family trip in May (done!)

So a week or so ago, I let Eamon take his autograph books out with us, and one of them can't be found. It's the one with princess autographs, his second Jack autograph, and such. Not expensive, not a devastating loss, but it involved some time (PFF line!), and it's a bummer that we can't find it.

So today I'm calling the stores I think we went to on our shopping trip, but they don't have it.

When he heard me talking about it, he ran to the "take to disney" box to look for it, and found the Mickey poncho. So he had to wear the poncho for about 10 minutes. Funny, he hated that thing in December, but now he likes it. :upsidedow


And the hubster caught a glimpse of RiverBelle's non-b'fast menu, and now insists we go back for their veggie po'boy. Says he used to eat them often (though not in N.O., but rather b/c his brother made them) and he would love to try a veggie version.
 
Time is ticking down, slowly but surely! 1 month 1 day until we get there, but we're getting to San Diego 3 days before.

Eamon has somehow gotten the impression that the characters are real, and I'm not sure how that happened. It was not my intention! Heck, he *calls* them characters! But yesterday we were watching one of those travel channel specials, and he saw Mickey at WDW on the show, and was bewildered. "why is mickey at di-neyworld???" Um, well, because he goes there, too.

I mean, I didn't want him to think they were real, but I don't want to ruin his fun, either... an odd dilemma...

We were taking a walk yesterday (he's getting so big we take walks, not stroller-walks, now!) and he was blowing dandelions. I told him he could make a wish, and he said "I have lots and lots of wishes!" Later on he wished out loud to meet Mickey. Well, OK, I think we can get that to happen somehow. (this was before the dilemma showed up, but I guess I should have gotten a glimmer of it then)

Trying to figure out if I should buy baking supplies and make him a cake for his b'day, or if I should hook up with a San Diego or Anaheim bakery that will make him a corn syrup product free cake...


I had the MOST disturbing thought about half an hour ago. I thought...what if we're going for too many days? We've spent a lot of time there recently, maybe I should cut it down by a day? :scared1: I am not quite sure who hacked into my brain (OK that sounded funny and computer-geeky until I typed it, and then it took on a horror-movie sort of feel to it) and tried to take over, but I do not appreciate that thought! Harumph.

That said, this time we will have a car (my SIL's beast of an SUV, omg how are we going to afford gassing that thing up...might be cheaper to just rent an economy car) so IF for some heinous reason we do wish to get out, we could do so. Or just spend a day at the pool. With my two non-burning "boys" I would only have to worry about me... Of course, it will only be the Garden pool at hojo during our stay, which isn't quite as much fun. I imagine. I don't know, not having ever even SEEN the pools there...:upsidedow
 
Realized I should probably plan a *little* bit around MMs, since we don't have access to them.

Sat, Sun, Tues, and Thurs.

We'll likely go into the parks Sun afternoon.

Monday we'll be at DCA for b'fast.

Dang, so then Tues is MM.

Leaving Wed for FL.

OK then! Planning done. :rotfl:
 
I had the MOST disturbing thought about half an hour ago. I thought...what if we're going for too many days? We've spent a lot of time there recently, maybe I should cut it down by a day? :scared1: I am not quite sure who hacked into my brain (OK that sounded funny and computer-geeky until I typed it, and then it took on a horror-movie sort of feel to it) and tried to take over, but I do not appreciate that thought! Harumph.

WHAT? :scared1: Too many days? How can you say such a thing?

;)
 

I know!

Hey, I was just looking at your August '07 report, and your picture in the back seat of the Splash log would be *perfect* to show on the Splash seating thread...
 
YAY! I got an update! Sound like you've got alot going on and Moving TOO:scared: Too many days at DL - I have to laugh because I told my husband the kids might get tired of going every day... My DH laughed told my older kids and everyone was laughing at me.:sad2: Oh well. Looks like we'll have a no fuss, no muss very relaxing vacation and at the time we are going it shouldn't be that busy. I love the DIS! So informative and great people. It sounds like you have a great trip planned....Can't wait to read your trip report and see your pictures err... after you move?:rolleyes1:)
 
Yes, the move...ugh.

It's across the street. Such a pain. Especially b/c suddenly now my son has stopped complaining about this place. He now loves it, loves the apt manager, blah blah. Doesn't mind that it's too small and that there are still unpacked boxes (this will be our THIRD move in 3 years, each time around this time of year), now he loves it. He's been saying he hates it, hates the manager, thinks it's scary, there are bad guys, monsters, etc...but now that we are moving, it's all stopped.

It's to a good place, though, with our old landlady (doesn't that give a certain mental image that "old landlord" doesn't? she's actually only 5 years older than me) who is a good good person and a good person to rent from. It will be great. A pain, but great.

And she's giving us from May 15, so we can basically get moved in before the trip, then come home and clean for two days solid. :goodvibes
 
Three moves in three years!:scared1: That is a lot! Well moving and packing at the same time might not be too bad. Did you ever find the autograph book? Maybe you'll come across it when your packing to move!:thumbsup2

OT: My DD(6) just asked me "Mom when you were a little girl a long, long, long, long, long time ago did you go to the beach?" :rotfl: How old does she think I am?:confused3 :rotfl:

Well as I was saying your DS has his birthday and DL and his Bday at DL to look forward to so hopefully the move will be okay for him. At least he is familiar with your "old land lady" :laughing: Did he like her? And a bigger place how can you go wrong. He sounds like a pretty resilient kid to me!
 
Three moves in three years!:scared1: That is a lot! Well moving and packing at the same time might not be too bad. Did you ever find the autograph book? Maybe you'll come across it when your packing to move!:thumbsup2

OT: My DD(6) just asked me "Mom when you were a little girl a long, long, long, long, long time ago did you go to the beach?" :rotfl: How old does she think I am?:confused3 :rotfl:

Well as I was saying your DS has his birthday and DL and his Bday at DL to look forward to so hopefully the move will be okay for him. At least he is familiar with your "old land lady" :laughing: Did he like her? And a bigger place how can you go wrong. He sounds like a pretty resilient kid to me!

He can be resilient, though he is also very verbal when unhappy...I expect he will "hate" the new place for about 7 months then love it. Oh man do I hope we love it too.

Friends and family get on our case for not owning, but owning feels so permanent to me...what happens if you buy your dream place and it turns out to be junk? It would be horrible! (more on that later)

It's too many moves, even for me.

We were living in an apartment complex where our once and future landlady was and is the manager (MIL lives in the complex now). It was a good apartment with good management, but the people around us were unsavory. We realized we had to leave there (after 3 years) when the people below us pushed us too far. Some were having all night parties (with small children), letting those small children out at all times of the day and night without supervision, and other neighbors had untrained, aggressive, not-allowed-by-the-complex dogs that couldn't be kicked out b/c they were service dogs. Alas, the owner NEVER took the dogs WITH her, so I'm not sure how well they could serve her... I could have come close to dealing with the dogs (I like big dogs but there's one breed that unnerves me and those dogs were it) except for their aggression and overprotective behaviour towards their owners, which meant they thought that any of the neighbors were the enemy. The female trapped DH in his car two times, while the owner's boyfriend watched and called for her ineffectively from his second floor apartment, until she finally gave up interest. We knew that it would take a LONG time to prove legally that they weren't service dogs and therefore they could not be there (and in fact 3 years later they are still there), so we just left.

That's when the landlady/manager told us she bought a townhouse and would rent it to us. It should have been wonderful. But when they got to closing, Condo association paperwork was handed over; it was marketed as a townhouse (where you own the land) but was actually zoned as condos, so the 4 owners had to do condo association stuff...one of the reasons for moving there was for a fenced backyard, but the owner whose land it would border REFUSED to go along with it, so we never got our fenced yard. It was spider-ville, and I HATE spiders. We couldn't get anyone to spray b/c of the "condo" thing; no one else felt they were a problem. Then after $700 of power bills to "heat" the place for the winter, when we were NEVER even close to warm, we realized we had to leave.

There were other, bigger, problems, and as we moved out we felt SO bad for the owners who lived in their units, b/c their places (a year old) were starting to fall down, the builder ignored problems, and they were getting ready to sue the builder. SO glad to be renters in situations like that...

And so we moved here! But we've never unpacked fully, b/c the space is all wrong. Some small spaces are liveable, b/c of the way they are set up. This place is all small, short walls so you can't get more than one shelf unit on one side, and we need lots of shelves! There are aspects we really like (there's a movie room!) but there are too many jerky tenants living here on their parents' dime (it's near a couple colleges) and don't seem to care about the other people living here. The elevators are new (the building is younger than DS!) but touchy, and I'm more worried about them breaking down while we're inside. etc etc etc.

The kitchen is also so much smaller than I thought it was, and I really like to cook but am extremely limited in this place!

The new place has a huge kitchen with tons of *useful* storage, the rooms are bigger with long walls and useful storage (the master bedroom has a California Closet closet!). Most of the other tenants (it's a condo building) are retired, so if anyone's loud at night it's b/c they can't hear (and I'm working my way into lowered hearing myself, so I can certainly relate and also might not really be able to hear it! MUST get my hearing checked and I bet I'll have a hearing aid soon...darn those concerts during my 20s), not b/c they are having a raucous party. They re-did the inside of the place a year ago, and it's gorgeous inside, with a bay (er, port of tacoma and weyerhauser pulp mill) view blah blah blah.

Plenty of space for my photography and scrapbooking stuff, in order to make our DISNEY memories more than digital.

WHEW, I knew I could bring that back to DISNEY. :goodvibes


I know!!!!


**************
Today I began to wonder if we should move our Ariel breakfast to the last or second to last seating. Why? Why when we love the idea of getting into DCA early?

Well, it's at 9:40 so that's not THAT early.

But also b/c it's on Monday, which is a no-MM day. Next day is Tuesday, which is MM. Making Wednesday, our 4th day there, our first day where we could easily and quickly go through Fantasyland. That just doesn't feel acceptable!

We're thinking about it more, and once we make more of a decision we'll call to see if there's another time. If there is, then we can get up early, go play in Fantasyland between 9 and 10, then make our way over towards DCA for a later breakfast.

I really did love the idea of getting into DCA early, though!
 
Realized that if our plan is to go into the parks Sunday night and stay for the late Fantasmic show, we had best NOT get up early to go to DL. Might as well sleep in a bit and get to the gates of DCA around 9:20 like the CM told us to, for our 9:40 seating at Ariel's. Probably better than getting up in time to get to the gates of DL at 8:30 or even earlier.

That's probably best. :goodvibes


If hubby actually ever read the message boards where I post, he could see that I've now made a decision based on THEIR happiness. Yay, my solo trip worked!!!!
 
Enjoying your pretrip report, Molly! You are lucky to be going back so soon!:goodvibes
 
Very lucky. Having my brother down there does help.

But just the other evening I was almost in tears, thinking about how fortunate we have been to be able to take these trips. At 3 years old Robert's dad was making more money (I'm talking about pure numbers, not adjusted by inflation or anything) than DH is, but they never did anything non-work related. DH did get to travel Asia, but that was work related, all paid for by FIL's shipping companies, and wasn't so much *fun* as just life. But I grew up VERY poor and didn't get to this sort of thing this young...even though we lived in San Jose, Disneyland felt a million miles away for most of my childhood. So yes, very lucky.

And even luckier b/c the other night hubby mentioned "when" we *all* renew our APs....:upsidedow

But I'm not sure if we'll do that, b/c I started looking for fun places to escape to, er, GO, for DS's 5th b'day. :rolleyes1
 
Mmm, Gilroy.... nice and garlicky. :)

My dad still lives in Santa Cruz (well, Aptos), most of my friends from HS still live in the general vicinity, well, if Sacramento is the general vicinity as SJ. Man I hated that town...I was allergic to all of it. Ran away (er, to college) at 17, my mom moved to Miami to be remarried, and voila, we were done with SJ.

Santa Cruz was nice (fresh breezes, not a valley where the air got stuck!) but we only visited every other weekend or so.

One Sacto friend was married in Oct in Rocklin, we wore black b'maid dresses, and I thought we were going to melt. Man that was hot. :goodvibes

Disney plan thoughts:

Speaking of heat, I'm dreadfully afraid of the heat next month! Is it going to remain as hot as some have reported? I'm afraid, very afraid....
 
Mmm, Gilroy.... nice and garlicky. :)

My dad still lives in Santa Cruz (well, Aptos), most of my friends from HS still live in the general vicinity, well, if Sacramento is the general vicinity as SJ. Man I hated that town...I was allergic to all of it. Ran away (er, to college) at 17, my mom moved to Miami to be remarried, and voila, we were done with SJ.

Santa Cruz was nice (fresh breezes, not a valley where the air got stuck!) but we only visited every other weekend or so.

One Sacto friend was married in Oct in Rocklin, we wore black b'maid dresses, and I thought we were going to melt. Man that was hot. :goodvibes

Disney plan thoughts:

Speaking of heat, I'm dreadfully afraid of the heat next month! Is it going to remain as hot as some have reported? I'm afraid, very afraid....

Haha, very Garlicky! Yeah, SJ is weird to me.. All of Northern California is, I guess I'm biased because I've lived in Southern California my whole life, but just the way of life is so different to me.. :confused3

But Santa Cruz is very pretty. I have several friends that go to college up there..
 
Yeah, SJ is weird to me.. All of Northern California is, I guess I'm biased because I've lived in Southern California my whole life, but just the way of life is so different to me.. :confused3

But Santa Cruz is very pretty. I have several friends that go to college up there..

I never understood being there either! In SJ you have to go somewhere to do anything. Into surfing? Cross a mountain or go south. Ski? Drive to Tahoe and spend your life savings. Want to hike? Gotta stay away from the mercury mines, it's not safe to go anywhere around there. and so on and so forth.

The CA ads with Jack Nicholson etc kind of get to me, make me think I'm missing something, but then I remember that when I was in SJ I did a big fat nothing, that everything cost so much to do we couldn't do it.

Santa Cruz...my dad just retired from UCSC (he wasn't a prof, just worked there as a "dorm parent" and in their security system) so I spent a good amount of time there! Since my dad was used to the wild lifestyle of those students, he always thought I was incredibly boring!!! He bought me a dorm fridge my freshman year of college (which started when I was 17) to store beer. Crazy dad.


*************

Planning thoughts

Now I'm thinking about being at Disneyland before our breakfast again, if only to snag a birthday button and let DS have his phone call at City Hall.

Does anyone know if there's any place to do either of those things at DCA?
 
Hello Bumbershoot!

I just found your pre-trip report & it looks so interesting to me that I'm saving it to read tomorrow! [I like to have something really interesting to read during the workdays----while my husband is at the office & I'm procrastinating!!!] :rotfl2:

You always have such good advice for the people on the other board---I'm looking forward to seeing what your plans are ahead of a trip. :)
 
Welcome! :) And thank you. :goodvibes




Well, now we're thinking about NOT going in on Sunday night. We really want to see Fantasmic, and I do want the boys to see the Electrical Parade, but I'm not sure our "want" equals $120, ya know? Might be nicer to just hang out in DTD, see if there are any non-Indiana, kid-friendly movies at the AMC...that sort of thing.

You know what they need, along with Jedi training? Swordfights with pirates. DS would love love love that.

Wrote up a list last night of "things that would be spectacular to do ON his actual b'day". Obviously it starts with the princess breakfast b/c that's one of his wishes. His other two wishes are to meet Mickey and Jack, which are both totally doable, assuming Jack is on Pirate's Lair as usual.

But other than those, Jedi would be fabulous, piloting Mark Twain really fun, and of course we'll hit the tortilla factory so DS can get his packet of tortillas :goodvibes



We had been going back and forth about the stroller issue, and finally just ordered one. Got a Volo, though one a bit more spendy than the one I wanted to order, b/c of DS's request of red vs blue (he loves red). The red one was 10 bucks more. The things we do to help him like the things we stick him in. ha.

I was kind of regretting the order, and that same day we took a little day trip up to Seattle. Walked down to the "link" (free lightrail through downtown Tacoma), went to the bus, went up to Pike Place Market. Had lunch, wandered around, had some fun...then took the bus back down to King st Station and took the Sounder (commuter train!) back to Tacoma. It was a nice day!

But during that nice day, we realized that even for an almost 4 year old, it' a lot of walking. And when DS gets tired he gets crabby. And when that happens, I offer a piggyback ride, and when he takes me up on that, I HURT. He's about to be 40 lbs, and that's just too much for more than a fun momentary piggyback ride.

Since that's what will happen at the end of a day, and since the walk back to hoJo is about the amount I carried him...having that stroller will be soooooooo good.

Though since the purchase was made to save my back, I do wish it could have been paid with our Flex account! :rotfl:
 







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