Knocking off items from the Disney Bucket List - Brief Intermission & More TR 9/8

[brookelizabeth]

I missed your send off here - but at least I got ya on Facebook! I LOVE that you posted Day 1's pics too!

Thank you! On the back is a little tiny peace symbol on the back that says "And also with you". I got it in New Orleans at the Gathering. It's from a company called Old Lutheran that's based out of Moorhead. They have great t-shirts with a Lutheran humorous twist to them. One I have says "Martin Luther is My Homeboy." The one DH is wearing in that picture says Lutheran Stud (with a board underneath it). Another one of my favorites says My Pastor Can Beat Your Pastor to a Pulpit. Okay that's probably way more than anyone cared to hear about that t-shirt...

LOVE IT! What great shirts! And total bonus that they are local.

We were inspired by the Wolfs Dance Orlando video (it's an awesome video put together by a fellow DISer. If you haven't watched it, check it out.. it'll make you smile!) We had a hard time deciding on a song, but came up with It's All Right Here by Hannah Montana. Laverne's DH has offered to put the video together. Now it's our job to learn the words to the song before the trip... and Shirley's daughter is the ENFORCER to make sure we all have it down pat. I'm scared. Very scared. The words clip right along at a good pace, but I'm trying. I'm playing it at work and in the car. But she's tough! I'll see if I can post a picture of her in her ENFORCER gear.

I can't wait to see it!!!

and on the back, small up by the neck:

Also, Junior and I talked about character autographs - we hardly look at the autograph book so something that he could see more often would be special. We're going the pillowcase route so every night he can rest his head on a special pillow and have magical dreams. So this is what will be on the front, in the center of the pillowcase.

And now that you all know his name, I'm just going to call him Noah from here on out!

You are so stinkin' talented. Really, really neat stuff! I like the idea of the pillowcase too-what a great thing for him to look at every night.

 

[Flossbolna]

I somehow missed all those interesting updates!! And I missed wishing you a wonderful trip!! I am so sorry for that!

First of all I am very excited that you work for a Lutheran church as I am a Lutheran myself! I always thought Americans were all in "new world churches" which we don't do here in Old Europe, so it's nice to see that there a familiar churches besides the obvious Roman Catholics!

I love the Mickey shape pizza, must do that with Katharina! Sounds like lots of fun. And of course I would take pictures of it, that's the point, isn't it???

The pillow case is such a brilliant idea! I hope we will get to see pictures of the final product!

 

[thewesterberg]

I somehow missed all those interesting updates!! And I missed wishing you a wonderful trip!! I am so sorry for that!

No worries!!

First of all I am very excited that you work for a Lutheran church as I am a Lutheran myself!

A Lutheran from the motherland!!

I love the Mickey shape pizza, must do that with Katharina! Sounds like lots of fun. And of course I would take pictures of it, that's the point, isn't it???

EXACTLY!!!

The pillow case is such a brilliant idea! I hope we will get to see pictures of the final product!

Thanks - found the suggestion on here and Noah thought it sounded like a good idea. We'll for sure take a picture of the final deal.



Greetings from the Disney Motherland!! I'm writing it from our studio at AKV, our first trip home! (And boy, does it feel good to be "home!') I this place - the smells, the decor, the feel of the place... just plain awesome! Just got back from spending the day at DHS. So, so hot today! We were there from opening until our early dinner. Got back around 7:30 and got in a quick swim before the lightening in the area prompted us to head in. Now were just relaxing in the room, gearing up for our Epcot day tomorrow (and our 10th Anniversary!) What a perfect place to be...

 

[PracPerfPatricia]

Hey-did you all happen to do a Character Breakfast at Tusker house first thing in the morning on 8/20...after the fact I realized that might have been your party...a large party with a lot of kids everyone in tie die...?....

 

[teruterubouzu]

Those words from Rev. Kyles are pretty thought provoking. I'm not so sure I'll accomplish much in the few years I have before 40, but it's a good reminder to spend the time you have well.

Looking forward to your trip report when you return!

 

[thewesterberg]

Hey-did you all happen to do a Character Breakfast at Tusker house first thing in the morning on 8/20...after the fact I realized that might have been your party...a large party with a lot of kids everyone in tie die...?....

No, we didn't make it to Tusker house this trip (missed the yummy juice!) ... wouldn't that have been fun to run into you?! Did you have a good trip?

Those words from Rev. Kyles are pretty thought provoking. I'm not so sure I'll accomplish much in the few years I have before 40, but it's a good reminder to spend the time you have well.

Looking forward to your trip report when you return!

Yes, very powerful words... made me stop in think about too as I make my ways through my 30s. And came to the same conclusion as you - it's about making the best of the time you have to make an impact.

We had a fabulous trip - I've got to get writing about it!

 

[thewesterberg]

August 17. The day of final packing. Our living room looked like a bomb went off in it that evening! Stuff was everywhere and it had to get all packed up that evening because when DH left for work the next morning, everything needed to be in the car, ready to go. The pressure was on!

And I took that pressure and was a packing machine. Soon, mission accomplished! And I didn't even stay up until 1am, which is my usual MO prior to a trip! We ended up with one large suitcase to check, one carry on suitcase, the laptop, Noah's backpack o' fun, a backpack for Dave and my purse. Not too shabby! My biggest concern... what did the big suitcase weigh? It felt like it was pretty darn close to that 50lbs mark! Dave works at a clinic so there was a scale there that he could use!

Our departure day was torture for Dave. He had to work. The whole day. Until 4:30pm. Poor guy. And through out the morning we talked a few times, and every time I would ask "Have you weighed the bag yet?" "At lunch. I'll do it at lunch." Since I couldn't worry about packing anymore, I had to fret over something! (And he called to report later that it came in at 46lbs. So we could buy 4lbs of souvenirs... )

I was fortunate to be able to take the day off and was going to ride to the Cities with another family, to get down there early, check in to the hotel and hang out a bit. Sitting at home until 4:30pm would have drove me crazy!!

It was actually a relaxing morning... got the house all straightened up, the beds made, vacuumed, and waited. Wasn't sure what time our ride would be by - knew she got done with work at noon so it would be sometime after that. Finally everything was done. It felt weird to not be rushing out the door!

While we were waiting, we had some excitement in the neighborhood. I heard the WHOOT WHOOT of a police car, like it was letting someone know to pullover. Now the street down from us is sort of busy, but that's not something we usually hear right outside our window. I looked out the window to see a police car pulling over a SUV. The SUV sped up, and then stopped quickly two houses up from us. And then a guy threw open the passenger door and took off running between the houses! The police quickly pulled over and the officer took off after the guy. Soon the driver of the SUV was in cuffs and there were about 4 other squad cars blocking our street. The officer doing the chasing came back empty handed and the SUV was being gone over with a fine tooth comb. I'll admit, we were peering out the windows at all of this... made the time go by faster! I wanted to start singing "Bad boys, bad boys whatcha gonna do..." but decided it was best to refrain.

Our friends arrived in the midst of this, so we missed the ending. I hope they ended up catching the guy. Made sure the house was extra secure before leaving...

And we were off. After a couple of quick stops, we finally were able to announce "WE'RE ON VACATION!!!!"

It was an uneventful 2.5 hour to Minneapolis. Road construction didn't slow us down. Rush hour traffic through St. Paul was pretty near non-existent. Makes for a boring trip report Soon we were pulling into the hotel where everyone else was staying (my family was staying at the Hyatt Place near the Mall of America because back in April I won a free night from Hyatt at one of their hotels. SCORE!!)

After they got checked in, our friends were so gracious to let me borrow their car to run over to our hotel to check in so Noah and I ran over there.

Now back when I booked this room this Spring, I called to the hotel ahead of time to find out of I could use my free night and then pay for their Park 'n Fly option. "Sure! No problem! It'll be $40."


Let that be some foreshadowing...


Noah and I went in and started the check in process. I mentioned that we were going to do the Park 'n Fly. And she said, "I'm sorry. With your free night you're unable to do that."

Hotel Clerk Say What?!

I calmly explained to her that I specifically called their hotel to ask that very question BEFORE I booked the room and was told I could do that. This was the only reason we were staying here instead of with all our friends.

"Nope."

And so I repeated the above comment. And she brought over someone else, I'm assuming a manager.

"Nope."

Repeat above comment once again.

She then looked back at my file and noted that the reservation was made in April. "Oh, when you made your reservation in April that was our policy to allow that, but it no longer is. I guess we can honor that."

Uh, yeah you will.

The whole time I was having this conversation, Noah was rolling around on the lobby floor by a seating area. I was alternating between being firm with the hotel staff and doing the mom whisper/hiss to him to get up and knock it off.


Lovely.


So I paid my $40 to park there for the week and asked to be on the 5am shuttle. And got my keys. And I'm not leaving out the explanation of where to park, giving them my vehicle information, where the pick up spot for the shuttle was or being pointed to where the hidden elevator was to find our room. But she did tell me the bar was open until midnight. I figured we'd find the elevator eventually and I'd come back later to find out all the info she didn't tell me. When I was in a better shape of mind. (How late is the bar open??? )

We found the elevator, quickly checked out our awesome room, found where the pool was, and then we hopped back into the car to head back to the other hotel. It was time to hang out with friends, meet up with Dave, and go to Buca di Beppo for dinner!!


And since I just realized that my photos aren't uploaded to Photobucket yet and this is the part of the TR where the pictures begin, I'm going to end here for the night and try to get back to bed (fell asleep early because I didn't feel good and then work up at 12:30am wide awake. Hate when that happens.)

 

[teruterubouzu]

Hurrah! Your trip report has started. Hotels can be such a pain when you have a special discount or freebie. Glad you got your way with the parking. I hope you aren't foreshadowing that you had troubles later on.

 

[mickeysmyboy]

Jumping in for the TR!!! Can't wait to read more!

 

[brookelizabeth]

What a fiasco with the hotel....and of course Noah has to be all over the place at the same time just to add to that stress! It always seems to happen that way, doesn't it? Glad to hear it all worked out!

Buca.....yum.....did you take pics?

 

[thewesterberg]

Hurrah! Your trip report has started. Hotels can be such a pain when you have a special discount or freebie. Glad you got your way with the parking. I hope you aren't foreshadowing that you had troubles later on.

It was a bit of a pain, but the whole time I was thinking... at least I'll have something to write about for the TR!

Jumping in for the TR!!! Can't wait to read more!

Glad you're here!!

What a fiasco with the hotel....and of course Noah has to be all over the place at the same time just to add to that stress! It always seems to happen that way, doesn't it? Glad to hear it all worked out!

They sometimes seem to feed off the stress of a situation! It was all resolved, we had a place to stay, and most importantly, we had a place to park!

Buca.....yum.....did you take pics?

Coming up!!

 

[thewesterberg]

Before I dive into our evening festivities prior to the trip, I had to share some pictures from some festivities from the weekend. My sister got married on Saturday, on the nicest weekend of our entire summer (Brook - you missed it!! But I guess you had an acceptable excuse! )

Here's some pictures from a park in Duluth that sits up on top of the hill and overlooks downtown and the harbor...

Isn't he a handsome little guy??? He's actually the proud owner of this tuxedo - it was $30 cheaper to buy it than rent it! I'm thinking first day of school outfit???

Here's one at my parents prior to leaving for pictures...

They were married on a tour boat on in the harbor of Lake Superior and it was so beautiful - the weather, the location, and most of all, my sister!

After the ceremony, we spent about an hour and a half on the boat, going up the St. Louis River.

When we got back to the dock, there was a bit of excitement in two ways. First excitement: One of the gals that worked on the boat went up to the bow, opened the door and was jumping to the dock to tie the boat up. Well, a lot of water was on the deck and she slipped as she jumped. She fell into the water between the boat and the dock. Thankfully she had on her lifejacket. A couple of the guys from the wedding that were near the front jumped off the boat to help her while the captain up above was yelling at them to get off the dock - he didn't know yet that she had fallen in. They yelled at him to move the boat away from the dock so she wouldn't get pinned. They pulled her out and she appeared to be okay for the most part - just very shaken up and she may have hurt her leg (maybe hit the dock when she fell in?) It was a very tense moment that left all the guests in a tense silence.

Then the next excitement was the helicopter that was waiting to whisk my sister and her new husband off to the reception, about 25 miles away! He had surprised my sister with this.. very, very cool!

The reception was at a community college near my parents home and across the street is a soccer field, which is where the helicopter landed. The guests at the reception were able to watch them land and then escort them into the reception.

It was a beautiful location - they have an ampitheater that is one giant circle with glass "garage" doors splitting it in the middle so half is outside and half is inside. For the dance, they opened the doors and so people could dance either inside or out... it was a perfect evening for being outside.

It was a good, good day and we had so much fun! Congratulations to my sister and her new husband!!

 

[thewesterberg]

Duplicate.

 

[thewesterberg]

After we checked out our hotel room...

(Dad, the TV's HUGE!!)

...we headed back to the other hotel where we were reunited with the rest of our friends. Noah was quite excited to see his friend who had moved away this summer...

We took over the lobby sitting area, hugging, chatting, and just lots of excitement! Soon we were loading up in the cars to head to Buca di Beppo for dinner.

For those of you that haven't ate at one of these, they're so much fun! It's an Italian restaurant that's full of kitchy items covering every inch of wall space (my favorite picture is a group of nuns in bumper cars), and it even extends into the bathroom. In the woman's bathroom they play Italian language tapes. And I've heard the men's bathroom is quite interesting too!

For our occasion I had reserved a special table - the Pope's Table. It's a giant round table that seats 18 people (we had 17 as Shirley's parents were joining us for dinner). In the middle of the table is this...

It just cracks me up! He's sitting on a giant lazy susan so you can spin him around. The lazy susan also serves the purpose to spin food around as everything here is served family style. We ordered spaghetti with meatballs, ravioli with meatsauce, Fettuccine Alfredo, Penne Arrabbiata (Spicy Italian sausage and crushed red pepper in a zesty marinara sauce with imported Italian penne pasta), and my personal favorite, Cheese Manicotti.

Here's a shot of the spaghetti with meatballs-as-large-as-a-grown-man's-head!

Here's some snapshots from dinner:

Our friends gifted Dave with a beautiful present at dinner...

In case if you can't read it, it says "Princess Davetini"

So the back story... (because I'm sure you're all wondering!)

First off, the Davetini part. It's become a joke without our circle of friends, that when we go out Shirley and DH like to buy Dave funny named martinis (think - Flirtini). So that's where the Davetini comes from.

Secondly, as you'll see in upcoming pictures, all the girls (adult and kids) made princess tiara t-shirts for the trip. Dave was there when they were talking about it (I was out of town that weekend) and he jokingly pouted "I want one too!"

And that would be a lesson in being careful what you ask for clashing with joking friends...

Now the big question of the night was will he actually wear this t-shirt the next day when we all wear ours???

We left Buca stuffed with food, laughing, and excited for all the fun tomorrow would bring.

When we got back to our hotel, I asked for more info regarding the parking/shuttle (like, is there paperwork I should fill out? Yup. And where should I park? Over there - pointing in a very vague manner. And where would the pick-up be? Right here.) Then we let Noah swim for a bit to burn off some energy so he would fall asleep...

The hotel pool was great - the had a bunch of noodles, balls, and the basketball net for the kids to play with! This boosted the hotel a few points in my book.

The plan for exhaustion must have worked since he fell asleep pretty quickly and this is how I found him in the morning!

(This was not staged - he left the book like that after he read a bit before sleeping and his Disney Bear ended up like that in the middle of the night - just fits perfect for a night before Disney trip!)

It's 4am and it's time to get going!!!