12/01/07 Western December 1, 2007 - Let's get the party started!

[jlowejd5]

jlowejd5-I can't believe you had snow in Columbus! We didn't even have snow in Cleveland! Better you than me, sorry This winter we've had half the amount of snow that we had last year. I hope the trend continues for the rest of the winter!

Yeah, it was rough. It was just spitting, and we ended up with barely enough to cover the grass, but that was just an awful thing to wake up to. And I had my share of Cleveland snow. I did my undergrad at Case, and one of the years I was there (1994?) 3/4 of Cleveland set records for highest snowfall amounts. There were a couple of days that the air temp was below zero, we had 35 mph sustained winds, snowdrifts of two and a half feet, and they didn't cancel classes. Bleah. Frostbite is your friend.

Here's a question: we got back from our Land/Sea on Sunday the 12th. Today is Thursday the 23rd. Is it wrong that we're still not unpacked? I pulled most of my stuff out, but the suitcases are still laying on the spare bed. I mean, if we don't unpack, the vacation's not over, right? Right?

 

[mom+3girls]

Here's a question: we got back from our Land/Sea on Sunday the 12th. Today is Thursday the 23rd. Is it wrong that we're still not unpacked? I pulled most of my stuff out, but the suitcases are still laying on the spare bed. I mean, if we don't unpack, the vacation's not over, right? Right? [/QUOTE]


I cruised last Sept and I went looking for my jean capri pants last week and couldn't find them, kept looking and guess what, they were still in my suit case from the cruise. I took out everything that needed to be hung up but the rest of the stuff is still in there laying in the bottom of my closet, it was getting cooler here and I though I won't need that stuff till spring. I did laundry on the cruise and the dirty stuff was in another suit case, I don't want you all thinking that my dirty stuff is still in there.
I have that I'll get to it when I can attitude.
I guess I'm still on vacation

 

[kimszath]

That's SO funny!!! I hate unpacking almost as much as I hate vacuuming! I've been known to let a suitcase sit for a month, at least! I think it goes back to the days when I was traveling almost constantly... I've got that, "Why unpack it when I'll just have to pack it again next week?" mentality!!! I can't seem to get it in my head that I'm not really going anywhere anymore... It was a good excuse, anyway.
For the record, my husband is ragging on me about being on the boards so early (we're also going on a 4-nighter this Christmas). What should I say to him? I'm trying to think of a really great jab... one that'll make him get off my back. I've already told him I can be chatting with friends here, or in the Pilots' Lounge on AOL, flirting with all my old flying buddies!

Oh well... back to the Cuisinart Ice Cream machine we just bought.. OUTSTANDING!!! We just made our first batch of plain old vanilla... gonna mix Oreos in the next batch!!! YUMMMM!!! Wish I could make a Mickey Bar in that thing...

 

[Popovich]

jolowejd5- Small world. I moved here from Cincinnati after undergrad because Greg lived here. Of course as soon as I moved to Cleveland he started Law School and moved so I was left in Cleveland with my new job and in grad school at Case while living with his family. Then after he finished law school 3 years later, my job transferred me back to Cincinnati and he moved back to Cleveland. Two years after that we were married ('91) and I was transferred back to Cleveland.......The whole first year we were married we thought we were on vacation because neither of us had to drive home on Sunday!

How did you like the land and sea? As the kids get older I won't be able to pull them out of school for 8 or 9 days at a time. I love cruising but I also love to go to WDW. It's too hard to choose. This year we're doing the Halloween party and the Food and Wine Festival for 7 days then off to Universal for a few nights. It will be the kids first time at Universal.

Kim-Have fun with the ice cream maker. Sounds yummy!!!

Gailyn

 

[jlowejd5]

Ah, the long distance relationship. The first year we dated (senior year of undergrad), I was in Cleveland, she was in Marietta. Then I moved to Columbus for law school (Go Buckeyes) and just sorta stayed here. A year later, Michele moved to Athens for med school. Two years in Athens, then two years on the opposite side of Columbus (and working 80 hours a week, so that doesn't count). Her intern year in Massillon. Then she picked up her residency slot on my side of town, and four years later, here we are. Sheesh. Although we are building our dream house right now, and it's supposed to be done in August or September. We spent a giant chunk of money today on cabinets, bookshelves, and all that stuff. Scary.

We love the Land/Sea. I love WDW as must as or more than the cruises. The only downside is that there's just SO much to do at the parks. This last trip, we were with two friends who had never been to WDW, so we ran for four days straight, trying to cram in as much as possible. So by the time we got to the Wonder, we were just exhausted. For example, the Sunday we flew down, my alarm went off at 4:45 am, and we didn't leave MK until 11:15pm. That's just insane, I realize that.

The other point is that I'm kinda done with Nassau. The first trip, we walked through the Straw Market (pre-fire, obviously), and we didn't really find anything interesting. The second time, we went over to Atlantis, which was amazing, but quite a hike. This time, we did a glass-bottom boat tour. It was kinda neat, but somewhat underwhelming. That's why we're VERY much looking forward to new ports on this cruise. And I think the next Disney vacation after that is going to be 8-10 days in the parks, split between WL and AKL, with maybe a day or two at Universal thrown in. But that probably won't be until 2009 or so.

Man, I talk a lot...

 

[lbgraves]

Well, I have updated the first post to show everyone who is posting on the thread so far. It's a little early to make up the website. I'll do that later this year.

 

[kimszath]

That's a great touch, Lisa. You actually build a website, too??? I saw where someone else did that once--very cool. Not sure I'm so creative. Think I'll be a copycat and go do that on my 12/26/06 thread, since I was the OP. Seems like the right thing to do!

 

[lbgraves]

Let's see if I can remember it all. There is the itinerary, the manifest of DISers, planned DIS events & resies for Palo so that we can coordinate &/or be able to tell the kids which other DISkids will be in the club with them at the same time. The next batch of pages is with each DIS family with real names, kid's ages, city & state, pre & post cruise plans (also helps with DIS meets off the ship), a brief write up of their day to day life (jobs, hobbies, etc), and a picture of everyone cruising. The DISkids have a page for each club. They have their picture and a brief write up of what they like to do on the ship. They can talk about their favorite characters, school subjects, & sports. It is a great way for the kids to look up who will be in the club with them & email beforehand to make friends. I have also added a birthday page so that we can keep up with the birthday greetings thru the year.

 

[jlowejd5]

That sounds cool. I guess moving from the Wonder to the Magic really has its advantages!!

 

[kimszath]

Yes, Lisa is ULTRAorganized!!! I'll probably just take liberties and copy you! With credit, of course! You do great work, Lisa!

I was at a Pampered Chef party today, and everybody was asking about my cruises--we started the show-and-tell a little late, as you can imagine. I"m such a great Disney salesperson!!! They oughtta give me a commission!

 

[loriace]

Wow Lisa, let me thank you in advance. That all sounds great and I know we will all appreciate all your hard work. My daughters have already been bugging me about meeting some of the other kids in advance, I just said relax we have a "little" while before we go.... lol

 

[jlowejd5]

If anybody's interested, I just finished posting a long-winded (but hopefully funny) trip report for our land/sea (March 5-12) over on the trip report boards. I had a couple of funny things happen.

 

[lbgraves]

That was great! You would fit right in with the group we are cruising with 12/9/06...cruised with some 12/10/05. Guess you will be dressing for pirate night too. We should be able to watch POC3 on this cruise. Like the viking hat too.

 

[kimszath]

Loved the trip report!!! Nice work!

 

[jlowejd5]

Just in case there are any new folks who might not have seen this thread. And to get us off of page four.

605 days to go. Yikes.

 

[kimszath]

OUCH! 605 days? Really??? I'm not hating my 19 month timer so much anymore!!!! I was thinking of bumping us today, too! psychics....

 

[jlowejd5]

Well, I had to do something. Spent most of the day going insane. DW is at back-to-back conferences in San Antonio and East Lansing. Tried to fly between the two on Sunday (connecting through O'Hare). No such luck. They circled for four hours through horrible turbulence (those huge wind/rain storms across the midwest this weekend) and then diverted to Grand Rapids. Well, GR is only 75 miles from Lansing, so they just rented a car and went, because United couldn't say whether any connectors would go to Lansing that night (they didn't), and the board review course started at like 7:30am.

They get to the hotel no problem, but we're still looking for her suitcase two and a half days later. It got checked under somebody else's name (the woman in front of Michele at the counter), who was on a later flight to O'Hare. Michele even has the sticker thingie. Some of the United baggage claim people were just downright rude, telling her to just rent a car and go pick it up, or simply hanging up on her (and her friend who's traveling with her) repeatedly. They ended up going across the street and buying underwear at the CVS, and splitting a three-pack. That's just sad on a lot of levels.

So she calls me in tears tonight, ready to rent a car and just drive home tomorrow (Lansing to Columbus is only six hours or so). I get all the information and start wading through United's system, which is NOT easy. I finally got through to a human being (after the computer hung up on me 18 times, and I was then on hold for 40 minutes). But this lady was great. It's at O'Hare, and they're putting it on the first flight to Lansing in the morning, to be delivered to the hotel tomorrrow afternoon.

We hope.

What a mess...

 

[lbgraves]

Goodness that is terrible!

This week is crazy! I have found two day's worth of teacher appreciation gifts & am meeting with the cafeteria director & PTO VP on Friday to set up the breakfast another day. (This happens the 2nd week of May.) Yesterday I went out & bought everything for the spa baskets....63 of them. Today I have worked on sorting clothes for the yard sale & switching out DD's seasonal clothes. NOT my favorite thing to do...lots of stuff doesn't look like it will fit her & it's not going to be fun making her stand still long enough to check. Tomorrow I will go in & price some things for the school yard sale that teachers have just been dropping off in the storage trailer. Friday DD is out of school because of kindergarten registration so I hope that we will have a nice day together. Next week I have the 1st grade egg hunt & party on Tuesday (75 kids) and the Kindergarten one on Wednesday (79 kids). I have 150 dozen eggs in boxes in the dining room that need to be stuffed. OY! Let's see...I know there is more going on.

I can't wait until we go to DC next Thursday!

 

[missmulan]

Hi everyone! Lisa! Gailyn!

We re-booked onboard and it looks more and more like we'll be changing our ressies to the 12/1/07 Western. We've done two Easterns...first one 11/27/04, then 12/10/05.

Just popping in to say "hi". I wondering if I should transfer over from DCL to someone else now. Not sure who has the deals.

I'll be back....nice to meet you all!

Jen

 

[lbgraves]

YEAH!!!! How funny! I told you that you should cruise with us again. Great to see you on board now. Jen & I cruised together last December....along with a bunch of other crazy DISers.