2 weeks, 2 sets of BFF's, 1 incredibly lucky family! New PTR Link is up on last page!

[charming23]

Yay!!!! You started your TR. I can't wait to hear about your trip.

 

[inkedupmomma]

Hey, you didn't "quote" me! Must be a lingering effect from those potato chips at EOS.

weird??? I def clicked the plus button! anywho, yay you're here and thank you!

I'm joining in too- just gone and read your PTR and now I'm ready for the TR- you look like such a lovely family

thank you so much and welcome!

Yay!!!! You started your TR. I can't wait to hear about your trip.

Thanks for joining in!

 

[inkedupmomma]

Thursday September 8, 2011

For those of you that recall, Kayla had gotten sick the week of our trip! Yikes, I know! To make matters worse she was only in her 2nd week of school, so imagine my panic when I get a call on Tuesday that she had to be sent home early because she had a fever, and she couldn't go to school the next day or until she was fever free for 24 hours I go and pick her up Tuesday and she looks like heck, we go to the doctor the next day and she says it is a cold... if it gets worse take her to the ER while on vacation.... glad she just made a couple hundred off of me to give me no peace of mind! Our trip was a 2 week trip, which meant the kids would miss 10 fll days of school, which only 5 were family vacation day approved, the other 5 were excused, anything after is unexcused. Luckily the doctor gave me a note and that would take care of that half day and the day missed.

During all of this, New Hope and most of the east coast was being slammed with a number of different storms, which really affected our whole area with terrible flooding. Luckily our house was fine, but my boss had been evacuated and the day we were to leave school was cancelled....

No big deal you're thinking right?? Wrong! Since I can't keep a secret to save my life I told Bob we would surprise the kids and pick them up early from school that day. Why is that cool? Because they thought we were leaving the next day! As soon as I hung up the phone with the school, I went into panic. How was I supposed to surprise them now? How am I supposed to get all the last minute stuff done with two kids in the house. OI. Bob calmed me down, as he always does, and we talked it out. We decided that when the kids came into the bedroom we would say, hey, wanna skip school and leave for Disney day early?

Well, that is exactly what we did, and cute little Jack was SOOOOOOOOOOOO excited! In disbelief really, he has no concept of time, so hearing that we were leaving today ( immediate satisfaction) was awesome! poor little Kayla was stoked, but still not feeling 100%, even after 2 days in bed!

Surprisingly that morning went more than smooth! The kids cleaned their room, took their showers, ate, got dressed, and I do not recall having to raise my voice at all! Having them there actually helped, as I didn't have to be sneaky and forget anything! They each got their bags and put whatever car stuff they wanted in it. That took a lot of pressure off of me as I was terrified of forgetting anything!

I have to say, Bob is a master at packing the van. I thank all those years of Tetris and his OCD for this next picture!

Once the van was all packed up, I did a quick walk around the house with Bob and we turned off all electronics and unplugged everything! With all the terrible storms we had been having we didn't want anything to burn out or blow up like it had 2 weeks prior (cable box, modem, and router!!)

We were out our door at 11:20 and had to stop at my grammas house so she could say bye to the kids and give them a present, and so she could watch our plant. As luck ( read terrible luck) would have it, my dad was visiting my gramma as well, and he wanted to say hi. Funny thing is, he decided he was going to go for a run?? His wife was there and we all chatted for a bit. Finally we decided it was time to go and said our good byes. Just as I am about to pull away I get a phone call from my step mom. She wanted us to come back so she could give the kids some spending money, my dad had called her and asked her to. I go back in and she hands me some money. When I got back to the car I look and it is a $150.00 Wow! I still don't like my dad, but it was nice of him to hook the kids up! At that moment I realized I never gave the kids the bags we made them! I open the trunk and they are so confused! I hand them each a bag and they are both ecstatic!

*Side note- In case you are wondering what winded up going in each bag, I'll tell ya! I bought the cute nerd bags as a gift in itself, then loaded them up with a shirt each, 50 pins each (bought on ebay..from a seller I will no longer buy from!), lanyards, mini m+m cases with pennies and quarters for pressed pennies, Disney squinkies for Kayla, a superhero activity book for Jack, mini Light Sabers that held m+m's in the bottom, and I think a little snack each. These were a huge hit, and the nerd bags were the perfect size to hold this stuff!

Originally we had planned for me to drive the first shift, but somehow that changed and Bob decided he would drive first shift.

We were officially on our way at 12:19!

The ride was pretty much boring lol! We paid a $4.00 toll in MD ( adding in case anyone drives) and stopped for gas at 3:40. We had only started with half a tank. The cost to fill it was $67.44! ( and i'll add it in here, our 2nd stop for gas cost $55.00 and the 3rd was $60.00)

Jack excited that he is finally allowed to play as much video games as he wants, vacation really had started!

Finally around 7:30 we stopped at Red lobster for dinner. We had hit quite a bit of traffic in Virginia and were all kind f cranky/hungry/ tired of sitting still. I had chosen Red Lobster as I LOVE their lobster pizza. If you know me, then you know once I crave something there is no turning back. Well don't you know, we walk in and OMG, it was PACKED!!! Uhm, a Thursday night in Virginia on no special occasion and it is packed? Bob looks at me and says no way.. I look at him and he knows I'm not budging. I put our name in and she says 20 mins, that's not too bad. Well, you know where this is going don't you? an HOUR later we were finally called. Bob and the kids were NOT happy with me! Things were starting to look ugly......


Next Up: Did we make it through dinner, did Bob stay mad at me, and how do you do that LONG drive straight through??

 

[Trentmom]

Poor Kayla. That weather was awful

I was wondering how they missed that much school. That is so nice the school has family vacation days you can take.

Yay for some extra spending money

Oh man..an hr wait for dinner. You must really like that lobster

Hope once everyone ate, they didn't stay mad

 

[Mombits]

subbing. Prayers for your friend. Breast Cancer isn't for sissies- she's lucky to have you for a friend.

 

[inkedupmomma]

Poor Kayla. That weather was awful

I was wondering how they missed that much school. That is so nice the school has family vacation days you can take.

Yay for some extra spending money

Oh man..an hr wait for dinner. You must really like that lobster

Hope once everyone ate, they didn't stay mad

The weather WAS dreadful! They still should not have missed that much school, but I figured I better get it out of my system now while shes still in 5th grade!

I do not like my dad at all, but I o like extra spending money lol!

Love the lobster pizza.. but i think it was more I made up my mind and I aint switching stubborness really!

stay tuned for the rest

subbing. Prayers for your friend. Breast Cancer isn't for sissies- she's lucky to have you for a friend.

thank you very much! I see your title says you beat it as well?? glad to have you on board, maybe you and Kat can give me some ideas of how to be helpful and not annoying lol

 

[Disneymom77]

Hi! Joining the party!

 

[inkedupmomma]

Hi! Joining the party!

HI! Awesome! thanks!

 

[annnewjerz]

Woohoo for updates! Things don't sound so bad.....yet!

The Nerd bags you got for the kids are so cute, where'd ya get them!? My neighbor-girl is 5 and I think she'd love one.

 

[inkedupmomma]

Woohoo for updates! Things don't sound so bad.....yet!

The Nerd bags you got for the kids are so cute, where'd ya get them!? My neighbor-girl is 5 and I think she'd love one.

yet.. lol


I got them at the Disney store! They were 2 for $7.50 I think?? I'm pretty sure they still have them as well!

 

[tlenzendorf]

I give you props for driving! I've done it a few times and have no desire to do it again! Costwise next time we do the beach we may, it's 17 hours(with stops) and I'm REALLY not looking forward to it.

 

[inkedupmomma]

So I left you off with mad, tired, hungry people, a recipe for disaster for sure!

I don't think I mentioned earlier either, for some reason the excitement that I was going to Disney STILL had not hit me I had mentioned my concern about that in my PTR and man it was still there

Dinner was very nice though! Our waitress annoyed the crap out of me but she was very efficient and never left us waiting for anything!

Everyone enjoyed their meals and my lobster pizza did NOT disappoint! My head was not Disney bound yet, so forgive the no food porn pics! I did however write down the cost!! The total was $66.00 without tip.. I'm almost positive Bob tipped 20% or higher!

Finally by 9:30 we were back on the road!

Right outside of the Red Lobster was Arby heaven, and I had to take picture because this was the biggest fast food place I have ever seen.... picture isn't great though lol

If you recall earlier, I mentioned that Bob took the first shift of driving. This meant it was my turn. this was NOT a good idea! By 11:15 I had to wake him up because I was falling asleep at the wheel! I do not do well when it comes to night driving. Surprisingly though he was wide awake and ready to go!

the night was uneventful as we were all asleep lol

I got a few shots while everyone slept!

I took over driving at 4 am... throughout the time Bob was driving I slept on and off for maybe 3 hours total.. maybe.. But at 4 am he just couldn't do it anymore, and I was ok with that! He got us through the rough part!

Around 6:30/7 am we all decided that we would skip stopping for breakfast and get straight to Disney! we were so close and another stop just didn't sound fun!

Luckily I had bought the kids these:

They weren't starving so these hit the spot! Bob and I had some cliff bars or granola bars I think?

Does anyone else get excited when they see this?

This means you are super close!!


Then we started seeing these signs

Then these

Then finally we saw this

A tiny bit of excitement was starting to hit me.. but not my usual. This totally bummed poor Bob out and made him wonder why I had been so excited in trips past aka with my ex jerk... I explained that before Disney was all I had, now I had so much to happy about all the time, that Disney wasn't just it. Idk if it made him feel better, but it is true!

We started to see some more signs and I was getting excited, I had no clue where our resort was this time around!

Jack was REALLLLY excited, and now that I think about it, we took a video of that excitement! I will upload it to and then put link on here!!

Finally we started seeing signs for our home for the next 2 weeks!

We pulled in to POFQ at exactly 9am!! That was exactly what we had planned and it actually worked! I mean when does one say they are going to get somewhere at a certain time and actually get there then? Who? US! I was excited about that!


Sorry to cut this one short, but it s dinner time and I earned myself some sushi today! For those of you that work out hard, how do you keep up with spinning?? I made it through the class today, but MAN I got my butt kicked!

After looking at my Disney pics, I decided it was time to finally take a diet seriously! Even with sushi dinner, I will be way under my calories today! woot!

Next up, how convenient is online check in really? is our room ready? did we get our requests? and what did we do after driving for 21 hours?

 

[inkedupmomma]

I give you props for driving! I've done it a few times and have no desire to do it again! Costwise next time we do the beach we may, it's 17 hours(with stops) and I'm REALLY not looking forward to it.

well it's easy when you have no choice lol! I think I mentioned it in my PTR, but I DO NOT FLY! I am terrified of it. I have flown so I know that I hate it, enough to the point that i get sick if I even see a plane close up! Luckily Bob LOVES driving and has done a million cross country back packing trips! That def helped! My past trips have been dreadful, this ride was so smooth I was worried lol!

and yes, cost wise it can't be beat.

I hope one day my fear goes away as quickly as it came on!

 

[ronnmel]

Guess we have something else in coming. I'm not very fond of my dad myself. At least it was nice of him to get some spending money for the kids.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. You guys really are troopers, driving straight through the night like this!

 

[Fantasyland Mom]

I'm with ya on the lobster pizza! Mmmm!

I can't believe y'all drove that far and that long! That's is pretty amazing. I forgot that you had changed to POFQ!

Can't wait to see what you crazy cats do next.

 

[KatMark]

Thursday September 8, 2011

For those of you that recall, Kayla had gotten sick the week of our trip! Yikes, I know! To make matters worse she was only in her 2nd week of school, so imagine my panic when I get a call on Tuesday that she had to be sent home early because she had a fever, and she couldn't go to school the next day or until she was fever free for 24 hours I go and pick her up Tuesday and she looks like heck, we go to the doctor the next day and she says it is a cold... if it gets worse take her to the ER while on vacation.... glad she just made a couple hundred off of me to give me no peace of mind! Our trip was a 2 week trip, which meant the kids would miss 10 fll days of school, which only 5 were family vacation day approved, the other 5 were excused, anything after is unexcused. Luckily the doctor gave me a note and that would take care of that half day and the day missed.

During all of this, New Hope and most of the east coast was being slammed with a number of different storms, which really affected our whole area with terrible flooding. Luckily our house was fine, but my boss had been evacuated and the day we were to leave school was cancelled....

No big deal you're thinking right?? Wrong! Since I can't keep a secret to save my life I told Bob we would surprise the kids and pick them up early from school that day. Why is that cool? Because they thought we were leaving the next day! As soon as I hung up the phone with the school, I went into panic. How was I supposed to surprise them now? How am I supposed to get all the last minute stuff done with two kids in the house. OI. Bob calmed me down, as he always does, and we talked it out. We decided that when the kids came into the bedroom we would say, hey, wanna skip school and leave for Disney day early?

Well, that is exactly what we did, and cute little Jack was SOOOOOOOOOOOO excited! In disbelief really, he has no concept of time, so hearing that we were leaving today ( immediate satisfaction) was awesome! poor little Kayla was stoked, but still not feeling 100%, even after 2 days in bed!

I have to say, Bob is a master at packing the van. I thank all those years of Tetris and his OCD for this next picture!

Once the van was all packed up, I did a quick walk around the house with Bob and we turned off all electronics and unplugged everything! With all the terrible storms we had been having we didn't want anything to burn out or blow up like it had 2 weeks prior (cable box, modem, and router!!)

We were out our door at 11:20 and had to stop at my grammas house so she could say bye to the kids and give them a present, and so she could watch our plant. As luck ( read terrible luck) would have it, my dad was visiting my gramma as well, and he wanted to say hi. Funny thing is, he decided he was going to go for a run?? His wife was there and we all chatted for a bit. Finally we decided it was time to go and said our good byes. Just as I am about to pull away I get a phone call from my step mom. She wanted us to come back so she could give the kids some spending money, my dad had called her and asked her to. I go back in and she hands me some money. When I got back to the car I look and it is a $150.00 Wow! I still don't like my dad, but it was nice of him to hook the kids up! At that moment I realized I never gave the kids the bags we made them! I open the trunk and they are so confused! I hand them each a bag and they are both ecstatic!

*Side note- In case you are wondering what winded up going in each bag, I'll tell ya! I bought the cute nerd bags as a gift in itself, then loaded them up with a shirt each, 50 pins each (bought on ebay..from a seller I will no longer buy from!), lanyards, mini m+m cases with pennies and quarters for pressed pennies, Disney squinkies for Kayla, a superhero activity book for Jack, mini Light Sabers that held m+m's in the bottom, and I think a little snack each. These were a huge hit, and the nerd bags were the perfect size to hold this stuff!

We were officially on our way at 12:19!

The ride was pretty much boring lol! We paid a $4.00 toll in MD ( adding in case anyone drives) and stopped for gas at 3:40. We had only started with half a tank. The cost to fill it was $67.44! ( and i'll add it in here, our 2nd stop for gas cost $55.00 and the 3rd was $60.00)

Jack excited that he is finally allowed to play as much video games as he wants, vacation really had started!

Finally around 7:30 we stopped at Red lobster for dinner. We had hit quite a bit of traffic in Virginia and were all kind f cranky/hungry/ tired of sitting still. I had chosen Red Lobster as I LOVE their lobster pizza. If you know me, then you know once I crave something there is no turning back. Well don't you know, we walk in and OMG, it was PACKED!!! Uhm, a Thursday night in Virginia on no special occasion and it is packed? Bob looks at me and says no way.. I look at him and he knows I'm not budging. I put our name in and she says 20 mins, that's not too bad. Well, you know where this is going don't you? an HOUR later we were finally called. Bob and the kids were NOT happy with me! Things were starting to look ugly......


Next Up: Did we make it through dinner, did Bob stay mad at me, and how do you do that LONG drive straight through??

Jenn, great update. I love the bags you got the kids...too darn cute.

I'm the opposite of you...I don't like my mother (my daddy was my hero and I miss him still); but that was very nice of your dad to give the kids some "spending money."

I love Red Lobster, but an hour is a long wait especially on an "off night."

So I left you off with mad, tired, hungry people, a recipe for disaster for sure!

I don't think I mentioned earlier either, for some reason the excitement that I was going to Disney STILL had not hit me I had mentioned my concern about that in my PTR and man it was still there

Dinner was very nice though! Our waitress annoyed the crap out of me but she was very efficient and never left us waiting for anything!

Everyone enjoyed their meals and my lobster pizza did NOT disappoint! My head was not Disney bound yet, so forgive the no food porn pics! I did however write down the cost!! The total was $66.00 without tip.. I'm almost positive Bob tipped 20% or higher!

Finally by 9:30 we were back on the road!

Right outside of the Red Lobster was Arby heaven, and I had to take picture because this was the biggest fast food place I have ever seen.... picture isn't great though lol

If you recall earlier, I mentioned that Bob took the first shift of driving. This meant it was my turn. this was NOT a good idea! By 11:15 I had to wake him up because I was falling asleep at the wheel! I do not do well when it comes to night driving. Surprisingly though he was wide awake and ready to go!

the night was uneventful as we were all asleep lol

I got a few shots while everyone slept!

I took over driving at 4 am... throughout the time Bob was driving I slept on and off for maybe 3 hours total.. maybe.. But at 4 am he just couldn't do it anymore, and I was ok with that! He got us through the rough part!

Around 6:30/7 am we all decided that we would skip stopping for breakfast and get straight to Disney! we were so close and another stop just didn't sound fun!



Does anyone else get excited when they see this?

This means you are super close!!


Then we started seeing these signs

Then these

Then finally we saw this

A tiny bit of excitement was starting to hit me.. but not my usual. This totally bummed poor Bob out and made him wonder why I had been so excited in trips past aka with my ex jerk... I explained that before Disney was all I had, now I had so much to happy about all the time, that Disney wasn't just it. Idk if it made him feel better, but it is true!

We started to see some more signs and I was getting excited, I had no clue where our resort was this time around!

Jack was REALLLLY excited, and now that I think about it, we took a video of that excitement! I will upload it to and then put link on here!!

Finally we started seeing signs for our home for the next 2 weeks!

We pulled in to POFQ at exactly 9am!! That was exactly what we had planned and it actually worked! I mean when does one say they are going to get somewhere at a certain time and actually get there then? Who? US! I was excited about that!


Sorry to cut this one short, but it s dinner time and I earned myself some sushi today! For those of you that work out hard, how do you keep up with spinning?? I made it through the class today, but MAN I got my butt kicked!

After looking at my Disney pics, I decided it was time to finally take a diet seriously! Even with sushi dinner, I will be way under my calories today! woot!

Next up, how convenient is online check in really? is our room ready? did we get our requests? and what did we do after driving for 21 hours?

Glad the driving all worked out for you. And having "breakfast" goodies in the car got you there at the time you wanted to arrrive.

Can't wait to hear how check-in went and if you got your requests.

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

I remember our texts back and forth while you were driving down. I was hoping that by the time you saw the magical sign that your Disney excitement would kick in.

I love snacks you got for the kids. I've never seen them here.

 

[shan23877]

That was one crazy big Arbys! Cute bags and snacks for the kids. My DD would love them, but I've never seen them.

Hope you liked POFQ, we loved it there!

Got all caught up on your PTR. I also got burned by an ex, and ended up taking a look at my long time best friend. We got married 9 years ago.

I love Bob already. I'm really happy for you.

 

[Beka]

Um, family, cheddar biscuits. Worth the wait.

Did I read right on Jophia's TR? Feb? What dates?

Jack looks stoked. It's adorable, and of course I'm dying. Poor Kayla I wish she felt better, but better to be sick on the way down than while there.

Can't wait for more!

Spinning was invented by the Devil, FYI.

 

[inkedupmomma]

Guess we have something else in coming. I'm not very fond of my dad myself. At least it was nice of him to get some spending money for the kids.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. You guys really are troopers, driving straight through the night like this!

yeah..my dad..ugh. the first reason in my life that I trust no one..great start in life! doh!

ahaha, the drive really wasnt that bad. actually we were shocked ourselves how well it went!

I'm with ya on the lobster pizza! Mmmm!
omg..id kill someone for a piece right now.. at 9:47 am lol

I can't believe y'all drove that far and that long! That's is pretty amazing. I forgot that you had changed to POFQ!
thank you! we just wanted to get there. last time I stopped, i didnt sleep a wink and felt awful at Disney the following day . so I figured, why waste the money lol
Can't wait to see what you crazy cats do next.

stay tuned!

Jenn, great update. I love the bags you got the kids...too darn cute.
thank you! took me forever to get those together... didnt want to spoil them too much, yet wanted to start e trip off fun!

I'm the opposite of you...I don't like my mother (my daddy was my hero and I miss him still); but that was very nice of your dad to give the kids some "spending money."
it was n ice, but delusional. he thought that would make up for him being a you know what! made the kids happy though!

I love Red Lobster, but an hour is a long wait especially on an "off night."
I was shocked, but I figured by the time we got back in the car and found another place it would take just as long and i needed grub asap!


Glad the driving all worked out for you. And having "breakfast" goodies in the car got you there at the time you wanted to arrrive.

Can't wait to hear how check-in went and if you got your requests.

yeah, i'm glad I brought grub with us! Idk if we will ever stop for breakfast again?? it was just too easy to get there!

I remember our texts back and forth while you were driving down. I was hoping that by the time you saw the magical sign that your Disney excitement would kick in.

I love snacks you got for the kids. I've never seen them here.

ugh... my depressing texts.. sorry about that! and thanks for always being such an awesome support system! Our market carries those snacks! they come in like 4 varieties too! but man are they EXPENSIVE! they are a disney or road trip only snack option for my kids lol!

That was one crazy big Arbys! Cute bags and snacks for the kids. My DD would love them, but I've never seen them.
omg, wasnt it? idk why, but we were in awe of the Arby's mecca lol

Hope you liked POFQ, we loved it there!

Got all caught up on your PTR. I also got burned by an ex, and ended up taking a look at my long time best friend. We got married 9 years ago.

I love Bob already. I'm really happy for you.

Yay, I love that it worked out for you! I hope Bobs gets on this marriage thing soon too lol

Um, family, cheddar biscuits. Worth the wait.

Did I read right on Jophia's TR? Feb? What dates?

Jack looks stoked. It's adorable, and of course I'm dying. Poor Kayla I wish she felt better, but better to be sick on the way down than while there.

Can't wait for more!

Spinning was invented by the Devil, FYI.

Beka, that was the other driving force behind my need for Red Lobster!

Feb 2013 not 2012... I just can't do the heat again!

and yes spinning = satan fo sho!

I'll clue yo in m ore about Kayla through the report