Ho! Ho! Ho! Away we go - A Disney Christmas - 2/15 Dec TR final thoughts and FEB TR!

[Charleston Princess]

Can you open your kitchen door yet?

What a lovely last day at Epcot!!! I thought for a minute that you were going to end up doing three KP missions, but you managed only two. How fun to be able to meet up with Wigd, Shocker, and Baylor! I guess they escaped the rest of their family for a little bit?

Those Boardwalk decorations are just gorgeous! It makes me want to stay there on a Christmas trip!

 

[Happydog]

What a wonderful ending to a great trip!

Looking forward to snow updates, sovie pics, and summer plans!

Well Howdy! That is coming tday! At least the sun is out! A dump truck FULL of snow just drove past my house! They don't have many places to put it!

I just read all 36 pages of your TR and loved it. My mom and I are planning a surprise christmas trip from Dec 23 to the 29 and I loved some of your ideas. Hopefully we will be just as lucky as you guys were with some rain on Christmas day to keep the crowds away. Great TR

Oh Gee! Well WELCOME and Thanks for coming over! A Christmas Surprise is the best kind of Disney! We had a great time, even with the morning rain!!! Have fun planning!!!! More to come....

Really? It's over? What a lovely, magical Christmas trip!! Thanks so much for sharing it! I can't wait to hear all about your cruise and your summer plans!

I know!!!!! It was great great fun. I am sad that I am done reliving it!!!! Ah well, always more to lookforward to, and yes I am so ready to go back to Disney this summer!!!!!

LOVE the pics from the Boardwalk!!! Beautiful! I'm sad that your TR is coming to an end! I've really enjoyed reading it!!

Gee, Thanks! You have lots to look forward to, as well!!! YAY!!! Spring and Christmas trips sound great to me!

 

[Happydog]

Well, the sun came out, I have my camera ready to download photos, and I will be working on this final update today! And as I look out the window at the FEET of snow piled up everywhere, I wonder what on earth we are going to be doing the next few days... It will be interesting to see how fast they are able to get the parking lots cleared... In December we had three snow days the three days leading up to the Winter break... this was easily 10" more snow than last time... I know they will be hustling, but we are confident enough to assume we won't have school Monday. SO, we already scheduled Ski camp for our kids at a ski resort up in PA, about an hour and 1/2 away -- and that will be our fun adventure tomorrow! We go every year a few times, but this will be the first trip this year. There are still several roads around the area that are covered with snow. They have not even been along to clear sidewalks... which is unusual. So they have a big job, that is clear! I don't even know if swim lessons will be scheduled today. I am curious to see. I am going to send my DH out on a scouting mission to the school next to the rec center if they are. If they haven't touched the parking lot, I think that is a great sign!!!!

Okay, so let me get going on these items, and I will be back later this morning! Just over TWO WEEKS before our Cruise getaway, and I have lots of other FUN stuff to share, too!!!!

 

[Happydog]

Can you open your kitchen door yet?

What a lovely last day at Epcot!!! I thought for a minute that you were going to end up doing three KP missions, but you managed only two. How fun to be able to meet up with Wigd, Shocker, and Baylor! I guess they escaped the rest of their family for a little bit?

Those Boardwalk decorations are just gorgeous! It makes me want to stay there on a Christmas trip!

Good Morning! Yes, we dug out a path from the back door to the garage yesterday. It is a tunnel, actually!!

It was a great last day! The rest of WigD's family had already made their way home the night before, so it was just the three of them, and another DISer, Julie?, I think her name is, she goes by JeuJeuBean I think... anyhow she was awfully nice too!

Yes, the Boardwalk was very very pretty inside. I liked the color scheme, very bright and festive with red and white candy cane striped bows... Oh, I would totally stay there next time, absolutely... it's a deal

We could have stayed there this summer, but were able to get BeachClub. We hope our extra few days will come up on waitlist, but if not, 9 nights at Disney should be enough!!! We will be excited to check out Vero, too!

I hope you enjoy your Diana exhibit!!!!

 

[MeMom]

Such concentration! These pictures do a teacher's heart good. They are so involved. I really love that Epcot came up with this activity.

So glad you got to meet Wigd's family.

New video games for the boys so that you can get some sleep = wisdom.

Enjoy your fun in the snow and new trip planning!

 

[kschafer]

Aww, I'm sad it's over, I've really enjoyed reading along! The KP missions look so cute! My boys want to try them so badly

Hope you dig out soon! In Iowa we have had a RIDICULOUS amount of snow this winter too. The ground hasn't been seen since early December and the storms just keep coming

 

[DisneyMom14]

Wow! on all the snow! I can't even imagine!!!! I really enjoyed your pics and your whole trip report. I'll try to hang around to hear about your cruise as well. One day we want to take one of those!

 

[goofy's_gurl]

i loved your whole TR

 

[DisneyCP08]

I just had a question about Christmas week: How were the extra magic hours? Usually when we go we take advantage of it alot, but I wasn't sure if it would make a huge difference since it was christmas week?

 

[Diamondintheruff]

Did you like Earl of sandwich?

Hope you're digging yourself out of the snow alright and have fun skiing.

Looking forward to hearing all about the cruise.

 

[Happydog]

Well, I figured that I would give you a taste of our world today, with some snow fun photos and what we had to deal with Friday and Saturday – and are still digging out of today! They have already called off school Monday and Tuesday. Can you believe it!!!

And Tuesday to Wednesday they are expecting another storm of some sort… maybe ICE. OH boy. SO rather than think about it too much, I am going to just roll with the fun, and share some pictures…

Some of these earlier photos are Friday night... it really started to come down in a frenzy around 5-6 pm... and then the next morning -- of course the sky looks exactly the same! But you can see where they were trying to plow, and were able to plow some, then just gave up for a while!

We have a stone patio and some grass out back. All my furniture was put away thank goodness, but the dog run to the side of the house that is all gravel was filled with snow! my DH dug a path from the back door to the garage door that was easily waist high snow on either side. The poor dog didn't know what to do! He was outside the whole time with DH while he shoveled out back and out front, and the boys were out in it from noon til after 3. The night before they were in the back yard playing in it from 5 - 7. There is nothing better than exhausted tired boys, let me tell you... IF you look at the pics with the kids you can see the fence line and that they are on top of drifts in our yard that take them above the 3ft mark on the fence (this is indicated by the wooden cross beam on the fence panel... This snow is still piled up as I type...

So about now the snow was really starting to come down, and you can see the difference between the first photo and this one....

Here is the Dog's run -- there is a short fence that keeps him in this area when he is outside. It is pea gravel and a few stone slabs where he can snooze in the shade, etc. and this way he doesn't use the small amount of lawn we have for his "business" -- but what you can't see is the small gate bbetween the two buildings (28") because it is covered in SNOW...

Here is a pic this morning with the sun out! This car is parked on the small street next to our house, and is still blocked in by snow. Two other cars across the way are burried in snow drift, still. Ah well, at least the sun is out!!!!

Now earlier in the week the boys and my DH built a snow fort (using the snow brick makers I had bought them). Before the snow started on Friday, DH covered the fort with planks of wood to keep it from filling up with snow. So the wood and stuff you see on top of it is to protect the inside! They made a peep hole so they could look out and as you can see in this photo, the drifts are piled up pretty good...

Next up I will get my final post and souvenirs up to share! But now we are off to take a walk in the snow and to enjoy the sun shine.

 

[2xcited2sleep]

Holy cow!! I cannot believe all that snow and I live "up north!!" And already no school tomorrow and Tuesday. Glad you're making the best of it. Enjoy!!

 

[wigdoutdismom]

Thanks for the snow scenes! So much fun and really pretty too. The boys look like they are having a blast shoveling that white stuff....
The snow fort is A+! Great job guys!
Have fun on your walk.......

 

[SoonerGirl]

Oh my goodness thats a lot of snow! It is really pretty though. And, it appears as though you guys have the clothing to be out in that kind of weather - we don't even have a decent pair of boots, all of mine have high heels on them let alone coats and gloves to be able to play in snow like that.

Looks like your boys were having a blast!

 

[DisMomAmy]

Wow! That's a lot of snow! We haven't had a storm like that this year... we usually have at least one big one. Enjoy the snow days - sounds like you have some fun things planned to pass the time.

Snow storms are a lot of fun when you don't have to be anywhere.

Can't wait to see your souvenirs & hear your final thoughts.

 

[praisehisname]

Great parade pics! We loved seeing the Christmas parade, and how perfect to actually see it ON Christmas day!

Once back at the Villa, the boys played with their toys, and DH and I sat on the sofa and watched A Christmas Story -- one of our Christmas day traditions!!

Sounds like a great Christmas afternoon!

Going back to do some more catching up!

Denise

 

[praisehisname]

We all had a wonderful meal... we enjoyed a rack of lamb off of the Holiday menu, and a great Dessert trio -- which included a peppermint cheesecake, a pumpkin spice creme brulee, and something chocolate with the winter season flavors! All of them were very good....

Yum! I'd love to eat there sometime!

I can't believe how low the crowds were for Christmas night!

Denise

 

[praisehisname]

DS7 was selected to throw a grape for a bird to catch -- the whole time I was afraid he'd throw it at someone thus the bird would fly that low, but thankfully he did follow directions!

I would have been worried about that with my kids, too! Flights of Wonder sounds like cool show; we'll have to check it out!

Denise

 

[stace208]

Wow! That is some serious snow!! Looks like the boys are having a blast. I know my kids enjoyed the 6" we got last week so they'd be overjoyed with that much. Ski camp sounds fun!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Ski camp sounds like a great way to spend your Monday off!

I really can't even begin to fathom what to do with that much snow! It blows my mind!!! Must be nice though to have tired boys after all the playing in the snow!