Lucky #13 with pics ~ 9/25 Finished!!!

[nts4wdw]

Just wanted to let you know we are still here! Our final day is finished just waiting for comments from my dear ConstableMickey. But I don't want to bither him right now. He is over on his Laptop making plans for the two of us to go to WDW for my birthday!!! It's a bad one this year (40) and I am so wanting to go!!! I love that man!
Anyone gonna be there Dec. 6-10?

 

[jenr812]

Just checking in Disney on your birthday!??!?! Woohoo!!! I so WISH I was going.

 

[DisneyJo]

That's great I'd love to go see all the decorations

 

[nts4wdw]

Just checking in Disney on your birthday!??!?! Woohoo!!! I so WISH I was going.

Hey!! I am so sorry I haven't been keeping up with your trip report. Now that I am working full time, I jsut don't have any time!! But it is on my list. Thanks for checking in.

That's great I'd love to go see all the decorations

I am so excited! I can't wait to see them either.

 

[KimAshton]

waits patiently for the last part.

 

[luvfigment]

Congrats for going to WDW for your birthday! Now you get to go 2 months in a row!!! Where are you going to stay?

 

[winkers]

 

[nts4wdw]

waits patiently for the last part.

Not much longer now......

Congrats for going to WDW for your birthday! Now you get to go 2 months in a row!!! Where are you going to stay?

We are staying one night at Pop Century and two nights at the Dolphin!!!! We will be able to walk to Off Kilter.....I mean EPCOT! It's a short trip, but any trip is a good one.

All right, all right! Day Thirteen is on its way!

 

[nts4wdw]

Day Thirteen
A sad day, indeed!

It’s hard to believe we’ve come to the end. There were a lot of tears shed that last day. Okay, Okay we have already established that I am a little whinny boy!!! No need to drag it out!! I so loved our little “apartment” at WDW ! (an apartment with about half the floor space of our WHOLE house). I’m pretty sure we will never get a good enough deal to stay at Saratoga Springs again. I was so nervous about staying there and it ended up so perfect!! (other than the Disney march of death to be able to get to the food closet)
We packed the car and headed out. We had planned a little stop over at Kennedy Space center on our way home. The children have never been. I called down to the front desk last night to ask for directions.
“There are signs everywhere,” he said.
“Are you sure?”
“Oh yes, you can’t miss it!”

Well, maybe a normal mom can’t, but I most certainly did. Maybe I was blinded by the veil of tears, but I saw no signs. About ten miles down the road, I start thinking maybe we have past it.

“Honey, do you think we should have seen it by now?” I asked in a small voice.
“ No, there would be a sign.” He answered reassuringly.
“What if I missed the sign?”
Silence.

A few more miles down the road.
“Do you think we should have seen it by now?” That was Chuck.
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
“Nope.”
Silence.

You have to understand. In our car, we all have jobs. Chuck drives (he has some secret mojo that keeps him from ever getting a ticket.). I navigate. The children attempt to kill each other in the backseat. (Nah, actually they watch DVDs.) It’s the order of things. We are a team and boy was I letting the team down.

“Maybe I should get out the map.” I said.
“You think?”
Yep, he’s mad.

Okay, I would like to point out that just getting us lost is not any reason to get perturbed about. However, the revelation that you a saw a sign earlier (as in 30 miles earlier) and didn’t say anything because to exit number didn’t match up to your map (you know the old one with all the “old” exit numbers on it)……that peaked my curiosity.

I have no memory of that.


As it turns out, we had missed our turn long ago and would now be cutting across country. Yeehaw!!
We saw a lot of Florida! But soon we saw the sign (finally a sign) and we were in the parking lot.
Chuck was excited to be there, but the rest of us were exhausted. What is it that happens when you go under those arches? We went for days at WDW, but back in the real world we were toast.
I think this picture says it all.

We managed to eat and see the film. We toured the Space Shuttle and looked at all the rockets but our hearts were not in it. Poor Chuck! I spent a million dollars at KSC and all I got was this stupid T-Shirt…..I didn’t even get to take the tour

We did hit the gift shop pretty hard and were able to get pins and patches from the shuttle mission we saw lanched!! Score! USA USA USA
After a bit, I think Chuck realized our hearts weren’t in it and we hit the road for home.

Usually, I sleep once we get going, but this time we were anxious to talk. We talked about all the wonderful things that happened. All the magical moments, memories that will last a lifetime. Our children are growing up. I just want to grab hold of every moment that we have. We talked about our next trip, January 2008. It seemed so far away. We talked about our dreams and how one day we will be in Florida to stay. That too seems far away too, but life goes by faster that we think.
We drove through three different thunderstorms, reminiscing all the way.

Another trip is over, but another trip is coming. Life is good.

 

[nts4wdw]

Epilogue

Two days have passed since we arrived home. The laundry is done, the suitcases are back in the attic, and the cats have mostly forgiven us for being gone so long. Not Cubbie, she’s still ticked!!
Today Santa Claus will bring our two weeks worth of mail. (What? He has to do something for the rest of the year.) Emily runs to meet him. None of us are looking forward to the bills that have piled up but Em always likes to put in a good word with Santa.
She was out there for a little bit and I began to worry that she was talking his ear off about WDW when I saw her running to the door with two packages.
“I got to sign for packages and he said there is another at the Post Office!” She yelled.
Sure enough we had two small, brown parcels. The return address said Walt Disney World.
“We’ve got to get to the Post Office before it closes!!!” (Did she tell you it is like 4:40 when we got the pkg receipt.) Chuck and I jumped in the car and picked up a large envelope also for Walt Disney World.
We all sat in the living room, bouncy (they were bouncy, I was respectively inquisitive) with anticipation. Here is what we found inside.

More dreams! I’ve been sending those little postcards for a couple of months and it finally paid off! What a magical ending to a dream trip.

Thanks for reading, everyone! I have so looked forward to your comments. I am sorry I don’t get to spend as much time on the boards as I would like, but your stories keep me going when our next trip seems so far away. Thank you. See you in January!!!!



P.S. I finished this last week, before Chuck sprang his news about the December Birthday trip. He is doing all the planning. (Any help you guys could give him would be sweet!) Keep your eyes open for a pretrip report from ConstableMickey, possibly coming soon!

COMPLETE!!

 

[winkers]

What a great ending to your trip!!

 

[buffy0214]

Awww ...what a nice ending to your trip. You can use those goodies when you go back in Dec. You certainly did have a very lucky "dream-filled" vacation. I am slowly working hubby up into realizing that 5 days just isn't enough. I would be on to have 13 of them!

I think ya'll should consider DVC ownership....you would certainly make use of it.

It's been a great report I've really enjoyed taking the trip with ya. I'll be on the lookout for future reports from your family.

 

[DisneyJo]

Oh no it's all over, thank you for taking us along for the ride Lynn and how great you got more dreams when you got home

 

[KimAshton]

It's over. Sounds like you had a great trip.

 

[jenr812]

Hey!! I am so sorry I haven't been keeping up with your trip report. Now that I am working full time, I jsut don't have any time!! But it is on my list. Thanks for checking in.

Ditto!!!! I have felt so guilty for being so behind on everyone's TRs including my own. Stinkin' work getting in the way of DISing Loved the ending to your TR - now I've just gotta go back and catch up!

 

[shannon47142]

Great ending to a wonderful trip!!! Thanks for sharing and I look forward to another good report from your birthday trip

 

[eternaldisneyfan]

Thanks for taking us on your lovely journey. You are a true Disney family. I look forward to your next report.

 

[nts4wdw]

What a great ending to your trip!!

Thanks!

Awww ...what a nice ending to your trip. You can use those goodies when you go back in Dec. You certainly did have a very lucky "dream-filled" vacation. I am slowly working hubby up into realizing that 5 days just isn't enough. I would be on to have 13 of them!

I think ya'll should consider DVC ownership....you would certainly make use of it.

It's been a great report I've really enjoyed taking the trip with ya. I'll be on the lookout for future reports from your family.

DVC? From your mouth to Chuck's ears!!! Please look out for Chuck's report for the December trip!

Oh no it's all over, thank you for taking us along for the ride Lynn and how great you got more dreams when you got home

Thanks for coming along! It's been so much fun reliving the trip with all of you! Please come along on the next one!

It's over. Sounds like you had a great trip.

And it will soon be time for yours to begin! I hope it is awesome!

 

[nts4wdw]

Ditto!!!! I have felt so guilty for being so behind on everyone's TRs including my own. Stinkin' work getting in the way of DISing Loved the ending to your TR - now I've just gotta go back and catch up!

I hate when life gets in the way of Disney!! Thanks for reading!! Please come join our next report, coming soon.

Great ending to a wonderful trip!!! Thanks for sharing and I look forward to another good report from your birthday trip

Thanks and please come join us! Chuck's in charge of the new one. Who knows what will happen!

Thanks for taking us on your lovely journey. You are a true Disney family. I look forward to your next report.

My friend!! You are so sweet. Thanks for reading!!