1st Trip to WDW and AKL...w/a few pot holes in the road Day 4 Update

[bertegirl]

Jenny's costume is so pretty. My daughter's was hot pink. It was cute, but Jenny's is PRETTY!

I just stumbled across your TR tonight. I have a couple pages left but need to hit the hay for an early start tomorrow. Just wanted to say hi from another cornfield in Iowa.

The town we live near is a German town, too. My husband's family is all of German heritage. Then there's me - a mutt. Part Italian, part Scottish, Part French Canadian...

We're in western IA...how about you?

Too funny...NW Iowa...Algona to be exact. There are tons and I mean tons of Bertes here.

 

[bertegirl]

So Austin is on the mend! Yeah. We have had Zythromax, Iv Antibotics and now Omnicef. His poor butt is so red. We have prescription diaper cream.

So I have 50 pages in my shutterfly book for Jennys birthday present. Its so sad looking at the photos. I can't believe how much that vacation changed us. It will be available for viewing if anyone goes online to shutterfly. I have 5 pages left to finish.

Then I can get back to my disboards. I need to find out how everyones trips turned out.

So onto the NEWS. I am training for the Des Moines 1/2 marathon. 13.1 miles in October. After that my hubby agrees to try for a 3rd. I will be in the best shape of any pregnancy attempt thus far. And the big news...he agreed we can go back to Walt Disney World in 2011 for our 10 year anniversary. Although he wants to do Sea World as well this time. So the planning shall begin. I am thinking we will drive and bring along my niece as a helper since we may have 3 by then Beyond that no ideas...Jenny wants to stay at the Beach Club (is that the one???) with the water slide, etc. I don't care since we are driving. I am just beside myself that he will go back so soon. I know 2 years is soon for us, though!!!

 

[wigdoutdismom]

Just found this! I need to get caught up!

 

[bertegirl]

Just found this! I need to get caught up!

Thanks for joining. I have been so busy since we got back that I need to finish up. I need to start Day 5!!!

 

[longing2Batdisney]

So Austin is on the mend! Yeah. We have had Zythromax, Iv Antibotics and now Omnicef. His poor butt is so red. We have prescription diaper cream.

so glad to hear he is doing better; poor sweetheart I hope he is not sore for long
So I have 50 pages in my shutterfly book for Jennys birthday present. Its so sad looking at the photos. I can't believe how much that vacation changed us. It will be available for viewing if anyone goes online to shutterfly. I have 5 pages left to finish.

glad Jenny's book is coming together

Then I can get back to my disboards. I need to find out how everyones trips turned out.


So onto the NEWS. I am training for the Des Moines 1/2 marathon. 13.1 miles in October. After that my hubby agrees to try for a 3rd. I will be in the best shape of any pregnancy attempt thus far. And the big news...he agreed we can go back to Walt Disney World in 2011 for our 10 year anniversary. Although he wants to do Sea World as well this time. So the planning shall begin. I am thinking we will drive and bring along my niece as a helper since we may have 3 by then Beyond that no ideas...Jenny wants to stay at the Beach Club (is that the one???) with the water slide, etc. I don't care since we are driving. I am just beside myself that he will go back so soon. I know 2 years is soon for us, though!!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!! on all the news...
good for you on marathon...have fun & relax for #3 / and good luck ...
and I'm soooo happy for ya'll that ya'll are going back to Disney in 2011; we were not suppose to go back until 2013 or 14 and Danny agreed to next year... seems like everyone I've been following scored a sooner than later return trip...

 

[Disneyvirg]

Too funny...NW Iowa...Algona to be exact. There are tons and I mean tons of Bertes here.

We're near Manning. Algona's way up there!

So Austin is on the mend! Yeah. We have had Zythromax, Iv Antibotics and now Omnicef. His poor butt is so red. We have prescription diaper cream.

So I have 50 pages in my shutterfly book for Jennys birthday present. Its so sad looking at the photos. I can't believe how much that vacation changed us. It will be available for viewing if anyone goes online to shutterfly. I have 5 pages left to finish.

Then I can get back to my disboards. I need to find out how everyones trips turned out.

So onto the NEWS. I am training for the Des Moines 1/2 marathon. 13.1 miles in October. After that my hubby agrees to try for a 3rd. I will be in the best shape of any pregnancy attempt thus far. And the big news...he agreed we can go back to Walt Disney World in 2011 for our 10 year anniversary. Although he wants to do Sea World as well this time. So the planning shall begin. I am thinking we will drive and bring along my niece as a helper since we may have 3 by then Beyond that no ideas...Jenny wants to stay at the Beach Club (is that the one???) with the water slide, etc. I don't care since we are driving. I am just beside myself that he will go back so soon. I know 2 years is soon for us, though!!!

If the Rx doesn't work for Austin's tush...here's what a dermatologist in DSM told us to do with Kate. She has super sensitive skin and was constantly getting diaper rashes. He told us to use Bacitracin when there is broken skin. Can use as much as you need and as often as needed. He then told us to use Zinc Oxide the rest of the time. Don't worry about wiping it off between diaper changes. Both can be purchased at Walgreens - super cheap! And she never had problems with diaper rash after trying that!

And - KUDOS to you for training for the 1/2 marathon. Are you already in running shape? I really wanted to train and get myself able to run the 5K portion of the Dam to Dam - until I found out it was the same weekend as Lily's dance recital. Have you run any shorter races like a 5K? What's your program? I really need to find motivation - and I think signing up for a race like that is an excellent way to do it! Good luck!

 

[bertegirl]

And - KUDOS to you for training for the 1/2 marathon. Are you already in running shape? I really wanted to train and get myself able to run the 5K portion of the Dam to Dam - until I found out it was the same weekend as Lily's dance recital. Have you run any shorter races like a 5K? What's your program? I really need to find motivation - and I think signing up for a race like that is an excellent way to do it! Good luck!

I can run 3 miles pretty easily, but thats as far as I push myself. I am using Hal Higdons training for this event. My bf is doing it, too. She just finished the Hy-Vee Tri-athalon today. So she is my motivation! I actually wanted to do Dam to Dam at first!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Congrats on the good news! Now you can start planning another trip!

 

[BridetobeDisney]

Wow, all this awesome news! Good luck with the marathon. You'll do great!

Yay for a third baby!! It will be fun to go back to Disney with 3. I'm so glad you get to go back! I can't wait for more updates!!

 

[englishrose47]

2011 Gives you time to really plan!! Just think of all the different scenerios you can plan and replan and replan!!

 

[bertegirl]

Walked 3 miles and then ran 3 miles tonight. No daycare kiddos on Friday, so my goal is to finish up my trip report...so come back this weekend for an update.

Happy 4th of July everyone! I am so thankful for my bil in Iraq and all he and his fellow soldiers do for us each day!

 

[ladybugmom]

Amber I don't know how I missed your TR! Glad I found it and am all caught up!! Great news about the marathon, trying for #3, and going back to WDW!!! How exciting!! Can't wait to hear more about your trip!!

 

[AmyBWV99]

Good luck on your race half marathons are said to be 1/2 the milage but twice the fun and I agree!

 

[englishrose47]

Walked 3 miles and then ran 3 miles tonight. No daycare kiddos on Friday, so my goal is to finish up my trip report...so come back this weekend for an update.

Happy 4th of July everyone! I am so thankful for my bil in Iraq and all he and his fellow soldiers do for us each day!

I second that about our armed forces !! I am in a coupon train and I send my expired coupons to our military families overseas as they can use them 6 months after expiration !! If anyone has a friend/family overseas in the military let me know if they would be interested !! It isn't much but I feel good helping our service families !!

 

[sugar1967]

We never had anyone say hi, offer us any advice and I even said we were 1st timers. If anything they seemed upset when you interupted their conversations with each other at the front desk. That was our 3rd room...3 moves in 1 week is a lot with 2 little ones. We also had to call a second time to get our room cleaned up many days and this was a pain since we wanted to put Austin down for a nap. The people at Mara are far far from friendly. They didn't want to explain the meal plan. Like I said this was a learning experience for us since we had never been. We really didn't care about towel animals, either. We just made a personal decision not to stay there again.

We were at GF and Poly and not even staying there we had more interaction with CM's. One gave Jenny a pin, another a coloring book and crayons, 2 offered us dining advice and advice on getting around the parks. They seemed to like their jobs at those hotels which made us want to come again!

Just catching up after weeks of not being on the DIS (I missed it!! but work took over). Anyway just wanted to say that we stayed at AKL in April and were left with some of the same impressions as you. The front desk staff was less than helpful at check in (we too were newbies). We did get our Savannah view room that we paid for but the bathroom wasn't even cleaned and wet towels from the previous people who stayed there were still hanging on the back of the the bathroom doors! Took FOREVER to get someone to come and clean the bathroom which meant we had to go out and find another bathroom for the kids to use (there was no way I was using ours until it was cleaned!) and finding directions to a bathroom was like a maze. I guess we were just thinking that as a Deluxe resort and the amount that we paid to stay here, we would get amazing service. Honestly, we could have saved ourselves a bundle and probably gotten better service at a value or moderate resort. We also didn't get any towel animals except for the birthday cake one my daughter got on her birthday day. We even had made cute mousekeeping envelopes and everything and nope, nothing in return. The kids were disappointed after seeing some of the towel animals that people have posted on here that they get (OneTreeHill - you get the best ones!) Anyway, rant over, but like you we will not be staying at AKL again. I will try somewhere else next time. But... we were in Disney so all was good!

 

[bertegirl]

So I feel so bad. I still haven't finished my tr. Ugh! By the time the last kid leaves and I get supper made, its time to go run and then I am just exhausted when I get home. I have been doing 3 miles every night and biking 6 miles when I get the chance, too! Hopefully I can bump up to the next mile in another week or so. The training is on!!! I am going to try and find some time to get the tr done soon! Right now I am in the middle of planning the biggest Tinkerbell 5th birthday party! Jenny is so excited and I can not believe my little girl will be 5 in the blink of an eye.

 

[leamom2princesses]

Congratulations on the training! Can't wait to see pics of the Tinkerbell party.

On a funny side note, my mom is turning 57 on the 28th of this month and she wants me to make her a Tinkerbell and Fairies cake. I guess BIG kids want Tink on their cakes too!

 

[MaryAz]

Yay for all the good news! Glad the new job is working out so well. Also happy Austin is on the mend. Hurray for another trip.

 

[englishrose47]

Hi Amber !!

 

[Villainess]

I'm joining in!