Jumping, Dancing & Jamming Our Way Through Walt Disney World! I'm With the Band Now!

[Mombits]

Hi Lisa! Glad I found your newest TR!! I sent my husband on the Behind the Seeds tour expecting to get lots of awesome behine the scenes pics. I got bubkis. He took NO pictures at all. Booger. Your pictures are great! Oh and my Girl Scout troop is going to Europe in 2013 and we are doing a neat fundraiser. We are "Flocking" people- sneaking up in the late night and putting a flock of flamingos in their yard. Then they pay us to move them to someone else's house. So far it's been great. We've been doing it for a month and made our investment back and then some. We have two years to do it though, so I know it'll really pay off for us. If Hunter's group has time on their side, maybe something like this would work for them?

 

[ronnmel]

You still have that headache?! Poor you! I know you say you are used to migraines that last long, but I sure hope it's not anything more serious. Maybe you should see a doctor of your own? Speaking of which, how did it go for John today?

OMG, talk about hyper active boys!! I was tired just reading about your evening and morning with them. I forgot, how old are they?

 

[natebenma]

Sounds like a fantastic weekend!!!

You really showed those boys a good time! The fair that we like to go to is the one Mark and I went to when we were kids, and adolescents and as adults. It is about 40 minutes from where we are living now. We have taken the boys there most years, but this year it rained for most of the week and Saturday was busy with football games. Sunday we lazed around, too. Getting in what we thought was the last swim of the season, but Ben and I went in again today

Hope all went well with John's appointment.

 

[PhoenixStrength]

First of all, I hope everything went well with John (and you!) at the doctors today!

Sounds like everyone had a great time at the fair. They are definitely expensive if you have to pay for everything, but sounds like the boys took full advantage of the free rides you were able to get.

 

[Marshay]

PHew -- caught up!

Love the BTS photos. I did that tour as a teen and expected to be completely bored by it but I wasn't! It really is pretty cool, but afterwards I was itching to get on some rides!

We love to eat at Sunshine Seasons but always try to get there early so there is no/hardly any wait and lots of choices. B/c when it fills up it is soooo chaotic and not a great place to sit and relax, ya know?

We went to a beach in NJ this summer and I, too, was shocked over the sticker price for ride tickets. We went on the ferris wheel and it was $20 too in tickets for just one ride. Unbelievable!! I'll take Disney anyday!

Glad to hear the headache is subsiding...

 

[mommytothreeboys]

Sounds like my kind of weekend ! Hope you are feeling better.

 

[GrammyJudy]

We have several local fairs around here and my daughter hates to take the kids...so expensive and the rides do not look safe. One time we saw exposed wires on a kiddie ride. Nothing like Disney! But I am sure your nephews and Hunter had fun and it was real nice of you and Jihn to take them.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Hi Lisa! Glad I found your newest TR!! I sent my husband on the Behind the Seeds tour expecting to get lots of awesome behine the scenes pics. I got bubkis. He took NO pictures at all. Booger. Your pictures are great! Oh and my Girl Scout troop is going to Europe in 2013 and we are doing a neat fundraiser. We are "Flocking" people- sneaking up in the late night and putting a flock of flamingos in their yard. Then they pay us to move them to someone else's house. So far it's been great. We've been doing it for a month and made our investment back and then some. We have two years to do it though, so I know it'll really pay off for us. If Hunter's group has time on their side, maybe something like this would work for them?

Hey! The hubby didn't take one picture? Not one? What the heck is up with that?

I've seen the flocks of flamingos fundraiser. One of our schools did that last year. Have ya'll raised much money yet?

The trip to NYC is next May so there's a good bit of time to raise the funds but, if you look at the time it will take to get everything organized, it's really not a long time. I've already started getting a few donations in and hope to be getting lots more. I'm anxious to get the ball rolling on the fundraiser.

You still have that headache?! Poor you! I know you say you are used to migraines that last long, but I sure hope it's not anything more serious. Maybe you should see a doctor of your own? Speaking of which, how did it go for John today?

OMG, talk about hyper active boys!! I was tired just reading about your evening and morning with them. I forgot, how old are they?

I have had it checked out before and it's simple migraines. Every one of the females on my Mama's side of the family has them to some degree. One of my cousins and I are the worst out of everybody. What a wonderful trait my mother has passed along to me.

My nephews were so happy to go to the fair and then swimming the next day. I told John I was ready for a long long nap!

Sounds like a fantastic weekend!!!

You really showed those boys a good time! The fair that we like to go to is the one Mark and I went to when we were kids, and adolescents and as adults. It is about 40 minutes from where we are living now. We have taken the boys there most years, but this year it rained for most of the week and Saturday was busy with football games. Sunday we lazed around, too. Getting in what we thought was the last swim of the season, but Ben and I went in again today

Hope all went well with John's appointment.

The fair that comes to our town has been coming since I was a little girl too. John and I used to go there when we were dating. Of course, it was a social hangout too and it was neat to go there and see our friends (as if we hadn't just seen them in school).

Are the temps there cool enough that you won't be swimming the rest of the year? There have been times when we swam all the way until mid-November. I have also seen many Christmas holidays when we were in short sleeved shirts too. Ahhhhh, Louisiana weather! NOT!

First of all, I hope everything went well with John (and you!) at the doctors today!

Sounds like everyone had a great time at the fair. They are definitely expensive if you have to pay for everything, but sounds like the boys took full advantage of the free rides you were able to get.

Thank you! I'll be posting an update on John's doctor's appointment in just a minute.

I was so happy that we got to use the VIP pass to let the boys ride. Had we not, then I would have been one broke woman by the time we left there.

PHew -- caught up!

Love the BTS photos. I did that tour as a teen and expected to be completely bored by it but I wasn't! It really is pretty cool, but afterwards I was itching to get on some rides!

We love to eat at Sunshine Seasons but always try to get there early so there is no/hardly any wait and lots of choices. B/c when it fills up it is soooo chaotic and not a great place to sit and relax, ya know?

We went to a beach in NJ this summer and I, too, was shocked over the sticker price for ride tickets. We went on the ferris wheel and it was $20 too in tickets for just one ride. Unbelievable!! I'll take Disney anyday!

Glad to hear the headache is subsiding...

I thought that Hunter would have been bored on the BTS tour also but he wasn't and even asked a lot of questions. It's a neat way to see the crops they grow there.

I'll take Disney over a fair any time too! Our ferris wheel was $20.00 for four people. Thank goodness for the VIP pass we had.

Sounds like my kind of weekend ! Hope you are feeling better.

I know what you guys did this past weekend and I know you are one tired family right now. I am sure you were grateful for your church family helping you out. Aren't church families the best?!

We have several local fairs around here and my daughter hates to take the kids...so expensive and the rides do not look safe. One time we saw exposed wires on a kiddie ride. Nothing like Disney! But I am sure your nephews and Hunter had fun and it was real nice of you and Jihn to take them.

We usually go every year but had missed the last one so we had to keep our promise of going this year. It is very expensive though so we make good use of the VIP pass that my cousin gives us.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Good morning! I hope everybody is having a good Hump Day. I know I will be since my boss is leaving for Baton Rouge this afternoon and won't return to the office until Monday morning. I've got all sorts of things to do around here that I've been putting off like organizing the file cabinets, doing some filing, sneaking into his office and straightening up his desk, etc. I'll be busy but at least I won't have him interrupting me every 5 minutes.

We went to John's doctor's appointment Monday afternoon. The doctor said the reason John is still stumbling around and feeling dizzy is because he is on so much medication. But, he couldn't really taper him off anything until he got another seizure med in his system. Can we say "medicine overload"? One of the medications he is on is not doing him a bit of good. That medicine is, basically, cancelled out because of one of his other meds. Even though it's not doing anything, we can't just take him off of it because his body is used to it.

As of yesterday, we have officially started the tapering process. Every 4 to 5 days, we are taking one of his capsules away. I should be able to tell how he's feeling in between the "take aways" and will call the doctor should we start seeing warning signals.

We asked quite a few questions about how many seizure meds he would ultimately end up taking and the doctor couldn't tell us because we don't know how John's body will react to the weaning off and adding to process. We are going to have to take it one day at a time. The ultimate goal is to get him off of the seizure medication that causes osteoporosis (he's been on it for over 15 years) and to have him on the least amount of medication with the fewest side effects as possible.

So, I guess we are going to take it day by day, literally, until we get back to the doctor mid-November. Then, we'll start the next step, whatever that will be.

On to lighter news.....Hunter's football team won another ball game last night. 21 to 0! to the Patriots!

My boss just called and he will be arriving at the office any minute. I'll be back to post an update once I get him outta here.

 

[PhoenixStrength]

Heather went thru the same thing when she got out of the hospital. She was on a ton of meds and had to so the slow step down to avoid issues. I hope everything works out well so John can be on only the lowest amount of meds necessary.

And yay to Hunter for his team winning again!

 

[Mombits]

I wish my dad's doctor was smart enough to do this. Dad's insurance doesn't work at Walgreens anymore and the new pharmacy couldn't get his seizure medications so the doc switched him. Long story short- he ended up having a seizure and running into the back of a (empty except for the driver) school bus. He was in ICU for two days unconscious. Can I tell you how much I HATE his doctor. I think he got his license out of a crackerjack box.

I'm glad they are being so careful with John.

 

[MEK]

Sounds like you had a great weekend with the nephews. I love when my nephews come to visit. I agree - state fairs are ridiculously expensive. When you consider how much entertainment you get with a ticket! It's really more cost effective!

I hope everything goes well with John's anti seizure med titration. Good Luck!

 

[ronnmel]

Even though it will be a long process with John and his meds, at least it's all for a good cause and hopefully John will come out of it feeling and being better health wise.

 

[brookelizabeth]

I was so far behind! Anyway - loved the reception/party pics. I think the cake turned out great! And I'm totally impressed that you made that!!! I look forward to seeing the wedding pics with you and John in them, glad the photographer got some!

So, I've already started doing more research on a cruise that leaves Port Canaveral on May 24th which is a Thursday. It's a 4 day/3 night cruise which would mean we'd be back on land on a Sunday and we'd drive to WDW that same day. The way I have our vacation booked now, we'd arrive at WDW on Wednesday, May 23rd, and we would leave on June 2nd. If we did the cruise, we'd arrive at WDW on the 27th and would leave on June 2nd. That'd only give us 5 days in the parks and I don't know if that is enough time for us. It'd definitely be a commando type WDW trip. I wish there was a cruise that left a day earlier.

How exciting!!!! I think adding on a cruise would be faaaaaaaaantastic! If this year doesn't work, at least the thought is out there-maybe next year!

Brookelizabeth: I'm probably going to be asking NYC questions if he is chosen.

How cool! I love that you are doing so much fundraising already for it too - that will help the group that gets chosen a ton. Hopefully they can do a few other things as well. And yes, I am here to answer any/all NYC questions!!!

All the way to the car and all the way to the pizza place, the boys talked and talked and talked. They called their mother to tell them what all they had done and they said it was the "best day of my life". At the pizzaria, the boys sat in one booth and John and I sat at a table across from them. I heard one of my nephews tell Hunter "today....I became a man". It was so funny!

We went to John's doctor's appointment Monday afternoon. The doctor said the reason John is still stumbling around and feeling dizzy is because he is on so much medication. But, he couldn't really taper him off anything until he got another seizure med in his system. Can we say "medicine overload"? One of the medications he is on is not doing him a bit of good. That medicine is, basically, cancelled out because of one of his other meds. Even though it's not doing anything, we can't just take him off of it because his body is used to it.

Oh my goodness, how stressful! I hope it goes smoothly and John doesn't have any serious reactions. I'll be keeping you guys in my prayers. Did your migraine ever go away? I hope so!


I really enjoyed your Behind the Seeds Tour pics. That is a tour we have thought about doing a few times too - we have to wait until Henry is a bit older to really understand/enjoy it, but it looks so neat!

 

[aprilisis]

It sounds like you had an awesome weekend with your nephews!! I hope they can straighten out John's meds soon. That has to be SO darned frustrating!

 

[mickeystoontown]

I hope this post does greet me with you all tossing rotten eggs and nasty tomatoes at me! I know that I promised I'd get an installment posted yesterday but I kept myself extremely busy at the office. Our closed and overflow file cabinets were so out of sorts and needed organizing and it took me, I kid you not, all day long to get done. They look so nice and neat now but a stranger come in would never know I had done a thing since it's all just file folders inside cabinets. Oh well, at least I know the hard work that went into it.

Well, there's a bit of sad news to report today. Hunter didn't make it into the 50 that were chosen for the NYC trip. He is number 20 on the waiting list which didn't exactly get our hopes up that he will be moved up into the 50 later on.

The way it works is this: There are spots for 50 students (they are trying to get it up to 55 but aren't sure yet) to go on the trip. When we went into the meeting last night, we had to choose a number out of a box. The teacher, literally, used a bingo tumbler/turner thingie to pull out numbers. The 50 numbers that were randomly drawn were the ones who were on the list to go. Students must maintain a 3.28 GPA all year long. They can't have excessive absences. They must not get written up for any behavior problems all year long. The monthly payments on the trip must be paid on time.

If any of the top 50 violate any of those rules, they are moved to the bottom of the waiting list and it will be extremely hard for them to make it back to the top 50. If someone gets pulled from the top 50, those on the waiting list get moved upwards in the order that they are on the waiting list. For example: Two on the top 50 get moved to the bottom of the waiting list. Numbers 51 and 52 from the waiting list get spots 49 and 50. This will continue on throughout the school year.

The teacher did say that last year the people that were on the waiting list all the way down through the 60s got to go on the trip last year due to people falling off of the top 50. Hunter is number 70 right now which means that he could possibly still get to go. Also, the teacher said that the people on the waiting list should still be sticking their $200 a month (what we would have to pay if we were on the top 50) aside because if the waiting list got moved up in the 50 list, then we would have to pay whatever amount would have been due up to that point. Last year and the year before that, they had students on the 50 list fall off just 3 weeks before the trip.

Now, I'm not wishing anything bad happens to the top 50 but I am hoping that Hunter somehow makes it into the "we are going to NYC" list. If not, then we are going to have an extra almost $1,500 saved up for our vacation. For Hunter's sake, I'd rather use it to send him to NYC.

After the parent/teacher NYC trip conference, we booked it to Hunter's football game which was about 20 minutes away. We got there during the first quarter and Hunter was on the field playing offense which is not usually a position he plays (he has in the past but hasn't played while in middle school). The Patriots were behind but were playing really well. As I was sitting there watching the boys pushing, tossing and throwing each other to the ground, I thought "this is really a pretty mean game in a way". I don't know why it hit me just then since Hunter has played for years but it did. Anyway.....

The school they were playing had some big boys on it. They are what we would call "peas and cornbread boys". You know those country boys who are big and rough around the edges? Well those were the guys we were playing. Hunter got switched back and forth between offense and defense and ended up doing really well and recovering a fumble! The final score was 38 to 24 with us losing. The game didn't really count because the coaches of the two teams had gotten together and set up the game just for fun.

I waited until after the game to tell Hunter about the NYC trip and him being 20 on the waiting list. He was pretty bummed but handled it well. He said that it was going to suck going to school today and hearing about the ones who got chosen though. I understand his disappointment because I was feeling it when I was sitting in the room anxiously waiting for his number to be pulled. Oh well, we are going to keep hoping for the best.

If I am going to post a Disney installment before I leave today, I need to shut it up. But first, I am going to post pictures of the wedding like I said I was going to do about a week ago. I apologize right now that they are no way, shape or form in any order. I didn't want to take the time to organize them before posting them. If I did, I'd not have time for a Disney installment. Okay, shutting up! Posting wedding pictures next.

 

[mickeystoontown]

The ring that she has on was my grandmother's graduation ring. I wore it in my wedding so this was Lacey's "something old". The necklace is the pearl that I picked at Epcot this past May so this was Lacey's "something borrowed".

Lacey wanted a simple hair style for her wedding. Notice the pearl earrrings which are also mine and another "something borrowed".

These were taken before the wedding. Lacey was not nervous at all and was relaxed and smiling the entire time:

The flower girl who had just taken an hour and a half nap right before the wedding:

Jesse's parents are big Harley Davidson biker people. Jesse's mom's bag was sitting there and Lacey's shoes were in front of it so the photographer took a picture. Notice the shoes are NOT on her feet.

The ring bearer before the wedding:

The groomsmen. The photographer told them to look nice and pose and this is what we got. They are such goofs:

More before the wedding. You could tell Jesse was pretty calm himself. I don't know if I told ya'll about the engagement/wedding ring situation before now. When Jesse proposed a year ago, they were both still Mission students and neither had jobs. He took what little money he had and bought a band with just a few little diamond chips in it. She wore her band instead of a traditional engagement ring. For the wedding, he bought what would have been the engagement ring. So typical of this non-traditional couple. Anyway, Lacey had not seen the ring that he bought her. Jesse made sure that he kept it in his pocket and out of sight until it was time to exchange rings. That was the only part of the ceremony that he was nervous about. Actually, nervous probably isn't a good word. I guess I should say anxious.

Jesse and his parents:

Lacey and her bridesmaids:

The bride:

I hate posing:

***Continued in next post

 

[mickeystoontown]

And this is where the complete out of sequence pictures come in.

Look at this face. She was laughing at the bridesmaids in the background and the fact that we were in one of the toddler rooms with all sorts of kitchen play stuff around and little toys everywhere:

We used the information desk as a place to display pictures of the happy couple:

Mama, Lacey & Jesse:

John's parents with Lacey & Jesse. Yeah....they are big smilers.....NOT!

Jesse's two brothers and sister-in-law:

My niece and Lacey's hands. They are just two months apart in age and they were both getting married. Ashly's hand on top and Lacey's on bottom:

***Gosh darn it...the phone is ringing like crazy. Of course, that would happen right before I leave work for the day. I'll be back this afternoon to post more pictures.

 

[JanaJohn]

I hope this post does greet me with you all tossing rotten eggs and nasty tomatoes at me! I know that I promised I'd get an installment posted yesterday but I kept myself extremely busy at the office. Our closed and overflow file cabinets were so out of sorts and needed organizing and it took me, I kid you not, all day long to get done. They look so nice and neat now but a stranger come in would never know I had done a thing since it's all just file folders inside cabinets.

No need to apologize for not posting. All of us understand that you've got to get the work done before you can post. BTW, is there any way we could send a message to your boss thanking him for letting you post your installments while at work? OK - so maybe that wouldn't be such a good idea.

I can tell from your posts that you try to squeeze in posting in the down time after all the work is up-to-date. Also, you said a stranger would never know that you worked so hard to reorganize the file cabinets. What are the chances that your boss will notice it?

Bummer about Hunter being #20 on the waiting list.

 

[ddstratton]

I'm all caught up!! I had gotten so far behind -- again. Jesse and Lacey had a beautiful wedding, and receptions. They both just looked very happy.