Still 35 days to go, but we got our ME vouchers. The luggage tags are bright yellow, I think. Now I just need to research where to go and how all those long lines at the airport work. I vaguely remember having to get in line on the right side first at the desks and then get back in the main line for getting into my resort bus line. I wonder if I can do the checking in while DH gets the luggage (the ones we want to keep with us) or if he needs to be with me...
My SIL in TX has lost her father and two aunts over the past 3 years with both aunts in the last year. Her mother was just diagnosed with high blood pressure and so can't fly. So, now they are leaving TX to go to her house in NY for Christmas. They are leaving to drive on the 20th, I think, and plan on staying until at least the 26th, which doesn't put them in Florida until the 28th. 
the hard luggage tags that are holographic. Now if I can just figure out how to get the plastic strings to loop through themselves so I can attach them. At least I can finally leave suitcases on the guest beds and start filling them with all the stuff in bags taking up space in my closets. 
He has a party on Saturday, but hopefully we'll find time soon to get our tree and all the other Christmas decor up. We built a backyard rink last weekend and it is filling up with snow today. 
Yeay! 
The time we take to shovel the rink and shovel the driveway is really taking away from getting the house cleaned and organized. I still have a big tote of ornaments sitting in my living room that are supposed to be on the tree by now, too. I still need to figure out what's going in stockings so I can pack all that in a suitcase. I haven't physically packed anything yet, though I have a bunch of stuff sitting on the guest bed.
I have 14 people coming to the house within hours of us coming home late on the 30th from Disney, so I have to focus on the New Year's events and can't worry too much about Christmas...
And just let me know if there is anything in particular you are curious about from our trip.
Woke up at 7am and I showered while Kevin shoveled. Got the kids up and ready. Loaded up the van and left at 9:35am a little earlier than original plan due to not knowing the road conditions after this latest snowstorm last night. Roads werent great in town but were fine overall. Kids watched Peter Pan on the DVD player during the ride. Got to the EZ Air Park at 11am and took the shuttle over to the Minneapolis airport. Made it through security even after forgetting to take out my Ziploc with a few liquids in it (Tide pen and diaper rash cream). They didnt ask about it, but they did make me take the portable dvd player out of the case and send it back through the scanner. Grabbed sandwiches and milk for lunch for $25. Kids played in the play area (truck and airplane play set) while we waited for our flight. As the time got near, I walked over to double check that everything was fine with the flight and found that it was going to be delayed. 
) and the kids did fine waiting. When it came time to board our Southwest flight, I took Claire in the stroller up near the gate so we could pre-board since I have a CARES seat belt that I needed to get set up for her. Then I learned that Southwest boards half their passengers and then does family boarding before boarding the last half. Wonderful. So, I got in and picked a seat in front of someone and installed the seatbelt over her tray table. Hope she didnt need it! 
(She never said anything to me.) The first part of the flight was only an hour long (St. Louis), but at least we didnt need to get off the plane to travel the rest of the way to Orlando. So both kids were still awake, so we moved closer to the front of the plane before everyone else boarded. 
I think Claire finally fell asleep once that flight got in the air. Actually, I think they were both asleep when we landed. We landed in MCO around 8:15pm. I had packed one suitcase with our overnight items, so we had to head to baggage to get that one after buying some food to eat for dinner. What a pain the trams and B side/A side mess is. So we get in the line for All Star resorts and watch tv while still eating our dinner. Then about 10 min later our bus shows up! We toss our yogurt in the trash and get on the bus. Sports is the first stop, luckily. So we go in to the online check-in line. I give her my name and she gets my folder. While shes checking us in and getting the kids buttons, I ask where we were placed. I had faxed in my room request the week before, asking for anything in football and on the first floor. She says we are in Basketball and second floor. 
Not good. So I politely ask if there are any openings in the football section. It takes her forever on the computer and she actually has to call someone else to make the change. She says its all part of the new system, but it sure is slow. But, she is able to get us into Football on the 3rd floor! At least we wont have people above us making noise even if it means we have to use the elevator 4 times a day. We got settled in our room and hit the hay around 10:30pm. The rest of our luggage showed up around 11:30pm, I think it was
We did our first Photopass on Main Street. Hopefully I will get the cd ordered soon and be able to load up some of those (pre-ordered it for $99 and have over 200 pics). 
The return times were close to lunchtime, but I figured we could even save them until the afternoon if necessary. So, I ran back to Pooh and tried to get in line to hopefully catch up to my family, but couldn’t see them. At the first turn in line, I jumped out, as I figured maybe they were already in and I could just wait until they got out. I waited. And I waited. And I waited. This would be where I should mention that my husband’s phone didn’t plug in all the way last night and so was dead this morning, and he didn’t have it with him. So I couldn’t call him. After 20 minutes I walked back towards Dumbo where we had parked the stroller and it was still there. So I grabbed it and walked around the carousel to try to find them, and then headed back to Pooh since that’s where I said to meet. Another 10 minutes later they finally walk over towards Pooh and see me. They had gotten in line and ridden Peter Pan while I had gotten the FPs, apparently, and then also rode the carousel. So, now I was really happy… It was time for our breakfast at ‘Ohana and I had ridden one ride. 
So I tried to hug him tight the rest of the way. When we got our pic taken going over the big drop, I was hugging/leaning over him (getting wet while he stayed dry) and he had his hand completely over the center of his face. 
We were both laughing at the bottom and for the next day it was his favorite ride, but later on he waivered on whether he would do it again or not. 
to watch the 9pm parade, which arrived around 9:20 and lasted about 20 minutes. No issues with being crowded, though I wish we had been closer to Fantasyland since we still had Pooh FPs to use. We made our way to Pooh and decided to ride it even though Wishes would be starting soon. It was about 10:05 when we got out of Pooh and so we tried to watch the skies as we walked towards Tomorrowland so we wouldn’t be stuck behind the entire park as everyone tried to leave. 
I finally got my photopass cd! 
Getting that last item purchased also means that we can all figure out what we spent on the trip and what we owe each other. 
Time for another spreadsheet. 
Afterwards we walked the Pangani trail, but weren’t too impressed. We walked back to ITTBAB which had about a 15 minute wait, so we decided to try it. None of us had seen it before, but I had read about the scary parts and so as we sat down I was trying to prep my son for what I had read. He started getting more and more worried, and when Hopper showed up he was on the verge of tears. We were on the end of the row, so we walked out after a whole 5 minutes. Oh well. It was still around 10am, so we headed to Dinoland. We all rode Tricera Top Spin with the two kids in front with only a 5 min wait. 
The boys wanted to do Primeval Whirl, so they got in line for the 25 minute wait while the girls did Tricera Top Spin again. We also snacked a little bit while waiting for the boys. We headed to Flame Tree BBQ for lunch and sat in a shady area for lunch. I think the high was only about 60, so we looked for a sunny spot, but didn’t find any! We finished lunch by noon so we could run to catch the next Nemo show. We sat way in the back section, but in the front row along the walkway. It was a great show and an easy exit! We headed out to the bus after some photopass pics at the big Christmas tree and had naptime in our room. We took both kids in the pool together from about 3-3:30 and then grabbed a bus to EPCOT. 
I got the prime rib so that I could get my soup included with the meal, and Kevin ordered the filet. 
I can now say I have tried the soup and filet and I will get the filet if I ever go back. At least I did get a few bites and I got the chocolate moose! 
