A surprise is born... *Updated with DHS

[Laura.bora]

Thanks guys for reading! So speaking on my openness of my faith....with a full plate of 4 kids at home, planning our trip, schooling the kids, the Lord opened the doors for us to be buying our house NOW! We figured back when we became debt free that March 2010 would be when we would be buying a house, but as our timing is so not often His timing, I was instead having a baby in March 2010! (well, I was pregnant and due in April - but I was too sick to go house hunting, so the Lord put a solid stop on our house hunting plans then!) The only clear vision from the Lord regarding the house has been financial. We are not to take on more debt than we can pay off within 7 years. Our desires has been lots of land, secluded, but still close to every thing, a fixer upper and a dirt road. Well, we found it. A 5 acre lot that has a beautiful farm house off a dirt road, selling for $32,000. We know this kind of place could be a burden or a blessing, depending on His will for us. IF it's the house for us, we'll be blessed by it and the work that it needs (and believe me, it needs work! However the potential is amazing, and I feel safe moving in - I don't anticipate it falling down around us!). If this is not the house for us, and we press onward, the work ahead will be a burden. So prayers for the Lord's will to be done would be appreciated! If this goes through, we'd be closing between the end of August and beginning of September, and we leave the 14th of September!

Other than house hunting, we have been in a field trip term. So we've been traveling all over! Trips to the zoo, to the aquarium, Niagara Falls - it's been busy and LOTS of fun! We're soon headed down to LI to visit with family (including my fellow TGMer and bestest friend Lauren! Can't wait!) We've been doing lots of shopping too. We hit J.C.Penney's and did wonderfully there! Lots and Lots of new clothes - hopefully it will last them until at least next summer! No major growth spurts!

I'll post pictures soon - of clothing combos, field trips and hopefully our new house! So much to do! I'm down to 42 days, and I still have tons of things to do!!!!

 

[Laura.bora]

Alas, the house bid fell through, so we are back to square one. We think we are going to hold off on the house hunting until after Disney because I leave in a few days and will be gone for 2 weeks, home for 2 weeks and then DISNEY FOR ALMOST 2 WEEKS!!!!

So, onto my obsession! Disney planning! First off, the clothing! I went over to Kris and Jade's house with my camera a couple of weeks ago and took a picture of every single piece of clothing they owned. I then came home and armed with those pictures and the clothes in our closets, I came out with color themes of the day. Here's a little preview of the coordinating outfits consisting of only the clothing I had available before our shopping trip!

 

[Laura.bora]

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Here is our Green Day outfits - Ken, Ainsley, Ephraim and Felix.

 

[Laura.bora]

Tans and browns for me and Ken.

Shades of gray for Ken and me

Black and white day for Ken, me and Ephraim

Shades of blue for Ken, me, Nathaniel, and Ephraim

Our red white and blue day

Yellow and blue day

Orange and brown day

 

[Laura.bora]

So, field trip days have been very helpful in practicing the buddy system in a touring setting! Generally, Felix and I are paired together:

Ken and Ephraim are paired together, or Ephraim is in the stroller if he is getting tired:

Ainsley and Jade stick together:

And Kris and Nathaniel stick together:

Turns out that, as we thought, that touring together is easy AND fun!!

 

[3princesses+aprince]

Great field trip pictures! Glad everyone works together well! They will do great in Disney!

Felix is absolutely adorable.

I loved the treasure hunt videos!

 

[Laura.bora]

I have been on the hunt for a new bathing suit for a while. When I first turned my life over to Jesus, modesty was one of the first things he worked into my heart. Clothing was always fairly easy to be modest in. It's easy enough to find shirts that aren't low cut, skirts that cover my knees etc. Bathing suits however was another story. I resigned myself to the fact that bathing suits were going to be immodest any which way you wore it. I wanted to have something that covered me more, but didn't really know what to do about it, so I was just content with the fact that everyone dresses like it, so, it's ok, since I can't do much about it. Then I picked up a book by Stacey Mc Donald called "Raising Maidens of Virtue". One of the chapters really challenged me. They asked something that really made me start thinking.

Tonight when you are getting ready for bed, stand alone in your underwear. Pretend that your underwear are made of stretchy, clingy material (Like a bathing suit) and picture that they are colorful - maybe with a bright floral pattern. Now try to imagine walking outside your room. Were you embarrassed at the thought? How about walking to your neighbors house?

And you know what? I was embarrassed at the thought! I wouldn't be walking around my kitchen in my underwear. I certainly wouldn't be walking around the neighborhood in my underwear. My bathing suit really didn't cover up much more than my underwear. Why, just because it was in a pool setting, was this suddenly ok? And after some prayer, the answer was that it never was ok. And so then the hunt began. And this time, I was going to stick to the standards that I knew Jesus had set for me. So after some searching, I discovered a bathing suit for me! It's from a company called Slim Perfect. It's a set of capris, with a tank. I tried it on, and felt very comfortable in it. I felt covered. And then I put it to the true test - the pool! I LOVE it! I am so happy with it!

While not in the least bit flattering, here's a picture of my bathing suit:

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I love that it has a high back as well.

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And even with all the extra material, it's easy and comfortable to swim in.

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So woo hoo! I have a new bathing suit!

 

[3princesses+aprince]

Ok, first off, I love your bathing suit and it is flattering! It looks very nice!


Now come on....... I want to hear all about your trip and see pictures!

 

[Laura.bora]

Why thank you! We're back from our wonderful trip, and so I won't keep you in suspense any longer! (By the way, I'm sorry to hear about your trip, but happy to hear you will be going in 2011!)

So on to the trip report!!

While at my Mom's house in August, I borrowed some luggage, because I was certain our one set of luggage was not going to be enough for all of us.

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In the end, even all of this was not enough. We needed to borrow some from our neighbor as well!!

Try as we might, we did not finish packing in advance like we wanted to! Our goal was to be packed on Sunday night, but that just didn't happen!

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I made a quick pasta dinner

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while the kids watched Little Bear.

We had really thought about doing Garden Grocer this time around to ship down cereal and water, but in the end, we decided to stuff it in our suitcases. We were flying Southwest, so we were allowed 2 bags per ticket without fees. We decided it would be wise to use what we had at home, and use as many suitcases as we were allowed.

Before long we were on our way....actually it was long. We had aimed to leave by 2. I think we pulled out of the driveway around 6.

Felix was ready for a nap by the time we were ready to leave, and of course wanted to nurse to sleep. That coupled with our TERRIFIC sense of direction got us there in about 2 1/2 hours instead of an hour. We decide our plan for dinner at Denny's is out at Mc Donald's is in.

We once again stayed at the Sleep Inn and enjoyed it. It was actually cleaner than the last time we stayed. We ordered a King size room, and bedroom with 2 double beds that connected. It worked perfectly. We all sprawled around wherever to eat our dinner.

After dinner, Ken, Kris, Jade and Nathaniel went to unload the car while I stayed behind in the hotel room with the youngers. The kids entertained themselves by pulling out the hotel room bibles and reading bible stories. And because there were 2 rooms, there were 2 bibles - which means no arguing over who gets to hold the bible!

It wasn't long before the kids were snuggled down in the beds, trying to get some sleep before our flight early the next morning!

 

[Laura.bora]

3:30 the next morning we were up and getting ready for our flight to Disney. Our shuttle was going to pick us up at 5:00, and around 4:15, we were downstairs getting our breakfast. This breakfast buffet is one of the reasons we picked this hotel. The buffet starts around 4am, much earlier than the other hotels do, so we can have breakfast when we have an early morning flight. Also, the shuttle runs 24 hours a day, so we don't need to worry when our flight is at 6:10 and need a shuttle at 5 am.

For just under $200, we got 2 rooms, parking for our car for 14 days, breakfast for all of us and a ride to the airport. Along with not having the stress of missing our flight!

Before long we had finished our breakfast and was on the shuttle to the airport!

It was freezing both outside and on the shuttle!

Before long, our Motley Crew was walking the halls of the airport headed towards the first ride of the day.



The kids then camped out by the window for the next several minutes checking out the plans, wondering which plane might be ours. This was Kris and Jade's first flight, and they were both nervous and excited.

We camped out in the same spot as last time, the waiting area with kids toys. This helped keep the younger kids happy while we waited for our boarding time.

We get everyone on to the plane with only one minor poopy incident (thanks Ephraim), and watch the sunrise from the plane.

The kids worked on their journals and coloring pages and other activities I had put in their journals.

It was an absolutely beautifully clear day for flying and a nice to see God's creation from a different angle. Both Kris and JAde enjoyed their first plane flight, and the view!

Ephraim, of course, WASN'T tired. Not one bit. He would not go to sleep because he was NOT tired.

Felix also took a nice nap too.

The rest of us were too excited to sleep!

Before long, we were off the plane and in the bathrooms and it was only a little after 9am!

We hurried to our first monorail ride of the day

This time it wasn't nearly as confusing as it was last time, because we knew the ropes of this very confusing airport!

We of course stopped for the first Mickey sighting of the day.

It takes a real man to take the princess bag.

And before long we had piled onto my favorite bus - The Magical Express!!!

 

[Laura.bora]

We made it on the bus and we were on our way! We watched the movie and looked for all the landmarks - The Epcot Ball, The Tower of Terror etc. We were very excited!

The ride took much longer than I remember it taking. I remembered it being a 1-2-3 ride, but in reality, it must have been about 30 - 40 minutes. Either way, the excitement was at a fever pitch, so it did not matter! Before long, the kids were walking through the lobby of the Wilderness Lodge!

Check-in was a little difficult with 2 rooms, because 1 room was under Ken's name, and the other under mine, so I needed to keep calling Ken over while he was trying to herd the little ones. We had asked for connecting rooms, close to the Roaring Forks and laundry rooms for convenience. We had hoped that we would get the 6th floor, but didn't request that. Well, we got everything we had requested, and even the 6th floor that we didn't ask for! Our one room was ready when we arrived, but not the other, which was fine. We just wanted to run upstairs, check out the room and location and put down our stuff. Our stroller was also waiting for us, which we were happy about! Instead of having bell services bring it up, we chose to carry it up ourselves in order to get to the parks faster.

We had been thinking about renting the City Double from a stroller renting company, but when Ken found it on Amazon for $40 more than renting it, he seized the opportunity and bought it, having it shipped to the Wilderness Lodge. I was really hoping that we made the right choice by buying this stroller. I had done a lot of research, and was mostly certain that this was the one I wanted, but I hadn't gotten a chance to test drive it. Well, this stroller was worth every penny and so much more! It far exceeded my expectations of a stroller! So for anyone agonizing over the choice of a stroller, I HIGHLY recommend the City Double. We got a Micro, the next version up I think will be our next purchase.

We went up to our room (6008 and 6010) and the kids were just thrilled! They immediately went to the balcony to check out the view which was amazing. We had a woods view, and given the option, this is hands down the room I'd pick again. We could see the little alligator pond, Bay Lake, and if you looked through the trees, you could see the Contemporary, the Castle and Town Hall. If the wind was blowing towards the hotel, you could also hear the train whistle from the Main Street stop. The room was at the end of the hall, so no noise from traffic, but still close to the elevators. The elevators brought us right to the laundry and the Roaring Forks. It was amazing. And the best part? At night, you could watch the fireworks from the balcony. It was everything we had hoped and more!

View of Bay Lake from our Balcony:

Now it was 11am - Time to hit the Magic Kingdom!!!!

 

[Laura.bora]

So we left our room and headed down to the boat dock. Jade was complaining of the heat. It really wasn't that hot at the moment, but compared to NY it was!

As we were walking we heard the whistle of the boat, so we hurried along and were able to get the boat right away. Now, the last time we were here, at Ainsley's first glimpse of the castle, she let out a squeal of delight and her whole face lit up, but I didn't have the camera ready, so it's forever in my mind, but not on film. I was determined to get it on film this time.

With everyone else saying they had seen the castle, this was the reaction that I got: (video)



I was thinking "That's it! That's your reaction!?" Oh well, I guess she's just getting older. or lying. It was the latter. When we turned the corner on Main Street USA and she REALLY caught the glimpse of the castle she SCREAMED " CINDERELLA'S CASTLE!!!!!!" and then started to cry because she was so happy. But of course, since she had led me to believe that she had already seen the castle, I do not have this on video.

As you can see in the picture, crowds were non-exsistant like they were last time! I knew it was going to be an awesome day in the Magic Kingdom!

After the mandatory picture in front of the castle, we were off to Colombia Harbor House and it was just past 11:30.

We use our first day as a day to get acquainted with the park. We do a lot of shows, not a lot of rides - or at least not a lot of the "main attraction" rides. We walked through Adventureland so we could grab a Fastpass for the Jungle Cruise, but the Fast Passes were closed down for the day there because there was no wait.

As we walked the round about way to Colombia Harbor House, we passed by Splash Mountain and grabbed a Fast Pass for it. Ainsley was beyond excited about this ride. She was finally tall enough to ride!

We finally made it to Colombia Harbor House. Trying to remember 6 orders of food was a bit much, but it was our first day, and I had forgotten a lot of the tricks I had learned last time. Like you do not need to order kids meals for kids on the counter service plan. So the kids had a PB and J sandwich with grapes and fries, while the rest of us had fish and chips, chicken nuggets, and a tuna sandwich (all DELICIOUS by the way. This is hands down our favorite counter service in the MK.) Ainsley and Jade needed to go to the bathroom, and I was nursing, so I sent them together since we were upstairs and there was a bathroom right there. Before long, I could hear Ainsley SOBBING hysterically, so I got up to see what was the matter, and Jade was carrying her back to the table. She had gotten to close to the door and someone opened it and it went over her toe because she was in opened toe sandals and the door scraped back the cuticle skin rather gruesomely. I thought she might lose her toenail during the vacation it looked so bad. We fished ice out of our cups and held it on her foot to numb it a bit. After a bit, the sobbing and the bleeding subsided. She had a real hard time controlling her emotions because she was so tired, even though she wasn't ready to call it a day. Ans soon as she would calm herself down, she would take one look at her toe and the waterworks would start all over again. She eventually got herself under control. Ken ran and grabbed a FastPass for Peter Pan since we were right there while we cleaned up and off we went. First stop - Swiss Family RObinson Treehouse!!

I was not going to miss that yet again!!!

This really was everything I hoped it would be! I loved it and it was NOT boring Mom and Dad!! I did discover however that if I lived in a treehouse, I would have thighs of steel. My goodness that is a lot of stairs!!

I'm pretty sure that the Robinson's did not have this in their treehouse...just sayin.

The view of the river:

When you get upstairs and the organ music is playing, I could not help but smile. This was just what I nedded to get me in the Disney spirit.

Amazing views

And so that was our first attraction we did in the MK - and honestly, I think that may have just become a "must do" for every trip!

 

[Laura.bora]

We left Swiss Family Robinson's Treehouse and headed towards The Tiki Room. As we walk, Kris notices that the ground is all wet. "What is this from?" Kris wants to know. "Wait here to find out" I tell him. It wasn't long before the kids were playing in camel and Tiki spit!!

While they played, Ken ran over to find out how many minutes until the next show at the Tiki Room. Once we found out we had 12 minutes, we jumped on Magic Carpets of Aladdin because there was no wait.

Kris was less than thrilled to be going on this ride because it was such a "kid ride." He changed his tune by the end of the ride. "THAT WAS FUN......for a kids ride I mean." Ahhhh...the Disney bug is starting to bite Kris. This ride is a must do for us, but on our MK filler day. I think if we only had 1 day in the MK, this would be on the chopping block.

After that, we ran over to the Tiki room and made it just in time for the next showing. We started watching the show, were singing along and having a grand old time, when Kris gave me this look. I thought it was the "Are you kidding me?" look. Turns out it was really the "This is AMAZING" look. This became one of Kris' favorite shows hands down. Jade was equally in love. Her favorite part of the show was when the castmember came dressed up as the Tiki Goddess in the middle of the show. It became an even more favorite part when she discovered that it was a robot!

After that, we went to ride the Jungle Cruise. I was expecting Ephraim to be in love with this and many other rides. And he did love the rides....but it turns out he is a CHICKEN. And so I now introduce for your benefit, Ephraim's Scale of Terror. A smile means no terror. A slightly terrifying ride looks like this:

There is also the one hand to the mouth, meaning that the ride is terrifying. Two hands to the mouth means it is slightly beyond terrifying. Two hands to the mouth laying down in the fetal position so scared that he can not even utter a cry is the absolutely worst ride of terror ever. I'll let you take your guess as to what ride caused this behavior.

Anywho, onto the Jungle Cruise we go!

"Everyone turn around and wave good-bye to the folks back on the dock... They may never see you again. "

You know, a lot of safaris camp around this area. Hmm.... that could be one up ahead. (Points) Uh-oh... this one has some uninvited house guests! One of those gorillas is going to have an eye opening experience. Should be mind blasting. I couldn't get that jeep started. They got it to turn over.

Do you know how you can tell that that's an African elephant? (wait for response)... It's because we're in Africa

Up on the grassy knoll, a fake giraffe is choking on a plastic leaf.

Here's a little advice. Never play poker in the jungle, because there are lots of cheetahs around. If they say they're not a cheetah, then they're probably just a lion. Over there is an example of the first Law of the Jungle: Don't be a zebra. Don't worry kids! That zebra is just sleeping. Those lions are his friends! The Lions are protecting the sleeping zebra.

There's that lost safari we've been looking for. Obviously mixed up in some kind of native uprising. That rhino seems to be getting his point across, and I'm sure that guy on the bottom will get the point in the end! Hey I know that guy on the bottom, on the bottom, there's Ahontis. Looks like the Rhino is trying to poke Ahontis.

Don't worry, the natives tell me that they are only dangerous when they wiggle their ears and blow bubbles....

And look at all the elephants out here today! This comes as a complete surprise to me cause I had no idea these guys were going to be here. If you want to take pictures go ahead- all the elephants have their trunks on.

As you can tell, this is one of our favorite rides! As we excited the ride, one of the cast members spotted Ephraim and apologized. He swore he had no idea how the monkey got out of it's cage. We promised we wouldn't mind taking our monkey home. The kids all REALLY wanted to ride the jungle cruise again. We had wanted to try out the Liberty Belle this time around, so it was a choice. We decided we would stick to the plan and head over to the Liberty Belle and try to go on the Jungle Cruise on another day.

Ephraim's Scale of Terror for the Liberty Belle:

Not a full smile, but we're getting there.

The Liberty Belle Boat ride provides some nice scenery, but I don't think we'd do this again. It was nice to do once, maybe we'll do it again in the future, but it certainly won't ever be a "must do" for our family.

The kids enjoyed this. Kris and Nathaniel ventured off by themselves to the bottom of the boat. We told them to stick together, and to meet us at the exit of the boat when the ride was over. Ainsley and Jade stuck with us in the shade. It was REALLY hot and humid.

Towards the end of the ride, Ken decided to take Ephraim and run down to the bottom to be with the boys when the ride ended. We agreed to meet up at the exit....guess who didn't stick to the plan again? We get off the ride and....Where is Ken and the boys?? We wait by the exit and wait and wait....soon the boat is empty and there is no sight of them. Since the exit and the entrance is in two different places, we decided to check the entrance where the stroller was parked. We head up to the entrance and....the stroller is gone! Uggghhh! So know I'm left wondering, did Ken take the stroller, or did someone else take the stroller! I decided to leave Jade and Ainsley at the entrance of the Liberty Belle and I was going to go check the exit one last time, and then head down to the Country Bear Jamboree because I knew Ken knew that was where we were headed next. I checked the entrance - no luck. I ran down to Country Bear Jamboree - no luck. People are lining up for the parade and I'm left wondering what to do....Do I let the kids watch the parade and hope we find Ken later? I run back to the Liberty Bell hoping they will be there and what a relief - they are! Ken did not follow the plan at all. Not even a tiny little bit. He took the boys to get some water, walked up to get the stroller, went back to the exit, saw we weren't there, stopped for more water, before finally meandering back to the entrance where the girls were waiting. FOLLOW THE PLAN.....you will see this is a problem through out the trip ending in a meltdown on my part.

 

[Laura.bora]

Now that we have found each other, we head over to take a seat to watch the parade. We don't get our amazing shady spot by the country bear jamboree because of Ken's wandering, so we take a slightly shaded seat and Ken runs across the street to grab water and ice cream.

We were so hot that I was afraid we were going to lose some of us to the heat. It wasn't long before we were digging into Mickey bars and Itzakadoozies and watching the parade.

When Miss Piggy and Kermie drove by, I called my Lauren to tell her I couldn't WAIT for our 2012 trip.

And then comes the first glance of the princesses and Ainsley is in heaven!

Poor Ephraim was so tired from the early morning and the heat of the day that he passed out cold in the stroller and missed the parade completely. Jade LOVED the parade. She was VERY emotional and said on three different occasions had to choke back the tears. I understand Jade, I understand!

 

[Lisa0620]

Laura,
I hope someday you can update this report on the DIS since I'm no longer on TGM; I just love your trip reports!

 

[Laura.bora]

After watching the parade, we went directly to Country Bear Jamboree and had a great time singing along! This is one of my favorite shows! Then we went over to The Hall of the Presidents.

The kids enjoyed this, but not as much as Ken and I did. And Kris. He loves American History - but like any 12 year old boy, he'd rather ride the rides! So we took one set of our Splash Mountain Passes and headed over for Kris, Jade and Ainsley's first ride on Splash Mountain!!!

I'm pretty sure the tongue sticking out means she's enjoying her first ride on Splash Mountain!

This is video of Ainsley's first ride on Splash - fast foward to about the 25 second mark, because before then it's just darkness and the noise of Splash.



We rode the rest of our fast pass rides and before long, it was time for us to head over to Kona Cafe! So we boarded the Monorail and headed over!

Dinner at Kona was AMAZING as always! But we were TIRED and practically falling asleep at the table. So after we finished, we tucked the younger kids into the stroller and headed to the monorail to catch a ride to the Magic Kingdom so we could catch the boat to the Wilderness Lodge. On our way, we spotted the Water Pageant.

These two are melting my heart.

We got back to the hotel, got into bed and headed to sleep because we have a day planned at the Magic Kingdom tomorrow!

 

[Laura.bora]

It was bright and early the next morning and we were waiting at the boat dock hoping to make it to the MK in time for opening ceremony!

The boat ride from the Wilderness Lodge to the Magic Kingdom is one of the reasons we love the Wilderness Lodge so much.

We made it to the Magic Kingdom 15 minutes before park opening!

 

[Laura.bora]

Yeah! That means we get to hear the Good Morning song! It is one of our favorite ways to start the day!! But we still had 10 minutes to wait until opening so we took some photos, much to Kris’ dismay.

The kids watched the opening ceremony and loved it.

Here’s the crowd level on a TGM Green Day at opening (and once again – get TGM. Best money I’ve ever spent!)

 

[Laura.bora]

First ride of the day – DUMBO!

Dumbo is not my favorite ride, but the little ones enjoy it, so we always make it a point to ride at least once.

Next up, one of my favorite rides in Fantasyland – Winnie the Pooh! I was excited for this ride because I was SURE Ephraim would love it, since he loves Winnie the Pooh….but remember when I mentioned that Ephraim was a chicken?

Ephraim’s Scale of Terror: Scary

Early Morning Green Days are the best! No lines!

Snow White’s Scary Adventure is a favorite for us because of the massive amounts of Hidden Mickey’s on this ride. We love trying to locate them all.

Next we headed over to Ainsley’s favorite ride “La La’s Horses” as she used to call it. It’s bittersweet when I think of our 2008 trip. We had such a great time, but they all grow up so fast. Gone are the days when she couldn’t say the name Cinderella.

Ephraim’s Scale of Terror: Fine!!

 

[Laura.bora]

Felix first ride on Cinderella’s Golden Carousel

Video of the kids enjoying the carousel:


Next up we took a twirl on the teacups….well, I didn’t because if I twirl, I hurl.

Video:


Here’s Kris. He learned that twirling leads to hurling the hard way. Thankfully, he didn’t actually, but he was turning all shades of green!