Alyssa's Wish - Princesses, Minnie Mouse, and Pink!!!.....Nov 10-18

[alyssaswish]

So sorry to hear about daycare woes. We put Ethan in a Kids Day Out program (2x week, from 9-2) this year and he started off pretty rocky. In fact, they had me do a modified schedule where I dropped him off at 9:30 and picked him up after lunch (12:30). Of course, they didn't give me a discount on tuition but said they have to do that for many of the kids each year. It took some time for him to adapt to being away from me- like from September to November! I'm happy to say that the day DID come where he barely paid any attention to me when I would tell him goodbye. It went from "Have good day, Mommy" (thru his tears) to barely a half-wave!

Whatever the outcome, I hope that Miss Alyssa adapts and you guys can rest easy!

On the planning front, I haven't done a doggone thing. We had out of town guests last week (E's "heart brother" Owen- they share the same type of main heart defect and are about 4 mos apart) and my time was consumed pre-visit with cleaning and during the visit, I barely got on the computer at all.

My biggest obstacle is deciding which part to hit on which day. I am NOT a planner, but I'm a big "What-iffer?" This is not conducive to an effective and fun Disney trip!! DH is the planner and it bugs him when I don't have an itinerary for our trips. I should let him plan, right???

Thank you! Alyssa starts dance in the fall and she will be around a smaller group of kids. I think daycare was just too overwhelming for her with all the little kids (16 of them) in the 2 yr old room. We're going to give her a few months off and maybe try again in the 3 yr old room. The 3's are more structured and less chaotic so she will probably do much better!

I planned my days using Touring Plans Crowd Calendar and the GKTW village entertainment schedule. I'm just glad to be done with booking the dining reservations. If you think your husband can do it, let him!!! My husband wouldn't even know where to start. He wants to plan a weekend getaway for us and I'm nervous about it. Maybe I will be pleasantly surprised!

 

[aym4Him]

Thank you! Alyssa starts dance in the fall and she will be around a smaller group of kids. I think daycare was just too overwhelming for her with all the little kids (16 of them) in the 2 yr old room. We're going to give her a few months off and maybe try again in the 3 yr old room. The 3's are more structured and less chaotic so she will probably do much better!

I planned my days using Touring Plans Crowd Calendar and the GKTW village entertainment schedule. I'm just glad to be done with booking the dining reservations. If you think your husband can do it, let him!!! My husband wouldn't even know where to start. He wants to plan a weekend getaway for us and I'm nervous about it. Maybe I will be pleasantly surprised!

That sounds like a great plan! E was easily overwhelmed by kids his age (he prefers to chase around older kiddos!). Oh, and if someone else is crying? Fahgeddaboudit!

That sounds good. I should just copy your itinerary! Hahaha!

Well, I'm bummed that the Pirates and Princesses party is Fri night as that is our departure day. Why in the world wouldn't they let GKTW families stay an entire week? Oh well. It's not like E even knows that exists, anyway. I gotta remind myself that he has no idea what's ahead so I will stop having these expectations and then disappointments when something doesn't work out.

As far as ADRs, I need to find out when my in-laws will be joining us so that we can make sure we get enough seats reserved. For the restaurants, do any of you know if they charge 3 yr olds to eat? I mean, E eats like a bird (unless it's ice cream), so he can pretty much pick off my plate and be good.

I'm going to check out that crowd predictor again. I looked a couple of weeks ago when they posted November, but I need to look again and refresh my memory- especially since I know we are leaving on Friday . I wish I could know what the flight times are, but I won't find that out til closer to the trip dates.

All that said, I'm SO excited to get this party started! I haven't gone as far as to print out Disney countdown calendars, but I think we'll be doing something similar soon. I read somewhere on here that a family did a Disney Dinner and a Movie night each week (or was it 2x month?) to help stave off some of the frenzied "I WANT TO GO NOW!" fever! Great idea!

Well, I better go and get E some juice and chawkit milk. LOL.

 

[kaileighbug]

Congrats on getting all your ADRs made
We love Ohanas and will be eating there 3 times this trip. 2 dinners and 1 breakfast. I scheduled our dinners later so we may catch the fireworks while there and if we get done too early we can always head down to the beach to watch. We love the food there.

 

[TinkNH]

joining in

You have such beautiful children

We are going in Sept and I am a bit of an obsessive planner too...glad to see i am not alone

 

[alyssaswish]

Thank you everyone! So glad you are all joining in! We just got back from a weekend trip to the beach and the kids LOVED the pool! Now I'm wondering if they are gonna want to swim more than go to the parks. I guess we will just see when we get there.

 

[aym4Him]

Thank you everyone! So glad you are all joining in! We just got back from a weekend trip to the beach and the kids LOVED the pool! Now I'm wondering if they are gonna want to swim more than go to the parks. I guess we will just see when we get there.

That's the hardest thing to plan for, isn't it? I just know once E sees the ice cream, TRAIN (and model train inside), and the carousel, it's gonna be all over!

I've gone from- "Plans? We don't need no stinking plans!" to "OMGoodness! I need to plan park times, character meets, meals, etc" & now back to my original thought b/c, with an almost 4 year old, plans just don't mean much as long as there's a place to play, clean underwear and a change of clothes! Am I right? Notice I didn't really include food in there- if he's playing, he couldn't care less! Add in some character visits at GKTW and he's going to be all, "Disney World? THIS isn't Disney World??"

If any of y'all were going to 1/2 day something with the Animal Kingdom, what would your afternoon half consist of? Going by the crowd calculator, it looks like the days the AK is least crowded are the same as Hollywood Studios (but we thought we might need a whole day there??). Grrr..can Universal/I.O.A be seen in a 1/2 day? Sorry- I need to go ask this on my own PTR, don't I? (Thanks for unintentionally letting me horn in on your thread again )

 

[jessica52877]

Can't wait to follow along. You are a major planner!!

 

[alyssaswish]

My baby boy graduated Preschool last night! He got the "Best Athlete" award! He said he wants to be a musketeer when he grows up, but his teachers think he will be a basketball player. Here are some pics from graduation and kindergarten registration.

 

[Moodyzblu]

Congratulations on your sons graduation !! (MY he seems tall !)

He'll have a wonderful time in K next year !!

 

[kaileighbug]

Congrats! What good pics of the kids together.

 

[snubie]

Following along. You have beautiful children.

 

[alyssaswish]

Chase and Alyssa received Mickey Mail from some wonderful ladies this week. After a trip to the ER on the morning of July 4th, Alyssa was very excited to open her package. We thought she had broken her wrist so she had to get xrays. That was very painful for her, but we think the xray tech popped her elbow or wrist back into place during the xrays. Afterwards she was totally fine and using her arm again (no broken bones on xray), so she was diagnosed with Nursemaid's Elbow.

All better now!

Our 1st package is from Alicia

Very cool hairbows!

Spiderman hairbow to match the dress I made her!

Thank you Alicia! We love the hairbows!

 

[jessica52877]

Oh my gosh! We need a better picture of the dress you made her!! It looks ADORABLE!!! I'm sure anything looks adorable on her but wow! So cute!!

 

[alyssaswish]

Our next package is from Lori!

SeaWorld outfits to match her hairbow!

Thank you Lori! The kids were so excited to try on their new outfits!

 

[alyssaswish]

Oh my gosh! We need a better picture of the dress you made her!! It looks ADORABLE!!! I'm sure anything looks adorable on her but wow! So cute!!

I'm not much of a seamstress, but I can cut up a tshirt and sew it back together. hahaha I do love the recycled tshirt dresses. They are very cute with the open back!

 

[alyssaswish]

We took a family vacation in June to Savannah, GA and stayed a few minutes away at Tybee Island. The weather was perfect!

We ate at Uncle Bubba's Restaurant (Paula Deen's Brother)

My husband's parents (aka Granna and Poppa D)

We took a trolley ride around Savannah!

Chase and my niece Jaycie

Worn out!

Alyssa loved the jetski!

 

[addictedtonostalgia]

Fellow DIS stalker here, great to see another North Carolinian come out of the woodwork!

Congratulations on being middle school sweethearts, that is adorable! Your two kids are also adorable, and little Alyssa sounds like a real trooper! Sounds like she had to go through a lot, hopefully you're coming out on the other end! Love the big bows, very Southern I wouldn't feel guilty about getting a wish trip, it sounds to me like she's been through a lot. I used to volunteer at Duke Children's, and if it were up to me, every child would get a wish, because any child who has to stay in the hospital deserves it!

I'm gonna settle in to read the pre-trip report, but I will keep your family in my prayers!

 

[alyssaswish]

Following along. You have beautiful children.

Thank you so much! I think they are cute too!

Fellow DIS stalker here, great to see another North Carolinian come out of the woodwork!

Congratulations on being middle school sweethearts, that is adorable! Your two kids are also adorable, and little Alyssa sounds like a real trooper! Sounds like she had to go through a lot, hopefully you're coming out on the other end! Love the big bows, very Southern I wouldn't feel guilty about getting a wish trip, it sounds to me like she's been through a lot. I used to volunteer at Duke Children's, and if it were up to me, every child would get a wish, because any child who has to stay in the hospital deserves it!

I'm gonna settle in to read the pre-trip report, but I will keep your family in my prayers!

Thank you! I know what you mean. So many children have suffered through so much, and I wish they could all have a wish trip! We have been very blessed!

 

[Moodyzblu]

Great Big Gives !!

Love the Georgia pics too !

 

[sarsop524]

Great pics and great big gives! We will just be arriving the day you are checking out! Hope you have a wonderful trip