Here goes, my first PTR.....*UPDATE 9/27* only one day left!!

[DizneyDreams]

What a great picture!!!!
(P.S. love the Mickey Ears!!!).

 

[MissStitch626]

I've just been catching up with your PTR (after a week of late shifts - rarely if ever a good thing!). I can't believe you've had to put your plans on hold, what a bummer! Hopefully you'll be able to work something out for flights soon.

Congratulations on entering the wonderful world of Photobucket Not sure if you remember but I am a recovering technophobe so I've also only just learned to use photobucket. DH is great with computers, me. . .not so much, but I've been determined to learn how to do everything myself. You'll get the hang of resizing, if I can anyone can. It drives me crazy having to resize every photo but it's worth it when I see a pic posted and think "look what I did!"

Thank you so much for sharing those beautiful photos of your mother, especially the last one. What a lovely memory to have of her

PS - I completely understand the 50s PT fears! We were so close to making an ADR for here but I was totally freaked out by the idea of any kind of spotlight being on me in that kind of environment. The rest of your ADRs sound great though!

 

[mtgirl29]

I the picture of your kiddos pointing to the castle. I may have to have my kids do that pose on our upcoming trip, so be prepared to see one on my TR.
Look forward to hearing more about your upcoming trip and see more of your past photos.

 

[MARsMama]

Thanks again, everyone!
I haven't been around too much this week, it's been crazy busy. Needless to say there's not much Disney planning to report. However, I am hoping that within the next week or so I'll be working at my 'binder' and getting that organized. I still check the flights daily, hoping for a cheap flight home! I need to get more organized with my PTR and start sharing more '09 memories and photos! I also need to start the planning for how we're going to tell the kids (I'm leaning toward a scavenger hunt), and the planning for that. So there's still lots more to come, just bear with me!

I did make a few minor purchases though, not just me, but my father and step mother as well. I got the boys each a plain white t-shirt in hope of getting an iron on to put on them and just might use them for the scavenger hunt I'm going to put together for the 'big reveal'!
MJ got a cute pair of Daisy Duck pjs in her Easter basket. Shorts and t-shirt set as her heavy pyjamas just won't do for our trip.
My father and step mother got the kids each a pair of water shoes. They will get to use them here for the beaches and such, but also for the waterparks.
Of course my mil and fil gave the kids each $10 in US money, which of course raised a lot of questions. I'm sure that was likely the purpose behind it, to try to let the 'cat out of the bag'

We are doing things quite differently this Easter and instead of having the family in here we are heading out to my father and step mother's house for dinner there. I needed a change as I'm missing Mom lots today. Easter was the last holiday we celebrated with her, and she was so much a part of our Easter celebration.
I hope you all enjoy a wonderful day today.

​

 

[mtgirl29]

HAPPY EASTER MARsMama!!!​

I hope you and your family had a wonderful Easter celebration. I know this first Easter without your mom has to be a difficult one, just know she was there in spirit.
Cannot wait to see more posts when things settle down again.

 

[MARsMama]

Thanks, mtgirl, we had a nice Easter although a tough one.
So, today I'm home with the kids and we're planning out our day today when the phone rings. It's dh, who had to go to work today. Out of the blue he decided to check the flights and see what the prices are looking like. I usually do it daily, but hadn't gotten to it yet. Anyway, lo and behold when he checked Delta airlines there was a GREAT price for our flight home, even cheaper than the flight we booked to go down!!!! So he went ahead and booked it and the total was $758 for the five of us!!! We now have our flights booked!!!!!

 

[DearPrudence]

Popping over to say "hi." I just finished catching up with your PTR. Great news about your flights! I bet it feels great to have that all taken care of.

We're also taking our son out of school for our trip in November. I know there are differing opinions on that...I remember being pulled out twice for DW, once in the second grade and once in seventh. Both times were for a week -- and after the trip in the second grade, I immediately came down with chicken pox and missed another week of school! Needless to say I survived, eventually graduated high school and even went to college. We'll be going to DW for a week and Bug will miss 4 days of the second grade. He's a good student and a smart kid and I think he'll be OK. I'm sure your kids will too.

 

[Corrine 1973]

Congratulations on booking your return flights and on such a great price.
One less thing to have to stress about, I'm sure it is a load off of your mind.

I am glad you had a good Easter, but it is certainly understandable that you are missing your mom so much at this time. Special s just for you.

 

[PixieMama]

Hope you had a nice Easter.


And WOOHOO for getting your flights booked! A relief, I'm sure!

 

[MissStitch626]

So glad to hear you got your flights booked! That must be such a relief to have that off your mind!

 

[MARsMama]

Thanks, everyone!! It's is great to have the flights all booked, such a relief!

I've been spending a lot of time on the DISign boards and have put in my very first request!!! I did a lot of reading and I think I got the rules all right and put in the request in the right thread and using the right link!! You know how far from computer saavy I am, so it was a stretch for me to figure out what to do. Time will tell if I did it right though.[/SIZE]

 

[MARsMama]

We're at the 5 month mark!!! Five months from today we'll be in Orlando, of course that is if everything goes well and our flight is on time!!! I know the time will fly by so I have to get back at the planning, I have a lot more researching to do

The top of my list is to figure out how to 'reveal' the trip to the kids in June. It's coming quickly as the first of May is right around the corner.
Of course once the kids know we'll do a lot of planning through the summer. I want to do up a must do list for each park, a favorites list for each park, and a list of new things we'd like to try/do.
We will also need to get going with our passports once the kids know!

I got my binder (actually a duo tang folder, but might have to upgrade to a binder) all organized and ready for more notes and ideas!

I got back my first DISign request and it is awesome!!! Can't wait to figure out how to turn it into t-shirts!! It was so exciting to see it with our names in it it brought tears to my eyes (yes, I'm a sap, I admit it) I have become a bit addicted though and have put in a few more requests as well. Once I get the t-sirts all done up I'll post a photo (it will likely be a while yet though)

So, here's one of the random photos that I took the first day of our first trip to WDW, in March 2009......

 

[DizneyDreams]

Congratulations on the 5 month mark!!! Time will fly and your trip will be here soon enough! I love that picture!!!!! Where was it taken?

Planning a trip is so much fun and it makes time go by faster. Woohoo!!!

 

[mtgirl29]

I am so glad to hear that you have your flights arranged. That must take a huge weight off of your shoulders.
Now you can focus more on your planning. Whoooohoooo!
your random photo. Look how beautifully blue the sky is in March. Absolutely Gorgeous!!

 

[Dizney73]

Glad your flights are all booked!! IT always feels so good to know that they are all taken care of!!! It gives you more time to think about more important things... like ADR's!!!!!

 

[MARsMama]

Although I haven't added too much to this PTR, and I've been keeping busy with the kids and their schedules (not to mention trying to keep up with other PTRs! lol), Disney isn't far from my mind and I have actually secured two more pieces to our trip arrangements.
I have booked our MNSSHP tickets I was back and forth on whether to book early or wait until closer to the day. However, my fear of missing out led me to make the purchase, now I have nearly 150 days to worry about the weather for the night of Oct. 6!
Now, since our stay at POR ends on October 10 and our flight doesn't leave until October 11 we needed to think of getting a hotel room for one night. So, tonight we booked that hotel It's close to the airport and it was a good price. Reviews were quite good too, so I feel pretty comfortable with the decision!

So, here's another random photo from our first day in Disney back in March 2009......

as for my last photo, it was taken just after entering Magic Kingdom

 

[PixieMama]

Yay for getting your MNSSHP tickets!

I don't think you should stress too much over the weather. We went to MNSSHP in mid-October and it was fine!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Happy 5 months!! I'm telling ya, 150 days sounds like less, and my countdown chain doesn't even look THAT long! It's going to be here before we know it!

YAY for MNSSHP! Do you realize IF we get the money to go to the party together (it's last on my budget priority list since we've been before) we will be going on the same night?!?!? Are you reading Erin's PTR? She's going that night as well!

 

[MARsMama]

Yay for getting your MNSSHP tickets!

I don't think you should stress too much over the weather. We went to MNSSHP in mid-October and it was fine!

I need something to stress over though

Happy 5 months!! I'm telling ya, 150 days sounds like less, and my countdown chain doesn't even look THAT long! It's going to be here before we know it!

YAY for MNSSHP! Do you realize IF we get the money to go to the party together (it's last on my budget priority list since we've been before) we will be going on the same night?!?!? Are you reading Erin's PTR? She's going that night as well!

Yep, those days are gonna fly by, I can tell. I'm hoping to just fully enjoy the trip planning as it lasts much longer than the trip itself
So cool!! That would make us in the same place three different days!! we just might spot each other! I don't think I know Erin, what is her dis name? I get the real names all mixed up Maybe I should start following her PTR, since we're there at the same time

 

[MARsMama]

I got my personalized t-shirt designs!!! The designers on the Creative DISigns board are awesome!!! I am so excited. Of course all I have is the designs, I still have to figure out how to get them onto transfers, and then onto t-shirts! Piece of cake, right?!! I've learned so much since joining up here, surely I can learn that too!! If I ever figure it out, I will be sure to post a photo, I can do that now so there's hope yet!

Here's another random photo from our first day at Disney, in Magic Kingdom on March 25, 2009...