Three Mamas & Three Angel Babies~A Picture Filled Trip Report w/Links~1/10/08-1/21/08

[earthfaries]

To make reading easy & enjoyable, there are links to all pre-trip and trip related posts at the BOTTOM OF THIS POST

Hi!

I have been wanting to write a PT for a couple of years now and am finally brave enough to do it!!!
Hopefully we'll have some fellow DISers come along for the fun too and it won't just be me writing to myself

Let me start off by saying I love DIS and Disney World and I am addicted to the boards! I work at home and anytime I can I head over to the computer sitting in the corner of my living room with DIS minimized and waiting for me

I will now tell you about my family ~ my wonderful family , but let me forwarn you...it's not your average family and we are quite unconventional!!!

Me, Amy, 33 this past month. I have 3 babies, (you will see I call all my babies babies even though they are 5 and 11 1/2) No matter how old they get, they will always be my babies
I have stayed at home full time since my oldest son was 5. Before that he stayed with my mom while I worked about 4 days a week.
To pay the bills I babysit. I started babysitting when my son was 5 in my home for one little baby boy. I have done that ever since as that is what I do best, be a mommy
Now I babysit 2 children who are very sweet btw in my home 3 and 5 days a week. I also have a couple of children who I watch nights occasionally.

The only close up pic of me~Halloween w/Disney inspired face paint


Here is a pic of me and Trevon a couple of weeks ago downtown after his Holiday Pops Concert w/ the Asheville Symphony Orchestra and Chorus



Elizabeth, 30, my sister. Here is where the unusualness start (I like to make up my own words as you'll see I 'm sure) OK, where to start...this may get long...We have lived together and raised our children together since my oldest was 1, so 10 years now (and please don't get any weird ideas ~~~we are SISTERS , same mom and dad, and JUST sisters who get along wonderfully, agree on everything, we 2 years apart and look the same people say, (but we really don't)and that is all there is to it. Just two sisters.) When my oldest son , we'll call him by his nickname he picked ~tidoblue, was almost 1, we went to Waco, TX to see my dad's mom who was dying She was a really sweet woman who I didn't get to see to often because my dad was in the AF for 20 years and we had lived in Alaska for a big bulk of it. Anyway, when we got back my dad bought a 3 bedroom mobile home for me and tidoblue and it was really nice, but I was lonely. Esp. after being with the family for 2 weeks straight. I asked my sis if she wanted to live with us for awhile as she just split with her boyfriend. She said yes...we didn't get along too well...we fought a lot and agued, etc. But after awhile of trying to get along we really did start getting along well We lived together and worked together at a local health food store and had fun with tidoblue. Those were fun times. After about a year and a half my son started calling my sis mom! Cool! He now had three moms. Oh yeah, that brings us to the other mom...

Elizabeth & Mahnara @ the Grove Park Inn


Diana, my mom, just turned 54 and really a wonderful person. She doesn't like it when I talk about her so I won't go into detail. She is wonderful thought and loves her family more than anything. She had taken care of tidoblue since I started working when he was 1 and he has always called her mom until a couple of years ago he started calling her grammie. He still thinks of her as a mom though because she is always over and going out with us wherever we go and buying stuff for us all the time...she's great and she really loves her family.

My mom~Diana & Tidoblue after the concert


tidoblue, 11 1/2 (he insists I say the 1/2 part everytime I say his age even though it's more like 3/4 now, maybe I shouldn't mention it to him!)
He is a wonderful sweet little boy. He is very tall for his age, I am 5'7 and he comes up to my nose!!!
He has never been to public school or any daycare or any babysitter other than my mom. He is super sweet and loves other kids. He is not a real "boyish" boy, and no, I don't think it is all from being raised by 3 women because he had always liked what he had liked from the beginning. My 5 year old is more of a "boyish" boy, once again, just their nature.
He is bi-racial, extremely handsome...ever since he was born all I have ever heard was "he should be a model" but not for us. He loves to act and sing. He is in the Asheville Symphony Children's Choir and I am very proud of him. He has a beautiful voice and takes after his mama (me )
His favorite color is pink, he has always loved pink but the last couple of years as he got older he changed his mind. Well, he loves it again. I think it helps his 10 year old friend also loves pink (he's a boy too)
Let me just say because I know how people stereotype, he is not really feminine or gay or anything like that. He is a regular 11 year old boy who was raised openly and was told from the beginning it's fine to play with dolls and like pink if you want. He doesn't like dolls but he likes the color pink

Tidoblue @ the Grove Park Inn looking at the Gingerbread Competition


Zar, 5, my little boy, 20 days apart from his sister who my sister birthed (will explain in another post later)
He is a beautiful boy inside and out (they all are!) He loves legos, actually he really really loves the minifigures. He loves video games like his big brother, esp. Lego Star Wars for the GC, Tak, mario games, etc. he's good at them too!!! He kicks my butt!!!

Zar @ the Grove Park Inn


Nara, 5, my baby girl (who my sister birthed~her only one) Born 20 days after Zar and they are like twins!!! They love each other so much and get along perfectly...no fights or anything EVER!!! She was never into dolls, she loves animals, little animals. She has hundreds of "friends" as we call them, you know, stuffed toys She loves LPS, little animal figures, books...she is very sweet and a very good girl. Rarely does anything wrong, and no, she's not like the bad seed She is just a really good little girl. She does get really mad sometimes though (gets that from my sis)

Nara on Halloween as a cute fuzzy red kitty~this pic is so her!


My Angel~Babies @ the NC Zoo in Asheboro ( a beautiful place btw)


Well, that's the family I will go into more detail about Nara and Zar and their interesting "You need to be on Oprah" story next time since we have 12 days to wait until WDW Here We Come 2008!!!

LINKS~JUST CLICK ON A LINK BELOW TO READ EACH PRE-TRIP RELATED POST:

1. ALL ABOUT OUR FAMILY~3 MAMAS AND 3 ANGEL~BABIES
2. HOW THE TRIP CAME TO BE...
3. ITENERARY
4. 12 DAYS LEFT! AK OR MGM?!?
5. DISNEY HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS HERE WE COME~WHAT TO PACK FOR JANUARY?!?
6. MY PERSONALIZED DISNEY LICENSE TAG~WHERE IS IT???
7. 11 DAYS LEFT!!!
8. 10 DAYS LEFT!!!
9. 9 DAYS LEFT!!!
10. 8 DAYS LEFT!!!
11. LGMHPC's
12. 7 DAYS LEFT!!!
13. 6 DAYS LEFT!!!
14. 5 DAYS LEFT!!!
15. 4 DAYS LEFT!!!
16. 3 DAYS LEFT!!!
17. WE LEAVE THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW!!!
18. 18 HOURS LEFT!!!
19. DISNEY WORLD HERE WE COME !!! WE'RE LEAVING IN 3 HOURS!

JUST CLICK ON A LINK BELOW TO READ EACH UPDATE FOR OUR TRIP REPORT

DAY 1 ~THURSDAY JAN. 10TH ~ WDW HERE WE COME !!!
DAY 2 ~Friday Jan. 11th ~ YAY! ORLANDO & GETTING OUR TOWNHOUSE
Day 2 ~ Continued...Our Evening @ WDW
DAY 3 ~ Saturday Jan. 12th ~ SeaWorld! part 1
Day 3 ~ SeaWorld Part 2
Day 4 ~ Sun. Jan. 13th ~ DTD & Outta Control Magic Dinner Show
Day 5 ~ Mon. Jan. 14th ~ Disney Homeschool Days @ Epcot
Day 6 ~ Tues. Jan. 15th ~ Epcot! (part 1)
Day 6 ~ Tues. Jan. 15th ~ Epcot! Our Evening in World Showcase ~ (part 2)
Day 7 ~ Wed. Jan. 16th ~ Magic Kingdom!!!
Day 8 ~ Thurs. Jan. 17th ~ Disney Hollywood Studios (part 1)
Day 8 ~ Thurs. Jan. 17th ~ DHS (part 2)...Jedi Training Academy!!!
Day 8 ~ DHS (part 3)
Day 9 ~ Fri. Jan. 18th ~ Magic Kingdom (part 1)
Day 9 ~ Magic Kingdom (part 2)
Day 9 ~ Magic Kingdom (part 3)
Day 10 ~ Sat. Jan. 19th ~ It's 4 am , Time to get up and head out!
Day 10 ~ Sat. Jan. 19th ~ SeaWorld Here We Come Again! (part 1)
Day 10 ~ SeaWorld (part 2)
Day 10 ~ SeaWorld part 3 ~ Believe & Arctic Expedition Tour
Day 10 ~ SeaWorld part 4 And Change Of Plans Again!!!
Day 11 ~ Sun. Jan. 20th ~ Bonus Day (part 1)
Day 11 ~ Flagler Beach ~ Bonus Day (part 2)
Day 11 (part 3) ~ St. Augustine & Ripley's Believe It Or Not!
Day 11 (part 4) ~ Ripley's Believe It Or Not **cont.**
***Final Thoughts...
Disney Homeschool Days at AK ~ September 2008!

[earthfaries]

Ok. I forgot to mention that my sister we will just refer to her as E from now on, is a Nanny. She is a nanny for 2 families at the moment. One during the days full time and one in the evenings and Saturdays. I know that she is working a lot but the money is too good to pass up and we're going to the World in 13 days

My dad also lives here in Asheville , seperated from my mom. They are still married and together since 1971, but live in seperate houses. My dad never goes anywhere, he is always too busy working The worst part is that he usually pays for the vacations and doesn't even go

Last year and this coming vacation is the only ones we , E and I have had to pay for. He paid for all the cruises and WDW trips and the 3 week trip out west you see listed below I love my dad.

He just loves to see his kids and grandkids have fun. We call him all the time when we are gone and he loves it.

He did go on one cruise with us, our 2nd one back in 2003. He also went with us to WDW our first time ever in 2003. Once was enough for him!!! He is one of those people who once is enough, he has already seen everything and needs to do something else!!!
BTW, if my dad were to go, I wouldn't go He hates the heat, crowds, waiting around for my mom and us with the kids (we were nursing back then) He just wants to go go go so it's better when he's at home, he can make a vacation pretty miserable
He is a great guy though, I guess it's from the 20 years in the Air Force

Before I tell you the amazing , unusual, unbelieveable story of Nara and Zar that is def. worthy of Oprah let me brief you on our Disney situation

We have gone back to Disney every year since our first visit in 2003. We were hooked from the get go
So, we went in 03, 04, 05, and 06. Always going to our fave MNSSHP. Once we had the free dining in 05 and that was great!
Well, this year my sister (and me too, although it was harder for me ) decided to skip Disney We made ourselves feel better by telling ourselves the kids would have more fun if we got a season pass to Dollywood and Splash Country in Pigeon Forge TN, about an hour and a half away. We paid about 500.00 for the season tix, we thought wow, the kids can ride rides all year not just for 1 week. Well, don't get me wrong, I will always remember this year at DW, we took tidoblue's friends a few times and had a ball, but it wasn't disney, or anything close to it!!!
Besides that, it ended up costing us about 100.00 each time we went, for food and gas, etc. so we could have just went to Disney with all that money!!!
Well, we could go from the end of march to the end of dec. and we only ended up going to DW about 5 times and Splash Country 6 times. So for all that money that's not a lot to do.
We planned on going to Disney Aug/Sept. 2008 with a group of homeschoolers from WNC who goes every year. The prices are great for school groups so it was def. affordable We also planned on staying off site again as we did last year for the first time and it was our best year!!! We could get a nice deal on a nice condo for a good price with my dad's military benefits
The only bad thing...the weather and crowds of labor day
One day an email was sent out through our homeschool loop about Disney Homeschool Days at Epcot Jan. 14 and 15th , 2008 and that very day we out of nowhere bought our tickets to WDW!!! The price was too good to pass up!
I immediately researched and booked a great 3 bedroom townhouse at Hapimag Lake Berkley and started DIS'n and planning It was only going to be an 81 day wait, the shortest ever! What a surprise...Disney in 2 1/2 months!!!

Stay tuned for our itenerary...

CLICK HERE FOR THE NEXT INSTALLMENT ~ ITENERARY

[HomeschoolMama]

First!!!!

You only had 1 day to decided where to make ADRS! Yikes!
I can't wait to hear more. We'll just miss each other, as we leave on the 8th for home. I didn't know about homeschool days before I made our plans.

[scottny]

ok i see you figured out how to do it so I am here. great start.

[earthfaries]

Originally Posted by HomeschoolMama

First!!!!

Hello!

I have to admit, I am so excited! My first PTR and my first reply

I see you're a fellow homeschool mama...Welcome to my PTR

[earthfaries]

Originally Posted by scottny

ok i see you figured out how to do it so I am here. great start.

Thanks for the info and thanks for coming over to my PTR
I'm enjoying your PTR btw

[earthfaries]

ITENERARY

I'm on a roll! Can you tell the kids are napping and watching a movie?

Where did I leave off...oh yes, the itenerary, and here it is:

Thursday the 10th~ Leave around 3pm as soon as the children I watch go home.
*drive to Greenville, SC to drop my mom off at her hotel near the airport. (She's flying to Orlando, she always does because she is disabled and had major problems with her back and hips and can't stand or sit too long and can't do the long car ride. Last time she did she couldn't enjoy her vacation because she was in so much pain )Her flight leaves Friday afternoon
*Be back on the road again by 5pm headed for WDW
*Stop for the night in Kingsland, GA...3 miles from FL!!!
Friday~Sleep in then finish the drive to Orlando, which will be less than 3 hours!
*Pick up my mom at the airport in Orlando at 2pm
*Head over to the townhouse rental in Kissimmee, check in and go to Super Wal-Mart down the road to get groceries for the week.
*Go back to the house and put a couple of frozen pizzas in the oven and un pack and move in
*Go out ~ Stops for the evening....DTD for Zar, he had got to get some more legos and build your own light saber!!! We also always ride the monorail and resort hop and explore the first night. Check out the fireworks from the viewing balcony I read about on DIS at the Contemporary.
*Go back home and get some sleep
Saturday ~ SeaWorld !!! Our first time-we are very excited I haven't been since I was really little and we lived in CA.
We will get there at 8:30am and leave at closing. That is how we do the parks btw, open to close...no naps for us!!!
*After SW we are heading to the Character Outlet for some good WDW deals and the Thorlo and Birkenstock outlet to hopefully stock up on birks and socks
Sunday ~SW again, open 'till probably about 4, only because we are going to a dinner show!!!
*Outta Control Magic Show with all you can eat pizza at Wonderworks at 6pm. We're really excited about this, it's supposed to be a great vegas style show that really involves the audience, esp. the kids And the kids LOVE cheese pizza!
Monday ~ Epcot for Disney Homeschool Days at Epcot. Hours: 8:30-close.
*At rope drop we will head straight for my fave~Soarin' and do that as many times as possible!!! Last year we did it 3x before it got too busy.
*10am the speaker series for the DHSD starts, it will be a man, I forgot his name he is a Attraction and Show Engineer at WDW.
*11am-speaker series over, free to roam and eat until our Y.E.S. program at 12:30. tidoblue and I will be attending a 3 hour program called Ocean Discoveries at the Living Seas. It will be such fun going behind the scenes!!!
*3:45- We'll be free to enjoy the rest of the day and evening...checking out the worlds, riding the rides, having fun, watching Illuminations!!!
Tuesday ~Pretty much the same except that we will be hitting TT first thing instead of Soarin' and the program today my sis will be attending with tidoblue called Everyday Chemistry and the speaker is an international speaker from the World Showcase.
Wednesday ~MK open to close...we just do everything as much as we can. We will eat at Cosmic Ray's...love that place, the sauteed onions and mushrooms...yum!!! We don't do sit downs usually, the kids and I are so picky, at home we only eat organic and natural foods so I don't like to eat out too much. We bring food and usually do one CS.
Thursday ~Kinda still in the air, but probably Hollywood Studios. I love ToT and so does my daughter, she rode it 3x in a row when she was 3!!! We'll be there open to close so will probably get tons done! Def. watch Fantasmic!!!
Friday ~MK again I just love MK, one day is just not enough!!!
Saturday ~ Are we at Saturday already? Gosh time flies!!! Drop my mom off at AS Sports, she's staying the night there and taking the ME to the airport the next day. We are heading out but it's okay, we are going to St. Augustine to spend the day.
*Ripley's Believe it or Not in St. Aug, and the Lightner Museum, then off to Jacksonville to
*Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens, then
*back to Kingsland GA for the night.
Sunday ~Sleep in and finish drive home. Pick up my mom in Greenville that evening then finish the hour drive home
*Home Sweet Home!!!

Well, that's our schedule and plans! Sounds fun right?!?

Now, I gotta get off this computer and do some housework

CLICK HERE FOR THE NEXT INSTALLMENT!

[scottny]

jusat remember to have the camera handy and take lots of pics. I have enough memory for 8000 pics.

[scottny]

and the plans sound great.

[earthfaries]

Originally Posted by scottny

jusat remember to have the camera handy and take lots of pics. I have enough memory for 8000 pics.

Oh, I always take plenty of pics!!! Usually well over 1000!!! I don't know anything about posting pics on DIS though, I will check into that because I know it adds a lot to the TR

Originally Posted by scottny

and the plans sound great.

Thanks

[scottny]

the pic thing is easy, go to

photobucket.com and set up an account. it is free or u can pay.

then just upload the pics. it is easy to figure out.

after uploading, click the 4th line under the pic and it should copy then go to your tr and paste it where u want it to go then hit preview post and it should be there.
i can give u more detailed if u want on pm. I would try that. That is your homework assignment.
it really is not that bad.

[earthfaries]

I will work on it over the weekend. I was just going to post a family picture. Wow, if I get the pic thing worked out, watch out!!! There will be TONS

[Tat2ddisneymom]

See, you're on a roll already!

PTR is looking good. Its nice to get to know more about fellow DISers. The itinerary looks great. You're doing a lot of things I've always wanted to try, but could never fit into the schedule.

Can't wait for the pictures!!

[earthfaries]

Originally Posted by Tat2ddisneymom

See, you're on a roll already!

PTR is looking good. Its nice to get to know more about fellow DISers. The itinerary looks great. You're doing a lot of things I've always wanted to try, but could never fit into the schedule.

Can't wait for the pictures!!

Welcome, and thanks for checking out my first PTR Glad you like the itenerary. The only thing we aren't totally sure of is Thursday. I'm pretty sure we've decided on DHS, not AK
I really do love TOT and RRC, but I haven't tried EE yet either... is the backlot studio tour still open I wonder?

[lovebuzzandwoody]

I am here too! Glad to see you took the leap of faith!

The backlot tour is still there at MGM btw.

You weren't kidding when you said you have an interesting family!