~ A PTR for a CAMPING Trip That Might Never Be ~ *TR Started (link inside)*

[carissanboys]

Bump to the front.

Thanks Marisa!

 

[Blueyed Girl]

Hey Cherie! There will be an update in just a minute. I asked Marisa to unlock this for me (that's what happens when PTRs are ignored for so long ). I'll have to check in on your thread - it's been too long!

It HAS been a long time. Can't wait to read about how you guys are doing. Glad you're back!

 

[carissanboys]

It HAS been a long time. Can't wait to read about how you guys are doing. Glad you're back!

I'm going to go add your PTR to my subscription right now so I can catch up later. I'll be back a bit later to post an update here. Right now my laundry is calling me!

 

[jordanyosh]

Okay. I'm in...again.

 

[DisMomAmy]

I'm still here.

 

[carissanboys]

Okay. I'm in...again.

Hey you! I feel like such a failure for not keeping up on your TR. But, I know you were MIA for a while with work and being sick so maybe I don't have too much to get caught up on!

I'm still here.

Hi Amy How's your son Alex doing? I'll give an update on Connor with my big update coming up. Glad to see you around.

 

[carissanboys]

Are you all revived from the shock yet? Carissa posted an update on her PTR??? Whoa

Well, here's my excuse for being MIA - you ready?

Life got in the way. We really didn't think we were going to be making a trip this year afterall. So, instead of being saddened by continuing with a PTR of a trip that TRULY might never be, I simply vanished.

But, slowly and surely I began making my way back to the Dis. It first started with a PM here and a PM there from friends who had started new PTRs or TRs and for some strange reason requested my presence.

That led to me posting more and other friends seeing my posts and saying, "Hey! Where the heck have you been, woman??"

Now, let's talk about what happened this morning. A thread title happened to catch my eye. Why you ask? Because it had the word military in it. "Hmmmm - I must check this out," I thought to myself.

This is what I discovered:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2046414

For those who do not have the energy to click on that link, I will give you the shortened version of those many pages.

Disney has been nice enough to offer active duty military (among some others) a complimentary 5 day pass! And that's not all, folks! They're throwing in up to five 5-day passes for family members at the cost of $99 each!!

So, what does this mean for us???

It means I sweetly told Chuck about this deal and gave him my most radiant smile . He said I should look into it and see what I could find for accomodations and then we'd talk about it. Y'all know what that means!!

WE'RE GOING TO DISNEY, BABY!!!

Up Next - So, what the heck have you been up to???

 

[winkers]

What a great deal!!!
The military deserves it!
Now I can't wait tohear when you're going!

 

[liznboys]

I'm here!

Can't wait to hear all the details!

 

[dddisrunner]

Carissa!! I am so happy for you and your family! I am so glad our pm's drew you back into the DIS too I cannot wait to hear all about your plans!!!

 

[mommytothreeboys]

Hi Carissa! Just saw your post on on my PTR and decided to come read yours! I'm just getting started, but I'll be back and I'm on board! Can't wait to hear about your plans! (We tent each year with our three boys for 10 days....It CAN be done!!)

 

[carissanboys]

What a great deal!!!
The military deserves it!
Now I can't wait tohear when you're going!

Me too!

I'm here!

Can't wait to hear all the details!

I'll probably have lots of questions for you since you've been recently.

Carissa!! I am so happy for you and your family! I am so glad our pm's drew you back into the DIS too I cannot wait to hear all about your plans!!!

Glad you're here Diane. I am so excited!

 

[carissanboys]

Hi Carissa! Just saw your post on on my PTR and decided to come read yours! I'm just getting started, but I'll be back and I'm on board! Can't wait to hear about your plans! (We tent each year with our three boys for 10 days....It CAN be done!!)

Thanks for stopping by. This PTR has a big gap in it - just to warn you. It was started almost a year ago, but I took a hiatus for many, many months. Glad to have you along.

 

[DisMomAmy]

What a great deal! I'm so glad you are getting to take advantage of it! I can't wait to hear about the rest of your plans.

Thanks for asking about Alex - he is doing well. We tried him out on several medications this past fall - none of them with much success. The one ADHD med that was working well during the day, kept him up all night. So we are back to the drawing board and he is off everything. I think we'll probably keep it that way for a while. Unless he starts having big attention problems at school. His teachers would probably prefer it that way too since the medication trials messed with his behavior and he had some pretty bad days.

Anxious to hear how Connor's doing too...

 

[Blueyed Girl]

This is great news!! I'm going to have to tell SIL about it. She and her DH just got back in the USA. She has been in Germany for a year while he was on his 2nd tour in Iraq. It would be so great if they could take a trip to WDW with us.

 

[carissanboys]

Thanks for asking about Alex - he is doing well. We tried him out on several medications this past fall - none of them with much success. The one ADHD med that was working well during the day, kept him up all night. So we are back to the drawing board and he is off everything. I think we'll probably keep it that way for a while. Unless he starts having big attention problems at school. His teachers would probably prefer it that way too since the medication trials messed with his behavior and he had some pretty bad days.

Anxious to hear how Connor's doing too...

I'm glad to hear Alex is doing well. I will post an update about Connor in just a few (along with everyone else).

This is great news!! I'm going to have to tell SIL about it. She and her DH just got back in the USA. She has been in Germany for a year while he was on his 2nd tour in Iraq. It would be so great if they could take a trip to WDW with us.

I hope they can go! I couldn't believe it when I saw that thread earlier.

 

[carissanboys]

Goodness - I feel like there's so much to share! I read through this entire PTR earlier and took notes of things I need to post about. I also want to start talking about the trip itself and get plannin'!

First off - Connor.

Connor is now 4 1/2 and doing GREAT! He has NO more potty issues and his social skills have improved tremendously. He started preschool last month and I can't believe how well it's been going. He loves it!

Owen is 6 1/2 and still my little scholar. We recently got Rock Band for our PS3 and he loves to play it. He'd spend his day on electronics if we let him. We're currently not doing any sports, but I'm sure they'll all be doing soccer in the spring.

Sullivan is now 8 1/2 and not too much has changed with him. Some of you might remember that he had a "girlfriend" in 2nd grade. They're in different classes this year, but still "together". I think they'll be devestated when we move in June. Sully also started playing the viola this year. Here's a picture of him at his holiday concert:

Chuck is continuing with classes, working towards his Bachelors. He's no longer playing World of Warcraft, but has moved on to Warhammer online. And the Rock Band bug has also bit him.

Can't forget Oreo! She's almost a year old now. She's still a good cat, although not nearly as much of a lap cat as I'd like.

Life is fairly quiet for me right now. I'm taking an undefined break from school, while I figure out exactly what I want to do. There's no scouts, no soccer - life is calm. I know that will change soon...

We've been trying for orders since September/October. We've put in requests twice and both times we were turned down. This last time we put in for 3 choices and they are:

# 1 - England
# 2 - Washington State
# 3 - Japan

Both Washington and Japan would be direct support billets, which means Chuck would have to be on a ship part of the time. We should find out tomorrow or Tuesday if any of our choices were approved. I'm going to wait until then to really start making plans for a trip.

Sully and I did take our trip to Alaska in July and had a great time. I will post some pictures from that trip soon. We also did squeeze in a camping trip in October. I will tell you all about it and post pictures soon.

Up Next - "So, What the Heck Have You Been Up To??"

 

[Blueyed Girl]

So glad Connor is doing better!! DS started pre-k in August and it has made a world of difference. It was a little hard at first because he's never had regular playdates and there is no one in our family with kids his age. Once over that little hump things have been WONDERFUL.

I hope you guys find out soon where you will be going. I'm sure that's sort of nerve wracking not knowing.

Enjoy the calm while it's here! That's what I've been trying to do. My chaos starts back tomorrow.

 

[carissanboys]

I hope you guys find out soon where you will be going. I'm sure that's sort of nerve wracking not knowing.

Enjoy the calm while it's here! That's what I've been trying to do. My chaos starts back tomorrow.

It is very nerve wracking!! We've never had our choices turned down before so having them denied twice has been an experience.

I'm trying to enjoy the calm. If we end up moving overseas, things will start to get really crazy very soon.

 

[carissanboys]

I feel like my head is spinning right now. I'm use to having an entire year or so to plan a trip. Not sure how I'm feeling about only a couple of months!

So - here's where we're at right now...

The only time the boys have off from school between now and June (when we're due to move) is around Easter (they do have time off in January - same time frame as last time we went - but that is just too soon for me to plan). There's no way I'm going at Easter. Crowds - no thank you.

We really don't want to do any later than March because we're not people who do well in the heat/sun. Our first trip was during the beginning of March and it was too hot for me at times. I'd love to go again in January, but - you get the idea.

Right now we're looking at sometime in March. That means I need to contact the boys' teachers and make sure they don't have an issue with it. I don't think that will be a problem, but I want to make sure.

Next up is where to stay. I would love to camp at Fort Wilderness. But, there are some "issues" with that idea.

First off - if we camped my parents would either have to rent a camper (they don't want to tent camp) or stay somewhere else - all of which would make the entire trip more costly for them. If we rent a place, like last time, we can spend the same money we would camping, but all be able to stay in one home together and not have to worry about the weather.

I looked at condos at Windsor Hills and we can basically stay in a townhouse with a splash pool for the same price. That will most likely be the route we go. Just waiting for confirmation from my parents and to hear about our orders from Chuck.

That's really about all I have "planned" at the moment. And as you can see - there really is no official plan yet! We would most likely leave on a Friday afternoon - stay overnight somewhere along the way - and arrive in Orlando on Saturday. Then we'd have five days in the parks, a day or two to chill, and a day for Sea World. Why yes! If we go - we will be going to Sea World since we get free tickets there too.

My main problem right now is I feel so out of the loop on Disney info. I feel lost! I need your help peeps! Tell me all of the things that have closed or changed - all of the new things that I don't know about. The one thing I do know about is the change in ADRs. Not that it matters if we're going in March because we're already past the 90 day window.

I'm off to do more planning...