"Are you done with that?!" A photo heavy, gluttonous, Jan 2012 Trip Report! NEW PG32

[Tink-erin-belle]

I can't believe your TR is almost over! I've thoroughly enjoyed it, though and I'm looking forward to the rest I love all of your castle pics! Gorgeous! So sorry you weren't able to get those shots of Wishes but I am glad you got to just sit there and enjoy it. Plus, you're right, you still have your BFF trip next year! I already subbed on that PTR

 

[dara00]

I am sad it's over too!

I think my blaster on the buzz ride didn't work either, how annoying!

 

[204charity]

I can't wait to see all your souvenir pictures!

 

[giantstoindy]

I can't wait to see your last update! Oh yeah, I can, tomorrow's Monday!

You have to make a video! That would be amazing! I'm so excited for your Princess 1/2 trip. I kind of got out of my workout routine for, say, a month! I am determined to get back in the groove tomorrow!

 

[Meetmeinmontauk]

I'm so sad for your TR to end! But I'm heading over to your PTR now

 

[christypooh402]

Hi I just wanted to say that I have thoroughly enjoyed your trip report! I keep thinking I should do my own. We went last May all five of us, first week of Jan was just the kids and I, and I leave day after tomorrow for a short trip with a good friend. (We live in Jacksonville, FL so it's not far).
Keep taking photos, my dream is to have a DSLR, I'm supposed to get one for my graduation this May so fingers crossed! I have a lot to learn before my photos are anywhere near as beautiful as yours! I can't wait for your next report!

 

[Dreamsdocometrue9112]

What a wonderful TR!! I'm so sad to see it end You have a beautiful family and I am so glad you had the trip of a lifetime. Those memories will stay forever! I look forward to reading about your next trip

 

[hedgehog2owl]

Just finished reading. I read a bit everyday for a few days on my iPhone. Enjoyed it very much, thank you!

 

[KatMark]

Unfortunately, it was about time for our evening to end. It was 10pm and we decided to head towards the exit.

I wasn't too terribly upset, we had just had a great evening and the last trip when I left MK I cried, I didn't want to do that this time. One last shot of Walt and Mickey!

Thank you for sharing your trip with us. I may not have posted as often as I would have liked, but I thoroughly enjoyed the report. The two pictures above are absolutely stunning.

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Your last night sounds magical, despite not getting the pictures you wanted. I know you're a photographer so you're used to viewing the world thru a camera lens but I sometimes think it's nice to enjoy the moment, even if it means NO pictures! I love the last few Photopass pics, too!

Yep, this is exactly what I told myself and I really did LOVE that last night and just letting it go and not worrying about it!

I think many kids are the same as Savannah. WDW is an exhausting experience, especially for kids (although my DH would argue mostly for adults!). It's easy for them to get overstimulated and overwhelmed. But that doesn't mean that they don't love being there. My Zachary asks me almost daily if we can go back!

Amanda

Savannah is just making a big joke out of it now, telling me that I cannot go without her and that she wants to go back.

I got a little teary eyed reading about how satisfied you felt when leaving MK. I know how much this trip meant to you and am SO happy you finally got it!

Sounds like a nice last day.

It was a great day! I really loved that last night, it's something about knowing it's almost over, it perks everyone up!

Noooo, say it isn't so. Your MK night is over... The trip is over... WAH!

BUT it looks like you guys ended the best way possible!! What a blast.

Yes, we did! It was a great ending! I guess since I love doing TR's, I'm just going to have to keep going to WDW!

I'm sorry that you lost your trash can. What a bummer. But maybe it was a blessing in disguise, so that you could enjoy Wishes in-person instead of paying attention to your camera. That's what I tell myself when my camera decides to die or whatever... Sometimes I'm so focused on getting the right shot that I'm not just allowing myself to be in the moment! Either way, your other photos are wonderful. I LOVE the one of Walt and Mickey. So perfect.

Thanks! It really was fine, I think it's only b/c Wishes has been so elusive when it comes to my shots, but I knew I was coming back and without my kids, so I wanted to just enjoy that moment with them.

I know you said you shoot with a 35mm. Is it the f/1.8 or f/1.4?

It's the 1.8 and I LOVE this lens. It's on my camera most of the time, I miss having zoom and range, but that's what feet are for!

That's a really cute photo of you with the boys and also you with Savannah! It's making me really excited to get my PP CD from Rachel! So many photos I want to share!
I can't wait to see them! I'm going to have to live vicariously through your TR now!

Your trip was wonderful though, and I'm glad you guys had as much fun as you did. Looking forward to the souvies and travel updates!!

It's coming up, right after this!

I can't believe your TR is almost over! I've thoroughly enjoyed it, though and I'm looking forward to the rest I love all of your castle pics! Gorgeous! So sorry you weren't able to get those shots of Wishes but I am glad you got to just sit there and enjoy it. Plus, you're right, you still have your BFF trip next year! I already subbed on that PTR

Thanks Erin! I'm glad you came over to sub, I think you and Ann have been our most loyal followers on the other PTR!

I am sad it's over too!

I think my blaster on the buzz ride didn't work either, how annoying!

Dallas was super annoyed b/c he wanted to beat us all again but it just wasn't in the cards for him!

I can't wait to see all your souvenir pictures!

After these responses, I'll be typing up our drive home and posting my souvie pics!

I can't wait to see your last update! Oh yeah, I can, tomorrow's Monday!

You have to make a video! That would be amazing! I'm so excited for your Princess 1/2 trip. I kind of got out of my workout routine for, say, a month! I am determined to get back in the groove tomorrow!

I made a video for our 2009 trip and really love it, but it was tons of work and I have some other things coming up here with homeschool co-op that may take up too much time for me to work on one, but it's a possibility!

I'm excited for the Princess too, but I'm in a total funk right now b/c my PF is making it impossible for me to train or even walk much. I just want it to get better so I can get moving!

I'm so sad for your TR to end! But I'm heading over to your PTR now

Yay! We'll keep the party going on the PTR and before you know it, Hope & I will have a TR with double the pics...what a TR that is going to be!

Hi I just wanted to say that I have thoroughly enjoyed your trip report! I keep thinking I should do my own. We went last May all five of us, first week of Jan was just the kids and I, and I leave day after tomorrow for a short trip with a good friend. (We live in Jacksonville, FL so it's not far).
Thank you! You should totally do one! Ahhh, to live so close to WDW, I would go a lot as well I think!

Keep taking photos, my dream is to have a DSLR, I'm supposed to get one for my graduation this May so fingers crossed! I have a lot to learn before my photos are anywhere near as beautiful as yours! I can't wait for your next report!

If you want to learn photography, you will LOVE having a DSLR. There is definitely a learning curve and it took me thousands of shots and hours to start capturing the shots I wanted, but totally worth it!

What a wonderful TR!! I'm so sad to see it end You have a beautiful family and I am so glad you had the trip of a lifetime. Those memories will stay forever! I look forward to reading about your next trip

Thank you so much!

Just finished reading. I read a bit everyday for a few days on my iPhone. Enjoyed it very much, thank you!

Thanks for reading! I'm glad you enjoyed!

Thank you for sharing your trip with us. I may not have posted as often as I would have liked, but I thoroughly enjoyed the report. The two pictures above are absolutely stunning.

Thanks! I haven't posted as much as I should on your TR, so we're even!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Headed Home! Saturday, February 4th

It was a dark and stormy night...

Oh wait, that was later. We woke up and finished packing and getting things together. We had a goal of leaving by 10am, so we were doing well when we headed down for breakfast I think around 8am.

You'll have to excuse my memory here, I wrote NONE of this down, which makes no sense since we spent hours in the car?? (this is a REALLY long update, and I'm sorry...you don't HAVE to read it if you don't want! It was a REALLY LONG NIGHT, that would be the short version!

We sat outside at Pop and had a nice breakfast and enjoyed our last bit of Disney. I remember eating Leslee's biscuit, so I'm pretty sure I stuffed myself silly. We headed back up to the room and began the task of taking our stuff down to the Durango and Rey started packing up the top travel carrier thing. We somehow fit everything BETTER on the way back??? I think b/c we put all the dirty clothes in one huge duffle and condensed some of the clean stuff? I'm sure you really care.

We were off and stopped for gas, only having a slight mishap where the attendant charged me more than Rey actually put in the tank b/c of the person who prepaid before us? I don't know, it was confusing. Either way, we were off at 10am, looked like perfect timing! Right?!?!? (always beward of forshadowing like this folks)

Rey drove for an hour or two and then said the Durango was starting to act up. He was pushing for some sort of plan to stop and rent a passenger van that we could put a tow hitch on and drive home?? We couldn't find one luckily b/c I wasn't willing to spend that kind of money. I suggested I drive, since I seemed to have a lighter foot and control it better. Well, THAT was smart Karen! I think I drove most of the way...and what a way it was!

Our Garmin was telling us strange ways to go by lunch. We stopped at Burger King and at that point we started talking about going around Chattanooga so we wouldn't have to drive those mountains. Going up hill seemed to be the worst thing for the shifting issue that was going on. So, we decided to cut across.

People, back roads just aren't faster. I remember it taking an hour at one point to get through one town (Columbus GA?) during rush hour while Rey tried to get some sleep. We stopped somewhere in Alabama for dinner (keep in mind we live in MISSOURI...that's NORTH! LOL) which consisted of a few Little Cesars pizzas. We were watching a storm head toward us and I CANNOT drive in the dark AND rain, so we were concerned. Rey went into Walmart to get new wipers and we stood in the parking lot eating pizza! At some point I looked towards another building in the distance and saw what looked like a SHEET coming down and yelled at the kids to get in the car...JUST as the downpour came! BAM! Needless to say, Rey had to drive for a while.

It all becomes a blur when it got dark. I know we spent an hour at least driving through downdown Birmingham in the middle of the night, trying to find a interstate that the Garmin would NOT tell us how to get to! We finally found it and the Garmin didn't even recognize it! "Oh, this is a new highway they built between Birmingham and Memphis" Rey says. Guess I should have UPDATED the Garmin!

At this point Rey is drinking Red Bull and although I tried to sleep, I couldn't get more than 45 minutes. Time was slipping away...

About 200 miles from our house the Durango started acting even worse. It was hard to get above 40 mph and Rey was so frustrated, he could NOT drive it. If you gave it just the tiniest bit too much gas, the engine would rev and it wouldn't go, so I told him I would just have to drive. The other option was just sitting on the side of the road the rest of the night...until what? It was early Sunday morning in the middle of nowhere!

So, I drove. It got so bad, as we were coming into Rolla (the biggest town near our house) I was going up a hill and we were all literally yelling at each other! The Durango was going 15 mph and Dylan was yelling to not give it so much gas and I was yelling back that we would be at a dead stop before reaching the top if I didn't do something! (as IF...the boy doesn't even have a license and he was telling ME?!?!?)

When we got into Rolla, we were all SO relieved! I knew if we didn't make it home that I had friends that would come and help, so we just took it slow and walked in the door of the house at SIX AM! That's right, the trip that took 17 hours on the way there, took 21 hours on the way home!! I was exhausted and it wasn't over for me! As Rey unpacked stuff, I checked the messages and found that a client had left a last minute message about going out of town that previous night and still gone even after not hearing from me?!?! I give my clients TONS of notice (nearly a year, most of the time) so I couldn't believe it, but I had to grab the car and go petsit! I never did sleep that day, but boy were we pleased to be home!

I'm never driving again. Really. Beat me over the head if I say I'm going to. We don't drive new vehicles b/c we don't care for car payments, and you just can't push older vehicles like that. That many hours in the car just makes the beginning and the end of vacation stressful! Oh and I should add here that it was NOT the transmission! It was a sensor that was messed up and didn't know what to tell the transmission, so a much cheaper fix than the transmission, thankfully!!!

OHMYGOSH, are you tired from reading all that?!?! Well, as promised, I'm going to finish off with my souvenirs! I hope it wasn't too much of a buildup b/c I really didn't have a ton of money for souvies and so I didn't get a ton of stuff. I really only had three things that were a must for me: a new mug, and a photo album, and an ornament. I found two of those pretty easily!

I use my mug DAILY, and I really like to get things that I will actually use. It's slightly smaller than my 2009 mug, but I love it!

I have a photo album (not Disney specific) for our 2009 trip, so I wanted a Disney one for this trip and found it! I probably should have gotten the taller one, in hindsight, but I still love this one. It holds 200 shots, so I had to choose carefully, but it wasn't too hard!

The ornament was harder, we have gotten one each trip and Hope got me one for 2010, when we had to cancel our trip. The problem is that we started getting black & white ornaments or silver...(I actually built a tree around these colors b/c of it) and we had a hard time finding any b&W this time! I saw so many I would have bought that were colored, but Savannah finally fell in love with this one, so we got it!

We had the date put on the back

I got a little key chain mickey head

and then a few glasses. I already have used all of these and LOVE the martini glass...I drink my wine out of it!

Ok, I admit it, I've drank wine out of this one too!

This is from Rainforest Cafe, it came with my drink!

and last, but not least, I spent my last 20$ in the Pop gift shop the morning we left on this:

and THAT, my friends, is the end of this trip report! Don't be sad, I have another trip in the works! Please pop over to my PTR (in my signature) and chat it up with Hope & I about our trip! I know that PTR's aren't quite the same, but they are different in that you can make friends and chat about everyday things as well! We will certainly be doing planning as well and we have less than a year now until our BFF trip!

Thanks everyone for reading, you made it even more magical to be able to share with people that really GET Disney!

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

UGH what a trip home!!!! I'm glad you all made it safe and sound though! No. More. Driving. To. Disney. You should put that in your signature so you're always reminded!!!

Love all your souvenirs! All of them are very cute!!

I'm sad to see your TR end, but I will hop over to your PTR and follow along there!!

 

[Harters2WDW]

I've lurked along your entire trip and really enjoyed it. Sad to see it end. I have lots of incredible photo ideas now!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

UGH what a trip home!!!! I'm glad you all made it safe and sound though! No. More. Driving. To. Disney. You should put that in your signature so you're always reminded!!!
I should! I know as soon as I forget how bad it is, I'll be thinking I can do it again!
Love all your souvenirs! All of them are very cute!!

I'm sad to see your TR end, but I will hop over to your PTR and follow along there!!

Yay!!!

I've lurked along your entire trip and really enjoyed it. Sad to see it end. I have lots of incredible photo ideas now!

Thanks!!! I'm glad you got some ideas, I hope you share your shots when you get them!

 

[Cinderella's slipper]

So glad you made it home safely. Thanks so much for taking the time to share your adventures. It is so much fun to read about and see pictures - it helps to span the time until the next trip planning begins. Thanks for the wonderful pictures and for sharing your family with us. I look forward to reading your PTR on your BFF trip.

Linda

 

[Briar Rose@]

Thanks, that was fun. I won't be going back for awhile as I just found out I am preggers with #3. So I have to live vicariously though reports for awhile now.

 

[mousescrapper]

I truly enjoyed the TR...

Thanks for sharing it all, popping over to the new PTR now

J

 

[exwdwcm]

I am so sad it is over! I feel like I've been here listening to your plan all year and now it is over! What a fabulous trip though and a wonderful last night at the MK. So sorry your WISHES shots didn't happen, but sometimes I find putting the camera down and just "being in the moment" instead is better.

So sorry for the issues getting home. That would have totally freaked me out. My biggest fear is running out of gas or having a tire blow on me. The only good thing is my hubby is a car guy and can rip one apart and rebuild it himself, so at least if we get into trouble, he can usually fix it. I still get worried about car stuff though. I am so glad you all made it safely.

did you totally strangle your client that went out of town without hearing back from you first? I would have charged her extra!!!!

Love your mug and that latern, so cute!

I loved being along for the ride, thanks for having us!!!! NOw it's time to plan your girls trip right?

 

[giantstoindy]

Sad it's over but can't wait for the PTR!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

So glad you made it home safely. Thanks so much for taking the time to share your adventures. It is so much fun to read about and see pictures - it helps to span the time until the next trip planning begins. Thanks for the wonderful pictures and for sharing your family with us. I look forward to reading your PTR on your BFF trip.

Linda

Thanks Linda!

Thanks, that was fun. I won't be going back for awhile as I just found out I am preggers with #3. So I have to live vicariously though reports for awhile now.

I certainly know the feeling! I finally feel like the trip is over and I'm a little down today about it...time to find some fun TR's to read and plan the next trip!

I truly enjoyed the TR...

Thanks for sharing it all, popping over to the new PTR now

J

Yay! I'm glad you are headed over there! The more the merrier!

I am so sad it is over! I feel like I've been here listening to your plan all year and now it is over! What a fabulous trip though and a wonderful last night at the MK. So sorry your WISHES shots didn't happen, but sometimes I find putting the camera down and just "being in the moment" instead is better.

So sorry for the issues getting home. That would have totally freaked me out. My biggest fear is running out of gas or having a tire blow on me. The only good thing is my hubby is a car guy and can rip one apart and rebuild it himself, so at least if we get into trouble, he can usually fix it. I still get worried about car stuff though. I am so glad you all made it safely.

Me too! It was pretty stressful but we made it mostly unscathed!

did you totally strangle your client that went out of town without hearing back from you first? I would have charged her extra!!!!

I was pretty annoyed, I'm sure they could hear it in my voice when I called them at 6AM! Sorry to wake you up, but I told you I was going to be gone so I just wanted to make sure you still needed me...I just drove ALL NIGHT!

Love your mug and that latern, so cute!

I loved being along for the ride, thanks for having us!!!! NOw it's time to plan your girls trip right?

WOOT!!