How 1 trip turned to 2 and now turning into 3!! Update Pg 40 Days 3, 4 and 5!!

[ktmetke]

I have to try and get that game in June.......I wonder if any will be left!??

Thank you for your wonderful report!!

 

[newtodis]

Great shopping Lynn! You go with your bad self!!!
Can't wait to read the rest of the story!!!

Thanks...not much more to tell really...just wanted to give everyone a chance to get caught up (since I took so long to finish!)

Oh, I forgot to ask how you are feeling? Anymore stomach issues??

Yeah I got sick the night of my birthday while I was at Disney I wish there was a fun story to go with it but not so much! Hopefully though I won't be sick again for a while....it's just not fun at all!

I have to try and get that game in June.......I wonder if any will be left!??

Thank you for your wonderful report!!

Good luck!!! If we head that way again, I'll certainly stop and take a look. I would think you could probably also call and see if they'd ship it to you. It shouldn't be that much!

You're very welcome...sorry for the lagging at the end! Hopefully the next one will be much better!

 

[lmillercrew]

Sorry you got sick sister. I hope that you can get that taken care of this year. It's no fun to go through life like that.

 

[newtodis]

Ok the TR will start this week! Just looking at the couple of pictures I have posted here makes me want to run right back to Disney. Just escape from the "real world" for a couple of days and go have fun!

Corbin asked the other day when we were going back because he missed Mickey! What a little sweetheart.

We took a cross-island toll over the weekend for Dan's job on another island (more on that soon too) and Corbin screamed "We're at Disney!!!!" when we pulled up to pay the toll! The poor lady in the booth looked like we'd scared her to death!

 

[lmillercrew]

What a slacker I am!! You're back and I didn't even know it. I'm glad that you didn't listen to your DH on NOT to bring the hats and mittens. Guys don't even know. Better to be prepared than not to be. Can't wait to see more Christmas pictures from Disney and more of the fam!!!!

 

[newtodis]

You're not a slacker at all! Oh yeah we're back! Hopefully life will quiet down here very soon and I'll be able to get started on this thing.

Here's a little mini-update:

Our computer at home will no longer turn on at all...I'm debating bringing it in to see if our IT guy can at least get my stuff off or if it's just junk. Thankfully my pictures and things I really wanted are on my other hard drive thingy but there are still some things I'd like to get off of there if possible. I just need to see how much that's going to cost.

Dan's family is coming next Tuesday to stay through the end of the month. They ended up renting a condo on Hilton Head but Dan's mom may stay a couple of days with us. Not sure what it's going to entail just yet as they want to "relax"...It'll be weird having them in town. Maybe Dan and I can actually go out to a dinner or something childless!

We're going to have Angie and Sandy over as well (our friends that are adopting) so they can get to know Dan's mom a bit. They're going to stay with her while they're in MI so this will be a good chance for them to get to know each other and figure out a plan of attack!

Baby's due 2/24 so Angie and Sandy are working on getting their stuff together. Angie's got showers on 1/30 and 31 and my shower for her is 2/7 so she's got a busy couple of weeks coming up! I spent last Friday night helping her out painting the baby's room so it's just a matter of time before it all starts coming together. I cannot wait to meet their little baby and get to hold her!

Other than that, not too much going on! Corbin's becoming a Wii expert - despite our attempts to limit him from playing. He plays no more than 30 minutes a day - some days not at all and most days for about 10 minutes - and is amazing. He'll do well in sports when he gets on a team. He picks things up very quickly! Carter's running all over the place and talking up a storm. Our next project with him is potty training. I don't want to buy diapers any more and he's starting to show interest in the potty which is great!

Alright...I should get back to finishing this stuff up! More to come soon!

 

[lmillercrew]

Sorry your computer went kaput! Good thing your pics were on that other thingy.
Well... you have fun with all of that family for two weeks...
I happy for your friends Angie and Sandy and that they will finally have their little miracle home to live with them. I hope and pray everything will go smoothly and that the birth mother will follow through with her plans. That baby will be so blessed to have a mother and a father that love her.
Have EXTRA fun with the potty training. Since I only have one boy, my DH was the one to train him, for the most part. I get to talk to the girls about monthly issues and he gets to talk aim and putting the seat down!
Have a good day. I'm going to get my root canal this morning and I can't WAIT!!! I feel like the stewardess barbie from Toy Story "my face hurts!"

 

[newtodis]

Wow how was the root canal?? Sounds like fun times for sure!!

I promise I'm going to get this started soon. I just found our books and all of my notes from the trip so now I'm really ready....I just need to find the time!

This Saturday's the baby shower so I've been busy with that. Dan's family all got home fine to the nice cold and snow! Lucky them although today feels like MI temps here - with the windchill it was in the teens this morning!

alright...I know I have to start this TR and lots of other little updates along the way...I promise I will soon.

This month is our one year anniversary since our first Disney trip - next weekend actually!! Friends emailed this morning and they're going at the end of the month so we might try and go with them if it all works out. It'll be their first trip so it's sure to be fun!!

Ok back to work...

 

[lmillercrew]

I can't believe it's time for the baby shower! That when by quickly, at least for me.
The root canal drama is over. I got the permanent crown put on on Tuesday.
I'll be here when you find the time to do your Dising!
Glad to hear that Dan and family made it home safe.

 

[newtodis]

Glad the drama's over!

I was hoping to get the rest of the pictures moved over tonight once I get home so I can get things moving along here...there's lot of little updates (Christmas, family visit, baby shower) and of course the TR. Then it sounds like it'll have a mini TR in the middle of it! Maybe I'll wait until the end and put the most recent trip in so I don't get confused! So my list for tonight is grocery shopping, make cupcakes, pack van for shower and transfer pictures.

Tomorrow's the shower - yes it did go by incredibly quickly! Can't wait to get to see the baby!! Then either tomorrow or Sunday our friend Amy's supposed to call and we're going to go over plans for this mini-trip.

I've also started working on Dan about DVC in the next few years...or buying into a time share there. Something like that just makes sense for us since we're so close now. At least with a time share, we'd be able to go other places too (but who wants to really???? )

Alright....I need to try and get some work done this morning...it's so hard. There was actually ice in our parking lot this morning! It was crazy. And it's supposed to be 72 by Sunday!

 

[newtodis]

It's about time huh???? I'm spurred to start this because we're going to Disney again in 19 days!!!!! Must have this one in the works before we can take another trip!!!

Let the journey begin!!

We packed the van Thursday night after we got home from work which was nice to have everything done. We had the "normal" "you're packing too much" "no I'm really not - we might need this and I'm sure I forgot something" "that's not possible" discussion several times during the packing process.

Friday monring (12/12) started off quite well. IT was pretty cold here so the boys were in shorts (couldn't talk them out of it!) and jackets for the drive. They covered up with blankets to stay warm until we got to sunny FL where it would certainly be so much warmer (that was the plan anyways!) We packed up the last few things and were on the road by 6:30. We only had to turn around once (for batteries for the Leapster) which thankfully were noticed before we got out of our subdivision.

Before too long, the boys noticed we had a special guest with us along for the long ride to Mickey's house:

Santa had sent Kevin the Elf to stay with us this holiday season and make sure that everyone was making the best choices they could make. Since his job is to keep an eye on us all the time, of course he had to come to Disney too! Boy did he have a good time! (I'll post some of his other crazy doings later!)

The boys were having a great time riding:

Dan, on the other hand, not loving me this morning:

After riding for a little bit, I got out the packages that Kevin the Elf had for the boys since they'd been so good the past few days.

Corbin got a new Leapster game and a Diego Aquadoodle thingy. Corbin loved it all - Kevin the Elf really knows his stuff!

Kevin the Elf got a new George (Curious George) dvd and a Dora Aquadoodle thingy. Carter loved his stuff too - good job Kevin!

Before long, my boys were getting hungry. That's when Mommy broke out her surprise:

DOUGHNUTS!

This is a special treat at our house since Mommy doesn't usually buy this kind of stuff.

After enjoying that little breakfast, it was time to stop and go to the bathroom. Everyone got out and streched their legs and went potty before heading back to the van, changing into long pants and getting on the road again.

 

[Grace and Mickey]

Yea!!!!
A trip report!!!
I'm glad you're back


Congrads of another trip in JUST 19 days!!!!
how did the baby shower go??
How have you been feeling?
Our trip might be changing a little (see my PTR)
Grace

 

[newtodis]

Side Note (kind of): Carter's FAVORTIE Christmas season character is The Grinch through and through. He loves him some Santa but who does he ask for?? The Grinch! I didn't think about it or research a lot but Universal has Grinchmas and you can have breakfast with the Grinch. We saw billboards all over the place and Carter spotted several. All you could hear from the back was "GINCH GINCH GINCH!!!!" with lots of pointing and excitement!

So we decided to hit EPCOT first instead of heading to the condo since it was too early to check in. We got to Epcot at 12:00 noon and started out our Disney trip!!!! It was all more real now since we're HERE!!

Our first stop was the Disney Visa Meet and Greet since we hadn't done this before. We headed back and got in line after having to ask some directions. There was already a line forming and we quickly got in line. After standing there in line for about five minutes, Corbin spotted that there was an entire wall of video games. He talked his Dad into taking him over to play and pass the time. Carter and I sat and watched the segway classes.

Before long, it was our turn in line. Here's how it works in case you don't know: you stand in line and have to show your Visa to get a little ticket to go in and see the characters. They will NOT tell you who's in there while you're in line and they ask you NOT to say ANYTHING when you leave that will let the others in line know who's in the tent. Once it's your turn in the tent, you get as much time as you want (they don't have a time limit but I would think they would kick you out at some point) with the characters in the tent.

We were lucky enough to meet:

Corbin really had such a great time with Mickey:

After a couple of minutes (I'm so bad at the no time limit thing - I want my kids to have their turn but I hate having other people waiting on us) we headed out. The CMs were SO wonderful - asking to make sure we'd had enough time and everything else! IT was really great and worth just having the card for this honestly!

You also get a coupon thingy for a free 5x7 (I think that's the size) before you leave the park. I stopped by on our way out of the park and was told we could do it any time before we left....wanna know what?? I FORGOT to do it before we left. DUH!

Anyways, we were back on the prowl for something else to do with our afternoon since we didn't really have a "plan" for the afternoon.

Next on the list was to see the Hanson brothers - Sig and Edgar - from The Deadliest Catch on the Discovery Channel or TLC (I can't remember). This was the one thing Dan was so excited about when he found out they were going to be there at the same time as our trip.

So we jumped in line about 3ish and the meet and greet started at 4. The wait was pretty long with the boys but we were lucky to have some great people in line behind us with a little girl that kept Corbin entertained while we were waiting.

Finally it was our turn to meet them. Dan had a couple of things for them to sign. These guys were AMAZING - honestly better than a character meet and greet. So kind and sweet. They honestly cared about what was being said to them. They said something about him being a firefighter and taking lots of time. I mentioned that THEY took a lot of his time since he was always watching them! We all had a good laugh.

Corbin really didn't want any part of meeting Sig and Edgar - although they were pretty good looking! Carter went with Dan but Sig and Edgar tried very hard to get Corbin to stand by them and talk to them. He told them about how he watched them in their ships on tv and it was "crazy".

On the way to lunch we stopped at these really cool dandelion looking things that were really Christmas decorations so I have no clue what they're really called.

Then we headed off to America for lunch. We'd eaten the counter service here before and knew everything was ok for Corbin so it was an easy choice for us.

After lunch we looked at the Christmas tree while Dan changed Carter. There's an adorable little train around the tree.

While we were looking at the tree, Corbin and I noticed SANTA!! We took a quick walk over to the HUGE line. OH MY GOSH...Santa looked just like kid's books that you'd picture Santa to look like. It was AMAZING. We tried to get in line but it was already closed.

Dan came back from the bathroom and I told him (very nicely of course!) that we were getting in line for the next Santa visit since I didn't know if we'd be back to Epcot again and if Santa would be out or whatever.

We went and looked in a couple of other countries and waited for a little bit.

Then, we got back and waited in line...Wanna guess for how long?? Ya'll will think I'm crazy when I tell you.....


You have to promise you won't laugh.....


Promise??????


An hour...for Santa. Yes, I made my children sit in the cold and wait for Santa for an hour because I, yes I, wanted to see this Santa! Before too long there was a line behind us so it was great that we started out the line when we did.

This is also where the "I told you so" look came into play for the first time. Corbin had asked to bring his gloves and he and Dan had argued for several days about the topic. Dan thought he'd convinced Corbin he didn't need them. I, of course, grabbed them before leaving since we'd gotten the stuff for MI out (before we'd found out we couldn't go).

Magically, Mommy saved a melt down moment when I pulled them out of the diaper bag. And a Pooh pair for Carter!

Then we heard it....

HO! HO!! HO! HOhohoho!!

IT WAS SANTA!!!

Ok so does he look amazing or what???? It was totally worth the hour wait! Wouldn't have done anything else for sure! The boys were the first ones on Santa's lap and we've got some great photopass pictures (that I need to add) while we were waiting for Santa because Dan was talking to her while we were waiting so she took a ton!

 

[newtodis]

I LOVE Christmas and the decorations - hence a December Disney trip! So I just had to see the tree lighting since we were there. Just to put us all in the spirit.

Since it wasn't quite dark yet, we looked around a bit more in ECPOT until it was about that time.

The monorail picture is one of my favorites.

Here's Corbin with the tree while we were waiting for the lighting:

Now before I tell you about the tree lighting, I want to share a pet peeve of mine...not that you care. If you don't, skip this part! I cannot STAND it when other people don't think about anyone but themselves. Now many people were standing there waiting for the tree to be lit. Most of these people stood back (probably to take pictures like I was trying to). Now I fully understand that I'm in a place with hundreds of thousands of other people. I feel (again, not meant to be mean, just saying this is how I think), that you and your family should stand back like everyone else. It's one thing to walk up, take a quick picture with your family and backing off for someone else to take a picture. It's another thing to stand right at the base of the tree and stand...and stand some more. It was obvious there was no one else standing there and probably for a good reason....just get out of the way!

Ok....done with that now.

So they play a little story thingy about the tree lighting. It was pretty cool. They lit the tree section by section from the bottom up.

They also lit the lights over the path too which was really cool:

By that point, Dan was done so we started to head out. We passed the dandelion things again and were going to wait for the photopass guy. Of course something happened to camera and had to leave...so here's my attempt:

We headed for the monorail to get back to the van and head to the condo. Corbin and Carter got to DRIVE us back to the van!! Don't drive too fast!

 

[newtodis]

After loading up the van and a short 10 minute drive (it might have been less than that really...it was pretty short!), we were at the condo. Everything was pretty well marked so it was really easy to find. We did have to call before leaving the parking lot since the driver didn't have directions (hmm...sounds like the last trip! )

So here's the condo...I wanted to get these up tonight. I'm going to post these then it's off to pick Dan up from the ferry since he had to work today. I spent the afternoon planning for Disney!! YAY!


We were right next to the elevator (I'd asked for this with the boys it's so much easier).

From the front door:

Washer/dryer:

Kitchen (it's a weird picture):

Dinning Room:

Boys Room:

Living Room:

Master Bedroom:

Master Bath:

My dream tub:

Screened in Balcony:

Boys Bathroom:

Let me tell you this place was AWESOME!! We would stay here again in a second! If you need Tracy's email address (she's a DISer but I can't remember her screen name) PM me and I'd be glad to share. She's been SO helpful even with finding condos when Dan's family visited and now for our next trip.

Alright...off to pick Dan up. More updates soon for sure!

 

[Dylan_&_Blake's_mom]

great tr so far, just wondering which place your condo was at if you don't mind sharing. Thanks

 

[newtodis]

Yea!!!!
A trip report!!!
I'm glad you're back


Congrads of another trip in JUST 19 days!!!!
how did the baby shower go??
How have you been feeling?
Our trip might be changing a little (see my PTR)
Grace

Thanks for stopping by! It's so good to be back! I can't believe we're going again so soon!! It's crazy - totally unplanned and totally unexpected for sure but so fun!

Baby shower was good - I'll have an update with pictures soon

Today I feel like crap. Friday night and Saturday morning I was so sick I wasn't sure if I'd be able to even go to the shower. All worked out in the end. I'm hoping to get some rest before our trip and try to kick whatever's wrong or just go to the doctor and have him take out whatever's not needed inside anymore to just get rid of the problem.

Hopefully the change is for the better - I'll have to check out the PTR!

great tr so far, just wondering which place your condo was at if you don't mind sharing. Thanks

Wouldn't mind at all - it was Cypress Point and we LOVED it. Here's a link to the floor plans - I think you can find out more about them from here: http://cypresspointe2.com/floorplans.html

Hopefully there will be more of an update tonight. Dan's got class so it depends on the boys.

 

[ktmetke]

That Santa really does look like the real deal!!!! I would have waited too!

 

[newtodis]

That Santa really does look like the real deal!!!! I would have waited too!

Yup he was great - he talked to the boys for quite a while actually. Mrs. Claus was sweet as could be too!

 

[lmillercrew]

O.K. I here friend! I read through half of your report last night, but didn't post anything. It looks like you guys got off to a great start. (except for Dan's happy face he made in the car) I don't like people who don't think of others either! It's like, look around you people! What is the norm around here??? The condo looks great. I bet we would save a ton of money staying off site. I just love the convenience of Disney transportation and not having to pay for parking.
So, Dan works on an island? I had no idea that he took a ferry to work.
SO jealous you get to back AGAIN!! Are you guys going this summer for a longer stay? Did you buy season passes? That would make the journey down there a lot easier to make several times a year.