daughter are so beautiful. I hope she enjoys BBB I think it is great that you will have a “Date Night” with your son. What a wonderful idea!

 

[luvmy2babies]

I’m here! I’m glad to see that you have another trip planned! Your kids look so cute in their Easter outfits! I checked out jiffyshirts and it looks like a pretty good deal! You are a super shopper! It looks like you got a lot of really great things for the kids and you’ve made a lot of nice projects! The dresses you got for your daughter are so beautiful. I hope she enjoys BBB I think it is great that you will have a “Date Night” with your son. What a wonderful idea!

Thanks for coming over and for the compliments on my children and our stuff. I didn't think I would go with etsy at first, but I liked that the seller made them soft inside. We are excited to be going back. I can hardly believe April is coming to an end.

Your plans look great. I hope you have a great time with your family.

 

[MelMel11]

Enjoying your TR!! We are going in July! Can't wait to hear more!

 

[luvmy2babies]

Enjoying your TR!! We are going in July! Can't wait to hear more!

to another North Carolinian.

We are excited despite how hot it will be. Do you have a PTR? I love reading trip reports.

 

[dreamsofdisney]

Hello!

I just found your PTR today and ended up reading the whole thing during DD's nap! So much for doing the laundry...

Our next trip isn't til April 2013, but I've really enjoyed reading about your plans, and can't wait to hear how the trip goes. I'm so sorry for the loss of your husband. I completely understand the need to get away and have that vacation time - especially at a place as magical as Disney where you can make new memories with your beautiful children, have a little break from the realities of everyday life, and experience some fun and much needed MAGIC in your lives!

Like you, I'm an eBay and etsy addict. I bought quite a few things for last year's trip there, and I'm already stalking favorites and adding things to my watch list for our next trip!

Tell me more about the Handy Manny you were hoping to get for your DS. I purchased one from the Disney Store for DD this year, but she only gave it a few hugs before he was relegated to the Extra Stuffed Toys basket. I'd be happy to pass him along to you if you'd like! I'd just need to know where to ship him!

Time to run because DD woke up from her nap...Can't wait to read more!

 

[luvmy2babies]

Hello!

I just found your PTR today and ended up reading the whole thing during DD's nap! So much for doing the laundry...

Our next trip isn't til April 2013, but I've really enjoyed reading about your plans, and can't wait to hear how the trip goes. I'm so sorry for the loss of your husband. I completely understand the need to get away and have that vacation time - especially at a place as magical as Disney where you can make new memories with your beautiful children, have a little break from the realities of everyday life, and experience some fun and much needed MAGIC in your lives!

Like you, I'm an eBay and etsy addict. I bought quite a few things for last year's trip there, and I'm already stalking favorites and adding things to my watch list for our next trip!

Tell me more about the Handy Manny you were hoping to get for your DS. I purchased one from the Disney Store for DD this year, but she only gave it a few hugs before he was relegated to the Extra Stuffed Toys basket. I'd be happy to pass him along to you if you'd like! I'd just need to know where to ship him!

Time to run because DD woke up from her nap...Can't wait to read more!

Thanks for reading along and for your kind words. We are anxiously awaiting this trip, but we are really busy in the meantime so that helps. Ebay has become addictive as has etsy.

How kind of you to offer your Handy Manny. I’m mainly looking at 2 now. Mainly I wanted him to have the tool belt, the gloves on or both so ds will know it’s Manny. Here are pictures of the ones on my watch list.

If you’re sure your dd no longer wants him, I’m sure ds will give him lots of love. He’s loved Manny since he was a baby. I can pm you our address if you're sure. Thank you.

 

[dreamsofdisney]

If you’re sure your dd no longer wants him, I’m sure ds will give him lots of love. He’s loved Manny since he was a baby. I can pm you our address if you're sure. Thank you.

I'm sure! My DD would play with him for a few minutes if I pull him out for her, but she really doesn't LOVE him the way your DS will! Plus, she has so many stuffed friends, and we need to start making room for the new ones that I'm sure will join them after our trip to Sesame Place this summer and WDW next Spring!

Please PM me your shipping info and I'll get him out to you this week. He looks the same or similar to the one in the first pic - both the gloves and the belt - and is in super clean, near new condition.

I forgot to mention that my DD has a pillowcase dress almost identical to the one you got. I also bought it on etsy. Here's a pic of her wearing it for her Mickey Mouse themed birthday party in February. She's not looking too smiley in the picture because she was exhausted and overwhelmed from her party, but you can sort of see the dress!I layered it with a black tee and leggings for the colder months.

 

[lbuzz52]

I was thinking about the picture of J on my PTR where he is smiling. That was a huge ordeal. He completely refused to get in any pictures. Eventually, i stopped trying to get him in a picture. He just happened to grab a ball. The photographer went over and started rolling the ball back and forth. He thought it was so cool that she was playing ball with him and was just giggling up a storm. If it wasn't for that fun distraction, we would not have had any of him at all that day.

Your kids were beautiful on Easter! and so well coordinated!

I hope that your dd changes her mind about Peter Pan! But even if she doesn't, a date day with DS sounds so great! I bet they will both talk about that afternoon for a while!

M had issues for a while with not wanting to change earrings. She finally shared that her ears were itching/ hurting. Turns out that even the "sensitive" earrings were causing problems for her. We had to switch to all sterling silver. even a pair of acrylic hearts on a sterling post caused issues.

Those dresses are so beautiful! who is the seller?

You did a great job on all of your printing so far!

 

[luvmy2babies]

I'm sure! My DD would play with him for a few minutes if I pull him out for her, but she really doesn't LOVE him the way your DS will! Plus, she has so many stuffed friends, and we need to start making room for the new ones that I'm sure will join them after our trip to Sesame Place this summer and WDW next Spring!

Please PM me your shipping info and I'll get him out to you this week. He looks the same or similar to the one in the first pic - both the gloves and the belt - and is in super clean, near new condition.

I forgot to mention that my DD has a pillowcase dress almost identical to the one you got. I also bought it on etsy. Here's a pic of her wearing it for her Mickey Mouse themed birthday party in February. She's not looking too smiley in the picture because she was exhausted and overwhelmed from her party, but you can sort of see the dress!I layered it with a black tee and leggings for the colder months.

She is unbelievably cute, even with the exhausted look. I’ll pm you the information. Thank you so much on behalf of ds and me.

I know he will be happy. Handy Manny was his favorite until Mickey Mouse took over, but he still loves him. Here he is meeting him on our first trip. I’m so hoping he is as warm with the characters this time as he was then. We stood in the line because I had to cancel our Hollywood and Vine breakfast after dd got sick temporarily the night before. She’s taking a break off to the side. We have it scheduled again.

 

[luvmy2babies]

I was thinking about the picture of J on my PTR where he is smiling. That was a huge ordeal. He completely refused to get in any pictures. Eventually, i stopped trying to get him in a picture. He just happened to grab a ball. The photographer went over and started rolling the ball back and forth. He thought it was so cool that she was playing ball with him and was just giggling up a storm. If it wasn't for that fun distraction, we would not have had any of him at all that day.

Your kids were beautiful on Easter! and so well coordinated!

I hope that your dd changes her mind about Peter Pan! But even if she doesn't, a date day with DS sounds so great! I bet they will both talk about that afternoon for a while!

M had issues for a while with not wanting to change earrings. She finally shared that her ears were itching/ hurting. Turns out that even the "sensitive" earrings were causing problems for her. We had to switch to all sterling silver. even a pair of acrylic hearts on a sterling post caused issues.

Those dresses are so beautiful! who is the seller?

You did a great job on all of your printing so far!

Thanks, even though both of the outfits came from Sears, I couldn’t believe how well the colors matched up. Balls get my son’s attention too. In fact, for one shot during our Christmas session, the background was all ball shaped ornaments. We barely got the shots done with dd and ds in them together. He thought they were balls and kept looking back at them. She had to take one shot in a hugging pose because it turned out dd had to hold him tight to get him to face the camera, but it is one of my favorites.

When it came time for him to take one alone though, it was a no go. He would not sit down and when she rolled one of the toy ornaments to him, he kept getting up. We eventually had to switch to a snow background.

I’m hoping she changes her mind too. Cub's Den has a credit card guarantee just like a lot of the restaurants do so she's going unless she changes her mind by 4:30 on June 22nd. I wouldn’t mind doing the rides twice though. I have left them on the schedule for a time dd is with us. If not though, we'll do something else with that time. I know she’ll have fun in the Cub’s Den. She loves that kind of thing.

I’m not sure what is going on with her and earrings. I would try another kind, but as of now, she won’t even let me near her with a pair. I got her ears pierced early so she would not remember what it felt like. Mine were done at age 6. If she wants to wear earrings one day she will likely have to get them redone.

The seller on etsy is DIPdesigns. I love the dresses, but I have also enjoyed corresponding with her. It was really hard to pick. She has a Belle dress that is amazing.

I haven’t decided yet if I’m going to have the cards spiral bound on top or cut off that blank space and make a photo album. I may end up using ziplock bags to hold the cards and make that decision when we come home. The activity books are coming along well. Dd did say though she doesn’t want to journal about this trip, just wants to take pictures, so I’ve decided instead of adding a few journal pages to her book, I’m going to make a journal for myself. I found some amazing journal pages in DoNatalie’s file. I love everyone’s work, but I tend to gravitate to her designs because they usually don’t use as much color as some of the others (therefore less ink).

I'm having way too much fun with this probably, but dd still looks at her autograph book from our first trip almost daily. I just wish I'd finished my TR. I did a full PTR, but got 2 days into the TR when life got in the way. I'm thinking having a journal will help. I did finish the one for Sea World and I'm determined to have one for this trip.

 

[luvmy2babies]

I was going over my touring plan on the TP site and realized I had not posted the details of our days here yet. I'm going to do that after I work on them a bit more. First a few thoughts about packing and later a post about departure day.

I’m going to try to do laundry on this trip, but in case it doesn’t work out, I’m going to pack like I won’t be doing any. Still, I’m going to try to limit us to the two large wheeled uprights and pull one with each hand. Summer clothes don’t take up nearly as much space, but with the heat and sweating we’ll likely have to change to go back out after breaks and to have dinner after swimming. One bag will have ds and dd’s clothes, toiletries and shoes and the other will have my clothes, shoes, toiletries, and whichever bag has the space, will get dd’s princess dress and the other extras that doing get carried on.

If either bag feels like $50 (meaning is overweight) I’ll add a small upright and attach it to one of the large bags so it is not more to carry. We should get 3 DME tags. I’ll bring all three either way. We got three the first time and I only had two checked bags, so I left the extra tag at home. Turned out my large bag was overweight. The lady at the counter offered me a SWA duffle bag to put some of my things in from the overweight bag. It would have been $25 instead of $50, but I’d left that tag at home and because I was carrying ds’ carseat, I wouldn’t be able to carry another thing. Not making that mistake again.

Packing list

I have one of course, but it’s long and would take up a bunch of space. I’ll summarize for each of us, which might knowing me take up just as much space. I’m a shorts/t-shirts kind of girl. I’m much more into being comfortable than I am being girly. I’m working on combining both. I did order my shirts from the women’s section of jiffy this time. I am bringing one dress for our dinner at Ohana. I ordered it on ebay. This is the picture from there.

Of course that was before I read that Ohana doesn’t do a photo at dinner. But maybe I’ll ask someone to take our picture. So, my packing list is mainly shorts, tank tops and t-shirts and pretty much all cotton. I pack a shirt for each day then add on an extra shirt for half of the days. I pack bottoms to mix and match so not quite one per day. For undies, I take 1.5 times the number of days. I’ll pack two swimsuits and a cover-up. I wear sock and sneakers but I’m bringing some sandals to alternate. I will pack jewelry and some pressed powder, blush, eye shadow and lip gloss. This is a step up. I haven’t taken makeup on vacation since dh died.

Dd is more girly than I have been, but she will tell you that she is proud of how far I have come. She does make it a point to compliment me when she can see I’ve made more of an effort. I was super girly until dh’s illness really progressed. I didn’t know how to be a dainty girly caregiver, advocate, warrior, etc. Her wardrobe is full of color: pinks, purples, yellow, shades of blue and red. Her suitcase will show it. I love dressing her. She’ll have her vacation shirts, tank tops, shorts, skorts, and some sun dresses. Numbers for her will be the same as mine, outfits to equal 1.5 times the number of days. She’ll wear socks and sneakers on her feet and alternate with sandals. She has two swimsuits and a cover-up too.

My baby is all boy even though he lives with 2 girls. In his clothes, other than Disney characters, you’ll see balls, planes, trains and automobiles. It’s typical, shorts, t-shirts, tank tops, and muscle shirts. He wears a rash guard with his swimming trunks. He has two of each and a cover-up. He has socks and sneakers and sandals too. For him, the number of outfits will equal 2.5 times the number of days. I don’t have the blow-out worries I had on the first trip (had one so bad we ended up tossing his outfit) but he does manage to attract stains.

All three of us will have hats for our heads and dd and ds will also have sunglasses. I wear glasses. Dd and I just sleep in camisol type tops and shorts and ds sleeps in a t-shirt and a diaper, nothing special. I am planning on putting the children’s outfits in ziplock bags this time. In the next update, I’ll talk about the other stuff: toiletries, medication, what goes in the carry-on and our Garden Grocer order.

 

[Paradise18]

Just found your pre-trip report. Really enjoyed reading it so far. Your love for your children really shows . Because of reading your report I have discovered Etsy, so a big Thank You is in order. I look forward to the rest of your report and hope you come back and tell us about the trip itself. Have a great time!!!

 

[luvmy2babies]

Just found your pre-trip report. Really enjoyed reading it so far. Your love for your children really shows . Because of reading your report I have discovered Etsy, so a big Thank You is in order. I look forward to the rest of your report and hope you come back and tell us about the trip itself. Have a great time!!!

I'm glad to have another reader. I found etsy reading someone's PTR as well. Beware it is habit forming. I just placed an order today for a Disney Princess pillow case dress for my daughter. It had the exact princesses we should see at Akershus and each princess' dress has sparkles on it.

Now back to my other addiction: ebay. Someone else going in June mentioned Disney themed nails and a search on there revealed lots of choices for decals that look like they go on pretty easily. Right up my little diva's alley. I may even get in on the action.

 

[dreamsofdisney]

Just wanted you to know that it's beena crazy week, so I was running a little behind schedule, but I mailed your package out today! You should have a little Disney mail by Tuesday!

 

[luvmy2babies]

Just wanted you to know that it's beena crazy week, so I was running a little behind schedule, but I mailed your package out today! You should have a little Disney mail by Tuesday!

Thank you so much for your generosity.

 

[mousetravel]

Subbing! Just came across your PTR! I also travel as a single parent, just me & DD. She isn't a "little one" though, as she'll be turing 17 on our upcoming trip! We're going to be there right before your dates. We're going June 13-19.


Love all of your purchases and crafts!!
Can't wait to hear more!

 

[luvmy2babies]

Subbing! Just came across your PTR! I also travel as a single parent, just me & DD. She isn't a "little one" though, as she'll be turing 17 on our upcoming trip! We're going to be there right before your dates. We're going June 13-19.


Love all of your purchases and crafts!!
Can't wait to hear more!

Yay for the upcoming trip.

Sometimes I feel like I'll blink and my daughter will be a teenager. She'll actually be 9 years old tomorrow. I know the answer, but I still ask my self where all of that time went. I'll try to check out your PTR this weekend.