Finally a trip with just the of 4 us....make that 4.2

[starann]

This TR is LONG overdue, considering our trip was Sept/Oct of 2010, but a lot has gone on in my life since the trip and I came home with the "I know it will be a long time until we are back blues"

Here is a link to my PTR
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2223534

Ok, onto us (with pictures!!!)


Me:
I'm Star (yup, that is my REAL name). 31yo mom to Cody and Shane and wife to Randy. At the time of our trip I was working fulltime as a visiting nurse (I now only work weekends). I have been to WDW in 06,08 and multiple times as a teenager.

DS 1:
Cody was 6, almost 7 for our trip. This was his 3rd trip to WDW. He is a 1st grader who has some emotional immaturity issues (although now that more time has passed we are starting to think it is something more). He was obessed with WallE for the longest time. A friend made the coolest Walle Cake for his b-day! He is overall a sweet kid, he jsut has some meltdowns here and there.

Cody's 1st Day of 1st Grade

DS 2:
Shane was 5, amlost 6 for or tip. He has also been 3 times before. He is enrolled in half day Kindergarten and LOVES school, although he is often bored. He says his fav character is Goofy, but I'm not sure if he has a FAV.

Shane's 1st Day of K

DH:
Randy, 36 on our trip. He is a former DOD civillian Firefighter, now fulltime building/fire inspector. We met on match.com (no joke!) what feels like forever ago. He had never been to WDW prior to 06 when my dad offered to take us, all expenses paid, after my grandmother had passed away. DH never had ANY desire to see some 'over grown, over priced RAT" (oh, how things have changed!!!). He loved WDW so much (even with my family!) that he wanted to bring his parents down, so in 08 we did just that. That trip was less than magical. My MIL was content to stay in the hotel room for most of the trip and it really caused some hard feelings (after all, it would have been a heck of a lot cheaper if we left her at home!).


Here is a pict of the 2 of us!

will come back to edit later...gotta play mom right now!

 

[starann]

Ok, onto the When of our trip

Sept 26 to Oct 4. Our other trips were shorter, but I felt like it wasn't long enough. I learned this trip that while it was a nice amount of time, it could always be longer!!!!

Now the Where...

All Star Movies, preferred. We had stayed there both other trips and thought it was nice enough for how little we were in the room and we were planning on having 1 more baby so we knew this would be the last time we would be able to stay there in 1 room. We had looked into other hotels onsite, but felt it was better to stay longer rather then stay nicer.

We upgraded to the DDP. Of course out trip fell into free dining (cause I planned it that way!) so we upgraded from teh free quick service to the regular dining plan. We like to eat at the sit downs and like the idea of 'pre-paying' for our food. I've never sat down to figure out how much we save/spend, but it really doesn't matter since I like not having to worry about paying for meals while there.

As for the why this trip...who really needs a why as to why they went back to WDW!!!! But you can read a little bit about it in my PTR.

 

[starann]

Friday, aka, leave for the airport day, had finally arrived!!!! And all my lists, plans and shopping trips still weren’t enough. Thankfully I had decided to take off on Friday to get last minute stuff done, which turned into last day stuff, because it sure took me a lot more than a minute!

I sent DH and the boys to work and school and got dressed in nice clothes. My best friend’s grandfather had passed away after falling in the bathroom and having a bleed in his brain. I knew I couldn’t stay for the whole funeral, but I did want to make an appearance. I called our other BFF (we are a tight group of 3!) and we set to meet at the funeral home for the viewing. I gave hugs to my 2 best girls and I was off to run my errands….that is after I changed out of the heels I was in!

I went to Wal-Mart for toiletries, Giant to get batteries for the Leapsters (they were on sale for about 50% off AND I had a $1.50 coupon!), I then went to Party City. I had gotten the boys’ costumes and thankfully that the brainstorm to have the boys try them on….Shane’s was too small, so I ran to Party City to exchange it. Since it was a clearance costume, the guy had to go into a trailer in the back of the store, it took him a good 15 minutes, but he found one!!!! I then went to Borders to get “Confessions of a Shopaholic” I had recently seen the movie and wanted to read the book, knowing it was most likely better! I also found Lego Mini-figures. For those of you who have boys, you know that they are the ‘it’ item right now and it was like striking gold at the book store…. That was until I saw the price, $3.99!!!!! They sell for $1.99 on the Lego site. But in fear I wouldn’t find them again, I got the boys each 3. I then stopped to TRU to pick up some Lego set for Xmas, as they were having a buy 2 get 1 free sale. I made sure they were all around the same price (to ‘save’ the most!) and made my way to Target. I got the new Madagascar game for the Leapster (as I had already gotten the new TS3 game for the trip) and found more mini figures!!! SCORE! These were only $2.99, so I picked up more, planning on returning the other ones to Borders! I ran over to work to pick up my mileage check and to the bank to cash it, to the dollar tree for ponchos, the boys’ school to pick up their homework and then home……..FINALLY!

I started packing. DH had already packed, so it was just for me and the boys. My mom came over (as she was house sitting) and I gave her the instructions about feeding the critter, cleaning the litter box and how to work the TV (she always messes it up and then can’t watch TV!). She helped me bag up the boys’ clothes (one outfit with undies per ziplock bag). DH came home from work and we gathered up some last minute stuff and loaded the car. Now, I had brought along the double stroller and put it in the car….this will be important later! I had a nagging feeling I was forgetting something, but figured it was just my excitement.

We had to stop to CVS to get meds for both of us, so I ran in, got them and we were off…..well, 1st we had to stop to drop off DH’s car to get some body work done while we were gone (his 2003 Escape had some rust on it, and he wanted to get it fixed). I finally remembered what I had forgotten…a hairbrush! We then had to stop to another CVS to get my hairbrush! FINALLY we were on our way! We hit tons of traffic on the way to the airport hotel. DH was yelling at the cars in front of us. It’s not like we were in a rush, all we had to do was eat dinner and check into the hotel! Which is exactly what we did! We had dinner at the Philly Diner and other than the service, it was pretty good! I had French onion soup and a turkey club. Randy had a cheeseburger, Shane had grilled cheese and Cody had some really good chicken fingers!


We got to the Ramada and DH left me and the boys at the door, with the luggage on a cart. I think I had unloaded it all, because he didn’t see the stroller. He parked the car while the boys and I headed up to our room. Of course my room key didn’t work, so we had to wait in the hall. DH came up, let us in the room and that is when he saw the stroller. Which is also when the 1st fight of the trip started! He threatened to take it back to the car, that the boys were too big and I was babying them. I promised he would not have to deal with the stroller, but I was standing my ground and bringing it. Fight over. We then got a call from the front desk, DH had left his credit card down there, so I ran down to get it! When I came back to the room Shane was crying because he wanted to do his homework (that kid LOVES homework!). We got settled in the room, did some organizing of the suitcases and were in bed by 10:30 with a wake up call for 3:45. It was going to be a long, exciting day tomorrow!


For some reason I didn't take any pictures of that day, not even of the hotel or the diner, oh well...I promis I took plenty of pictures on every other day of the trip!!!

Up next........Day 1, Taking thier 1st plane tide and WDW!!!!

 

[starann]

Ok, it may be a bit until I work some more on this TR....the note book that I wrote EVERYTING down in, is MIA....it's here in the house, somewhere. I'm jsut not sure where!!! I promise I'll be looking for it!