Flowers and Firsts - A May 2010 PTR, 5/13 TR started! Link on pg 39

[Charleston Princess]

Oh, that stinks! Hope the trip improves from here on out!

 

[stace208]

Sorry that the trip hasn't gone as planned thus far! I hope that things improve!

 

[BippityBoo]

Hi!!!! I am subbing I am so excited about your PTR! I love planning for the vacation almost as much as actually going Looking forward to hearing your plans!

JIKO sounds amazing! I have always wanted to try it! Margaritas and pools are amazing too. Sounds like a GREAT time.

 

[wdwgirl03]

Sounds like a great trip! Can't wait to hear more of your plans.

I don't know why but I got a little laugh out of when you said you married the Disney Grump.

 

[lovegrumpy]

Can't wait

 

[MeMom]

with no kids yelling 'Mom, Mom, Mom' to me over and over again! Ahhhhhhhh

We'll stay at the pool until it's time to head back to the room to get ready for dinner. I'm leaning towards just taking a cab to AKL

Mom and I will explore AKL a bit after dinner, then head back to CSR to unpack and rest up for our first full park day!

Nice first day! Great view, great meal, relaxation....

How many times do you think you will look up from your book when you hear "Mom, watch this!" only to smile, take a swig of your margarita and return to your book

Don't we all look up any time we hear 'Mom' in a store or wherever, even if we know our kids aren't even around?!?!? Mine are grown, but when I hear someone call for Mom in a store, my reflex action is to look up.

Thanks ladies! We are in Memphis - and so far things are NOT going as planned, a health issue with Justin caused us to get a late start yesterday, so we didn't make it all the way here. The boys are wanting to swim, so I guess I'll take them down to the indoor pool here - something to keep them occupied for awhile anyway.

I hope Justin is better. Are you going to the zoo?

 

[Spartangirl]

Hey Michelle, I'm FINALLY here! You and your mom are going to have such a wonderful time!!! Your first day sounds absolutely PERFECT! Hope Justin is feeling better....

 

[SoonerGirl]

Oh, that stinks! Hope the trip improves from here on out!

Sorry that the trip hasn't gone as planned thus far! I hope that things improve!

Thanks girls, things did get better, we had fun!

Hi!!!! I am subbing I am so excited about your PTR! I love planning for the vacation almost as much as actually going Looking forward to hearing your plans!

JIKO sounds amazing! I have always wanted to try it! Margaritas and pools are amazing too. Sounds like a GREAT time.

Hi Katie! So glad you came over!

Yep, I think I enjoy planning a trip almost as much as going as well. It's so much fun!

I'm pretty pumped about my first day plans. I'm looking forward to just unwinding, you know?

Sounds like a great trip! Can't wait to hear more of your plans.

I don't know why but I got a little laugh out of when you said you married the Disney Grump.

Thanks for joining in!

Yep, I did indeed marry a Disney Grump

Can't wait

Thanks for coming over!

 

[SoonerGirl]

Nice first day! Great view, great meal, relaxation....

Don't we all look up any time we hear 'Mom' in a store or wherever, even if we know our kids aren't even around?!?!? Mine are grown, but when I hear someone call for Mom in a store, my reflex action is to look up.

I hope Justin is better. Are you going to the zoo?

Hi MeMom! Thanks for coming over

Nice to know that even once my kids are all grown up, I'll still be on "Mom" alert!

Justin's deal was strange, but aside from causing us to get a late start on Monday, it didn't effect our trip. He seems to be feeling fine now.

We did go to the zoo - I was impressed, it's really nice!

Hey Michelle, I'm FINALLY here! You and your mom are going to have such a wonderful time!!! Your first day sounds absolutely PERFECT! Hope Justin is feeling better....

Hey there Lynne!

Justin is feeling better, thanks.




Hey all! We are back from our little trip to Memphis and we really had a good time once we got past the first day. I'm trying to get caught up on the DIS right now, and once I do I'll get some pictures uploaded to share!

 

[KathyRN137]

Oh my! It's not just a grown-ups-only trip but a GIRLS-only trip, too!!

I love all of your first day plans!

Haven't stayed at CSR yet, but I believe that there is an entire thread devoted to fans of CSR on the resort board... perhaps you could check it out?


Kathy

 

[JenAusty]

I'm finally here! I can't wait til I can make the rule of "no value resort" hehe but while I'm a college student- I can't really be picky! hehe
I have always like that resort- its was always one of my favorite themes.. but I have never been in the rooms.
This will be a nice trip- just you and your mom. I would love to do that with my mom someday. We are planning a trip for next year with the entire family- and I'm excited because its their first time staying onsite and going to the parks besides Magic Kingdom.

 

[KatMark]

Okay...this is the second CSR "pre-trip report" that I didn't know was going on. So I'm here now and following along.

 

[RachelNinja]

I'm definitely going to be missing the stories with your DH, Justin, and Jared, but I'm also excited to read a TR by you from a different perspective! I hope you and your mom have a wonderful trip! Excited to be following along from the start

 

[ladybugmom]

Hey Michelle!! I'm joining in!! I'm sooo bummed that we didn't get to meetup with ya'll while you were in town! Next time for sure!!

 

[SoonerGirl]

Oh my! It's not just a grown-ups-only trip but a GIRLS-only trip, too!!

I love all of your first day plans!

Haven't stayed at CSR yet, but I believe that there is an entire thread devoted to fans of CSR on the resort board... perhaps you could check it out?


Kathy

Yep - no boys allowed!

I found the CSR thread and I'm subscribed, so I'm keeping tabs on it

Thanks for coming over Kathy!

I'm finally here! I can't wait til I can make the rule of "no value resort" hehe but while I'm a college student- I can't really be picky! hehe
I have always like that resort- its was always one of my favorite themes.. but I have never been in the rooms.
This will be a nice trip- just you and your mom. I would love to do that with my mom someday. We are planning a trip for next year with the entire family- and I'm excited because its their first time staying onsite and going to the parks besides Magic Kingdom.

Thanks for stopping by!

Well, I'm sure if my choices on resorts were to go value or not go at all - I'd choose value! Don and I had NO money when we were first married and I was still in school, so I love that you can find a way to go.

This will be the 2nd trip that mom and I have taken, just the two of us. We went to Hawaii in 2005 and had a fabulous time. I highly recommend mother/daughter bonding time

Okay...this is the second CSR "pre-trip report" that I didn't know was going on. So I'm here now and following along.

Hey there and to my PTR! I've been following along on your CSR thread - you do a fabulous job!

I'm definitely going to be missing the stories with your DH, Justin, and Jared, but I'm also excited to read a TR by you from a different perspective! I hope you and your mom have a wonderful trip! Excited to be following along from the start

Hi Rae, thanks for coming over! It will be sooooo different doing Disney without the kids, but I'm excited to take a trip in from another angle!

Hey Michelle!! I'm joining in!! I'm sooo bummed that we didn't get to meetup with ya'll while you were in town! Next time for sure!!

Hi Becky! I'm so glad that you're here!! I'm with ya, it stinks that we were so close and couldn't work it out. But, with you trying to get your house ready to sell and Don's crazy work schedule that kept changing, it just wasn't meant to be. I'm sure I'll get a chance to go with him again in the future and we'll definitely meet up then!


I can just say how incredibly crazy it is to live in this state?! Yesterday we had a high of 70 degrees, it was beautiful! We had a cold front move in late in the evening and this morning it is below freezing and we are expected to get between 4-6 inches of SNOW today! Will this winter ever end?!!!

I've got my pictures uploaded from our little trip to Memphis so I'll get those posted soon. You all know me and pictures by now, so it shouldn't surprise you that it is going to span about 4 posts.....

 

[kschafer]

I can just say how incredibly crazy it is to live in this state?! Yesterday we had a high of 70 degrees, it was beautiful! We had a cold front move in late in the evening and this morning it is below freezing and we are expected to get between 4-6 inches of SNOW today! Will this winter ever end?!!!

I took the boys to the park on Thursday wearing just sweatshirts and we got 5 inches of snow last night! Thank goodness it's already starting to melt today because we JUST melted off the last of this horrible winter! We are sitting at #3 for the most snowfall in a season with only 3 inches to go to break the record which is entirely possible in Iowa with 1 month still before the average last snowfall.


May 1 can't come fast enough!!!! Only 6 weeks to go

 

[Happydog]

You have had crazy weather!! We have had a spell of 70s the past three days, today, gorgeous, hiking and wine tasting on the schedule! Rain coming Sunday evening though.. ONE more week before spring break!

Looking forward to your Memphis mini TR! That is one place I have never been.

 

[SoonerGirl]

I took the boys to the park on Thursday wearing just sweatshirts and we got 5 inches of snow last night! Thank goodness it's already starting to melt today because we JUST melted off the last of this horrible winter! We are sitting at #3 for the most snowfall in a season with only 3 inches to go to break the record which is entirely possible in Iowa with 1 month still before the average last snowfall.


May 1 can't come fast enough!!!! Only 6 weeks to go

I hear ya girl! I'm hoping for very warm, pool worthy weather in Florida!

You have had crazy weather!! We have had a spell of 70s the past three days, today, gorgeous, hiking and wine tasting on the schedule! Rain coming Sunday evening though.. ONE more week before spring break!

Looking forward to your Memphis mini TR! That is one place I have never been.

Your plans sound good - much better than mine, sitting in the house watching the snow fall.......

A looooong Memphis mini TR coming right up!

 

[SoonerGirl]

Our Spring Break Memphis trip

Our plan was to leave OKC late in the afternoon on Monday, right after Justin's baseball practice ended, but things didn't quite work out that way. On Sunday night Justin began complaining that he was having pains in his chest, we assumed that it was indigestion and gave him some antacids, that seemed to help, but he said he was still having some sharp pains on occasion. The next day, he seemed fine, until he got to baseball practice. I dropped him off and his coach called about 30 minutes later and said Justin was complaining that his chest hurt and he couldn't catch his breath. We went and picked him up and he was really hurting. We called his doctor and spoke to the nurse, she felt like it was muscle related and said they were about to close for the day and couldn't see him - that kinda aggravated me, but anyway. We took him next door to a clinic by the school that we've gone to on occasion in the past and they wouldn't see him unless we signed him over to them as a full time patient. That confused the heck out of me because we've taken both kids there before when we couldn't get in to see their regular pediatrician and never had a problem. So, we ended up having to take him to a minor emergency clinic, which took FOREVER. Good news is, they listened to his lungs and his heart, even did an ekg just to be safe and they found nothing. The doctor said it was probably muscle or skeletal related and that he probably wasn't drinking enough water. Apparently this kind of thing is common in teenaged boys, but I've never heard of it, we were a bit worried!

Minor emergency finally behind us, we got on the road about 6:30pm. Don had a conference call at 7:30 in the morning so he didn't want to get to bed too late, so instead of driving all the way to Memphis we stopped in Little Rock for the night. Don's conference call Tuesday morning went on and on and on, it was nearly 1:00 by the time we got checked into the hotel in Memphis, and Don had another conference call at 1:30. At this point I was not so sure coming along to Memphis was such a good idea! The kids and I walked next door and had lunch at Pei Wei, then went back to the hotel. Don had a meeting at 4:00, so we really didn't have time to go anywhere. I took the kids down the to indoor/outdoor heated pool, but if it was heated it wasn't kept very warm - the boys were freezing and only lasted about 10-15 minutes, so that was a bust too! Finally, I got on line and found a mall. The boys and I went shopping for awhile while Don went to his meeting. I found a Disney store and looked around a bit and bought the Princess and the Frog. We went back to the hotel and watched it on my laptop, my silly boys who refused to go see a 'girl' movie with me when it was at the theater, really liked it! Then we went to dinner at Carrabba's where a waitress proceeded to spill a full glass of ice water all over me! Thankfully, we were close to the hotel, so I left the boys there and went back to change out of my soaked clothes. At least my dinner was comped!

Wednesday things finally got better! Don had a meeting at our hotel that morning, so the boys and I took the car and headed to the Memphis Zoo. I was really impressed, the zoo was very nice, and they reciprocated my membership to the OKC zoo, so we got in for half price - woo hoo!

We started off with the cats and it was a cool morning so they were up and very active, especially the Tigers and the Cheetahs

Next up we went to China

The otters were so stinkin' cute!

As were the monkeys

But, my favorites were the Pandas!

The boys being silly:

Next we moved on to Africa where we saw the elephants and the giraffes

Continued in the next post......

 

[SoonerGirl]

The Northwest Passage was next. We met a Polar Bear - the boys thought he was cute and wanted to take him home with us

Justin is such a goofball!

We also were able to catch the Sea Lion show

Next we went over to Teton Trek, this is a new area to the zoo and was very nice!

We started making our way back to the front of the zoo, we stopped along the way to see the apes and the lions

Then we headed back to the hotel to pick up Don. We stopped and grabbed some lunch then made our way to the National Civil Rights Museum. Jared had recently read a book on Martin Luther King Jr and he was very interested in learning about the Civil Rights Movement and in seeing where MLK was shot and killed.

The Museum is built on the site of the old Lorraine Motel where Dr. King was killed

You are allowed to take photos outside, but not inside the museum, so this is my last one from this day.

You start the tour off by viewing a 30 minute film called 'The Witness', it is the story of Dr. King's last few days as told by the man who was on the balcony with him when he was shot. It was a very informative, very moving film. We had paid extra for the audio tour, since the boys would much rather have a story told to them instead of reading it. It was worth the extra $$ for that for sure. We all enjoyed our tour, it was a great educational experience for the boys. You are also able to go across the street to the old boarding house where James Earl Ray fired that fatal shot. They have the bathroom where it is believed the shot came from encased in glass for you to see. They also have some interactive stations where you can see all the evidence the police gathered and how they tied him to the crime. It was very interesting!

Continued in the next post.......