PreTrippie (aka King Charming Takes Hypermommy (and family) on another cruise)

[purplepeg]

Whew! Been quite a while since I've had a chance to be on here. But I'm still preparing for the cruise, of course.

Lately preparations have included gathering information on fellow cruisers. Using google's docs, fellow cruisers can just fill in a form and it dumps it into a spreadsheet... I put the info in an Access database and slice and dice it in various ways. So now we know who's in what cabin, who's staying where the night before, etc. It's kind of fun knowing all of this about fellow cruisers before we go.

I've also been busy setting up a separate bulletin board and photo gallery for our specific cruise. This is a safe place for our kids to chat and to show off pictures of our family and stuff.

And I'm still seriously thinking about the paper chain. It's 366 days to the cruise now so it seems like the perfect time to start one. KC doesn't want me to because it would definitely take over our little duplex. But then again, I'm not exactly good at doing things the way he wants me to.

Does the word STALKER mean anything to you You are amazing and I seriously need to get on a cruise with you. Did you just take over the get to know each other thread? Nice of you to check in, and I love your last post. That's amazing, see how quickly time is passing by, it'll be here before you know and yet it's enough time to get those restraining orders in place

 

[LivingtheWDWdream]

You guys are great I have been going nuts trying to plan a 4 day in February, a 3 day sometime in late 2009 ( must take part in that 99 3 day cruise they offered us) and then our big back to back 7 day cruises in 2010!

I hope your time passes quickly and sorry that it means missing the parks for a while!

 

[King Charming]

Stalker? Hypermommy? I think not. Most people can see and hear her coming and have the good sense to get the heck out of the way. And she didn't really take over (well... kinda sorta), she just saw a need for organization, asked permission (very quietly), than ran to the front of the room with all her charts and graphs (they just happened to be here with me, you know, just in case) .

BTW, don't waste your time advising our fellow cruisers about the need (oh yeah, NEED) for restraining orders. We both know enough about the law to know that once we leave the three mile territorial limit, all bets are off, and only the Captain can save them then.

 

[LivingtheWDWdream]

I'm impressed and here I thought my little ol planning paper as in just 1 piece of paper would suffice. I may need lessons from Hypermommy!

 

[King Charming]

I've been reading the recent trip reports and heard they started putting up the Christmas decorations this week on our ship. That means for our cruise too!: thumbsup2 Seeing the parks dressed up for the holidays has always been a bonus for me, and now I'm sure the camera will get a great workout. As an alternative to formal night pics w/ Mickey I think we may go with Christmas type clothes and hats, then do pics with the Mic on semi-nite dressed nicely. It's gotta be alot cheaper than tuxes, and the (copied) photos can be sent out with our Christmas cards.

 

[Hypermommy]

Now darling, you know I'm not going to send out just plain old pictures in our Christmas cards. Start thinking about how you want them gussied up with scrapbooking stuff, 'cause that's what's gonna happen ;-)

 

[nzdisneymom]

Google docs, eh? We need to check that out because I just used a spreadsheet and it sure could get tedious. Plus having everyone be able to fill out their own info - great way to do that! I'll have to check it out.

 

[tylerdee]

Awesome!!

 

[Hypermommy]

Google docs, eh? We need to check that out because I just used a spreadsheet and it sure could get tedious. Plus having everyone be able to fill out their own info - great way to do that! I'll have to check it out.

Yeah, it's great! Google's rapidly becoming my online site of choice for a lot of things!

So we didn't do much cruise planning last week but we did get one thing take care of. I checked out the Royal Dolphin Swim at Chakkanab (sp?) and it's only $150. It looks freaking amazing and I know DS13 will absolutely love it!!!! And he's willing to pay for it which KC said they have to pay for their own excursions and I agree with him... a ll part of that parenting, teach them the value of a dollar thing. But he figured out that he has to give Dad $3 a week and he'll have it made. Asked DS15 if he wanted to do it and he declined. He's saving up his money so he can take brother on the Wild Side excursion on CC.

And another thing that's happened lately is that I got a forum and gallery set up for members of our cruise thread. This is a relatively safe place for our kids to meet and for us to share pictures and such. We're having a great time over there and are planning things like a Palo brunch together, perhaps the dolphin swim together for whoever's going and other stuff. The teens are talking about the "gotcha" game they play onboard and everyone's having a great time.

Oh and King Charming has agreed that I get to buy a new still camera. Something really small that is 10 MP. I almost got one on Black Friday. A couple of places had the camera I wanted and one even had it at the right price. But I want mine to be purple! My kid sister was teasing me about that asking if it made a difference in the pictures or if it was a fashion statement. Well, since it'll be around my neck almost constantly during the cruise then yes... it is a fashion thing! So there!!! nyaaaaaah!

Only 348 days until the cruise! Gotta get on the ball!

 

[King Charming]

Oh, it is so nice to sit back and enjoy one of the fringe benefits of booking this shindig so far in advance. Yeah, the planning and anticipation. But not even me so much, but watching DW go back into the hyper cruise mode again. I been kidding her about taking over the threadmeet, and her attempt at a second straight most popular passenger award (please remember to vote). She is again in charge of our cruise spreadsheet, and has established a cruise meet website that will continue to grow as our DIS numbers swell. And boy is she loving it. I keep patting myself on the back from the enjoyment she's getting from this re-newed hobby. She had such a blast preping for the last time; researching a brand new to her aspect of Mickey! But it went by way too quickly, only 6 months from notification to the last TR posting. (Eight if you count the million page scrapbook). She's such a good wife (but boy, is she ever a 'mother' though ) that she deserves nice things. And now she can pass herself off as a semi-expert because she has done this route before. Yes, it has been alot of fun watching her gear up for this one, knowing she'll be playing with this one for another year. Have fun darling.

 

[mrp4352]

Hmmm, most populare passenger... Do I vote for Hypermommy for all she's doing to help us prepare for our cruise or do I vote for KC because he booked the cruise???

 

[King Charming]

I want to thank my fanclub for the generous support they have shown me as evidenced by the TWO passenger award nominations I have received. Even though the rules clearly state 'individual passengers may only win one award per cruise', the dual nominations flatter me to no end. Sadly however, I must withdraw from the most popular category. I feel I should concentrate on the entry I have a much better chance of winning. The 'Most likely to close down the bar' (but continue drinking up on deck 9) award is well within my grasp this time. I again will be bringing TWO rolling suitcases full of booze to augment my bar tab. And now that I KNOW the kids will be nowhere around (unless required), my drinking hours will expand accordingly. I've been working on my drunken wave, and have about perfected the 'Hey you, bring me another' wrist twist. During the cruise stop by late any evening as I'll be giving demos until the wee hours.

 

[MaryAz]

Oh man, do not let "Double" see this. He will try and compete as well. To bad for him that his kids will have much more "required" time. But we are bringing G"Ma so maybe he will be up there on Deck 9 with ya. I am not really a late night kinda girl. Can we rent beer space in your coolers? Or would you consider a 3rd???

 

[Hypermommy]

Awww... don't I have just the most wonderful husband? Yes, you should definitely vote for him even though he's withdrawn himself from the race because he is a wonderfully sweet guy and should definitely be the most popular passenger. But then again, he's got a pretty mean wrist twist too, so that category definitely fits as well!

Okay.... enough of the being nice stuff. Even though he most richly deserves it, this can get painful and it will just confuse him if I'm too nice.

I hope to join him a bit up on Deck 9 for a few wrist twists myself, but I'm with you Mary.. as you can probably tell from my post times, I'm a morning person. Last trip I told myself I was going to take naps in the afternoon so I could stay up later. Didn't do it. Hope to this time. It's just so hard to miss everything that's going on but then again, it's hard to miss the nighttime activities too! I hope to spend some more time in the clubs this time and then there is also the DANCING (you hear this KC?) that I want to do.

Listen to me.... I sound like such a little kid. Remember when the kids were little (well, Mary, I guess you're still there... but when my kids were little) and they would fight sleep. I always figured it was becuase they didn't want to miss anything. That's what I feel like!!! And theres, what, 333 days left to anticipate that feeling! Oh how fun!!!!!!

 

[King Charming]

A year from now I'll be recovering from post-cruise depression and getting set for another Christmas & New Years season. I'm doing the same this year, only minus the depressing part. The fake Christmas tree received a new base and several stabilizing agents, thereby making it safe to be near. Now properly decorated, by the kids only (1st time & quite proud), the boys even went so far as to hang to outdoor lights too. Not really like I usually do, using ladders and 25-30 strings of lights, rather our display(?) is now understated, uneven, but interesting. I wouldn't dare change a thing, and continue to give both decorating jobs thumbs-up.
Shopping for the kids is finally done, and I expect a new camera for DW to show up soon. Payments to old sticky glove have taken a well deserved holiday break. At this rate I'll have it paid off in no time, or is it some time? Who cares! We have what we need and some of what we want right now. Celebrate TODAY, the coming weeks, and the future with those you love. Planning for stuff is good, but don't overlook the joys you have today. Thank you, we'll now return to trivial matters again.
Firewood sales picked back up and I should be able to unload all the sellable wood I have left. The side yard looks fairly naked, but it will be nice to clear it all out and use the area to grow vegys in the spring. I found out what will grow well out of containers around here 2 years ago, so I will again try to impress the neighbors with plants that grow 2-3 feet tall (but produce no vegys). Hey, it takes alot of work to grow plants like this, but somebody has to do it.

 

[Hypermommy]

And you're definitely the one to do it, darling! We could have some more okra!! LOL Hey, truth be told I blame myself for not knowing that we need to get the okra off the vine when it's baby okra. I'm the Southern gal that should know these things and don't expect my NYC hubbie to know anything about okra. Won't ask you about the chitlins either but we won't be having any of those. LOL

Yeah, KC's right about the decorations. The boys were so proud to have done it all on their own and I'm quite proud of them too. Sunday night was our anniversary and my dahlin' King Charming took me out to eat and shopping for Christmas stuff. It was a wonderful date and I had a most magnificent time. And then when we turned the corner to the house I saw the lights and wondered when he'd had time to hang them (and why he did such a job) but then he mentioned that he didn't do it. In fact, apparently the boys used the lights with which he was going to string me an enchanted forest. Oh well.... I'd much rather have the magic of my sons thinking of others and trying to make other people happy than the magic of a Tinkerbell forest. Guess maybe we're doing something right other than just feeding them.

You know, as much as King Charming likes to tease around about ol' Sticky Mickey and the almost constant payments to the mouse, I know he loves ol' Mick almost as much as I do. And I have no doubt at all that he loves me... check out what he had queued up for me when I got home Friday night!
http://designsbycrazydiamond.com/?p=301

Don't I have just the most fantastic man?!?!?! He's sooooo good to me!!!

 

[nzdisneymom]

Happy Anniversary (although I couldn't see anything on your link except Sun7 News logo). And yay for kids decorating - our boys did the decorating this year, too. It was nice to not have to do anything but get the boxes from the attic and put the tree together (9'ft pre-lit -- too heavy for my guys this year - I needed them uninjured 'cause of where we're going this weekend - ssshhhh - they still don't know but we'll tell them on Friday morning - which is great because my DS has class with your DS that morning and I know he'll be dying to tell him). I can't believe I haven't blabbed yet - just three more days to keep quiet.

Container gardening -- I've gotta think about that one - I'd love some fresh grown tomatoes....... hhhmmmm... I may have just figured out a spring project!

Happy Holidays!

 

[Hypermommy]

Thanks!! Yeah, it doesn't seem to be auto-playing anymore. I found that I had to click the little "play" button in the bottom left hand corner. But it's still great!

Whew!! I almost said something last night about your son and the cruise. I thought for sure you'd taken it by now. Glad I didn't say anything! And I won't!!!! But I can't wait to hear all about it!!!

 

[nzdisneymom]

Thanks!! Yeah, it doesn't seem to be auto-playing anymore. I found that I had to click the little "play" button in the bottom left hand corner. But it's still great!

Whew!! I almost said something last night about your son and the cruise. I thought for sure you'd taken it by now. Glad I didn't say anything! And I won't!!!! But I can't wait to hear all about it!!!

Yeah, we're leaving Friday right after school is out. So we're going to tell them Friday morning just before they go to school. I made a "secret code" with our itinerary for them to decode - I used Disney characters in place of letters and then will give them a decoder sheet. I'm going to come into work late on Friday so I can be there when they find out.

And I got the clip to work - that was so very cool!

 

[laura001]

And you're definitely the one to do it, darling! We could have some more okra!! LOL Hey, truth be told I blame myself for not knowing that we need to get the okra off the vine when it's baby okra. I'm the Southern gal that should know these things and don't expect my NYC hubbie to know anything about okra. Won't ask you about the chitlins either but we won't be having any of those. LOL

Yeah, KC's right about the decorations. The boys were so proud to have done it all on their own and I'm quite proud of them too. Sunday night was our anniversary and my dahlin' King Charming took me out to eat and shopping for Christmas stuff. It was a wonderful date and I had a most magnificent time. And then when we turned the corner to the house I saw the lights and wondered when he'd had time to hang them (and why he did such a job) but then he mentioned that he didn't do it. In fact, apparently the boys used the lights with which he was going to string me an enchanted forest. Oh well.... I'd much rather have the magic of my sons thinking of others and trying to make other people happy than the magic of a Tinkerbell forest. Guess maybe we're doing something right other than just feeding them.

You know, as much as King Charming likes to tease around about ol' Sticky Mickey and the almost constant payments to the mouse, I know he loves ol' Mick almost as much as I do. And I have no doubt at all that he loves me... check out what he had queued up for me when I got home Friday night!
http://designsbycrazydiamond.com/?p=301

Don't I have just the most fantastic man?!?!?! He's sooooo good to me!!!

How did he do that, I think I saw a post regarding that somewhere but didn't have time to do it to anyone.....can you fill me in???