Diabetes Can't Stop Us! (no longer a Maybe Trip Report!)

[MK2010]

My daughter was diagosed at 10. She just graduated high school with many sports and academic scholarships. ... Nothing stops her! She uses an animas pump and that has been very freeing. Have fun with the planning!

Thanks for the encouragement. We'll be getting a pump....eventually. Actually, it'll probably wind up being in the next year or so. I find that exciting in some ways, but its another change to get used to that's for sure!

All of our fun will change once we start having children. We have a cruise booked in May that we might have to cancel if I'm more than 6 months pregnant or have a newborn. Kids will definitely change how we do Disney! No more eating dinner at 10PM or getting back to the room at 1AM. On the other hand, I will have someone to keep me company while Brett's off taking pictures.

I can't wait to be teaching stuff like "if you have 2 apples, and sally gives you one more, how many apples do you have?" That's a lot easier than having to know why y=mx+b.

If you're in the market for a kid, I do have a 7 year old! Maybe for a couple of years with the newborn you can toss them in a stroller and tour like normal. But it will definitely slow you down.You're right about that. Those will probably also be some of the best and most memorable trips you'll ever take.

I remember those math problems! You're right the math at these levels is easier, just getting them to do it and understand it isn't. My oldest starts pre-algebra this next year so unfortunately, I can see y=mx+b in my not so distant future. Ugh.

 

[Rapunzel]

We pump, it's SOOOOOO nice. Gives a lot more freedom for us, than injections!

 

[MK2010]

Oh boy! Only 52 more days! We have been so busy I'm not sure I'll make it until then. Luckily, 3 more weeks of insanity and then it should get better. I hope. DH and DS12 leave for church camp tomorrow morning. Then on the 21st DD10 will be selling sugar free/gluten free/dairy free cupcakes and cake balls at the mall all day as part of a program called Kids in Business. It jus means that Iwill spend the entire week before getting ready. Then the 28th DS12 has his last swim meet of the summer. And we will be done!!! Except for DH softball games which start Mon. July 23. Aargh. Swim season doesn't start back up until October. DD10 started swimming too, but it will still be a couple of years before she's able to compete. I jsut want her to learn to enjoy the exercise.

In Disney news, I finally got the menu made! Yay! Most of my daily touring plans are done. Or at least a framework that will allow s to get the headliners out of the way and enjoy the day without crowds. I bought 2 new dresses, a shirt, and some jewelry for the trip. I even bought DD10 a new dress and some bracelets. Luckily I got a little overtime last week so that put a few hundred into the gas fund. The next check will have my time and a half from 4th of July. That'll help too.

What is NOT helping is all of our medical bills arrgh! Seems I managed to max out my dental benefits and now I owe the dentist over $800. I managed to get a payment plan, but OUCH! DD10 diabetic supplies are gouging us too! We go to the Dr. later this month and I am definitley checking to see what our options are!

Well, this is short but DH just offered to take me on a date!!!! Can't turn that down!

 

[MK2010]

Whew! got the DH and DS12 off to church camp. It was a crazy morning. Left the house at 7a.m. to take DH to pick up the 15 passenger van for the church then took DS12 to swim practice by 7:30 a.m. From there, out to the church so DH could also use the GMC Yukon this week to pull the trailer containing the luggage to camp. He brought me back to the house. The other kids and I hopped in his Dodge Ram which I'll be driving in his absence this week, to take DD10 to the pool for swim practice at 8:30. DS12 gets out of practice at 9 a.m. so we waited for him, then quickly drove him out to the church since they were leaving by 9:30. I pretty much shoved him out the door said, "Bye! Have a great trip!" Then wheeled out of the lot to try to get back into town to pick up DD10 from swim practice which was over with at 9:30. Due to construction, it took a little longer than expected, but we gt there by 9:45 and I waslucky enough to have a friend waiting with her so she wouldn't be left all alone outside the pool. We finally managed to make it back home a little after 10 a.m. after a quick stop at Wal-Greens to get DS7 some cough medicine. His allergies have been crazy and the Zyrtec doesn't seem to be helping much. We're going to try him on Mucinex for few days. One with a cough suppresant 'cause he's driving me nuts!

Once I got the kids home I threw them into cleaning mode. Their attention to their chores has been rather lacking, so we will spend the next couple of days making up for that oversight!

I managed to get most of their homeschool curriculum for thi next year. I was going to go with My Father's World, but that was going to cost me about $750 for all four of them. Instead I'm going with Apologia. We already use their Bible and Science so now I'm adding in their Geography. We'll continue to use the Saxon Math. Apologia was on sale 30% off this weekend and Saxon was on sale 40% off. I spent about $230. Next week they are having a 20% off education sale and I'll pick up their writing curriculum. We use Institute for Excellence in Writing. There are a couple of extra books I want to use for their History/Geography as well. All of that material will run me another $100. Then all I have left is to buy the kids' Spanish program. We're going to go with Rosetta Stone. DS12 will use it for 2-3 years then he wants to switch to Arabic. He has his sights on getting into West Point. I think Arabic could serve him well in the military! Or Chinese

My parents have decided that now is the time fr them to start planning for the trip. I'm not exactly sure what they want to plan. However, I sent them a copy of the ultimate packin list, as well as our menu, and got them copies of our touring plans. Apparently, however, my parents don't communicate with each other. I get a call from my DD:
"Uh....Jennifer, uhhhh, we're going home Saturday morning. So, uhhh, we won't be at Epcot."
Me: "Oh, Ok, well, I'll fix it. We'll just change it to another day so you can go."
DD: "Ok"

An hour later I get this text from my mom, "The only day you have Epcot scheduled is Saturday and we're leaving."

Duh! Really? I wasn't aware. Grrrr. Let me sum my mother up like this: Any questions?

Anyway, I have a couple of options that I'm mulling over. Currently we arrive on Sat. and my family is going to either TL or BB Sunday. Mom and Dad can join us or enjoy a relaxing day after all the travel. So option 1 is Sunday becomes Epcot day. Option 2 is that on Tues. we'll be done with AK by 3:30. We could go to Epcot that evening as well as Fri. afternoon after the boys finish their Y.E.S. program at MK that morning. I'm leaning toward option 1 simply because I have no desire to spend all day every day open to close in the parks. I don't think my Mom could keep up that pace and that's how we did the world on our last trip. I was looking forward to a different type of touring plan this time around.

But the best part is, I only have 51 days to figure it out!!! Woo Hoo!

 

[MK2010]

Sooooo, here's a twist for you. You all know that my daughter was diagnosed with Type I diabetes right after Thanksgiving using up all of our disney money. We were lucky enough to rework things and come up with this trip in September. The rule in our house then became, if you go to the ER you don't get to go to Disney. Let me tell you, that has really cut down on a lot of reckless behavior in our house. Until today. DS7 is currently at Urgent Care with his Daddy because he chose to run at the swimming pool and landed flat on his back. He managed to split his head open. I took him to work hoping the nurses there could steri strip it or dermabond it. Theytook one look and said, "Nope, they're gonna have to staple it." Grrrrr. He was really lucky he hit a flat surface cause if he had hit at an angle his head would have snapped forward risking injury to his spinal cord. I say the kid knew what he was doing, 'cause I'm the type of Mom that would've nursed him back to health only to kille him myself for putting me through that. So anyway, anybody want a 7 year old for the first two weeks of September?

In other news, I finally bought a swimsuit last night. Its cute. I guess, but when you weigh almost 200 lbs nothing is THAT cute! I also made the final payment on our condo at WBC. I'm excited to have that out of the way. And one of my nurses is going to let me borrow 2 spray mister fans so I don't have to buy anymore. Unfortunately, ALL the kids need new shoes. I'm procrastinating on that 'cause I know if buy them now, I'll only have to buy another set before we leave, I'm making them live in flip flops at home and their dress shoes for church. They look like little red necks!

Okay, I guess that's all for now. DH and DS12 had a good time at church camp last week. DD10 has her cupcake sale at the mall next week, so I will be up to my neck in cupcakes this week. I'm still working on a good sugar free, gluten free, dairy free frosting for them. I have a fall back, but I'm trying to find one with a different texture. only 1 swim meet left until the ed of the long course season. I thought August was going to slow down, but I guess not. I'm going to have a garage sale probably the second weekend and the third weekend will be a Boy Scout camp out. But, its only 46 days until we leave!!!

 

[MK2010]

So it has been forever since you guys got an update from me. I apologize. I have never been so busy! As you all know, I had quite the busy summer. However, all camps are over, we're about to be on a two week break for swim team. Unfortunately, Cub Scouts starts back in full swing this week.

My daughter Lauren had a blast at Kids in Business. Its a program our mall does where kids develop a product to sell. Then they learn about marketing, customer service, and budgeting, by operating a stall with their product for one Saturday afternoon. She wasn't the top retailer, but she netted about $50 for her Disney fund. She did win an award for Original Business Concept that got her a $35 mall gift certificate and a $20 gift certificate to the mall movie theater. She chose to sell three types of cupcakes, sugar free, gluten free, and sugar free/gluten free. She is already lookin forward to next year's sale where she plans on opening a shop with her best friend to sell MAtching outfits for girls and their American girl dolls as well as accessories. Even the boys want in on the action with a booth of their own.

Lauren manning her booth at the mall:

Jonathan, my oldest, had a good final swim meet the last weekend in July. He walked away with 2 golds, 2 silvers, and a 5th place finish. The 5th was expected to be another gold, but it wasn't. He could've gotten the high point trophy for his age division if he had swam like he was supposed to. He was happy with his swim, but his Coach, Dad, and I all thought he could've swam faster.

Jonathan showing off his medals:

Finally our youngest, Stephen, accepted Jesus as his Savior and was baptized! We were super excited 'cause he was the baby and the only one left. My daughter was really worried, lol! I'd catch her every day having him cornered and going over the plan of salvation with him! We assured her that he would come to believe in his own time, but she was convinced that Jesus was going to come back and Stephen was going to b left all alone! She may be headed for the mission field yet! Lookout! Hopefully, she'll develop some tact and patience before then.

Stephen in his baptismal robe:

So with all of this, I have been exhausted! I've been working and planning school for this next year. We come home from Disney on Sat. Sept. 15 and start school on Mon. Sept. 17. No, I'm not crazy! I have almost all of the lesson plans done for the entire year for all 4 kids. That's exciting. I do still have a couple of subjects to go.

We are almost all ready for our trip in 20 days! All the kids have new shoes, swimsuits, sunglasses, beach towels, etc. I've bought most of the food, except for the fresh fruits and vegetables. We spent last Monday cooking and deboning 5 full chickens and making them into casseroles! I'm pretty excited that all I have to do is warm up food and not actually cook. We've started packing stuff like sunblock, paper towels, and stuff.

I also finally finished the kids autograph books and printed them! I just have to get them bound. I even printed one off for me.

Here are some sample pages:

Anyway, I did one for each character. So, not much longer now til the Yukon leaves the station! I have 9 more works...oh and 1 garage sale!

 

[justakrazymom]

Anyway, I did one for each character. So, not much longer now til the Yukon leaves the station! I have 9 more works...oh and 1 garage sale!

Great update..you leave the day I get there!!

 

[MK2010]

Rats, I kinda wish our trips overlapped a bit! That would have been cool.

 

[MK2010]

Well, I thought I'd fit in another update. We went to the mall yesterday to use my daughter's mall gift card that she got for Kids in Business to buy her another pair of shorts for Disney. Instead we walked out with a pair of shorts (that she now wants an iron on rhinestone princess crown on!), a dress, a shirt, and leggings. Not bad for $35 from the mall! We've been looking at nail art all day. I don't know that I'm that artistic! Heehee! We are 16 days out until we leave. Here are out current plans.

8/30

Leave @5p.m. (or whenever DH gets off work) and head to Greenville, Tx to spend the night at my parents house. They will have left the day before to spend a couple of days in Vicksburg and Destin on their way down. We should arrive between 11:30 and midnight.

8/31

Leave Greenville by 6 a.m. to head to Crestview, Fl. Its about 12 1/2 hours according to google maps and we'd like to make Vicksburg by noon for lunch. My parents wil have already left for Destin, Fl. Hopefully, we'll make our destination Country Inn and Suites Crestview, Fl. by 8 p.m.

9/1

Today is the day we arrive in Disney! Its about 6.5-7 hours to Disney from Crestview. So we need to leave around 7. 8 at the latest. The plan is to go straight to Wyndham Bonnet Creek and complete check in paper work, drop David and the kids off at the pool while I run to Wal Mart for stuff like milk. Hopefully by then my parents will have shown up and we'll be able to get into our room. We're having pizza from WalMart for dinner that night. Dad and I also have to run over to DTD to pick up our Y.E.S tickets. We're going to have a father/daughter date and run by Starbucks and then over to CSR. My Dad loves Spanish architecture and I love poking around the Disney Resorts.

9/2

We are going to spend today in Epcot! I am all about RD so we will be up and at 'em! My grandmother made us two yummy breakfast casseroles for this trip and we'll be eating the first of them today. Remember, most of our food has been pre cooked and will be transported with us via coolers.

We're not going to try to hit every attraction at Epcot today. We're mainly going to focus on the things my parents would enjoy, plus the rides that my kids really want to experience with their granparents. All my kids want to do Mission Space and Sum of All Thrills with my Dad. I want to get my parents with the "Beverly" We'll probably try to catch portions of Off Kilter, The British Revolution, etc. And we may let the kids do an Agent P adventure or two. Of course there will be the chatting up of the characters. Probably by me mostly! I'm planning on taking hot dogs and chips into the park with us. We may try to head back to the hotel for a couple of hours around 11:30, but we'll probably just try to find a cool spot and chill for a couple of hours. According to Touring Plans we should be completely done for the day by 5:30. We'll head back for some Taco Soup and probably some swimming

9/3
Today promises to be a most exciting day! I have scambled eggs and biscuits down on the menu, but today is the day I get to meet up with my friend Carrie! KigerKat. In fact, not too many days longer and she'll be in the World! The beginning of my trip is the end of hers. We'll be at MK on this day.We'll be hitting most of the main attractions except for Space Mtn. Myhusband is the only adult who enjoys that ride so we'll save it for later in the week. We're gonna take a lunchbreak and head back to the hotel. We'll leave the park around 11:30 and head back in around 4 and stick around for MSEP and Wishes.

9/4

Today is Lauren's YES class- Wild by Nature at AK. She has to be there by 8:30. since the park opens at 9 everyone else will probably come with us. I can't remember is you get early entrance for the rest of the family or not. Luckily we're having breakfast burritos this morning so we can take those with us. Anyway, while we're doing our class everyone else will ride Kilimanjaro Safaris, Maharajah Jungle Trek, Pangani Forest Exploration Trail, and Expedition Everest. We'll meet back up about 11:30 to eat our sack lunches (Turkey wraps and chips) then we'll be off to ride Kali, Dinosaur, and catch the shows. We'll head out of the park by 4 so the kids will get plenty of swim time. One night DH and I want to go out to dinner just the two of us. We'd like to go to Ohana's, but they're booked and I haven't chosen a second restaurant just yet.

Well its dinnertime here so I'm going to leave you guys hanging about what's next while I go feed the animals, oops, I mean sweet, darling, blessings from above, grilled ribs and potato salad!

 

[KigerKat]

We are planning on being at Epcot on 9/2, also! That's our anniversary, and we have dinner ressies at Via Napoli. Don't be surprised if we "bump" into each other that day!

Just 12 more days for us!!

 

[MK2010]

Yay! I would love that! David decided that he would surprise me with a dinner out just the two of us while we are there. Aaargh. He had no idea that you had to make reservations well in advance. I'd like to do Ohana for dinner, but you know that ain't happenin! So now I'm trying to pick another restaurant. He's a very meat and potatoes kind of guy. La Hacienda still has a couple of openings, so we may end up there one night. Crazy guy. Does he think I do all this planning ahead of time just for fun?

 

[KigerKat]

Yay! I would love that! David decided that he would surprise me with a dinner out just the two of us while we are there. Aaargh. He had no idea that you had to make reservations well in advance. I'd like to do Ohana for dinner, but you know that ain't happenin! So now I'm trying to pick another restaurant. He's a very meat and potatoes kind of guy. La Hacienda still has a couple of openings, so we may end up there one night. Crazy guy. Does he think I do all this planning ahead of time just for fun?

I know what you mean! Brett's birthday is on the 27th, and I asked him if he wanted to do a table service dinner that night (we are on the free quick service dining plan). He was undecided until about a month ago and told me he wanted to go to Sci-Fi. Now, we're eating dinner at 9:50PM, because that's all they had left! I keep checking to see if anyone cancels and they have a last minute opening, but so far no luck. It's probably not that bad, though. There have been several times that we have been rushing back to Pop before the food court closed to grab a quick (and very late) dinner.

 

[MK2010]

Well, I managed to snag an 8:10 ressie at Kona on Sunday 9/2. I'm still hoping for a cancellation at 'Ohana, but I think we'll be happy with Kona too. I just want an excuse to sit on the beach eating a Dole Whip and watch Wishes. Lol.

 

[MK2010]

9 days! 9 Days! Single digit day dance!hip Hip Hooray! DH is on his way right now to pick up the kids autograph books. Hooray! So continuing on with our plans:

Wednesday September 5

Today we're going to spend the day at the Holy Land Experience. I really don't know a whole lot about it, but my Dad is dying to go and everybody I've talked to who knows about it says it is really neat. I do know that they have a re enactment of the crucifixion each day!!!! Yikes. I'm thankful Jesus did it, but I'm not sure I could've stood to watch it the first time around.

Thursday September 6
Disney Hollywood Studios

First up will be Jedi Training Academy for the youngest three, I'll keep an eye on the FP return times for TSM to try and time it between 11:30 and 11:45.Hopefully we'll make the first show for JTA and then we can knock out the big three and follow that up with LMA for the boys and BB for the girls. We'll meet back up for star Tours and Muppet Vision 3D.We'll take a break about 3:40 and go eat dinner at the hotel and then come back for Fantasmic that night.

Oops gotta run. Maybe I can get back before work tonight!

 

[MK2010]

Okay, so obviously, I did not make it back on before work. And boy was it a busy week, but its all over now. 5 more days! I was totally out of commission yesterday after working all week, but I made up for it today. Went shopping and finished buying all of the last minute stuff we needed. We got all of our clothes packed. My DH is out at the church now printing our driving directions so I can put them in a binder and laminating our touring plan cards. he's also printing off the cards that we're gonna mail home to our friends from Disney World. Tonight, we'll work on packing the food and any miscellaneous items. Monday we'll fill the ice chests to cool them down and then refill them with ice and the food at lunch on Thursday before we leave that night. I received confirmation emails for two of the four Y.E.S. classes that we're taking. I'll have to call on Monday about the confirmation email on the other two classes. In other news, my mother managed to slip and fall. Her knee is hurt pretty badly- you know sore and bruised. I insisted that she rent a scooter. She tried to tell me that she would be fine, but I wasn't hearing it. I got myDad on the phone and made sure he booked it. WE got one from Apple scooter for $125 for the week. They deliver and pick up to WBC for free. Now its just a matter of sitting back and takig it easy until Thursday! I'll post one more pic of all of our stuff once we get it assembled for loading. Otherwise, happy trails everyone! 'Til we meet again