In Memory-with love and wishes, surprise kiddos Nov. '12 PTR!!

[luvmy2babies]

I’m in. I’m so sorry about your loss. I’m also widowed and I could feel where your post was going before I got to the part about your dh. We had not been to Disney together. We had planned to take our daughter once his health was more stable but then we were unexpectedly blessed with our 2nd child. We planned to go in 2011 after he was a year-old. Our son was born January 2010, dh died in March 2010 when the baby was 2 months old. Instead of waiting for 2011, I decided I wanted to take the children sooner. Dd’s fall break gave her the entire week of Thanksgiving off from school and off we went. It was crowded, but the parks, particularly MK were so beautiful decorated for the holidays. We’re headed back in a few days. I look forward to hearing about your plans.

 

[starbound25]

I am so sorry about your loss

So glad that you were able to work out a trip for this November. your girls will be so excited!

thank you

I'm joining in!
I am so sorry to hear about your loss. I know this trip will be an incredible experience for you and your family! I can't wait to hear the journey develop!

thank you. Yes I cant wait to finally tell the girls the surprise!

What a great sister you have there. Best of luck to her.

Yes I'm very lucky to have a very special sister

That is awesome!!! I think it would be so cool to run a 1/2 marathon at Disney (noticed I didn't say a "full"? I can't fathom the thought of running 26 miles! )


So glad y'all are saving some $$$! The two things we still need to buy are park passes and the Dining Plan. Gotta keep working and saving that dinero!

Can't wait to read about your plans!

Haha my sister even with how many 1/2 marathons she's run is still scared of the full! I hope you get to do a Disney run!!

I’m in. I’m so sorry about your loss. I’m also widowed and I could feel where your post was going before I got to the part about your dh. We had not been to Disney together. We had planned to take our daughter once his health was more stable but then we were unexpectedly blessed with our 2nd child. We planned to go in 2011 after he was a year-old. Our son was born January 2010, dh died in March 2010 when the baby was 2 months old. Instead of waiting for 2011, I decided I wanted to take the children sooner. Dd’s fall break gave her the entire week of Thanksgiving off from school and off we went. It was crowded, but the parks, particularly MK were so beautiful decorated for the holidays. We’re headed back in a few days. I look forward to hearing about your plans.

I'm very sorry for your loss as well I am also glad that you too are able to share the Disney magic with your kids

 

[starbound25]

Ok so I have been faithfully watching the Southwest website checking if our flights that we want are still available and that the price has not changed. These flights only opened up about a month ago.

I wasn't able to buy them right when they opened because I was waiting for my SW credit card that I got only to get the points deal that came with it. For me it was 25k points after 1st purchase made.

So I'm waiting and waiting for my points to drop in and last week I check our flights and one of them had already gone up! Now it was only by $20 but $20x4 tickets is $80!

Again $80 doesnt sound like a lot but if you remember this trip was supposed to be 2013 and we bumped it to 2012 so the $$ was a big factor and any extra costs are hurting my budget. I didn't want more money going on the credit card.

Eh whatever, right?

I tell my sister about the increase and she is shocked since the tickets had only been availabe about 2 weeks at that point.
She tells me she'll check with her husband, my brother-in-law to see if he has any points he could give us to use from his SW card. He travels a lot for business so he gets points frequently.

So I'm thinking that either he has no points or maybe enough to knock off $100 or something.

So that was last week. Yesterday she emails me and says that he has enough points to cover

TWO COMPLETE TICKETS!!!!! ROUND TRIP!!!!!!!

So she is giving me all those points so I only have to purchase TWO tickets instead of 4!!!!!!



PLUS the fact that one of my tickets will be covered already from MY points so it started out I was buying 4 airline tickets now budget wise I am only buying ONE!!!!!!!!!


PIXIE DUST!!!

Here's hoping some dust comes your way as well everyone!!!



Editing to add that I just bought our tickets!!!!!! So my original budget cost for the tickets for me and the girls was $1150 and what I ended up spending................$200!!!!! Oh yeah!!!!! dance!!

 

[reyasmommy]

Sounds like you were MEANT to go to Disney when you are? So happy everything is working out for you. You all deserve it!

 

[disprincessesmom1012]

I am so sorry for your loss. It sounds like your DH is watching out for you. I am sure he wants you to be in Disney as much as you want to be there. I cant wait to hear more about it all.

 

[roxannensteve]

Started reading your PTR & I have to admit, not what I was expecting. Idk what I was expecting really, seemed like a fairytale at first. Sorry for your loss but I happy that you are pushing yourself to do this for your girls & yourself. I'll be listening in to see your plans

 

[starbound25]

Started reading your PTR & I have to admit, not what I was expecting. Idk what I was expecting really, seemed like a fairytale at first. Sorry for your loss but I happy that you are pushing yourself to do this for your girls & yourself. I'll be listening in to see your plans

It honestly was a fairy tale. We had a magnet on our fridge that said "who says the honeymoon cant last forever" and it truly was a 9 year long honeymoon. I will always be grateful for every day we had together.
I hope he's watching our Disney trips from Heaven as well

 

[ditsypixie]

I am so sorry for your loss
It truly looks like you and your girls were MEANT to go to Disney this year with all of the pixie dust falling on you!!!
I am so excited for you and good luck to your sister in the marathon! Can't wait to keep reading your plans

 

[starbound25]

So again the kids think we are saving up for our Nov 2013 trip Man I'm still trying to hold out till the 40 days mark to tell them we are going THIS November!!

I used to have a ticker countdown thing on this one application on my macbook, now I only open this app when I need to use the calculator but my middle DD kept seeing the ticker and would say "Oh 145 days is that how long till Disney?" and I would have to say "no no no we're not going till next year that ticker is for something else." so this happened more than once haha so I had to remove the ticker. Now to see how many days we have till our trip I log onto the race page for the W&D marathon because it has a countdown on it and thats how I know how many days till our trip haha (137 days today!)

Anway we started a coin jar. My oldest did the decorations on it so I thought I'd share it with you all!

I think we probably have $40-$50 in the jar at this point. Whoo hoo this will be all extra spending money and fingers crossed if we don't happen to spend it all I can carry it over for the trip we make after this one!

I also decided to make these little decorations and hang them up on their bedroom wall

 

[starbound25]

So if you've read my other posts you'll know my sister is bravely doing the W&D 1/2 marathon on the day we arrive in FL!!

Thats so daunting, first we'll be up at 4am or so that day to catch our very early flight. Then the exhaustion of traveling. Then getting to the hotel get settled briefly then we need to go to the ESPN sports complex to pick up her runners packet. Dinner then she's off to races at 7ish I think and the race starts at 10pm! (already past her normal bedtime!)

So she did a local race just a week ago for a 5k that started at 6pm. It was a start at least for her to see what it felt like to run later in the day. She normally jogs very early.

She did WONDERFUL! I think it was her fastest pace yet. These were her stats-
"8 minute pace 7:59 placed 9th in my age group out of 91"

SO proud of her! I can't wait for her to do the Disney run! She rolled her ankle this week and that has really slowed her down. She hates taking even 1 day off now she hasn't jogged in 3 days! That is torture for her. She has still been weight training still and riding the stationary bike. Basically she will never take a complete break haha thats just her. She's a warrior!

I tell her when she is racing and tired to hear my voice in her head like in Forest Gump saying "RUN SISTER RUN!!!"

 

[starbound25]

Hi everyone (or anyone I should say!)

Well not much has gone on since my last two posts but I thought I'd share my itinerary. Not very exciting but its what I've done so far. I'll split it up a bit.

Here is the plan for days 1-3

11/11 Sunday Parks- MK hrs 9-8 (open till 11pm for extra magic hours)

breakfast in room -tired sister from W&D marathon haha

am snack packed

lunch QS (2)

pm snack (2)

dinner TS (2) The Plaza

*** Fireworks are showing this night (8pm) but if sister is too tired we can watch them Tuesday night, they are right after the main st electrical parade***

11/12 Monday Parks- AK (EMH) 9-5 (maybe p.m. @ MK hrs 9-7)

breakfast in room

am snack packed

lunch TS (3) Rainforest Café

pm snack (3)

dinner QS (3)


11/13 Tuesday Parks- MK hrs 9-8 main st. elec. parade 7pm & fireworks at 8pm

breakfast w/characters TS (4) Grand Floridian

am snack packed

lunch QS (4)

pm snack (4)

dinner QS- out of pocket expense
watch MSEP and fireworks

Wow looking at that typed out with the photos has gotten me excited! haha I wish the ticker would go by faster! The girls still dont know! I'm pretty sure I can hold out till 40 days out. (pretty sure

Whoo hoo!

 

[starbound25]

ok so I'm trying really hard to resist buying these shoes but I seriously dont think I can!

http://www.qvc.com/qic/qvcapp.aspx/view.2/app.detail/params.item.A199349.cc.000.cm_scid.crt/walk.yah.0000

They are SO cute and would be great for walking around Disney so I'm thinking of how much use they would get! And I would wear them at home too.

I was looking online at jewelry that was disney themed, found some cute mickey earrings but I really dont wear jewelry that often. I bought a mickey necklace at the parks last time I went and I've only worn it maybe 4x in the past year.

But shoes......those I would actually wear even at home....

Oh my I think I'm in trouble!!!

 

[jenseib]

Joining in. Yo uare a very strong person. I am so sorry for all the sorrow you have had. The girls are going to be so excited!!!!

 

[starbound25]

Joining in. Yo uare a very strong person. I am so sorry for all the sorrow you have had. The girls are going to be so excited!!!!

thank you and thanks for tagging along

 

[starbound25]

Hi everyone (anyone!)

here is my current itinerary for days 4-6! I'm a little bummed that I dont have much more planning to do since most things are taken care of and all ADR's are booked but I do have more things to post!

So here we go!

11/14 Wednesday Parks- Epcot 1st ½ day (hrs 9-9)

HS 2nd ½ of day (hrs9-8) **Osborne lights pm at HS
**3pm Parade @ HS

breakfast in room

am snack packed

lunch TS (5) MGM Hollywood & Vine

pm snack (5)

dinner QS (5)

11/15 Thursday- Parks- kids pick 1st ½ of day, 2nd ½ of day MK- MVMCP night
hrs- MK 9-7 (EMH) Epcot 9-9 HS 9-8 AK 9-5
**Maybe do EMH at MK then bounce to another park at 9am then back to MK at ½ day**
breakfast in room

am snack packed

lunch TS (6) Tony’s Restaurant

pm snack (6)

dinner QS (6) (do QS dinner at 5pm to be ready for all the festivities coming up)

11/16 Friday last day ☹ MK hrs 9-7

breakfast on Main St QS (7)

am snack packed

lunch w/ characters TS (7) Crystal Palace

dinner QS –Out of pocket expense

**Epcot is open till 9pm (with 3more EMH hours 12am but cant stay up too late because our flight is early sat morning)
**Illuminations at 9pm at Epcot

 

[reyasmommy]

Looks good. I think we're going to do MK on the 13th and Epcot on the 14th as well. Haven't decided for sure, if we do and I see you I'll give ya a wave. I'm so excited for you and your girls.

 

[starbound25]

Hi there!

Well I thought I'd post some pics of the things I have hidden away in a box in my closet it's the beginning of my stash for things I have been buying here and there getting ready for the trip.

So here we go!

Hand Sanitizer for my purse! I forgot this last year and wanted to make sure I had a nice new one to bring to the parks!

A fancy leopard scarf (actually from an old robe I had!) what is this for you may ask? Well to tie onto the stroller so it's easier to spot! thanks to the dis boards for that tip!

Refillable water bottles with filters in them. This is going to save us almost $60!! I did a lot of searching online (amazon.com) to find the bottles with the best reviews and most decent pricing. These were only $10 each.
One for me one for the girls to share.

Moleskin! Because someone is going to get a blister and band aids just dont cut it.

Earplugs so I can block out the noise of the children saying "I want this! Buy me this!" JUST KIDDING My middle daughter is afraid of loud noises so I bought these for when we see the fireworks shows to try to help make her more comfortable

Their pens from last trip, also not pictured I've stashed away their autograph books from last trip

$1 store ponchos (although they are super flimsy if we got downpours I may buy the kids disney ones)

Pixie Dust and brush to add to their hair. (BBB is way too pricey for me!)

Mini tiara for duplicating BBB hairstyles, we can all take turns wearing this so each girl will have their own day of a BBB style makeover by me
(crown on sale $7 at disney store)

Some theme clips I bought off etsy a few years ago I just dont want to forget them so I'm stashing them now

That's it so far!! I have a clothing haul that I got GREAT deals on some things I'll post that separate.

Have a magical day!! 120 days till my trip!

 

[jenseib]

I love it. I bring the hand santizers too. See if you can find something to hang it off your bag or stroller. I know that Rite Aid sells them...and I got some for bath and body that have a little thing to attach to your bag too.

 

[starbound25]

Hi!

So all I can say is the days really need to keep going by quickly!
Today is 117 days till my trip
I can't believe I'm almost in double digits! I also can't believe I haven't told my daughters yet!

I watched Disney "surprise" videos on youtube for about an hour yesterday and after that I really, I mean really wanted to break down and tell the kids but NO I must be strong!!!!

I am still planning on 40 days out. Must. Be. Strong.

Anyway the girls and I were crafting with clay the other day and this what I made

I can't stop with the Disney!!

I am so glad my sister and I were able to make this trip happen this year because we both REALLY need it. Most days lately I've felt like this trip is the only thing holding me together, the only thing to keep me going and having it to look forward to. My sister too is going through a rough patch right now and she said as well "thank goodness we have this trip to look forward to"
The magic of Disney.
And the girls are just too cute that they have no clue we're going.!!!!

Guess that's all for now. I am still waiting on another order I placed to arrive so I can do my Disney clothing haul post for you.

pixie dust to all!!!!

 

[MrsBearcat]

I am so sorry for your loss but what a great mommy you are! The DH and I will be at the world the same time as you guys.