The McSparklesons Sail the Magic... AGAIN! $500 Potato Chips! 3/13

[saintstickets]

I'll be lurking on this TR just like I have on all your others! Can't wait!!

[jenseib]

It's that time already. Wow! I'm in!

[Wicket's Mom]

Kara, 80% off made that dress extra gorgeous!

You really should wear dresses like that one more often. The color really suits you.

[ariel1025]

Definitely on board! We cruise the Magic next month and I'm so excited to get a sneak peek at her

[MAGICFOR2]

Okay, I checked in on page 2, had some witty comments and everything. I'm really frustrated with the DIS, but it must be my connection - anyway, I'm in!

[karajeboo]

Originally Posted by JKSWonder

I feel the same way!!!!

Originally Posted by 2xcited2sleep

Can't wait to hear all about it!!

I wonder what I'll say!!!

Originally Posted by Grumpy's Wife

I love reading all about the McSparkleson's adventures.

Me too! I wonder how much is actually true!

Originally Posted by saintstickets

I'll be lurking on this TR just like I have on all your others! Can't wait!!

You're not a lurker anymore - you just posted!!!

Originally Posted by jenseib

It's that time already. Wow! I'm in!

I can't believe it's already come and gone!!!

Originally Posted by Wicket's Mom

Kara, 80% off made that dress extra gorgeous!

You really should wear dresses like that one more often. The color really suits you.

My mother always dressed me in the "royals" - royal blue, bright red, emerald green, which may be why I never wear those colors anymore.... but thank you!

Originally Posted by ariel1025

Definitely on board! We cruise the Magic next month and I'm so excited to get a sneak peek at her

She is GORGEOUS!!!!!

Originally Posted by MAGICFOR2

Okay, I checked in on page 2, had some witty comments and everything. I'm really frustrated with the DIS, but it must be my connection - anyway, I'm in!

Tammie, step away from the wine girlfriend!!!!

[dvc4life]

Can't wait to hear about this cruise Kara! Loved your family photo comparison. Ally is really growing into a beautiful young lady.

And, as I said on your other thread, we are also booked for the 2013 NYE Cruise on the Fantasy. Booked it on our cruise three weeks ago with two other couples we were sailing with. It is gonna be a great NYE!

[stinksmom]

I want to go on the NYE cruise!! After reading about everyone going, I decided to check prices, after all we have a dummy date booked from our cruise in March so I could just change the date and still take advantage of the discount, right? Yikes I thought there was a small possibility I could talk DH into it but not after seeing the prices Oh well. We have enough other things to look forward to.....

Please hurry back with more about this cruise. You always make me laugh and its been a long Friday here at work!

[wilma-bride]

I'm here - can't wait to get this party started

[minniemouse86]

Add me to the list of loving to read about their trips

[JWBmom]

Can't wait to read along and remember with you

[karajeboo]

Originally Posted by dvc4life

Can't wait to hear about this cruise Kara! Loved your family photo comparison. Ally is really growing into a beautiful young lady.

And, as I said on your other thread, we are also booked for the 2013 NYE Cruise on the Fantasy. Booked it on our cruise three weeks ago with two other couples we were sailing with. It is gonna be a great NYE!

Soooo very excited! This will be the best NYE EVER!!!

Originally Posted by stinksmom

I want to go on the NYE cruise!! After reading about everyone going, I decided to check prices, after all we have a dummy date booked from our cruise in March so I could just change the date and still take advantage of the discount, right? Yikes I thought there was a small possibility I could talk DH into it but not after seeing the prices Oh well. We have enough other things to look forward to.....

Please hurry back with more about this cruise. You always make me laugh and its been a long Friday here at work!

I know. Jeff is the one who sold me on the idea of a NYE cruise - but only on DCL. No way would I want to be around a bunch of crazy drunks on NYE with Ally. But a bunch of crazy Disney lovin drunks is just fine! Notice there are no inside cabins available? We loved our inside this trip, and I booked an outside family stateroom for NYE. Hoping to downgrade into an inside stateroom but I have a feeling that when they release those rooms that they will be even HIGHER than rooms that are selling now....

Jeff is really regretting suggesting NYE!

Originally Posted by wilma-bride

I'm here - can't wait to get this party started

Hey, I used that song last year in my movie!!!! Already working on the TR, the Shutterfly photo book AND the movie! It keeps it all alive for me!

Originally Posted by minniemouse86

Add me to the list of loving to read about their trips

I'm trying to get some video uploaded to youtube but my connection is really slow today. But y'all know how the McSparklesons love some video with their photos.....

[karajeboo]

Well if there's one this this McSparkleson is lacking, it's patience. Well, and what Angelina Jolie has from the neck down.... from the neck up, for that matter. But that's another story.

So I'm not waiting for my videos to all upload to youtube. There aren't any great ones from this first day anyway. Unless you want the back door shot of Kara and Ally entering the ship. It's not pretty - trust me. Or you could ask the spanx......

But I digress. It's time. So.. just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip, that started from South Carolina, and ended on a ship.

Hey look Dad! I got your poetic talents!!!!

NOT!

But it was fateful. If by fate you mean, that we are even more hooked to cruising than we were a year ago when we stepped off this same ship. If by fate you mean, that Ally may never go to college because we spend all her tuition money on cruising. If by fate you mean that we will have to work until the day we drop dead because we spend our retirement on cruising.

If that's what fate means? Well, it was definitely another fateful trip.

So on Thursday, March 29, I get up in the morning after barely sleeping the night before, get Jeff and Ally off to work and school, and go about obsessing over every little thing I may have forgotten.

As soon as everyone was gone, I ran Buckeye to the kennel, a new kennel almost in the NC mountains, with a lovely view from the rocking chair front porch. Very Norman Rockwellian, in a canine sort of way. I was nervous because he would be at a new kennel, but it was a referral from a friend so I felt good about it. But I just HATE leaving my baby for a week. Working from home leaves Buck and I together all day long and I miss my boy when I'm gone.....

But screw that, cause I'm going on a cruise!!!!

After I dropped off the dog, I swung by Jeff's office to trade cars with him - I wanted his mini van to take the dog, who sheds a LOT! Once I got my car back, I ran those last minute errands and then took the car to get cleaned so we could start out nice and fresh!!!!

On the way back home, about an hour before Jeff is scheduled to get home so we can go pick up Ally, I hear a loud chime from the car, look at the dashboard, and there is some check engine message!!!!

WHAT?????? I have no idea what it said, it was in German. Or something like that. All I read was, "honey, you ain't taking this car to Florida!" With a German accent of course.

But I can assure you that the call I made to Jeff was not in German. It was in my best Redneckese, complete with #'s, @'s, *'s, &'s and when you put it all together it went like this:

"The *&%$#%& check engine light just came on in this *&#@$% car! Yah. Farfurgnugen."

We were less than one hour to take off. Yes, take off. As in, "take off you hoser, eh?"

Jeff was home in about 30 minutes with a clean minivan ready to roll. He's an okay guy. And once he walked in the door, my blood pressure came down significantly.

We actually picked Ally up from school 30 minutes before they got out. Actually 34 minutes, because the cut off time for taking kids out early is 30 minutes before the end of the day.

Although, I AM the PTO president, and as Telly Savalas once said, "membership has its privileges." But he's bald. And I'm just one crazy mother, as in mother of a child at this school, not mother farfurgnugen, for even considering a stint as PTO president. But I knew I'd be safe grabbing her anytime a bit early. Yes, I'm playing THAT card!

As soon as Ally got called out of class and I saw her coming down the hall, I did what any responsible parent would do.....

I started jumping up and down and yelled, "hurry! we're going on a cruise!"

And surprisiningly, Ally started jumping up and down, too! She may have even given me her best "Superstahhhhhh!" pose, but I can't remember.

Then she walked outside and said, "What is THAT doing here?" when she saw Jeff's minivan. See, we just got a "new" car in December, and put a little work into it, got new tires, and were really excited to drive the "new" car to Florida. And we're McSparklesons. And it's a very McSparkly car.....

Keep in mind, Jeff is GM of an auto auction. I will never have a new car. In fact, I never know what kind of car I will have. But I've always had "fun" cars, and a minivan is not fun.

At all. It's like driving around with a neon sign on top that flashes "M - O - M"

That must be kind of awkward for Jeff......

But all things considered, the minivan was better for Ally, because we stowed all the seats in the back except for hers, so she could get into all the bags on the floor with ease, to get out games, movies, etc. As much as I hate this minivan, it is very practical for trips.

So by the time we left Ally's school, it was just after 2pm and our original goal was to go through the parent pickup line and get her just after 2:30 so we were 30 minutes ahead of the game. Go McSparklesons!!!!

We traveled in the usual McSparkleson way.

We sang.

We danced.

We laughed.

And Ally was scared to death of what we'd do next.....

Ah yes.... the joys of McSparklson travel.

We drove. And drove. And drove.

We got off I-95 at our exit just after 10pm and taveled over the IC, and we were just ready to get off and check into our hotel when Jeff looked off in the distance and saw a ship in port, all lit up.

"There she is." Meaning.... The Disney FANTASY!

When we sailed last year, our shuttle driver informed us that if a ship is in port overnight, there's usually a problem.

Well, the only problem tonight was that we were going to delay our checkin because we were nosy and wanted to go check out Disney's newest ship, set to make her maiden voyage the day AFTER we set sail!

So we drove until we came up just abreast of her and the funnel vision was going, there was music playing, looked like a great time! If I can figure out how to get the photos off my iphone I will post them. But don't worry, we saw the Fantasy THREE different times this trip and I took a ton of pics of her.

We finally left to get checked in to the Country Inn and Suites in Cape Canaveral, and while Jeff unloaded bags under the portico, I went in to check in.

That's when I texted Jeff that I changed my mind and would NOT be cruising DCL this trip. There were 14 - yes 14! - ankle biters running around the lobby. Jumping on furniture, running, throwing food, crying, and last buy not least, climbing on the valet carts!!!! As in SWINGING from the top bar of a valet cart!

I believe a shuttle had just dropped them off from WDW or some equally child friendly HELL, and I was just lucky enough to get in line behind them.

Although, there wasn't really a line. More of a squiggle of cookie crumbs that attached said ankle biters to their sad, haggard parents.

Next thing I know, I see the front desk clerk offer cookies, YES COOKIES, to these already overly sugared beasts!!!! I leaned into the woman in front of me and said "I think they've already had enough sugar...."

I thought she was going to fall over laughing!!! Poor thing was just waiting in the cookie crumb squiggle line for some towels!

As quickly as they arrived, they were gone. And it was just me and my counter girl. That may not be politically correct, calling her a counter girl, but after what I just went through reliving the crumb line? It's all I've got, folks!

She was wonderful, apologized all over herself, and gave me a kick butt corner room on the 4th floor facing the port!

Gooooo McSparklesons!

And now I leave you in a way I never have before. With NO pictures in this installment!!!! But I promise I will make up for it real soon!!!!

[KristiMc]

Off to a good start. So what ended up being wrong with your car?

[luvslikepi]

ROFL.....I only hope that my mom sense of humor will be as sharp and witty as yours.