any November 15th eastern 7 ngt cruisers out there?

[lbgraves]

It seems to be taking forever, yet the months are passing quicker than I expected. I am getting so excited. My Disney.com order shipped yesterday & I am going to be putting the Tees away to give to everyone the morning we leave for the ship. I just got one of the DCL stuffed ships from the Hasbro game rebate. It is so cute!!!! I only ended up spenind $11 for the $40 worth of games for each one so I am truely happy with this. I had another one shipped to SIL where we will be staying the night before we leave for the ship so I can stuff both of them in the suitcase...will need alot of room...and them leave a note asking the room steward to take them out of the closet when they turn down the beds that first night as a surprise for the kids. OK...now it seems like it will be forever before we get to cruise again!

 

[mkauffman]

I had to laugh at the comment about "until we cruise again". We still have 4 months until this cruise! I only laugh because that's how I am with vacations.......planning the next one before the current one is finished! It's too depressing to not have something to look forward to.

Have I told you guys that I can't wait to meet you all?? The closer we get, the more excited I get.

Can you believe it, 4 months!! The time has really gone by so quickly. I don't wish winter upon us, but I really need November to happen! I was just at Kohl's over lunch and I found my two boys khaki's for dinner on the clearance racks. Gotta love that. Of course, Josh, being 15, will be the test. I'll probably end up taking his back. Garrett's only 8 and he couldn't care less. I can buy him anything. It would be nice if one of the two would stay little forever!

Michelle

 

[lbgraves]

LOL! I meant that I was back to the mindset that it is going to be so long until we cruise again. Sometimes it seems like the time has gone so fast since we signed up for this after Christmas, then other days it seems like the time is dragging on.

You know, I read a thread about there being a room in Palo's for groups of 14 or so. Maybe we can get that for brunch one day on our cruise???

 

[mkauffman]

That would be great, Lisa. We should try to do that. I'd be game.

Michelle

 

[nedleycan]

For sure! Let's do it! What a great time that would be. I love that idea so much. I am planning on getting in line early for Palo (I love that place!) so I could book it for us. Although, I would need a guarantee from everyone, as it will cost me money to book... money that I could be spending on Margaritas! haha

I too can't wait to meet you all. You all seem like really nice people. There are some "strange" people on this board (sorry to all the strange people), but there doesn't seem to be any on our cruise! Yeah!

 

[mkauffman]

Linda, you're a doll for offering to do it. Count Tony and I in. If you're keeping a list you'll need to know our names and room numbers. We are Anthony & Michelle Kauffman, room 7537. We're available for brunch on any at-sea day.

Oh, and I wouldn't count on us not being strange....you haven't met us in person yet. Just kidding......we promise not to burp out loud at brunch.

Michelle

 

[lbgraves]

We would love to join in, but need to wait until DD is PTd to commit. I know that DS will be fine in the club.

 

[nedleycan]

Don't worry, I am very strange, but in a normal way (does that make sense?) I hope our group is a little strange... and what's wrong with burping?

 

[JulieGS]

Hello everyone!

Though we haven't finalized plans yet, I think my DH and two DS, (ages 4 and 1 by cruise time) will be joining you. This will be our first cruise and first time to anything Disney for the children, arrived at as a compromise for me (who wanted Disney) my DH (who wanted relaxing) and the kids (who want what we tell them...at least for now). Your discussions have gotten me so excited about the cruise! Hopefully after this weekend I can post and tell you what our stateroom number will be!

Anyway, I had a few questions, if you have time to reply... has anyone done a vow renewal on board or known someone who has? It's our tenth anniversary this year, and I was thinking of surprising DH. He won't care too much about the ceremony, but he loves being pampered and getting extra attention, which I think he'll get with a vow package. I'm just not sure how corny the whole thing might be... any thoughts?

Also, should we go for the most stateroom we can afford, or save money for other things? Any opinions would be appreciated, especially from those of you with young children. Would more space help with the youngins?

And my second DH would turn 1 on the cruise... should we plan on a little party (is that possible?) or should we keep it low key because the characters will scare the bejeezus out of him?

Sorry for the newbie questions... thanks for your help!

Julie

but

 

[lbgraves]

DS will turn 5 the day before we sail. I mentioned it when they asked if there was any special occasion while making the reservation & they noted it on our reservation. They will sing happy birthday to him at dinner the first night. They give a cake with a white chocolate ship on it and a pin. I believe it is the cast members that sing, not the characters, so if you hold DS, maybe he will be ok? It really depends on the child & their personality at the time...which is always changing while they are young.

We are in a cat 11 room. I figure that we will have that much more to put towards our next cruise by doing that. DH doesn't know this is my plan yet. LOL! We can always hope for an upgrade but we don't plan on spending alot of time in the cabin aside from naps & sleep.

 

[mkauffman]

It's nice to have a new name to our list! We're a little goofy, and we've never met each other, but I think we're all fairly sane (except Linda who thinks that burping at mealtime is ok! ).

We also have a cat 11 room. That's what we had on our last cruise and we were completely ok with it. We spend very little time in our cabin and just couldn't justify spending the extra $$ on a higher category. My children are 8 and 15, though, so maybe that makes a difference. My BIL and SIL are going with us and they have a DD4 and DD1 (she'll be one on Aug 1), and they opted for a cabin with a porthole. They said they knew they'd be taking "naptime" and they wanted to see something while the baby was napping. I think it depends on your situation and what you expect to get out of your room. I can't give you any information on vow renewals, but I wanted to say that my DH and I just celebrated our 10th in May. Time sure does go quickly, doesn't it (and I didn't say anything about having fun! )

Lisa, how close is DD to being potty trained? Is that a bad question to ask??

Julie, make sure to let us know soon if you've finalized your plans.

Michelle

 

[lbgraves]

DD will be burping right along with you Linda. Unfortunantly she can outdo DH. We were out in a decent place Thursday night & right in the middle of dinner she "let it rip." At least I have her trained to say excuse me inbetween her giggles.

She will be 3 on 9/4. DS was not trained until he was 3 1/2. She will sit on her BC potty seat but nothing has happened during that time yet. I am thinking that I will try to get her to do something next week fter we get back from a quick trip. I have tons of pull ups ready for her. She doesn't wake up dry yet so I know she will need them for that. She is starting to say PEE-EW when she messes her diaper though & I am using that as much as I can to encourage her. She started throwing the dirty diaper in the bag down the steps in the garage this week. I tell her that babies have stinky diapers but she can put her poopoo in the potty & it wont stink (as much). She does NOT like being called a baby. LOL! DS will do it & she tells him "I am not a baby. I am a little boy (or girl)...whichever she thinks of at the time.

I am really not going to let myself stress about it. We aren't planning anything so I wont be disappointed. I look at it this way...she WILL be PTd by the next cruise...hopefully in 2004. We can do everything then. I have already talked to her PS teachers about the fact that she will still be in the diapers when the year starts next month & they are fine with it. The cut off is 10/15 here so she is one of the youngest ones in her class.

 

[alexturner74]

JulieGS...I have sent you a Private Message.

Everyone else...hello!

 

[mkauffman]

Well, Alex, I thought you ditched us!

You went on your little "vacations", didn't you? How was it?

Michelle

 

[JulieGS]

We're officially in! Yeah! Stateroom 6506, here we come... I've sent all our info to Alex and can't wait to check out the website and get to know you all better. This seems like such a great group... I know we'll have a fabulous trip. I can't believe we're actually going!

 

[mkauffman]

I'm so glad that you've officially booked. Welcome and feel free to share as much about yourselves as you feel comfortable sharing! We do have a great group going here and Alex has created a fantastic site for us to share, too. We look forward to getting to know you.

Michelle

 

[mkauffman]

I just saw your pictures on Alex's site. You have an absolutely beautiful family! Again, I can't wait to meet you. Welcome. You're going to have a wonderful vacation.

Michelle

 

[lbgraves]

I was going to post the exact same thing. I love the family picture!!!

 

[JulieGS]

Michelle and Lisa --

Thank you so much for your kind words. They're really sweet boys, if I do say so myself. I didn't realize it had been so long since we had a family picture done until I was looking for one to post. Obviously that one was "pre-Leif", and we haven't had a group one taken since, just one of the guys together. Who knows, maybe we'll get a nice one on the cruise during formal night! I can't wait to meet everyone -- I've read through all the posts and been all over Alex's great site, and this really is a wonderful group of people. Yea us!

Julie

P.S. When we do meet, Michelle, you'll have to give me tips on getting two boys through the teenage years... yours look healthy and happy, so you must know some secrets!

 

[alexturner74]

Don't worry, I haven't ditched y'all. Just been lurking for a while...and traveling also.

We were planning to go to the beach the weekend of June 14, but we never did make it to Melbourne, FL. We were thinking of going the next weekend, but went to White Water instead. It was fun, but we would still like to go to the beach sometime this summer.

The weekend of June 28, we went to New York City with another couple. Had a fantastic time. We saw "Rent" on Broadway, and of course did all the touristy stuff...Times Square, Brooklyn Bridge, Statue of Liberty, Wall St., 5th Avenue, Rockefeller Center, Central Park, Guggenheim Museum, Empire State Building, etc. We also went to the WTC site.

Had a good July 4th as well. We went to visit my Mom in the north Georgia mountains. It was nice to get out of the city for a while.

This coming weekend, we're going to Chicago...

Hope everyone is doing well.

Alex