Are we only DREAMing of our vacation cruise???

[DisneyMissy]

Sorry to hear about your dad! I hope everything turns out okay.

[nkochrn]

Things are still pretty iffy right now. Dad's been hospitalized due to some complications after a treatment, hopefully we can get him feeling good enough to come home and enjoy at least a few good months if not years!

[nkochrn]

Dad's looking good now and home from the hospital awaiting his oral chemo meds to be sent! Anything could happen between now and January so we are just going to keep planning for the best.

I logged in to disney cruise line today to check out the updated site and saw that I was able to register the kids for the kid's club. I hope I can remember my password for that long! LOL. I have about a billion passwords to remember for work already! (okay, maybe it's only 4 or 5.) It was pretty simple, enter a password, click my hubs could pick them up and enter my name at the bottom. I'm not sure what the reason is for registering them online, does that mean I don't have to do it later? Is it just another thing to get me all excited about the cruise, because if so, it totally worked!

and this is completely off topic, but.... I'm going to be an AUNT!!!!! WOOHOOO. My sister was married 13 weeks ago and is now 11 weeks pregnant, mission accomplished. This is my first niece or nephew other than DH's niece. I'm already trying to plan the baby shower and find ways to spoil him/her!!!

[DisneyMissy]

I'm glad your dad is doing well!

I believe the online registration is so you don't have to do it on the boat (just a time saver).

Congrats on becoming an auntie!!

[nkochrn]

I got a few more things in the mail this weekend for Christmas. I got the kid's each a color wonder tote with markers to give them something to do on our 3-day car trip to Florida! I also plan to get some travel bingo cards, probably the Melissa & Doug set. I already bought a bunch of used Disney movies for $3/movie! I plan to give them to the kid's for Christmas, so they can watch them in the van during our trip.

Each time I order something from Amazon, I add a few things from my Disney Wishlist to make my order more than $25 and get free shipping. My gift card balance is getting low now, gotta earn some more swagbucks & Bing rewards

[nkochrn]

Yesterday the hubs and I took the afternoon off work, picked the kids up at daycare and went to apply for our passports.

I was really worried about being able to get a picture of Ryan, he is the MOST uncooperative kid when it comes to the camera. He was tired yesterday which actually made it a little easier because he stood still but he kept putting his hands in front of his face. We did get a picture relatively fast though. His has a very tiny bit of shadow in it, I hope it doesn't get sent back b/c of that!

We're from from a small town in Kansas right along Highway 36. This weekend is the annual Highway 36 treasure hunt, where there is garage sales along hwy 36 across the entire state. We stopped and searched for some bargains, DH found a service manual and I found some fall clothes for Marissa. I'm heading out to do some more garage saling in the morning!

I've been searching the net this morning (while I can't sleep ever since a 4 year old invaded my bed) for free printable kid's activities. If you know of any Disney ones I'd love to know where to find them. I'm going to put them in a protective sheets in a 3 ring binder for each kid to have an activity book for our roadtrip.

[DisneyMissy]

Have you gone to disneymovierewards.com? They have some free printable "rewards"

[nkochrn]

Originally Posted by DisneyMissy

Have you gone to disneymovierewards.com? They have some free printable "rewards"

Thanks Missy! Those are perfect!!!

[nkochrn]

JUST when I was about to give up on DS EVER being potty trained, there is finally some hope! My sister watched him for a couple hours yesterday while I went shopping and when I got back he was really excited to show me his "POOP QUARTERS!" Apparently my bribes of stickers and candy aren't nearly as awesome as poop quarters. He then slept for 12 hours last night, woke up dry and peed in the potty for a penny. He has been begging to wear his underwear lately, but then usually just pees and poops in them. Crossing my fingers that he's ready to swim in the pools by January!

[nkochrn]

Today I stayed home with the kids b/c DS was sick last evening, but he's feeling fine now! We took advantage of the day off and went out hunting for bargains and we found some goodies!

Thrift Shop #1: We found these masks for $3/each to go with the kid's halloween costumes! I also ordered DS's today on Amazon using my gift cards.

DSC_5851 by nkochrn, on Flickr

DSC_5849 by nkochrn, on Flickr

Thrift Stop #2: I found a pirate costume for DD, $2!!! They also had several princess costumes, I thought about buying her a couple more but decided she didn't really need them. I'm still considering going back for the Rapunzel one though I had DS try on the pirate costume that I'd found on Amazon for him too.

DSC_5846 by nkochrn, on Flickr

Our Passports came yesterday too!

426369_10151037283751432_1479700452_n by nkochrn, on Flickr

It's been a good week We're going to enjoy some camping this weekend.

[nkochrn]

DH thinks we NEED to spend at least ONE day at Disney World with the kids! I was planning on booking a Little Mermaid room at Art of Animation. We might sound crazy BUT we are seriously contemplating throwing a tent and sleeping bags into the van and camping out at Fort Wilderness!!! If anyone has any camping advice I'd appreciate it (I have been visiting the camping forums here on Disboards

[nkochrn]

Today is the Day! Time for online check in and booking activities. I had NO intention of being up the second I was able to start checking in. I planned to wait until I was at work and log in to the website, during my break of course BUT I woke up at 2am to little man crawling in my bed and then demanding water, then of course I was unable to get back to sleep, after about 1/2 hour I remembered I could be booking my excursion!!!

Nassau- Blue Lagoon Dolphin Encounter at 9:30am I really wanted the early time for this, so we could have a little time to stroll through the straw market, afterward, get our passports stamped, and then be back on the ship a couple hours before disembark time.

Castaway Cay- Really thought about booking the Stingray adventure, but decided to just hang out and relax on the beach all day

I asked DH last night if he cared if we skipped the Palo dinner, which I knew he kinda wanted to do. I didn't really want to spend the money on it, when we can eat in the MDR for no extra cost. He said it didn't really matter to him. I still might book it, but is there a way to know your dining rotation ahead of time? I want to make sure I scheduled Palo on a night that we have a repeat MDR.

[nkochrn]

This week I added snorkeling to my port adventures while at Castaway Cay! DS is too young, but DD will be able to go. I suppose I should discuss with the hubs tonight if he'd like to join us in snorkeling and leave DS with the kid's club for awhile. I definitely want to get an underwater camera purchased before this!

[Summerl30]

I think we are going a week or so after you. DH won't go to any dining that we need to dress better than jeans, so no formal dining for me either. meh.

[JimGA]

Originally Posted by nkochrn

This week I added snorkeling to my port adventures while at Castaway Cay! DS is too young, but DD will be able to go. I suppose I should discuss with the hubs tonight if he'd like to join us in snorkeling and leave DS with the kid's club for awhile. I definitely want to get an underwater camera purchased before this!

That would be tough to take 3 and 5 yo's, definately check on the kids club, but make sure your kids will not get angry if they have to leave the beach while you go snorkeling.