Laissez les bon temps Rouler...Feb 2010 2/20 MK Last part of the Night updt 9/70 pg65

[orangecats2]

Awww...what a great surprise for the girls! I got a little teary eyed. Such a great update. It's just me and DH so no surprises for us either.

 

[Dancegrl624]

Love Danielle's reaction!!!! Aren't surprises the best?!

 

[tinkgurl]

Aw..the reveal went great! I love that pic of them jumping up and down and yelling. Such a great moment captured!

 

[MickeyisBeast]

Subbin'
Your reveal was too cute, how exciting!

 

[vamassey1]

AWww..... Vanessa.......... that's AWESOME! What a memory. I really wish I had it in me to keep a secret like that!

I didn't think I could do it either, but I did. Now I want to do it again but I don't think it will ever be such a big surprise again.

That was AWESOME!!!!!!
I wish I had someone to surprise but the 3 of us go every year so we are not surprised in the least bit.

I love all the thought and planning that you did. Looks like the girls were very greatful!

Thanks Blue! It was worth all the planning and hard work.

That is such a great reveal!
So did that sticking snow make you a little nervous?

Thank Anita! It did make me nervous while we were driving to eat, and on the way home too. How was I going to get her to help me pack if she was playing in the snow?

 

[vamassey1]

Awww...what a great surprise for the girls! I got a little teary eyed. Such a great update. It's just me and DH so no surprises for us either.

I get teary eyed every time I talk about it too. I hope it meant as much to them as it did to us.

Do you have a niece or nephew you could surprise?

Love Danielle's reaction!!!! Aren't surprises the best?!

Yes they are! I loved doing this!

Aw..the reveal went great! I love that pic of them jumping up and down and yelling. Such a great moment captured!

I was over the moon with their reactions. I wish you could have heard them screaming, it was classic.

 

[vamassey1]

Subbin'
Your reveal was too cute, how exciting!

and thanks for reading along. The reveal was the best part of planning the whole trip. Of course since they didn't know anything, everything we did was another little surprise.

 

[PittypatBR]

I LOVE the pictures from the reveal! What a fabulous reaction - just what you had hoped for! Looking forward to more.

 

[vamassey1]

I LOVE the pictures from the reveal! What a fabulous reaction - just what you had hoped for! Looking forward to more.

Thank you! It was worth the wait. Of course when she made the honor roll again on the last grading period, she asked if we were taking her to Disney again.

 

[vamassey1]

When last I left off we were heading back to the house to finish packing. Danielle rode with me and Michelle took off alone. She had an errand to run for Dennis on the way home. Since we would be sharing a room for 9 nights he was finally going to break down and try some breath right strip for our benefit. Thank Goodness!

Although Danielle was excited about going to Disney she also wanted to play in the snow. I just wanted to get home and get packed. The whole way home I worried how I was going to get around her playing in the snow. I ended up worrying for nothing. Since it really wasn't cold enough for snow, most of the accumulation we had was already melted by the time we got home. Oh darn! So this meant we could go straight back to packing. I gave Danielle the task of packing her car bag and picking out a few movies to watch. I finished my packing and hauled my stuff to the living room. I left out our overnight bag, but not before packing some air fresher spray. This ended up being a life saver for the girls and I. Dennis and I shared an overnight bag and Danielle and Michelle shared another. Next I attacked Danielle's clothes packing. We laid lot of clothes on the floor, put together outfits and packed them up. Between the two of us we did pretty good. I had a packing list for us three girls which really helped. But it wasn't perfect I still forgot some very important items. I forgot Danielle's silver chain and the pearl she picked on our June trip. For Christmas each girl had gotten a sliver chain with hopes of getting some sort of setting for their pearls. Luckily Michelle remembered to bring her pearl and chain.

We ended up being packed with everything in the living room before Dennis got home. Since we had a little time we ran to the Hallmark store right outside our neighborhood. I had been eying some sunglasses for a few weeks. Sunglasses in hand we made it back before Dennis was packed and ready to leave. Packing the car was no easy task. The last time we made the drive we took two cars and had lots more trunk space. It was a very tight fit but we did it. We were on the road for 12:00 p.m. two hours ahead of our original schedule.

Although we had had breakfast I didn't eat much and really didn't want to get to far before we stopped, Dennis had other plans. We didn't stop for the first time until we hit the Mississippi welcome center and it was just a bathroom stop. We didn't stop for lunch until after 2 in Biloxi. We stopped at a combo KFC/Long John Silvers. The service was very slow and really ate a lot of time. After our lunch stop we felt we were running behind. Our next stop wasn't until after Pensacola, FL when we stopped for gas. We never saw anymore frozen stuff but did get some misting rain. We went through the time change and lost an hour. Our hotel was in a small town past Tallahassee. We finally reached it at 8:35. When we checked in we didn't see any other people but the lot was pretty full and we saw lots of Louisiana plates and Saints bumper stickers. Dinner was at the truck stop across the street at the combo Subway/Dairy Queen. At least our first dinner would be a little on the healthy side. I don't know what time we got to bed but it wasn't too late. We really wanted to get an early start the next morning. We were in Florida and only hours away from Disney World.

My next update will put us finally in the World and with lots of pictures of our arrival day!

Up next...Where's the Welcome Sign?

 

[TrayRene]

Wow - I can't believe you pulled off such a wonderful surprise! What a great picture of the girls jumping up and down!

Yea - you're in Florida! Isn't it great when you finally reach the state line and you know you are so close to DW?

 

[vamassey1]

Wow - I can't believe you pulled off such a wonderful surprise! What a great picture of the girls jumping up and down!

Yea - you're in Florida! Isn't it great when you finally reach the state line and you know you are so close to DW?

The surprise was great. I'm so glad Dennis got such a good pictures.

Hitting the state line is great, but we're in Florida forever! It only takes about 4 to 4 1/2 hours to hit the state line. The other 6 to 7 hours in the Florida drive.

 

[TrayRene]

The surprise was great. I'm so glad Dennis got such a good pictures.

Hitting the state line is great, but we're in Florida forever! It only takes about 4 to 4 1/2 hours to hit the state line. The other 6 to 7 hours in the Florida drive.

Oops -I didn't realize Florida was that close for you!! I'm from New York, so when I get to the state line I feel like this:

 

[vamassey1]

Oops -I didn't realize Florida was that close for you!! I'm from New York, so when I get to the state line I feel like this:

That's how we feel when we get to Ocala, FL.

 

[DisneyTiger]

That picture of the girl's reaction is PRICELESS! I love it!!!

We have never made the drive from BR to WDW but I'm sure we will one day. It sounds like your trip was going smoothly so far. You're giving me hope that we can do it one day and save lots of $$ on airfare!!!

Can't wait to hear about your arrival

 

[vamassey1]

That picture of the girl's reaction is PRICELESS! I love it!!!

We have never made the drive from BR to WDW but I'm sure we will one day. It sounds like your trip was going smoothly so far. You're giving me hope that we can do it one day and save lots of $$ on airfare!!!

Can't wait to hear about your arrival

They were so fun to watch, jumping up and down while screaming!

We've driven more times than we have flown, but our kids were getting older when we started taking them. Normally we do the drive in one day, this trip we split it up so we could start it earlier.

We had an interesting arrival, not what I had expected.

 

[wigdoutdismom]

Thanks to that last update I remembered that I need to go to Hallmark!

 

[vamassey1]

Thanks to that last update I remembered that I need to go to Hallmark!

I'm not sure if this is a good think or not but they know by my first name when I walk in.

 

[vamassey1]

Our morning started realy early, especially since we're on the Central Time Zone and we were in the Eastern Time Zone. We wanted to be on the road for 8. Of course I was the first one up because I take the longest. Pretty everyone was up and moving. Here's Danielle getting ready.



And Michelle.


Once everyone was ready we headed downstairs for the FREE breakfast. Boy was it crowded! Not only were there tons of Louisiana people but also a group of people all with Model Ts. Once we had grabbed some grub we had to sit in chairs in the check in area and balance our food on our laps. While there we had a lovely chat with a lady from Houma, LA also headed to Disney for Mardi Gras.

After we had a little bite of food and used the bathroom one last time we headed out for the last leg of our trip. It was about 8:10 when we took off. We plugged in the address for POFQ in the GPS. I was so excited when it showed an arrival time of 11:00. We were only 3 hours away! The rest of the drive was fairly uneventful. We did see tons of oranges ready to picked when we passed the orange grove area. This always brings back fond memories. On our first full family trip in 2002 we had pointed out the orange trees to Danielle. She was only 3 at the time and pitched a fit to stop and get some. The last time we drove done we stayed at Pop. This was the first time we has used the new toll road instead of taking I-4. I was really hoping the GPS would suggest the same route. We really liked entering the World from this route. And it did, but it had us getting off a lot sooner than I remember getting off the last time. I just chalked it up to us staying at a different resort. But it didn't looks like we were anywhere near the world. We were in a suburban area. Then we saw a sign that said Orange County. Not a big deal we knew we couldn't get lost, we had a GPS. When we say a CVS we made a detour and stopped. We had planned on getting water once we got close anyway and Dennis forgot to pack Visine for all those late nights and early morning. The girls also needed the restroom, truth be told I could have used it too but I was too excited and just really wanted to get back on the road ASAP. I waited in the car and they seemed to take forever! Of course Dennis always gets more than what he is suppose to get when sent to the store, but he didn't do too bad. He picked up some gum and Gatorade too. Finally back on the road again. This of course made our time adjust for arrival but not too bad. We kept driving with nothing looking familiar. Finally it was time to turn and surely it would look familiar and we would see the "Welcome to Disney World" sign. I kept looking but never say it, instead we saw building with "Distribution" written on them. We had entered the World from the backdoor! Although disappointed not to be welcomed I was trilled to realize we were finally within the happy grounds of the World. Not too long after that we saw this.



And then this!


We were finally home!

Up next Checking out the Resort!

 

[mickey'sbff]

I'm in!! Sorry I'm a little late....