Feeling Grand - How to Plan a Disney Trip In 18 Days Or Less

[brookelizabeth]

Enjoy!

 

[Native NYer]

Have a wonderful trip filled with lots of pixie dust

 

[Minnie&Nana]

You must be getting ready to board about now! Have a wonderfully magical trip - just soak up the GF atmosphere and you'll feel a million miles from any concerns. Relax and enjoy!
Godspeed!

 

[If U Had Wings]

I missed the big send-off. Hope your having a wonderful weekend with your mom!

 

[TarzansKat]

Hi, everyone! I'm ba-ack.

I'm not sure when I'll start the trip report, but you'll all be happy to know half of it is written. Mom brought her laptop, so I was able to do half of it on the trip, which is awesome. I'm basically missing two days.

We had a great time, and then I came home to the crushing reality of real life. So no one worries, all is well here, but we have a lot going on. I've got pending scheduling changes at work, day care issues for next year, and just a lot going on overall.

Most likely, I will be cutting back on my DIS subscriptions, and possibly suspending trip reports. I'll keep you all posted. In the mean time, I hope you're all doing well.

 

[RockinDisney]

Sounds like you have your hands full, I hope your vacation at least gave you a chance to relax...sending you good vibes and smiles

 

[Native NYer]

Hope you had a wonderful vacation.
I'm sure everything else will fall into place

 

[All7OfUs]

Hey, TK! Sounds like you're in the midst of some heavy stuff with life, not to mention the "heaviness" you're experiencing inside right now too!!!

Glad to hear that you had a great time; whenever you're ready to share how your mom/daughter trip went you do that. I'm dying to know if you got to lay out on that beach in YOUR chair.

 

[Charleston Princess]

Welcome back, TK! Looking forward to hearing all about your trip to the Grand! Big hugs for all your issues getting resolved soon!

 

[TarzansKat]

Hope you had a wonderful vacation.
I'm sure everything else will fall into place

The vacation was truly awesome.

Hey, TK! Sounds like you're in the midst of some heavy stuff with life, not to mention the "heaviness" you're experiencing inside right now too!!!

Ugh. And let's talk about that heaviness, shall we? I'm at that point where I feel fat. I know I look pregnant, but to me, it feels like extra weight, because I haven't felt any big pronounced movement from the bean yet.

Glad to hear that you had a great time; whenever you're ready to share how your mom/daughter trip went you do that. I'm dying to know if you got to lay out on that beach in YOUR chair.

Weather played a factor in everything we did and that's all I have to say about that.

Welcome back, TK! Looking forward to hearing all about your trip to the Grand! Big hugs for all your issues getting resolved soon!

Thank you! For your welcome and the big hugs. We did have a wonderful time, and I know things will turn around.

 

[jmamom]

Hi TK,
Glad you're back! Sounds like you had fun, can't wait to hear about it! We understand if you are busy, you have a lot on your plate these days. No pressure!!

 

[If U Had Wings]

Hi, everyone! I'm ba-ack.

I'm not sure when I'll start the trip report, but you'll all be happy to know half of it is written. Mom brought her laptop, so I was able to do half of it on the trip, which is awesome. I'm basically missing two days.

We had a great time, and then I came home to the crushing reality of real life. So no one worries, all is well here, but we have a lot going on. I've got pending scheduling changes at work, day care issues for next year, and just a lot going on overall.

Most likely, I will be cutting back on my DIS subscriptions, and possibly suspending trip reports. I'll keep you all posted. In the mean time, I hope you're all doing well.

Welcome back! Glad to hear that you had a good time.

 

[Mommy2LittleVols]

Welcome back!! So glad that you and Mom had a great time! Totally understandable about having to cut back on DIS time. I'm doing that right now as well.

 

[brookelizabeth]

Welcome home! I'm glad to read you had a great trip!!! I hope real life gets all figured out for ya and slows down a bit.

 

[TarzansKat]

Hi TK,
Glad you're back! Sounds like you had fun, can't wait to hear about it! We understand if you are busy, you have a lot on your plate these days. No pressure!!

We really did have a great time!

Welcome back! Glad to hear that you had a good time.

Thanks!

Welcome back!! So glad that you and Mom had a great time! Totally understandable about having to cut back on DIS time. I'm doing that right now as well.

Glad to know I'm not the only one!

Welcome home! I'm glad to read you had a great trip!!! I hope real life gets all figured out for ya and slows down a bit.

I wish!

 

[TarzansKat]

You know how sometimes it gets in the way? Well, right now, it definitely is. I can honestly say that everything happens for a reason and that recent events have thrown into sharp relief what my desires for my life really are.

In short, the bank I work for is extending its hours. This is something we were told and something that we're having to deal with. My management team has really been great about it, but we're at the point now where my job is turning into something that I'm not really happy with, and even though I work part time, I really feel that this new schedule is overstepping its bounds and beginning to encroach of my quality of life outside of work.

And let me tell you, once a job does that, it's pretty much my gut instinct to turn tail and run.

Now, obviously, with a kiddo on the way, I'm not going anywhere right now, because there's our health insurance to consider, which I carry. After the bean is born though...I don't know. DH and I are weighing the costs of day care. Full time care for both kiddos is upwards of $20,000 a year. I only work three days during the week, but all day cares in our vicinity consider three days to be full time, so you're paying full time rates whether or not you use the other two days. I don't mind telling any of you that even without paying for our health insurance, I don't come close to making that amount of money at my part time job, and I, at the present, have no desire to work full time. I did not decide to have children so that I would have to work full time and put them in day care. While this is a great choice for a lot of people, where I'm coming from is that banking is not my chosen field, and for me to make that kind of sacrifice of time with my kids for something that I don't plan on doing for the rest of my life and has always been a temporary stop just seems...foolish.

I want to go back to school, and I've talked to some of you about that before. I am seriously considering that as a possibility at this point after the bean is born. There's an accelerated program in my state (to get a teacher certification) that I'm really interested in, and it's possible that even if we don't qualify for state health care, DH and I could afford it because it would be less than the $20000 a year we'd spend on day care.

I can't really tell you how I'll feel until after the bean is born, but my DH has told my point blank, "I know you. You're not going to want to leave the baby."

He's probably right. Especially given how my hours are changing, and my previously set schedule, a great "mom" schedule if you will, is becoming a rotating one.

We just have a lot going on right now, and so if I don't get on here as much as I used to, now you'll all know why. We're really wrestling with some life changing decisions over here and it's a lot on my plate while trying to juggle everything else.

I'm confident that we'll make the right choices for our family, and for me as well. It's funny. I would be the first person to tell you that having a child changes everything, but who knew that this child would make me realize what I really, truly want out of life.

This little bean is more of a blessing than I could have possibly imagined.

 

[eandesmom]

Ok so I am a totally lame friend for not realizing your Grand trip had a PTR and you've already gone and come back (ok that part I knew lol!).

Big decisions and changes are hard and stressful and you are being faced with a lot. Breathe deep and it will work out as it's meant to and we are all, always here!

 

[All7OfUs]

I think there are a fair number of us who can relate personally to what you are facing! Yes, these are life changing decisions, and it's good you have to face them. When you eventually make those decisions, they will be all the sweeter knowing what you went through, and thought through to make them.

Depend, rely and pray.

 

[Mommy2LittleVols]

Big hugs! Those are definitely some tough decisions. We faced similar ones when I got pregnant with DD. Choosing to be a stay-at-home mom is hands-down the best decision I've ever made, but it does have its drawbacks (financially and otherwise). I know that whatever you decide, it will be the right one for you and your family. Good luck!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Life decisions can be so hard!!! I hope things become clearer as you think about them.