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

[mommytothreeboys]

Congrats on making a decision about the new van. I hear great things about the Odyssey...I think you'll be pleased!

I like the "souvenir a day" idea. Hopefully the little details will work out.

I have a swimmer too. Isaiah has been swimming competitively for about 6 years. It's a great sport! I'm glad he has a good coach. That really makes all the difference!

Can't wait for daily updates..so close now!!

 

[DisMomAmy]

I'm glad you are getting closer to a new van Amy! That picture of Snowy is too cute! I bet Alex is a great little swimmer!

Alex is a fish for sure! I'm getting very excited for a new van!!

Your cat is just adorable!!! Congrats on getting a new vehichle. That is always exciting.

Oh, your are getting so close!! We finally hit less than 30 days today!

I can't wait to actually HAVE the new van!! I love looking around for other Odysseys when I'm out & about.

Congrats on your 30 days! I'm down to 16!!

Woo Hoo for 17 days! Probably around the time I get back from HHI you will be leaving!

I think the honda is an excellent choice. You will love just waiting for the light and the wrench to come on to tell you when its time for service. Plus, there is this oil life reading, so you know when you are getting to 20% its almost time. Hondas are exceptionally reliable. They run forever! Enjoy!

Have a great time on your HHI girls trip!!

I really like the Honda & you can't beat it's reliability!

NO! Not the cone of shame!

DH hasn't seen the movie UP - the cone of shame reminded me that we need to watch it soon!

 

[DisMomAmy]

That is great that Alex is on the swim team!! Great activity to keep him in tip top shape.

Snowy is adorable!! My cat Willow found my new blanket that my friend gave me last week. It is that really soft fleece & she is curled up in a ball right now on it. The blanket is a beige color so it looks like I will be washing it often.

Glad to hear you decided on a Honda. They have a great reputation & I hope you will be pleased with it. Good idea to get some decals for the new vehicle. I have them on my windows also. I also want a 16 month calendar. I buy one every year through Laughing Place but did not order one yet. I will see what they have when we are there ( in 1 Week).

Can't wait for your update Friday.

Check out my TR so I can get your opinion!!

My old decals were getting a bit worn so it's perfect timing to get a new car.

You only have one week to go!! I wish we overlapped... at least there's April!

LOL, that's what I was going to say!!

Poor Snowy, hope he's better soon!

Love the countdown photo, BW is so pretty at night with the lights, etc.

Yay on the Honda, I think you'l lbe happy with your purchase.

Best of luck with the daily souveniers, that is one area we have struggled with in the past.

Can't wait for the continued countdown! It's going to be here before you know it!

Last year we gave the boys each a set amount of money, but they wanted to spend it all right away. I don't think they were old enough to manage it. I figure this will kill two birds with one stone - keep them from spending all of the money on day one, and reward them for good behavior.

That's right, you mentioned that before about Zach wanting to be surprised didn't you? Oops!

Luckily he hasn't mentioned it in a while so it shouldn't be fresh in his mind.

Congrats on making a decision about the new van. I hear great things about the Odyssey...I think you'll be pleased!

I like the "souvenir a day" idea. Hopefully the little details will work out.

I have a swimmer too. Isaiah has been swimming competitively for about 6 years. It's a great sport! I'm glad he has a good coach. That really makes all the difference!

Can't wait for daily updates..so close now!!

I can't wait to get the new van. It cracks me up with some of the things they put in cars these days. The van has a "chill box" in the front that you can actually turn on & have it keep drinks cold. The kids are excited to have a center console in the back seat!

I didn't know that Isaiah was a swimmer! I used to swim competatively as a kid so it's fun to have Alex getting involved. He doesn't quite have the stamina up for the one hour practices yet so he's been sleeping well!

 

[MRYPPNS]

What if you made up "good behavior" coupons for the boys for their souvenirs. They could earn one for the time at Jeff's house and that way they would have (in theory) a souvenir available for "purchase" the first Disney morning. So they would (if earned) have a coupon in the morning for the prior day's good behavior. Does that make sense as I wrote it ??

 

[DisMomAmy]

What if you made up "good behavior" coupons for the boys for their souvenirs. They could earn one for the time at Jeff's house and that way they would have (in theory) a souvenir available for "purchase" the first Disney morning. So they would (if earned) have a coupon in the morning for the prior day's good behavior. Does that make sense as I wrote it ??

GREAT idea!! I'll work on that tonight!!

 

[Colleen27]

Good to hear things are moving ahead with the new van. Car problems are always a headache.

Swim can be a demanding schedule but it is so worth it! I'm probably biased because I was a competitive swimmer when I was younger, but I think that's such a great activity for kids to take up. It is such a good balance between individual and team and lacks the over-competitiveness/exclusivity that you find with some team sports. My 10yo swims on a community team and it is my favorite sport from a parent POV - none of the playing-time drama of little league, soccer, or football.

I can't believe your trip is so close! I can't wait to see how the big reveal goes.

 

[DisMomAmy]

Good to hear things are moving ahead with the new van. Car problems are always a headache.

Swim can be a demanding schedule but it is so worth it! I'm probably biased because I was a competitive swimmer when I was younger, but I think that's such a great activity for kids to take up. It is such a good balance between individual and team and lacks the over-competitiveness/exclusivity that you find with some team sports. My 10yo swims on a community team and it is my favorite sport from a parent POV - none of the playing-time drama of little league, soccer, or football.

I can't believe your trip is so close! I can't wait to see how the big reveal goes.

Hi Colleen! The schedule is a bit much for Alex, but he's easing into it. He also does a lot of sports here in town so we'll be juggling that, at least for this year. I just want him to have fun with swimming this year so he has it there when the other sports start to be more competitive in middle school.

I was a competitive swimmer too! My claim to fame is that I swam some relays with someone who went on to become an Olympic gold medalist!

 

[DisMomAmy]

With 15 days to go, I want to share my list of 15 new things for this 15th anniversary trip!

In no particular order...

Staying at the Boardwalk!

Surprising the Boys

Osborne Lights!!

MVMCP & holiday decorations

Anniversary dinner at Shula’s (Shula’s is not new, but celebrating our anniversary there is)

Photo session at the Beach Club

Cape May Café breakfast

Star Tours 2

Tiki Room

New HM Queue

Sharing the F&W Festival with Tim

Taking the family to Via Napoli

Seeing Baby Lilly

Introducing my family to Kathy & meeting Billy

Celebrating our anniversary in the happiest place on earth!

(Thanks Julie)

(Thanks Heidi)

Tune in tomorrow for the beginning of my "In Two Weeks" countdown!

 

[irish dancer]

Yay for 15 days!!

Great countdown, you have lots of fun new stuff to experience!

 

[MeMom]

Those O-lights are going up. We saw them last Saturday in the day time.

Baby Lilly was putting on a gymnastics show when we were there on Sunday. She was flipping and flopping all over the place, much to the crowd's delight.

Cape May - yum, yum, yum!!!

As I am coming back into the real world (hit smack in the face with tons of schoolwork), it does me good to ride along on someone else's excitement. This is going to be a great trip for you guys!

 

[disneyfan61]

Woo Hoo for 15 days!!!

It is great celebrating an anniversary there!!! We have done it a few times & I highly recommend it!!

I know we don't overlap this year but we WILL in April. We will need to get together before that though. Since we only live about 40 minutes from each other!!! Every time I go down Rt. 125 (like last night on the way to soccer) I think about you when we go by the sign for your town. We need to plan a day to go to the Disney store. I can pick you up & we can head to Manchester. I know with the boys you are really busy but we should try to do that sometime. I also need your cell # because my old cell phone died & I lost all my contacts.

 

[mousescrapper]

Hey Amy...

getting caught up, love d the scavenger hunbt idea and clies...great ob, the goodies for their gift bags look nice too love the good behavior reward coupons idea too...that should work well!

looking fw to your last 2 weeks countdown

your souvie list looks good...FYI not alot of 40th stuff left and halloween stuff basically all picked over...we had a hard time finding what we wanted


if you want my top F&W food items happy to share too


J~

 

[DisMomAmy]

Yay for 15 days!!

Great countdown, you have lots of fun new stuff to experience!

Thanks Anne Marie!!

Those O-lights are going up. We saw them last Saturday in the day time.

Baby Lilly was putting on a gymnastics show when we were there on Sunday. She was flipping and flopping all over the place, much to the crowd's delight.

Cape May - yum, yum, yum!!!

As I am coming back into the real world (hit smack in the face with tons of schoolwork), it does me good to ride along on someone else's excitement. This is going to be a great trip for you guys!

Welcome back MeMom! Cool that you saw the Osborne Lights... I remember seeing them when I was there the last weekend of Sept/first weekend of October last year. I guess they like to plan ahead.

I'm excited to see Baby Lilly & think Zach will love her too!

I'm happy to share my excitement with you! Post-Disney blues stink!

Woo Hoo for 15 days!!!

It is great celebrating an anniversary there!!! We have done it a few times & I highly recommend it!!

I know we don't overlap this year but we WILL in April. We will need to get together before that though. Since we only live about 40 minutes from each other!!! Every time I go down Rt. 125 (like last night on the way to soccer) I think about you when we go by the sign for your town. We need to plan a day to go to the Disney store. I can pick you up & we can head to Manchester. I know with the boys you are really busy but we should try to do that sometime. I also need your cell # because my old cell phone died & I lost all my contacts.

Yes - definitely!! That would be fun if we can get our schedules to jibe! I usually have time to get up there during the school day. But I'm sure we can make something work - we have six months to figure it out!

Hey Amy...

getting caught up, love d the scavenger hunbt idea and clies...great ob, the goodies for their gift bags look nice too love the good behavior reward coupons idea too...that should work well!

looking fw to your last 2 weeks countdown

your souvie list looks good...FYI not alot of 40th stuff left and halloween stuff basically all picked over...we had a hard time finding what we wanted


if you want my top F&W food items happy to share too


J~

You're back! I'm mainly hoping we can find some Christmas stuff while we are there. Since it'll be the first week of MVMCP it shouldn't be too picked over yet. Sorry you didn't have much luck with the Halloween stuff.

I created the souvenir certificate last night - I'll post it soon.

I'd love to hear about your F&W faves! I'm guessing something slushy might be on the list??

 

[skier_pete]

Disappointed the possibility of meeting me didn't make the top 15.




Just kidding! Looks like a great list.

 

[DisMomAmy]

Disappointed the possibility of meeting me didn't make the top 15.




Just kidding! Looks like a great list.

You were #16! You just missed the cut!

 

[mommytothreeboys]

Love the list!

 

[mrsksomeday]

Love your countdown!! Looks like you have some great things to look forward too. I am so jealous that you get to meet up with Kathy. She is so awesome isn't she? We just love her.

I can't wait to read more .

 

[DisMomAmy]

Love the list!

Thanks Missy!

Love your countdown!! Looks like you have some great things to look forward too. I am so jealous that you get to meet up with Kathy. She is so awesome isn't she? We just love her.

I can't wait to read more .

I'm really excited to see Kathy again but most excited to meeet Billy & for Kathy to meet my family!

 

[skier_pete]

You were #16! You just missed the cut!

That is only be cause you haven't met my charming wife and daughter yet....they would definitely be in the top 15. Of course the fact that I'm there too would bump us back down.....

 

[DisMomAmy]

Two weeks from today we’ll be leaving!!! We don’t have to get up too early but I’m sure I won’t get too much sleep the night before! Hopefully, if Zach passes his blue belt test in karate, we’ll be at his belt graduation Friday night until around 8:30. We’ll head home & get the boys showered & to bed. Then I can get to work on last minute packing! Our flight is at 10:10am so we’ll probably leave the house around 7:30-7:45. I’ll get up & jump in the shower, probably around 5:30 or 6:00, then kick Tim out of bed to do the same. Hopefully we’ll wake the boys (or more likely they’ll already be up), feed them a little breakfast then send them off on a scavenger hunt!! I can’t wait to see their reaction!!

Once we get out of the house, we’ll head to the airport & arrive in Tampa around 1:30. We’ll grab our Alamo minivan & drive to Jeff & Karen’s new condo! I’m sure we’ll just hang out, grab a few groceries & relax for the rest of the day.