58 tantrums, 2 snakes, 3 dole whips, a fall & lost sunglasses... OH MY!!!!!

[Marsheliz]

To all who come to this happy place, WELCOME!!!

After reading my title, you wouldn't think there was a whole lot of happy but come on, it's Disney.... We all know there is a whole lot of happy going on in that wonderful place... We just had lots of hiccups along the way..

I did a PTR but never finished it but you may recall " Second Star to the Right.. And Straight On till Morning"..... Some of you are familiar with the fact that I lost my mom this past April due to that nasty C-word.. I literally sat there with her while she took her last breath. It was the hardest week of my life. The last day she actually spoke to me was on April 7th. My anniversary and then she died 3 days later on the 10th.

And where we tell our boys that heaven is, where they can find their Grandma- is just that.. Second Star to the Right and Straight On till Morning.

Here is a picture of the boys with her on our September 2012 trip.





Hands down, one of my favorite pictures EVER. You can just feel the love. We miss her so very much. Life is so different without her here. Especially with it being Christmas.

Here is a trip of myself, DH and two boys from September 2012.

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[chocolateMinnie]

so sorry for your loss but really looking forward to your TR.

 

[Marsheliz]

Okay.. A little about me.. I am a 29 year old paralegal ( well, I actually got let go of from my job about a month from this trip, more on that later) from South Carolina. My husband and I got engaged at Disney in the rain in December of 2005 and got married April 7, 2007... Obviously I LOVE Disney.... My favorite rides are Splash, Peter Pan's Flight and a new fav- Under the Sea... Journey of the Little Mermaid...
Fav Foods/Snacks: Dole Whips, Nutella Waffle Sandwich from Sleepy Hollow
( O.M.G.) Aside from Disney- I love to shop, love monogrammed items, reading, Atlanta Housewives ( guilty pleasure), traveling and love being a mom... These hobbies combined with my love for Disney is why I need a JOB!!

We have two boys- Lawson & Landen. We will start with Lawson.

Lawson is 5. He is a ball of fire... His nickname is Laws the Boss, if you knew him, you would understand where he gets that nickname from and why he is the bossman. LOL... He loves Pirates, Buzz Lightyear & he enjoys Fantasmic.

Here he is on his first trip during MSEP- February 2011



PRICELESS!!!! You can only get that face at Disney.

This is him on his birthday, this past July.

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[Marsheliz]

so sorry for your loss but really looking forward to your TR.

WELCOME!! Thank you SO much. and thank you for "speaking".... I hope you enjoy!

 

[wiigirl]

Following along!

 

[PrincessJo]

I'm very sorry about your Mom... you look just like her

I can't wait to hear about your trip. Your boys are adorable Mine is 17 now and it seems like he was that small just yesterday!

I'm a paralegal too, so I'm waiting to hear more about that

Subbing!!!

 

[mdutch39]

Subscribing!

 

[Marsheliz]

Our baby (2) is Landen AKA Landy Boo. He even calls himself Landy. He LOVES Mickey Mouse, Jake, cookies and he seemed to really enjoy himself at Disney. He is so sweet and has everyone wrapped around his finger.He was a trooper and behaved better than what I thought he would.

Here he is at his 2nd birthday party- (Mickey Mouse themed of course)
2 weeks before our trip.




My know it sounds cliché, but my husband ( Stevie) really is my best friend. He takes care of us and puts up with my Disney obsession. He works as a foreman for a construction company and at times, has to go out of town. He was in Charleston working for two years, only coming home on the weekends. Thankfully he is back in town and has been for about a year.. I don't have a lot of pictures of just him, he is just not the kind to want to take "selfies".. LOL. I'll have to see what I can dig up. Here is a pic of all of us this past May at the beach.

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[Marsheliz]

Following along!

Welcome!!!!

 

[Marsheliz]

I'm very sorry about your Mom... you look just like her

I can't wait to hear about your trip. Your boys are adorable Mine is 17 now and it seems like he was that small just yesterday!

I'm a paralegal too, so I'm waiting to hear more about that

Subbing!!!

Thank you. <3

What kind of law does your office practice?

So glad you are following along!

 

[Marsheliz]

Subscribing!

WELCOME! Glad you made it!

 

[PrincessJo]

Thank you. <3

What kind of law does your office practice?

So glad you are following along!

I work on patents and trademarks. I tried family law...and well... couldn't stop bringing my work home with me. What a sad experience that was

Patents and trademarks are much less stressful!

 

[Marsheliz]

I work on patents and trademarks. I tried family law...and well... couldn't stop bringing my work home with me. What a sad experience that was

Patents and trademarks are much less stressful l!

UGH... You're not lying!!! There is nothing rewarding about family law... I thought I would like it but its no fun seeing divorces, arguing over children, etc... UGH

 

[Marsheliz]

After much going back and forth, changing resorts, waiting on free dining and actually cancelling for September and then re-booking for October 19-23. I had my heart set on POR but Stevie really wanted to try out Caribbean Beach Resort so I decided I better let him decide. We also decided not to tell the boys where we were going.


Let me back up just a little, I know I mentioned that I got let go of right before trip. That happened September 17th to be exact. Of course, after losing my mom and then losing my job, I just about had it. I cried, screamed, worried my self to death.... Then of course, it starts.....everyone around me is asking if we were going to cancel our trip.. UMM, Noooooo!!!! The trip is paid for at this time and I would definitely go into a full-blown tantrum if I had to cancel the one and only thing I have looked forward to for months...... I just wanted my happy place. And Stevie definitely wouldn't want to live with me after having to cancel a Disney trip.


Friday, October 18, 2013

( Pre-face- I don't have any pics of our travel day, Please forgive me)
Stevie got up and went to work like normal. Landen and I took Lawson to school that day and then came home and got everything packed and into the car. Of course, I am chomping at the bit all day waiting for DH to get home. He FINALLY gets home about 3- do another once-over on the house and we are all packed up ready to go. We pick Lawson up from school and head out. Lawson always calls the interstate "the far away road" so he wants to know what we are doing and why we aren't going home like normal. We just play it off. We ended up stopping at Cracker Barrel in Orangeburg and having dinner. I had the salmon, green beans and fried okra. You can't go wrong with Cracker Barrel.

It rained off and on and we finally arrive at our hotel for the night. We stayed at Country Inn and Suites in Jacksonville, FL. My sister graciously had some points she wasn't going to use so we had a room- no charge. :

We did not sleep the greatest because Landen woke up and then had a hard time going back to sleep. Babies and hotels do not go hand in hand IMO. LOL. But no big deal, the day we had been waiting for was
SO CLOSE.

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Got up, had breakfast, and we were on our merry way. After about 3 hours, we saw the pearly gates that is THE WALT DISNEY WORLD. Lawson started squealing and Landen didn't have a clue what was going on. LOL. Got to CBR and the Custom House was a madhouse... HOLY COW, I was not expecting it to be so crowded. I did not get my requests. I had requested Martinque and we were placed in Aruba. I had read on here and online that a child had gotten bit by a copperhead here and the mom advised to make sure your children stay on the sidewalk and to be careful.. If you have never been to CBR- there is a lot of lush landscaping and vegetation.. It really is beautiful but definitely a snake heaven. I hadn't gotten the words "Watch out for snakes" and "stay on the walkways" out of my mouth 3 minutes when we saw some type of greenish/brown snake slithering. Talk about FREAKY DEEKY!!! We were about to get on our way when Stevie spots ANOTHER one. I am feeling like I am in the twilight zone at this point... Here is proof:​

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[Marsheliz]

Even with the snakes, LOL, look how beautiful CBR is...



After all the snake business was taken care of, we decided it was time to get some food so we headed out to the food court.

Here is a picture of the boys on the bridge on the way to OPR. They were so happy to be out of the car!




Now the walk from Aruba to OPR was a bit of a haul with the kids but wasn't too terrible but it was more than what we are used too.

We got pizza to share & I got some of the housemade chips with jerk seasoning. OMG, they were so good. I would LOVE some right now. It appears that we got a yogurt too and Lawson asked for a smoothie just because the person in front of him did. He said he didn't like it but either Stevie or myself finished it. It was wonderful.



Enjoying our late lunch...

I love the ambiance of the food court. It looks like you are outside here. Way too cool.

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[Tinkl0ver66]

So sorry to hear about your mom. I lost mine 7 years ago and still miss her everyday. We also stayed at CBR when our girls were 5 and 7, they are now 19 and 21. Such good memories there. We have bee back several times over the years, going back next June and splitting our stay between the Poly and POR. Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip

 

[Marsheliz]

So sorry to hear about your mom. I lost mine 7 years ago and still miss her everyday. We also stayed at CBR when our girls were 5 and 7, they are now 19 and 21. Such good memories there. We have bee back several times over the years, going back next June and splitting our stay between the Poly and POR. Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip

Thank you! I'm happy you stopped by .... I definitely want to try out POR next time! I enjoyed CBR but I would like to try a new place next time... We are tentatively thinking about next Dec or maybe even Feb.. ( seems like forever)

 

[JulieODC]

What a cute family!

I'm sorry about your Mom

Looking forward to more updates --- I always enjoy hearing other reports with toddlers!

 

[Marsheliz]

What a cute family!

I'm sorry about your Mom

Looking forward to more updates --- I always enjoy hearing other reports with toddlers!

Thank you for stopping in. I enjoy reports with young kids too!!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Thanks so much for the p.m. I can be a ditz sometimes and not notice when someone has started a new report.

Isn't it the greatest seeing those sweet smiling faces light up when they see the Disney World sign?

Yikes! Two snakes in so little time? Thank goodness they didn't make any return visits.

Ahhh, those wonderfully seasoned housemade chips. I could go for some of those right this very minute.