Be Careful When Tra La La La-ing Through Paris

[coteau_chick]

For those of you who haven't read my pre-trip report I will start this with the introductions.

First Me- Laura
I am a 37 year old stay at home mom. I love to plan our trips.

Dh- Faron
Faron is a very good husband and father. He also lets me plan our Disney trips. Faron loves to go to Disney World as much as me but every time we have gone he always says we are not going back again for a few years. We made it two years between our first and second trip and only one year between our second and third trip. He can't stay away from Disney World either.

Brennan he is our 11 year old son.
He is so sweet. He is very smart and a good baseball player. He loves Disney. We surprised him with this trip. He had a blast.

Grace is our 20 month old daughter. This is her second trip to Disney World. She had a blast too.

Courtney is our 16 year old daughter who decided that she didn't want to miss school to go to Disney World. She decided to stay behind. I was sad but I understood her point. She was worried about her grades. She also has a job and didn't want to miss work.

Here is a picture of our family at Animal Kingdom last year
(Notice my shirt says "Mom". Courtney said I had no shame wearing a shirt like that.)

 

[DWGal210]

What a cute family! I love those photopass pics; I always think it money well spent.

 

[coteau_chick]

What a cute family! I love those photopass pics; I always think it money well spent.

Thanks I hope you stick around. I will add more later. I just need to go start cooking supper.

 

[winkers]

yay! You started!
I love your title!

 

[lisalonglash]

Tres bon! Viva la France

Can't wait for your TR to start

 

[coteau_chick]

yay! You started!
I love your title!

I am so glad you made it over. I am already having fun reading your trip report.

Tres bon! Viva la France

Can't wait for your TR to start

Welcome

 

[skhermsmeyer]

You have the cutest kids! Sorry to hear your oldest couldn't come this trip, but maybe next time.

 

[coteau_chick]

To start this off I will say to all of you who are wondering, "We pulled it off!". I kept the trip a secret from Brennan and he was totally surprised.

We sent him to school on Friday (Feb. 20). Faron went check Brennan out of school around 11:30. He told him we were going to burn a VERY large pile of tree branches in our yard and that his grandparents were at our house to watch the fire. You can see a picture of the pile on my pre-trip report. When Brennan walked in Faron said that he had bad news for Brennan. He said, "You are not going to be able to go to baseball practice this weekend because you are leaving for Disney World in 30 minutes."

Brennan was in shock. He even had tears in his eyes. It was awesome. I don't have any pictures of it because I didn't want him to wonder what I had a camera pointed at him for. I wanted it to be a total surprise. I only have the memory of the moment. I will never forget the look on his face. We all had tears in our eyes, grandparents included. He really had no clue. He said he needed to pack and I said I had already done it. He was even surprised about that. He just couldn't believe this was happening to him.

On a little more sad note Courtney didn't want to go to school until we left. She wanted to see us surprise Brennan. I let her stay home and we planned for her grandma to check her in when we left. Well when I started packing she cried and said she wanted to come. My heart was breaking. She waited to pull this on me at the last minute. I was sad and mad at the same time. There was no way her dad would let her go now. She had made no arrangements for someone to take her place at work and he doesn't tolerate irresponsibility. I had begged her for weeks to go with us and she said no. Her dad was already mad that she was missing a morning of school when she said the reason she couldn't come with us was because she couldn't miss school.

We packed the car and said our goodbyes. We all cried, Courtney the most. I don't know how I left her behind. It was a hard lesson for her to learn. We missed her so much and she actually missed us. . We left our house. We were about a mile down the road when Brennan realized he left his bag at home. We turned around to back for it. No big deal. Well we got 30 minutes away from home when Faron realized he forgot his walet. We had to turn around and go home to get it. This was getting old.

We drove to Tallahassee. It should have taken us 8 hours to get there, it took us ten. That is not counting the delay because of having to go back for the walet. Faron kept saying, "Why didn't we fly?" He was so agravited. We sat in traffic several times. It was very late when we checked into our room in Talahassee. I forgot to ask if the hotel had a crib and I found out too late that it didn't. We just pushed the bed closest to the wall against the wall and I slept with Grace and Faron slept with Brennan. Grace was not used to this at all and she kept pokeing me in the eyes and pulling my hair. She wouldn't go to sleep. It was very dark and at one point I felt something on my head. She had one knee on each of my ears and was riding the horsey on my head . She finally fell asleep. We were sooooooooooo tired.
Up next day 2

 

[winkers]

I'm so glad you were able to surprise him! How fun!
I would have had a hard time leaving Courtney too! I think making our kids be responsible is one of the hardest parts of having kids, espeacialy teens.

Grace sitting on your head during the night is so funny! What a cutie!

 

[alboq]

I'm in!! My DH & I laughed when we met ya'll and I asked Brennan if he was surprise and he said "You knew too?". It was too funny! Here a total stranger from the DIS knew about his surprise. I'm looking forward to the "rest of the story". Alisa

 

[scottny]

great start to the report.

that is great you pulled off the surprise.

Sorry she was upset not to go but it was a lesson learned.

2 times you had to go back.

I will be tra la la'ing in Paris in 6 months. The real one, I cannot wait.

Look forward to more. It take sme a week sometimes to come back on but I will be back.

 

[coteau_chick]

I'm so glad you were able to surprise him! How fun!
I would have had a hard time leaving Courtney too! I think making our kids be responsible is one of the hardest parts of having kids, espeacialy teens.

Grace sitting on your head during the night is so funny! What a cutie!

I was very pleased with the way the surprise turned out.

My heart was breaking leaving Courtney. Now she wants us to take her on a cruise.

It was a rough night.

I'm in!! My DH & I laughed when we met ya'll and I asked Brennan if he was surprise and he said "You knew too?". It was too funny! Here a total stranger from the DIS knew about his surprise. I'm looking forward to the "rest of the story". Alisa

Brennan was funny when he said, "You knew too!" The look on his face was priceless.

great start to the report.

that is great you pulled off the surprise.

Sorry she was upset not to go but it was a lesson learned.

2 times you had to go back.

I will be tra la la'ing in Paris in 6 months. The real one, I cannot wait.

Look forward to more. It take sme a week sometimes to come back on but I will be back.

I am glad you are here. Yes the second time we went back we were 30 minutes from home. We trecked back thirty minutes and then another 30 just to get back where we were when we realized he forgot his walet. No stress there

 

[coteau_chick]

I don't have any pictures of our hotel room in Tallahassee but it was the Howard Johnson. We got there late. I can't remember what time. We woke up very early. We were out of there around 6:30am. Grace hated the room. The whole time we were trying to get ready she was crying at the door to leave. We had ice on our windshield when we got outside. I thought I was in Florida. We had a four hour drive ahead of us. We missed our turn according to mapquest directions but the toll lady told us what to do so we eventually did see this baby.

We made it to Port Orleans Riverside around 10:30. Faron waited in the car so I could check us in. The line was stretched out to Hong Kong. Eventually they came looking for me. The people in front of me and behind me in line were from Louisian too. I asked for Magnolia Bend because I wanted an elevator. I didn't want to carry Grace and her stroller up stairs everyday. We got Magnolia Bend room #9506 (I Think). It was a first floor room. We had good news too. Our room was ready. We drove there and put all of our stuff away and unpacked. When we walked into our room this was waiting for us.

We headed to the food court for lunch. Faron and I had the create your own pasta. It was good. Brennan had a individual pizza. He loved it. Grace had mac and cheese and grapes. She barely touched it.
I don't have any food pictures because meal time was usually quite stressful. Grace wanted out of her stroller and she wanted to run away. We had a hard time getting her to sit for long. We missed most of our ADRs because of this. She did much better with counter service.

Up next Epcot

 

[scottny]

That is one of the best sign pics I have seen. I hope in October I can get one like that. I need one for the site.
your there and ate at Riverside Mill and got the building you wanted and it was ready.

 

[winkers]

I love it when you see that sign!!

I've always wondered how hard it would be to take a toddler to the parks.....is Grace at the stage where she wants to run around constantly?

 

[reelmom]

I cried when I read about Brennan finding out and I almost spit coke out of my nose when reading about Grace "riding a horsey". This is already too much fun.

 

[DWFan4Life]

I just finished reading your report, it's a great start. It's a really nice feeling when your DS know your surprise. Looking forward in hearing more from you.

Have a nice and fun trip.

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

Woohoo! I found you!

So your beginning was rough, but it sure makes a good story!

That is some sad stuff with Courtney.

I am looking forward to reading more about your trip. I thought about you on the day you were traveling, wondering how your trip was going. Who knows, maybe I saw you on I-10 and didn't know it!

 

[DisneyTiger]

Yay!!! I am so ready to hear every detail!

So, the suprise... priceless. It did bring tears to my eyes. And so did the fact that you had to leave Courtney behind. Man, that must have been hard. But there's a reason she's got such a good head on her shoulders and it's because y'all teach her to be responsible. The HoJo sounded fun. Poor Gracie. Hope she got some rest in the car. Glad y'all got the building you wanted. Can't wait to read more and see all the pics!!!

 

[coteau_chick]

That is one of the best sign pics I have seen. I hope in October I can get one like that. I need one for the site.
your there and ate at Riverside Mill and got the building you wanted and it was ready.

Thanks.

I love it when you see that sign!!

I've always wondered how hard it would be to take a toddler to the parks.....is Grace at the stage where she wants to run around constantly?

It really wasn't that hard. She does like to run around but she also likes to ride in her stroller. I think she was trying to ask me to go back to Disney World today. She was talking about it the best way she could. I said do you want to go back and she said yes.

I cried when I read about Brennan finding out and I almost spit coke out of my nose when reading about Grace "riding a horsey". This is already too much fun.

I will never forget the look on his face. It was a trip sleeping with Grace.

I just finished reading your report, it's a great start. It's a really nice feeling when your DS know your surprise. Looking forward in hearing more from you.

Have a nice and fun trip.

Thanks Glad you are here

Woohoo! I found you!

So your beginning was rough, but it sure makes a good story!

That is some sad stuff with Courtney.

I am looking forward to reading more about your trip. I thought about you on the day you were traveling, wondering how your trip was going. Who knows, maybe I saw you on I-10 and didn't know it!

I am really disappointed I didn't get to meet up with you. I am glad you found you.

Yay!!! I am so ready to hear every detail!

So, the suprise... priceless. It did bring tears to my eyes. And so did the fact that you had to leave Courtney behind. Man, that must have been hard. But there's a reason she's got such a good head on her shoulders and it's because y'all teach her to be responsible. The HoJo sounded fun. Poor Gracie. Hope she got some rest in the car. Glad y'all got the building you wanted. Can't wait to read more and see all the pics!!!

Courtney has really come along way lately. I am so proud of her. I will do another update tomorrow if I have time.
I am glad you found me here. I can't wait to tell yall all about our trip.