birthday trip report...now finished!

[bumbershoot]

Trying to figure out what I need.

*earplugs for E, b/c Disneyland is loud. DCA, not as bad, but DL is rotten-loud sometimes. Also have promised them to him for HMH because he continues to tell us he will go as long as we protect him (not sure why he thinks our default is NOT protecting him on things like that, LOL).

*earplanes for E. Necessary, if only for placebo purposes. Wish they'd make a washable kind so I didn't need to throw down the cash for 'em every roundtrip, but oh well.

*saw on drugstore.com that they sell s'more flavored Zbars, which are a "nutrition" bar from Clif for kids. No marshmallow or gelatin or corn syrup in the flavor, and he's a fan of Zbars anyway. Haven't seen them in the store, and it might be special fun for him to get the flavor, since, apart from the chocolate, s'mores are OUT (even regular graham crackers have HFCS in them...).

*bodyglide stuff for the feetsies.

That should take us to $25 (have an email offer for free shipping at that amount).


*glowsticks!

 

[QueenDoOver]

Thanks, ladies!


Tracey, how fun! Since PPH has those foldout/foldover couch/daybed thingies, it'll probably be extra fun for the boys.




Sorry for the freakout all.


****************

Tracey, has your son ever done the SmokeJumpers "tire swing" thing over in the Redwood area of DCA? If not, he and Jack might like to try it! E and I were talking about it earlier, and I can't wait for Robert to see E on that thing.

I would watch people get soaked, but it's even better.

Hey Freakinout is okay. I do the same thing when I don't know that everyone is okay. Glad to hear you didn't have to wait too long.

The one time I went through the Redwood area, it was hot, and I hate hot, and Nathan was only 3. So I have never been back. But I do think now, that the boys will be big enough to enjoy it, and it shouldn't be hot, then it will be great. We'll definetly give it a try. Thanks for the reminder. I am a bit worried about encouraging too much running around in addition to all the walking. Jack's glucose levels are all over the place. He was at my house the other day and I tested his blood. He was high, at like 220, and so I sent them out to jump on the trampoline. After about 20 minutes or so his Mom arrived, and tested his blood. It had dropped to 120, which is just a crazy swing, ya know?? They were not constantly jumping either.

Hey, what is bodyglide stuff for your feet and how does that work??

 

[Brady's Mom]

Ooohhhhh....excited to try the smoke jumper thing. Our 5 yr. old will do it for sure, maybe he can convince his older brother to do it, too. 7 yr old is timid about new things - 5 yr. old is NOT! Too bad our 13 yr. old is too tall and I feel bad we missed it when he could have done it.

Don't worry about the freakin out thing. We're all friends here!

 

[bumbershoot]

The bodyglide stuff is anti-chafing. Since my last trip, I have been wearing my Crocs Athens everywhere, even though they make the hobbit-foot thing I've got going so much worse (looking). Just so comfy. But since my feet are wide, and Crocs aren't actually made for wide feet, my skin can rub. So for me, I put the stuff on the tops of my feet, and it works for *hours*. Better than having bandages all on the tops of my feet like the first day I had the Athens!

I buy it at REI or drugstore.com.


That is a wild swing, but it's also so interesting. Exercise is a huge component of what has kept Robert's blood sugars calm. Diet too, and cinnamon is AMAZING for him (like so many things with food, we discovered that thanks to Disneyland as well!), but just getting out for a walk brings it down so nicely. I figure it's b/c he's not the type where there's a pancreas problem (they seriously need to re-name the WHOLE diabetes thing, the names and descriptions are woefully awful and give such a WRONG concept of all types), but he doesn't have the freaky lows that the pancreas-problem people have...but if he's high (because he doesn't take drugs for it there's nothing else to do) a walk will bring it down to a nice normal place.



The smokejumpers thing isn't a running around thing. Stand in line, follow the directions of two CMs, sit on a swing thing and go shooting through the air. Hold on for dear life!

There's also a wall climbing thing, kind of cool.

And then there are the rope net pathways overhead. I have not yet been on them, as I tend to wear skirts at DLR. Skirts with shorts under, but skirts all the same.



We sent Robert on this trip to places neither of us has ever been...and we remembered last minute to send him with his digital camera and two batteries...but forgot to send the charger. And the batteries are proprietary to Olympus and expensive. He could buy a charger, but we have one here, and to use the new one at home he'd need to use an adapter. Guess we could sell the old one, or sell the new one to a very specific audience... Buying a battery is 10 US$ cheaper than the charger, but it would need to be charged, too. He has an iphone through work and the camera is good for a phone, but not for a camera. I can't believe we forgot to pack the charger....

 

[kaoden39]

I won't even say what my husband the cyclist might use the bodyglide for. I wish that we had taken the kids to that area when they were littler. I think I would have liked to sit and watch that one.

 

[mnmrmustard]

...I know he's just taking 18,000 pictures of a place neither of us has been to...but still, dude, text, call, or email.

Yup, sad but true with the 18,000 pictures ...I did the same thing in Vegas on my last trip

a few minutes later...


It worked!

So he's in the room now, and hopefully he'll get online.

Whew.

Sorry for the freakout all.

Glad he checked in for ya

****************

Tracey, has your son ever done the SmokeJumpers "tire swing" thing over in the Redwood area of DCA? If not, he and Jack might like to try it! E and I were talking about it earlier, and I can't wait for Robert to see E on that thing.

The other fun part of the attraction is the people-watching...not so much the little kids that get upset b/c they aren't 42" yet (like my son, when we took him into the Redwood area to help get him over not being 42" to ride GRR, and boom, both of the attractions in there that he wanted to do are 42" requirements...but I enjoy watching all the clueless young adults who blast right past the sign with the height LIMIT on it. I'm 5'3" and I can't go on it. These dudes are 6' and think they can, b/c they aren't paying attention.

OK it's the same sort of naughty thrill I got out of what was in my tag, where I would watch people get soaked, but it's even better.

We are looking forward to doing some of this stuff (and sending the kids through what we can't). I was raining the last time we went to DCA and we didn't get to try any of it

Trying to figure out what I need.

*earplugs for E, b/c Disneyland is loud. DCA, not as bad, but DL is rotten-loud sometimes. Also have promised them to him for HMH because he continues to tell us he will go as long as we protect him (not sure why he thinks our default is NOT protecting him on things like that, LOL).

*earplanes for E. Necessary, if only for placebo purposes. Wish they'd make a washable kind so I didn't need to throw down the cash for 'em every roundtrip, but oh well.

*saw on drugstore.com that they sell s'more flavored Zbars, which are a "nutrition" bar from Clif for kids. No marshmallow or gelatin or corn syrup in the flavor, and he's a fan of Zbars anyway. Haven't seen them in the store, and it might be special fun for him to get the flavor, since, apart from the chocolate, s'mores are OUT (even regular graham crackers have HFCS in them...).

*bodyglide stuff for the feetsies.

That should take us to $25 (have an email offer for free shipping at that amount).


*glowsticks!

Good stuff to have and great idea with the glowsticks! We have a bunch of glow necklaces left over from camping this summer - DLR will be a good way to use them

 

[bumbershoot]

Wanted to say sorry for my possible tactlessness about mentioning the older teens who are too tall for smokejumpers...forgot that there might be some people here with kids too big for it.

But in my defense, I am quite sure that all of your older kids read the signs and don't just run into the line, skittering littler kids out of the way.

Anyway, I'm sorry if my tact-free zone there was hurtful to anyone.

*****

I'm sure bodyglide has been used in alllll sorts of places best left unmentioned, LOL. And don't look it up on websites that don't sell stuff for athletics, b/c you're going to get a whole different product that would NOT work for intended purposes...or rather...wouldn't be like talcum powder in a compressed stick.

*****

I felt like such a dork, being so worried about Robert...but he's so far away...

When he finally contacted me he said "Oh yeah, i took so many pictures, like 50!" And I thought "ummmm, that's a handful of pix, not sooo many". Plus, honestly, he's not usually the best picture-taker. But he did well! Towards the end of the pictures you could tell his head was tired b/c they all started tilting, but only a few were out of focus. (oh, and he took nearly 200 that day...he was so surprised!)

And yesterday he walked outside and saw someone with the same camera, he said something to her about it, and it turns out she has the same name as me, they were leaving THAT day, and she had forgotten HER charger so had to buy one there...and the charger plug won't work at her home (just like our situation!), so she sold him her charger on the spot for about half the cost. She *wanted* to just give it to him but he coudln't do that...actually he first asked if he could pay her to charge his batteries that day which is when she told him they were going home. So he has two charged batteries and hopefully he'll spot someone with the same camera and problem to pass it along before he leaves!


*****
Having glowsticks is so great! We had never bought them, but of course earlier trips meant that E was younger and didn't notice as much. In May I meant to buy them but forgot, and I had a shameful moment of thinking rude thoughts about a group of women and kids who had glowsticks galore and were snapping them through the whole IASW line...and just as I was getting really grumpy that they weren't sharing (what the heck was WRONG with me?) they turned around and gave some to E...shame shame shame on me....

So when we visited my brother in June, I bought several dollar store packs, and not only do they make EXCELLENT light sabers to fight one's wonderful and hard-working lawyer aunt in the dark living room with...they are fun to have at DLR.

So as soon as I can FIND some at the dollar store (all they had last time I went were some Nascar themed, with glowing car number badge, nowhere near as many as there should be, sticks) I'm stockin' up so we can be the benevolent ones in line!


*****
Woooo, I worked out on the elliptical yesterday, and I'm feeling it! Nothing else but actually running gets to ALL the leg muscles like that. In between the elliptical sessions E had his swim lesson, which was fun. He and another girl were by far the most enthusiastic, though she actually gets her WHOLE head under the water, and E just sort of puts his face under (which is better than I can do!). Since he has two short lessons a week, I'm hoping they ramp up the teaching soon here...in reality he probably won't get so great that he can go down the GCH pool slide alone, but I can dream, right???

So....swim lessons to enhance the Disney trip...and since the Disney trip goes over one of his lessons (second to last one), Disney trip swimming will enhance his last lesson at that level, I hope.

*****
We're watching Brother Bear right now...Phil Collins is so good at writing songs for those movies...it's the part where Kenai has told Koda about Koda's mom and his part in her death.

Which just reminded me that today's my own mom's birthday...woulda been 65. Dang.




*****
I've been narrowing down what I might want to get with my funcard. In May I remember spending way too long in the PT Flea pin store, as hubby and son shopped/browsed/traded, and I saw this bag/purse. It looked cute enough as a somewhat oversized cross-body bag, but then it had a flap, under which you could put pins! I like having some special pins, and I like wearing a lanyard with my cards in the lanyard pouch, but I don't like the pins on the lanyard. So...that looked like great fun. However, it might make me look MORE like a trader, and I definitely do NOT trade my pins, so I'll have to see it again. The other thing would be Mickey Mammoth Crocs. Sure I could order normal Mammoths from Cabelas for like 10 bucks right now, but where's the fun in not having Mickey on my Crocs????

 

[kaoden39]

Eh, I am just sad for my kids not being able to do it. It was my bad when they were young enough, actually I don't think the girls were ever small enough to do it. The timing and all that.

Sorry about my comments about the glide stuff, I could not pass it up and I am afraid to look at it on other websites.

That's great about Robert and the lady with the same name and the same camera. That is irony. And hopefully he will be able to pass it on too.

I would think glow sticks would be easy to find at the Dollar Tree so close to Halloween. And what fun they are. My oh so sophisticated teenagers loves them. When Kody went to a concert earlier this year she had glow stick bunny ears for it. I gotta love that girl.

I love the bags at Disneyland, recently they had a Disney outlet locally and I had to check out the bags. Unfortunately there were none I had to have. Now I think with your bucks you need to spend them on something silly and frivolous that you wouldn't normally get for yourself.

 

[bumbershoot]

We had extreme success with the glowsticks. Had to go to two dollar stores to have the success, and now I know that the one we went to first should be avoided at ALL costs...they had Russian language cereal (called Monday Morning...be a Monday Morning family by eating this cereal!) and the whole place just smelled wrong.

But the second place was better. We got approximately 8 million glowsticks. OK maybe not. But quite a few. So that's done!

 

[kaoden39]

Yay on finding your glue sticks. I am We have a couple of Dollar stores here, and I am not overly fond of either one. They are both always dirty, I cannot stand a dirty store.

 

[mnmrmustard]

Yay for working out on the elliptical! We've been seriously slacking on our exercise program and are renewing our YMCA membership next month.

Yes, the necklace-style glowsticks we have were picked up at the local dollar store - each contains two sets of different colored necklaces. We usually lace them through our bike tires at campgrounds and ride around - gets lots of "ooohs" and "aaaahhhss" from the other campers

Robert needs to re-assess what "a lot of pictures" is. I've found that I usually take around 1,000 per day while at Disney/on vacations But very cool about the charger for the camera

It is great that you have E in swim lessons ...our girls loved having them and knowing how to swim is so very important for little ones.

Have fun with the card purchase planning. I'm not a pin trader either, but am starting to get more into pins. The girls may even do lanyards this year (my older daughter has a whole book of pins from last year's trip to WDW).

 

[bumbershoot]

The bike tire/glowstick thing sounds so cool!

My brother has a pool, and aunt and uncle are pretty much DS's favorite people in the universe, so it's definitely important for him to learn to swim. We had him in a Speedo vest at my brother's...that was great, but I guess isn't Coast Guard certified so he can't wear it at the Y, but he HATES the vests they have there, the collars actually tend to dump him face first in the water! Swim lessons were our main reason for joining, so I'm glad he's in the class.


The hubster isn't generally the picture-taker in the family. He's not usually ver good at it, either! I have been surprised, and pleased, at his increasing proficiency with the camera. He's actually using "my" old camera, which was actually given to me by my (now late) FIL. It went to Robert when I *thought* that camera had been stolen from the stroller while on a walk/jog around downtown here...I knew I'd had it, and then I remembered a woman talking to me about something on a walk, and then later I never saw the camera. We saved up and got me my pretty-looking-but-still-a-point-and-shoot Canon PowerShot S3...and then we moved, and while moving we got rid of my little recliner...and...the olympus was deep down in the cushiony depths of the chair. And so it became his camera.


Speaking of pix, I've been printing again. Had some free print credits from two places so got a bunch of 4x6s to continue doing the albums, and a couple bigger prints. So now I'm almost printed up to E's 2nd birthday.

 

[Brady's Mom]

I am so glad that Robert found a charger. I would hate to be in a new place and to only be able to get a limited amount of pictures.

I have to put glowsticks on my list for DLR. Which I haven't even started yet! But, in my defense, we still have over 30 days before we go. About 37, I think. So, I'm still good.

Although, it would be good to get my thoughts down on a list, so they don't keep repeating in my head in an endless loop.

Is E. excited about your trip? Does he count down the days and ask you 50 times a day when you are going? My 5 yr. old does. He wants to look at the calendar and see how far away Halloween is, since we are leaving the day after to go to DLR. I don't think I'll do a countdown calendar, since we have Halloween to look forward to, but I will be glad when I can turn the calendar over and he can count his own days.

 

[bumbershoot]

I was just reminded in another thread that Michaels has really good deals on glowsticks (if you can find them in the store). More sticks per dollar than the dollar store, and they all have connectors.

E, as many 5 year olds do, has an alternative way of thinking of time, or perhaps a wishful thinking way of dealing with time...so every day he's fairly sure that we're off to Disney. We'll say "2 weeks", and he'll say "2 hours????" And so the conversation goes. I really need to make a loop link, though we kept forgetting to tear them off for the May trip and I had to keep recounting. If I do it today I'm going to write the dates on each loop!


Lists are good. As long as you just have the one list. I tend to write lists on whatever papers I can find, so then I need a list of my lists. Amazingly, I was able to put all of E's homeschool stuff, the record-keeping (not that anyone needs it here, but I do) stuff, in ONE spot, one organized spot! It was a miracle. And it took all summer to think it out.

Speaking of organization, I'm already preparing for yuletime! I can't even believe it. During the Lego extravaganza after our visit to my brother's, which started b/c my SIL gave E an incredibly generous check to buy him whatever he wanted and all he wanted was Lego...we actually snagged an extra Lego set and stashed it away. And I think i'm going to get him another box of Bendaroos, b/c he LOVES those things. I am, right now, wearing a Bendaroo necklace that he just made for me. Since I absolutely cannot stand the feeling of that wax covered string...and it's making my neck all clammy and gross-feeling, you can see how much I adore him, since I'm wearing it.

Of course, we'll be going out for more elliptical (me) and swimming (him) soonish, so this is a limited time necklace-wearing.


We've been watching lots of Nightmare Before Christmas, and Eamon has started plotting out his OWN movie of it. He won't be including the "scary witches" or the one-eyed guy, because they are too scary for him. And it's going to be a movie back in the time when the doctor could "walk on his two feet". So... he's doing a prequel. Great...all that Star Wars exposure has influenced him in a bad Lucas way...


OK, I gotta make my order for earplanes and kid earplugs (for HMH! and most of Tomorrowland b/c it's loud there) and such...back later!

Think good thoughts for hubby's flight later on! He's leaving the country he's in and going to another country. And hopefully, once he checks out of this hotel, my rewards site credit for the booking will start to come through! Booked with hotels dot com through a rewards site, fingers crossed it worked.

 

[Brady's Mom]

Thanks for the tip on glowsticks at Michael's.

I am not very good at the countdown calendar thing, either. Whenever we might think to take a link off we are in a rush to get to school or to go to bed or to do something "important", so they get forgotten or we have to catch up later and that destroys the fun. Especially since we have to keep counting. Putting the date on them is a good idea.

Good luck with the elliptical. I am so uncoordinated on those things. I usually bang through Jillian Michaels 30 day shred. I like it and it's only 20 minutes. (Hard, hard work, but only 20 minutes)

 

[bumbershoot]

Wow, I did another hour on the elliptical. Well, maybe...56 minutes (2 automatic "weight loss" workouts of 28 minutes each), plus about 30 minutes on SLOW on the recumbent bikeE begged to play awhile longer.

Did the ell first, then he had his class (doing better every time! and his classmates are so adorable). The room I use is in the front, and it's for parents with children most of the day; they have a low-walled-off area where kids under 10 can hang out...parents are *supposed to be* in the workout room to supervise, but I've noticed that most parents are either not right in there OR have their earbuds hooked up. Anyway, he wanted to play more, so I did the slow bike to sort of stretch out just a bit.

I'm exhausted! But it's addicting...once I really get into it, I know I'll want to go all the time, though it usually does take something outside myself to exercise...growing up, my mom wanted to jog (late 70s, of course she did!), then we had big dogs that needed walk/runs, then my mom and I belonged to the Anatomy Asylum so she was going for aerobics and I was company for her...then I had a year of sloth in college, then I joined Crew and had to work out for the other women in my boat. I did have a good workout going while in chiro school, but I also had a workout partner...then again I was living with my mom and she always encouraged me to belong to the gym (awesome Gold's Gym in Burke VA, awesome!)...then the 10+ years in between happened. Total lazybones. But now I have E, who wants to go there anyway...so I go and I work out! He's my team.

Hey wait a minute...he encourages me to work out...but he discourages Robert b/c he doesn't want Robert to lose his belly. What's up with THAT?



The trip is so close! Woo!

I just watched the DVC/Grand Cal Villas webcast thing. Very disappointed. I was expecting *actual* footage from today, webcams set up, etc...no no no. Just the same ol' same ol'. Whatever.


But looking at the trip reports of it over on the DVC boards, and seeing that the pools are NOT separate, now THAT makes me excited about the trip.

 

[Hawleys]

I just watched the DVC/Grand Cal Villas webcast thing. Very disappointed. I was expecting *actual* footage from today, webcams set up, etc...no no no. Just the same ol' same ol'. Whatever.

But looking at the trip reports of it over on the DVC boards, and seeing that the pools are NOT separate, now THAT makes me excited about the trip.

I watched the webcast thing and had the exact same reaction. Blah. I am excited to read your trip report. Keep rocking out at the gym!

 

[QueenDoOver]

You all are so chatty! Good for you Molly, making it to the gym. We are Y members too, but I am off schedule. It is killing me! I know I will feel it when I am at DL too!

Okay, off to put glow sticks on my list. (I have tons of them too!)

 

[bumbershoot]

Yep yep, very chatty.

Eamon seems to think I'm torturing him, as we have the big bag of glowsticks just sitting there in the kitchen. OK maybe that could be considered torture. Or at least torment. After all, he is only 5.


I. Am. Exhausted!

I mean, wiped out. Gotta get the diet better, if I'm going to be depleting my resources with workouts to which I am unaccustomed.


E just said to me..."Mowy, did you know that flowers only work if you talk nice to them? I've been studying flowers...for ten weeks!"

That's better than yesterday's post-YMCA conversation..."How do you make friends? By licking each other's armpits???"

I did assure him that that is NOT the way to make friends....then again, I've been trying for a month to make a friend at the Y and it hasn't yet been successful..maybe E's way is the new trendy thing?

 

[kaoden39]

Isn't it funny how kids minds work? My three have always come up with little pearls of wisdom. I will never forget one time when Loren was a baby and Kody was around 2 and a half and she was taking Me and my shadow tumbling class. Kody saw a baby boy getting his diaper changed and Kody was very interested in the whole process. She stopped where we were walking and said, "Mommy that baby has the same parts as Loren. Why do they have a tail and why is it in front?" I wanted to melt into the floor. This is the same child that at four wanted to know when she was getting breasts. Ah yes, kids