~A XMAS STORY~decorations, crowds, pixies..AND A BLOODY NOSE~ACTUAL UPDATE 11/9 p190

[Lamping3]

Wow! That is all I can saw about your fireworks pics!

 

[MyMuse]

I just finished yout TR - it took me 4 DAYS.

I don't know where to start! It had me hanging in there the entire 165 pages!!

I found it when I went looking for December TR since I'm going this December. I was really interested since you were staying off property and so am I (the "Mostly Merry part of my TR).

I had a couple of questions...

- On your first day, did the Boardwalk have a problem with you parking there for so long?

- How was park hopping with a car?

- Was the traffic crazy to get to the parks? Home from the parks?

- Was if difficult making ADRs?


Onto the rest....

I'm glad your toe, arm and teeth are ok!

I'm sorry to hear the problems your bro is going through and hope they work through it for thir daughter's sake. My bro will be 35 in September and he's still immature. Drives me bonkers!
He's only 20 months younger than me, but it's more like 10 or 15 years!


Your pictures are great, the trip as well as all the others. How do you get your video like that? It's cool!
The last batch of fireworks pics are awesome.


I'm going to try and get to your NYC trip report. I live about 10 miles outside the City in NJ. I should think about being a tourist in my own backyard. I usually go in for a specific thing/event and then get the heck out. I always get confused where I am going, so the subways are completely crazy! I figured out how to gt around all over England, Italy, Toronto & Montreal and other cities like Chicago and San Francisco and STILL can't figure out NYC subways. It's like I have a brain block or something.

I can't even remember any more details, but it sure was a trip reading your trip report! I cn't wait for the next update!

 

[nateryan]

Loved your photos! Wow! I had to show my DH while I was looking at them..."These were taken with a Tripod!" He got the hint.

 

[MagicShell]

Your castle and fireworks pictures are fantastic. I can't imagine how great they will be with your new camera!

 

[tinkgurl]

Aw Dawn! I miss the Castle now...great pics though!

 

[mouseketeer70]

Awesome fireworks pics!

 

[stacikristine]

Oh. My. Goodness! Those fireworks pictures are just gorgeous!!!!! Imagine what you'll be able to shoot with your new camera!! I loved, loved, loved the update.

 

[Charleston Princess]

Like others have said, Dawn, your firework photos are stunning!!!

 

[MeMom]

The castle and fireworks pictures are nice!

I'm proud of you for taking bird pictures!

 

[punkin413]

I love the new camera....I would love to get a "nicer" one. Not in the budget yet. I thought the grasshopper picture turned out great. For just getting the camera I thought your pictures were really crisp and clear. Our Point and shoot is pretty good. I loved taking up close pictures of my DD's feet, hands, eyes and forhead. They turned out great so yours will be incredible. You'll have to practice on Margot.

thanks! we love it so far. we've taken SO many pictures this week of just...stuff!

Yea....I don't necessarily want to be walking around in my down jacket !

definitely not!

I may not watch the video....we'll see...sometimes I don't want to see (and hear) all the details. Might have to save it for the 'real' thing!!

i'm just the opposite.....watching it beforehand gets me EXCITED about it! it's just like seeing wicked in NYC. i got the soundtrack beforehand and i was so glad because i LOVED it and it made me excited for the show.

I'm with ya...it's been very pretty....but today was stinkin' HOT!!! I came back inside about 3-4 times. I can't stand feeling like I'm being burnt to a crisp

i'm hoping it's pleasant when we go in october. i can't wait!

Yea, you will have to figure out the low lighting, christmas lights type setting. I'm sure it will take some awesome pictures of the castle .

well, i have 16 month to figure it out!

I got some great pics of the sunset today....I'm sure you'll see them soon [/quote

i saw them on your facebook page....can't remember if i commented yet but they were awesome!

Honestly I've got a camera that I have NO idea really what it can and WILL do

we're going to the mall sunday and i'm gonna go by barnes & noble to see if i can get a book on SRL cameras.

**Sorry I butted-in ....I have GOT TO GET A TRIPOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can't believe I haven't had one before ...and to bad we can't see how well my castle/fireworks pics would have come out at MNSSHP

no problem! the little 12-inch one i have is great. but i think we're going to need a bigger one for this new camera, which makes me think that you may need a bigger one, too. if i remember right, your camera is about the size of the new one i got. the new one will work with the little tripod but it was a little top heavy. and i KNOW about the MNSSHP pics.....so frustrating!

WOW!!! Your fireworks pictures are awesome!

thanks!

Wow, your camera took some great photos. What I really like is how great the castle looks, very clear.

thanks! i love the castle pictures too.

Great fireworks pictures! Do you have a little tripod? If not, what did you do with it while you were walking around? We have a tripod, but I've never wanted to haul it along.

thanks! yes, i have a 12-inch tripod and i sit it on top of a trash can for fireworks pictures. it actually works really well!

OMG I just got chills looking at those pictures! The fireworks are amazingggg You did a really good job of capturing them

Great deal on the new camera! That grasshopper picture is so sharp and looks great!

thanks! to both comments!

I hope that works out for you. That will be a lot of fun!

me, too! who knows when it's going to happen though. we will see! jordan has a little girl named madi who's 5 years old. if (and that's a BIG if) she and brett are still "talking" when they go, i'm sure he will want to take madi (he really loves madi - margot's middle name, rain, was chosen because brett and madi used to go play in the rain together) and i hate that she's already 5 and hasn't been yet. not that she won't enjoy it at, say, age 7, but it's just SO magical to them when they're toddlers.

 

[punkin413]

Wow! That is all I can saw about your fireworks pics!

thanks!

I just finished yout TR - it took me 4 DAYS.

I don't know where to start! It had me hanging in there the entire 165 pages!!

I found it when I went looking for December TR since I'm going this December. I was really interested since you were staying off property and so am I (the "Mostly Merry part of my TR).

well, thanks for joining in! better late than never.

I had a couple of questions...

- On your first day, did the Boardwalk have a problem with you parking there for so long?

i will PM you about this.

- How was park hopping with a car?

we didn't park hop. we had base tickets. the first day we went to epcot, the second to DHS, the third to MK, and the fourth to AK and then MK that night for MVMCP (since it's a separate ticketed event we could go to 2 parks that day). i would think park hopping with a car would be a pain if you're staying off site because you'd have to pay to park every time you changed parks. but you could park at one park and just take buses wherever you want to go.

- Was the traffic crazy to get to the parks? Home from the parks?

no, not at all. we never saw any traffic to speak of.

- Was if difficult making ADRs?

nope, not at all again! the only one we cut it close on was teppan edo but that was just because our soarin fastpasses were only 45 minutes before our ADR.

Onto the rest....

I'm glad your toe, arm and teeth are ok!

I'm sorry to hear the problems your bro is going through and hope they work through it for thir daughter's sake. My bro will be 35 in September and he's still immature. Drives me bonkers!
He's only 20 months younger than me, but it's more like 10 or 15 years!

thanks! i love my brother but he still has a lot of growing up to do. he's made ENORMOUS progress in the past year though!

Your pictures are great, the trip as well as all the others. How do you get your video like that? It's cool!
The last batch of fireworks pics are awesome.

thanks! as far as my video, we have a sony handycam. i just hook that up to the TV, then i record the screen with the video feature of my digital camera. then i just upload it to photobucket.

I'm going to try and get to your NYC trip report. I live about 10 miles outside the City in NJ. I should think about being a tourist in my own backyard. I usually go in for a specific thing/event and then get the heck out. I always get confused where I am going, so the subways are completely crazy! I figured out how to gt around all over England, Italy, Toronto & Montreal and other cities like Chicago and San Francisco and STILL can't figure out NYC subways. It's like I have a brain block or something.

I can't even remember any more details, but it sure was a trip reading your trip report! I cn't wait for the next update!

the NYC trip was awesome! there's so much to do there - it was great. and yes, the subway was CRAZY!!!

Loved your photos! Wow! I had to show my DH while I was looking at them..."These were taken with a Tripod!" He got the hint.

thanks! the little 12-inch tripods are not that expensive and they're easy to carry around in a backpack.

Your castle and fireworks pictures are fantastic. I can't imagine how great they will be with your new camera!

thanks! i cannot WAIT to try them with this camera!

Aw Dawn! I miss the Castle now...great pics though!

thanks! i know....i miss it too!

Awesome fireworks pics!

thank you!

Oh. My. Goodness! Those fireworks pictures are just gorgeous!!!!! Imagine what you'll be able to shoot with your new camera!! I loved, loved, loved the update.

thanks! i can't wait to get there and try it out in disney. ray and i were just talking last night about how much fun we're gonna have with it there....in 16 months!!!!

Like others have said, Dawn, your firework photos are stunning!!!

thanks, jackie!

The castle and fireworks pictures are nice!

I'm proud of you for taking bird pictures!

thank you! yeah, i didn't get close to those birds, though. thank goodness for the zoom on the lens!

by the way, i don't remember if you left before i posted it or not, but a couple of updates back was the dreaded bloody nose! just refer back to the first post with the index if you missed it.

 

[hlrababy]

Ohhhh, WOW!!!!! Those firework pictures are just awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[joy13]

Thanks for the info on the tripods - I'm definately going to look into getting a little one!

As for parking with park hoppers - in 2005 when we rented a car, we only had to pay once a day - you just had to show your receipt. Maybe that's changed though.

 

[MyMuse]

Thanks!

I meant to actually make the ADRs 90 days out? Did you call everyday to make those ADRs?

I was going to change my mind and stay on-site at a Value, but it's allllll sold out. Back to my timeshare condo I go!

 

[MeMom]

thank you! yeah, i didn't get close to those birds, though. thank goodness for the zoom on the lens!

by the way, i don't remember if you left before i posted it or not, but a couple of updates back was the dreaded bloody nose! just refer back to the first post with the index if you missed it.

Maybe with a zoom lens you can wean your way into liking birds.

I did see Luke's smashed up face. Poor guy! I've seen that same thing on my boys many, many times. It's just something that comes with boys. Occasionally girls will get the same or worse, too. I got a call from the P.E. teacher when Jill was about 7-8 (can't remember which grade she was in) saying that she fell during a kickball game and her face was pretty messed up. When I picked her up that afternoon, I thought, "Boy, she wasn't kidding!" Her face was scraped to pieces.

When will you be up here to see Margot again? Are you making any solid plans for that Disney trip with all of them, or is it just still an idea at this point? It would be awesome to have two trips to look forward to during the dry spell - your Wilderness Lodge one and another one with all of them!

I have a bunch of Wilderness Lodge pictures to share. I think I'll go ahead and put up some now, because since it was at the end of the trip, it'll be forever until we get to it on the report.

Have a good weekend!

 

[burly]

Popping in and out also. busy busy busy. Great TR. just caught up.

 

[lmillercrew]

I'm trying to play the catch up game, and apparently I'm losing!
Poor Luke! I know that had to hurt and what a trooper to keep going that night. Poor thing! It'll make for a good story later though.
I really like that picture of Eli too! You're camera looks amazing and I'm sure that you will have loads of fun learning and playing with new settings.
So you're little point and shoot camera took those final castle/fireworks shots? WOW! Those were incredible. Nice job

 

[punkin413]

Ohhhh, WOW!!!!! Those firework pictures are just awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!

thanks!

Thanks for the info on the tripods - I'm definately going to look into getting a little one!

As for parking with park hoppers - in 2005 when we rented a car, we only had to pay once a day - you just had to show your receipt. Maybe that's changed though.

oh, good to know! the only day we had to worry about parking at two parks was sunday when we went to AK and then MK for MVMCP. but we parked at the poly for the party.

Thanks!

I meant to actually make the ADRs 90 days out? Did you call everyday to make those ADRs?

I was going to change my mind and stay on-site at a Value, but it's allllll sold out. Back to my timeshare condo I go!

yep, i called every day. it was only 4 days so it wasn't bad. you will still have a blast off site....we did!

Maybe with a zoom lens you can wean your way into liking birds.

I did see Luke's smashed up face. Poor guy! I've seen that same thing on my boys many, many times. It's just something that comes with boys. Occasionally girls will get the same or worse, too. I got a call from the P.E. teacher when Jill was about 7-8 (can't remember which grade she was in) saying that she fell during a kickball game and her face was pretty messed up. When I picked her up that afternoon, I thought, "Boy, she wasn't kidding!" Her face was scraped to pieces.

When will you be up here to see Margot again? Are you making any solid plans for that Disney trip with all of them, or is it just still an idea at this point? It would be awesome to have two trips to look forward to during the dry spell - your Wilderness Lodge one and another one with all of them!

I have a bunch of Wilderness Lodge pictures to share. I think I'll go ahead and put up some now, because since it was at the end of the trip, it'll be forever until we get to it on the report.

Have a good weekend!

maybe!

i couldn't remember if you had seen his poor little nose or not. brooke and i had several falls but brett was CONSTANTLY getting hurt. i think it happens more with boys! one of the worst things was when he dropped a big block of wood on the handle of a shovel and the pointed end hit him right between the eyes. he still has a huge scar from that. 2 inches to either side and he would've lost an eye! oh, and of course the other really bad one was when he was pushing a dirt bike across the road at 2am and got hit by a truck!

i will probably be up there to see margot (and the rest of the family) in september. i'm hoping maybe they can come down here soon but i'm not holding my breath. they got her pictures made today - i can't wait to get them and share them with you guys! audrey (my stepmom) said she did REALLY good! the idea of disney with the entire family is just that - an idea. i hope it happens but you know how those things go! just depends on how the next few months/years go.

thanks again for posting those WL pics!

Popping in and out also. busy busy busy. Great TR. just caught up.

me too! i hear ya. thanks for catching up!

I'm trying to play the catch up game, and apparently I'm losing!
Poor Luke! I know that had to hurt and what a trooper to keep going that night. Poor thing! It'll make for a good story later though.
I really like that picture of Eli too! You're camera looks amazing and I'm sure that you will have loads of fun learning and playing with new settings.
So you're little point and shoot camera took those final castle/fireworks shots? WOW! Those were incredible. Nice job

i'm in the same boat! no worries. i'm just glad luke didn't break his little nose. yep, the point and shoot did the fireworks pics. of course it was on a tripod which helps immensely with fireworks shots. i had it on the twilight setting which i believe slows the shutter speed down a little bit. thanks!

 

[punkin413]

just some happenings.....

look what i got!!!

a co-worker went to disney last week and i gave her some money to get this guy if she saw him, and she did!

some more pictures with the new camera....

look at the hair on the end of sherman's nose!

a locust....

a REALLY cool spider - it took me forever to get the camera to focus on him!

look at luke peeking around chris!

he kept running from his room and screaming, "see if you can take my picture while i'm running!!!"

this is eli protesting right before we gave him a bath last night....

i figured some of you have little girls that love american girl dolls/books/movies, so i thought i'd share these pictures here.

my best friend from high school, melanie (who lives near nashville), has a little girl named megan. megan turns 9 next weekend (which i can't believe - she was a flower girl at my wedding and was only 20 months then!!!). they got her an american girl doll for christmas. she's been wanting another one but melanie told her she wasn't buying another $100-doll right now, so megan saved up enough money to get it herself. as a reward, melanie and lamont (her hubby/megan's daddy) decided to take megan to atlanta to the american girl store here so she could buy the doll herself instead of ordering it. apparently, going to the american girl store is a BIG deal! i was invited and it was a really cute place....crazy but cute!

oh, and before anyone asks, yes, megan is lamont's child! she doesn't look biracial but she is. lamont is actually half black and half white, so she is a fourth black. whenever i say that lamont is her daddy people look at me like i'm crazy but he is! not that any of that matters, but i just wanted to clarify that before everyone asked!

they got there today before me and when i arrived they were waiting for megan's doll to get her hair done at the salon.....

here is megan talking with the "doll stylist" while she did megan's doll's hair....

megan with her doll, mia, after she got her hair done....

i went to the bathroom and look what i saw in the stall....a doll holder!

after that we had lunch at the american girl bistro. mia had her own seat and menu!

continued in next post: http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33080473&postcount=2480

 

[punkin413]

megan with her birthday card from the store....

lamont apparently having a very important conversation with mia.

food porn! i got pretzel bread as my appetizer....

for my entree i got a grilled veggie sandwich and salad. it was good but really big!

megan, melanie and me at lunch....

mia got her own muffin! lamont's grandmother was there and she just shook her head when the server brought it out.

time for dessert! melanie got cheesecake....

lamont got a banana split....

and i got strawberry shortcake. when they brought this out i literally gasped out loud. it was HUGE!

megan got a birthday sundae and everyone sang to her!

lamont decided to share his banana split....

lunch was really good and the atmosphere was so cute!

after lunch we went back into the store so megan could buy her new doll and spend some of her birthday money, too. this is the doll she picked out. her name is solani.

there were displays all over the stores with dolls and some of them had pets with them. this one had a llama. yes, a llama.

i looked over at lamont at one point and he was holding megan's mia doll while she shopped - this was so funny-looking!

i told megan to pick out an outfit for the dolls as her gift from us. then we went to check out and melanie and lamont's final bill came to $261!!! $100 of that was the doll. megan had like $130 in birthday money so they actually didn't spend a lot. anyway, i thought this was funny. they had like all $5s and $10s from all the birthday money and money that megan had saved over time and it took forever to count it all out!

megan with her birthday present!

some pictures before we parted ways.....

just wanted to share some of those in case you guys had some american girl lovers out there!