You're the best parents in the world! I gotta pee! Where's My Tooth? Trip report!

[kaysmommie]

Your last update is great. I love the tree of life pictures. We did walk onto that path in May but then DH decided we should take a break instead . the carvings are amazing. I don't think I have even seen pics of that Walrus, very cute.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Sounds like a very productive day --sounds like you did some serious shopping

I don't know how you do it w/Lacey...when Gwendolyn moved out I didn't take it hard but she was just down the road and I think that is why it didn't bother me. Although, now that she has moved back in (in a years time one less female in the house was great )I just don't know how I would feel if either of my children were that for from me. But, she is having a great life experience and I know that helps you

When my older daughter (Sandi) was a junior in high school I would have given anything for her to go away to college instead of staying home and going to one of the local ones. When she was a senior I couldn't bear the thought of her being away. She moved to an apartment after gradutation but stayed locally till she married and moved far away. We deal with texting constantly, phoning, emailing and we manage to get together every 6 weeks to 2 months. I would prefer she be right here. Luckily younger daughter (Sheri) stayed right here and we live blocks from one another. My grandkids save me.

It kills us not to see Lacey any more than we do. We used to do all kinds of stuff together when she lived at home. I miss her soooo much.

Neat! Love the trip report, and the ghost office visit is very interesting!

Oh, look, my 200th post, neat! So far to go...

Looking forward to the next post! Thanks for sharing!

I'm glad that you're lovin' the trip report. And, congrats on hitting your 200th post.

 

[mickeystoontown]

I love the pure happiness on Hunters face with Lilo. What a beautiful boy you have!

Hunter is a Disney World fanatic just like his mother. I think he's a pretty cute guy myself. Thanks for the compliment.

I got behind again. All caught up.

I found one in our area too! I thought they had all closed down, but actually afew are still open. I got $850 (befroe tax) worth of stuff for $207 (after tax). I'm done with my DD's Christmas, b-day and my neice too.

At least your all caught up again Jen. We don't have a K-Mart here anymore. It's now an Academy Sports. Doesn't it make you feel good to now that you've knocked out a large majority of your Christmas gifts already.

Your last update is great. I love the tree of life pictures. We did walk onto that path in May but then DH decided we should take a break instead . the carvings are amazing. I don't think I have even seen pics of that Walrus, very cute.

Thanks! The Tree of Life is just simply amazing me to me. I could walk around the paths for hours if there wasn't so much other stuff to see in thep ark.

 

[aaaateamsgrandma]

It kills us not to see Lacey any more than we do. We used to do all kinds of stuff together when she lived at home. I miss her soooo much.

I know it doesn't keep you from missing Lacey but at least you still have Hunter at home to keep you busy. I had to depend on grandchildren for that and now I have to go sometimes 3 days inbetween their visits. Oh for them to be small again and think I was the next best thing to m&m's.

 

[mickeystoontown]

I know it doesn't keep you from missing Lacey but at least you still have Hunter at home to keep you busy. I had to depend on grandchildren for that and now I have to go sometimes 3 days inbetween their visits. Oh for them to be small again and think I was the next best thing to m&m's.

If I wasn't for Hunter I think I'd go absolutely crazy. He keeps his dad and I in stitches.

 

[mickeystoontown]

I really must be getting senile because on our drive to Shreveport this weekend, I remembered something we did on our "sleep in/do whatever" day.

Before moving on to more of our Animal Kingdom day, I thought I better throw in the something I forgot.

For years and years, we stayed at the Days Suites on Hwy. 192 in Kissimmee. Back when we first started staying there, it was a nice place to stay and we really liked the fact that it had a mini-kitchen, a bedroom and a separate living room. It was also near Old Town which was a nice diversion. Over the years, it started to get more and more run down until we finally decided to stop staying there and stay onsite. The real decision maker was when somebody broke into our room and stole all kinds of stuff from us while we were at the pool (for 30 minutes)......stuff like my wedding ring, the ring my daddy gave me when I turned 16 and my sister's credit cards! You can't convince me that it wasn't an employee(s) who had been watching and waiting for us to leave the room for even a minute of time.

In 2007, we drove over to Old Town to shop a bit and noticed that the Days Suites was no longer Days Suites and the sign didn't even say what it was. It looked pretty bad.

Well, in 2008, we made another trip to Old Town. Old Town itself was looking better because they had updated some of the store fronts, some new stores had been added, there were new rides, etc. But, the old Days Suites looked absolutely horrible! The sign was an old piece of plywood with Old Town Suites painted on it, the plants were dead, the paint was peeling off the buildings, the patios and balconies were falling down and bugs were, literally, crawling around the parking lot! It was just plain nasty!

Anyway, back to shopping at Old Town. Hunter played in the arcade (kinda still rundown) for a little while and hit Jackpot on the Wheel of Fortune game and won 500 tickets. Guess what he got? A stuff Shrek which was about 10 inches tall. Whooeey! Not! John and I played a little skeeball which I hadn't done in a while. After about 30 minutes, we moved on to what we really went to Old Town for....to shop at Black Market Minerals.

For those of you who haven't been to Black Market Minerals you should. I got all kinds of really cheap stone jewelry, beads and two bamboo windchimes. I have noticed over the years that they've started selling more jewelry making stuff rather than the handcarved wooden things but we still like going to see what they have. It's a nice diversion and just about a 10 minute drive from Disney.

Okay, now that I've added that bit of left off information, I'll try to get busy on more Animal Kingdom.

 

[TigerKat]

It kills us not to see Lacey any more than we do. We used to do all kinds of stuff together when she lived at home. I miss her soooo much.

I am trying to prepare myself, DS leaves in a month. He'll be going to LSU and living in Baton Rouge. Not sure how I'm going to cope with this, he's my only child......

 

[mickeystoontown]

Let's see, the day started with Hunter and I leaving John snoozing away at the CBR and us headed out to Animal Kingdom. By lunch, Hunter and I had already danced with Terk, taken a safari, watched gorillas in the mist, I mean rain, shopped a little in Africa, walked all around the Tree of Life and chatted with Lilo.

After taking Hunter's picture with Lilo, John called and said he was on the bus and on the way to Animal Kingdom. He was supposed to call us when he got to the park. We decided to look around The Oasis a bit while we waited on John's arrival. We saw a castmember holding a clear box so we went over to see what she had. It was a tarantula and Hunter had a high old time telling her about the time we saw a tarantula when we were camping in Hot Springs, Arkansas. After a few minutes, another castmember came up holding another clear box and it had a centipede in it. It was huge.

John called to say he was there and I told him we were right up front so he couldn't miss us. I was so glad that the rain had held off until he got to the park 'cause I really didn't want to have to explain why I had his poncho in my backpack. What was the reason? I have NO idea. I guess it was just habit but still I didn't want to get into any kind of argument over a stupid poncho.

John spotted us right away and the first thing on the agenda was food. We were all starving. Pizzafari was close so that's what we chose. John ordered an Italian stack sandwich. I got a side salad and breadsticks with sauce. Hunter got a cheese pizza. We sat in the camoflauge room and found lots of hidden Mickeys but, for some reason, I took no pictures. While we ate, Hunter told his dad about all the gorillas we saw and how the lioness was actually out this time during the safari. So, we decided our next stop would be the safari.

This go round, the animals were still out and about but not as many were active. It had warmed up quite a bit and most were lying around. I won't post as many pictures of the safari this time as some were of the same animals.

After treking through the African plains, Hunter wanted to see if all of the gorillas were out. Of course, they were not. There were just two lazing around in front of the window. I had pictures but I guess they were some of those that were lost.

Then, we got to the meerkat enclosure and saw these ummmmmm.....fighting?

We finished up the forest trail and John said he didn't want to go to Rafiki's Planet Watch so we skipped it. We went back to the store where we saw the walking cane. While we looked at the canes, Hunter talked to a castmember who was from Africa. You all know by now that Hunter is definitely not shy so he was asking all sorts of questions. I can't remember what they were but I do remember being impressed with some of them. Anyway, John and I finally decided on a really neat handcarved cane for my brother-in-law and we had it sent to resort pickup. Hunter said goodbye to his newfound friend and off we went to show John our secret Tree of Life trail.

*****I'll stop here for now. I really need to get some of this work off my desk. Boss worked this weekend so guess who's desk is now a mess.

 

[aaaateamsgrandma]

We have been there before. Many years ago. I used to get allergy shots every day and before I learned to give them to myself I had to find a dr. that could do it on vacation. There was a real nice office I used to go to everyday. They only charged me $5.00 since I had the medicine. Back in the 80's that was a lot of money to pay every day so I came home and learned how to do it. Back to Old Town. There were lots of fun places to shop and see how other area junk places compared to ours.

 

[mickeystoontown]

I am trying to prepare myself, DS leaves in a month. He'll be going to LSU and living in Baton Rouge. Not sure how I'm going to cope with this, he's my only child......

I'm not going to lie and say it's easy because it's not. At least he'll be semi-close to home.

 

[mickeystoontown]

We have been there before. Many years ago. I used to get allergy shots every day and before I learned to give them to myself I had to find a dr. that could do it on vacation. There was a real nice office I used to go to everyday. They only charged me $5.00 since I had the medicine. Back in the 80's that was a lot of money to pay every day so I came home and learned how to do it. Back to Old Town. There were lots of fun places to shop and see how other area junk places compared to ours.

When we first started staying near Old Town in 1998, it was a nice place to stay but now I wouldn't recommend it to anyone!

 

[dismagiclover]

More great animal pictures! I love the one with the Lion. He is actually awake

 

[aaaateamsgrandma]

I have hijacked your pictures once again. I am so glad to see good pictures of the animals. I am pretending I am right there and remembering just what they looked like. I do have a good imagination.


I am thankful for you John did not get wet on his journey over as your name would have been mud for sure for taking his poncho.

Thanks once again.

 

[mickeystoontown]

More great animal pictures! I love the one with the Lion. He is actually awake

I know, he's usually asleep. I always envy the people who get pictures of the lion up and walking around.

I have hijacked your pictures once again. I am so glad to see good pictures of the animals. I am pretending I am right there and remembering just what they looked like. I do have a good imagination.


I am thankful for you John did not get wet on his journey over as your name would have been mud for sure for taking his poncho.

Thanks once again.

You are more than welcome to hijack my pictures. John didn't get wet thankfully. It does rain later on in the day but not enough that he'd put on his poncho. He hates them!

 

[goofy's_gurl]

another great update! love the animal pictures!

 

[hvandiver]

First of all, you're giving me just the right pre-Disney fix--we go Aug 1-9, and just got off the phone with Kids Nite Out for some parent time (sans kids) for 3 of our nights while we're there. I've not been able to plan for WDW for the past 5 weeks (had my nephew here with us this summer, and we've been going going going), and have a few more things to do to be ready to go. In the meantime, I'm LOVING following your tr, and hope you have a blast when you return a few days after us to "The World".

Second, I live in Shreveport, and have yet to see a star. We did have plans for Bernie Mack to come work out at our gym (we own a couple fitness gyms), but he didn't make it to the gym, and he died not too long afterwards. There's been a LOT of movies filmed in Shreveport and the surrounding areas. My oldest son, 12 yrs old, was an extra in a Hallmark movie last year--not so fun sitting in a high school gym waiting for my kid to do his bit--and we parents were there about 9 hours. I'm just HIGHLY thankful that I was able to find someone to watch my 3 yr old so I didn't have to chase him for those 9 hrs!

Anyway, I agree about The Boardwalk--it's really nice. It's the only "mall" we visit here. Hope you had fun while you were in Shreveport.

 

[BTDTGB]

Just finished reading your trip report and I am really enjoying it. My DD and I are going in January and I wish I would have kept it a surprise. It would have hard since her mom won't be coming, she is going with her friends in September with free dining. I really like the idea of the living souvenir, a.k.a plants, my DD is 15 and I am thinking two plants would be a great way of remember the plants, especially if they live for several years. It would be nice for her to go to college and have the plants to remind us of the trip. Thanks for the great idea.

 

[Angies1274]

More great Safari pictures!!! You got some really good close-up shots again!!! We have never seen an elephant on the safari ride close enough so I could get a good picture. But, I'm hoping to in August. Can't wait for more.....

 

[longing2Batdisney]

Great update!!! We stayed in a townhouse (the townhouse was nice but the neighborhood was a little to be desired at 11pm at night--when we were returning from Walmart) in the beginning of our last trip. We had to pass Olde Towne it just looks like a ghost town compared to all the hotels/motels they used to have. We had almost booked at Olde Towne Suites, so glad we did not. The dive we stayed in 2001 was not even there anymore...Gwendolyn said the roaches and spiders probably carried it away

Great update! your pics of the safari were great!

 

[mickeystoontown]

another great update! love the animal pictures!

Thanks!

First of all, you're giving me just the right pre-Disney fix--we go Aug 1-9, and just got off the phone with Kids Nite Out for some parent time (sans kids) for 3 of our nights while we're there. I've not been able to plan for WDW for the past 5 weeks (had my nephew here with us this summer, and we've been going going going), and have a few more things to do to be ready to go. In the meantime, I'm LOVING following your tr, and hope you have a blast when you return a few days after us to "The World".

Second, I live in Shreveport, and have yet to see a star. We did have plans for Bernie Mack to come work out at our gym (we own a couple fitness gyms), but he didn't make it to the gym, and he died not too long afterwards. There's been a LOT of movies filmed in Shreveport and the surrounding areas. My oldest son, 12 yrs old, was an extra in a Hallmark movie last year--not so fun sitting in a high school gym waiting for my kid to do his bit--and we parents were there about 9 hours. I'm just HIGHLY thankful that I was able to find someone to watch my 3 yr old so I didn't have to chase him for those 9 hrs!

Anyway, I agree about The Boardwalk--it's really nice. It's the only "mall" we visit here. Hope you had fun while you were in Shreveport.

Your trip is coming up really soon. I know you are about to burst with excitement.

Isn't it a small world...you livein Shreveport and I live in West Monroe. Just 100 miles apart. In all the trips I've made to Shreveport, I've not seen a star yet. Cool that Bernie Mack was supposed to come to your gym.

Which movie was your son an extra in?