Lots of Characters, Lots of Firsts but Lots of Drama: Why We Say NEVER AGAIN!! 3/21

[mousescrapper]

Well, not completely since it is Disney related but it is more of a life update.

I interrupt this trip report to answer a question/observation a couple of you have commented on:

We have canceled our cruise we had schedule for in May. It was my decision to do so with it, but I am okay with it. We thought about going down to Disney instead, and almost did switch it to be that but wait for it, I said no to it to!! I know, I know what am I thinking turning down a trip but here’s the gist: I do not want to be stressed when we go down—it is not worth it. We have a whole lot that is going to be happening; one potential big one is a very big move. Once we select which program I am going to enter for my doctoral degree, it could involve a substantial, out-of-state move. I rather save the money to help with it, than being stressed on every penny we spend in Disney. It also allows the fall trip we also have had book to be much more feasible. I do not think we could have swung the cruise and flights in May, moving in the summer with at least one scouting trip before the moving time to find a place to live and the trip in October with flights without our savings taking a hit. So that is why I took down the ticker for the cruise and put up one for the fall trip.

We know when I graduate and settle into my job as a professor, once we are at a good place, we are going to buy DVC. There are many trips in our future!! So yes, all of you who assumed the NEVER AGAIN aspect of my title does not apply to Disney in general.

It may not be until this weekend when I get an actual update from our TR. I hope I don't lose all my readers by then but I did warn you all it was going to have to be a slow moving TR.

Also, if we are friends on FB, please do not make any references to what is said here on DIS PLEASE!!! Those who caused drama, are on Facebook too so I don't want anything to be said on there please, please, please! I have started putting pictures up on Facebook, so don't look if you do not want a preview of what is coming. Also, there are more pictures coming than what I put up--even for Day 1.

no worries take your time...seems like you made the best decision for yourself and your family as far as the trips...maybe there will be a way to swing a small 4 day weekend or something after you graduate as a smaller but still very well deserved celebration of your accomplishments

plus I will spill no beans on FB

 

[3princesses+aprince]

Hi! Can't wait to hear all about your trip and see lots of pics! I love the picture in front of the castle.......sweaty and all...... it's nice!

 

[annmarieda]

Ah, the hard decisions. Wouldn't it be nice to always be able to say yes to trips? Good for you for knowing what is best for you...even if it is hard.

I too am almost 100% sure I am turning down a trip. Now, that may change as we get closer to the date, but...for now I am just saying no. Dh is going to Florida in March. I would love to say yes, but having just been there and the fact dd is getting married in May...I think it is for the best that I say no. It is hard though. There is a part of me that screams "go, have fun" but then there is the part that is hitting me on the head saying "be responsible, you know what you have on your plate, take care of that first." I think that until the part of my using violence to make a point stops with the violence...I won't be going on any trips anytime soon. (well, at least any big trips)

 

[MHTeacher]

I'm so glad you've started your TR!

I had a feeling when I read your trip title, that the "Never Again" part was a reference to never traveling with such a large group again (or so many family members...?)

Love the picture of the three of y'all in front of the castle at the end of your first day!

 

[leamom2princesses]

Hi Steph! I'm sorry you had to cancel the cruise and the trip to Disney but I am super excited that you will be joining us in October. Like Mary said it sucks to be an adult sometimes. You are doing the right thing. Last year was super tough for us but right around the corner was some amazing times. The girls will be so happy to play with Emily, Lilian, Eva, Avery, and Cayley again. Less than a year to go!!!

I'm happy to hear that you are considering DVC down the road. If you have the same experience that we have had, you won't be disappointed.

 

[Sleepingbooty]

Its so hard being a grown up, isn't it?! But at least you have a fall trip to look forward too, right? I don't mind waiting, as long as I know I have something coming up!

 

[Charlefours]

Thank you all for being patient with me as I was super busy this week so I could not get an update put together. I left off with our journey down to Disney…

As I mentioned in my first post, we elected to drive down to Disney. We have a super comfy van (yes, I am one of those moms who actually LOVES my van), which would be big enough to haul us down plus our bags, golf clubs and extras such as the few birthday presents we bought for her. The second reason why we decided to drive is my Dad will not fly so I think he would have been crazy enough to try to drive it himself. DMIL, DFIL and DBIL also drove down, but we did not have plans to meet up with each other until Friday, September 10th at the hotel in Valdosta, GA.

The Afternoon/Night Before

We set a goal to start packing Labor Day weekend. I am happy to say we made it for the most part. Lilian’s suitcase was closed and ready on Monday. I finished up laundry by Monday for DH and I and we closed our suitcase on Tuesday. Wednesday I packed the car back for Lilian to have some toys, books and her magazines. I had packed up a bin of miscellaneous stuff we would not need in the car (extra medicines, band-aids, ponchos, trading pins among other things). I had class on Wednesday afternoon, finished packing my school things I would need for the week and half and packed any last minute things. We loaded up the car after my class. I want to say the car was loaded and ready to go at 6:00 p.m. Lilian went off to bed, dressed for the next morning in a comfy outfit, at 8:00. I think I fell asleep about 9:30 watching television and DH woke me up to go up to bed about 10:30. He had been working on finishing last minute work stuff. I felt bad for DH! I tried to stay awake but I could not as I had a late bedtime/early morning on Wednesday.

Travel Day One, 9/9: Michigan to Evansville, Indiana

Our alarm went off at 2:45 a.m.! Wow, that was early. Allyn rolled out of bed about 3:15. I got up once I heard the shower turned off so I could jump in for a wake up shower. We finish loading any last minute things we had (camera, computer, cooler with drinks and crustables and our picnic basket with snacks). Lilian woke up about 4:00. We carried her out to the car. Did she fall back to sleep? Of course not!!

Here she is at about 4:15 in the morning:

You can see she really did not look too awake, we thought once the van got moving she would go back to sleep, especially since it was still dark outside.

What time did we pull out of the driveway?

My cell phone said 4:21 actually, but we still made it by 4:30 which was our goal.

Our first order of business was to get caffeine! We went to our local McDonalds ($10) and proceed to sit there for about 15 minutes for our breakfast. I guess at 4:30 a.m., the service is a bit sluggish.

We were off! Lilian stubbornly stayed awake. We finally turned on a movie for her when we reached Toledo, OH. I occupied myself with talking with DH and taking pictures here and there. Here are a few from our drive:

Sunrise somewhere in Ohio

Sorcerer Mickey keeping us safe on our first traveling day

We stopped at our first rest area at 6:15 and then we stopped again at 7:15. Lilian decided she did not need to go at the rest area so we stopped when she needed to go. It was at the second rest area she got her first bag:

We were off again and made, you guessed it, another stop at 8:00. DH needed more coffee ($2) and Lily needed to potty. We knew when we elected to drive we would have to be willing to stop as needed to keep everyone happy. Part of the reasons why we left so early is to accommodate this while still being able to get to our end point at a decent time.

We pulled into IHOP for our second breakfast, just north of Cincinnati at 9:15 am. By this point we had been up for six hours, we were ready for a longer stop. After a yummy breakfast at IHOP (spent $18), we were off again. It was not long before we saw the Cincinnati skyline:

It was right about this time that my Dad called so we made plans to eat lunch/dinner with him and a family friend when we got into town.
We made it to the Indiana Welcome Center before we stopped again. It was at this rest stop that Lilian got her second treat bag:

(You can see by Lilian’s mouth she must have had a Crustable at some point along this part of the drive. )

We stopped for gas, paid $53. We pulled into my Dad’s at 1:20 Central, 2:20 Eastern time zone. We went to Hacienda for dinner. We had:

DH: Chicken Fajita Quesadilla
Lily: Hot Dog and Fries
Me: Taco Salad with Shredded Chicken (no shell)
Dad: Small Wet Burrito
Lisa: Potato Skins (bacon, ground beef, cheese, onions)
Desserts: Mud Slide, and Peanut Butter Pie (ice cream pie though—surprised DH).
I gave Dad $40 to cover our part of the dinner (and part of his).

After dinner we went to Wal-Mart to pick up pop for our room. We loaded Dad’s stuff when we got to his place. Lights were off by 6:30, we were so tired!!. Overall, it had been a great first traveling day.

Daily Breakdown
Total Miles Traveled: 478 miles
Total Time: 10 hours (without stops, the drive is about 8 hours)
Total Money Spent on Food: $68
Total Money Spent on Gas: $53

Next Post: Traveling to Disney: Day 2, part 1

 

[Charlefours]

First of all, you are not moving...out of state anyway! I won't allow it! I will, however, allow you to move within the community!!

Second, I'm bummed you decided to cancel the cruise, but I'm sure you'll take one soon. I am super excited about our fall trip. I don't think I am going to tell Emily about it at all. We might make it a total surprise and then having Lilian there, she'll be over the moon! We'll see though, I may not be able to keep a whole trip quiet! She's definitely not finding out about Lilian though!

Finally, I don't know if I mentioned it, but you are not moving out of state!!

I know you don't want us to move!! Likewise to you as well!!

Like I told you, it is going to be a complete surprise to Lilian if we can pull it off. She certainly won't know about Emily being there at the very minimum.

 

[Charlefours]

It must have been hard giving up the cruise and a trip to disney! But it's never a bad idea to make the right decisions financially for your family! Being stressed out would have been hard. I'm glad to hear that you think you will buy into DVC in the future though! That must be exciting!

It was a little disappointing, but I know we will go on a cruise at some point. I just did not see the point in pushing ourselves too much next year. Who knows, maybe we will end up buying APs in October so we can travel the following may.

 

[Charlefours]

I'm in!
Going to get caught up!

Heather to my TR! Glad to have you on board. You haven't missed much--I am having to go a bit slow.

 

[Charlefours]

Whoa! Stephanie
I decided after seeing your FB post to try and find your PTR to see if you started and you are already on page 6....going back to catch up!
Connie

You haven't missed much!!

All caught up! wonderful start... you have me thinking you had the stress of family triple fold that I had so sorry to hear you cancelled your cruise but it will come and how exciting to be going in the fall! how much fun will that be!?! and sounds like moving will be a hard option for two little girls and two dissers; but, just think of all the road trips you guys will have to look forward to!

take you time posting I'm in for the long haul (and who knows maybe I won't fall so far behind like I did on all the other threads I was following)...

Connie

I'm not going to lie--it was stressful! We had a feeling it would be going into the trip.

We are fine about the cruise--it would be nice but not necessary at this point. We will go on one eventually. The fall trip will be so much fun!! I hope it works out. Financially it is fine but it will depend on my doctoral program.

Moving will definitely be hard on the whole family. We are approaching it as if I get into one program, that is where we go. If I get accepted into multiple programs, than it becomes a family decision where we weigh all of our options.

I know what you mean--I am so far behind on other threads. I hope to get caught up this weekend, but I don't know if that will be possible since I am so far behind on so many threads.

 

[KatMark]

Great update. You guys did really good on your first travel day. I love the pictures of Lily opening her surprise gifts.

 

[Charlefours]

I was wondering about the cruise. I am sorry you had to cancel It is hard to be an adult sometimes...I think you reasoning is great and I wonder if there are any good Doctoral programs in Az? Yay for the potential DVC buy in the future. Maybe you could look into renting points for Oct? My Hubby has agreed to the fall trip so I am putting up my ticker-HURRAY. All our little and bigger girls are going to have a blast together-and chase Nikki's boys all over I also started my Sep TR-link is in my siggy if you get a chance to check it out.

Really it is fine--it was a little shocking I brought it up but when I really starting adding the cost of everything that could happen next year, it was a bit shocking. There is a program at University of Arizona.

Yay!! I am glad your DH has agreed to the trip. Mine is apprehensive to say the least--not about the money or timing--more of the amount of people we are looking at seeing. I reassured it would not be a trip like this last one though. We would all have our own separate plans too.

Thanks for the pointing out the new TR. I hope to catch up on it this weekend, I did subscribe to it though.

 

[Charlefours]

Hi! Can't wait to hear all about your trip and see lots of pics! I love the picture in front of the castle.......sweaty and all...... it's nice!

Hiya Pam! to my TR. I am glad to have you here. Thanks! I like the picture too despite being all sweaty and gross.

 

[Charlefours]

Ah, the hard decisions. Wouldn't it be nice to always be able to say yes to trips? Good for you for knowing what is best for you...even if it is hard.

I too am almost 100% sure I am turning down a trip. Now, that may change as we get closer to the date, but...for now I am just saying no. Dh is going to Florida in March. I would love to say yes, but having just been there and the fact dd is getting married in May...I think it is for the best that I say no. It is hard though. There is a part of me that screams "go, have fun" but then there is the part that is hitting me on the head saying "be responsible, you know what you have on your plate, take care of that first." I think that until the part of my using violence to make a point stops with the violence...I won't be going on any trips anytime soon. (well, at least any big trips)

I wish, and I almost did say yes, but then I started thinking a little too much. Seriously, it is fine. We will be looking forward to our October trip.

Hopefully you will make it back sooner than you think!!

 

[Charlefours]

I'm so glad you've started your TR!

I had a feeling when I read your trip title, that the "Never Again" part was a reference to never traveling with such a large group again (or so many family members...?)

Love the picture of the three of y'all in front of the castle at the end of your first day!

Michelle to my TR! (I don't think I have welcomed you yet.)

I have not revealed the never again, other than it does not apply to Disney and we would be open to driving again at some point.

 

[featherface]

just finished your PT while ago and cant wait to hear all about it.

 

[Charlefours]

Hi Steph! I'm sorry you had to cancel the cruise and the trip to Disney but I am super excited that you will be joining us in October. Like Mary said it sucks to be an adult sometimes. You are doing the right thing. Last year was super tough for us but right around the corner was some amazing times. The girls will be so happy to play with Emily, Lilian, Eva, Avery, and Cayley again. Less than a year to go!!!

I'm happy to hear that you are considering DVC down the road. If you have the same experience that we have had, you won't be disappointed.

Hey Leanne. Your head would be spinning if you went through everything were discussing and pricing out. The cruise was first, but then we decided to switch it to a trip to Disney instead, we were debating between 4 nights or 7 nights between three resorts. Right when we had made a tentative decision, I threw the curb ball.

October trip, we have had it booked now for quite awhile, shortly after they extended the free dining out. I think it will be so much fun! DH is a little apprehensive because of this last trip going down with other people. I am trying to reassure him this upcoming trip would be nothing like our last trip. I can only imagine how the girls would love to be a Disney together. Lilian wanted Emily and Ms. Wendy to come so much with this last trip I can just picture how hyper they all would be together.

We really think the DVC would be worth it for our family. I know it is not for everyone, but it seems like it would be a good fit for us.

 

[Charlefours]

Its so hard being a grown up, isn't it?! But at least you have a fall trip to look forward too, right? I don't mind waiting, as long as I know I have something coming up!

Sometimes Rebecca! We are fine with the decision so it will all work how it is suppose to in the long run. We are firm believers in that. We do have a trip to look forward to--this time next year we will be at Disney!! It is really cool because we will be there for the 40th anniversary of MK's opening.

 

[ilovepete]

I'm in.