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

[DMGeurts]

I loved your decorations and theme... This was one of the girls' favorite movies when they were little too - I may just have to dig that one out and watch it with them tonight.

Those ribs look FANTASTIC... If you've been following my PTR - Josh has found a new hobby... The BBQ Pitmasters show... And in turn - he is practicing on us... but those ribs of Brian's make my mouth watering!!!

I love your sentimental story... You have every right to be sentimental and PROUD of yourselves for how far you have come. I have been following you for a long time now, but this is not something I was aware of. Many, many hugs to all of you, my friend... You have all come such a long way - I see happiness in your family each time you post pictures - I know that happiness with in a family is sometimes a struggle, and having to overcome something so shattering - I just cannot imagine... But look at ALL of you - and look at those SMILES... I am so very happy for you.

D~

 

[Chicago Mo]

OH MY! the food looks AMAZING!
I have to tell you what a beautiful family you have. The girls are maturing into beautiful ladies!!! and such a handsome boy!!!
Congrats on getting over some ugly hills in life and i am so happy for you to overcome! what an inspiration.

 

[KatMark]

What a funny movie night. And I'm now drooling over the food...I love ribs and corn and beans. And I was just going out to get some lunch to bring back to my desk and the skies opened up. I hope it stops soon as I'm more hungry now after seeing your pics.

 

[oopsiDAISY]

I loved your decorations and theme... This was one of the girls' favorite movies when they were little too - I may just have to dig that one out and watch it with them tonight.

Those ribs look FANTASTIC... If you've been following my PTR - Josh has found a new hobby... The BBQ Pitmasters show... And in turn - he is practicing on us... but those ribs of Brian's make my mouth watering!!!

I love your sentimental story... You have every right to be sentimental and PROUD of yourselves for how far you have come. I have been following you for a long time now, but this is not something I was aware of. Many, many hugs to all of you, my friend... You have all come such a long way - I see happiness in your family each time you post pictures - I know that happiness with in a family is sometimes a struggle, and having to overcome something so shattering - I just cannot imagine... But look at ALL of you - and look at those SMILES... I am so very happy for you.

D~

Those ribs were amazing! My parents gave us a smoker at the beginning of the summer. At this point everything we cook on it is an experiment, but I gotta say Brian NAILED it with those ribs!

Yes, I have seen your pictures of some of Josh's grilling creations (the veggies)...YUM! We are blessed wives to have men who CAN cook, and who actually enjoy it!

OH MY! the food looks AMAZING!
I have to tell you what a beautiful family you have. The girls are maturing into beautiful ladies!!! and such a handsome boy!!!
Congrats on getting over some ugly hills in life and i am so happy for you to overcome! what an inspiration.

Thanks Mo! I don't have to tell you this because I KNOW you understand, but going through crisis like that in life gives you a whole LOT more appreciation for for the small, special moments in life!

What a funny movie night. And I'm now drooling over the food...I love ribs and corn and beans. And I was just going out to get some lunch to bring back to my desk and the skies opened up. I hope it stops soon as I'm more hungry now after seeing your pics.

Oh, I feel your pain. Sometimes looking at food porn on these boards is such TORTURE!!! Hope you ended up with something good to eat for lunch!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay friends, there a very few sights in real life that can bring a smile almost as big as a WDW smile....however, Mickey Mail after a LOOOONG day at work is one of those sights!!!





Hope you all have a fantastic weekend! I will be back Monday for another update, taking my kids to the zoo tomorrow!

 

[KatMark]

LOVE Mickey mail of any kind. We are going to the Zoo on Sunday. Have a great weekend.

Oh, and I went to Pot Belly and had a ham and provolone sandwich the day I saw your food porn.

 

[oopsiDAISY]

LOVE Mickey mail of any kind. We are going to the Zoo on Sunday. Have a great weekend.

Oh, and I went to Pot Belly and had a ham and provolone sandwich the day I saw your food porn.

We had a GREAT day at the zoo, hope you did too! Okay, any restaurant called the Pot Belly must be FANTASTIC!!!

 

[oopsiDAISY]

For obvious reasons I did not let anyone on here or FB know, but Brian was out of town all weekend. He went to what I lovingly refer to as a "geekfest". He spent his weekend with a bunch of gamer friends, hanging out in a hotel conference room...playing video games. Not my idea of fun! But, he had a great time....so we decided to have our own fun. The kids and I visited the Nashville Zoo Saturday. We have a family membership, so it was a "free" fun day for us. It turned out to be a pretty day for it, and we had a blast.



I absolutely LOVE this next picture:



Hanging out at the playground: (those of you who are FB friends have seen this one already)



Feeding Lorikeets:



BTW~ that is not sweat causing Charity's hair to be wet...they had fun with some of the squirting sculptures in the play area...

Watching a duck "eat it's feather's" as Gabe described it:



We love the hand washing station at Lorikeet Landing:



Here is the portion of the Nashville Zoo that always makes us think of Animal Kingdom. In fact, Charity was so reminded of AK she wanted to know if we were going to go on the Kilamanjaro Safari ride!

Elephants:





Elephant Skull:



I Giraffes. They are just so beautiful and graceful.





As you can see from the above picture if you look VERY closely...Jillian and Charity got a "life lesson" watching the giraffes this time. There were lots of stifled giggles (since other folks were standing around). Thank goodness, Gabe was busy watching the juvenile giraffes. He would not have been near as discreet had he witnessed what the girls did.

The younger giraffes that held Gabe's attention:



And the whole family:



The last set of pictures are all of meerkats...or "Timones" as Gabe says. Jillian is enthralled with meerkats since we used to watch Meerkat Manor. She grabbed the camera and proceeded to take WAY TO MANY PICTURES. Here are the good ones:







An airplane passed over the zoo and THIS happened:



We had a wonderful time at the zoo. They are hosting a "Zoofari Slumber" Labor Day weekend. This is where you can actually bring tents and spend the night at the zoo. I REALLY want to do this. We will see if we end up going for it!

 

[sweetpeaandevie]

Looks like a great trip, I have been meaning to take the girls back to the zoo for a couple of years now.....maybe we'll make it this fall

The overnight thing sounds awesome!! I hope you get to do it

 

[Chicago Mo]

I LOVE the pictures!!!
well i guess they will be expecting a baby giraffe soon?!?
i'm a huge fan of zoos i hope you do the over nighter!!!

 

[KatMark]

Great zoo pictures. I especially liked the elephant ones since we don't have any elephants at our zoo.

 

[Chicago Mo]

OH MY GOODNESS OH MY GOODNESS!!!


you have Mickey STUFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[oopsiDAISY]

Looks like a great trip, I have been meaning to take the girls back to the zoo for a couple of years now.....maybe we'll make it this fall

The overnight thing sounds awesome!! I hope you get to do it

We love our zoo. It is a beautiful place with lots of shady areas. The landscaping and layout is fabulous. I really do hope we do the Zoofari Slumber too... I just think it would be neat, and something the kids would always remember.

We have a family membership to our zoo. It was $72 the first time we went as a family, and yearly memberships for families are $99...it just made sense!

I LOVE the pictures!!!
well i guess they will be expecting a baby giraffe soon?!?
i'm a huge fan of zoos i hope you do the over nighter!!!

What was quite humorous about the "life lesson" situation was that there was just a baby giraffe born at the zoo about three weeks ago. Daddy giraffe was quite amorous, but Mama was having none of that. He kept trying to mount her and she would just casually walk way. So then he would follow her and just stand there with his chest to her rump, occasionally getting "excited"...it was really funny to watch.

Great zoo pictures. I especially liked the elephant ones since we don't have any elephants at our zoo.

No hefalumps? Ah, that IS sad.

OH MY GOODNESS OH MY GOODNESS!!!


you have Mickey STUFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HUH? What are you talking about? Are you referring to the Mickey mail? If so...yeah I know, so stinking exciting that we actually have something booked...it's REAL!

 

[Chicago Mo]

PHOTOBUCKET IS NOT ALLOWING ME TO COPY THE PICTURE!!!

i WILL GET IT SOON..


BUT.........




HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

 

[oopsiDAISY]

Thanks so much, MO!!! I am blessed to have such wonderful Dis~ friends. It was really cool to hear from Kathy (Katmark) and D~ even while they were on vacation.

 

[Chicago Mo]

Thanks so much, MO!!! I am blessed to have such wonderful Dis~ friends. It was really cool to hear from Kathy (Katmark) and D~ even while they were on vacation.

we love you!!!

 

[Pluto0809]

I've had a few minutes to breath today at work because the boss is out of town. Next week should be the final stretch of the budget process so after that I should be able to keep up with everyone's PTR & TRs again and finally finish mine!

I loved the County Bear night! That is another Disney movie that I own but have never watched. One of these days I'm going to catch up on all the ones I haven't seen yet.

Oh man, I want to go to the Nashville Zoo! I love zoos and would visit every one in the world if I had the money. I think it was at the Pittsburgh, PA zoo with my brother (he's as facinated by zoos as I am) that we saw two turtles doing what the giraffes were above. DB and I saw it from the beginning and it was funny to watch people as they came up and figured out what was going on. And I never knew that turtles made noise but this one was sure making some interesting grunting noises.

Oh, and I already said it on Facebook but:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

once again.

 

[Texan]

Okay oopsi- time for me to chime in since I have been investing an enormous amount of time going through your last TR and this PTR (just found them) - I am a Dis lover, but my family, nope, not so much. My DS are way too old for Dis (so they say), so we have only been four times as a family. Time and money got in the way, and my family just wasn't along for the ride (I could go every year). Last visit was 2008. But, my one bit of nugget to you, since we no longer visit WDW, we have been cruising. So, head on over to Cruise Critic and get to planning. You can create an account and ask all sorts of questions. There are Disney ship threads and ports of call threads. We have cruised 5 times, all Royal Caribbean, and I could never have planned my ports without Cruise Critic posters advice. For Falmouth, you definitely want to do a cruise ship excursion. In Cozumel, its easy to get a taxi and go to a beach. I will be sending on a link to a wonderful place you might like there once I find it again. You will get obsessed with Cruise Critic! On to something else, I have been so enjoying peeking into your family. The stories of your Mom and Dad and the time they have had with your kiddos had me in tears, but they were mixed emotion tears. Treasure those times. My DS22 and DS17 had times in the past like those with my Mom and Dad. Dad passed on in January, and Mom is a whole different story, just to say we don't have a relationship any longer. Your Mom and Dad are so beautiful. I was blessed just to live through you and see the love of everyone in your family. Your children are beautiful and blessed to have such loving parents. Treasure each and every memory and vacation. Once the crazy high school years hit, then college, you don't get to spend as much time with them as you wish. This is the first time that I am not planning a family vacation for next year, with all four of us. DS22 will graduate from college next May, and off to the real world to find a job or least get a starter job. He won't be able to join us, and DS17 doesn't know if he doesn't want to go without big brother. I can live through your PTR and TR!!! You are beautiful Christian mother, give yourself a huge pat on the back. And a hug through cyberspace from a fellow Dis lover.

 

[oopsiDAISY]

I've had a few minutes to breath today at work because the boss is out of town. Next week should be the final stretch of the budget process so after that I should be able to keep up with everyone's PTR & TRs again and finally finish mine!

I loved the County Bear night! That is another Disney movie that I own but have never watched. One of these days I'm going to catch up on all the ones I haven't seen yet.

Oh man, I want to go to the Nashville Zoo! I love zoos and would visit every one in the world if I had the money. I think it was at the Pittsburgh, PA zoo with my brother (he's as facinated by zoos as I am) that we saw two turtles doing what the giraffes were above. DB and I saw it from the beginning and it was funny to watch people as they came up and figured out what was going on. And I never knew that turtles made noise but this one was sure making some interesting grunting noises.

Oh, and I already said it on Facebook but:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

once again.

Oh, I am so with you on the insane work situation. Have you noticed that I haven't shown up to my own party in over two weeks? Classes are in session again on campus and it has seriously cut into my Dis time! We have had another movie night, and I have not even been able to post about it yet!!! I hope to get that done tomorrow. Thanks for the wonderful birthday wishes, Ariana!

Okay oopsi- time for me to chime in since I have been investing an enormous amount of time going through your last TR and this PTR (just found them) - I am a Dis lover, but my family, nope, not so much. My DS are way too old for Dis (so they say), so we have only been four times as a family. Time and money got in the way, and my family just wasn't along for the ride (I could go every year). Last visit was 2008. But, my one bit of nugget to you, since we no longer visit WDW, we have been cruising. So, head on over to Cruise Critic and get to planning. You can create an account and ask all sorts of questions. There are Disney ship threads and ports of call threads. We have cruised 5 times, all Royal Caribbean, and I could never have planned my ports without Cruise Critic posters advice. For Falmouth, you definitely want to do a cruise ship excursion. In Cozumel, its easy to get a taxi and go to a beach. I will be sending on a link to a wonderful place you might like there once I find it again. You will get obsessed with Cruise Critic! On to something else, I have been so enjoying peeking into your family. The stories of your Mom and Dad and the time they have had with your kiddos had me in tears, but they were mixed emotion tears. Treasure those times. My DS22 and DS17 had times in the past like those with my Mom and Dad. Dad passed on in January, and Mom is a whole different story, just to say we don't have a relationship any longer. Your Mom and Dad are so beautiful. I was blessed just to live through you and see the love of everyone in your family. Your children are beautiful and blessed to have such loving parents. Treasure each and every memory and vacation. Once the crazy high school years hit, then college, you don't get to spend as much time with them as you wish. This is the first time that I am not planning a family vacation for next year, with all four of us. DS22 will graduate from college next May, and off to the real world to find a job or least get a starter job. He won't be able to join us, and DS17 doesn't know if he doesn't want to go without big brother. I can live through your PTR and TR!!! You are beautiful Christian mother, give yourself a huge pat on the back. And a hug through cyberspace from a fellow Dis lover.

Welcome TEXAN!!! I am so sorry I am just now getting over here to update this PTR and to respond to your comments!!! Work has been insane for the past couple of weeks.

I must get over to Cruise Critic. Sounds like a great sight to obsess over! We realize with our oldest just starting High School this year that our vacations with her are definitely coming to an end...and of course it makes us so sad!

Thank you for your kind remarks. Sometimes in life with my kids I cannot see the forest for the trees. It is sometimes very hard to think I am doing right by my kids. I do what I can and trust God to take care of the rest. What else can we do?

 

[oopsiDAISY]

So much is going on with the trip...I need to share it with my friends!

First of all...

30 DAYS UNTIL VACATION!!!!!!


And next...


WE GET TO HAVE A DISNEY PARKS DAY ON VACATION!!!!!


So, yeah...I am pretty excited. Our CM friend is coming through for us. And CM park passes are park hoppers, so we can go to any or all parks if we want to, even if just for one day!

There is going to be quite a bit of Disney magic thrown into this trip after all! Shall we recap? Here are the Disney activities we have planned:

* One day in the Parks
* Downtown Disney
* Campfire with Chip and Dale at Ft. Wilderness
* Blizzard Beach

I think this will all do just fine in keeping me from suffering the Disney blues while we are down there. Since we are going to the parks one day, we will not be going to Sea World. We will still have to pay for our food on our park day, so that will be a nice chunk of change...

BUT IT'S DISNEY FOOD!!! So, who's complaining??? Not this girl!

In other news...

We have had another movie night, but I have yet to load the pics into Photobucket. I plan to get that done tomorrow and post a movie night update before end of day tomorrow.

Brian and I were finally able to sit down and come up with a very workable budget to save for the remainder of the cruise... and as if all goes according to plan, we should have plenty of $$$ for "drinks of the day" and some excursions!

So, to sum it all up...things are REALLY looking up for us!!!!

 

[Chicago Mo]

Do you have any idea in how happy i am for you???
you deserve this.. so so much. i really am overjoyed for you!!!

can't wait to see one of your famous movie nights!

any ideas for a kids party and luau?!?