Food, SQUIRREL, and When We Are Old...A March 2012 TR

[Glittercat]

Poor Gabe! Orion (the Rascal) was just a hair over height requirement for a few of the bigger rides, and just not yet tall enough for others. Not a big deal in our case though as even Splash Mountain scared him and he swore he would not do it again! lol. Think he may change his mind by next year!
What a cute pancake mold! I've never seen a pancake mold before. We enjoyed Animal Kingdom too, but agree it doesn't seem to take a whole day. Would love to see it expanded. Have fun with your meet ups! Sounds like good times are planned!
Enjoying your trip report very much thank you for sharing it! *cheers*~ Rebecca
p.s. found Rescuers on DVD at Target, and we're planning our Movie Night for this month making jambalaya, and I may attempt shrimp étouffée (had to look up how to spell it!) but not sure I feel that courageous.

 

[oopsiDAISY]

Poor Gabe! Orion (the Rascal) was just a hair over height requirement for a few of the bigger rides, and just not yet tall enough for others. Not a big deal in our case though as even Splash Mountain scared him and he swore he would not do it again! lol. Think he may change his mind by next year!
What a cute pancake mold! I've never seen a pancake mold before. We enjoyed Animal Kingdom too, but agree it doesn't seem to take a whole day. Would love to see it expanded. Have fun with your meet ups! Sounds like good times are planned!
Enjoying your trip report very much thank you for sharing it! *cheers*~ Rebecca
p.s. found Rescuers on DVD at Target, and we're planning our Movie Night for this month making jambalaya, and I may attempt shrimp étouffée (had to look up how to spell it!) but not sure I feel that courageous.

Oh, I can't wait to see what you do for your Rescuers movie night! You DO plan to post pictures and stuff, right? Please Do!! I LOVE movie night updates! We really like Shrimp and Crawfish Etouffee, but I have never been brave enought to try to make it, either. Let me know if you try it and it goes well!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We had a very Mickey breakfast Saturday morning:

And while we are tossing out randomness...I came across this youtube video that just so happens to star our very own Captain Mac from our Pirates and Pals Fireworks Voyage last March:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9mKx-7Fgdc&feature=g-sptl&cid=inp-hs-edt-01

We are taking our sweet Jillybean and her BFF since they were 2 years old to Pigeon Forge this weekend to celebrate Jilly turning 13 next Monday. It is a surprise. We really want to make a big deal out of the 13 birthday for all three of our children and Jillian is the first to make it to this milestone. I can't believe my baby is going to be a teenager! She is such a sweet young lady and I am proud of her every day. She brings such joy to our hearts and home.

I have a Dismeet planned for the weekend too! Stay tuned next week for photo documentation of the weekend...

 

[solana131]

Dinosaur...we liked it. It is a very rough ride. Gabe didn't enjoy it, it scared him. He spent the entire ride with his head buried in my side. In the ride photo you couldn't even see him, it looked like an empty seat beside me. He didn't cry or freak out, just stayed hidden and informed us when we got off that he didn't like it.

I'm with Gabe My husband's arm lost all circulation by the end of that ride and when I went with my cousin in July, I had my eyes closed the majority of the time!

 

[Glittercat]

Oh, I can't wait to see what you do for your Rescuers movie night! You DO plan to post pictures and stuff, right? Please Do!! I LOVE movie night updates! We really like Shrimp and Crawfish Etouffee, but I have never been brave enought to try to make it, either. Let me know if you try it and it goes well!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We had a very Mickey breakfast Saturday morning:

And while we are tossing out randomness...I came across this youtube video that just so happens to star our very own Captain Mac from our Pirates and Pals Fireworks Voyage last March:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9mKx-7Fgdc&feature=g-sptl&cid=inp-hs-edt-01

We are taking our sweet Jillybean and her BFF since they were 2 years old to Pigeon Forge this weekend to celebrate Jilly turning 13 next Monday. It is a surprise. We really want to make a big deal out of the 13 birthday for all three of our children and Jillian is the first to make it to this milestone. I can't believe my baby is going to be a teenager! She is such a sweet young lady and I am proud of her every day. She brings such joy to our hearts and home.

I have a Dismeet planned for the weekend too! Stay tuned next week for photo documentation of the weekend...

Just as soon as I figure out how to add photos I promise too. Sooo much to learn still about the boards. Also I don't have the courage to try shrimp étouffée, so we're having cajun grilled shrimp instead. Andouille jambalaya (the Mister's request), some greens, my Gramma's cornbread (though she's from Arkansas), and something for dessert.

13! oh my goodness an actual teenager! Happy Birthday to her! My eldest will be 12 in January but a few of her classmates are at the teen mark. My kids & I loved your Mickey pancakes! Hope your weekend is just delightful and your DISmeet is a blast! *hugs* ~Rebecca

 

[cheekypoppins]

I love that pic of the 3 kids splashing in the fountain ,the happiness on their faces is the best thing ever,moments like that when you see kids so happy and in the moment are what make Disney so worth every penny.OMg am I seriously getting misty ??Oh goodness can u tell i'm 4 days away? That n the fact that i'm usually a very grumpy bear who even on school days will sleep as long as i can before having to get up n get the kidlets off to school,anyother time I'd sleep til at least 8 but not today nope I think I got in 3 hrs sleep total AAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!Okay I'm tired and delirious ignore my rambling!

 

[oopsiDAISY]

Just as soon as I figure out how to add photos I promise too. Sooo much to learn still about the boards. Also I don't have the courage to try shrimp étouffée, so we're having cajun grilled shrimp instead. Andouille jambalaya (the Mister's request), some greens, my Gramma's cornbread (though she's from Arkansas), and something for dessert.

13! oh my goodness an actual teenager! Happy Birthday to her! My eldest will be 12 in January but a few of her classmates are at the teen mark. My kids & I loved your Mickey pancakes! Hope your weekend is just delightful and your DISmeet is a blast! *hugs* ~Rebecca

I have a couple of dessert suggestions for you to go along with your Cajun food theme: Bread Pudding or the "faux" beignets I made. The beignets are quick and easy and were DELICIOUS! Just get some canned biscuits, cut them into quarters, fry them til they float, and then dust them with powdered sugar. SO GOOD! Seriously!!!

I love that pic of the 3 kids splashing in the fountain ,the happiness on their faces is the best thing ever,moments like that when you see kids so happy and in the moment are what make Disney so worth every penny.OMg am I seriously getting misty ??Oh goodness can u tell i'm 4 days away? That n the fact that i'm usually a very grumpy bear who even on school days will sleep as long as i can before having to get up n get the kidlets off to school,anyother time I'd sleep til at least 8 but not today nope I think I got in 3 hrs sleep total AAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!Okay I'm tired and delirious ignore my rambling!

I think you and I are kindred spirits...I too get SOOOO giddy and excited before a trip, I am sure I am just unbearable to be around. I will be gone this weekend, so I will miss your "send-off". Have a GREAT trip, and I can't wait to hear all about it when you get home!

 

[oopsiDAISY]

DAY 6, MARCH 13, 2012 cont.'d

So I left off with my kids enjoying the fountain near the end of the Maharajah Jungle Trek. It is now time to head to our safari! This update is going to be looooong on photos. I normally wouldn't put so many pictures of the animals on here since everyone has seen them and has a gazillion photos of them....but I miss Disney, so I am going to just post a lot of pictures today. I don't know names of all these animals, but I will label the ones I DO know...here we goooooooooooooo!

Okapi!

Some kind of bird.

A hungry, hungry Hippo (out of the water even!)

Crikey~ look at the Crocs...aren't they beautiful? (a tribute to the Croc Hunter may he rest in peace )

Upside down tree:

Apparently Brian really liked the giraffes, evidenced by the number of photos taken of them:

This picture is precious!

Zebras are off in the distance (can't wait until we can see them more close up!), and this is a gorgeous picture of the scenery for sure.

Elephants:

Mingoes in the watah:

Cheetah (this is Gabe's favorite animal right now )

Photobucket is about to make me angry..., so I guess I will leave off here. Stay tuned, because in my next trip update we have a close encounter with a White Rhino!

 

[solana131]

Wow, you got some great shots! Love the giraffes. And the hippo out of the water...lucky!

 

[DMGeurts]

WOW!!! What time of day did you go on the safari???? You saw a ton of animals... Literally.

D~

 

[cheekypoppins]

awe you're too sweet, it's funny because our girls seem to be similar too,my youngest is the fashionista hope that you have a great time while I'm gone aswell

 

[oopsiDAISY]

We are back from a FANTASTIC weekend in Pigeon Forge! We told Jillian Thursday night that we were taking her and her BFF away to PF for the weekend to celebrate her 13th birthday...she was so surprise and excited! We were proud of BFF, she had known about the trip for over three months and had never said a word to Jillian! Jillian even said "I just talked to her on the phone when I got home from school today and she didn't say ANYTHING about it!"

Friday morning we were up and out the door in no time. After dropping off Charity and Gabe at school we were headed for the hills. Jillian was one happy birthday girl...for more reasons than one. Mommy and Daddy were FINALLY letting her watch the Twilight movies! So this is what she and BFF did on the way to the mountains (hence the headphones):

I tried to get a picture of Brian driving, but he wouldn't smile for me...so I took matters into my own hands and got my big noggin in the camera frame, this made him smile!

We got to the resort, and the girls goofed off a bit while Brian got us checked in:

We stayed at a wonderful resort called Wilderness of the Smokies. It has an indoor water park and two outdoor water parks...all included in the price of your room! Sadly, I did not get pictures of the resort.

After getting settled into our room we had a choice: waterparks or Gatlinburg? The girls decided they wanted to wait until the next day to do the water parks, so we set out for a fun night in Gatlinburg. Our first order of business? To get pictures made in front of the famous Smoky Mountains road sign:

We told the girls they could pick one "touristy" attraction to do that night, and they picked this place:

They loved all the random weirdness of the Ripley's museum! After the museum we strolled the "strip" in Gatliburg. We checked out the many shops and boutiques. One of my favorite moments of the whole trip? My now teenaged daughter and her equally teenaged BFF spending half an hour in a small toy shop! Right outside the toy shop was one of those cool red phone booths that they have in Epcot:

Brian and I found our own "booth" to have our picture taken in :

After having dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe, we ended the evening taking the lift up the mountain. It was a cool and clear night and the lights in Gatlinburg were beautiful to look at. We chose to just enjoy the moment and didn't take any pictures. We did take one picture in the "dump shop" at the top of the mountain:

Back at the room I took a picture of the girls modeling the souveniers they got for the trip:

This was the end of Day 1. Day 2 continued in next post...

 

[oopsiDAISY]

With the dawning of Day 2 it was time to hit the water parks. Jillian started the day doing what she knows she and her brother and sister are only allowed to do at hotels...

WOW~ she looks headless, doesn't she?

We obviously couldn't get pictures of any of us going on water slides, but we did get a picture of Jillian doing this:

For lunch we had some very important guests coming to the resort to join us...LIDIAN!!! Liddy and her family took the time to drive an hour just for lunch with us! We had a wonderful time together. Being around her 6 year old DS totally made us miss Gabe, because let me tell you: they are two peas in a pod!!! Her DS is JUST LIKE GABE!!!

Our DH's hit it off grandly. They spent the whole time talking about video games and Star Wars and other geek stuff. They are now lifelong friends who promised to find each other in video game cyber space!

Liddy and I spent our time talking about everything under the sun...of course it all started out with conversations about DISNEY! But we eventually got to taking about IRL stuff and had a wonderful visit. This was a much better Dismeet than the quick "fly by" we all had in March at POR. It was great to get to know Liddy and her family a little better, and we look forward to spending more time together in the future.

Before they left to head home we got the photo taken to document the Dismeet (pardon the swim attire worn by yours truly ):

After the Lidian family left the girls spent several more hours around the water parks, and Brian and I relaxed in some loungers with our books. We eventually made our way up to the room to rest and get showers...we still had one more night of fun to tackle!!!

On Saturday night it was time to hit the strip in Pigeon Forge. There was one thing the girls were ready to do... they were going to celebrate Jillian's 13th with a BANG!

They were going to do this giant slingshot thing. Just imagine two roller coaster style seats attached to two bungee cords suspended from two 100 ft high poles... Yep~they were going to do something wild and CRAZY!

Getting ready to be launched:

And they are off:

This thing launched them 110ft in the air and then flipped them around mid-air for a good 2-3 minutes! As they were being flung we heard squeals, screams and Jillian yelling "OH GOD!" at the top of her lungs! Right after it flung them into the air I looked at Brian and said "I can't believe we let them do this!" And here are the dazed expressions we got when they finally "landed":

After they got their heart rates to slow down, they went on and on about how much fun it was! The verdict? The LOVED it! We rode some go-carts for a while, then it was time for some dinner...

at Joe's Crab Shack. This place is fun and delicious. I did get pictures here, because we were dressed for the occasion:

My bib said "I'm with Crabby" and it pointed at Brian!

Jillian didn't want to put hers on right away, so here is BFF modeling Jillian's bib:

Here is our beautiful birthday girl:

And the whole gang:

After dinner we just went back to the resort to crash and burn after two wild and crazy days of partying. We got up and came home on Sunday morning.

Last night we had a special birthday dinner at our house for family. We gave her a necklace with a crown pendant and had a "crowning moment" for her where everyone (parents, grandparents and great grandparents) took turns telling her how loved she is, how beautiful she is, and giving her wisdom to help her through the tumultuous teenage years. Let's just say all the females were in tears (including Jillian). It was an incredible evening to end an amazing weekend.!

 

[solana131]

Yay Liddy! It's so nice you got to see her and her adorable family....I miss her around here....Hi Liddy

We went to Pigeon Forge a long time ago Happy Birthday Jillian!

 

[wakica]

Looks like DD's 13th bday was a huge success. I wish I had bdays like that. lol

Photobucket drives me crazy too. It seems to freeze up when I'm using it - is that what it does to you?? The my whole computer freezes up. Grr - I've found that when it starts acting glitchy I have to shut that tab down and bring up a new tab and go to photobucket again. Its annoying but at least it doesn't crash my whole computer and make me lost what my update.

DD and I ready the first of the Kingdom Keepers while on our last trip. We ended up fighting over it at times bc it was SO interesting to read about parks we were at. Is she enjoying it?

and I find frozen lemonades SSOOO good too!!!! They are my FAVE. Doesn't matter what kind - the icy drink ones or the one that's more like ice cream - which one did you have? I have even made my own frozen lemonades at home bc I love them so much. MMMmmm - I might just need one right now.

 

[MeMom]

Mingoes in the watah:

Love it! I bought a mingo Christmas stocking at Hobby Lobby a couple of days ago. Couldn't pass that up!

Here is our beautiful birthday girl:

What a precious girl! How blessed you are to have her, and how blessed she is to have her wonderful, loving family! This started my morning off with a big smile.

It's great that you guys got to have that special time in Pigeon Forge. We have plans to have a DIS meet there next summer. You guys are coming, aren't you?

 

[DMGeurts]

What an awesome Birthday milestone for Miss Jillian!!!

It looks like she had the most amazing birthday to remember!

I am so happy that you and Liddy got to meet up - I miss both of you (and Corri too) so much! I loved seeing both of you and wish I could have been there.

You have such an amazing family Oopsi - your children are just wonderful!

Happy Birthday - again- to Miss Jillian and congratulations to you, the fun has just begun!

D~

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

What a sweet birthday trip. She will remember it forever.

 

[oopsiDAISY]

Yay Liddy! It's so nice you got to see her and her adorable family....I miss her around here....Hi Liddy

We went to Pigeon Forge a long time ago Happy Birthday Jillian!

Yes, it really was great to see her! She is so busy with her schooling, her kids in school, and just life in general and really misses her time on the Dis. She promises to pop in and surprise us sometime soon!

Looks like DD's 13th bday was a huge success. I wish I had bdays like that. lol

Photobucket drives me crazy too. It seems to freeze up when I'm using it - is that what it does to you?? The my whole computer freezes up. Grr - I've found that when it starts acting glitchy I have to shut that tab down and bring up a new tab and go to photobucket again. Its annoying but at least it doesn't crash my whole computer and make me lost what my update.

DD and I ready the first of the Kingdom Keepers while on our last trip. We ended up fighting over it at times bc it was SO interesting to read about parks we were at. Is she enjoying it?

and I find frozen lemonades SSOOO good too!!!! They are my FAVE. Doesn't matter what kind - the icy drink ones or the one that's more like ice cream - which one did you have? I have even made my own frozen lemonades at home bc I love them so much. MMMmmm - I might just need one right now.

Yes, this birthday celebration was a BIG DEAL ...it will only happen on 13th birthdays for our kids. DH and I added up what we spent in just 2 1/2 days.... ! Yeah, birthdays like this will only happen once in a lifetime for each of our children! We know that the memories will last a lifetime, and we loved making her feel special...having three children, you don't get much opportunity to single one out without hearing the "it's not fair" whining! Gabe and Charity were very excited for Jillian...especially knowing that their time is coming!

That is EXACTLy the issues I have with Photobucket too! I have learned to do the same thing you do to work with it...such a pain in the ****!

We got our frozen lemonade from one of the ice cream carts, so it was sort of creamy, sort of icy. REALLY GOOD!!!

What an awesome Birthday milestone for Miss Jillian!!!

It looks like she had the most amazing birthday to remember!

I am so happy that you and Liddy got to meet up - I miss both of you (and Corri too) so much! I loved seeing both of you and wish I could have been there.

You have such an amazing family Oopsi - your children are just wonderful!

Happy Birthday - again- to Miss Jillian and congratulations to you, the fun has just begun!

D~

Thank you D~! We are blessed with really good children. And yes, I am VERY aware that we have a bumpy road ahead now... I am actually more trepidatious about Charity's teenage years than Jillian's. Charity's personality (ahem...attitude) frightens me more than Jillian's.

It was such a great visit with Liddy. I was grateful for the chance to get to know she and her family better. We look forward to more Dismeets in the future!

 

[oopsiDAISY]

Love it! I bought a mingo Christmas stocking at Hobby Lobby a couple of days ago. Couldn't pass that up!

What a precious girl! How blessed you are to have her, and how blessed she is to have her wonderful, loving family! This started my morning off with a big smile.

It's great that you guys got to have that special time in Pigeon Forge. We have plans to have a DIS meet there next summer. You guys are coming, aren't you?

Welcome, MeMom! I follow your wonderful reports, and every now and then I come out of lurkdom to post a comment. I am assuming someone must have told you about my Mingoes reference. You and your girls are famous and perfectly quotable! Here is another reference I made to your family earlier in my TR (after a visit to the Nashville Zoo):

For those of you who follow MeMom's reports...MINGOES!

I saw that you were planning a Pigeon Forge dismeet next summer. We will have to wait and see how plans and finances are toward the end of the school year before we can commit. It does sound like fun, though!

 

[oopsiDAISY]

What a sweet birthday trip. She will remember it forever.

Awww~thanks! We could not have asked for a more wonderful trip. The weather was PERFECT, and we made lots of special memories!