Dorky Disboutiquing DiserSistas:Destination Disney HeatherSue's(best)version OVER1/27

Tessa with Belle-aww!
:( on your last day.
(I love the sister trip reports-looking at Arminda you'd never have known how pouty she was earlier in the day.)
 
OK I was sooo sad at the end thinking that you wouldn't be back until Tessa was 10...then I remembered that I'm going to be meeting you in 68 short days and I got all excited again. YAY you are going back :banana: :banana: :banana:
 
You totally made me cry about your last glimpse of Disney. :( How sad. I am totally feeling that with you!

I do think it would be cool to have MK be the first and last days of the trip...I am going to have to remember that the next time I go! :)

Tessa was an awesome Chip!!!! :)

Your TR is amazing! You need to go back soon so that I can read some more about your trip! :rotfl:
 
Sawyer eating his way through Disney World:rotfl: :rotfl:

I am not going to go on the teacups, I dont like spinny things, they make me sick to my stomach. I dont even know whether or not I would like Dumbo :)

I think Tessa's Peter Pan top is really pretty, the black silhouettes on the graduated blue background look really striking.

No flash photography on the Peter Pan ride please, Ariel does not look very well with a seam:rotfl2:

Your mum and Dad with Eyeore, Me Luvs Eyeore:love: :love:

Wendy and Peter Pan:rotfl2: :rotfl2: :rotfl2: Peter Pan really is the boy who never grew up, he looks like he still goes to elementary school:eek:
Wendy........Well:rolleyes1 :rolleyes1

It was really nice that you and Teresa could meet up at the end of your last day, and considering the size and crowds, quite amazing too:hug:

Congrats Tessa for being chosen to play Chip:yay: :yay:

:sad1: :sad1: The beautiful castle picture:sad2: :sad2: A really lovely picture but really sad that your trip is all over

Want more please:yay:

Mandy
 

I woke up the next morning with mixed feelings. After staying in the rental house for 2 weeks, it had started to feel like home. But, I was also missing my house and our fairly obnoxious schnauzers. I was also anxious to see if Favorite the fish had made it through our 2 week absence.

I always wonder what little kids like Sawyer must be thinking when they go on vacation. How do they know the difference between moving and going on vacation? For all Sawyer knew, we'd never go back to our house again! I think Tessa and Sawyer were ready to head on home. Tessa was doing some fancy moves in the kitchen as we ate breakfast.

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You can see Sawyer and Henry trying to finish up all the food we had left in the background. They didn't quite make it.

Holding Baby Simba. Um, sorry Tessa. I'm not photopass photographer!

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We decided to just meet mom, dad and Teresa's family at the airport. So, we left the house and locked it up. We paused for one last picture of our second home.

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Since we had some time to kill before checkout, we did what anyone would do- we went to WalMart. Yee-haw! I hadn't got Henry's grandma a souvenir and she had been watching our animals this whole time! So, I found her a shirt that was subtly Disney. She's not a Disney fan and never, ever, ever wants to go there. She says a root canal sounds more appealing. :confused3

Then, we ate at the little eatery place in there.

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Yes, we're high-faluting people, we eat IN Walmart!

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Too bad they don't give out t-shirts there like they do at Casa Manana, "home of the red taco".

We still had some time to kill. I told Henry I wanted to go to "the mermaid store". We drove by this store every day. I swear that mermaid looks just like my friend Kristen...

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...if my friend Kristen were a giant, kind of scary, mermaid. But, she's not.

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I have always been curious about what they had in there. They advertise all of these awesome deals on their signs- like towels for $2.99!! So, I walked in expecting deals galore.

Well folks, there were no deals to be had at the giant mermaid store. Their merchandise actually cost MORE than it did in the Disney parks! Seriously, the same magnet I bought at the parks for $5 was $7 at this store. It's only saving grace was this stuffed gator.

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Tessa wasn't so sure that she wanted to stand by it, but she did it just for me. It was missing several fingers and toes. How disturbing is that thing?! :scared:

We had finally goofed around long enough and it was time to head to the airport. We met up with mom and dad there. Mom took Sawyer around and let him watch the airplanes while we waited to board. We were flying Southwest on the way home.

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Teresa and her family were going to be going home in the same airplane as we were. While we were waiting for them to show up, we struck up a friendship with some Canadians who were sitting nearby. They were really nice people and we discussed gas prices, health care, painting cars, and other international issues.

I don't remember for sure, but it seems like our flight was delayed. Teresa and Brian got there with time to spare. When it was time to board the plane, we pushed our stroller, car seat, the kids, and our carry ons up to the gate.

The guy at the gate asked me if I had a tag for the stroller. I told him that the people at the ticket counter said I was supposed to check it at the gate. He said "You have to get a tag at the ticket counter." I said "Well, I didn't." What, were we supposed to go back up there and get a tag?? I've never been asked to get a tag for the stroller at the ticket counter before. Maybe this is something Southwest always does, but they didn't tell us that when we pushed the stroller up to the ticket counter and asked if we were checking it!

He went on to berate Henry and I, telling us that "people like you" are the reason this process takes so long. You hold up the whole line and make unecessary work for everyone else. I was about ready to tell him where to stick his stinking tag...But, I didn't. I didn't want to get kicked off our flight for strangling this horrid little man.

Is anyone else thinking that it would have been a lot quicker for him to just give me the tag (which took all of 2 seconds) instead of trying to embarass Henry and I for a mistake that was made by the people at check in?

With steam coming out of my ears, I proceeded to the airplane in an orderly fashion, so as not to hold up the line and create unecessary work for anyone. :rolleyes:

I do like how you get to choose your seats on Southwest. It was nice to have the family all together.

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Mom was sitting with Sawyer again and Arminda got to sit near her "Soy-ee"

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Dad was preparing for a relaxing flight.

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Little did he know.

Look at these gorgeous clouds. Wouldn't you think this would be a nice, smooth, flight?

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Ummm....not so much! You know that fun feeling you get in your stomach on a rollercoaster? That feeling is NOT so much fun in an airplane. It was quite possibly the bumpiest flight I've ever been on.

It didn't seem to bother the kids, but Teresa and I kept exchanging frightened looks.

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How cute is Sawyer with his little headphones?!

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Luckily, we made it all the way home without revisiting any of his food!

I wasn't sure how disturbed everyone else was by this bumpy flight until we landed.

Everyone on board burst into applause!! I was tempted to kiss the ground.

I didn't have any problems unhooking Sawyer's carseat this time. So, we were pretty speedy getting out of the airplane. Well, most of us were speedy. We waited quite a while for Teresa and family to exit the plane. When they came out, we could see why. Lydia was carrying a ginormous bag full of bags of pretzels. :confused3

I was about ready to drop. I hate traveling! So, I just wanted to get out of there! We walked down to baggage claim, stopping for a shoe shine picture on the way.

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Does anyone ever actually get their shoes shines?

When we got to the baggage claim, Henry started pulling our bags off the conveyor. When we had 5 bags he asked me if that was it. I counted the baggage claim tickets I had and said "Yep, we've got 5." He said "I thought we had another bag." I said "Nope, we only had 5." So, we went to get a shuttle to the parking place where our car was parked.

Wow, Michigan is COLD! It was really cold and really windy, and really dirty. There was a construction site across the street and the dirt from it was blowing directly in our faces. It was awful! We had to stand out there or we'd miss our shuttle and we were being pelted by sand. Our Canadian friends were waiting out there with us and they tried to help us block the dirt from our kids. I thougt that was sweet.

After what seemed like an eternity, the grumpy van driver showed up in his junky van with broken seatbelts. Funny, this is how this service was advertised on ebay:

"Once parked, our courteous staff will deliver you from car-side to your flight terminal with time to spare in our new luxury shuttles and our daily short and long-term parking rates can't be beat! This pre-pay parking system along with our prices and service will take the stress out of that up coming trip."

At least we didn't have to ride in it very far. I almost cried when I saw our Tahoe! This trip back to Michigan had not been the greatest and I just wanted to go home! We unloaded the bags and Henry asked again if we were missing one. I counted our claim tickets and counted the bags again and assured him that we had them all. Sheesh, he was getting annoying about that!

Oh, in case I hadn't mentioned it, now would be a good time to mention that we parked at Park-N-Go Detroit, and that I pre-paid for our parking on ebay. The instructions said to print out our receipt and make sure we bring it with us to show that we had already pre-paid online. I did that like a good girl and handed our paper to the parking attendant. She took the paper and said "That will be $119."

I kindly told her that we had bought pre-paid parking on ebay and showed her where it said we'd already paid $119 through paypal. She said "No, when you reserve parking on ebay, you have to pay here." I once again pointed out where it said that I had already paid for parking. She once again said "No, when you buy on ebay, you pay here." I wasn't getting anywhere with this woman.

So, I told her "We are not going to give you another penny." We paid for this online and I printed out the receipt, just like it said to online. This receipt shows exactly how much we paid, and the remaining balance of $0. Either call someone who knows what they are talking about, or let us through."

She got on her phone, all in a huff, and called someone. Then, without a word, she raised the bar and let us through. No "Sorry I almost ripped you off $119. It usually works with people who are tired and just want to go home. Sorry." Nope, just a raise of the bar and a wave of her hand. By this point, if our parents and children weren't in the car, Henry would have had some choice words with this woman.

Next page
 
We had an uneventful drive home. Sawyer enjoyed playing with Papa's hat.

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He was so excited to be in our car again and on the way home!

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So was I!!

It was going to be pretty late by the time we got home, so we decided to get the dogs and fish the next day.

When we pulled into our driveway, I was SO happy to see our wonderful home!

We started bringing the bags in and I was trying to find everything I needed to get the kids to bed. But, I couldn't find the kid's noisemakers (white noise machines that help them sleep) or Sawyer's froggy, or Tessa's baby Simba, or any of the souvenirs. Um.....

Henry? Where's the green bag?

What green bag?

The green bag with all the souvenirs and most of the kids stuff in it.

Heather, I told you we didn't have all of our bags!

:scared: :scared: :scared: :scared:

WHAT!???

OH NO!!!!!! The packing savant is no longer. I may have remembered to pack everything. But, I freaking left the bag at the airport!!

I immediately called the airport and was shuffled around for a while until I got to baggage claim. They asked for the number on my claim ticket.

Guess what??? I didn't have a claim ticket for that bag!! That's why I only had 5 claim tickets. Those freaking baggage check people not only didn't give me a tag for the stroller, they didn't give me a tag for a checked bag!!

I was in tears. I was so upset. They said they would call me if they found my bag. But, they said we could try calling again in the morning.

I went to bed, but there was no way I could sleep. I kept thinking of all of the things that were in that bag.

*Tessa's Tinkerbell mickey ears from when she was 3 years old
*All of the kid's souvenirs
*Sawyer's baby Tad that he always sleeps with
*the noisemakers
*the kid's shoes
*My souvenirs

*Lots of other stuff that I stayed up all night obsessing about

I seriously cried myself to sleep thinking about losing all of those things. I couldn't believe I didn't stop and actually look at the bags when Henry said it didn't look like we had them all.

I called the baggage claim area first thing in the morning again and they still didn't see my bag.

Then, I got a call from Teresa.

"Hi Heather. Are you missing something?"

"Teresa, DO YOU HAVE MY BAG?"

"Is it green?"

"YES!!!!!!"

"We've got it!"

My wonderful sister thought a bag at the airport looked familiar when the picked up their bags. They looked it over and saw that it belonged to us! So, they brought it home with them.

I was SO relieved and SO happy!!! Teresa saved the day!!

Tessa was really missing the fairly obnoxious schnauzers, so we went over to Henry's grandma's to pick them up. Was she EVER glad to see us!

When we walked in, she slapped Henry's arm and said "Where have you BEEN?" I thought you were going to be back LAST Sunday!

Ooookay....I know I told her repeatedly that this was a 2 week vacation, our first 2 week trip to Disney. I had given her the dates, even wrote them down.

She is not an old grandma, she's only 57 years old (a step grandma that had been married to Henry's grandpa since before Henry was born- so we don't consider her a "step"). She's just ditzy.

Anyway, I looked in Favorite's little tank and saw that he was looking even worse than he did when we left him. She said "He was looking fine, so I didn't give him the peas you left. He likes his food." :sad2:

I love that woman. But...

Anyway, we were really appreciative that she took care of the animals for us. We really were, even if I don't sound that way. She loved her subtle Disney shirt, too.

I'm sorry to say that Favorite wasn't long for this world at that point. He held on for weeks, while I just pleaded for him to die already. He looked SO bad and he had taken to floating upside-down in the tank for several minutes at a time. Poor fish!

Let's all have a moment of silence for Favorite the Betta while we watch this video tribute to him.


----------------------------------------------

Well, my friends, this is the end. I have had a wonderful time sharing our trip with you. As much as I like to whine and complain, it was a truly magical trip. It was made magical by the amazing bonds I have with my family.

That is where my magic really lives, in the love of my family. :love:

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Sometimes when I am sitting by myself
Those quiet moments when I'm with no one else
I’m mesmerized by all the many good things in my life
I think about the time when I was younger
And the older that I get the more that I feel wiser
With the love of friends and family
Get stronger and it carries me on through

So I say lovely lovely lovely lovely lovely
lovely lovely lovely love, love my family

To listen to this great song, scroll down on this page:
http://www.zooglobble.com/archives/2008/10/listen_to_this_lovely_love_my_famil.html

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If you have made it through this entire monster trip report with me, please take a minute to post a comment. It would really mean a lot to me!

Just one more thing...

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I am so sad your trippie is over!!! I loved all your updates and enjoyed reading it very much! I'm also glad that the green bag wasn't lost forever...I"d be quite torn up over that as well. What a nice sister you have that she grabbed that bag for you! I'd also like to thank you for actually completing your trip report because a lot of people get to busy or just forget to finish theirs and that can be a bummer. I hope if you take another trip that you'll do another report. I'd def read it. I hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas!:goodvibes
 
Ok...I am going to attempt a massive "multiquote" on this one...

Since we had some time to kill before checkout, we did what anyone would do- we went to WalMart. Yee-haw! I hadn't got Henry's grandma a souvenir and she had been watching our animals this whole time! So, I found her a shirt that was subtly Disney. She's not a Disney fan and never, ever, ever wants to go there. She says a root canal sounds more appealing. :confused3

Then, we ate at the little eatery place in there.

Yes, we're high-faluting people, we eat IN Walmart!

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Too bad they don't give out t-shirts there like they do at Casa Manana, "home of the red taco".

First of all...going to walmart! That is awesome. :)

Eating in walmart...:rotfl:

The taco comment? :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :lmao: :rotfl2:


We still had some time to kill. I told Henry I wanted to go to "the mermaid store". We drove by this store every day. I swear that mermaid looks just like my friend Kristen...

...if my friend Kristen were a giant, kind of scary, mermaid. But, she's not.


I hope your friend Kristen thought that was hilarious...because I sure did! I would love to look like a mermaid! Even a giant, kind of scary, mermaid! :rotfl:


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Tessa wasn't so sure that she wanted to stand by it, but she did it just for me. It was missing several fingers and toes. How disturbing is that thing?! :scared:

Bless Tessa! She is such a good sport! What a terrible gator? and what do gators have to do Disney? It sounds like that commercial on TV where the dinosaur shows up to the kids birthday party! :)

and missing fingers and toes...:lmao:

Teresa and her family were going to be going home in the same airplane as we were. While we were waiting for them to show up, we struck up a friendship with some Canadians who were sitting nearby. They were really nice people and we discussed gas prices, health care, painting cars, and other international issues.

I don't remember for sure, but it seems like our flight was delayed. Teresa and Brian got there with time to spare. When it was time to board the plane, we pushed our stroller, car seat, the kids, and our carry ons up to the gate.

That is so cool that you and Teresa got to ride in the same airplane home! How fun!

Your international discussion with the Canadians...:rotfl2: I hope you didn't sign any treaties! :)

And bad, bad gate attendant! You better be nice to my friend next time! :sad2:

And your flight....Oh no!! :scared1: it must have been horrible to have everyone clap when you landed! wow...



Does anyone ever actually get their shoes shined?

When we got to the baggage claim, Henry started pulling our bags off the conveyor. When we had 5 bags he asked me if that was it. I counted the baggage claim tickets I had and said "Yep, we've got 5." He said "I thought we had another bag." I said "Nope, we only had 5." So, we went to get a shuttle to the parking place where our car was parked.

I have wondered the same thing about those shoe stations! :)

Uh on the bags....I sense that is going somewhere...:rolleyes1

And the parking folks...WOW...They better start being a little nicer, too. I would have made some phone calls over that one. You are nicer than me! :) Sounds like she KNEW she was trying to rip you off!


I was in tears. I was so upset. They said they would call me if they found my bag. But, they said we could try calling again in the morning.

I went to bed, but there was no way I could sleep. I kept thinking of all of the things that were in that bag.

*Tessa's Tinkerbell mickey ears from when she was 3 years old
*All of the kid's souvenirs
*Sawyer's baby Tad that he always sleeps with
*the noisemakers
*the kid's shoes
*My souvenirs

*Lots of other stuff that I stayed up all night obsessing about

I seriously cried myself to sleep thinking about losing all of those things. I couldn't believe I didn't stop and actually look at the bags when Henry said it didn't look like we had them all.


Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!! Bless your heart! I bet that was a long night. I am so, so glad you found it! GO Teresa!










Sometimes when I am sitting by myself
Those quiet moments when I'm with no one else
I’m mesmerized by all the many good things in my life
I think about the time when I was younger
And the older that I get the more that I feel wiser
With the love of friends and family
Get stronger and it carries me on through

So I say lovely lovely lovely lovely lovely
lovely lovely lovely love, love my family


The tribute to Favorite...what a trip! RIP... bless it!

Wow...what a GREAT TR! I have enjoyed it so much! You have a beautiful family! I can't wait for you guys to go again...so I can read another awesome TR! Lots of picture in Feb when you guys go! :)
 
Heather, loved reading every minute of it!
I am so glad that you have your green bag!
The ticket counter should have definitely told you that you needed a ticket for your stroller! I can't believe that they tried to blame it all on you!
I am glad that you had your receipt for parking. I can't believe that they were trying to make you pay again!
Some of these reasons are why we are driving to Florida on our next trip. I really dread the drive, but I don't have to put up with a lot of other things that really annoy me while traveling. I don't like to be annoyed while I am on vacation!

Thanks for taking us on your vacation with us!
 
Wow what a trip!!!
A scary mermaid,
a creepy alligator,
a scary flight
and then a scary bag near loss.

Thank God for sisters and good for Henry for actually noticing. My DH is oblivious to such things.
:confused: :confused: What was up with that Southwest guy? It's his coworkers fault if they didn't give you a tag for the stroller. Not your fault honey.

I thought the People on Southwest were supposed to be funny and nice??

We don't fly though so I don't know.

I love the photos at the very end. Everyone looks so happy! They are such good pictures of you and your family.

Thank you for sharing your adventures with us!
 
LOVED LOVED LOVED your trip report.Can you please convince the Disney hater that you need to go back like, tomorrow?? I NEED to read another trip report by you. While I am at it, would you adopt me? I already feel like you are my long lost sister.:goodvibes
 
Heather i loved reading your trip report. You guys have such a fantastic family! I loved all of the customs, funny stories and great pictures. Thanks for sharing with us! =) Maybe your dh will become a disney lover afterall.
 
Hi Heather!

I haven't posted after the last few updates but I have still been reading. A great end to a great report! Between your report and Teresa's I almost feel like I know your family and from what little I know you are very lucky!

I guess I will have to hang out with you guys on the DISboutiquers thread since your tr's are over. I don't sew but I make t-shirts and scrapbook -does that count?

Thanks for sharing your trip with us!
 
I only started reading a little while ago and I haven't posted yet, but that was such a sweet trip report. Thank you for sharing that.:thumbsup2
 
I don't believe I have posted on your TR at all, but I have been following along. It has been wonderful to read and your last post here brought me to tears. The love between you all is very evident and very sweet! :goodvibes Thanks for a great read!
 
I know I was mostly a lurker but I really enjoyed your trip report. I have tears in my eyes from reading the end of it. Thanks for taking the time to write it. Laura
 
i made it all the way thru and am so sad it is over. i feel like i was there with you , it really was a great trip report
we also stopped at the silly mermaid store and felt like it was the worlds biggest ripoff.
and there is nothing wrong with eating at walmart.
kmart by me that is another story, the health dept has closed them down everyother week, but walmart thats ok, the two near us have a mcdonalds, and a subway.
thanks again for sharing your trip
and pretty please will you think about writing one about your trip without the disney hater, pretty please with sugar on top
 
I =]just spent the weekend reading your TR! :surfweb: I followed you over from the Disboutiquers board....I always read it but don't post much because, well, I don't have a sewing machine or any kids...yet! :lmao: I felt like I already knew a little bit about you, from reading all of your posts over there and seeing all of the adorable outfits you've made! :cutie:

It was lots of fun to read your TR...I really do wish that I had a family that was up for going to Disney in a big group like that! I have been out of college for about 2 years, and right now I'm teaching and living on my own. It's a bit lonely sometimes...but reading your report gives me things to look forward to, when I have a family of my own. :grouphug: Thanks so much for sharing everything!!!

Erin :hug:
 
Hi Heather,
Saw your post on DisBoutique (daily lurker over there) and came over to read about your trip and check out the customs in action. You have such a beautiful family and I loved reading about your trip. Mary Poppins day was my favorite. So sweet.
 




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