6/22 - 6/29 We're Getting Closer....

[carone0318]

Hello, hello, hello - I'm back, back, back! Been a little MIA for a couple of days!

Tinkgurl - I did get through most of your trip report and it is mad crazy busy.... You sure do know how to keep 'em coming back.

Well, today I finished making new 30 day countdown cards. My kids love them. They are just index cards, but then are so much fun for them. Dan just asked me yesterday if the cards start at 40 days - uh nope, that would be 30 days. He is extremely excited for our trip!

Maybe I should take a picture of the card each day when I start putting them out and I'll post the picture.

Will be back shortly, I'm off to go to lunch!

 

[tinkgurl]

Hello, hello, hello - I'm back, back, back! Been a little MIA for a couple of days!

Tinkgurl - I did get through most of your trip report and it is mad crazy busy.... You sure do know how to keep 'em coming back.

Well, today I finished making new 30 day countdown cards. My kids love them. They are just index cards, but then are so much fun for them. Dan just asked me yesterday if the cards start at 40 days - uh nope, that would be 30 days. He is extremely excited for our trip!

Maybe I should take a picture of the card each day when I start putting them out and I'll post the picture.

Will be back shortly, I'm off to go to lunch!

WOO! I'm mentioned in a post?! Haha, yeah it does get busy. I just can't believe all those people actually like me!

Who cares if they're just index cards?! It still sounds neat!

 

[carone0318]

Well, I don't really have any followers, except Tinkgurl - thanks for sticking around.

So, I don't really consider this a PTR, but more of a documentary - .

Something I forgot to say yesterday. I went to Best Buy and bought a new Point & Shoot camera. Since we no longer use a stroller for our trips we tried just bringing our old P&S camera last yr and it worked great (instead of lugging around big SLR digital Canon). Well, the P&S is kind of older. It was on the big side, took a long time to save to memory and also I think it was dropped as the LCD screen had a black spot on the bottom left side of the screen.

So, my new baby is a Nikon Coolpix S560. My old one was a Nikon too, so I stayed in the family!

I love it, it's soo tiny!!!! I'm trying to get used to it and be an "expert" by the time we go to Disney in June.

Another thing I did, I decided since on our 1st day we only have an ADR for lunch at CP, I just made a reservation for T-Rex Cafe for dinner. I thought Dan would really like the place. Kerry and I have been to Rainforest Cafe when we were in Chicago for a gymnastics competition, but neither dh or Dan have been and I thought he would "dig" the atmosphere. So, I can add 7:15pm @ T-Rex Cafe to our ADR agenda....

Well, it's crappy weather here again! I thought that I'd leave this picture of where I'd rather be:

Nice, sunny and warm!

Whenever I go to Disney, I am always trying to get that perfect shot of the castle. This was probably my best from our Aug. 08 trip!

I think I need to update my kids pics below because I think the one of Dan is like when he was 5, he's now 8 and I think Kerry was 9 and she's now 12 - but I just love that sour-puss face of hers in that pic!

Just for the record - The pic of them together in the countdown though is more recent.

 

[tinkgurl]

Well, I don't really have any followers, except Tinkgurl - thanks for sticking around.

No problem!

Ugh, I hate getting used to new technology. I'm old school.

Ahhh, that pic of the Castle does look pretty nice right now. One of my friends on here is there right now and she keeps texting me/sending me pics of everything they're doing!

 

[carone0318]

Just popping in to say Air Tran changed the flight for my Mom and AP, so we had to call and get them on a different flight. Their original flight was non-stop and that flight was eliminated, so they were put on a flight with 1 stop - oh no, not happening!

So Joe & I called Air Tran and were able to get them moved to an 11something am flight. Well, I wasn't planning on them being there for dinner and we already have our own plans (T-Rex Cafe). So I told Mom that I would try to get her and AP a dinner ADR at Sanaa, the new place at AKL. Guess what???? No problems, they now have an ADR for 6:35pm.

It seems things are starting to come together...

I think my next posts will start to be my park planning phase. I don't go crazy, but I try to get lined up what parks on what days.

Oh yeah, I booked the dogs for "doggie camp" while we are away - a friendly word for kennel... Such a big expense too...

 

[carone0318]

So, it's been almost a week since my last update.

Here in NJ it was downright hot, summer-hot! Today we are finally back into the 60s. I refuse to put the A/C on. My goal (which I set one every yr) is to not put the A/C on until we come home from Disney, which would be 6/29. Can I do it, I don't know but I'm going to try darn hard not to.

Dan had his 1st Communion this past Saturday and he looked so handsome!!! He did such a great job and he even cooperated for pictures. I will have to post a couple. We had a family party afterwards back at the house and he had a great time playing with his cousins.

Then on Sunday, he had a soccer game and guess what??? They won!!! They don't win much. He's a really good player and he takes the game so serious and it just kills me on the inside when they lose and I see the frustration he has, but he needs to learn to deal with it.

As far as our Disney trip, we are on countdown day 54! I plan to start the offical countdown in the house on the 30 day mark, which will be coming Memorial Day Weekend..

Our flight will be arriving at 9:30am on Monday 6/22, we need to stop at Target on the way to Disney and we should get to BWV around 11:30-12. We'll check in and then we should be heading to MK. We have the CP ADR for 2pm, so maybe we will go get a FP for a ride, maybe squeeze in Aladdin's Magic Carpets - Dan likes this ride and it usually doesn't have a long wait. Then we can go character hunting until our ADR. After CP, we can do whatever in MK. Not sure if we will go back to BWV or just go to DTD for our T-Rex Ressie, then call it a night after that.

On Tuesday, I want to get up early and get to MK for RD. I figure we should do RD early in our trip or we will never do it and do as much as possible in MK. No set plan on what to hit, but I definitely want to do Peter Pan. It's always so busy and I can't bare to wait 50 minutes for this ride, but I love to ride it!!!

This is about all I have thought of as far as parks. I am trying to figure out which day we will do Blizzard Beach, I think it will be on Thursday when they have EMH, it's not like I have to get all done up to go here. Just wake up , put your suit on and go.

I have to remind myself to talk about the kid's autograph books - I do them myself... I'm off to lunch, will check back later!

 

[tinkgurl]

Our flight will be arriving at 9:30am on Monday 6/22, we need to stop at Target on the way to Disney and we should get to BWV around 11:30-12. We'll check in and then we should be heading to MK. We have the CP ADR for 2pm, so maybe we will go get a FP for a ride, maybe squeeze in Aladdin's Magic Carpets - Dan likes this ride and it usually doesn't have a long wait. Then we can go character hunting until our ADR. After CP, we can do whatever in MK.

We get there the 22nd too! We'll be at the MK too! I'll be thinking of you when it's 2 and you're at the CP!

 

[carone0318]

I’m back…. I have not abandoned my PTR!!!! Today is our 39 day mark until we leave. At the 30 day mark I will start posting my daily countdown that I have created for the kids.

I’ve decided to try and play with color on this post. I hope it turns out alright!

Something that many do not think about, at least the expense of, when making their budget for their vacations is: the animals….

I have made the reservations for doggie camp while we are away also had to make sure that both have their shots and were up-to-date on their kennel cough vaccinations. I got those appts. taken care of. It is hard to believe how much the yearly check-up with the shots and stuff is for each dog.

This is Clyde. Clyde is our Springer Spaniel who will be 3 in October. We have had him since he was a pup, a mere 10 weeks old. He is such a sweetie!

Clyde at a few months old:

This, this one here is Chase. Chase is our new addition that we adopted from the local shelter back in December. He’s a Basset Hound. Very cute, but very bad!!! He definitely increases Clyde stock. He was found running along side a road with a yellow lab by a person who works at the shelter and brought him in. We had just had Bonnie, my elderly beautiful Cocker Spaniel, put down back in November and for some crazy, crazy reason, we decided to fill her void with this Tri-Trouble!

How can you not love this cute, sleeping devil-dog???

So that is just one more piece of the puzzle that had to be taken care of before the trip and now it is done (still just have to budget for the cost of boarding, about $350 for both.)


Also, Dan’s First Communion back the end of April went off without a hitch. The weather was beautiful, actually downright hot (it was during that heat wave that was happening.) Here’s some pictures of the day. I thought he looked so handsome.

Is it possible for us all to look at the same camera - this happens all the time.... Just for the record, there were several cameras and we would say look at so & so's camera, look at this one's camera - obviously, it did no good!!!!

And for a parting gift, here is a picture of us from our August trip. This is from when we were on the cruise and did an excursion. All I can say is peace out!!!!

 

[tinkgurl]

Haha, all those pics are good! Especially the last one!

 

[carone0318]

Although no one is reading my report, except tinkgurl, I will do my best to continue to post.

Today is my 30 day mark, this is what the kids came down to find on the kitchen table:

I started doing this type of countdown about 3 yrs ago and the kids just LOVE it! Kerry even noticed that they were new this yr, she said "oh they're in 3D, did you re-do them?"

Today Dan played 2 soccer games in the Memorial Day tournament and he also has 2 games tomorrow. First game he scored a hat trick (they won). Second game they lost, but they played really well!

I also used my new Vera Bradley backpack bag that I got for Disney to see how I liked it and I loved it! It's nice and big and will be perfect for our trip.

I'll be back tomorrow to show what 29 days looks like....

 

[tinkgurl]

OH wow! I love those cutouts for the countdown! Very cool!

 

[carone0318]

Thanks tinkgurl, glad you like.

I just watched a person get medi-vac'd out of my neighborhood. The helicopter landed on the driving range (golf) across the street from my house. We were finishing up our dinner when we saw the whole thing start. First the ambulance, then 4 police cars. About 15 minutes later we saw the firetruck. Next the firemen started to light flares and then we knew exactly what was going on. Brought out many people in the neighborhood, so it gave all a chance to talk about what was going on.

Oh, I got a chance to try the video option on my new point & shoot camera - it was pretty cool! I felt so advanced...

As for Disney, today we are 29 days out and this is what the kids found when they woke up and came to the kitchen:

Tomorrow is Memorial Day and I hope I don't have to do anything!

 

[carone0318]

Today is 28 days out!

Kids woke up and found this one on the table:

It's a little blurry, but anyways...

Well, it's been a long day and I feel like relaxing....

Happy Memorial Day everyone!

 

[tinkgurl]

Oh gosh! Hope that person is alright!

How was your Memorial Day? I didn't do anything special...but tonight was the season premiere of the new Jon & Kate Plus 8. Wow, pretty exciting huh?!

 

[vamassey1]

Just found your PTR. We'll be there at about the same time too. Your kids are darling. I feel your pain in planning a big trip. In 2002 we were part of a group of 15. Nobody wanted to plan anything too far out. When they did want to plan it was hard to get anything. We ended up with 2 meals all together. A breakfast at Chef Mickey's and Thanksgiving dinner at the Castle.

 

[carone0318]

I hear ya! We just don't even talk about the trip with my brother and SIL. I do know as of last Friday, 5/22, they still don't have any plane tickets. Fortunately for them if they can't find anything reasonable - they could just drive down.

I'm not going to let anyone ruin our vacation though, so for me it's just easier not to talk about it with them and hope we run into them at some point. I do feel bad for the kids because they would like to hang out with their cousins.

Just found your PTR. We'll be there at about the same time too. Your kids are darling. I feel your pain in planning a big trip. In 2002 we were part of a group of 15. Nobody wanted to plan anything too far out. When they did want to plan it was hard to get anything. We ended up with 2 meals all together. A breakfast at Chef Mickey's and Thanksgiving dinner at the Castle.

 

[carone0318]

So here I am on this fine Tuesday morning, the day after Memorial Day and I'm dragging! Work's a bummer, but I need money so I go!

I leave for work before the kids get up for school so being day 27 this is what they found:

We are all getting very excited for our trip! I'm thinking this coming weekend that we might go see the movie Up. We have about $50 is GC for the movie place, so I thought that would be fun. If it wasn't for those GC we wouldn't be going. That would be over $40 just to get in - I can't believe the price of movies these days! I must be an ole fart or something...

 

[tinkgurl]

The movie 'Up' looks so cute!

 

[carone0318]

I think it looks cute too, even Kerry (who will be 13 in Sept) said she would see it. I caught her yesterday watching the Tinkerbell movie, I guess she wants to know who the fairies are before we do the meet-n-greet.

Just from the previews, I really like that colorful bird and the dog with the collar - he's too funny!

 

[vamassey1]

We're planning on hitting Up too. Just me and DD (9). Have to up on the latest before we hit the world.