January 15, 2006 / 1/15/2006 anyone?

[we6clarks]

Hi Jamie,
Blake has had a good first week of school. Regan doesn't go back until Sept 6. I wish Blake didn't start until Sept too. It has made summer seem really short this year. For pirate night I thought I'd try and get eye patches, hooks, and swords for the kids. I don't think Robert is aware about pirate night yet. He would be the one of us more likely to dress in full costume. He always dresses in a costume for Halloween. What dinner time do you have? Early or late?
Michele
PS Enjoy your cruise on the Jan 22nd WeLuvDCL.

 

[jmet]

Hi Michelle~
Here all public schools in the same city (maybe district?) start the same day, which is nice I guess - but some cities start before labor day and some after - of course we are in the "before" camp. The silly thing is they don't start till Thursday - so they go for just two days before labor day - which seems dumb to me, but what do I know? Actually, it apparently seems to dumb to plenty of others too since they passed a new law now that says school cannot start before labor day anymore - costs the resort area's too much in lost $$ and help

I really have no idea what I am going to do about the kids costumes for pirate night - they are both very unpredictable about weather or not they would dress up...and since I can't exactly ask them it's a little hard. I'm thinking about seeing what's on clearence after halloween so I can be prepared if they do want to, without risking much if they won't. I like your idea of the eye patches and such - I will for sure do those things at least.

I am pretty sure we have early seating. I did initally sign up for late - but changed my mind after thinking about it a couple of days. I realized that I really like to eat earlier - that way the rest of the evening is fair game for snacks and treats !! Anyway, I called to change it - and when I checked my ressie on line it does list it as early now.

Well, I better wrap up my little book here - stay in touch!


Jamie

 

[we6clarks]

Hi Jamie,
We are wait listed for early seating. I hope it gets changed. Everyone we've met on here is eating early. If it doesn't get changed maybe there'll be lots of free spots in the nursery for the twins. There is no way they will behave through a 2 hour meal. I like your idea about shopping post Halloween for pirate costumes. I'll have to borrow it. Did you decide how you are going to tell Jacob and Nathan about the cruise? Did you get the cruise travel kit in the mail today? Talk to you soon.
Michele

 

[jmet]

Michelle,
I will keep my fingers crossed for you that you get your seating time changed - from what I've read on these boards it seems like it could happen! How old are your twins again? I can believe that a two hour meal would be challanging for little ones - Heck, I'm hoping my 7 and 13 year olds can behave - well, that is WHEN they are both there. I am thinking that Jake might end up just "opting out" of some of the meals (knowing him) - so maybe we'll just "go with the flow" and see what happens!


Did you say you got a CRUISE KIT???? No, I haven't gotten any such thing - and maybe I won't - did you book with DCL directly or use a travel agent? I booked through - oh boy, now I've forgotten (I know - that is terrible!) it was either Travelosity or Expedia because they were they only ones left I could find that still offered a Cat12 GTY (here's hopin' for an upgrade!). Well, anyway - not likely to get any special "perks" through them - but if it's something everyone gets then MAYBE we'll still get it! I'm glad to know to be on the lookout for it though - one of the kids finding it might have led to some ummm ...creative conversation....

Right now we are thinking of having them open a portable DVD player - This will be on Christmas Eve...which will have the DCL Cruise CD qued up . But before that we will have them open a couple "normal" (but small) gifts and THEN something to hint at the cruise - like a beach towel for Nathan / new swim suit for Jake (or something a little subtle that won't give it away, but will make 'em WONDER - ha, ha - get it? - OK SORRY). After the CD they might have a couple small "cruise related" gifts to finish it off - we'll see. Well, as you can tell the plan is still a work in progress - stay tuned on that one.

Are you planning 'dressy" outfits? I"m starting to think about that and I'm not sure yet what I'm going to do, which is probably fine because once I have that figured out I'll invent something new to worry about!

Take Care,
Jamie

 

[DVCconvert]

bump!

 

[we6clarks]

Hi Jamie,
We did book with DCL directly. Let me know if you don't get the travel kit. I'll mail you one of ours. We got 2 because we have 2 cabins. We don't need both of them. The kit goes over things to do on the ship and at the ports.

I have started thinking about what to pack. I thought I'd take one dressy outfit in case we decide to eat dinner or brunch at Palo. Mostly I probably will do more casual clothes for dinner, skirts and black pants. What were you thinking about packing?

How was Nathan and Jacob's first day back to school? Do you have any plans for the long weekend?

The twins will be 21 mo. old on the 4th. I can't believe they are almost 2.
Talk to you soon,
Michele

 

[jmet]

Hi Michele (I noticed I misspelled your name before - sorry about that! )

That is SO nice of you to offer to send one of your kits to me! I will wait another couple of weeks or so and if I don't get one I just might take you up on that! Sounds like it would be kind of fun to have.

I have been trying to post here recently, but my computer has really been giving me problems lately so when I submit my post it just goes - I don't know where - post heaven? So far today it seems to be running better, so I'll give it another shot and see what happens!

Did you have a good Labor day weekend? Ours was eventful. Mark's truck got stolen right out of our driveway sometime Sat night/Sun morning. He had it full of all kinds of tools for work and lots of personal items too - even his wallet! Fortunately a nice lady found his wallet Sun. afternoon and called us - everything was in it except the cash of course, so that was good. The wallet was found quite a ways from here and we drove up there to get it and drove around looking for the truck, but of course didn't find it. Mon. morning Mark went back up to look around and stop at the local police dept. to ask them to keep an eye out for it too. Mon. afternoon they called - they found it!! The guys were still driving it around - the police couldn't even believe it. Of course everything was pretty much gone that he had in it, but it only had minor damage to the back bumper, so it could have much worse. He is just thrilled to have it back. Anyway, that ended up kind of taking over our weekend, but at least it was a pretty happy ending ~all things considered.

Nathan and Jacob's first days back to school went nice and smooth. It is really weird having Nathan gone all day long now! I think he's really going to like it though as he was starting to go a bit stir crazy here - he's really a "what are we gonna do NOW?" kind of kid! How much school will your kids miss for the cruise? Mine are off that Monday (for MLK) and Friday (teachers meetings or something) so they will just miss 3 days which isn't too bad.

Sounds like we are on the same track packing wise. I have a couple of pairs of capri's, and some black pants too - not sure what I'll bring in terms of skirts/dresses...still mulling that over. We still haven't decided about Palo either - IF we do it we are thinking of doing brunch just because the view sounds like it would be amazing, but we haven't decided anything yet.

Are you staying near the port the night before? We are booked at a hotel near Disney that night and plan to drive there that morning.

Talk to ya soon!
Jamie

 

[we6clarks]

Hi Jamie,
I am so sorry to hear about your husband's truck. That's horrible. I am glad to hear you got it back. We have been having some car troubles here as well. We were hit head on June 26th. We still don't have our van back. The body shop says it won't be ready again this week. Here's hoping it will be ready next week.

I have trouble posting on here sometimes. I'll log in type my message. When I hit send I get a message that I'm not logged in and I can't post a reply. I've tried writing you back 2 other times with no luck.

Blake will miss 3 days of school also. They are off Monday and Tuesday the week of the cruise. Regan will miss 1 day of preschool. When are you going to let the school know your boys are going on vacation? Have you ever taken them out of school for a vacation before? We asked the principal if it would be OK for Blake to miss school for a family vacation. She said it would be alright but that I have to send a written letter to her and his teacher.

My brother lives in Jacksonville. We are going to stay with him the night before the cruise. We will drive down to Cape Canaveral Sunday morning. We are going to stay at Disney Thur and Fri night after the cruise. Are you staying in Orlando afterward or are you heading back home? Talk to you soon.
Michele

 

[jmet]

Hi there Michele,
Wow - so sorry to hear about your accident this summer! I hope no one was hurt!? I can't believe it's taken this long to get your van back - I hope you have it by now!!

We are planning to stay at Ron Jon's the Thurs/Fri after the cruise as my husband thinks he'll be ready for a change from Disney after that (we are going for just a quick ALONE trip 10/18 - 10/22 also). I always have "just a few more things" I could do at the parks - but the resort sounds fun too - providing the wheather cooperates!

Yes, we have taken the boys out of school before for trips - only once before for Nathan since last year he was in Kindergarten (and we didn't go anywhere the year before when he was in pre-school). But Jake we have taken out I think 3 times before. We were lucky in that the schools have been really good about it, but the older he gets the more nervous it makes me to have him miss (he's in 8th grade this year). I think 3 days isn't too bad though - and Mark doesn't even think twice about it!

OH guess what?! Yesterday I finally got my "cruise kit"!!! I was surprised - it came by UPS even - is that how yours was delivered too? I actually got an e-mail ahead of time saying there was a package being sent to me and listing the delivery date - I had to really look hard, but finally saw that it said it was from "Cruise Care"...I had no idea what that meant, but it seems like it came directly from DCL. Doesn't matter anyway - it was just fun to get it!

I stopped at MOA (Mall of America) this weekend because I was excited to check out the new Disney Store - and to my disappointment it STILL is not open! The sign oringally said it would re-open in Sept., but now it just says "Coming Soon"...I'm waaaaaiting. You have one near you right? Do they have anything new/different I should know about? I'm probably better off not being able to shop there anyway, but it's so much fun I miss it!

Glad to hear I'm not the only one with computer problems...mine has been working better now though (after paying the Geek Squad big bucks!) - so here's hoping this goes through!

Jamie

 

[we6clarks]

Hi Jamie,
We did get our van back last week But it had to go back to the local dealer this week because the check engine light was coming on

Regan turned 4 last week. We are having her birthday party tomorrow. I probably should be doing some more cleaning. I'm tired.

I was at the Disney Store last week. Mostly the store was filled with Halloween costumes. I think I'll try and go back closer to Halloween to see if I can get some of the pirate costume accesories on sale.

Cocoa Beach is a fun place. Robert's sister lives near there. We need to visit her family at some point during the trip. We were too exhausted to stop and visit when we were at WDW over the summer. We haven't seen our niece since she was a newborn. I keep holding off making our reservations hoping that Disney will come out with a disc for Jan. Talk to you soon.
Michele

 

[DVCconvert]

*bump* January is only a few months away! Anyone else on the cruise with us?

 

[jmet]

Hi Michele,
Sorry it's taken me so long to write. I was distracted getting ready for a quick trip Mark and I took to WDW (ALONE!) last week (we were belatedly celebrating our anniversery). Anyway - I am back to obsessing about the cruise now - LOL!

How was Regan's b-day party?? I bet it seems like a long time ago by now huh?? Did your van get fixed once and for all? I sure hope so.

Have you guys been thinking about excursions for the cruise? We have been talking about it and I think we have finally decided to just go check out Cable beach - would have LOVED to have done the dolphin swim (was going to book it directly), but for a variety reasons - including the cost - in the end decided a day at the beach would be a relaxing, fun way to spend that day. Not sure yet what we'll do at CC - haven't gotten that far yet. I guess maybe we better figure it out or we won't HAVE any choices to worry about huh?
Have you picked up any pirate accessories yet? I went to check it out at Party City before we left for Florida and it was getting cleaned out! I did pick up a few things - but I then I saw swords at MK cheaper than I bought here go figure!

Well, I better run - I have lots to catch up on around here. Can't believe it's only a little over 2 months away - it's going to go fast I think with the holidays in the middle of it all!
Take Care,
Jamie

 

[Tiffann4k]

We will be on the Wonder Jan 15th


This will be my third Disney cruise , My husbands second, 2 of my childrens first and the other two childrens second cruise.

My children are ages 8, 7, 6, & 5 ( and yes we know what caused that )


We are starting to get anxious for the time to come

Ive been mostly a lurker and decided to finally sign up and start chatting

 

[jmet]

Just wanted to say HELLO! and Thanks for posting Tiffann4k !!

This will be our families first cruise - well, my husband and I took one 18 years ago for our honeymoon, but that hardly counts.

We have 2 boys - Jake is 13 and Nathan is 7 - so maybe Nathan and yours will cross paths in the clubs etc. - that would be fun.

Sounds like you are vets compared to us newbies - so feel free to share any tips you have with us!

Glad you decided to hop in here with us!

Jamie

 

[Tiffann4k]

Just wanted to say HELLO! and Thanks for posting Tiffann4k !!

This will be our families first cruise - well, my husband and I took one 18 years ago for our honeymoon, but that hardly counts.

We have 2 boys - Jake is 13 and Nathan is 7 - so maybe Nathan and yours will cross paths in the clubs etc. - that would be fun.

Sounds like you are vets compared to us newbies - so feel free to share any tips you have with us!

Glad you decided to hop in here with us!

Jamie

Hi Jamie!
No tips as I am still a newbie myself to DCL. We went on other crusies ( RCCL & Premier~ I think they went bankrupt..dont remember) but nothing is quite like cruising Disney style...lol

I forgot to say that my children are 8 year old girl, 7 year old girl, 6 year old girl and 5 year old boy.

Tiffany

 

[we6clarks]

Hi Jamie,
Regan had a good birthday. Tomorrow is Blake's 6th birthday. We had a party with his kindergarten class today. I am exhausted!!

Hopefully our van is fixed now. It has been back to the shop 4 times since I last wrote. I'm ready to sell it and get something else. Of course Robert doesn't agree with me.

How was your trip to WDW for your anniversary? It sounds wonderful. I haven't thought much about excursions yet. I guess I need to start because we can book online in a few days.

Hi Tiffany!! Nice to meet you. We also have 4 kids. We have a son 6, a daughter 4, and twin daughters who will be 2 in Dec. I'll have to tell Blake there will be another boy his age on the cruise. Talk to you soon,
Michele

 

[Tiffann4k]

Hi Tiffany!! Nice to meet you. We also have 4 kids. We have a son 6, a daughter 4, and twin daughters who will be 2 in Dec. I'll have to tell Blake there will be another boy his age on the cruise. Talk to you soon,
Michele

Hi Michele, nice to meet you as well.
My son is going through the stage right now where he doesnt want to go.....he would rather stay home and play in the snow..... Hopefully he will snap out of it, I know he will have fun...maybe he will bump into your son and have a good time

 

[we6clarks]

Is anyone else going to brunch at Palo? I made our reservation today I was suprised that I was able to get time at Flounders for the twins during brunch and every night during dinner. I am sure everyone who has 2nd dinner with us is breathing a huge sigh of relief with that news!!

Michele

 

[flowerfacade]

Going on the Wonder too! So excited! We are going to brunch too! Have DD, 9 and DS, 4. It is our first time and we have not told the kids. We are going not telling them until we are on our way. Keeping a secret like this is sooooo hard!

 

[jmet]

Hello again!

Wow Micele - a party with the whole kindergarten class?!!! I would be exhuasted too - STILL - HA! I bet Blake had a blast though!

Yes, our trip to WDW was SO much fun! We figured out that we had actually never been away ALONE together for longer than a weekend in all the 18 years we have been married - so it was about time!

Oh MAN - I sure hope your van is good for awhile. I would be in your camp ready to try something new already - of course now it's probably "fixed" and it would be a waste of all that $$ you put into into it.

We booked brunch at Palo's too! I actually did it without asking Mark and now he's says he's not sure if wants to go or not (he was half sleeping when I told him about it). I'm pretty sure he will want to go in the end - he just has NO clue what it even IS as he's not into the planning at all and we don't get a chance to talk about it much since it's a surprise for the boys. I did tell him about it months ago and he seemed kind of interested then - but now he doesn't even remember that shows how much he listens to me - HA! I think he'll LOVE the food AND the view sounds awesome so what more could a guy want? LOL!

I haven't booked any excursions yet either - another thing we still haven't talked about enough to make any decisions...you think we could have worked that in while we were in FL - but I guess not!

Well, we are having our church "small group" here tonight (if you can call 16 people "small") so I guess I better get back to work on the house.

OH and HELLO to flowerfacade - nice to have you here. Our trip is a surprise for our boys too! You aren't kidding it's HARD to keep this secret - wow!

Jamie