Adventure (and Food) is calling our names – 10/2010 PTR - Six More Hours!!! 10/1

[2_Eagle_Mom]

I googled and found these lol

PERFECT!!! Do you have to save them in a photobucket acct or just post the link?

 

[jenny105]

PERFECT!!! Do you have to save them in a photobucket acct or just post the link?

I just direct linked them. You can save them to your computer and upload them if you have a photobucket or flickr account.

 

[2_Eagle_Mom]

I got Brendan to put on most of his costume yesterday (no shoes).

He’s supposed to be Cutler Beckett from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. It’s not perfect, but except for the hat and socks that costume only cost $5 (plus shipping). I’ve bought some white spray for his hair. I’m not sure if we are going to be able to make the curls, but at least he won’t have brown hair sticking out of his hat. Oh, and the hat has a fake white ponytail and curls in the back.

Here’s the look that we were going for:

We are SIX days from our trip and our last full day off before we leave. I’m the type of person that would rather get something done early “Just in case something comes up” and I’d rather be sitting around doing nothing the day before we leave for vacation. Well, actually I’ll probably be double checking to make sure that I have everything packed and ready and then spend the rest of the time making sure that Brendan and Charlotte have everything. We’ve already discovered that Charlotte can’t find her swim shirt (the one that she wore rafting on the river) and Brendan can’t find his camera. So we still have the week to scour the house(s) for them both. Luckily Brendan has an extra swim shirt that Charlotte can use if absolutely necessary. Brendan on the other hand will be out of luck if he can’t find the new camera that we bought for him to use specifically for this trip. BOYS!!!

Anyway, I was going to do a test pack, but then why UNpack once it is done. I was just going to pack up the costumes and put together the surprise packs for the kids, but once I started going, I got momentum and I’m 80% done. I should also say that I normally can pack for a 10 day trip all in one carry on suitcase. BUT you add in two costume events and all the shoes that I need to take and now I’ve got to take two suitcases and my carry on. Granted the bulk of the costumes are Jim and Brendan’s. DANG those coats take up a lot of space.


Here’s a picture of the surprise packs that I’ve got to give to the kids the morning of the trip:

One Items each are:
Glow bracelets
Tube of mini-M&Ms
Small fan on lanyard
Magnetic travel games (one each)
Mickey notepad and pencil set
Gum
Airplanes earplugs
Borg flashlight (it hooks on your ear – but honestly it makes me thing of the Borg from Star Trek TNG)
Small bottle of bubbles

One item to share:
Small sewing kit
Emergency sunburn kit
Travel Mancala game

You can also see the small pouch that I got them so they can put them in their backpacks for easy access.

Just so Jim wouldn’t get jealous I’ve given him his own tube of glow bracelets, fan and mini-M&Ms.

Packed items include:
Costumes for Jim, Jane and Brendan – including Brendan’s tri-corner (Charlotte will be packing her own).
My clothes (still waiting for one last load to come out of the dryer to pack my socks)
My shoes (I’ve never packed so many shoes for a trip. I’ve got my tennis shoes, walking sandals, crocs, shoes for my Mouseketter costume and watershoes)
All Toiletries and medicines (hopefully I’ve got all possibilities covered)
GPS
Video camera
Power strip and electric cord extensions
Nightlight/emergency flashlight
Clothespins for curtains
Over the door shoe holder (we are 4 people sharing 1 bathroom – this will make it much easier to keep the counters clean)
Collapsible laundry basket

Still need to pack:
Cameras (pray we can find Brendan’s)
iPods (waiting till I update one last time on Thursday/Friday)
Chargers for phones
All paperwork (need to scan everyone’s ID and credit cards/debit cards and health plan cards) and email to my Comcast account.
GAD Vouchers
Itinerary with all confirmation numbers
Snacks (Fiber One bars, tea bags and Equal for me)
Glasses (and extra glasses)
Hydro Flasks
Brita Water pitcher and Filter (hopefully it makes it through the rough baggage handling)

Jim even got into it and started his packing (MUCH earlier than he normally does).

It’s driving me crazy that I’ve packed so much stuff, but I’ve only packed three pairs of pants and four shirts. It’s all the other stuff that takes up so much room.

From the To Do list I've been able to cross off:

All costume items bought and modified (well, mostly - I found a hat for Charlotte, she just needs to approve it and then we're done)
Fridge/freezers cleaned out - we actually have two - one inside and a second one in the garage for overflow. They are both sparkling clean.
Double checked to make sure the pics from the memory chips were on our hard drive and cleaned off the chips
Haircuts (and eyebrows for me)
Test pack (yeah well - its staying packed now)
Surprise bags put together for kids

I'm feeling good about how much got accomplished this weekend. We've figured out our menu for the week based on the food that we have left in the fridge. By Friday we will be doing one last "leftover night" and hopefully it will be somewhat nutritious.

TTFN!!

 

[jenny105]

The costume looks great, can't wait to see pictures of the finished product. I hated Beckett in those movies, he was so evil!

Hope Brendan finds his camera!!

 

[idofabric]

Oh, pooh! We will be going to MNSSHP on the 7th, so he is gonna pop the ? then. And he JUST desided he wants to use my moms engagement ring...which I pulled the diamond out of... so tomorrow I get to go and beg the local jewlery guy to reset it and add to diamonds on the side that I have... I must have it back by this Fri, about 1pm. He is going to do this at MNSSHP on the 7th as far as I know. No idea where, when- he says "I have a plan", guess there is a first for everything!
I won't be in costume, other then black T and pants with tons of little crystals on and some shear star fabric, I will be the "Night Sky" hehehe. I am large enought to be the Night Universe, but we arn't going there!
I think he will do the old red Hook costume, I have over 45 yards of 1" to 3" gold lace on it and about 75 gold buttons. And she will be Tink, since she has that costume.
We are off site this trip, and will be winging the ADRs since NO one (read DS ) has told me just how many of us it will be... my BF from SanDiego slipped a disc in her back and won't be coming. And some of there friends from Boston might come. I have booked 2, 3 bedroom condos off site at Cypress Point, it is really close to DTD, and we can go in the back roads to WL for food. I can sleep 16, but think we only have 9 coming, lots of room, and it has kitchen and laundry in the condo.
I get to drive down alone this Saturday, cause DH had to go out to Yuma, AZ on bussiness last min. I have told his boss if he doesen't make it to WDW this trip I am coming after him, and I will sing till he books me into GF, with all the trimmings and I don't care what it costs him!
I think we are going to do Food and Wine on Oct 5, and no idea what we will do the other days.. We have friends coming down on Monday, and the husband has to go home on Thur, but we get to keep his wife! And DS, DSGF, and a friend will do a late nite/early morning run down Wed/Thur. I will pick up DH at Orlando Airport Sat about 6pm, and DSGFs BFF early Thur morning. I bet I will be running around all day doing last min. costume stuff on Thur.
I hope we do run into you all! I can't believe you know where Benica is! No one does back here in ole S.Carolina! Sure miss the Bay Area tons, but not the tunnel getting down to Oakland.
If you want to get in touch, or need something send me a PM. I have 3 dr appts this week and have to drive my laptop up to youngest DS at school 200miles away, (his got a glass of water spilled on it by "accident", duh!).
I have to do so much this week, and haven't had time to even get all the laundry done! I swear it is breeding in the hamper, I just did 4 loads Sunday and have at least 2 to do befor I leave!

 

[2_Eagle_Mom]

idofabric - DANG it would have been so cool to run into you and watch the proposal.

I like the idea of your costume (and being a costumer, I'll bet it is fantastic!). I'd love to see pictures of your DS and DGF costumes.

I would be a nutcase if I didn't know who was going to be coming down to stay or if we didn't have any plans. I guess if you get to go more often than once a year (or once every other year) I'd be more flexible with the plans. Oh, who am I kidding, I'm a planner and rarely do we go on vacation without having some itinerary. I am getting better we did a whole weekend without having detailed plans, but it was hard.

I've lived in Martinez my whole life so I can't imagine living anywhere else. Luckily I work on this side of the tunnel (they have finally started drilling the fourth bore). I did my 4 years in San Francisco but was finally able to find a job in Walnut Creek.

I've never been to So. Carolina but I've heard that it is fantastic.

Drive safe to drop off the computer. Aren't electronics wonderful? You'd think that they could make a laptop that was waterproof.

We'll be taking a computer with us so maybe once we are down there we can try and figure out if we will both be in the same park at the same time.

 

[2_Eagle_Mom]

Brendan and Charlotte were here tonight so we discussed our arrival day. We had two options:

Option One
Hit the ground in Orlando (5pm), grab our bags from baggage claim, hop in the rental car and hoof it over to the hotel then hit Epcot or Magic Kingdom for a couple of hours. Where we would have to redeem our GAD vouchers and then go to Guest Services to upgrade our tickets for the rest of the trip.

Option Two
Hit the ground in Orlando (5pm), grab our bags from baggage claim, hop in the rental car and hoof it to the hotel (or maybe stop and get some dinner). We would then relax at Stormalong Bay, maybe watch the movie at the beach or go over to PO to see Yee Haw Bob.

After a long discussion we've decided to do Option Two and not burn out on the very first night. I'm just trying to find out what time Stormalong Bay closes to determine if we book it to the hotel or stop somewhere on the way to get dinner. We love Tijuana Flats and Charlotte loves mexican food (Brendan can get a quesadilla) so that's an option OR we might just decide to hit Beaches and Cream for burgers and our first ice cream sundaes of the trip.

 

[idofabric]

I feel like such a slacker next to you!
Got the ring for DS from the jewler today! looks great. He still hasn't told me what/where he is gonna do this! Except a mumble, "...castle, fireworks....wing it...." He is sooooo male!!
Safe flight, and we will look for you. He wanted to do this at the AC before it closed, but wasn't in a secure enought place to ask her befor it closed down. What fun it would have been! I could see the CMs there eating it up! And both he and the GF were so upset when it closed, but then, who wasn't, at least in my family.
Not sure we will have a computer I can jump on, but I do have a smartphone, and am taking kids that can use it.
Will be checking up on your progress. I get to drive to the airport, but will go to the old military base next to the airport to stock up on food befor picking DH up, won't have so much to take down on my own that way. Got to find pins, cameras, DHs golf clubs, and still the laundry is calling my name. Sigh.
I have a WDW box, but cleaned it out and put it away for safe keeping, but can't find all the stuff.

 

[2_Eagle_Mom]

Today I was the slacker on the pre-trip front. The only things that I got done was buying a back-up swim shirt for Charlotte (if she finds hers, we can return this one) and some more zip ties for the luggage.

Well as long as he's got a fantastic plan all worked out.

I'm trying to wrap everything up at work and having a hard time getting everything done. I'll most likely have to pull one late night to get a couple of reports done.

And to top it off, I woke up at 3am and only fell back asleep after 5. I'm hoping I get a full nights sleep tonight.

 

[idofabric]

Well as long as he's got a fantastic plan all worked out.

QUOTE]

He's male, and young, and excitable. I can't even get together with him so he can borrow my Prius to drive down there! And they only live a hour and 1/2 away!

And I still need to get the MNSSHP tickets for Lord-knows-how-many people! At least we know the night!

Do they have Dollar stores in the Bay Area? maybe Concord? Cause I didn't see that you had packed rain stuff. I need to go and get some $1 umbrellas and pounchs today, after I clean out DHs car. And I think glow sticks, thanks to the pics you posted! I always forget them! I am gonna look for the type that is non toxic and then try and bust them open and see if the stuff still glows. Did that for a set one time and it worked for the show, want to add it to my costume if I can find it and the right type of glow sticks! Need to try it tonight.

Bet you are so excited you are bouncing, I'm getting there....but the weather channel keeps moving those tropical waves toward the east coast. They need to stop that!

 

[Pooh's-Honey-Pot]

Jane, have a lovely trip (in case I don't get on here again!), and can't wait for the trip report!

 

[txdznydude]

I'm back from San Francisco. Spent three and a half hours in the Walt Disney Family Museum. It was definitely the highlight of the trip. My next favorite thing on the trip was the performance at Teatro ZinZanni. I highly recommend it to anyone who is a fan of the Adventurers Club. I felt that it had some similarities. It's interactive live theater. The cast is a group of talented people portraying eccentric characters. To top it all off you get dinner with the performance.

Jane - I will definitely be looking for you at the Congaloosh events. Friday night I am coming as Harrison Hightower III from the Tokyo version of Tower of Terror. He was an adventurer who amassed a large collection of artifacts. Saturday night I am coming as the club entomologist. I'm a member of the WDW Radio Explorers tribe. I look forward to meeting you and your family. The costumes are looking great!

 

[2_Eagle_Mom]

Idofabric – I am starting to get a little jumpy about us being SO close. Of course I’m now getting freaked out that I won’t get everything done that needs to happen before we leave. I do have disposable rain ponchos but I never thought about buying cheap umbrellas. There’s a $1 store just down the street from the office. Maybe I’ll run over there tomorrow during lunch. I hope the weather gets better for you soon. I was watching the news this morning and I wondered if you were going to be impacted.

Sonya – thanks for the well wishes. If you are still planning on hitting NY before WDW? If so, have a fantastic time! I’ll tell Mickey that you are on your way!

Txdznydude – I’m glad you had a great time at the museum. We’ve never been to Teatro ZinZanni. I think its one of those things that since its in our own “backyard” we just haven’t gotten around to it. I’ll have to look into it. I haven’t really heard many details of the show. Maybe you can tell me about it when we meet at the ConGaloosh.

 

[2_Eagle_Mom]

Well officially 32 more hours, but the ticker says 1 day so that’s good enough for me.

I can't believe this day has finally gotten here. It’s been an action packed week. Let me give you a brief update:

Jim – Next week while we are on vacation he will find out if he’s being offered his job. His group is going through a re-org. He says that he’s pretty confident that he’s fine. I’m trying to not obsess about it. There isn’t anything that I can do that will change the fact. Honestly, I go for hours at a time that I don’t think about it. Trust me when his phone rings I'll be a nervous wreck.

Steven – He got a job! He will be working part-time for a transportation company driving train personnel from one train yard to another. He’s a HUGE train fan and if there were a more perfect job for him, I can’t think of one. When he’s not driving he has to hang out at the train yard and the only thing to do there is watch trains pass by. He would do it for free if given the opportunity but getting paid for it is just the frosting on the cake. He’s going to go to Disneyland with Jenny and her mom this weekend. Patty (Jenny’s Mom) just called me tonight to tell me that their trip might get cut short. Her grandson (one of Jenny’s nephew’s) has been put in Hospice care and will be transferred to a Hospice house next Wednesday and if she gets the call they will be coming home early. I talked to Steven so he understands that plans could change at a moment’s notice and he needs to help explain things to Jenny and help her understand that they can go to DL another time.

Brendan – Is still suffering from his cold. He’s feeling better, but still coughing. This morning he said his ears were plugged. I'm hoping that tomorrow he's feeling even better and the sinus meds work their magic.

Charlotte - luckily no drama for her. She actually got more hours this week then normal so she has a little more spending money than she anticipated.

Me – I’ve been crazily trying to get a ton done at work. I have some quarterly reports that I’ve had to create and prep so when I get the information tomorrow I can produce something that normally takes more than a couple of days done in less than one. Tonight I had to take back the items that I had bought for possible items for Charlotte, buy some material and fabric glue to finish my ConGaloosh Board sash. I’ve finally found my packing list (I was without it for a couple of days – YIKES!).

Ok, enough babbling. I’ve got to get to bed. I hope to get a full nights sleep. I’ll try and post again tomorrow with our last minute preparations.

 

[jenny105]

Hope you have a fantastic trip!

 

[stayhomemom77]

Have the greatest of great trips, Janelet!!

I'll be here, thinking of you there, and trying NOT to be jealous!!

 

[2_Eagle_Mom]

Today was as crazy as expected. I jumped right on the reports that I needed to get done and finished the first one in 30 minutes. Woo Hoo the day is looking up. Then I hit the preverbial brick wall. We had recently upgraded from Windows 2003 to 2007. Of course the reports that I created would need to be created in 2007 and I had tried to do a ton of pre-work and thought that I had the reports all set and ready to go. NOPE! the pivot table gods were not looking favorably on me. I have a pretty long fuse for getting frustrated, but I could almost feel my blood pressure rising when the yahoos in the office across from my cubicle decided that they would have a party (or at least it sounded like one). I got up and closed the door

Director of chatting: "Oh, are we being too loud?"
me "I'm working on a huge report and I'm having a hard time concentrating"

Door closed

After the party was over, the Director of snide comments comes over and says "Having a hard time concentrating?"
Me: yup (not looking away from my computer screen)
Him: Well you really need to focus
Me: I'm trying (still no eye contact)

He then walked away and went to the cubes on the other side of me and started chatting up the "I have no idea how to talk in a voice that doesn't reverberate through steel walls" I just about screamed, instead I popped in my iPod and turned on the Illuminations music.

Anyway, long story short (maybe too late) my boss came over and wanted to meet about another project and during that conversation I was able to get her to prioritize the list of reports (and explained the issues I was having) and she said I only needed to finish one report and the other 6 could wait till after I returned.

Lots of final packing and then a run back to the office because I had forgotten the box that had Brendan's Birthday/Christmas present. It had arrived today and I had put it under my desk and I didn't remember till later in the night. Drive back to the office and picked it up.

It is now 10:30pm and I'm FINALLY done getting everything ready for the trip.

The fridge is empty of all food that could spoil.

The bags are waiting to get loaded into the car.

The tickets are in my document holder (we got A19 - 23) for both legs of the trip so we'll get window/middle seats for certain. Hopefully the flights won't be full and we can get rows to ourselves.

I'll try and check in every once in a while. Hopefully everything will go according to plan. Jim is planning on taking lots of trip notes so hopefully I'll have enough notes and pics to do a trip report.

Kungaloosh!!!

 

[tlenzendorf]

I hope you are having a fabulous trip!