1 crazy family+2 resorts+5 parks+1 snake+1 surprise=A Mickeystoontown report 4/3x2

[GrammyJudy]

I thought of you today when I was in WalMart. They have the new Duck Dynasty Game and a ton of shirts. My daughter and her hubby and their friends are big fans!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Ya'll, I am not ignoring your posts and private messages. I promise that I'm not. As always, there's been a lot going on in and around our household. Those of you who are on Facebook may already know this......

Last Friday, I took my SCAR to the dealership to have a new back/side glass put in. Our office yard guy apparently hit a rock (or two) and it flew into my glass and shattered it into a million pieces. The yard guy is really young and a friend of my boss' family so my boss said that he'd pay for my glass. Anyway, after some drama with a local glass company, I finally just took my SCAR to the dealership and they replaced the glass and did an oil change.

While waiting on the SCAR to get done, my Mama and I went to the fabric store to look for curtain fabric for her living and dining room and spent 3 hours in there. Yep, 3 hours. That's not a typo. She couldn't make up her mind.


Later that afternoon, John and I went back to pick up the SCAR and they were just finishing up. We wandered around the lot and were looking at their trucks since the time for buying John a new truck was quickly approaching. Wait, let me back up a little....when I went online to get the number to the dealership, their site showed some of their used vehicles, one of which sounded pretty good. Okay, now back to the story. We wandered the lot and the salesman who sold us our SCAR came out and we asked him about the used truck that I had read about online. He laughed and said that they had just traded for it the day before and the owner of the dealership wanted it for himself so it was still in the back.

We went inside and talked to the owner (John's done work for him and his family several times.) and he agreed to bring it around and let us have a look at it. John was immediately drooling over the truck. Both of us drooled over the price tag. It was a great deal! We drove it home overnight and then went back on Saturday to purchase it.

Oh did I mention that Saturday was our 29th wedding anniversary? Yep, it was. I'm betting that you can guess what John got for his gift.

We had already said that we wouldn't be exchanging gifts because we were spending so much money on remodeling the house but it was just too good of a deal to pass up. I looked it up on KBB and it's worth about twice what we paid for it.

In the meantime, we've been going back and forth with the insurance company, changing over policies, etc. Hunter took over his dad's truck and giving it a thorough cleaning. Like I said on Facebook, it's funny how it could be as dirty as could be when it was his dad's but now that it's his, Hunter's scrubbing the heck out of it.

School has also begun and Hunter's been making his solo driving runs. Believe it or not, I've not been super nervous about it.

The work on the house continues as we keep adding more and more to the initial painting of the walls. We did take a couple of weeks off to kind of rest up. It's tough working all day long and then coming home and working until Midnight or later every evening.

I've also been helping Mama change up some things in her house. She bought new living room furniture and has been shopping for new curtain fabric, new accessories, pictures, etc. I've spent hours upon hours at her house and in the stores with her trying to pick things out. It's not that she is picky but rather she can't make up her mind about anything. Ugh! It drives me bananas. But, I don't complain to her because then she would have no one to help her or go with her. My sisters don't do "everyday" things with my mother. It's not that they don't care, they just know that John and I are right there living beside her and will take care of it all.

Annnnnnyway, it's been a hectic week. I have been uploading tons of pictures to photobucket (which is slower than molasses) so that I can move on to the next installment (and the next and the next and the next). I love having two cameras with me on vacation but it sure makes it difficult when you're trying to organize them to write a trip report.

Okay, so I'm signing off now. My boss has a client about to walk in. I need to be on stand-by to finish things up when she gets here.

Hang tight ya'll! I promise that I'll be back to post replies to your messages and posts. And, I'm going to write up that next installment once I get the pictures in order.

 

[PhoenixStrength]

Wow, busy week! I did see the truck swap on Facebook, but that is a great deal if it's worth twice what you paid for it! . Nice of you to help your Mama too, though the timing sounds like it could be better.

 

[ronnmel]

Congrats on the new truck!!

 

[maryj11]

Wow you are one busy woman !

 

[rndmr2]

Wow you have been busy! Your Mom sounds like my Aunt, She was remodeling her kitchen a couple years ago and I went with her a couple of times and OMG to get her to make up her mind on something was like pulling teeth! LOL

Congrats on the new truck, it's nice, I bet John is loving it.

 

[shan23877]

Congrats on the new truck and happy anniversary! I have to know if John will be as strict with the rules in his new truck as he is with your SCAR!

 

[jenseib]

That is one sexy truck. I have a things for trucks!

I am glad you have been busy.....because it makes less for me to catch up on.

 

[teekathepony]

Happy anniversary!
Whoo hoo! Nice new wheels! I love me a good truck.
3 hours picking out curtain fabric sounds like a day with my own Mama. I know how you feel!
Busy bee you are, hope things calm down a bit for you!

 

[MissLiz]

Nice truck!!! Looks great!

Happy belated anniversary!

Can't wait to read more about your trip!

 

[Clarf]

Congrats on the new truck!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Congrats on the new truck!

Thank you!

Nice truck!!! Looks great!

Happy belated anniversary!

Can't wait to read more about your trip!

Thanks for the anniversary wishes!

Happy anniversary!
Whoo hoo! Nice new wheels! I love me a good truck.
3 hours picking out curtain fabric sounds like a day with my own Mama. I know how you feel!
Busy bee you are, hope things calm down a bit for you!

Thanks! I could not believe that we were in the fabric store for three whole hours. You know what? She ended up taking the fabric back.

That is one sexy truck. I have a things for trucks!

I am glad you have been busy.....because it makes less for me to catch up on.

The truck is pretty sexy!

Congrats on the new truck and happy anniversary! I have to know if John will be as strict with the rules in his new truck as he is with your SCAR!

Oh yeah, he definitely is. Now we have two vehicles that we must park way out in No Man's Land.

Wow you have been busy! Your Mom sounds like my Aunt, She was remodeling her kitchen a couple years ago and I went with her a couple of times and OMG to get her to make up her mind on something was like pulling teeth! LOL

Congrats on the new truck, it's nice, I bet John is loving it.

It took my Mama forever and two days to pick out fabric and then ended up taking the darn stuff back.

Wow you are one busy woman !

I am and I'm about to pass out from exhaustion.

Congrats on the new truck!!

Thank you!

Wow, busy week! I did see the truck swap on Facebook, but that is a great deal if it's worth twice what you paid for it! . Nice of you to help your Mama too, though the timing sounds like it could be better.

We got a really great deal on the truck and John's proud of it.

Mama's decorating is harder than my own.

 

[mickeystoontown]

I thought of you today when I was in WalMart. They have the new Duck Dynasty Game and a ton of shirts. My daughter and her hubby and their friends are big fans!

They just put in a ton of Duck Dynasty/Duck Commander stuff at our local Walmart too. I used to see Korie in Walmart all the time but not so much any more. I'm sure that she is overrun by fans.

Oh my gosh, those dresses are adorable! My 2 little girls (4 and almost 7) would love them! I may have to talk to you about ordering some...

Thank you! Just let me know if you want more info.

A couple of those backsacks and the dresses look familiar. Thanks again.

I bet they do!

I was going to mention that one looked very familiar to me. (The orange one with the multicolor Mickey.)

I was hiking the other day and was wishing I'd had my backsack with me. Who says they are just for Disney trips????

ETA that the next thread I went to after finishing this one is called "You just lost 80 pounds! What are you going to do next?" by Millie12591 and guess what was in one of her pics? A mickeystoontown backsack! http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3118452&page=18 Post 257.

I take my backsacks all over the place....even hiking. So, yep, they are good for all sorts of things.

I gotta get over to that trip report!

I may want 1-2 bows from Lacey. Did you say before she has an Etsy shop?

She did have an Etsy shop but I don't know if she maintains it any more. I'll ask her. If not, I'll tell her to friend you on Facebook.

Lisa,

Unfortunately my son is NOT going to college close by. He is going 7 1/2 - 8 hours away!! But I'll get over it eventually I guess. We are so proud of him and his ambitions, so that will hopefully supersede the sadness soon enough. Thanks for asking!

Oh gosh! That's about how far away Lacey was when she went off to Master's Commission. You have every right to be proud of him and his ambitions....even if you are sad that he's leaving home.

so now that Hunter is a licensed Driver is he going to get to rive to WDW next year?

He may just have to get into the driving rotation. He technically could have driven this past trip since he had his permit but he hadn't done much interstate driving at that time.

Your little dresses are SO cute. I don't think I could get me 17 year old daughter to wear one though.

If I thought that I could pull one off, I'd wear them. They look so comfy.

Wanted to pop in and check for an update before I leave for Disney tomorrow. Try not to do too many while I'm gone.

It looks like ya'll are having a great anniversary trip!

Congrats to Hunter

Praying everything works out with John's job.

Love the beluga whales! I want to go to Sea World so much but it is sooo hard to take even minutes away from Disney

Hunter's happy as can be that he's now a licensed driver.

So far, so good with John's job.

It took all that I had to go offsite but I'm glad that we did.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Finally had a minute to post replies and I'm working my way through my private messages. For those of you who use Photobucket, I am sure that you can attest to how confusing, slow, and plain old dumb the new site is. It's worse than the new Walt Disney World website. I started loading 230 pictures around 10:30 and only 123 of them are loaded so far. Once that's done, I can start on my new installment. Thanks for waiting around on me.

 

[Kathy Jetson]

congratulations on your pretty new truck

Happy late anniversary!

 

[natebenma]

I was glad to pop into your report and see that I'm not too behind. More really cute backsacks! As you know, I love, love, love mine!!!

Congrats on your anniversary and your new, 4-wheeled addition to the family. It looks great and on the fantastic deal!

 

[donna6635]

Just love your trip report ! it's a good way to unwind after the craziness of the work day! Looking so forward to the next installment...

 

[mickeystoontown]

congratulations on your pretty new truck

Happy late anniversary!

Thank you!

I was glad to pop into your report and see that I'm not too behind. More really cute backsacks! As you know, I love, love, love mine!!!

Congrats on your anniversary and your new, 4-wheeled addition to the family. It looks great and on the fantastic deal!

I'm moving at a snail's place on the trip report but hope to remedy that today.

The truck was meant to be I guess. It was just sittin' there waitin' on us to buy it.

Just love your trip report ! it's a good way to unwind after the craziness of the work day! Looking so forward to the next installment...

Thank you! Good to have you reading along!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Family Smamily, I wanna pineapple sminapple! Woah Nellie, thats strong!

Sea World was a lot of fun and it was nice to meet up with lovethattink and her family but we were ready to re-enter the Disney bubble. We hadnt ridden any of the rides but we had accomplished our mission: Mama saw a whale(s) in person...well, whale...well, real life. Yall know what I mean.

I took one last picture on our way out of the park:



From the looks of the traffic conditions around the Sea World exit, we thought that wed get into some heavy traffic. However, once we got to I-4, it really wasnt that bad. It took us a little longer to get back to Disney than it did for us to get to Sea World but it still didnt take us long. Soon, we were back on Disney property and, then pulling into the Caribbean Beach Resort. We had dinner reservations at one of our favorite restaurants that evening but, even still, we had a little time to relax a while before getting ready to go back out again.

After a little R&R, we got a little gussied up and walked out to the Martinique bus stop for our second bus ride of the trip. Lucky for us, a Magic Kingdom bus arrived before we could even pop a squat on one of the benches. Yeah, baby, that was two fast bus arrivals so far. Lets just hope that bus mojo continued on through the rest of the trip. Before long, we were pulling into the bus stop at the park and we made our way towards the boat launch and the monorail station.

We gave Mama the choice of taking the monorail or the boat launch because the ramp to the monorail is pretty steep. She said that shed be fine taking the monorail so we moseyed on over and waited on the monorail to come. It arrived about 10 minutes later and we boarded along with several other guests. One of them was saying that the Polynesian was the second stop and Mama looked at me and our whispered conversation went a little something like this:

Mama: We need to get off on the second stop.

Me: No mam. The Polynesian is the third stop.

Mama: They said it was the second stop.

Me: No, its the third.

Mama: What if its the second?

Me: Its not. I promise you.

The monorail started and we stopped at the Contemporary to let off/take on other guests. The others who said that the Polynesian was the second stop kept talking and I could tell that they were getting off on the next stop. I really really wanted to tell them that they were wrong but decided to keep my lips closed this time. I knew that if they did get off on the second stop, they could still walk over to the Polynesian. Would be better to stay on until the third stop, but they would still get there.

Mama: So, we dont get off next time this thing stops?

Me: No mam. We need the third stop.

Mama: Well, they said that they are getting off on the next stop.
Are you sure?

Me: Im getting off on the third stop. If you want to get off on the
second stop and follow those folks, go on ahead. Ill meet you
at the Polynesian later.

Mama: No, no, Ill stay with yall.

The monorail got to the second stop which was the TTC and the its the second stop people got off. Mama was looking around intently and I could see the look on her face the minute she realized that I was right.

Mama: They got off on the wrong stop. This is not the Polynesian.

Me: No mam. The Polynesian is the third stop.

We looked at each other and giggled. I love my Mama! Oh ye of little faith.

By now, youve probably figured out that we were going to one of the three restaurants at the Polynesian. So, were we going to the luau? How bout Kona? Or maybe Ohana? I did make that family smamily reference above.

Ohana it was! We made our way to the check-in podium and were behind a wedding party. Guess I should rephrase that....an after the wedding party. The bride was there with her bridesmaids and were talking about how the wedding had went. They all still had their hair done up and twisted all pretty and such. Me? My bangs were swirling all over the darn place and my eye was a drooping something fierce. Darn humidity and tiredness!

I checked us in and was handed a pager. A quick look around told us that there were a lot of other people waiting on their pagers to go off too. The whole waiting area was full as was the bar area. We stood there a few minutes and I saw three people get up from a small bench and, like a vulture, I swooped in before anybody else could claim it. Mama and I fit on it and half of Hunters behind probably could have fit on the other end but he chose to stand. John knelt down on the other end.

Right across from us was a family who were hogging two whole couches. Yep, a family of five took up both of em. Could they not see that there were people standing around looking for a place to sit down? Woman! Make your kid (not a toddler or a little one) sit the heck up and not lay down! Man! Quit sprawling your leg across the freakin cushion and taking up two whole spots! They could have easily squeezed onto one couch and let others sit down. Whats up with people now-a-days? They seem to have no courtesy at all.

For years, I had heard of this delightful drink that you can get at the Polynesian but I didnt have a clue what it was called. All that I knew was that it was served in a hollowed out pineapple. I asked John if he wanted one and he said that he guessed so. So, what did I do? I said Well, go get us one. Oh gosh, Im such a lazy bones sometimes. He asked me what it was called and I told him that I didnt have a clue but I bet if he told the bartender that he wanted that drink that comes in a pineapple he/she would know what he was talking about.

Fifteen minutes later and $15.00 poorer, John returned with this little beauty:



Yes, you read that right. The drink cost $15.00! I dont know if that sounds like a lot of money to yall but it did to me. We arent big drinkers and hardly ever...who am I kiddin...we never go out to any bars or restaurants and order drinks. Heck, Ive got a bottle of Champagne that someone gave us when we built our house seventeen years ago thats still unopened. Theres a bottle of wine that our doctor friend brought us from Ireland last December thats in our pantry still. Now, the tea bags that I bought a couple of weeks ago? Theyre long gone. And, now that Im thinking about it, were out of Coca Cola.

We passed the pineapple around from John, to me and on to Mama and tried it out. Whoa Nellie, thats strong! I was expecting some tropical fruity punchy sugary drink. This was NOT that. John, who did the whole preachers kid thing back in the day, said that it was strong but not as strong as I was making it out to be.

Im posting this blurry picture of me so that you can see that kid laying around on the couch in the background.



Mama and I took just a few more sips and then handed it over to John to finish off. This is the I cant believe I just spent $15.00 on this and they arent going to drink it look:



While we were waiting on our pager to go off, I continued to scope out a better place to sit and noticed that the sitting area around the bar had opened up quite a bit. I figured since we had actually purchased something from the bar, it would be okay for us to wait over there where we werent squeezed together like this

The view from where we were sitting was quite pretty and I had Hunter take a picture of me and my honey:



We waited another ten minutes or so and our pager lit up like a Christmas tree. Lets go! We were seated near the far back wall of the restaurant but we could still see the castle. Our drink orders were taken. Hunter ordered a Sprite (remember this) while the rest of us ordered....hum, I dont remember. I just remember Hunters order.

Soon, the delicious food started coming out and we were as pleased as we had been on previous visits.

The bread:



Pot stickers, wing, salad and chicken:



Wings, potstickers and bread:



Our server would come around every once in a while and refill our glasses. Once, the server was refilling the glasses at the same time as someone else was setting out more food. We werent really paying attention to what the server was doing. (Not ignoring him, just a lot going on at once). Hunter quickly realized that the server had put water into his Sprite. When the server came around, Hunter asked for another Sprite and the server brought him out a new glass with Sprite in it. Later, the server came back by and filled the glass back up with water. We couldnt help but laugh and we giggled all night about it. Stupid thing to get tickled about but we did.

Vegetables and noodles:



The singer came out and she recognized the wedding party and the anniversaries. Usually, they recognize the birthdays too but this time they didnt. I think that it was because they made such a fuss over the large wedding party and took a lot of time with them and the lights were being dimmed because Wishes was about to start.

The music was piped in and we were able to watch the Wishes fireworks right from our table. We didnt have the best of views but it was still neat to watch them while we ate. Not long after, our dessert was served or it could have been during Wishes, I'm not sure. Im normally not a fan of bread pudding because its too mushy but the bread pudding at Disney is totally different and we really enjoy it.



By the end of the meal, we were stuffed to the gills and had to wobble out of the restaurant. Ohana had once again scored a 10 out of 10 in our ratings book. We stopped for just a few minutes to look around in the gift shops and Hunter found a coloring sheet and colors and couldnt resist. Hes such a goofball and was hamming it up for the picture:



Youd think that he didnt have his contacts in from the way hes leaning over the cart there. Silly silly boy!

After window shopping, we strolled out to the monorail station and caught the monorail back to the Magic Kingdom. Again, we walked past the turnstiles and over to the bus station. Tomorrow! Magic Kingdom! Ill see you tomorrow!

**Up next: A 16 year olds in the house! Gotta represent!

 

[disneymania0711]

Yay!! An update!!! Love the story so far!! We have a reservation at o'hana for our trip in November. Food looks fantastic! So did the huge pineapple drink. Lol