DIS Meet Dec 8 07

[JoiseyMom]

Thanks everyone for the kind thoughts. I appreciate it. We have the funeral tomorrow and then we will be sitting shiva at my other brother's home.

Beth, have a great birthday and a great trip!!

 

[BethC1952]

Beth, have a great birthday and a great trip!!

Thank you!

I will be thinking of you and Hal and your family during your shiva.

Beth

 

[brack]

If possible (this is for Beth and/or Brack): When you go to Epcot . . . Could you possibly take a photo of the Pluto topiary in the sand with the beach ball? As you can tell, I didn't post any photos from our WDW trip. I took a total of 10 photos. I was banned by my family due to my TWO full memory cards from our December WDW trip and the cruise. So, this was a "relaxation" trip picture-taking wise. I wanted a photo of Pluto, but we rushed by and I thought, "I will take a photo of it later". However, we went around World Showcase the opposite direction and I didn't get to take my photo.

- Jennifer

How's this?

 

[brack]

Here is a better Pluto picture I found on another thread.



http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=25077348&postcount=1113

 

[TheTXTaylors5]

Thank you Brack!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Isn't that the cutest topiary.

- Jennifer

 

[JsMom2]

Happy belated bdays to all. Jen, I am glad you guys had such a wonderful trip. It sounds awesome! I hope everyone had a happy mother's day. Mine wasn't so great. My eldest brother has been in the hospital for a month and took a turn for the worse on Saturday. We spoke to hospice yesterday, and he passed away this morning. Sigh, on one hand I am happy because he was so unhappy and he is now no longer suffering, but very sad, because 56 year old men shouldn't have to die .

So sorry for your loss
Saturday was also a sad day for my Mother and our family, saturday marked the 12 year anniversery of the day that someone decided to end my uncles life at the age of 30. They still have not found the person who did this and it is very hard on my mom.

So Sorry.

It is a sad day here at work, they just told us a co-worker passed away last night. He was 47. His wife found him slumped in his car.

Merryl, Stefanie, Judy,
What sad, sad news. I'll keep all the families in my prayers.

 

[JsMom2]

It's great to hear about all the recent and upcoming trips! I've been keeping my nose in the books as I chug through Air War College. I have a test in the morning, and then will spend this weekend writing a paper. Next week we have the C3 Board meeting with all of the Principals from the NATO and partner nations. The planning is pretty chaotic, but that's to be expected.

Last Friday Jasmine went to "Take your Kids to NATO Day" for the US folks. Did they have that when you were here Jennifer? I was in meetings all day, so I only saw her at lunch. But it sounded like lots of fun. All the kids were assigned different countries (Jasmine was Belgium) and in one exercise they all got to beat up on some guy who was threatening the alliance. I guess they had some big foam sticks or something. Towards the end of the day they held a mock council meeting in the conference facility! They were no better at coming to an agreement than the regular NATO members are. Their task was to figure out what flavor of lollipop to send to a fictitious country. When Jasmine was telling me about the conversations I couldn't help but laugh, because it mirrored the adult NATO meetings exactly! The last thing they did was get a group photo in front of HQ, followed by individual pictures with the Permanent US Ambassador to NATO.

We'll be sticking close to home for the next month or so. I want finish AWC before we go on our Baltic cruise the end of June. Because after that we'll only be home for a couple weeks at a time until the end of September!

Well I've got to get going, but I just needed to stop in and say hi to you all!!

Wendy

 

[JsMom2]

P.S. - Angie and Dennis are on the repo cruise right now - I hope they take lots of pics!!

 

[brack]

P.S. - Angie and Dennis are on the repo cruise right now - I hope they take lots of pics!!

Someone posted this photo of Angie & Dennis (with Bobby) on the Repo Cruise. I'm sure that they are having fun.

 

[TheTXTaylors5]

I've been keeping my nose in the books as I chug through Air War College. I have a test in the morning, and then will spend this weekend writing a paper.

Last Friday Jasmine went to "Take your Kids to NATO Day" for the US folks. Did they have that when you were here Jennifer?
Wendy

Good luck with the Air War College. My step-father was always taking a class on something while at NATO. I know it helped in advancement in rank too. He has sooooooooooo many books on war and strategy. He could've started his own library.

They didn't have the "Take Your Kid to NATO Day" while I was there. But, I was part of Model UN and even got to work at NATO for NBC News and the Today Show during a Summit for a whole week. That was exciting. I was excused from school for a week and got paid. Can't beat that!

Also, when I graduated from BAS, the whole Senior Class had brunch with the U.S. Ambassador to Belgium. It was at their residence. That was neat. The invitation is still in my scrapbook.

- Jennifer

 

[TheTXTaylors5]

Who wants to be where Angie and Dennis are right now? I am sure ALL of us! I know they are having a great time. I hope she comes back and gives us all the details.

Brack,

Are you still on for the Eastbound Repo? Does that stop off at CC before heading "home" to PC? You'll have to let us live vicariously through you and Annette. The summer will fly by and soon you'll be onboard.

- Jennifer

 

[TheTXTaylors5]

We are pretty happy we waited to book our air fare for September until this week. Right now, it is hundreds cheaper than a few months ago. Doing the happy air fare dance from Dallas to Orlando (going to Europe is another story) Bill was looking into flights from Dallas to Rome for next Spring. He wanted to spend a few days in Rome before heading to Paris and then London. Those plans I think have been put on the back burner due to the ridiculous air fare. He even priced flying into London and taking the train around Europe. Still expensive. The dollar is still so week compared to the Euro (and most every other currency). That is killing Americans from traveling abroad. We just can't justify it right now. I knew we were in major trouble when the Canadian dollar caught up and is now worth MORE than the US dollar. I read a financial report online that the US Dollar is actually getting better and almost even with the CAD. As of today, USD $1 vs CAD $ .998203 / USD $1 vs EUR 1.54669.

- Jennifer

 

[plutojudy]

Does any one have the Westbound itinerary? Since we are with Angie and Dennis in spirit....I want to know where I am .

 

[Pooh_Girl]

We too are living vicariously through our DBIL and DSIL. They are on the cruise as well. Robby and I are very jealous. We're glad they are able to go though.

 

[brack]

Brack,

Are you still on for the Eastbound Repo? Does that stop off at CC before heading "home" to PC? You'll have to let us live vicariously through you and Annette. The summer will fly by and soon you'll be onboard.

- Jennifer

Unfortunately we had to cancel that cruise because of timing issues.

 

[JoiseyMom]

Who wants to be where Angie and Dennis are right now? I am sure ALL of us! I know they are having a great time. I hope she comes back and gives us all the details.

Brack,

Are you still on for the Eastbound Repo? Does that stop off at CC before heading "home" to PC? You'll have to let us live vicariously through you and Annette. The summer will fly by and soon you'll be onboard.

- Jennifer

You guys can live vicariously through my family!! We are going!! We have to pick our excursions for Sunday Midnight!! Since I am home for the next week and can't work, I will be trying to figure out what we are gonna do.

 

[JoiseyMom]

Does any one have the Westbound itinerary? Since we are with Angie and Dennis in spirit....I want to know where I am .

They left Aruba last night and are on their way to the Canal. They go through the canal tomorrow then the 3 ports in Mexico.

 

[JsMom2]

: He wanted to spend a few days in Rome before heading to Paris and then London. Those plans I think have been put on the back burner due to the ridiculous air fare.
- Jennifer

Jennifer, keep checking fares. It's all in the timing. I paid less for our fully refundable, business class flights to Asia than it would've cost to fly economy in the summertime. And then by the time we left, the flights were at double what I paid!

Also, flying within the EU is pretty cheap, so don't give up on flying into London or Paris. And remember you can easily take the Eurostar between Paris and London.

If you don't mind the cooler weather, you can also try for flights in February. Rome would still be comfortable, and you could just bundle up in London and Paris.

The lufthansa-usa site has some good promotions, and you can sign up for their email newsletter.

Oh, and if you're still home schoolling why not look at a repo cruise in one direction? You may even be able to get something out of Texas!

I'm all about finding the deals!

 

[TheTXTaylors5]

Wendy - I meant to tell you thank you for posting the Tokyo Disneyland AND Disneyland Paris photos. I caught Bill looking at the parks online after seeing the recent Tokyo photos. You intrigued him. We had talked about going abroad before, seeing the photos made him really want to go. He's the one that took the initiative and looked at the prices for the flights. I am soooooooo happy I have a hubby that "gets it". He's my Darling Disney-Loving Husband (DDLH), I created my own DISboards acronymn for him.

I am keeping my fingers crossed DCL will go back to the Med. However, I don't think they will return until the new ships are built. I heard horror stories regarding the eastbound repo. The passengers couldn't use the pools for most of the trip. Also, you think our little two days of rough seas were bad, I can't imagine being stuck on the boat for a week like that. Is there a waiting list already for the new ships maiden voyages? I thought someone said there was, but I can't find that info. That would be a pretty cool experience.

Bill had a bombshell dropped on him regarding our September trip. His boss did NOT approve his vacation for our September trip. I thought it was all set. Supposedly, there is an annual conference in WA that his boss has "encouraged" him to attend. The dates for the conference have not been released. His boss told him, he could do what he wanted (attend it or not). However, I don't want that to jeopardize his annual review for not attending the conference. Sometimes leaving decisions like that up to the employee are a test. I am willing to postpone our trip, if we have to. I am keeping my fingers crossed the conference is earlier in the month. The biggest pain of changing the trip is that we used DVC points for part of the cruise and ALL of our lodging. We'd have to use more than three hundred points before next Spring.

- Jennifer

 

[TheTXTaylors5]

I looked on the DCL website for Angie and Dennis' itinerary:

15-Night Panama Canal Cruise - West Cruise Itinerary
Day Port
Saturday Port Canaveral
Sunday Castaway Cay
Monday At Sea
Tuesday At Sea
Wednesday Aruba
TODAY: Thursday At Sea
Friday Panama Canal
Saturday At Sea
Sunday At Sea
Monday Acapulco
Tuesday At Sea
Wednesday Puerto Vallarta
Thursday Cabo San Lucas
Friday At Sea
Saturday At Sea
Sunday Port of Los Angeles

We are all At Sea today. I'm in the Vista Spa. Where are you? I might hop in the hot tub with Bill later. I can't wait for dinner at Palo tonight.

- Jennifer