"Hurry & fly away to Neverland before it's too late!" Trip wrap up page 30

[DisneyJo]

Lovely photos and I love the one of you all on TT, how funny the family behind did what you said too

 

[vamassey1]

Lovely photos and I love the one of you all on TT, how funny the family behind did what you said too

We did realize they had done this until we saw the picture!

 

[vamassey1]

I'm going to try to get another update done by tonight. It's that time of the year when I don't know whether I'm coming or going. This is Nutcracker week for us. Danielle is a mouse in this year's show. Last year was her first year. She was a "stinking Lamb". We practiced for an hour every Saturday from October until the performance. She had one downtown rehearsal and she was only in one of 4 shows. This year it's been a good bit more. She practices on Sunday afternoons for an hour to two hours and one Sunday it was 3 hours. She has 3 downtown rehearsals this week including the dress rehearsal on Friday night that I'll be chaperoning. She will be in two shows on Sunday. We're going to watch the 2 o'clock show. Since she's only in the first act she'll be able to come sit with us for act 2 and watch. I'll be a backstage Mom for the second performance on Sunday. So this is how the week looks; Monday night CCD, Tuesday downtown rehearsal, Wednesday regular dance class (she'll be there for 1 hour) downtown rehearsal, Thursday free, Friday 2 1/2 dress rehearsal, Saturday Free and Sunday 2 performances. Whew, I'm worn out just thinking about it! My oldest comes home tomorrow, but flies out to WI on Friday. So how's everyone else week looking?

 

[wigdoutdismom]

Busy week for me too! Just think of the relaxing you can do over the holiday!

 

[vamassey1]

Busy week for me too! Just think of the relaxing you can do over the holiday!

I think you've got me beat in the busy department. You leave for Disney is 4 days!

 

[cjackearl]

Whew, your week IS busy! Last week was our crazy busy week. This week we picked up our new car last night (YEA!!), have caroling with our church tonight and go to my mom's for an early Christmas this Friday. I'm chipping away at Christmas shopping. I thought of you when Amelia pointed out about half of the Justice catalog she wanted! Good luck to Danielle. I'm glad she's not a "stinking sheep" again.

 

[vamassey1]

Whew, your week IS busy! Last week was our crazy busy week. This week we picked up our new car last night (YEA!!), have caroling with our church tonight and go to my mom's for an early Christmas this Friday. I'm chipping away at Christmas shopping. I thought of you when Amelia pointed out about half of the Justice catalog she wanted! Good luck to Danielle. I'm glad she's not a "stinking sheep" again.

A new car? That's a great Christmas gift. Caroling sounds great! And presents on Friday even better. I'm afraid I'll be out Saturday hopefully finishing up. I got an email with another code for Justice today. I've printed it out. I'm going to use it to get my niece Lauren a webkin.

I have to tell the "stinking sheep" story. Last year we missed the Nutcracker try outs but I lucked out when I saw they were having another round. Seems not many showed up for the first round since it was right after Gustav hit here. This was her first tryout. They taught all the little girls both the lamb part and the party girl part. Of course every little girl wants to be a party girl. They're the girls that go the party at Clara's where she gets the Nutcracker. They get to wear beautiful dresses and wear curls in their hair. I had taken her to see the Nutcracker the year before so she knew she wanted to be a party girl. Well about a week later she gets her offer letter and low and behold it was an offer to be a lamb. Michelle thought she would be exicited that she was being offered a part. Danielle took one look at the letter and said "I don't want to be a stinking lamb. I want to be a party girl.". Of course it took a good talking for her to realize how lucky she was that she was going to be a part of such a great production. In the end she decided she would rather be a "stinking lamb" than not participate at all. She signed the commitment and never once complained about the practices and time requirements. After all she got to dance on the big stage. She still looks longingly at the party girls and would just die to be one.

 

[vamassey1]

First off I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Years! I've been really lax on updating this report due to the holiday rush. So, I thought I would do an update on our holidays so far.

We put our "fake" tree up the first weekend of December.

This is the tree with just the lights and angel.




Michelle and Dennis put the tree together, Dennis puts the lights and angel on and Danielle and I put the ornaments on.



This was also the night we had snow flurries. This is a very rare occurance in south Louisiana.



It didn't sticke except for on the roofs.






This is my neighbors across the street. I love their decorations!



Completed tree and livingroom decorations along with ornaments.

 

[jordanyosh]

The decorations are beautiful!

I think your tree is very well put together.

 

[vamassey1]

Most of our ornaments are from Hallmark.












Danielle's school choir performance.

 

[vamassey1]

And finally the "Nutcracker!

This is what the girls did while they were waiting to dress.



One of the Clara's.



Headless Mice!



We love the tails!





Hideous!



The Mice playing!

 

[vamassey1]

Because she was only in ACT I, she was able to join us at intermission and see ACT II.











That's it so far!

 

[GreatBiscuit]

Awesome photos! Merry Christmas back at you!

 

[vamassey1]

The decorations are beautiful!

I think your tree is very well put together.

Thanks Jordan! I hope your Christmas was Blessed!

Awesome photos! Merry Christmas back at you!

Thanks GB! We had a great Christmas!

 

[vamassey1]

After our break it ws time to head back to the park. While we waited for the bus I took these of Danielle. She had been dying to play in the numbers.







Once we made it back to the park we finally rode Spaceship Earth. I was really looking forward to this ride. And of course I didn't take out my camera. The picture they took of Danielle to use on her person was a hoot. Her mouth was wide open with her gum exposed. It looked so funny on the stick figure. After the Golf Ball we used our FPs for Soarin'. We didn't get the front row again but we also didn't have drama.

It was now time to head for our diner at Biergarten. We had never eaten there so I didn't now what to expect. I really wanted Le Cellier but was never able to get it. We checked in and I took a few pictures.











At some point while we were waiting their system went down. Since we were sitting right by the stand we didn't get overlooked and we were soon seated. We ended up real close to the food area on the highest level. We all went up for food at one time. I don't know how but Tena got mixed up and ended up putting her plate down on someone table on the second level. She went up to the buffet with Bailey and when she came back couldn't find her food. We laughed it off and she went up for another plate of food. The food was just okay for me, not bad but not good either. I did enjoy the atmosphere. It was like being outside at a festival. We did catch one of the shows while eating. The girls wouldn't go down and join in the fun until the very end. Bailey was more willing to go than Danielle. Bailey did the chicken dance but not Danielle.





After dinner it was time for a smoke break for Tena and for us to use our last set of FPs for Test Track. We walked Tena back to Italy. She was going to stake us out a place for Illuminations while I took the girls to ride. This would be the only chance we had to catch it. I hadn't seen it since 2002 and Danielle had never seen it. Of course it would be their first time too.

More in next post.

 

[vamassey1]

After our very cool night ride on Test Track I checked in with Tena. She said she was sitting on the balcony area in front of Italy. I let the girls enjoy playing in the cars for a while.









As we were getting closer to Tena I checked in again and that when she told me the news. She had lost our wonderful spot. She realized she had forgotten her umbrella at Biergarten and had gone back to get it. Of course while she was gone someone else got our spot. When we found her it was wall to wall people. The girls tried to get on a step so they could see, but it wasn't to be. We saw some of the fireworks while we stood but it just wasn't the same. I was once again thwarted in my carefully laid out plans. We made do but I can't wait to go back and really get to enjoy this show.

After Illuminations we took our time going back. We hung around in Italy so Tena could have another smoke break. She showed us something I would never have seen if it wasn't for her. First here are some night pictures.







Did you know that they grow real grapes in Italy? I sure didn't. They're growing in the beautiful smoking area.





We stopped for some shopping in Mouse Gear. Boy you could get lost in there. I didn't buy anything, I was holding out for World of Disney and my Disney Visa discount. I don't know how long we were in there but it was a while. We finally exited and headed back to the POP.

Since this was our last day in Epcot here are my reflections.

I truly enjoyed spending so much time with just Danielle. We enjoyed exploring the countries and collecting her stamps for the passport. I would have loved to have caught more of the entertainment in the countries. But this is something I always say after every trip. There are still movies and shows I haven't seen. The heat on the trip really made seeing everything hard due to our breaks and the timing of the shows. Of course I'm going to make a real effort to finally catch Illuminations with my family and really enjoy it. We plan on going back to Japan to let the girls pick out pearl cages for their pearls on our next trip. Both girls got silver chains in their stockings for Christmas. I tried to talk Dennis into just letting me order them some cages on Ebay for Christmas, but he want to experience them picking out cages since he missed both girls getting their pearls.

The next update will be our last day at MK and our second to last day in the parks. Will I finally get to enjoy "Wishes".

 

[cjackearl]

Wow, your artificial tree is beautiful. I'd like to invest in a more impressive one in a year or two. Is yours pre-lit? I love the santas on your side board also. Your house looks very festive.

what a cute, er scary, mouse Danielle makes. Aren't those big costumes hard to dance in? What a neat Mouse King nutcracker.


Those are real grapes in Italy? Seriously? I wonder what becomes of them.

I think its so sweet that Dennis wants to be there when his girls pick out their pearl settings. Was Santa good to your family?

 

[DisneyJo]

Love all your Christmas decorations and it looks as though Danielle had lots of fun in the Nutcracker

What a shame you lost your spot for illuminations, why didn't she wait for you all to come back before getting her umbrella? At least it's another reason to go back

 

[vamassey1]

Wow, your artificial tree is beautiful. I'd like to invest in a more impressive one in a year or two. Is yours pre-lit? I love the santas on your side board also. Your house looks very festive.

Thanks! Our tree is several years old and I'm ready to replace since it's not pre-lit. We did invest in new lights this year and Dennis put about 1000 on it!

what a cute, er scary, mouse Danielle makes. Aren't those big costumes hard to dance in? What a neat Mouse King nutcracker.

They don't really dance as much as run and scurry around.


Those are real grapes in Italy? Seriously? I wonder what becomes of them.

Real Grapes! I thought that was the neatest thing.

I think its so sweet that Dennis wants to be there when his girls pick out their pearl settings. Was Santa good to your family?

I thinks so too! Santa was really good. My favorite gift was from Michelle. She got us tickets to see Mama Mia on the Sunday before we go back to WDW in New Orleans. She got gifts she could benefit from. I got tickets to Mama Mia and Dennis got a grill brush. It's her job to clean the grill when Dennis grills.

Love all your Christmas decorations and it looks as though Danielle had lots of fun in the Nutcracker

Thanks Jo! Danielle had a blast, but we were all glad when it was over.

What a shame you lost your spot for illuminations, why didn't she wait for you all to come back before getting her umbrella? At least it's another reason to go back

I have given up trying to figure her out.

 

[Blueyed Girl]

I'm here! Still need to finish catching up. But just wanted to say that I feel your frustration with doing all the planning and then it getting messed up in the end. Don't like when that happens.

I love the pick a pearl thing!! I got mine mounted on a ring since DH had already bought me a pearl necklace and earrings on a previous anniversary.


ok, going to finish catching up...........