Life’s too short...to never sleep in a treehouse! 8/27 TR is up! Link in siggie

[Angies1274]

Welcome back!! I hope it was a great trip!! As far as a TR...I think you should do what works best for you!

 

[eandesmom]

Welcome Home! Don't work too hard getting caught up.

LOL, Tammie! If you hadn't thrown some, I woulda...

Oh my, attacked by popcorn before I've finished my first cup! Oh the pressure....

I think you should put your DL report where ever it is easier for you. After all you're the one who is writing it. Just let me know where you decide and I promise to show up.

Welcome back!! I hope it was a great trip!! As far as a TR...I think you should do what works best for you!

thanks guys!

 

[eandesmom]

A DIS meet…Northwest Style!
So clearly…

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

I’ll have you know that the spoons were entirely Evan and Hunters doing. They were just doing it for the sake of doing it (as they did with many things but I’m getting ahead of myself). We thought it was hysterical. Especially the way their faces would squinch up trying to hold the spoon in their eyes with JUST their eyes. They were not doing it as a photo op, their natural silliness created it all on its own.

The question then became….do we dare? Stick spoons in our eyes in the middle of a restaurant for no apparent reason?

Silly question.

Ok, lets backtrack a bit about this surprise DISmeet!

It wasn’t “really” a surprise but it was something that had maybe almost happened before and then didn’t. So, given the logistics of 8 kids between the 2 of us and their schedules…I figured it was safest to wait until we actually pulled it off to share that it had happened!

The attendees: Cherie (Winker), myself, Hunter (her 12 year old) and Evan (10)

The reason: Hunter had a traveling bowling tournament on “this side” of the mountains

The location: Somewhere about half way between where Hunters Tournament was, where I lived and “on the way” back to where Winkers lives.

The meal: Breakfast!

Winkers and I texted like crazy on Saturday once they’d arrived in the area, figuring out the who, when and what. As it was just Winkers and Hunter on this trip I decided to just bring Evan. It was the right call. Thanks to some friends who live nearby the area that was a good middle spot to meet, I had a decent restaurant for us to meet at. Actually an old favorite but I hadn’t been to this location.

I was of course. Late.

I’m always late.

I forgot to warn Winkers about that.

Now you all know.

Having trained Evan to text I was able to let her know I would be a little late so they were able to time their arrival about the same time. Evan and I arrived and sat down, they arrived shortly thereafter.

You never know how it’s going to be when you meet someone for the first time. Will there be awkward lulls? What will we talk about? Will the kids just sit there and not interact?

Once we’d ordered we got to chatting. And chatting. And chatting. Evan and Hunter well, they were having a party of their own.

It involved

Spinning Rings

Flinging Quarters

Spraying drinking fountains

And of course

Spoons.

Yes. We were those people letting our kids be crazy at the table and giggle non stop for 3 hours. Actually the antics were contained to the table and it was rather impressive the games they created all on their own with a ring, a quarter and a magic fountain.

We would get mildly concerned when they’d leave the table together to go visit said fountain. Not concerned enough to actually get up and check on them though!

They did eat their breakfast, actually I think we all inhaled it. Except for poor Hunter. You could order one pancake for $6 and two for $7 I think. He got two. It was the biggest pancake I’ve ever seen in my life. Two chocolate chip pancakes the size of a full dinner plate. He made an impressive dent in those things though! Cherie got to see just how much coffee I can put away in one breakfast sitting with free refills. It’s a bit scary.

I cannot begin to say what a lovely, wonderful morning I had. Like seeing an old friend. With the boys keeping each other well occupied Cherie and I were able to talk, really talk. Some Disney and a lot of “life”. Good stuff with a dear friend. Cherie is just as lovely and funny in person. Lots of laughs all around. All of a sudden we looked at the clock and we’d been there 3 hours!

Oops!

I was “supposed” to go help my sister, I mean Bridezilla, make her wedding invites (with the paper I’d created for her) but we chatted for so long I actually blew her off! I confess, hanging with Cherie was WAY more fun. I did go help later, after we scrambled to make it home in time for Eric’s Den meeting, a tour at a seaplane base, and unfortunately there was still plenty of work to do on them so I did put my time in. I’ll take a picture once I have a completed one, they are something else if I do say so myself. Of course, since I did the design, I would say that, but they are ridiculously complicated so that was a bad move on my part.

It was a wonderful morning. Evan kept trying to wheedle ways to hang with Hunter longer. He had all kinds of plans, most of them somehow involving bowling but sadly we had to go.

As on Cherie's TR where you can see the results of Hunters photography skills...here's what happened when Evan got the camera

Oh wait, those are all just Evan! Yes...that's what happens when Evan gets a hold of the camera.

A few actual meet pics!

In the restaurant

Crazy kids

Oh, now we know why

outside the restaurant

He must have taken 20 of that shot. I started to question what he was doing

Next. Like a thief in the night. A DCA TR

 

[Sleepingbooty]

outside the restaurant

What a great pic! Sounds like a very fun meet. I love the Dis - you meet the best people here!

Oh, can't wait to see the finished invite!

 

[GreatBiscuit]

Looks like you and Winkers had a blast! Loved all the photos here and on her TR.

 

[glennbo123]

I like to page-up/page-down between the one where you're smiling at the gate and the one where you're questioning what Evan's doing.

Looks like a great time was had by all. I'm glad you got to get together.

 

[englishrose47]

Loved the pixI totally agree Cherie is a sfunny in person and DJ 9who you diddn;t meet) is just the same !! Cherie and I hit it off immediately !!! What ever way you go with the mini TR I will be there !!!!

 

[All7OfUs]

Add a hot tub to the mix, a good big cedar fire in the fireplace, some old fashioned rain, and 3 giggly girls, and what do you get??


Next time in Salem!!

 

[wigdoutdismom]

What a fun DIS meet! I love the fact that the boys were able to keep themselves occupied and not get into too much trouble!

 

[MEK]

Great Dis meet. Thanks for sharing. Looks like you guys had a blast. I am sure 3 hours seemed like 3 minutes. I love all the pictures - even the one with poorly focused body parts and spoons. What fun! Also looks like a beautiful spring day.

I hope your weekend is not too crazy! I had a dream last night that I was in Disneyland. Now, mind you, I have never been there and in my dream I had just arrived and was getting ready for a 3 day visit. How weird is that? You must be channeling your trip in my direction!

 

[KathyRN137]

What a fun DIS-meet! Thanks so much for sharing the fun with the rest of us!

I cannot wait to hear all about your DL trip!


Kathy

 

[winkers]

thank you for posting some of the most unflattering pictures EVER!!

The sad thing is I didn't realize I was "scrunching" my face like that!

Oh....you should bring Kendall for the Ecplipse pre screening!!!

 

[Happydog]

Wow! What a fun Dis Meet! Looks like you all had fun!

Looking forward to hearing about your trip -- hope you caught up on sleep!

 

[winkers]

Add a hot tub to the mix, a good big cedar fire in the fireplace, some old fashioned rain, and 3 giggly girls, and what do you get??


Next time in Salem!!

I can't wait!!!

 

[MAGICFOR2]

LOL, Tammie! If you hadn't thrown some, I woulda...

Oh my, attacked by popcorn before I've finished my first cup! Oh the pressure....







thanks guys!

No pressure, just popcorn!


So great you girls got to have a DIS meet! Looks like a good time was had by all, and Cherie! Stop! You BOTH look beautiful! Funny Evan took so many of the same shot.

 

[eandesmom]

What a great pic! Sounds like a very fun meet. I love the Dis - you meet the best people here!

Oh, can't wait to see the finished invite!

We did have a blast! The invites are adorable. I was working on shower invites last night, bleh. LOL!

Looks like you and Winkers had a blast! Loved all the photos here and on her TR.

Yes, she shared the one where I look like I am picking my nose.

I like to page-up/page-down between the one where you're smiling at the gate and the one where you're questioning what Evan's doing.

Looks like a great time was had by all. I'm glad you got to get together.

that's hysterical

Loved the pixI totally agree Cherie is a sfunny in person and DJ 9who you diddn;t meet) is just the same !! Cherie and I hit it off immediately !!! What ever way you go with the mini TR I will be there !!!!

Thanks Rosie!

 

[eandesmom]

Add a hot tub to the mix, a good big cedar fire in the fireplace, some old fashioned rain, and 3 giggly girls, and what do you get??


Next time in Salem!!

What a fun DIS meet! I love the fact that the boys were able to keep themselves occupied and not get into too much trouble!

well lets just say we got them outside in the nick of time I think.

Great Dis meet. Thanks for sharing. Looks like you guys had a blast. I am sure 3 hours seemed like 3 minutes. I love all the pictures - even the one with poorly focused body parts and spoons. What fun! Also looks like a beautiful spring day.

I hope your weekend is not too crazy! I had a dream last night that I was in Disneyland. Now, mind you, I have never been there and in my dream I had just arrived and was getting ready for a 3 day visit. How weird is that? You must be channeling your trip in my direction!

it was a lovely spring day! Oh how funny about your dream, you need to go! Those points would work at GCV... I might have just "run" down there and meet you then.

What a fun DIS-meet! Thanks so much for sharing the fun with the rest of us!

I cannot wait to hear all about your DL trip!


Kathy

We had such a good time, can't wait to meet the rest of the clan.

 

[eandesmom]

thank you for posting some of the most unflattering pictures EVER!!

The sad thing is I didn't realize I was "scrunching" my face like that!

Oh....you should bring Kendall for the Ecplipse pre screening!!!

ok they are not unflattering, you look adorable but you did post one where I look like I am picking my nose!

Rats. I just looked at the date and that pre-screening is on a Tuesday! If it were on a weekend, even a friday I could pull it off and K would be totally up for it but I don't think I could pull off the drive there and back with work times

Wow! What a fun Dis Meet! Looks like you all had fun!

Looking forward to hearing about your trip -- hope you caught up on sleep!

I am all caught up and having a very lazy morning. A lot of things I should be doing but....

I can't wait!!!

me either! I wonder if the train goes there, that'd be the way to get down there I think1

No pressure, just popcorn!


So great you girls got to have a DIS meet! Looks like a good time was had by all, and Cherie! Stop! You BOTH look beautiful! Funny Evan took so many of the same shot.

Yes, we need to work on his photography technique.

 

[eandesmom]

In the interest of my own sanity and actually attempting to keep up on things….the mini TR (which may not be so mini lol) is going to stay here. It is definitely a precursor for the August trip, we “tested” a number of things that will shape decisions for that larger, grander adventure. I just know I’ll get wrapped up in this as a separate TR and my PTR could die off and get closed if I’m not careful. So, without further ado…here we go!

As you all know, this trip has been in the works since early December and was planned as a surprise trip.

I started getting ready in earnest for the trip about a 3 weeks ago, stashing swimsuits and shorts in hidden spots in my room like a thief in the night, grabbing things here and there when the boys wouldn’t notice. Now that I had a “real” (aka out of the house) job, I couldn’t just do laundry and pack for them while they were at school, like I’d hoped. So it was a good 3 week long packing adventure which of course made me worry I’d forget things as a result. I’m generally a do it all at once, and not terribly in advance, kind of gal.

We were scheduled to leave early Saturday morning. By Thursday I was stressing a wee bit. I’d managed to pull out most of my stuff the previous Sat when no one was looking. It had been a busy few days since then between my DISmeet with Cherie, helping my sister with wedding invitations, my dinner club, baseball games and the busyness of life. Not to mention my job lol!

Now this will sound terrible. But Thursdays is our weeknight with Kendall. I look forward to Thursdays as it’s the one night we get a little alone time with just Kendall. After dinner the E’s go to bed and we watch Vampire Diaries. It’s our thing and I love it.

But…Evan had kumon, and a baseball game and then we had Kendall. Which meant nothing would get done on Thursday night. Friday was equally as busy and I was stressing about not starting my “finishing up” until about 10pm on Friday with the need to be up and out the door early on Sat.

Turns out I needn’t have worried.

We got blown off.

K had volleyball practice until 9, a choir thing AND a huge science project that was due Friday and not yet done. Instead of being annoyed, I was relieved.

So instead I got to enjoy a lovely baseball game where Evan’s team played some good friends so I got to hang out with my friends on a lovely lovely spring evening. We decided to go out for dinner after which meant I didn’t have to cook and I had a lovely margarita which just set the tone right!
I didn’t get a lot done that night mind you but just enough that my stress level went WAY down.

I had two important things to do.

And both were for the surprise!

As you may recall, thanks to CP, the reveal plan called for puzzles to be assembled in flight that told them what we were up to. I’d ordered the puzzles, they’d arrived but arrived assembled. So first I had to break apart the puzzles and put them into their boxes.

I needed to pack up their suitcases as much as possible and then wrap the extra goodies I’d gotten them for the trip, 2 shirts for Evan and a new swimsuit and swim shirt for Eric and put them in their bags. Our plan was to carry on 2 bags and check 2 bags, basically stashing all of the toiletries into the 2 being checked so we didn’t have to deal with the 3oz “rule” across the board.

I got their bags packed, added in most of our toiletries, noted what I still needed to snag and then settled in to watch TV with Jeff while breaking apart the puzzles.

And then we both began to worry a little.

I had not wanted the puzzles to be too easy…no little kid puzzles here. But in that attempt to create a bit of a challenge we looked at the puzzles and wondered…did I go too far?

They were 110 pieces, 8x10 in size, and those pieces were pretty small! I was deathly afraid I’d lose one in the couch breaking them up and putting them into the little gift boxes. We both had fears of mid flight melt downs with tears of frustration.

Oh well, nothing to be done about it at this point, right?

Friday am I got up early to give myself some much needed color and then I came home in the middle of the day to snag socks for the kids and start one more load of laundry and drop off cat food. Have I said how much I LOVE working so close to my house?

After work, Evan had both TKD and baseball practice. Which was a fiasco. Somehow I had my times wrong. I picked up Evan from TKD and we headed to baseball. As we got there we realized he was missing something. I don’t recall what it was at this point, probably wasn’t cleats as he did have running shoes with him so it must have been his ball bag. It entailed heading back home to get it. Upon re-arriving at the field we found practice ending, somehow I had my times wrong. So all of that was for naught, he’d have missed it anyway due to the TKD competition team practice conflict.
UGH. However during the 40 minutes spent in the car Evan informed me he was missing a pair of shorts. Which was interesting as I’d just snagged those the day before.

Someone was paying CLOSE attention!

Blessedly I’d actually stuck a roast in the crock pot that morning so dinner was set and it looked like an easy evening. Until I went to check on something. Part of the deal with Evan getting a cat for this 10th birthday was taking over the litter box. Without going into too much detail lets just say he’d been “skimming” the surface for months and I had not been looking closely enough. Our box is “hidden” in a cabinet that matches the room it’s in as there is no good place to keep it where it might not otherwise get stepped in and with it in the laundry room, which would not be my first choice (no alternative) I spent the money for a cabinet that matched the ones in there so I don’t have to look at it and the cats have privacy and room.

Breaking up concrete might have been more fun. I must have spent an hour up there. It definitely cut into my planned activities for the evening!
Jeff and I finished up everything, got the house ready and headed to bed ourselves for a prevacation. I then finished up the other things on my list. Priorities you know! LOL! A few things were left for the morning. I’d planned to print up the activity pages and then get the cats all set up for food.

Suprisingly….I slept ok and as a result, didn’t quite allow myself enough time. We were scrambling to get Evan's hair gel snagged and packed (he'd have noticed that for sure!) and the suitcases hidden in the van before waking up the kids at 6:15.

What did we tell the kids?

What did they say?

What didn’t I get done before we left?

Did we pull it off?

Were they surprised or did we blow it?

Were there puzzle melt down's?

What got left behind?

And

The big reveal

 

[Native NYer]

Can't wait to read about the reveal.