Healing at our Happy Place: making GOOD 2017 memories: Mar, May, Aug, Oct, Dec TRs (3/24 UPDATE)

[kittylady1972]

Holey crap on a cracker!!! I'm guessing she was doing something besides paying attention to driving!!!

Here's my son's truck... He was in the passenger seat and let a friend (now ex-friend) drive it last summer... She blew thru the stop sign and went from pavement to gravel and lost control and rolled it 4 times... The airbags never went off because she rolled it side to side, the front end of the truck was never touched and the engine still runs... He didn't have his seat belt on and they're guessing he was ejected on the 2nd roll... Looking at the truck, not having his seat belt on probably saved his life (that and all his guardian angles were working overtime )... Broken nose... Broken ribs... Bruised lungs... 2 broken hands... And a broken hip... But he's all healed and still here today and that's all that matters... Vehicles can be replaced... Kids can't...

And he now longer lets anyone drive his truck... Lesson learned!!!

She had her seat belt on and walked away without a scratch...

Hugs your kids daily!!! And take them to Disney as often as possible!!!

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OH MY GOSH! That is TERRIFYING! I can't believe he survived that and yes many guardian angels were working there. Agreed on vehicles vs kids. My daughter asked if that call I got from her was the worst call I've ever had and I had to admit that it wasn't....even if it was near the top. It still ranks below getting the call 12 years ago when my beloved grandfather died...and he wasn't even ill...and the many calls about my mom, when they were stopping treatment and the day my dad called me at work to tell me they weren't sure she had much time at all and I rushed down to be by her side. Plus my own call about my cancer diagnosis. Those so far rank above this call from my kids but it was still pretty scary. I can only imagine what getting that call for you about your son must have been like and seeing him for the first time. Just heartbreaking but so glad he's okay.

 

[kittylady1972]

AAAAAND then yesterday, Happy Birthday to Me, I got an automated call around 9:45am that my kids' school was on LOCKDOWN because somebody was texting a kid at school, making observations about kids in a certain classroom, and saying they were easy targets for shooting.

Nice huh?

Kids sheltered in place in their classrooms, activity ceased for an hour or so while police checked everything out inside and out, and by 11:15am they ended the lockdown.

My poor kids have had enough stress this week.

I'm ready for the weekend for sure. I cancelled a few ADRs yesterday because I know now I won't make the late THURSDAY night ADR (which is sad as I'd love to try WCC at least once) and I'm hoping we can make our Citricos plans for Thursday evening.

I may have tweaked a few FP+ reservations as well to work around Citricos on Thursday. I also tweaked our Friday FP+ a bit later for after our morning at MK and tour there.

I'm sure there might be more changes between now and when we leave in 19 days!

 

[kittylady1972]

DECEMBER 2017: Needing Some Candlelight - DAY TWO (continued)

So we had some time to kill before meeting up with my daughter's friends. First we took some quick photos around the lake area, which I love to see decorated now:



There was a very short line to meet somebody special. Any guesses?



Then we headed over to meet up with the friends as they were exiting the Muppets show. They weren't planning to hang around for too long, but they also wanted to meet somebody so we got in line again:



They had plans to catch Fantasmic! that evening, so we said goodbye shortly after this. My daughter and I decided to catch JBJB for the first time:



It was okay but I think the projections on the TOT were much better.

We decided to head out of the park now, and as it turns out the rest of our family at AK was also finishing up. We offerred to ride over and pick them up, which turned out to be quite the adventure. I've never had to pick somebody up at a park...and it wasn't easy to describe to them where we were located, but we did eventually have success.

Now it was time to head back to our resort...or not? While we were driving (and I actually ended up missing a turn to go pick up the family, so we we took a very very long route that involved u-turns) I mentioned to my daughter about the miniature golf courses. It had been years since we had played Winter Summerland and we are a big miniature golf family. After we picked up the guys, we mentioned the idea of playing...and they were on board with that plan. And so off to play some mini golf!




My FIL after one of his Hole-in-ones:


Done...and time for a then and now photo. Sorry I don't have the "then" one with me...from years ago...but here is the NOW one:



Our day had come to an end and it was after 10pm when we got back to our resort. Time to hit the sheets and rest up for our next day.

 

[NancyLuvsMickey]

Happy Birthday (a couple days late)...

Sorry about the lock-down on your birthday... Not the best phone call to receive... But at least it was a false alarm... Bet you and the kids are ready for a quiet uneventful week!!! And if my math is correct, you'll be in Disney in less than 2 weeks...

Seeing all your pictures of Disney decorated of Christmas has me itching to book a December trip... We usually go in October and have only been to Disney in December a couple times... Looks like it's time to go back!!!

I've been lucky (knock on wood) and no one in my family has had cancer... Bad hearts yes, but not cancer... And I'm praying that we never have to experience it either... I've watched other families deal with cancer and it sucks... Big time...

 

[kittylady1972]

Happy Birthday (a couple days late)...

Sorry about the lock-down on your birthday... Not the best phone call to receive... But at least it was a false alarm... Bet you and the kids are ready for a quiet uneventful week!!! And if my math is correct, you'll be in Disney in less than 2 weeks...

Seeing all your pictures of Disney decorated of Christmas has me itching to book a December trip... We usually go in October and have only been to Disney in December a couple times... Looks like it's time to go back!!!

I've been lucky (knock on wood) and no one in my family has had cancer... Bad hearts yes, but not cancer... And I'm praying that we never have to experience it either... I've watched other families deal with cancer and it sucks... Big time...

Thank you for the birthday wishes. And you are correct in that a quite uneventful week was what we needed and we got mostly this week, thankfully.

I LOVE seeing the parks decorated for Christmas...and Halloween also. I'm definitely looking forward to our next trip though (yes less than two weeks) because EPCOT during the Flower and Garden Festival is so pretty too! You should definitely make plans to see the parks during the Christmas season though!

You are very lucky to not have cancer impacting your life in any way, not that bad hearts are fun either though.

 

[kittylady1972]

DECEMBER 2017: Needing Some Candlelight - DAY THREE

So we had a full day the day before, we were ready to hit EPCOT for a nice day. We drove over and this time made sure we remembered where we parked (flashback to October 2017 trip).



I don't know why we were in this crowd...maybe waiting for the park to open? It was about 8:50am. We decided to hit Frozen Ever After first, since my FIL hadn't done it yet and we had no FP+s for it.

Walking through Mexico...


And time to see our favorite snowman:






Next up we decided to hit Soarin' standby...I think we waited 20 minutes, maybe longer, because I recall it had stopped running for a bit.


We then had FP+s for Test Track...so that was next:


Yeah...none of us looking at the camera there! Goofballs!

And then we had Mission: Space as our last FP, so that was next.


Now that our morning was pretty complete, next up was an early lunch at Tutto Italia. We used to eat here years ago when it was under it's former name, that I can't recall, and loved it.



Here we were waiting for our table...this photo became important later since here you see my son taking off his watch. Later while eating he would realize he no longer had it, and returned up front...and thankfully he found it.

Anyway we absolutely LOVE this place:


The food was fantastic. I had a seafood stew which I would LOVE to have again!




Bellies fulled we rolled out of there quite satisfied. It had been a good morning so far.

I think we walked around the World Showcase a little bit. What would we do?

 

[kittylady1972]

DECEMBER 2017: Needing Some Candlelight - DAY THREE (continued)

So I do recall we stopped to listen to La Bufana because one of the things I wanted to do was listen to some of the storytellers.



She was definitely fun to listen to so I'm glad we stopped. We then moved along and eventually stopped to listen to some music here:





This was fun, but of course the kids were getting bored pretty quickly. This is why I need a solo trip again!

We got some snacks and hung out for a little bit...and took some photos:




We also took a little detour through France:


And then we stopped to see another entertainer...or two of them...these were fun and stressful to watch!




I just love the World Showcase for the chance to watch this kind of stuff. Eventually we managed to make our way back towards the front of the park and had to visit our favorite little purple guy:


This is where I also convinced my family, with a lot of complaints from kids, to have some character photos taken:



(continued....)

 

[kittylady1972]

DECEMBER 2017: Needing Some Candlelight - DAY THREE (continued)

So I do recall we stopped to listen to La Bufana because one of the things I wanted to do was listen to some of the storytellers.


Even old guys love characters:


And the group photo:




I think we probably left after this, or maybe we at least rode this with our last FP:


This was while we got stuck on Spaceship Earth for a bit.

I think we probably headed out after that, most likely after I got another refill of my popcorn because that stuff is like CRACK to me.

I think we returned to our resort and decided at some point to have dinner there. However instead of eating at Port Orleans Riverside, we walked over to French Quarter to check out their food options. They had some REALLY good shrimp and grits, not the best but still good and a HUGE portion:


I didn't even come close to finishing this, but I also decided I needed to try beignets for the first time too:


These were good...but not chocolate so not my favorite. Still glad I tried them.

We walked back and took some photos:




I'd love to stay at French Quarter sometime. My FIL and MIL took a trip for their anniversary a few years ago and stayed here. They really liked it.

We headed back to our room after that for some relaxation I assume. It had been a long day and we still had one more day to go for our trip.