Finally getting to see the lights! Nov '11 Anniversary/Holiday/F&W PTR-New 11/4 p50

[Lovemy3babes]

I love all of your purchases Amy. That skirt is adorable!

 

[jeremysdisneymom]

Love the family feud game! The soda countries and snow cones are too cute.

You got some great purchases! We don't have a Disney store near us right now but just read that one is coming at the end of the year. I am sooo excited about that.

We have never done a photo session but it sounds like fun. We have not taken a family photo since Jeremy was little. I may have to look into this for our Thanksgiving trip.

 

[skier_pete]

Hey Amy,

I was sifting through PTRs to see if any co-incided with our trip, and I see yours did. Though we are only overlapping by a few days...it looks like we wil be sharing one day - that fabled 11/11/11 at Magic Kingdom!

So, I read through most of your PTR here, and while it looks like most of the questions have been answered I would make a few comments.

Osborne Lights: We saw these in December 2009, and along with Candlelight Processional and the Castle lights were our 3 favorite Christmas things - and the only ones we really care about seeing again. Our experience was the crowds for the lights are pretty huge, since the park is typically only open for an hour or two after they are turned on. I really hope they get switched on before Thanksgiving. There was only one year that they held them until after the holidays. I am with you in hoping we get to see them, but I won't change my plans one way or the other (though we have a whole week).

Food & Wine on Saturday will be very busy...but mostly in the late afternoon and evening. We did it last year on Sunday, and it was pretty bad even then. The biggest problem with F &W is the lack of anywhere to go and actually eat the food...resulting in a lot of milling around and crowd bottlenecks. If you go early in the day as you seem to indicate, you

I don't think you've made a decision on resort split stay, but my opinion is - DON'T. Not for such a short trip. We had to move resort for our last night the last trip, and while we didn't mind because it was so late in the trip, it really ate up hours and hours of time...Mostly because of packing and then unpacking and repacking. And while they transfer your bags, do you really want to send all your most valuable possessions with Bell Services? We didn't, so we had to carry our carry-ons from one hotel to the other. For the future, I wouldn't be against it on a longer stay when you can just take that transfer day as an "off" day...but for 4-5nights I wouldn't do it, even if it means Stormalong bay. Are you really planning a lot of hotel time, anyways? It doesn't seem like it.

Finally, we did the AKL kids club last trip. DD8 loved it, and we thought it was really great. I don't even think the price is all that bad considering the service and what you get.

See you at Rope Drop on the 11th!

 

[DisMomAmy]

Soda countries. How cute!

I am surprised he put Small World.

I have never thought about my Top 20. Maybe I'll make a list over the next few weeks.

I walked around with this in my hand at the Atlanta DIS meet. I ended up putting it back. I knew I'd be sorry.

I like that a lot! If the boys all are khaki and white, what about you with white and maybe a real soft, washed out peach/melon or very light teal/blue, just for a subtle splash of color. You could lay it all out together on a bed to see what it would look like.

Zach loved Club Cool! And believe it or not, Small World used to be his favorite. He called it the "happy ride".

I like the idea of light blue! I'm not a big peach/melon person.

Love the Family Feud Game idea! What fun!

Oh my, I love that skirt, it's exactly what I am looking for, I don't wear skirts much if ever really, but I just haven't found one I like, can't do the miniskirt thing and I'm too short for long skirts. This would be perfect. I must head to old navy! White may not work unless I wear when I carry my DSLR and use it as my excuse to refuse to go on Splash Mountain or it might end up see thru!

Did you go buy the skirt at Old Navy? They had the same skirt in a bunch of different colors.

Great idea to wear it as an excuse to stay off Splash Mtn!

glad you have the photo shoot all figured out...I love the white skirt BTW...so summery I'd go light shade of blue for your top, maybe something w/ blue in it

I was debating the blue "leaf: Mickey shirt too and you know i love your American Mickey head shirt...

the Top 20 Family Survey lists are great and i get the biggest kick out of Zach first thing...Snow Cones


I wonder if my crew would have a top 6 that would match so well...if i guessed I am pretty sure we'd all have TSM, Buzz, POC, tea cups, People mover, and the Safari.

I think khaki/white/blue is the theme we're going with for the photos.

I thought the leaf shirt would make a good AK shirt. I saw the Kermit shirt that Bekah got, but it looked like it was printed wrong with some of the color out of the lines. Does that make sense? I was having hard time telling if it was on purpose or not.

You all need to make some lists!

Fun purchases from your shopping trip!!!

What a great idea to get Alex to do "research" on favorite things at WDW! Too funny about his own list with rides he doesn't normally go on!

Great skirt!!! I love it!!!

I had fun shopping! And we all had fun making our lists.

 

[DisMomAmy]

I love all of your purchases Amy. That skirt is adorable!

Thank you!! I knew the skirt was perfect as soon as I saw it! Now I just have to figure out my top!

Love the family feud game! The soda countries and snow cones are too cute.

You got some great purchases! We don't have a Disney store near us right now but just read that one is coming at the end of the year. I am sooo excited about that.

We have never done a photo session but it sounds like fun. We have not taken a family photo since Jeremy was little. I may have to look into this for our Thanksgiving trip.

I only get to visit the Disney store when I'm in Manchester, which is about 45 minutes away. Sometimes I plan a special trip up there just to go to the Disney store.

I hope the photo session gets us at least a few good family shots.

Hey Amy,

I was sifting through PTRs to see if any co-incided with our trip, and I see yours did. Though we are only overlapping by a few days...it looks like we wil be sharing one day - that fabled 11/11/11 at Magic Kingdom!

So, I read through most of your PTR here, and while it looks like most of the questions have been answered I would make a few comments.

Osborne Lights: We saw these in December 2009, and along with Candlelight Processional and the Castle lights were our 3 favorite Christmas things - and the only ones we really care about seeing again. Our experience was the crowds for the lights are pretty huge, since the park is typically only open for an hour or two after they are turned on. I really hope they get switched on before Thanksgiving. There was only one year that they held them until after the holidays. I am with you in hoping we get to see them, but I won't change my plans one way or the other (though we have a whole week).

Food & Wine on Saturday will be very busy...but mostly in the late afternoon and evening. We did it last year on Sunday, and it was pretty bad even then. The biggest problem with F &W is the lack of anywhere to go and actually eat the food...resulting in a lot of milling around and crowd bottlenecks. If you go early in the day as you seem to indicate, you

I don't think you've made a decision on resort split stay, but my opinion is - DON'T. Not for such a short trip. We had to move resort for our last night the last trip, and while we didn't mind because it was so late in the trip, it really ate up hours and hours of time...Mostly because of packing and then unpacking and repacking. And while they transfer your bags, do you really want to send all your most valuable possessions with Bell Services? We didn't, so we had to carry our carry-ons from one hotel to the other. For the future, I wouldn't be against it on a longer stay when you can just take that transfer day as an "off" day...but for 4-5nights I wouldn't do it, even if it means Stormalong bay. Are you really planning a lot of hotel time, anyways? It doesn't seem like it.

Finally, we did the AKL kids club last trip. DD8 loved it, and we thought it was really great. I don't even think the price is all that bad considering the service and what you get.

See you at Rope Drop on the 11th!

Thanks for replying to all of my questions!!

We won't be doing the split stay... too much of a pain in the neck!

I think we'll be OK with our Epcot morning. I was at F&W last year too & the mornings weren't too bad.

Crossing my fingers for the Osborne Lights to start before Thanksgiving!!

Popping over to your PTR.

 

[DisMomAmy]

Since I don't have an update ready, I thought I'd share some pictures of what's been keeping me away from the DIS lately...

We had the NH Special Olympics state games last weekend:
Alex beating the helpers at rock, paper, scissors:

Alex came in 3rd in the 25 freestyle & 25 backstroke on Friday. He was thinking he might want to retire after the meet. On Saturday he came in 1st in the 50 freestyle & 2nd in the "unified" 4X25 freestyle relay. "Unified" means there are two special olympics kids & two kids from the regular swim team who swim a relay together. They almost won but Alex swam 4th and stopped to get water out of his goggles and another team passed him!

That's Alex in the lead:

Zach was too young to compete in the swim meet. Even though he practices with the team, you have to be 8 to compete in the meets.

On Sunday we took my mom into Boston to celebrate her 60th birthday (which was in May). We took the Boston Duck Boat Tour & went to lunch at a Todd English restaurant, Kingfish Hall, at Faneuill Hall.

The "duck boats" are old WW2 vehicles that can drive on both land and water.

Here we are on the duck boat:

"Cheers":

Continued next post...

 

[DisMomAmy]

Continued from previous post...

More Boston pictures:
The driving tour was about an hour so Alex got a little bored so the DS came out:

The we hit the water for the last 20 minutes of the tour:

Alex got to drive the boat!

Then Zach got a turn:

It was a really fun way to see Boston. We only live an hour away but don't get down there very often. Tim & I had done the tour back before the kids were born but this was a first for my mom & the boys.

After the tour we took the T (subway) to Faneuil Hall to find some lunch. Kingfish Hall was just OK but it had chicken. The waitress was kind of snotty & Tim's food forgot to get ordered from the kitchen. I don't think we'll be back there.

Continued...

 

[DisMomAmy]

The day of the swim meet, I took Zach to our school's Bike Rodeo:

Zach got try out his new bike for the first time!

We've also had a lot of field trips lately. Zach had a field trip to an estuary in our area:
At the discovery tank:

Trying to coax snails out of their shells:

Alex went up to the State House in Concord & got to meet the Governor!! Unfortunately I didn't make it on that trip. They had more than enough chaperones sign up so I offered to stay back.

This week we had field day on Tuesday. We bus over to a local YMCA camp & have a fun day of activities & swimming.

The "bigs" (3rd, 4th & 5th grades) got to do archery:

Zach playing "field games":

Both boys got to try out the slide:

The "littles" (K, 1st & 2nd) spent some time on the playground:

They both got to swim, but I only have pictures of Alex:

Alex was geocaching during Zach's swim time & I knew he'd need a little extra help so I went along with the bigs for that time slot.

Both groups got to play some water games. "Drip, drip, splash!":

The bigs also got to go kayaking:

Alex was having trouble with the motor planning involved with paddling the kayak so he buddied up with a teacher:

He had it all figured out by the end.

It was a great day & the weather cooperated for the first time in a few years!

The fourth graders have a ton of field trips at the end of the year! In addition to the State House, we went to the University of NH today for their Farm to School program. It was about a million degrees & we nearly melted but it was a fun day. I only have one picture I took on my phone:

Finally, we got a couple new additions to our family this week:

The one on top is "Fluffy" named by Zach & the other one is "Gerby" named by Alex:

This was then with their mama when I went to pick them out:

Next week, our last full week of school, I'll be joining the 4th graders to go hiking on Tuesday & visiting a science museum on Thursday. We also have a band concert Tuesday night. Then we'll just have two more days of school the 20th & 21st. Both boys are performing in the talent show on the last day of school. Alex will play his trumpet & Zach will do a karate form.

Hopefully things will slow down soon & I'll have more time to spend here with all of you!!

 

[DisMomAmy]

Oh yeah... And I forgot to mention that yesterday was Tim's & Snowy's (cat) birthdays! We'll be celebrating this weekend with some lobster. And some chicken for me & Alex.

 

[brookelizabeth]

WOW! You have been busy!!! That is a lot of field trips/activities for the boys--but everything sounds like so much fun! Congrats to Alex on the swim meet and Happy Birthday to Tim...and Snowy!

LOVED your Family Feud idea! What a fantastic and fun way to figure out the top attractions for the whole family.

Glad to see your flight price went down too- I hope it goes down a bit more!!!!

 

[mommytothreeboys]

Great pictures of Boston Amy! I went to college in a little town just outside of Boston so we spent a lot of time in the city....those pictures bring back a lot of great memories! I've never done the Duck tour but I've heard great things about it. How cool that your boys got to "drive"!

Sounds like the last couple weeks of school are packed with activity! I love all the field day pictures....the kayaks look fun!

Cute gerbils....what does the cat think of the new additions?

 

[jeremysdisneymom]

You have been busy!

First, congratulations to Alex on his swim meet!

You have had some nice field trips lately. We only get one a year at Jeremy's school and there is a good possibility those will be cut next year. I really hate it as it is a good opportunity for children to experience things outside of our area. So many children never get to see or do a lot so that is a cheap way for them to go the zoo, aquarium, etc. You got to love budget cuts!

Wow, what an awesome Field Day you had. Ours is nothing like that. It looks like everyone was having such a nice time.

Tom and I were just talking about our trip to Boston the other night and the duck boats. Jeremy loved driving that boat! Boston is such a pretty town and full of history. I would love to go back there. Thanks for posting all the pretty pictures!

 

[mousescrapper]

Wow Amy that is ALOT... but it looks like a ton of fun too. had no idea you were that close to Boston, I have never been myself, looks nice we have taken those duck boat tours before in Hot Springs Arkansas and in the Dells Wisconsin...they are pretty cool.

good luck finishing out the last week/half of school!

J~

 

[Lovemy3babes]

Wow, you have been super busy Amy! Lots of fun activities are a great way to end the school year.

I adore Boston. I have a great friend that lives in Beverly so I've visited a few times. Cheers was especially neat! I loved looking at all of your photos.

 

[Dsnygrl1205]

Hi Amy! I'm all caught up finally. The trip plans are looking great! I love the top 20 lists you made. It's cute that Zach's #1 is snow cones!

I love that we have a Disney Store in NH still. I was worried with all the shut downs that we would be one of them. I really miss shopping and I can't wait to get home and spend a day blowing some of this hard earned money!

Are your boys out of School yet? Aidan's last day isn't until the 22nd this year because of all the snow days. His poor grandparents are so ready for the school year to be over! 6th grade was definitely tough on everyone! My Mom is going to spend the summer trying to find a natural remedy for Aidan's anxiety and ADD. I wish her the best luck because I have tried so much already and haven't found anything that has shown any real improvement. But she's determined after the struggle they had this year. Praying for a little pixie dust.

 

[DisMomAmy]

WOW! You have been busy!!! That is a lot of field trips/activities for the boys--but everything sounds like so much fun! Congrats to Alex on the swim meet and Happy Birthday to Tim...and Snowy!

LOVED your Family Feud idea! What a fantastic and fun way to figure out the top attractions for the whole family.

Glad to see your flight price went down too- I hope it goes down a bit more!!!!

I'm glad things will be slowing down soon - I can't keep up this pace for much longer!

So far the prices haven't gone down anymore for our flights, but I'm happy with what we have and my $250 credit!

Great pictures of Boston Amy! I went to college in a little town just outside of Boston so we spent a lot of time in the city....those pictures bring back a lot of great memories! I've never done the Duck tour but I've heard great things about it. How cool that your boys got to "drive"!

Sounds like the last couple weeks of school are packed with activity! I love all the field day pictures....the kayaks look fun!

Cute gerbils....what does the cat think of the new additions?

We had a lot of fun in Boston & decided we need to get into the city more often now that the boys are older.

Field day was a huge success this year. Our new PE teacher added a lot to the event.

The cat loves watching the gerbils!

You have been busy!

First, congratulations to Alex on his swim meet!

You have had some nice field trips lately. We only get one a year at Jeremy's school and there is a good possibility those will be cut next year. I really hate it as it is a good opportunity for children to experience things outside of our area. So many children never get to see or do a lot so that is a cheap way for them to go the zoo, aquarium, etc. You got to love budget cuts!

Wow, what an awesome Field Day you had. Ours is nothing like that. It looks like everyone was having such a nice time.

Tom and I were just talking about our trip to Boston the other night and the duck boats. Jeremy loved driving that boat! Boston is such a pretty town and full of history. I would love to go back there. Thanks for posting all the pretty pictures!

That stinks about all the cuts... so far we've been pretty lucky. Our population is decreasing a bit so the budget has been going down naturally, which I think has helped us avoid major cuts.

Wow Amy that is ALOT... but it looks like a ton of fun too. had no idea you were that close to Boston, I have never been myself, looks nice we have taken those duck boat tours before in Hot Springs Arkansas and in the Dells Wisconsin...they are pretty cool.

good luck finishing out the last week/half of school!

J~

We're about an hour north of Boston. Parking is the biggest obstacle but we caught the Duck Tour at the Museum of Science so we parked there then took the subway to get around for lunch.

Wow, you have been super busy Amy! Lots of fun activities are a great way to end the school year.

I adore Boston. I have a great friend that lives in Beverly so I've visited a few times. Cheers was especially neat! I loved looking at all of your photos.

Thanks!!! Only a week & a half left! Boston was a lot of fun!!

Hi Amy! I'm all caught up finally. The trip plans are looking great! I love the top 20 lists you made. It's cute that Zach's #1 is snow cones!

I love that we have a Disney Store in NH still. I was worried with all the shut downs that we would be one of them. I really miss shopping and I can't wait to get home and spend a day blowing some of this hard earned money!

Are your boys out of School yet? Aidan's last day isn't until the 22nd this year because of all the snow days. His poor grandparents are so ready for the school year to be over! 6th grade was definitely tough on everyone! My Mom is going to spend the summer trying to find a natural remedy for Aidan's anxiety and ADD. I wish her the best luck because I have tried so much already and haven't found anything that has shown any real improvement. But she's determined after the struggle they had this year. Praying for a little pixie dust.

The Disney store is a great place to blow off some money!

The boys finish school on the 21st. I think our "built in" snow days had us going until mid-week next week but the extra days pushed us to the 21st.

Good luck to your mom with the natural remedies... we've tried everything & Alex now takes an actual "drug" for ADHD symptoms.

 

[DisMomAmy]

Animal Kingdom! Alex loves it, Tim & I like it & Zach could skip it but we'd never miss it!!

We’ll only be visiting AK once on this short trip, on day three. We will have been at MVMCP the night before so it definitely won’t be a rope drop morning. We’ll get up & take our time making our way to AK by 10ish I suspect. We’ll probably stay until around 2:00.

Must Dos:
• Expedition Everest

• Dinosaur (Alex)

• Safari (A must for me - we somehow managed to skip it in March)

• At least one walking trail - While I’ve never done the Maharajah Jungle Trek, I’m leaning toward the Pangani Exploration Trail so we can see Lilly, the baby gorilla:

She turned a year old in February & is showing signs of developmental delay. I love the fact that she’s receiving “early intervention” as my kiddos did!

• Festival of the Lion King

• Kali River Rapids (last ride of the day)

Maybes:
• Planet Watch (if Zach wants to go back)

• Second walking trail

• It’s Tough To Be A Bug – we haven’t seen this in a while

• Triceratops Spin (A filler if Zach doesn’t want to ride Dinosaur)

Lunch:
• Probably FTBBQ but Tim might grab something to-go from Yak & Yeti

(Mostly my photos but a few borrowed from wdwinfo.com)

Up next: DHS!!

 

[beebeeryan]

Boston is so much fun, haven't been since pre-kid days, it's about 3 hours from us. We've driven by heading to Cape Cod twice, but never did make a day trip. I want to take the boys to the Aquarium. We'll have to plan a weekend there on a non-Disney summer, maybe next year.

 

[MeMom]

I hope you get to see Lilly. She's getting so big and is so mobile now. Don't you know she has as much care and attention as any little gorilla in this world has ever gotten? She could not have been born in a better place, in my opinion. I would love the job of working with her.

I am glad you do go to Animal Kingdom, even though you are not huge fans, like we are. It's still good to give the kids the experiences of seeing these animals up close, and it is a unique park. A lot of people who don't care for it just never go there at all, and I think it's such a good hands on/close-up experience for kids in their whole learning experience. I can tell my school kids about these animals, but unless they see them, hear them, smell them and sometimes even touch them, they are still not getting the full appreciation of the animal. The teacher in me could go on and on about this, but I am officially on summer break, so I'll stop.

 

[mousescrapper]

sounds like a good AK day....