CANADIAN CLAMMPETS GO TO HOLLYWOOD !!(Studios that is)

[momdad4kids]

Ok Im not really sure why im doing this but Im bored maybe? Over extended (definatley) or trying to kill time until we finally get in the van ,drive to Logan an get on the plane for Orlando. I think thats it ,lol.
First maybe some background to this whole mess.It started way back one night In January ,just after new years, we were cold ,stuck here in the great frozen north wishing we could be someplace warmer,anyplace warmer, South Carolina warmer would be a welcome treat but alas finances were such that after paying day care for 3 kids we could probably do 1 night in Bangor Maine and that was about far south as we were going that winter . We have done the South thing in the past but havent been to disney since 98 the year our oldest son was born, after a couple winters of diapers and feedings and temper tantrums he was deemed ready to do Myrtle Beach , Now to many ppl that isnt really going south in march but hey if you live someplace that the avg daily temperature with wind chill is a balmy -35 then S.C. is heaven.(we wear shorts and the locals are like OMG whats wrong with those ppl, oh wait ,Canadians yeah theyre all insane,why dont they go south like everyone else...´Well then after that trip in 01 we started planning more kids .Maybe 1 more,yeah thatd be cool ,a little girl possibly to offset the testosterone emmiting from our household.theres a limit to how much one can stand when DS is insane over anything powered by diesel feul,from farm tractors to trucks to bulldozers. Barbie seemed like such a good idea so we started trying again then just when things seemed liked our little family was going to be just that little as in the 3 of us , my wife announced that we were preg,still not sure how we were preg but ok whatever im ok with this ,happy even ,a little girl would be wonderful but no matter what the babies gender it was going to be wonderful.Well as things in our lives seem to go ,life held a few surprises....
The radiologist at our local hospital had moved to another city and Kris had her first ultra sound postponed.Even so her Dr assured us that the babys heartbeat was strong and everything was fine...Then 3 weeks late she had her first of many ultrasounds,while I languished in the waiting room woman came in sat down ,went in to their appointments and left ,everyone except for my wife, what the hecks wrong with this picture...Finally the radiologist comes and tells me I need to see something,twins i ask ,one of my big fears as multiples tend to run in my family,no ...triplets.omg..........more later ,lol i m being paged...

 

[Nanajo1]

OK you got me. When's the next installment?

 

[momdad4kids]

Well after a lengthy hospital stay my wife gave birth to 3 healthy baby girls one morning in Febuary during the biggest snowfall of the year,like this should surprise us?LOL At this point we were scared to death ,our parenting skills were lack lustre at best , how the frigg was this going to work?
Well they survived wonderfully as has our son , our house and ourselves are still dealing with the onslaught....
Back to January and freezing to death, we decided that 2009 in feb/march we'd do Myrtle Beach again and started planning ,checking condo prices estimating food and feul and everything that it would take to get 4 kids and ourselves there and back when Meg watched a disney commercial ,you kno the "Year Of a Million Dreams " one and looked at me and said "I wanna see the princesses at disney daddy".That was our first clue about going back to Disney.

 

[momdad4kids]

I probably should introduce the main characters of this sitcom,My wife is gonna kill me for this,lol. First theres my self ,"Jed C' without the millions in oil revenue ,lol then "granny" aka kris ,my wife , financial guru of the family,she can save and stretch money where my strong point seems to be spending and squandering it :confused .Then theres Mr Drysdale played by Devon our 9 yo DS who has somehow managed to amass a small fortune in 9 yo kid terms anyhow of $300 spending money for a week at Disney, I'm sure I probably wont have that much to just spend on myself for whatever I want while there. He obviously got his financial gene from his mom then playing "Jane" will be my sister in law who's hasn't been there since she was 15. Now "Elly May" ,I'm not sure who would best fit her character,one of our daughters has her beautiful blonde hair while another has her wild spirit and yet a third daughter in some ways reminds me of Jethro,lol ,kind easy going but well maybe just a little to impulsive and well doesn't always seem to think things totally through.
One night after bath time 2 weeks ago the same child was found robed in nothing but a bath towel standing on top of a set of chest of drawers that I can barely reach over, yelling to her sisters "Look at me I can fly,,," Then before my horrified better half could stop this, proceeded to jump from there to the floor with "wings " flapping. How we didn't end up in emerg after this is beyond me . If they gave Air Miles there ,at the hospital, we could fly to Orlando every year for life ,free.

 

[momdad4kids]

Im still not sure if this is a good idea or not,going to Disney.That thought really hit home just after we decided we could do it .One night we were watching "John & Kate Plus 8", The one where they go to Disney...That alone would strike fear into even the most seasoned Disney vetern.Now I realise they have twice as many kids as us but if you ever experienced multiples or a large family You kno EVERYTHING is simply a matter of survival from minute to minute,lol.
Im surprised that we've actually made it to this point,here it is Thanksgiving weekend and NOTHING has happened to derail our plans, we even managed to have 90 % of everything paid for at this point even before the Loonie went to pot...scary for us,lol.
You've heard of Murphy's law, well we subscribe to the modified version ...
Murphy : Anything that CAN go wrong Will go wrong
Ours : Murphy was an optimist.......................,
Our marriage has to be rock solid or else we're gluttens for punishment maybe? Dunno but its survived building a home, major career change, having our first child after years of being D.I.N.K.s( double income no kids), losing our home thru forced sale so the government could construct a new highway ( something that still makes me mad as hell), buying a home, remodeling a home( still....Never leave a new house and buy a centuary home unless you REALLY want to strain a marriage lol ) and alas the birth of our daughters who will just be turning 6 before we leave for WDW.
I cant believe what a life altering experience that has been. Im not sure if either of us slept during the first year, I honestly cant remember,sleep deprivation and constant exhaustian tend to really mess with your memory. Anyhow its like uhhh really late an speaking of sleep thats where im going to bed finally,lol.

 

[momdad4kids]

Your almost 5 yo daughter says she wants to see the Princesses? I decided to assert my authority as patriarch of the family unit and demand to take her to WDW. Well that failed miserably so I decided to change tactics and beg,this usually works better for me anyhow,lol. Normally I just do what I want then beg forgiveness after but I thought Kris would kill me if I booked a trip to Disney without talking to her first.
Actually as we had been planning to go to Myrtle Beach anyhow we would at least sit down and crunch some numbers. So late one night after the kids FINALLY went to bed we got on line and started doing some research.We had numbers already for doing 2 weeks in march, one week in a beach front condo, food, meals on the road,hotels and a week spent driving both ways ,seeing a few things on the way there and visiting aunt Ruthie for a couple of days.
Now we have flown to Florida and driven both in the past and I personally would rather drive, mostly because I'm an anal control freak type and flying means you do things by someone Else's schedule and since delta kept refusing to let me pilot the plane Id rather drive..... BUT the thoughts of spending 3 fun filled days with 4 whining kids in a mini van rocketing down the I95 didn't sound like that much fun either, we decided we'd fly.
Now to find a flight. Usually we fly from Bangor Maine and we have actually learned a few things, one being you never plan ANYTHING during the "arsenic hour"( 6pm until bedtime when the kids can be pure poison) So an early morning flight would be much better than a later one.Finally Delta publishes its fares for March 09' and I find the perfect flight, leaves Bangor change planes in Boston then direct to Orlando.
Kris had been saving feverishly but we were still trying to save enough for airfare so we postponed booking it for a while, we had cut all nonessentials from our budget,its amazing how much you piddle away on things like coffee at Tims and eating out just because you didnt feel like cooking. Our largest expense however was childcare, with the 3 kids in daycare full time it takes a huge bite from the budget and since summer vacation was just around the corner and their grandparents had offered to take them for a few weeks, we were waiting to free up that cash. Just then prices started rise and our flight went up almost $100 per person out of Bangor.What now?

 

[dakjoskaimiksmom]

Seriously, I wish my dh was a little more like you when it comes to WDW. He'd just as soon stay at home!

 

[momdad4kids]

Seriously, I wish my dh was a little more like you when it comes to WDW. He'd just as soon stay at home!

I think I have some of my own fathers genes when it comes to traveling/vacations. I was raised on a potatoe farm in western New Brunswick. My dad always managed somehow to be able to find time to go on vacation for a week every summer sometimes twice if the season co-operated.I think its important to spend time together as a family. I just happen to be a closet Disney fan but theres many places id love to see besides Disney.Ive been from coast to coast and up and down the eastern seaboard .Half the fun of going vacation can just be getting there.I think thats why I enjoy driving so much more than flying. Ive driven for a living in the past and even then it amazed me how many ppl were just going from point A to point B.Stressed over keeping a schedule and taking huge chances with speeding and taking huge chances while passing. Ive seen people obviously miserable in rest ares and fuel stops, why do that to your self? give your self an extra day or 2 slow down theres so much to see and do in both Canada and the States and not far off the highway either.

 

[momdad4kids]

well we did finally manage to book flights however now instead of flying from Bangor we're flying from Boston .Ive been trying to find the prices from Bangor I had.I cant believe how much "stuff" Ive collected most of it on loose leaf paper that I keep in a 3 ring binder.I use that for all my temporary notes and rough drafts then as things become finalized I transfer those to 5 subject notebook, told you I was anal.Most sane rational people would just keep it on their computer right? Not me I'm scared the hard drive will die or the kids will somehow delete it or if I back it up the CD or memory stick will get lost , I have pictures on of the kids on stick I haven't seen in a while, lol.
Relying on really poor memory I think, taxes in ,the flight from Bangor hit a high of $340 from around $250.Its lost in the foot high pile of paper on my desk ,in among st household budget stuff and those wonderful priceless pieces of art that the girls make for me that I dare not throw away.
You know how that works,its a monochromatic green crayon drawing from November that once in the garbage can send out a signal to the artist so that they will for the first time in 3 weeks actually throw something in the trash and discover said picture and rescue it for you.
Now From Boston we are flying for $209 per person airport fees ,taxes ect included for a total savings of about $780. I realise that it means driving for 6 hours oneway compared to 2 and 1/2, so extra fuel cost, we had already planned on getting a room anyhow,so that isnt really an issue, parking fees at Logan are out of this world and weve booked the Best Western in Quincy. They had the best deal on a park and fly and had a free airport shuttle service for $140 a night. On the positive side our flight gets in just after 10 am instead of just before 2 pm and kristi will be able to do Freeport and some shopping on the way to Boston
.If you familiar with LL Bean, the flagship store in freeport is a must do if your in the area.Devon our oldest ,his LL Bean bacpack is going on its 3rd season and still works and looks like new, it hasnt been an issue with him yet but Im sure its coming when it wont be cool to have the same pack 2 years in a row even.

 

[dakjoskaimiksmom]

and those wonderful priceless pieces of art that the girls make for me that I dare not throw away.
You know how that works,its a monochromatic green crayon drawing from November that once in the garbage can send out a signal to the artist so that they will for the first time in 3 weeks actually throw something in the trash and discover said picture and rescue it for you.
QUOTE]


Bwa ha ha ha!! I TOTALLY know what you mean. I didn't know about the signal, though. That explains absolutely everything!

 

[momdad4kids]

Bwa ha ha ha!! I TOTALLY know what you mean. I didn't know about the signal, though. That explains absolutely everything![/QUOTE]

HA HA yeah I think its a really well guarded secret amongst the under 10 crowd. It might be linked to a childs ability to somehow know that the bag of cookies on the top shelf in the pantry cupboard is empty ,so thats EXACTLY the thing they want just before bed , then they can have a total meltdown. I really think it deserves to have a study done on this phenomenon

 

[momdad4kids]

We promised everyone if they behaved themselves that we would do something fun Saturday. It tok some reminding to get everyone help clean up and eat more than one bite from their lunch plate but somehow they managed to make it all happen
Not far from here in Presqueisle Maine they have resurrected the old Braden theater.3 screens ,first run movies, all movies all show times all ages are $5, large butter popcorn is $2.50 ,small $1.25 its not fancy or brand new but the seats are good and its clean . Off we went to to see Igor, everyone loved it but we went to the 7PM show so it was 8 our time and after it was over the girls were done as well. Actually all 4 kids fell asleep long before we got home,its about an hrs drive 1 way.
Now when ppl sleep and kris and I can actually sit down together we can get some things done.It was then that we realized we were into crunch time .
I know 4 months sounds like a ,long time but in between now and Feb 24th we have Halloween and Christmas to get through as well as the girls birthday.
Its been a long time since we were in Florida at that time of year and I couldn't honestly remember what the weather was like for sure,(not snowing HA HA)I did actually the day before find a weather history link ,enter your vacation date and you see the weather for the past 7 years and a total avg.
What an awsome tool . Now I was really surprised at Kris, shes famous(to me) for over packing,drives me insane,If theres a slight chance u may want it take it with you . I have loaded the van before for a one night away trip with enough suit cases to stay a month! Personally I could leave here for a week in Toronto and pack everything in a small duffel bag. I still dont get how this works,lol. Anyhow she is now going to pack one outfit per day per child with a couple of spares!Excellent. The one great idea we did decide to try was packing everyones clothes for one day ,shirt shorts underwear and socks in a large zip Lock bag, That way each morning theres no searching through your suitcase trying to decide what to wear. Lauren is impossible to dress, she wears nothing her mother likes,if you tell her its cute she will never wear the outfit again,(imagine what a ray of sunshine she'll be at 13)...Gillian is almost as bad but she will at least put on what you suggest and Meg will wear anything ,thank god. The zip Lock bags should keep certain ppl from totally ripping apart their suitcase looking for "fashion" clothes plus when you take off your clothes u can put ALL the dirty ones in the bag and if you need to do laundry while we're away all you have to do is grab a bag and have everything you will need..

 

[momdad4kids]

Ok this is totally off topic I know but I was just outside enjoying all the different colors and thinking how beautiful it can be here in the fall. I wanted some pics to show everyone but alas I dont have any and since I dont have a digital camera at the moment.( someone "borrowed" it and now no one can remember seeing it let alone doing it) "just tell mommy or daddy where it is,we promise we wont be mad...." They"re to smart to believe that,lol.
ANYHOW Mars Hill Mtn is basically in our backyard,I grew up about 3 miles from the base of it ,skied on it and have looked at it every day of my life.Then I remembered Paul Cyrs photos so I went off and goggled his name so I could put I link up to his page,most of the pics are northern Aroostoock county ,Maine but the scenery is identical http://northernmainephotos.com/root/NorthernMainePhotos/iphoto/main2.cfm
I'm not sure if the link will work but u can copy and paste if you want, during the search I also found these and I'm going to try to post them on here if I can.recently weve had Amish and Mennonite families moving into the area.Recent here means sometime in the past 20 years by the way,lol. Rural and small towns it seems if your parents weren't born in the area then your "new" lol, Not that we hold that against you but some ppl still wonder if it was the right thing to do to let them vote in local elections....LOL just kidding.
The pics were taken in Aug 2008 starting at 6:30 am and the last one at 2;15 pm just to give you an idea how fast the barn went up.I remember seeing one barn raising as a child ,it was nothing of this scale though. My dad who would be 91 if he were still alive hap participated in many in the area both before and after WWII.

http://www.crownofmaine.com/paulcyr/stories/amish-barn-raising/
Ok I cant figure out how to put a pic on here,but theres the link,lol!

 

[momdad4kids]

Wow I can hardly believe it ,Halloweens finished ,over with and in a few short weeks its going to be the C word gasp....Then January will be here with those wonderful -45 windchills and after that February.Then DISNEY WORLD!!!!
I realize 3 months ,3 weeks, and 3 days is a long way off but not really, Devon and I went to Fredericton today and payed off CAA ,with the dollars dramatic fall from grace we should have done it before but alas we dont work that way, besides what a few extra dollars,HA HA.We were talking last night after the kids went to bed,or the night be foe ,I forget anyhow we were going over finances for the trip and how much more will we have to save and numbers are going through our heads and we're doing the OMG thing when it clicked ,really what more do we need? The dollar dropped OK I can deal with that ,god we went once on a 62 cent dollar and didn't have to declare personal bankruptcy after. Now the airfare was paid for a while ago, Disney has its money for the hotel and the park tickets, we're doing the dining plan so no food to buy,Our oldest has ALL his spending money,the girls have some already so that just leaves Kris and I and really what do we need, we've budgeted the kids $20 a day for whatever they want,if its over that limit theres no borrowing ahead but you can save money day to day and get it that way.
basically its fuel to Boston and back,probably 3 tanks I'm thinking at roughly @45 usd per tank and the hotel there another $139 usd and most likely one in Bangor on the way home another $100 usd?
Crap I forgot about the tip....Ive tried to avoid this topic because I know how much its been flogged before but I have to get it off my chest.I realize that tipping differs slightly from here to the US and I'm cheap when it comes to tips.Like today ,we went to Swiss Chalet,the food was good we both ordered basically the same thing only mine came with an soup or salad,I ordered soup,got salad,no biggy I was sitting on the fence anyway so I said nothing and devoured it,our chicken came, mine with mashed and a roll and Devon's with fries, no ketchup on the table and 2 pats of butter so small I barely noticed them, I asked for more butter and ketchup from the server, not our waitress but she did bring the plates out to us,I got a grunt. I reached over the divider and snagged ketchup from the opposite table for Dev, then put the 2 TINY pats of butter on my mashed potatoes and started to eat when I noticed no dipping sauce for the chicken,k this is going down hill fast in my opinion.just as I'm about to throw a snotty OUR waitress arrives, I ask her for dipping sauce and more butter ,I get dipping sauce so I ask AGAIN ,3rd time , 2 different ppl for butter I get an "oops, sorry be right back" I get butter finally. The meal was good dont get me wrong although a bit annoying but we did finally get everything.The tip? well I was really tempted to say none and if it was the waitress that grunted it would've been none, you reap what you sow with me, I finally decided 10% was the magic number for this one.15% is an avg tip for me,fair to good service and fair to good food you can get 15% now if every things wonderful you can get 20% but your gonna have to work for it.The fact that I'm going to drop 20% every meal because we have 6 or more ppl in our party,automatically, ANNOYS me to no end,almost to the point of doing the counter service plan.

 

[momdad4kids]

I called this morning waited for about 15 minutes,listened to Disney sell itself long enough to have heard it all at least twice but its done ,well most of it anyway unless we change our minds,lol.That could never happen,
I was fully expecting to get none of what we wanted for restaurants or times but guess what , we did,YAY!!!
Weds, Feb 25 dinner 1900 Park Fare @ 4:45 pm
Thurs, Feb 26 dinner Chef Mickeys @ 5:10 pm
Fri, Feb 27 I gotta change this one to 50's prime time ,oops
Sat, Feb 28 brkfst Crystal Palace @ 9:15 am
dinner Whispering Canyons @5:05 pm
(w bday Cake for the girls)
Sun, March 01 dinner Le Cellier @4:30 pm
Mon, March 02 dinner San Angelo Inn @4:30 pm
Tues, March 03 dinner this was gonna be 50s prime time but not now
Weds, March 04 dinner Hopefully we can do Mickeys Back Yard BBQ but alas the reservation stem isn't totally up and running to included some of the dinner shows yet
Crap everyones home from church so I need to go now ,peace and quiet is all OVER,lol

 

[momdad4kids]

What an awsome deal,stay 4 get 3 free,for us anyhow as we were planning on 8 nites anyway.I was at work friday when Kris called and asked me if I had seen the deal on here (I had'nt) so she emailed Shannon our CAA travel rep to ask if we would qualifyand we did,she had already sent the requets before Kris ahd called and was just waiting to hear back from Disney.I talked to her myself just after I got off work,she had to wait over an hr just to get through to Disney that morning.I was concerned though after reading the fine print we would have to give up our park hopper option but we didnt in the end,we now have a 9 day park hopper pass,saved $771 USD AND have the $200usd gift card so in total almost a $1000 usd and with the exchange rate hovering around 25% this was all good news!

 

[momdad4kids]

As many times as we have been away one thing remains true,we, like an army, travel on our stomachs It seems no matter where we go the thing we remember most is what we ate so Im assuming Disney will be no different.we have finalized ALL of our restaurants according to where we will be and what we will be doing. Our first day ,after we arrive,our flight gets in just after 10 ,we plan on doing a couple of hrs at MK then off to 1900 Park Fare for dinner @ 4;45 ......

Thurs ....Chef Mickeys @ 5:10

Fri..........50s Prime Time @ 4:05

Sat.........Crystal Palace @ 9:15am then on to Planet Hollywood @5:00pm

Sun........LeCellier @4:30

Mon.........San Angelo Inn @ 4;30

Teus.......Whispering Canyons (birthday Cake and all ) @ 5:00pm

Weds....Raglan Road ,Celtic Music and good food @4:00

We have had a terrible time deciding where to eat the last day We've never done Raglan Road before but everything we've read has been positive, Our kids love good music ,well any music actually, but I like celtic so