A Trip Sure to be FULL of Surprises! Updates - day 1 & 2 w/ pics!

[newtodis]

Alright....I finally got to add some pictures! In case you couldn't tell, I do love taking pictures! Hopefully I'll be able to continue adding them throughout the report. Less words, more pictures - or at least more pictures!

 

[newtodis]

Here's what we worked on this weekend:

I explained that we were going to make a "count down chain" to count down until Corbin's birthday (and something very special!!). So we counted out how many days we have (I think we're at 71 today) and I cut up some paper. The boys got to decorate the strips with stickers (I did have to limit to 5 stickers/strip as some at the beginning were COVERED in stickers!).

Here's working on the strips:

Carter personally prefers to make lists (just like his mama!!). It also looks like he might be a lefty (again, just like mama!!):

So we put the stickers and list making on hold and headed off to t-ball for the morning. When we got back, it was time for a nap so Dan and I proceeded to make the actual chain part.

Partway through the process, Dan looked at me and said "This can't be right. There aren't enough strips here". I told him I didn't know what he was talking about and went through how many days each month has.

To that he answers "oh yeah...I thought we were counting down until Disney!". I immediately tried to rethink everything in my head to try and remember if I'd slipped and said something earlier. While trying to think, I quickly said "No we have a lot longer until we go to Disney!".

WHEW! I thought I blew that one!

Here's the end result (sorry it's a bad picture!):

So that was Saturday.

Sunday Corbin got up and took his first link off the chain. He was so excited to do this!!! He asked if he could take two because it's "just too many".

No, sorry just one. I've been in talks with Corbin to try and not turn 5 this year. I'm trying to sell him on just being 4 for another year...what's it gonna hurt?? He's not buying it and wants to "Just be 5 so I can go to school PLEASE". Now I understand (and think it's funny) that he's beggin to go to school because I'm sure this will change all too quickly. Soon enough it'll be "no I don't want to" or "is it Friday yet?". I'm not giving up on skipping #5 - I did promise he could have #5 next year though!

We also started to try and make a birthday "wish list" yesterday. What a disaster! First he asked for a Spiderman cake and Spiderman. I told him I thought we'd decided on sports to which he replied "yeah for my first birthday. Spiderman's for my second birthday".

WHAT??? When did we go to having two birthdays???? Last year, he had a party here with friends then we went to MI about a month later and he pretty much had another party there and got more presents so I'm thinking that's what he's talking about. Little does he know, we're going to MI two weeks after his birthday this year so it'll probably happen again!

So, while the boys napped (Corbin not so much yesterday...more pestering than napping), I went through my Disney books to update my binder. I made a list of everything I would like copied so when I have the time, money and energy, I'll be ready.

I then tried to start figuring out how this was all going to work. I *think* Auntie Ang and Uncle Sandy are coming down Thursday night and staying until Sunday so we'll have two days to fit in whatever we really want to get done. (I'm not telling them that we have more people coming until our guests show up!!!) Depending on how everything works out, we may go to the water park one of those days if it's warm enough and I save enough.

Other than that, not too much planning happening this weekend. Our nanny's getting married and will be out of town (leaving the same time we're going to Disney) so we're looking for something to do with the boys. Neither of us can really take two weeks off work nor could we afford to if we still wanted to go to MI. So now we're discussing flying one of Dan's cousins down to watch the boys for the week then bringing her back to MI with us when we go up for the wedding. I mentioned that flying into Jacksonville or Orlando is cheaper and closer than Atlanta! If she flies in, it would have to be the day we're driving back from Disney. It would be perfect to swing by the airport on the way home and pick her up! Hopefully all works out. If not, we'll have to find a summer camp or something that will take them. It's not hard finding a place for Corbin, it's Carter because he's not potty trained and just not old enough. I have a couple of places that I need to check on.

Ok I should try and get some work done this morning!!

 

[lmillercrew]

Corbin!!! I want to turn 5 too!! Can I just stay 38??? Then I wouldn't have to turn 40! It looks like you got quite a bit done on Sat. What a great way to help Corbin keep track of days until his birthday. Helps him not to have to ask 50 times a day.
I don't envy the babysitting dilema. I hated having to go through that when I worked full time. It's just so hard! I'm working almost 35 hours this week, and I'm part time. I don't mind, more money in my pocket, right?
When do you go to MI? Will you guys have a fairly busy summer with your mini vacations?

 

[newtodis]

Corbin!!! I want to turn 5 too!! Can I just stay 38??? Then I wouldn't have to turn 40! It looks like you got quite a bit done on Sat. What a great way to help Corbin keep track of days until his birthday. Helps him not to have to ask 50 times a day.
I don't envy the babysitting dilema. I hated having to go through that when I worked full time. It's just so hard! I'm working almost 35 hours this week, and I'm part time. I don't mind, more money in my pocket, right?
When do you go to MI? Will you guys have a fairly busy summer with your mini vacations?

Come on down! You can come for the #5 party then hang out and go on the real birthday present with us! We have the Disney resort on the Island. You could always stay there too for a bit of Disney!

Yeah I think we got stuff done. If you look at my house, you wouldn't think so! I have got to try and get some stuff done. It's supposed to be 90 on Saturday so we'll either head to the beach to cool off or hang out inside trying to get everything cleaned up so we can do something fun on Sunday. It's hard because I want to start making sure we've got stuff for vacation but I can't be quite so obvious. I think my "plan" for the weekend will be to tell Dan I've got to make sure the boys have something nice for the wedding in August...they do have to look cute as ever (probably in matching outfits because I am weird like that!).

Yeah I need to get in the habit of having him take a ring off. Good example - I totally forgot this morning. I get too busy with trying to get other things going that it slips my mind. I'll have to remember to have him take one off tonight.

Well we have another babysitting option too that we've talked about. One of Dan's co-workers is a teacher so obviously she won't be working in July and I'm sure would be willing to make a little extra money. Hoepfully we can talk her into coming over during the day. We'll figure out something - it always manages to work out in the end.

Yay for working more hours! That's awesome! More money is always good! We're in the middle of budget season here at work since our fiscal year ends June 30...ugh! No one's getting more money next year unfortunetly! At least it looks like everyone will keep their jobs though and that's what's important!

Our summer's going to be fairly busy this year (as it always seems to be!):
May
6 Tball
8 Tball
9 Mayfest (local town celebration thingy)
10 Mother's Day and friend's birthday
14 Auxiliary Meeting, Tball and Michelle (nanny) leaves for MI for her bridal shower (Dan's taking this day off!)
15 I'm taking off this day since Michelle will be on her way to MI..not sure what's planned just yet
18 Michelle's off again so I'll be off this day too since Dan has class that he can't miss (maybe I'll actually get caught up on housework!)
19 Tball game
20 My next Admin class starts so back to the books for me for 6 weeks!
23 Dan and Sandy leave for Charlotte. They're spending the weekend at the race!
28 I have a conference to go to and our testing cycle starts - 4 days of physical and written tests as well as interviews. What a LONG weekend!
30 Last tball game and awards ceremony!

June
13 Dan works
20 Dan works

July
3 We're OFF for the holiday!
11 Dan works
12 Probably have Corbin's birthday party at the house
14 Leave for DISNEY!!!!
19 Come back from DISNEY!!!
25 Michelle's wedding and Dan works
26 Leave for MI

August
1 Wedding!
2 Drive back to SC - I have to be back to work on Monday
11 1 year since I started working full time!!

September
7 Off for holiday

That's pretty much it for the rest of the year at this point thankfully. I'm sure we'll have some visitors in the fall if not before that. And there's always things being added to our schedule which will fill it up very quickly!

I've already committed to being more involved with tball next year and Dan laughs that I'll be PTO president before the year's over! So kids, work, auxiliary, tball and pto...that should keep me pretty busy!

Alright...I have to go shopping this morning. I do love when they pay me to go shopping!

 

[Grace and Mickey]

Good afternoon Lynn
I hope your having a good day

Check out my PTR I have a surprise!!!
Love Grace

 

[Grace and Mickey]

Hi Lynn
Happy Day after Mother's Day
I hope you had a wonderful day!!!!!!

I had a great one,
THe girls cleaned out my flowers bed for me and got me 2 new rose bushes.How about you?
Any new plans for your trip? have you decided on date for Sept yet?

Have you ever stoped at a place called "South of the Border" in Dillion . South Carolina? I found in a book I got from the library about tourist attractions. The book in call "Fun along the Road" I have looked it up on the internet. It's about 8 hrs from here, thought it might be a place to stop to give everyone a break. Any thoughts, or suggustions on a good to stop for little while.
Have a good evening
Dancing with the Stars is on the night
Grace

 

[newtodis]

Hey Everyone!

I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day!! Our weekend was nice. Dan worked on Saturday while I stayed home with the boys. I had planned on cleaning and such but never found enough motivation to actually do it! Sunday I cleaned in the morning and tried to get laundry and stuff caught up. Dan took the boys to Publix so they could decorate a cake for me (I'll have to post pictures once I can get them on a computer!). It was free so that was even better (the decorating part - they had to pay for the cake). Once I got my cleaning done, we decided to head to the beach for a little while. We spent a couple of hours at the ocean and it was a perfect day for it! It was just breezy enough to make it cool enough to be able to enjoy. The water's finally warm enough for me to tolerate (yes I'm picky and yes I realize it's the ocean!). I only go just far enough to get my ankles or so wet. I'm not a fan of swimming in water that I can't see the bottom and that nothing's living in - in other words, give me a pool with lots of chemicals to kill everything and I'm a hapy woman! I do love sitting on the beach and listening to the ocean (who doesn't really?) I'm just not a fan of not knowing what's in the water with me.

So once we were done there, Corbin requested tacos for dinner (this is now his favorite dinner despite previous protests that he "does NOT like" them!) so we decided to stop at the store on the way home. Corbin again requested (you'd think this was his day or something!) that we go to Piggly Wiggly. Now, I'm not a Pig shopper. I told Dan when we moved here I would not shop in a store with a Pig on it. Well, it was on the way home so we stopped. I do detest this store because their prices are much higher than other stores that we have so I don't generally shop here. Corbin's drawn to the store because of the pig and because they have small, kid-sized shopping carts, which he LOVES to fill!

We grabbed the stuff for tacos (plus some!) and headed home. On the way home, we realized we'd forgotten meat for the tacos! This meant stopping at Publix to grab some hamburger. I ran into Publix and walked out with only some coupons because the hamburger was $3.59/pound! Nope sorry that's way too much! So we went home and the boys took a shower while I ran to Kroger (this is where I generally shop for everything - Kroger and Target!). I picked up my hamburger, bologna that was on sale and some vitamin waters for Dan (they were on sale plus I had coupons!). I got back and Dan was going through the fridge. He couldn't find the tortilla shells (mind you I just bought a huge pack at Sam's Club). Well I searched that darned fridge and couldn't find them to save my life. So, Dan went back to Publix (thankfully they're just down the street from us!) to get tortilla shells! What a mess just for dinner!

Well, between no naps, playing at the beach and just being worn out, the boys and I were in bed and sleep by 8:45 last night! Granted, I'm sunburned today but it was worth it!

As for my weekly shopping, I spent $158.68 at Kroger and saved $212.78. I spent $4.92 at Target and saved $38.32!!!! My total savings was $251.10!!! WOOHOO!


Now onto the trip update:

Dan wanted to know what we were doing for his birthday yesterday on the car ride home. I told him he was going to meet someone famous and that he would like it more than his 30th birthday (surprise again - we had a picnic lunch with about 50 close friends and family then went to a local baseball game!). He's so lost. He doesn't think we can afford to go anywhere so his guesses are so funny! I'm trying to collect clues to give him one each week. I want them to be very tough clues so he doesn't figure it out until we're actually on the way to Disney! Another DISer suggested getting a picture of the WDW enterance and cut it up like a puzzle. I'm thinking I will use that idea to reveal the surprise once we're on the way. Maybe give them another piece every so often and see if they can figure it out.

My goal is to get the actual surprise part caught on tape. I think that will just be priceless once they realize where we're going.

Alright...it's starting to storm here so I guess I should finish up my work and get home! More updates soon!!

 

[newtodis]

Hi Lynn
Happy Day after Mother's Day
I hope you had a wonderful day!!!!!!

I had a great one,
THe girls cleaned out my flowers bed for me and got me 2 new rose bushes.How about you?
Any new plans for your trip? have you decided on date for Sept yet?

Have you ever stoped at a place called "South of the Border" in Dillion . South Carolina? I found in a book I got from the library about tourist attractions. The book in call "Fun along the Road" I have looked it up on the internet. It's about 8 hrs from here, thought it might be a place to stop to give everyone a break. Any thoughts, or suggustions on a good to stop for little while.
Have a good evening
Dancing with the Stars is on the night
Grace

Thanks Grace - we're updating at the same time!

No dates decided on yet We're still waiting to hear back about Dan's class. Hopefully he'll hear soon. We actually have some more property that's for sale back in MI with two interested buyers so hopefully that will sell soon. If so, we've already promised each other that we'll be staying at the Poly in Sept!!

No we've never stopped there. I'll have to ask the guys - maybe one of them has been there. What way are you planning on coming down? If you're going to be closer to Atlanta there's a ton of stuff to do that way. Or Columbia is a good place to stop (lots of choices as far as places to stop) here in SC. We're way over on the coast or I'd invite you over! We're only about 4 1/2 - 5 hours which is great.

I love Dancing with the Stars but there weren't really any "stars" that I liked this time. I like Julieann the most but she's gone now so not as exciting for me! I'll still watch just to see who wins but I'm not as crazy about watching as other seasons. I do like Shawn Johnson though so at least I have someone to root for.

 

[lmillercrew]

Dontcha just love it when you have to go to the store multiple times in the same day? Especially when it's for ONE meal! AGHHHH

 

[englishrose47]

The puzzle sounds like a neat idea !!!

 

[newtodis]

Dontcha just love it when you have to go to the store multiple times in the same day? Especially when it's for ONE meal! AGHHHH

Not so much really! All to make my kids happy!

The puzzle sounds like a neat idea !!!

I hope it works out!

 

[newtodis]

Jill? Jill??? Jill?????? Did you forget about the DIS???? Would love to have you check in with us every once in awhile!

Hey to everyone else - life has been BUSY the past couple of days. I'm filling in for someone else while they're out on FMLA so I'm doing two jobs and it's been crazy! Hopefully I'll be back to one job soon!

I can't believe it's getting so close!! I so hope this all works out in the end. We're still waiting to hear if the house sold in MI yet or not. We were supposed to have an answer by the end of this week one way or the other. I've got my fingers crossed that we'll be closing on it before the month's over!

 

[meanmom121]

Whew I finally got caught up. DH sick, DS home sick for 3 days. Dog to the vet three time in 4 days. Just an FYI when you have to call the vet in at 5oam you immediately become the surgical assistant as there is no one else there. I'm a nurse so I'd love to share all the gory details but for those of you who are not I'll refrain. Just suffice it to say that DH almost didn't make it througfhthe surgery. The vet sent him out for air so we wouldn't have to deal with saving him too.
Girl if I had to make that many trips to the store for one meal - Well let's just say tacos would have been out for that night. I guess it's a good thing You have that many stores around. We live in a rural area - 30 minutes to closest major chain grocery. So if you forget it, too bad, You just have to wait until next trrip.
Thanks for updating us on your PTR.
Do you think he'll figure it out before you go?

 

[lmillercrew]

Oh my GOODNESS!!! After not being on my computer for 4-5 days I have over 300 unread emails. I'm so tired at night that when I sit down to read, I can only get through about 6-7. Here's to hoping that your house in MI will sell.

 

[Grace and Mickey]

Oh my GOODNESS!!! After not being on my computer for 4-5 days I have over 300 unread emails. I'm so tired at night that when I sit down to read, I can only get through about 6-7. Here's to hoping that your house in MI will sell.

WOW that a lot of emails. I hope your getting some rest

Hi Lynn
I hope your house in MI sell soon tool
Have your got your computer fixed yet?
Any new plans for the surprise trip?
Hope to talk soon.

Have a nice day
grace

 

[newtodis]

Whew I finally got caught up. DH sick, DS home sick for 3 days. Dog to the vet three time in 4 days. Just an FYI when you have to call the vet in at 5oam you immediately become the surgical assistant as there is no one else there. I'm a nurse so I'd love to share all the gory details but for those of you who are not I'll refrain. Just suffice it to say that DH almost didn't make it througfhthe surgery. The vet sent him out for air so we wouldn't have to deal with saving him too.
Girl if I had to make that many trips to the store for one meal - Well let's just say tacos would have been out for that night. I guess it's a good thing You have that many stores around. We live in a rural area - 30 minutes to closest major chain grocery. So if you forget it, too bad, You just have to wait until next trrip.
Thanks for updating us on your PTR.
Do you think he'll figure it out before you go?

Thanks for sparing us the details - personally I think that kind of thing is "cool" (I guess that's why I work at the fire station!) so it wouldn't bother me but we'll be respectful of the others!

Yeah I'm generally not that "nice" and go to that many places....usually we open up the fridge/freezer/pantry and pick something and that's what you get.

I don't think he'll figure it out! He keeps asking where we're going and who we're having dinner with. I honestly don't think he has an idea at all which is awesome!!

Oh my GOODNESS!!! After not being on my computer for 4-5 days I have over 300 unread emails. I'm so tired at night that when I sit down to read, I can only get through about 6-7. Here's to hoping that your house in MI will sell.

YIKES! I'm glad I'm not that popular!

Thanks! Dan's got to call and check on it again this week so we at least have an idea what's going on with it.

Hi Lynn
I hope your house in MI sell soon tool
Have your got your computer fixed yet?
Any new plans for the surprise trip?
Hope to talk soon.

Have a nice day
grace

Oh I so hope it does too! One less thing to juggle and worry about!!

No computer yet....I don't think either are worth fixing at this point so we're going to try and have our IT friends wipe everything off them and sell them for parts (told we can get a decent amount doing this) and hopefully sock that money away for this trip or a new computer...not sure which just yet!

I was at home Friday and Monday and worked on cleaning the house a bit. I've got a box of stuff for a garage sale in my livingroom so that's good. I'll either actually have the garage sale or list the stuff on Craig's List and get rid of it that way. I just hate storing it while it's on Craig's List and hate the hassle of having a garage sale! I also made a list of bigger stuff that we need to put on Craig's List (like the elptical machine Dan bought last year after we moved here or the wedding band that he bought in the wrong size that we never got resized four years ago! - stuff like that) in hopes that we'll get more money for things like that than at a garage sale. Not only will we make some extra money but we'll get a cleaner house - awesome!

Dan and Sandy are going to the race in Charlotte this weekend so I'll have the weekend to work on my planning which should be fun! I start another class tomorrow for work so that will also help to keep me busy. I've been filling in for a girl who's out on FMLA so work's certainly been busy to say the least the past couple of weeks. Dan's in class this week to become an instructor so he's busy with that. Tonight's yet another t-ball game so I've got to get the kids there and meet Dan there when he's done with class.

No more real surprise details at this point. I'm hoping after this weekend though! Saturday we went to an air show and the boys enjoyed that quite a bit. Other than that we pretty much stayed home and were lazy all weekend (totally out of character for me!). Other than that, no updates really. Sorry guys....I know I'm a slacker. I've also been following Jon and Kate's thread on the Community Board and the craziness that's been associated with that family....yikes!

Alright...I need to try and get some work done today!

 

[newtodis]

Hey All!

There's been a bit of change of plans for July.....If we go (yes I said "if"), it will just be our family. Angie and Sandy have some stuff to take care of for the adoption so Disney's not in the picture right now for them. BUT they booked their timeshare for Sept 18-25 so that's probably when we'll go in Sept for free dining. They did offer us the option to stay with them off site but that kind of defeats the "free dining" purpose of us going. I just have to see if those dates work out for everyone (Dan's mom is probably going in Sept).

Now the "if". I've got to arrange for everyone to get off work (which shouldn't be a problem). I also don't see us having a problem being able to afford it now since we'll need a smaller condo (sad but a blessing at the same time). I don't forsee any problems but it's still in the back of my mind that we won't be able to pull it off for some reason. I need to be positive and excited but for some reason I'm having a really hard time. Maybe I've just got too many other things going on. Maybe it's because I can't talk about anything. Who knows....I need to "move my groove" as Corbin would say and get excited.

Carter now wakes up on the weekends and requests "watch DisNEE" before we can do anything. We have a Disney show from the travel channel dvr'd so he watches that or the planning dvd pretty much every weekend! He's excited to say the least and he doesn't even know we're going!

I think things will relax a little bit once I get the condo paid for. The rest will all come with time.

OH!! I also have two cards for the AP discount if anyone needs them. Feel free to PM me your address and I'll get them right out in the mail. Those will give us our spending money for Sept when we go which is great!

Alright...back to work. Boy am I wishing it was Friday already. I'm so hoping to get out early tomorrow!! I took last Friday and Monday off to try and get stuff done with the boys and get the house cleaned up and stuff. Well, we stopped at a consignment store and I found a sand/water table that Corbin fell in love with. I told him it was still there this Friday (tomorrow) that I would get it for them. Target also has the little Cozy Coupe on sale that we've talked about getting Carter for almost two years now. I'm going to take the ad to Walmart and use my gift card there so $30 for a new car AND sand/water table is pretty good if I do say so myself! That's the plan - I so hope it works out that way!!!

 

[wigdoutdismom]

Good luck on getting the travel arrangements all ironed out! I hope the sand/water table is there waiting for you, it sounds like some good fun for your little guys and cozy coupes are the best. My girls about wore the wheels out on theirs a million years ago!

 

[Grace and Mickey]

Good evening Lynn

Your know that we are all ready to listen to you share your plans.
So share the excitment with us. It will all work out


Your dates for Sept for free dining begin on our last day Sept 18th.

Where do you think you might stay?
I can made my ARD's in 21 days
And I pick out a 1st trip disign for Landen.

Have a good FRIDAY.
Grace

 

[lmillercrew]

Well, you're probably right about the excitement factor. You can't talk about it to anyone, and I think that's half the fun of getting ready to go on vacation. I think as it gets closer, you'll find the excitement.
Sorry to hear that Angie won't be able to make it this trip, but Sept isn't too far off and the baby will be older, might make it a little easier.