"Hello? I'm in the Carousel of Progress.."*UD1/13pg74"All Good Things...*

[MICKEY4EVER!]

Awesome Pics of the waterfall! I know you guys had an awesome time. Thanks for sharing!

 

[mousescrapper]

Missy,

great to see you back on the Dis!

Your camping trip sounded very R & R, which I know you deserve. Now camping is not my thing, but a beautiful place like that and all the natural waterparks, just looks so lovely and to be surrounded by your friends, how nice!

Glad the rain basically stayed away too.

Thanks for sharing and looking forward to hearing the rest of Disney too...

PS my new siggie will give it away, but just act suprised when you read to get caught up

J-

 

[mommytothreeboys]

Thanks for the camping trip update, Missy! You've got me motivated to check out camping sites around here so we can do a camping test run. How fun to go the same place every year.

We're on Day 3 of Crocodile Dock. I love this VBS! I'm the Sing and Play Swamp Stomp leader and the Firefly Finale leader. The music is just awesome!! Good luck with your finale preparations.

I am so excited about VBS..I just want to get it going! The music is so cute! I end up leading Sing and Play as well as Firefly Finale, so I may have to PM you to pick your brain!

It looks like you had such a wonderful time! I grew up camping as well, with a rocky formation that we made into a waterslide too! I think camping is a wonderful family vacation, besides Disney, of course!

Camping and Disney....what better ways to spend your vacations!

Missy:

I loved the mini-trip report of your camping trip. I've been tent camping every since I was a little girl and love it. When I got married, I took my husband camping and he fell in love with it too. Then, when the kids came along, we took them. Nothing compares to lying in a tent listening to the sounds of nature all around you. Peaceful!

The campground you stayed in was absolutely gorgeous. What I wouldn't give for something that pretty being just 2 1/2 hours away. We have to drive at least 4 hours to find a campground that's pretty.

Our church has an annual family vacation too but it's in Florida in August and they rent out condos. By the time we pay for our Disney vacation, we can't afford the costs. Oh well, at least we have Disney.

Thanks for the report and good luck with vacation Bible school.

Lisa

There really are some beautiful places here in Western/Upstate New York. It's easy to take them for granted. Thanks for the reminder of how blessed we really are!

Wow..condos in Florida! But if I'm in Florida I wanna be hanging out with Mickey!

Wow! It was really beautiful there. Maybe one day we'll graduate to a real camping trip rather than just a day and a half a mile from the house.

We'd need a tent first though.

It looks like you guys had a fabulous time. It's so nice that you can go back and see the same friends every year. And I know it's fun that you know the area so well.

Thanks for sharing your pictures with us.

You're very welcome...I'm glad you enjoyed them!

Awesome Pics of the waterfall! I know you guys had an awesome time. Thanks for sharing!

Missy,

great to see you back on the Dis!

Your camping trip sounded very R & R, which I know you deserve. Now camping is not my thing, but a beautiful place like that and all the natural waterparks, just looks so lovely and to be surrounded by your friends, how nice!

Glad the rain basically stayed away too.

Thanks for sharing and looking forward to hearing the rest of Disney too...

PS my new siggie will give it away, but just act suprised when you read to get caught up

J-

Hi Julie! The suspense was too much so I ran right over to your TR to find out your big news!

LOVE the new siggie! Congratulations!

 

[ladybugmom]

YAY!! We've missed you Missy!! Glad you're home!

Wow! You are the director of the entire VBS! I can't imagine how much work that is! I was only 2nd grade director for ours and things were crazy busy! I know you'll do a great job!!

Love the mini-update! Your campsite is beautiful!! Glad you had a nice time and that it only rained 2 days. LOVE all the pics!!

 

[luckylady]

Oh man that water and the slide looks like a ton of fun. Happy ya'll had a great time and little rain. now as they say...on with the show ummm I mean trip report. Sorry some of us (mememememe) won't get to the wotld this year unless DH is nice and gives me a great happy 50th b-day present)

 

[mommytothreeboys]

YAY!! We've missed you Missy!! Glad you're home!

Wow! You are the director of the entire VBS! I can't imagine how much work that is! I was only 2nd grade director for ours and things were crazy busy! I know you'll do a great job!!

Love the mini-update! Your campsite is beautiful!! Glad you had a nice time and that it only rained 2 days. LOVE all the pics!!

Thanks Becky..I've missed all of you guys too!

VBS really IS a lot of work! But....I love it and right now is the worst part with everything coming together. Once the week starts, it's just great to see all the kids having fun!

Oh man that water and the slide looks like a ton of fun. Happy ya'll had a great time and little rain. now as they say...on with the show ummm I mean trip report. Sorry some of us (mememememe) won't get to the wotld this year unless DH is nice and gives me a great happy 50th b-day present)

I am really antsy to start back up on this report. I didn't realize how much I would miss writing about our trip! I'll try to get an update up soon. (LOL! I'm kind of hoping I get the same gift for my 40th in February!)

 

[hhockman]

It's so weird for me to hear about people just having VBS when my kids started school today, but I know you must be crazy busy.

How brave and wonderful of you to take on that job.

Looking forward to the rest of your report when you have the time.

 

[cjackearl]

Hi Missy! Just wanted to pop in to say good luck with VBS. Is it this week? Ours was last week and it went so well! Have loads of fun and then make sure you have something fun and relaxing planned just for YOU when it is over.

 

[mom2mek]

Hi Missy! Glad you are home and it looks like a very fun camping trip! What a wonderful way to reconnect with your family and friends!

Can't wait to read more of your TR! Seeing as how I can't seem to write any more of mine.... (waiting on the computer with all the pics to get fixed....)

Sara

 

[carissanboys]

Looks like you had a lovely time camping! I love looking at pictures of campsites all set up. And what a lovely spot to camp at!

Thanks for sharing Missy. And I completely understand being busy and not having time to Dis.

 

[scottny]

the camping trip looked like fun. it has been at least 25 years since I went camping.

 

[mommytothreeboys]

It's so weird for me to hear about people just having VBS when my kids started school today, but I know you must be crazy busy.

How brave and wonderful of you to take on that job.

Looking forward to the rest of your report when you have the time.

I can't believe your kids are in school already! Mine don't start until September 8th!

Hi Missy! Just wanted to pop in to say good luck with VBS. Is it this week? Ours was last week and it went so well! Have loads of fun and then make sure you have something fun and relaxing planned just for YOU when it is over.

VBS starts on Monday....things are coming together and I am really looking forward to getting started!

Hi Missy! Glad you are home and it looks like a very fun camping trip! What a wonderful way to reconnect with your family and friends!

Can't wait to read more of your TR! Seeing as how I can't seem to write any more of mine.... (waiting on the computer with all the pics to get fixed....)

Sara

Camping is just good for the soul! Being outside, enjoying the family....we love it! More of the TR coming right up!

Looks like you had a lovely time camping! I love looking at pictures of campsites all set up. And what a lovely spot to camp at!

Thanks for sharing Missy. And I completely understand being busy and not having time to Dis.

Busy is an understatement, but I missed my report so I whipped up a short update!

the camping trip looked like fun. it has been at least 25 years since I went camping.

We really enjoy it...a highlight of the summer!

 

[mommytothreeboys]

It is now Day 6 of our vacation, for those keeping track that would make it Friday April 24th, 2009. The plan for the day is to FINALLY hit our FAVORITE park.....EPCOT!!! YAY! This year I decided to adopt a new touring strategy for Epcot and do WS on one day and FW on another. We always feel rushed through WS and I was hoping that by devoting an entire day there, we would not feel that way this time. Our plan for the day:

*Epcot has evening EMH hours tonight so our plan was to take advantage of those.

*Tour FW from 9am-11am (before WS opens)

*enter WS at 11:00 (get KimPossible FP at International Gateway–thanks to Carissa’s advice )

*eat lunch in WS–leave park mid-afternoon to go to POR for a swim break

*return to Epcot around dinner time and continue touring WS

*tour some FW attractions during EMH

*finish evening in WS

We woke up around 7 and ate a quick breakfast of pop-tarts, cereal, and coffee in our room. We arrived at Epcot just after 9:00 and entered Future World. Now...I really had no “touring plan” for the day...I had a list of things we wanted to do, but no special order or plan to do them. It’s my first experience with the “ I can’t believe I don’t have a touring plan” Touring Plan. This did not sit well at all with my son Dan. He is a planner like his mom and he kept wanting to know what the plan was...”let me see the card, mom.” He means my index card of the day’s plan which usually includes an order of the day’s planned activities. Today’s card said pretty much what you just read above. I kept telling him the plan was that we had no plan....we were going to do whatever caught our fancy until 11 then we were going to approach the WS the exact same way! We knew we had 2+ days at this park so we were in no rush. Poor Dan would have to muddle through somehow!!

On entering the park, these three ladies caught my eye. Beautiful aren’t they?

As we meandered our way into the park we decided to check out Innoventions West. Now, we had not even set foot in either Innoventions building on our 2007 trip, so this was all new to us. As we entered the beautifully air conditioned building I was struck by how EMPTY it was. I’m sure most people passed right by on their way to The Land pavilion to get the coveted Soarin’ fastpasses! The CM’s inside were literally waiting (begging) for someone to come and play! The first thing we spotted was a KimPossible kiosk and, thanks to great advice from my good DISfriend Carissa, we stopped to get a FP for our KP mission. We got a FP that told us to report to Norway at 11:00 AM. SWEET!

The next thing that grabbed the boys attention was a game that allowed you to put yourself into a video game. I can’t remember what it was called, but this thing was WAY COOL! The boys (Jeff included) each stood in their own booth and followed onscreen commands as the computer captured images of them running, jumping and doing the “victory dance” . Then they were led to a computer terminal where they uploaded the game and began playing. The character in the game was YOU! It showed the boys running, jumping over obstacles, and doing the victory dance when a level was completed. My boys absolutely LOVED this...and although I am not a big gamer myself, I thought it was so fun to see them onscreen as a video game character. You could email yourself the game so you could play at home, but sadly only Isaiah’s came through correctly. Here are a few shots of the boys morphing into video game heroes!

Dan capturing his “jump”

Isaiah doing his booty victory dance! He was cracking me up!

After conquering the cyber-world, we headed over to this attraction to help make the real world safer.

This area was set up as a game show. Those of us in the line, just us and one other family, were divided into two teams. I can’t remember how exactly, but we were split up...Jonah and Isaiah were with me and Jeff was with Dan and another person. The object was to find all of the fire hazards in the make-believe house. The area was divided into “rooms” and each room had a large screen. On the screen was a picture of the room with some obvious and not-so obvious fire hazards. Each team member had a large flashlight and once all three members of the team shone the light at the fire hazard, you got points for it. As the time lapsed, the hazards would begin catching fire if they were not caught and you could no longer get points for that hazard. There was a time limit and at the end of each room we were told where to go next. It really required some teamwork and cooperation to get each person to shine the light in the same place! NICE!

Once the game was over, we all gathered back at the front of the house to find out who won the game. Sadly, Jeff’s team won, but it was really fun! (Even though I hate to lose! )

As we exited, the boys wanted a picture on the firetruck.

We wandered around Innoventions a bit more...we played musical instruments with robots, played some traditional video games, made velcro creations, watched the Segway training.....then re-entered the hot sun of Future World on our way to The Land. Our goal? Soarin’ fastpasses to be used later, of course!

The Land was crowded as was expected and we quickly made our way to the FP machines to claim our FP’s. We planned to come back later in the afternoon, on our way out of the park, to ride. Our next stop was one of my favorite things to do at Epcot. The Living with the Land boat ride. I just love this ride....I hate gardening and have no green thumb, but this ride fascinates me. I love to look at the plants growing in the experimental greenhouses and learn about all the innovative methods they are using to grow food. I’m a sucker for the educational, I guess! But believe it or not, my boys really enjoy this ride as well. We jumped in line and waited for our boat to pick us up. Here are a few shots of our ride.

We are big HOT pepper fans in my house so I had to get this picture!

A HIDDEN MICKEY!!

Cool spiral contraptions growing lettuce.

Brussels Sprouts...YUM! Mine and Isaiah’s favorite! (Honestly...he really loves them!)

Sadly we reach the end of the boat ride and disembark. It is now about 11:00 and time to head to WS for our KimPossible Adventure. But not before we make one little pit stop!

Up next...faces only a mother could love!

 

[hhockman]

Hey Missy. Thanks for the update! EPCOT is my favorite park and I really appreciate the pictures of Livin With The Land because I just discovered it's going to be closed during our trip. I'd prepared myself for Space Mountain, but this is just too much. Will loves Livin With The Land.

Oh well. What can you do?

We've been to Innoventions several times, but the exhibits there change every so often and it sounds like there are some new ones. When we went for Will's 4th birthday there was this really cool one where you could play baseball. Will was just, well 4, obviously, so he just did okay. I'd love to see him do that one now (though I don't think it's there anymore)! We'll have to check out the current exhibits.

Looking forward to the rest and good luck with VBS next week!

 

[cjackearl]

Hey Missy, great update! That's so funny about Dan asking to see your "card". I took a page from your book and made itinerary cards also and my oldest kept asking to see my card! I can completely relate with Dan, though. No plan? Whatever will we do?

Innoventions really looks fun. I honestly had not the foggiest idea what was inside those buildings. Sadly, my kids would have loved playing there. LOVE Isaiah's booty dance!

Good eye with the hidden Mickey in Livin with the Land!

 

[nu2wdisneyw]

Hey Missy!
Sounds like you guys had a fun camping trip! I am not the camping kind of girl...just being in grass make me itch...and I am not a girly girl by no means.

Loved the EPCOT update too!

 

[Planning fanatic mom]

Yeah!! Missy!!! Great Update. You are a braver person than I to go w/o a plan. Even if I didn't have one written down, I would have one in my head.

DH and I like Livin with the Land as well. We have to drag the girls on each time. They always say, "Well, at least it's not IASW?"

Good luck with VBS.

 

[MICKEY4EVER!]

YAY! An EPCOT update! Seriously, I didn't know that any of the things you described above was there. Now, I want to go back and check it out. DS4 would totally love being put in a video game!

I didn't think I'd like living with the land, but in March, when we rode, it was a totally enjoyable experience! I surprised myself. Hey, I liked your Hidden Mickey, too.

 

[mommytothreeboys]

Hey Missy. Thanks for the update! EPCOT is my favorite park and I really appreciate the pictures of Livin With The Land because I just discovered it's going to be closed during our trip. I'd prepared myself for Space Mountain, but this is just too much. Will loves Livin With The Land.

OH NO!!! That really stinks. Sorry. Glad you liked the pics!

Oh well. What can you do?

Not much you can do, but be thankful you're at Disney and MOVE ON!

We've been to Innoventions several times, but the exhibits there change every so often and it sounds like there are some new ones. When we went for Will's 4th birthday there was this really cool one where you could play baseball. Will was just, well 4, obviously, so he just did okay. I'd love to see him do that one now (though I don't think it's there anymore)! We'll have to check out the current exhibits.

Looking forward to the rest and good luck with VBS next week!

We really enjoyed Innoventions West but never made it into the other building. My kids really enjoyed it and because there was no crowd, they were able to do whatever they found interesting. I had heard that sometimes it's so crowded you have to wait forever for a turn.

VBS starts Monday..it will be a fun week, but I'm glad it will be over! Then I can take a breather and start DISing again!

Hey Missy, great update! That's so funny about Dan asking to see your "card". I took a page from your book and made itinerary cards also and my oldest kept asking to see my card! I can completely relate with Dan, though. No plan? Whatever will we do?

I know! I was very worried myself, but it worked out great! I had a "skeleton" plan..bare bones, but it was nice to just take our time and go with the flow a bit. That's not as easy with limited time, but we had planned for at LEAST 2, maybe 3 days at Epcot so we felt more relaxed. I'm glad you were able to use the card idea..it works great for us!

Innoventions really looks fun. I honestly had not the foggiest idea what was inside those buildings. Sadly, my kids would have loved playing there. LOVE Isaiah's booty dance!

That boy either makes me laugh or makes me want to strangle him on a regular basis!!

Good eye with the hidden Mickey in Livin with the Land!

I knew it was there and wanted to get a wide enough angle to see it! I love finding Hidden Mickey's!

Hey Missy!
Sounds like you guys had a fun camping trip! I am not the camping kind of girl...just being in grass make me itch...and I am not a girly girl by no means.

Loved the EPCOT update too!

Yeah...camping's not for everyone, I get it! I grew up doing it though so it's just something I naturally passed on to the kids. I'm glad it's something we all can enjoy together!

Yeah!! Missy!!! Great Update. You are a braver person than I to go w/o a plan. Even if I didn't have one written down, I would have one in my head.

Oh I had a "plan"....just not a detailed one like usual. I would never hit a park with NO PLAN whatsoever...that's Disney park suicide!

DH and I like Livin with the Land as well. We have to drag the girls on each time. They always say, "Well, at least it's not IASW?"

Good luck with VBS.

LOL! Oh well...at least you get to ride!

Thanks for the well-wishes. Actually, the week we actually do VBS is less stressful for me than the weeks leading up to it! I'm looking forward to seeing all the hard work come together for a great week for the kids!

YAY! An EPCOT update! Seriously, I didn't know that any of the things you described above was there. Now, I want to go back and check it out. DS4 would totally love being put in a video game!

I didn't think I'd like living with the land, but in March, when we rode, it was a totally enjoyable experience! I surprised myself. Hey, I liked your Hidden Mickey, too.

If you have time, I'd suggest hitting Innoventions at some point. At park opening seemed a great time because it was empty. I would imagine in the heat of the day and once FPs are gone for Soarin', it can get very crowded and probably not as enjoyable!

I'm glad I'm not alone in my love of that boat ride!

 

[Scot-n-Michelle]

So - I am supposed to be cleaning and packing for our upcoming trip - instead I have spent my whole morning - reading your TR - sounds like you guys had a wonderful trip - can't wait to read more!! I really must get some work done around the house before I go to work!!