Another lovely day in Oklahoma. . .

[tarheelmjfan]

Micca, love your Santa story. We also have a great Santa story from DS's youth. Wonderful memories.....

 

[Disney_traveler]

Hope everyone is doing well! What is it, 17-18 days till Christmas??? It seems like yesterday was beginning of summer break!

 

[ronandannette]

Unfortunately, no one has been able to get in touch with him.

Wasn't October Beauty going to go to his house last week? I don't think we ever heard back about how that went.

Shout-out to jevsie!

 

[Kitty 34]

Bumping this up from Page Three which tells me we've all been busy with the holiday season.

Here in Michigan, we are under a snowstorm advisory which cuts short weekend shopping. Glad I do a lot from my chair and computer.

Jo, are you home yet and enjoying summer?

Micca......we need some holiday words!!!

 

[Micca]

Bumping this up from Page Three which tells me we've all been busy with the holiday season.

Here in Michigan, we are under a snowstorm advisory which cuts short weekend shopping. Glad I do a lot from my chair and computer.

Jo, are you home yet and enjoying summer?

Micca......we need some holiday words!!!

I confess...I have not been busy, just lazy. I'll see what I can conjure up for some festive seasonal jargon.

 

[Disney_traveler]

Ok I'm going to contribute a word of the day for the winter cold/flu season. Sorry if it's a little gross, but it might be helpful...

Sniffu (like snafu): when you go to make a regular sniff because of a runny nose situation and get more than you bargained for and need to get rid of it. (If you know what I mean)

Example: I committed a sniffu while lecturing my class yesterday. Had to place trash can and tissues outside and excuse myself for a moment.

 

[ronandannette]

That's my job. LOL I'm going to try and do that this week. Meant to last week, but we went out of town for Thanksgiving.

Any luck? We're all sitting on pins and needles...

 

[jevs]

Busy and tired here. I'm behind in my travel updates. New Orleans was great. We got soaked 2 out of the 3 days there but just ran with it as you do. Didn't bother with a swamp/plantation tour due to limited time but it's on the hit list for next trip Favourite things were Preservation Hall - well worth lining up for 40 minutes to get in for $15 pp, band were amazeballs. The other fave thing was a 5 in 1 walking tour by the voodoo bone lady covering pirates, ghosts, voodoo, vampires and something else that has currently left my brain. It was quite entertaining. The kids loved the beignets at cafe de monde, i could take them or leave them. Bourbon st wasn't as bad as i was told during the day (we avoided it at night). Food was awesome, we spent so much on food lol

 

[jevs]

Currently in Washington DC. Arrived and hit the ground running with a night time walk around a fraction of the monuments\memorials. The first full day we hit up the American History Museum and the Holocaust Museum - was only going to do Daniel's story but lifs wsnted to see a bit more so we went into the main area. Kids were okay as we skipped the more grim aspects. As we had another couple of hours ee went into the Natural History museum until almost closing. I wanted to see the Hope diamond and the kids wanted to see the sea life and mammals (dont know why the mammals as Melbourne has a great section in their museum) then we walked around the remainder of the monuments/memorials.

Yesterday we got to the air and space museum at opening and spent a few hours there bypassing IMAX. Then went to American Indian museum which didn't take up as much time as i was expecting when planning so were able to walk up to the Capitol had a chat to the friendliest cop ever who requested timtams next time we come lol. On our walk back we stopped off at the sculpture gardens and lined up to go into the National Archives with a million other people. To be honest, it kind of meant nothing to us so we were basically in and out.

Today we braved the metro and went to Arlington Cemetery for a couple of (freezing) hours. We have a Tomb of Unknown Soldiers in Canberra and my eldest was interested in visiting. The twins were a little blown away by the size of the cemetery. We had to cut today short as Josh started complaining of a headache but as we've been up early and racing about we have tomorrow free. I think the kids want to go ice skating in the morning then they can choose a museum or two to visit or revisit.

Weather wise it's ****. I'm dying with the cold and freezing wind and it's not even snowing! Food wise is also dire, we had great asian food two nights ago but have had pizza and maccas the other nights ugh. I miss the food in New Orleans and on the canoe.

 

[Micca]

Jo you're going to need a vacation when you get home. Sounds like a great trip except for the cold weather, you'll appreciate the warm weather when you get home.

 

[jevs]

Jo you're going to need a vacation when you get home. Sounds like a great trip except for the cold weather, you'll appreciate the warm weather when you get home.

Well I did pay a deposit on Princess cruises as it was a half priced deal lol.

 

[Micca]

Well I did pay a deposit on Princess cruises as it was a half priced deal lol.

So you liked cruising well enough to try it again? Wow, that's a breakthrough!

 

[jevs]

ARGHHHHHHH

Our flights to Buffalo have changed. Instead of getting in and 5pm with an hour layover we get in at 1130pm with a 6 hr layover in Detroit. Then we still have to get over the border. The woman I spoke to was lovely and tried different airports here and there as well as with airlines they have agreements with but nothing is available. Can get a full refund but as the delta tix were 73pp and jetblue are showing 268 pp not worth it. Am annoyed they can't give us the skylounge as comp but a friend suggested complaining on their FB pg so migjt do that.

I hate Delta and don't care that *this* change isn't their fault, i still hate them.

Cross your fingers that our original connecting flight is 30 minutes late of something

 

[Micca]

ARGHHHHHHH

Our flights to Buffalo have changed. Instead of getting in and 5pm with an hour layover we get in at 1130pm with a 6 hr layover in Detroit. Then we still have to get over the border. The woman I spoke to was lovely and tried different airports here and there as well as with airlines they have agreements with but nothing is available. Can get a full refund but as the delta tix were 73pp and jetblue are showing 268 pp not worth it. Am annoyed they can't give us the skylounge as comp but a friend suggested complaining on their FB pg so migjt do that.

I hate Delta and don't care that *this* change isn't their fault, i still hate them.

Cross your fingers that our original connecting flight is 30 minutes late of something

Well that sucks, long layovers and late arrivals are an ordeal. I haven't even checked, is it weather related? There are so many airline workers with terrible attitudes, at least someone was pleasant with you. It must be an awful job listening to people's complaints all day. I doubt very few people ever walk up to the gate attendant and say "Just wanted to let you know things are going swimmingly, and we couldn't be happier. We're going to Starbucks, what do you like?"
We fly Southwest almost exclusively, they get generally good remarks here on the Dis. Of course bad things can happen on any airline.

I thought you were headed to NYC, but crossing the border means you're stopping in Canada first? This really is an outstanding trip despite the weather and flight issues. Are the kids still into it?

 

[jevs]

Yeah we were originally training it from DC to Philly to NYC but cracked it with amtrak so decided to fly from DC to Buffalo then to NYC. We're only in Niagara Falls for two nights - a night and a half now.

We also love southwest but they stopped their direct flights from DC to Buffalo from memory but I'm unsure why i didnt book them for this flight but I thought i had a direct flight oroginally before delta changed it a million times. We flew to NOLA and DC with southwest for about 100 pp which is mega cheap.

Delta have slightly redeemed themselves by bringing out subway, drinks, and snacks so the kids are now fed lol

Kids are always into holidays and especially skipping school lol. I'm fortunate that they're all such good travelers, sure they have minor meltdowns on occasion but on the whole are into anything new. They impressed the people next to us in the cruise dining room by only using the main menu and trying escargot and other horrible cruise food

 

[wishesuponastar]

Jevs, so sorry you are cold and for the flight change. Your trip does sound amazing though and thank you so much for your trip reports!

 

[Marchand63]

Rare, Limited Edition WORD OF THE DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Saturday DW and I took the DGDs (4 & 5) to meet Santa. The youngest went right up to Santa and told him exactly what she wanted most (an Ipad) while the 5 yr old cowered in fear, her face buried in DWs leg. She was so afraid to talk to Santa that she would only tell DW what she wanted for Christmas, and DW would in-turn relay the info to Santa. We captured the occasion with a photo of the 4 yr old with a big grin on her face, and the 5 yr. old barely visible behind DW.
This has inspired me to coin a term for this irrational fear of Jolly Ol St. Nick...

Santa Claustrophobia: The fear of sitting on the lap of a jolly elf and reciting a laundry list of wanted Christmas gifts.

My oldest DGD is a sufferer. The others treat him like a jungle gym

Jevs, Buffalo is a tough city to fly into in the winter. Sounds like you liked the cruise . We booked our next cruise on our last cruise.

 

[NFLDERS]

Well that sucks, long layovers and late arrivals are an ordeal. I haven't even checked, is it weather related? There are so many airline workers with terrible attitudes, at least someone was pleasant with you. It must be an awful job listening to people's complaints all day. I doubt very few people ever walk up to the gate attendant and say "Just wanted to let you know things are going swimmingly, and we couldn't be happier. We're going to Starbucks, what do you like?"
We fly Southwest almost exclusively, they get generally good remarks here on the Dis. Of course bad things can happen on any airline.

I thought you were headed to NYC, but crossing the border means you're stopping in Canada first? This really is an outstanding trip despite the weather and flight issues. Are the kids still into it?

Probably, Polar Vortex related. Chicago's Airport had numerous cancellations. Our retriever (Avatar) was enjoying our first snowfall today.

 

[jevs]

Turns out it was a mechanical issue with the first flight not weather related.

It's not a bad airport to be stranded in, plenty of food options and charging stations

 

[Marchand63]

Turns out it was a mechanical issue with the first flight not weather related.

It's not a bad airport to be stranded in, plenty of food options and charging stations

Nice. Ok try never to get stranded in Long Beach CA, it's the size of a postage stamp. I spent a week there one night