Are We Turkeys? - Thanksgiving 2006 at WDW - NEW 5/17 Chap 11 on Pg 13
- Thread starter nicolemarie
- Start date
lexmelinda
<font color=blue>Has a Seussical googling DD<br><f
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2006
Disney owl
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2001
Thanks for sharing
Frickles
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 3, 2005
NM sad about LaLa's trippie
I have learned to not really say "And this one time, on the Dis" to my husband NM. We know when to keep it on the down low don't we girl. Good call.
This right here cracked me completely up. You were trying to 'one up' her!
I can't wait to hear the rest NM! Did you by any chance get the plates to match my cereal bowls and LaLa's tumblers?
I love your pictures!!! Your new camera seems to do a beautiful job!
I have to say this about Dunkin Donuts....IT IS MY FAVORITE COFFEE!
I don't really drink a lot of coffe, but when I find me a DD, I always get a small coffee with cream and sugar and I'm giddy. They fix it just perfectly right.
Good job sweet girl!
nicolemarie said:
I have learned to not really say "And this one time, on the Dis" to my husband NM. We know when to keep it on the down low don't we girl. Good call.
nicolemarie said:
This right here cracked me completely up. You were trying to 'one up' her!
I can't wait to hear the rest NM! Did you by any chance get the plates to match my cereal bowls and LaLa's tumblers?
I love your pictures!!! Your new camera seems to do a beautiful job!
I have to say this about Dunkin Donuts....IT IS MY FAVORITE COFFEE!
I don't really drink a lot of coffe, but when I find me a DD, I always get a small coffee with cream and sugar and I'm giddy. They fix it just perfectly right. Good job sweet girl!
nicolemarie
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 9, 2005
We woke up the next morning, and, as is his routine both at home and away, DH turned on SportsCenter.
“SportsCenter? We are leaving for Disney in an hour and you want to watch SportsCenter? Come on. Turn it to the Weather Channel. I need some Local on the 8’s.”
He says something about his Fantasy Football team, which I ignore, but I give him ten minutes to hear the highlights and then we check the weather.
The quick and dirty from the Local on the 8’s let me know that this was gonna be the coldest day we’d ever had at Disney World. A high of 63 degrees. And if you are a weather nerd – which is one of the many types of nerd I am – you know that in late November, you only hit the high for a short time in the afternoon. Which meant the majority of the day would be in the 50’s. With wind gusts up to 25 MPH.
Those of you from the North can go ahead and pull out your shorts and tank tops. But for the NM’s from Central Georgia, that’s some cold stuff. Especially the part about the wind.
So I voiced my concern to DH.
“How should I dress the kids?”
“Lots of layers.”
“Yeah, I’ve got that much, I just need to know how MANY layers. I think it’s gonna be really cool today and I don’t want them to be miserable. But I did bring those throw blankets for them to keep in the stroller.”
“Did you say you brought blankets for the stroller?”
“Yeah, I got Buddy one with Lightning McQueen and Mater on it. And Sister has the Princess one.” (I was proud of my cold weather preparation. I also had gloves for everyone except DH. Because I knew he wouldn’t wear them.)
“We are not carrying blankets into the parks. I’m putting my foot down on that. Do you know how nasty they’ll get? They’ll fall out and drag the ground, get food spilled on them…No. That’s the end of that discussion.”
And it was.
So I layered my family the best I knew how, threw in some gloves for good measure and we quickly packed up our little suite. And headed down to the free breakfast. Which, because it included bacon cooked extra crispy, was pretty good.
Downstairs in the “breakfast room” we noticed something. We were the only happy family in the whole room. We gloated to ourselves about that. Well, just DH and I gloated. Because despite the fact that we make fun of people everywhere we go, we try not to let the kids hear it. Somehow, I guess that makes us think it’s OK.
“Could that Dad look any more miserable to be here?”
“No kidding. I’ll bet they’re halfway to his mother-in-law’s where there’ll be a houseful of snotty kids running around inside because it’s too nasty to go out.”
“Wow. I’m glad we’re heading to Disney World.”
“Seriously. This is the way to do Thanksgiving.” (Shameless plug for next year)
We finished our breakfast and walked out to the parking lot to get in the car and I noticed something. Everything was really wet and it was really cold. And the sky was not looking good. Neither was my black car that had just been detailed, but that’s beside the point. We loaded up our bags, let the kids choose a movie for the ride, and bid farewell to the Country Inns and Suites.
We were off. Disney World or bust, BAYBEE!!! The truth of the matter was that we weren’t really any further down the road than we would have been if we’d left home that morning at 5:00. It was 8:00 and we were three hours south of our house. But we’d had a good night sleep, felt a little more “on vacation” and were more ready to tackle a park than we’d have been getting up at 4:00 AM.
Once we were in the car, it was time to formulate The Plan of the Day. Or the POD for short.
Here’s a little window into the NM’s. We abbreviate everything. We’re worse than the Disboards. I won’t define the following for you, but these are parts of our everyday vocabulary: POD, FSU (nothing to do with Florida State), BOC, TP, PT, ID, GSN, and ISE. I don’t know why we do this, but we do. Don’t discuss. And don't try and figure out what they mean. You couldn't.
Anywho, this day was technically a “freebie” because we had not originally counted on having it. It wasn’t on the itinerary. So we discussed several possibilities, and ended up deciding we’d go to MGM.
This made me happy and sad all at the same time. I was happy because I wanted to see Osborne Lights and I was forcing that to happen another night. So this would be easier. I was also happy because my daughter could ride Rock n’ Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror. And so could I.
But I was sad because there aren’t many things at MGM our little man can get fired up about. It’s not exactly a great “first park experience” for him. And I didn’t want him to be disappointed with our first day. But as my husband always says, “It is what it is”. So to MGM we were heading.
We’d been on the road a little over an hour and a half when we made our only stop. The Okahumpka Service Plaza on the Florida Turnpike. It’s another NM Disney Vacation ritual.
DH said he wanted to fill up with gas before we arrived in Orlando.
“But isn’t the gas here super-expensive?”
“Yeah, but it’s a ritual to fill up at the Okahumpka, so I have to.”
“Doesn’t saving money trump vacation ritual?”
“No.”
Whatever. We pull around to the gas pumps and DH gets out to fill her up. Beside him is another family also headed to Disney World. The Dad is pumping gas and my husband tries to start a conversation because that’s what my husband does. He’s a talker. I call him The Mayor, because everywhere we go he’s floating around talking to folks. But this guy didn’t bite. He was either not as excited as we were to be going to Disney World for Thanksgiving, or he didn’t speak Redneck. Either way, they pumped the rest of the gas in silence.
After the tank was full, we pulled around to the pseudo-shopping mall part of the Service Plaza. We love this little place. Because for some reason, the combination of an overpriced gift shop, a Dunkin Donuts, a Popeyes, a Starbucks and a huge Florida vacation brochure wall – all with a sunglasses kiosk in the middle – just screams Disney to us. Maybe it’s the brochures on the wall. Or maybe it’s this:
Yeah, I cropped my daughter out of the pic. But it’s the Mickey statue I’m wanting you to see. Doesn’t that just make you feel like you’re almost there?
And yes – that guy in the background makes me laugh, too. Bless him.
As usual, the kids asked if they could dip into their souvenir money in the ridiculously overpriced gift shop, we said no, and they grabbed several Disney brochures before we all got back in the car. We were getting close, now.
We were pointing at all the cool things in the Disney brochure, when the sky started to match the moods in our car. The clouds had given way to beautiful sun, and we were all getting giddy. Even DH gets in on the act. In fact, he probably IS the act. But we all start to act silly. We talk about the first thing we’ll do when we get there, we look for the Disney signs, and DH usually throws out something about eating broccoli and spinach for dessert everyday. “They sure make good spinach at Disney”, he says. A couple of comments about seeing Peter Pan on the Barnstormer or about being so excited to get in the room to do homework, and DH has the kids in an absolute frenzy of squeals.
“Daaaaaaaddy! We don’t have to eat broccoli and spinach for dessert at Disney!”
“Daaaaaaaddy! I don’t HAVE any homework! It’s Thanksgiving weekend, silly!”
“Daaaaaaaddy! Peter Pan isn’t on the Barnstormer, it’s GOOFY!!”
It’s at this point that I realize every member of our family of four is equally excited about this trip. We can hardly contain it.
Soon enough, we are getting off the Turnpike onto I-4. That’s when we put in the tunes and start to rock.
Since I’m either not as cool as LaLa – or I’m cooler – I didn’t have any Disney CD’s, but we did have our Lion King DVD. So we deemed that the perfect arrival music. You just can’t beat the Circle of Life. Especially for arriving at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. And since it was the DVD (or maybe it would be this way on the CD too, I don’t know), we had that digital surround sound thing workin’ for us. We turned it up really loud and the NM’s came rockin’ into the World.
I had heard tale that we would have to bypass the arches, but it was not so. Here they were in all their glory. That kicked the excitement up to fever pitch. My daughter let out the kind of ear-piercing squeal only possible from 8 year old girls.
Then we saw this and knew we were heading in the right direction.
But when we saw this, the girl came unglued.
Expedition Everest is her absolute favorite ride. She wants to live there. Yeah, that’s right. She wants to live on the roller coaster. Hey, a girl can dream, can’t she?
Soon we approached the Animal Kingdom Lodge and already we loved it. Even the sign looked gorgeous. And that was just a glimpse of things to come.
So with moods light and worries few, we pulled around to the entrance. DH let me and the kids out and he stuck around to help with the bags. Or more precisely, the tip.
The kids and I walked in and WOW. It was beautiful! Last Thanksgiving we had stayed at the Grand Floridian. And I had thought the decorations there were breathtaking. I had worried that I would compare the two and feel like the AKL didn’t measure up. But I honestly liked the lobby of the Animal Kingdom Lodge better. It looked awesome. The trees, the garland, the twinkling lights.
Nope, I actually didn’t stop at this point to take the pics. That came later in the week. But I want you to get the feeling that we felt. So I’m putting them in here.
What actually happened, was I looked at an INCREDIBLY long line and hoped it was to book ADR’s at Concierge. Not to check-in to the resort.
Were these crowds a sign of what the rest of the weekend would hold? My giddiness fell flat as I realized that was the line to check-in. I sent the kids to sit on a couch within sight and staked a place in line.
While I waited, I watched my children become those children worthy of a thread titled “What Were Their Parents Thinking?” They were literally running in circles around the couch. Keep in mind, the couches are HUGE. About 6 people could fit on one. And my kids were running around it. A musical chairs sort of game. Running fast around the couch and throwing themselves in it like there was a prize for the heaviest drop. The couch is in this pic - at the bottom. And the check-in line is behind it.
I was torn. I couldn’t get their attention but I was not about to step out of that eternal line. I glared at them hoping they could feel it and would look my way. I watched my son trip on some innocent man trying to relax. I was mortified. And livid.
Finally, my daughter sees me. I give her the “Come here right now” with my eyes. She comes pulling her brother along. I tell them both that I know they are excited. I know we just arrived at Disney. But if I look over at that couch and either one of your bottoms are off of it, there will be punishment.
“Yes, maam. We’re sorry. We were just excited.”
The Lord has blessed me with pretty obedient kids. So that was all it took. But thankfully, their Daddy came in just as I was wrapping up the talk and took charge. After his jaw dropped over the line I was standing in.
“Is this the line to check-in?”
“Yeah, it’s not really moving very fast, either.”
“So what’s the plan, now?”
“I don’t know. I need to see how long I’ll be in line. I don’t know if they’ll have our room ready.”
“What if they don’t have the room ready? What are we gonna do first?”
Miss Type-A-on-a-Disney-vacation did not have good answers for these questions.
You see, on all of our Disney vacations, we’d never waited in line to check in. Not only have we never waited in line, but the room has always been ready. I guess we just usually hit it at the right time. Which is the same time we hit AKL that day. About 11:00 AM. So this threw us a little curve-ball.
Our plan had been to check-in, get “sitchuated” in the room, and pack up the back-pack for our day at MGM. The luggage was already on a cart and waiting.
So after standing in line for 30 minutes, I was finally up. I thought of LaLa trying to work it for an upgrade. I decided I didn’t care about an upgrade. I just wanted to check in now and not later. I didn’t care where the room was.
“Good morning! Welcome to Animal Kingdom Lodge. May I help you?”
“Yes, thank you. I’m here to check in. The last name is NM.”
Next Up: Does Southern Charm Work on AKL Cast Members?[post=16187142] Next Chapter [/post]
“SportsCenter? We are leaving for Disney in an hour and you want to watch SportsCenter? Come on. Turn it to the Weather Channel. I need some Local on the 8’s.”
He says something about his Fantasy Football team, which I ignore, but I give him ten minutes to hear the highlights and then we check the weather.
The quick and dirty from the Local on the 8’s let me know that this was gonna be the coldest day we’d ever had at Disney World. A high of 63 degrees. And if you are a weather nerd – which is one of the many types of nerd I am – you know that in late November, you only hit the high for a short time in the afternoon. Which meant the majority of the day would be in the 50’s. With wind gusts up to 25 MPH.
Those of you from the North can go ahead and pull out your shorts and tank tops. But for the NM’s from Central Georgia, that’s some cold stuff. Especially the part about the wind.
So I voiced my concern to DH.
“How should I dress the kids?”
“Lots of layers.”
“Yeah, I’ve got that much, I just need to know how MANY layers. I think it’s gonna be really cool today and I don’t want them to be miserable. But I did bring those throw blankets for them to keep in the stroller.”
“Did you say you brought blankets for the stroller?”
“Yeah, I got Buddy one with Lightning McQueen and Mater on it. And Sister has the Princess one.” (I was proud of my cold weather preparation. I also had gloves for everyone except DH. Because I knew he wouldn’t wear them.)
“We are not carrying blankets into the parks. I’m putting my foot down on that. Do you know how nasty they’ll get? They’ll fall out and drag the ground, get food spilled on them…No. That’s the end of that discussion.”
And it was.
So I layered my family the best I knew how, threw in some gloves for good measure and we quickly packed up our little suite. And headed down to the free breakfast. Which, because it included bacon cooked extra crispy, was pretty good.
Downstairs in the “breakfast room” we noticed something. We were the only happy family in the whole room. We gloated to ourselves about that. Well, just DH and I gloated. Because despite the fact that we make fun of people everywhere we go, we try not to let the kids hear it. Somehow, I guess that makes us think it’s OK.
“Could that Dad look any more miserable to be here?”
“No kidding. I’ll bet they’re halfway to his mother-in-law’s where there’ll be a houseful of snotty kids running around inside because it’s too nasty to go out.”
“Wow. I’m glad we’re heading to Disney World.”
“Seriously. This is the way to do Thanksgiving.” (Shameless plug for next year)
We finished our breakfast and walked out to the parking lot to get in the car and I noticed something. Everything was really wet and it was really cold. And the sky was not looking good. Neither was my black car that had just been detailed, but that’s beside the point. We loaded up our bags, let the kids choose a movie for the ride, and bid farewell to the Country Inns and Suites.
We were off. Disney World or bust, BAYBEE!!! The truth of the matter was that we weren’t really any further down the road than we would have been if we’d left home that morning at 5:00. It was 8:00 and we were three hours south of our house. But we’d had a good night sleep, felt a little more “on vacation” and were more ready to tackle a park than we’d have been getting up at 4:00 AM.
Once we were in the car, it was time to formulate The Plan of the Day. Or the POD for short.
Here’s a little window into the NM’s. We abbreviate everything. We’re worse than the Disboards. I won’t define the following for you, but these are parts of our everyday vocabulary: POD, FSU (nothing to do with Florida State), BOC, TP, PT, ID, GSN, and ISE. I don’t know why we do this, but we do. Don’t discuss. And don't try and figure out what they mean. You couldn't.
Anywho, this day was technically a “freebie” because we had not originally counted on having it. It wasn’t on the itinerary. So we discussed several possibilities, and ended up deciding we’d go to MGM.
This made me happy and sad all at the same time. I was happy because I wanted to see Osborne Lights and I was forcing that to happen another night. So this would be easier. I was also happy because my daughter could ride Rock n’ Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror. And so could I.
But I was sad because there aren’t many things at MGM our little man can get fired up about. It’s not exactly a great “first park experience” for him. And I didn’t want him to be disappointed with our first day. But as my husband always says, “It is what it is”. So to MGM we were heading.
We’d been on the road a little over an hour and a half when we made our only stop. The Okahumpka Service Plaza on the Florida Turnpike. It’s another NM Disney Vacation ritual.
DH said he wanted to fill up with gas before we arrived in Orlando.
“But isn’t the gas here super-expensive?”
“Yeah, but it’s a ritual to fill up at the Okahumpka, so I have to.”
“Doesn’t saving money trump vacation ritual?”
“No.”
Whatever. We pull around to the gas pumps and DH gets out to fill her up. Beside him is another family also headed to Disney World. The Dad is pumping gas and my husband tries to start a conversation because that’s what my husband does. He’s a talker. I call him The Mayor, because everywhere we go he’s floating around talking to folks. But this guy didn’t bite. He was either not as excited as we were to be going to Disney World for Thanksgiving, or he didn’t speak Redneck. Either way, they pumped the rest of the gas in silence.
After the tank was full, we pulled around to the pseudo-shopping mall part of the Service Plaza. We love this little place. Because for some reason, the combination of an overpriced gift shop, a Dunkin Donuts, a Popeyes, a Starbucks and a huge Florida vacation brochure wall – all with a sunglasses kiosk in the middle – just screams Disney to us. Maybe it’s the brochures on the wall. Or maybe it’s this:
Yeah, I cropped my daughter out of the pic. But it’s the Mickey statue I’m wanting you to see. Doesn’t that just make you feel like you’re almost there?
And yes – that guy in the background makes me laugh, too. Bless him.
As usual, the kids asked if they could dip into their souvenir money in the ridiculously overpriced gift shop, we said no, and they grabbed several Disney brochures before we all got back in the car. We were getting close, now.
We were pointing at all the cool things in the Disney brochure, when the sky started to match the moods in our car. The clouds had given way to beautiful sun, and we were all getting giddy. Even DH gets in on the act. In fact, he probably IS the act. But we all start to act silly. We talk about the first thing we’ll do when we get there, we look for the Disney signs, and DH usually throws out something about eating broccoli and spinach for dessert everyday. “They sure make good spinach at Disney”, he says. A couple of comments about seeing Peter Pan on the Barnstormer or about being so excited to get in the room to do homework, and DH has the kids in an absolute frenzy of squeals.
“Daaaaaaaddy! We don’t have to eat broccoli and spinach for dessert at Disney!”
“Daaaaaaaddy! I don’t HAVE any homework! It’s Thanksgiving weekend, silly!”
“Daaaaaaaddy! Peter Pan isn’t on the Barnstormer, it’s GOOFY!!”
It’s at this point that I realize every member of our family of four is equally excited about this trip. We can hardly contain it.
Soon enough, we are getting off the Turnpike onto I-4. That’s when we put in the tunes and start to rock.
Since I’m either not as cool as LaLa – or I’m cooler – I didn’t have any Disney CD’s, but we did have our Lion King DVD. So we deemed that the perfect arrival music. You just can’t beat the Circle of Life. Especially for arriving at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. And since it was the DVD (or maybe it would be this way on the CD too, I don’t know), we had that digital surround sound thing workin’ for us. We turned it up really loud and the NM’s came rockin’ into the World.
I had heard tale that we would have to bypass the arches, but it was not so. Here they were in all their glory. That kicked the excitement up to fever pitch. My daughter let out the kind of ear-piercing squeal only possible from 8 year old girls.
Then we saw this and knew we were heading in the right direction.
But when we saw this, the girl came unglued.
Expedition Everest is her absolute favorite ride. She wants to live there. Yeah, that’s right. She wants to live on the roller coaster. Hey, a girl can dream, can’t she?
Soon we approached the Animal Kingdom Lodge and already we loved it. Even the sign looked gorgeous. And that was just a glimpse of things to come.
So with moods light and worries few, we pulled around to the entrance. DH let me and the kids out and he stuck around to help with the bags. Or more precisely, the tip.
The kids and I walked in and WOW. It was beautiful! Last Thanksgiving we had stayed at the Grand Floridian. And I had thought the decorations there were breathtaking. I had worried that I would compare the two and feel like the AKL didn’t measure up. But I honestly liked the lobby of the Animal Kingdom Lodge better. It looked awesome. The trees, the garland, the twinkling lights.
Nope, I actually didn’t stop at this point to take the pics. That came later in the week. But I want you to get the feeling that we felt. So I’m putting them in here.
What actually happened, was I looked at an INCREDIBLY long line and hoped it was to book ADR’s at Concierge. Not to check-in to the resort.
Were these crowds a sign of what the rest of the weekend would hold? My giddiness fell flat as I realized that was the line to check-in. I sent the kids to sit on a couch within sight and staked a place in line.
While I waited, I watched my children become those children worthy of a thread titled “What Were Their Parents Thinking?” They were literally running in circles around the couch. Keep in mind, the couches are HUGE. About 6 people could fit on one. And my kids were running around it. A musical chairs sort of game. Running fast around the couch and throwing themselves in it like there was a prize for the heaviest drop. The couch is in this pic - at the bottom. And the check-in line is behind it.
I was torn. I couldn’t get their attention but I was not about to step out of that eternal line. I glared at them hoping they could feel it and would look my way. I watched my son trip on some innocent man trying to relax. I was mortified. And livid.
Finally, my daughter sees me. I give her the “Come here right now” with my eyes. She comes pulling her brother along. I tell them both that I know they are excited. I know we just arrived at Disney. But if I look over at that couch and either one of your bottoms are off of it, there will be punishment.
“Yes, maam. We’re sorry. We were just excited.”
The Lord has blessed me with pretty obedient kids. So that was all it took. But thankfully, their Daddy came in just as I was wrapping up the talk and took charge. After his jaw dropped over the line I was standing in.
“Is this the line to check-in?”
“Yeah, it’s not really moving very fast, either.”
“So what’s the plan, now?”
“I don’t know. I need to see how long I’ll be in line. I don’t know if they’ll have our room ready.”
“What if they don’t have the room ready? What are we gonna do first?”
Miss Type-A-on-a-Disney-vacation did not have good answers for these questions.
You see, on all of our Disney vacations, we’d never waited in line to check in. Not only have we never waited in line, but the room has always been ready. I guess we just usually hit it at the right time. Which is the same time we hit AKL that day. About 11:00 AM. So this threw us a little curve-ball.
Our plan had been to check-in, get “sitchuated” in the room, and pack up the back-pack for our day at MGM. The luggage was already on a cart and waiting.
So after standing in line for 30 minutes, I was finally up. I thought of LaLa trying to work it for an upgrade. I decided I didn’t care about an upgrade. I just wanted to check in now and not later. I didn’t care where the room was.
“Good morning! Welcome to Animal Kingdom Lodge. May I help you?”
“Yes, thank you. I’m here to check in. The last name is NM.”
Next Up: Does Southern Charm Work on AKL Cast Members?[post=16187142] Next Chapter [/post]
serendipity
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 18, 2006
awesome. I love that you took a picture of your dvd player playing the lion king. Absolutely classic.
lexmelinda
<font color=blue>Has a Seussical googling DD<br><f
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2006
Great installment, NM!! Glad you're "there"! AKL looks awesome!
Maybe we should add OCD to the list above... 
I think I heard some dark, foreshadowing music....nicolemarie said:
We use TP every day...that is if your TP means the same thing as our TP....sorry not supposed to discuss.nicolemarie said:
nicolemarie said:
Maybe we should add OCD to the list above... Aaawwww....NM! You didn't take the shortcut. I know....ritual....that's OK.nicolemarie said:
That is so adorable. My kids will stop but they never apologize for bad behavior. You're a good mom, NM!nicolemarie said:
In KY we use the phonetic spelling....sitchiated.....nicolemarie said:
LaLa
<font color=green>Hangs with the Mensas<br><font c
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2005
nicolemarie said:
Funny. I don't remember DH telling me he ran into the NMs that morning.
Okay, since you asked, I'll take a shot.
POD: Plan of Day. That was a gimme, but it should technically be POTD. For Plan of the Day. If you wanna get all neurotic about it.
FSU: Freak, Shut Up
BOC: Box Of Crap
TP: Toilet Paper
PT: Paper Towels
ID: Deranged Idiot. And you've got it backwards. It's okay though. I won't tell anybody. Feel free to edit.
GSN: I don't think I'll post what I had in mind for this one. But it's really funny. And shame on you two.
ISE: Infamous Stank Experiment
Close?
And who wouldn't want to fill up at the Okahumpka? With a name like that, I'd want to fill up there too.
Lemme clear this up. Not as cool. But close. Very close.
I had heard tale that we would have to bypass the arches, but it was not so. Here they were in all their glory. That kicked the excitement up to fever pitch. My daughter let out the kind of ear-piercing squeal only possible from 8 year old girls.
WHAT?!!
You mean we could've gone under the arches on the arrival drive after all?! That's it. I'm firing the navigator. Kicking him out on his rear and shaving his head when he falls asleep.
Or am I?
How pretty is that shot? That's gorgeous, NM.
I'm guessing yes.
I loved this installment! Nothing beats the feeling of arriving at Disneyworld. I don't blame the kids. I'd be running around the couch too. Those Christmas decoration pictures of AKL are so beautiful. Thanks for taking me there today, my girl.
nicolemarie
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 9, 2005
serendipity - Thanks for reading! One thing I've never been accused of is not taking enough pics. Yeah, I got a shot of Lion King in the DVD. That's full on dork.
Lexmelinda! - Yep. TP is what you think. And I actually do use OCD a good bit - usually in jest to my man.
No, we didn't use the shortcut! I didn't take your directions with me and we went with what we know. And, OK yeah, it's a ritual. But maybe next time - we'll be back in May.
Thanks for the comment about my motherhood. Although I can't take any credit. Call it selfish, but one of my prayers for my children - even before they were born - was that they would bring joy to us and others. I don't know about others, but they sure do to us.
Not from anything we've done, though!
LaLa- Box of crap. I don't know why you would need to say this. Much less abbreviate it. But I'll never use BOC again without thinking of you.
And bring it for GSN. But in a PM. Especially if it brings me shame.
And yeah, your navigator - if he can still call himself that - missed somethin'. My first comment when I saw we were heading under the arches, was "LaLa's DH said..."; but I stopped myself.
_______________________________________
Well friends, thanks for your comments.
Things will hit "serious crazy" for the NM's starting tonight. But good crazy. We are blessed with family and friends to share with us the celebration of the birth of Christ. It's a special time in our home and I look forward to taking a little hiatus from my Dissin' to enjoy it.
But all of my "friends" here will be in my heart. A special gift this year that was certainly not expected. You've brought me many hours of joy and laughter, and I'm thankful for you. Each and every one of you.
I hope your Christmas is a celebration of family and friends, and the One who came so we could celebrate!
Much love,
NM
Lexmelinda! - Yep. TP is what you think. And I actually do use OCD a good bit - usually in jest to my man.
No, we didn't use the shortcut! I didn't take your directions with me and we went with what we know. And, OK yeah, it's a ritual. But maybe next time - we'll be back in May.
Thanks for the comment about my motherhood. Although I can't take any credit. Call it selfish, but one of my prayers for my children - even before they were born - was that they would bring joy to us and others. I don't know about others, but they sure do to us.
Not from anything we've done, though!LaLa- Box of crap. I don't know why you would need to say this. Much less abbreviate it. But I'll never use BOC again without thinking of you.
And bring it for GSN. But in a PM. Especially if it brings me shame.
And yeah, your navigator - if he can still call himself that - missed somethin'. My first comment when I saw we were heading under the arches, was "LaLa's DH said..."; but I stopped myself.
_______________________________________
Well friends, thanks for your comments.
Things will hit "serious crazy" for the NM's starting tonight. But good crazy. We are blessed with family and friends to share with us the celebration of the birth of Christ. It's a special time in our home and I look forward to taking a little hiatus from my Dissin' to enjoy it.
But all of my "friends" here will be in my heart. A special gift this year that was certainly not expected. You've brought me many hours of joy and laughter, and I'm thankful for you. Each and every one of you.
I hope your Christmas is a celebration of family and friends, and the One who came so we could celebrate!
Much love,
NM
Frickles
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 3, 2005
This would so be my DH. But he is a huge weather nerd too. He's even gotten lil Frick interested in watching the weather channel which now produces bad dreams about tornadoes. Go figure. Anyhow, I truly believe that they just get pure comfort from SC. Especially during football season. I wish we girls had a channel like that...maybe one that gives the latest updates on the new shoes, handbags and jeans that are out there.
Borg. Love extra crispy bacon! That right there was worth y'all leaving early and staying there wasn't it!
Mr. Frick likes to pull that stuff as well....
Loved this picture! It brought back great memories for me as we loved the AKL last December. We came there to eat at Boma, see the wildlife and lounge by the fire pit. That was a sweet night for us.
LaLa said:
Maybe it is because I have gotten to know her so well, but I think I could tell ya what little La was thinking.
Thanks for taking me with you to the AKL today NM!!!!!
Love ya!!!
UtahMama
Wakey, wakey, Eggs and Bakey<br><img src=http://ww
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2006
NicoleMarie! We've crossed paths a few times so I feel like I know you but it's nice to officially meet you! Sorry this took me so long, but I'm glad I found ya.
I've only read the first two pages but I will edit this a little later to make myself sound like I've read the whole thing...
The backs of your kids' heads are just as cute as can be.
Looking forward to more!
edited to add- I really like you, Nicole Marie! You crack me up, big time!
I've only read the first two pages but I will edit this a little later to make myself sound like I've read the whole thing...
The backs of your kids' heads are just as cute as can be.
Looking forward to more!
edited to add- I really like you, Nicole Marie! You crack me up, big time!
AshClan
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2001
Hey NM!
Just getting caught up after the holiday rush, and I was happy to see a new installment! Your picture of the AKL lobby is stunning! It gave me a warm fuzzy feeling to see that, even though it's now AFTER Christmas!!
Love your hubby's teasing with the kids and the list of abbreviations. Gee, that could provide hours of fun...thinking up all kinds of phrases to fit those letters, couldn't it?! But we won't.
I am very anxious to hear what happened at check-in. Hope you find some time this week to update us!!
Still lovin' it (and you!!)
Just getting caught up after the holiday rush, and I was happy to see a new installment! Your picture of the AKL lobby is stunning! It gave me a warm fuzzy feeling to see that, even though it's now AFTER Christmas!!
Love your hubby's teasing with the kids and the list of abbreviations. Gee, that could provide hours of fun...thinking up all kinds of phrases to fit those letters, couldn't it?! But we won't.
I am very anxious to hear what happened at check-in. Hope you find some time this week to update us!!
Still lovin' it (and you!!)
lexmelinda
<font color=blue>Has a Seussical googling DD<br><f
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2006
lexmelinda
<font color=blue>Has a Seussical googling DD<br><f
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2006
StitchIsOurHero
<font color=red>I was smart enough to marry a DH w
- Joined
- Jul 29, 2004
I just found this trip report, and I am lovin' it!! Bring on more!
I also have to agree with your love for Dunkin' Donuts coffee--love that stuff, too!!
I also have to agree with your love for Dunkin' Donuts coffee--love that stuff, too!!
nicolemarie
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 9, 2005
Kimmie and Lexmelinda - Despite your valiant efforts, I still am on Page Two with no new installment ready yet. Thanks for the bumps!!
To the rest of you sweet posters, and the lurkers who don't post, thanks for reading. I'll be posting a new installment soon and I hope you'll be back to read it.
Happy New Year!!
NM
To the rest of you sweet posters, and the lurkers who don't post, thanks for reading. I'll be posting a new installment soon and I hope you'll be back to read it.
Happy New Year!!
NM
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