Can't We Just Travel by Map? Oct 2013 PTR

[oopsiDAISY]

Today I get to do a dance I haven't done in over a year and a half! What dance is that you ask? Why it's the...






DOUBLE DIGIT DANCE!!!!!

 

[Pluto0809]

Today I get to do a dance I haven't done in over a year and a half! What dance is that you ask? Why it's the...






DOUBLE DIGIT DANCE!!!!!

Yay!! If we keep our original dates, I'll be doing that in 5 days. It's looking like the rumors of Free Dining being extended are ligitimate so I may be moving the trip to one week later. The week I currently have booked is not part of the offer. If we do get the Free Dining, I will be upgrading us to POR!

So since you are the resident POR expert, where is a good location to request? We won't be doing a Royal Room or other room upgrades so I need to find an area that is nearest to a bus stop and the food court without paying extra.

 

[DMGeurts]

WAHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So happy you get to do the dance! It's gonna come fast now.

D~

 

[Chicago Mo]

We could have stayed in that cemetery even longer. We did spend over two hours there...and still did not see half of it I am sure. It truly is such a special place. Funny side story...we also visited what we termed the "ghetto cemetery" next door...now that was one CREEPY cemetery! It was VERY obvious which cemetery received the government funding!

What's the other one??? they make for even BETTER pictures!!!

Yes, I couldn't help but think of Mo when we were at the cemetery. I have no doubt she could have taken some GORGEOUS pictures at the Cave Hill Cemetery....it was such an artistically awe inspiring place...for real!

AWWWWWWWW thanks for thinking of me.. You should have called...

Thank you for noticing my hair and for liking it! Yes, I went with a shorter "do" with bangs a few month ago. Actually, it is grown out a bit too much at the moment. I have a close friend as a hairdresser. She actually comes out to the house and does all of our hair in one whack. She is due to come out next week!

Love it!!!

Not sure of dates yet, Mo. But, believe me when I say you will be one of the first to know when we do get it set up. As it turns out, my Chicago friend's BFF is a SW airlines flight attendant and may be able to get me free tickets on standby. That would make it a much better possibility for me. BUT...it probably won't be anytime in 2013. We still have several family trips planned for this year.

I see she lives in the SAME neighborhood where i WORK!!!!

Today I get to do a dance I haven't done in over a year and a half! What dance is that you ask? Why it's the...






DOUBLE DIGIT DANCE!!!!!

I wanna dance with you!!!

 

[petals]

We also got a little bit of magical mail Monday evening. One of our Disfriends who is on a special FB group I am a member of sent some cute shirts to Charity that she had outgrown... here is just one of them, Charity has not worn the other yet.


OY! This girl is just TOO SASSY!

I'm glad she likes it and super happy to see them go to a proper Disney loving home

 

[Alysa]

Today I get to do a dance I haven't done in over a year and a half! What dance is that you ask? Why it's the...






DOUBLE DIGIT DANCE!!!!!

Hurrah!!!!!!!!

 

[spiritsim]

This past weekend I had a "reunion" trip with my BFF from high school. It had been almost 17 years since we had seen each other. We have recently connected on FB, and decidede we just needed to get together for sort of a girl's weekend. Can I just say we had the BEST time?! It was so great to spend time with her! We were able to just pick up and hang out like we had in the "olden days".

We spent our weekend riding around in this:



This was her Jeep, and we rode around with the top down all weekend. She was very excited about it. She lives in Chicago, and had never gotten to put the top down since she got it over a year ago. Apparently, it just doesn't get hot enough for it in Chi-town.

I really didn't get any photos Saturday as we were just too busy talking up a storm and catching up. Sunday, I went on a picture taking FRENZY! I won't subject you to all of them, don't worry!

Sunday morning we found a fabulous place to enjoy brunch. If you are ever in Louisville, I highly recommend Dish on Market for brunch. Just look at this beautiful food:



As you can tell from the picture, it was a beautiful day, and we dined al fresco. That gorgeous plate is filled with: bacon wrapped filet migon with hollandaise sauce, eggs over easy, potato hash, cheese grits, and an english muffin. It was delicious, but as you can imagine, I could not eat all of it.

Here is a snapshot of the girls who enjoyed this scrumptious feast:



After brunch we headed out for our favorite adventure of the entire trip. Where were we headed? A cemetery! Yes, weird, but we had spied this cemetery the day before, and we were so excited to go explore it. We headed to Cave Hill Cemetery. This cemetery is advertised with local attractions...and for very good reason. It is such a beautiful place! We spent over two hours riding around, walking, taking pictures...it was just too beautiful and serene. We loved it.

From the pictures you will see that it was so much like a gorgeous park filled with gravestones. So, here are some pictures for your cemetery enjoyment:



It has a wonderful duck pond with ducks, geese and swans:











Okay, now for pictures of gravestones that really captured my attention. Feel free to scroll right on through if this creeps you out.















This one reminded me of Master Gracey's grave:



BFF thought this cabin looked like one on Lost... (I never watched it, so I was at a loss):



And because this is a DISNEY forum, I felt I needed to share some Disney related sadness with you...I, unfortunately, found the gravestone for what looks to be Ariel or rank looked at me like I was going crazone of her sisters:



continued in next post...

I laughed so hard at the ariel gravestone I had tears in my eyes and DH Frank looked at me like I was going crazy

 

[Pixiedust530]

Hope you have a SUPER day!​

​

​

​

 

[oopsiDAISY]

Yay!! If we keep our original dates, I'll be doing that in 5 days. It's looking like the rumors of Free Dining being extended are ligitimate so I may be moving the trip to one week later. The week I currently have booked is not part of the offer. If we do get the Free Dining, I will be upgrading us to POR!

So since you are the resident POR expert, where is a good location to request? We won't be doing a Royal Room or other room upgrades so I need to find an area that is nearest to a bus stop and the food court without paying extra.

Oh, I do hope you get to switch to POR! It is just such a great resort, we love it! Not sure if POR "expert" is correct. We really have only stayed there once...we just know that is where we always want to stay as long as we can. We know that someday sooner than we would like, Gabe will outgrow the little murphy bed and we will be forced to seek other accommodations.

I would suggest clicking on THIS web site for great maps of the resort, as well as any and all other information you heart could ever desire regarding POR. This is sort of an unofficial POR web site. It is kept completely up to date on all things POR.

WAHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So happy you get to do the dance! It's gonna come fast now.

D~

Oh how I hope you are right. I am in desperate need of a vacation! And you are down to just 45 days now!!!!

What's the other one??? they make for even BETTER pictures!!!

AWWWWWWWW thanks for thinking of me.. You should have called...

Love it!!!

I see she lives in the SAME neighborhood where i WORK!!!!

I wanna dance with you!!!

I am not sure what the name of the other cemetery is, but it is RIGHT next to Cave Hill. If you visit Cave Hill, you will HAVE to hop over there....there is DEFINITELY some creapy stuff to photograph there...including an old mausoleum with ALL entrances walled up and a strange mural of a giant American flag with a creepy looking angel standing in front it. The mural looks so amateur that we wondered if someone actually tagged the mausoleum.

Cannot believe you and Mel are so close to each other!!! You should definitely meet up for lunch or coffee or something some time. I really feel like the two of you would hit it off so well. You seem to have the same sort of quirky personality that Mel has...FUN personality!

Thank you for dancing with me!!!!

I'm glad she likes it and super happy to see them go to a proper Disney loving home

We are so thankful for wonderful, generous Disfriends like you. THANK YOU!!!

Hurrah!!!!!!!!

You got to do the dance too this past weekend!!!!

I laughed so hard at the ariel gravestone I had tears in my eyes and DH Frank looked at me like I was going crazy

I absolutely love it that there are others out there with such a wonderfully morbid sense of humor like mine!

Hope you have a SUPER day!​

​

​

​

THANK YOU! We had a wonderful 4th! Keep scrolling to see pictures and read about it...

 

[oopsiDAISY]

Those of you who have followed my reports for a while know that we have a 4th of July tradition that we do EVERY YEAR. We celebrate it by attending a Nashville Sounds minor league baseball game. The game scheduled closest to Independence Day is always followed by a fantastic fireworks show. Our family has done it for four years now. It is a tradition that we love.

We have always gotten matching 4th of July shirts at Walmart to wear to the game each year. This year, we could NOT find exactly matching shirts for all five of us, so we are in SIMILAR shirts...still patriotic. Our BFF's that have always gone with us did not go this year. The DH and DW are separated right now. We have no pictures of our family all together since there was no one to take it for us. BUT, I did take quite a few small group pictures...so let's look at pictures, shall we?

NO matter how hard he tried, Brian was unable to get all three children to behave at the same time for a decent shot.








Here are pictures from our second row behind home plate seats. The first one is NOT zoomed in at all:



This one IS zoomed in:


Want to see some "fun with food" pictures? So, I had a funnel cake and Jillian decided to toss a little powdered sugar on me... I made the most of the situation and took a mouth wide open picture:



Gabe liked my pose, so he wanted Brian to take a picture of HIM eating his snack of choice:



So, then it got REALLY fun...Charity decided that Jillian should pay for tossing sugar on me...this is what happened at that point:



And because I LOVE our scoreboard at the stadium, I had to get a shot of it:


We had such a wonderful time. The temperatures were PERFECTION at 70's and breezy. Last year's game temps were 101-102! We did end up with some light showers toward the end of the game, but we are smart and took our ponchos. We have gone for four years, and for the first time....the Sounds WON!!! It was a great time, and we have all agreed that this was our best year yet!

 

[disny_luvr]

Those of you who have followed my reports for a while know that we have a 4th of July tradition that we do EVERY YEAR. We celebrate it by attending a Nashville Sounds minor league baseball game. The game scheduled closest to Independence Day is always followed by a fantastic fireworks show. Our family has done it for four years now. It is a tradition that we love.

We have always gotten matching 4th of July shirts at Walmart to wear to the game each year. This year, we could NOT find exactly matching shirts for all five of us, so we are in SIMILAR shirts...still patriotic. Our BFF's that have always gone with us did not go this year. The DH and DW are separated right now. We have no pictures of our family all together since there was no one to take it for us. BUT, I did take quite a few small group pictures...so let's look at pictures, shall we?

NO matter how hard he tried, Brian was unable to get all three children to behave at the same time for a decent shot.








Here are pictures from our second row behind home plate seats. The first one is NOT zoomed in at all:



This one IS zoomed in:


Want to see some "fun with food" pictures? So, I had a funnel cake and Jillian decided to toss a little powdered sugar on me... I made the most of the situation and took a mouth wide open picture:



Gabe liked my pose, so he wanted Brian to take a picture of HIM eating his snack of choice:



So, then it got REALLY fun...Charity decided that Jillian should pay for tossing sugar on me...this is what happened at that point:



And because I LOVE our scoreboard at the stadium, I had to get a shot of it:


We had such a wonderful time. The temperatures were PERFECTION at 70's and breezy. Last year's game temps were 101-102! We did end up with some light showers toward the end of the game, but we are smart and took our ponchos. We have gone for four years, and for the first time....the Sounds WON!!! It was a great time, and we have all agreed that this was our best year yet!

Looks like a great 4th and a fun way to spend the day! I have to agree - I think that scoreboard at the ball park has got to be the best one I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot.

YAY for the double digit dance! I'll be doing the same dance in about 45 days!

 

[Pluto0809]

It looks like you had a wonderful day! I have the same flag shirt that your girls have on but in Navy blue. We love going to the Gwinnet Braves games. They have days where you can bring your dog and we like to take Alex. The other two don't do well in public settings but Alex loves going.

I spent my day shopping for luggage and then seeing Monsters University which I loved of course! Jim and I watched the first movie the night before. Jim said he liked it and he didn't fall asleep which is a good sign.

Then last night was rough. My two boys HATE fireworks. I've tried every technique I've read about keeping dogs calm for fireworks but none seem to work for Alex and Eddie. I was up well past midnight trying to calm them down. Luckily the office is mostly deserted today so I can just coast through it. I hope tonight is better because I fly out to Pittsburgh tomorrow to visit Mom!

Thanks so much for the link. I've bookmarked it and am going to spend some time reading about POR once I get back from my trip. The rumors about free dining say it's going to be offered towards the end of July/beginning of August. I'm hoping it's sooner rather than later so I can get my trip finalized!

 

[DMGeurts]

Sorry I can't quote, but I love all the pics and your family tradition... Love funnel cakes too.... Num!

Yay for double digits.... But I think I already replied to that? Lol

D~

 

[oopsiDAISY]

Looks like a great 4th and a fun way to spend the day! I have to agree - I think that scoreboard at the ball park has got to be the best one I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot.

YAY for the double digit dance! I'll be doing the same dance in about 45 days!

Woohoo!! You all are getting closer too!!!

It looks like you had a wonderful day! I have the same flag shirt that your girls have on but in Navy blue. We love going to the Gwinnet Braves games. They have days where you can bring your dog and we like to take Alex. The other two don't do well in public settings but Alex loves going.

I spent my day shopping for luggage and then seeing Monsters University which I loved of course! Jim and I watched the first movie the night before. Jim said he liked it and he didn't fall asleep which is a good sign.

Then last night was rough. My two boys HATE fireworks. I've tried every technique I've read about keeping dogs calm for fireworks but none seem to work for Alex and Eddie. I was up well past midnight trying to calm them down. Luckily the office is mostly deserted today so I can just coast through it. I hope tonight is better because I fly out to Pittsburgh tomorrow to visit Mom!

Thanks so much for the link. I've bookmarked it and am going to spend some time reading about POR once I get back from my trip. The rumors about free dining say it's going to be offered towards the end of July/beginning of August. I'm hoping it's sooner rather than later so I can get my trip finalized!

So glad to hear that JKim liked the Monsters movies!!! You will make a Disney fan of that man yet!

I have some VERY good, VERY exciting Disney news to share. Just keep scrolling...

Sorry I can't quote, but I love all the pics and your family tradition... Love funnel cakes too.... Num!

Yay for double digits.... But I think I already replied to that? Lol

D~

D~ you hae been with me through this roller coaster of a Disney journey...keep scrolling for some FANTASTIC news on the Disney front...

 

[oopsiDAISY]

So, for those of you who have followed this PTR from way back when I started it, you know that it has been a BUMPY ride! Well, yesterday happened to have been a very special day for our family. By 5 o'clock yesterday evening, something had happened that we have been waiting a long time for. What was it that happened?
























BRIAN SOLD HIS MOTORCYCLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




Sooo....we are NOT changing our October plans. We had already discussed what would we do if we sold it this late in the game... So what are we going to do with this money???




I am headed to the bank to open a vacation club account...so we can do something as a family that we have never done before....



















WE ARE GOING ON A DISNEY CRUISE NEXT OCTOBER!!!!!

We want to do a land and sea package. I am SOOOO excited!!! Time for me to start visiting the Cruise threads since I am a complete newbie on cruising. None of us have ever been on a cruise before at all... WE ARE SO EXCITED!!!

 

[disny_luvr]

So, for those of you who have followed this PTR from way back when I started it, you know that it has been a BUMPY ride! Well, yesterday happened to have been a very special day for our family. By 5 o'clock yesterday evening, something had happened that we have been waiting a long time for. What was it that happened?
























BRIAN SOLD HIS MOTORCYCLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




Sooo....we are NOT changing our October plans. We had already discussed what would we do if we sold it this late in the game... So what are we going to do with this money???




I am headed to the bank to open a vacation club account...so we can do something as a family that we have never done before....



















WE ARE GOING ON A DISNEY CRUISE NEXT OCTOBER!!!!!

We want to do a land and sea package. I am SOOOO excited!!! Time for me to start visiting the Cruise threads since I am a complete newbie on cruising. None of us have ever been on a cruise before at all... WE ARE SO EXCITED!!!

YAY! I am so happy for you and your family!

Yes, hop on over to the cruise board - you'll learn so much over there. I've only cruised once and it was with Disney out of NYC. It was only for a two-night cruise but I felt so prepared from reading up on the DIS. We are anxiously awaiting our Fantasy cruise in November, and, since this one is different from the NYC one I've been frequenting the cruise board and asking many, many questions. Again, I am feeling so prepared for this cruise - now it just needs to hurry up and get here.

One thing I have learned is that Disney no longer does the land/sea packages. You can book both separately, if you wish, and many people do. I've also learned to book your cruise as soon as you know what cruise you want because prices just keep rising and the longer you wait the more you're going to pay. You'll need to put down 20% when you do book it, so keep that in mind. We use Dreams Unlimited (only for our cruises) and I find them very knowledgeable. They also sponsor the cruise board.

Again, I am soooooo happy for your family!

One other thing - get involved in your cruise's DIS meet and FE exchange. I think you'll have fun with that and your kids will love it.

 

[Chicago Mo]

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG!!!​

I am SO So happy for you!!!!! What great fantastic news!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am dancing in my office for you!!!!


I commented on facebook but i love your pictures! love your 4th!!!!

 

[DMGeurts]

OMG!!!!!!!!

No one could be more thrilled for you than I am! Congrats to Brian for selling his motorcycle!!!

Cannot wait to hear all about your plans!

D~

 

[Pixiedust530]

WOW!!! That is SO exciting! A Disney Cruise is on my bucket list. I can't wait to hear all about the planning....I wouldn't even know where to begin! It sounds like you have already gotten some good advice and direction on where to go for more!

Congrats on selling the motorcycle. We have one we've been trying to sell also!

 

[jkfandel]

How exciting. I have been wondering how these are I too have never ever been on a cruise. Please, tell all as you plan!!

Glad you had a good 4th love the pics and the powdered sugar episode. My DS (26) and DD (22) still do things like that. I had really hoped that they would grow out of it but NO. Maybe someday...........