MagicBands + Margaritas + Muggles + Minions = TRP. New TR link is up! 10/31

[rentayenta]

I hear ya friend. We haven't gone any where this summer. Next weekend though we are doing a staycation at the lake and then the following weekend, while you're running through the castle, we're doing our annual Bear Lake trip.

 

[eandesmom]

I'm glad that it worked out that your MiL can help out and the trip will go on as scheduled! The plans look great.

Thanks! I've been looking at our last 3 days and coming up iwth about 8 different scenarios, it's a bit ridiculous. But fun.

I wish you and your family my best as you go through the issues with your dad and the decisions to be made on the house. It sounds like some tough decisions need to be made, soon.

Thanks

I hear ya friend. We haven't gone any where this summer. Next weekend though we are doing a staycation at the lake and then the following weekend, while you're running through the castle, we're doing our annual Bear Lake trip.

The good news is the kids have had plenty of vacations, all of them. It's just Jeff and I! We will be making up for it in spades though, first long "date" trip since Aulani, it will have been almost a year and a half. Overdue! We have had some weekends but it's not the same as getting really away. I did have my May girls trip so probably shouldn't feel like I need the vacation as much as I do but...I do.

LOL!

YAY for Bear Lake. I can't imagine how excited you are to have Gabby back and to have that trip. Very soon!

 

[eandesmom]

Today was the "whatever you want" day for the boys. It didn't matter what I wanted, I had a girls trip coming up so I could be generous and let them call the shots.

ALL the boys!

Jeff would be taking the morning to go fly in a little tiny plane that lands on water.

I had thought he would be gone all day.

He informed me that he most certainly would not! Which was fine of course but it caught me off guard as I didn't have a ticket for him for the day, assuming he would use his last day on the following day. It meant when he did hook up with us, before we went to a park, we would have to add a day to his ticket.

Grr. I could have added that day earlier in the trip when I added days to the boys!


Oh well.
What did my kids want to do more than ANYTHING that morning?

Have breakfast with their grandparents

At the Treehouse

They hadn't seen it yet and the boys wanted to show it off.

Who could say no to that?

So I thought.

Did I have enough food for breakfast for 5?

I had

• 3 eggs
• Leftover taco meat
• Leftover refried beans
• Salsa
• Cheese
• Tortillas

Streeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeech those eggs with some milk and what do you have?

Breakfast burritos!

Even better?

I had a bottle of bubbly we had bought for NYE that was never used, and some OJ.

Can you say
Mimosa's with my mom?

Sweet!

Let's have breakfast!

But first, before they arrived, I had to do something, for ME.

Looking back



Coffee! And alone time









Someone decided to join me

He was still sleepy







My parents somehow couldn't find our THV so we decided to walk and find them





Which we did, in short order.

I got busy cooking and enjoyed the view



And then, breakfast time!



It was a GORGEOUS morning. Not super warm, not super cold, just right.
And I managed to squeeze 5 burritos out of what I had!



With even some extra beans and cheese on the side for those who wanted it



Evan decided to take over the phone/camera



You can tell I am thrilled about it



It was bright!



He really needs to work on the posing and framing





They hated it



Evan had a friend helping him with his cocoa





I think this was a refill....enjoyed with "dessert" courtesy of a special friend.
YUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This was truly my favorite morning of the trip. By a landslide. Ok maybe not a landslide, I did love the boardwalk run and bakery stop! Still though, my favorite. I could not have enjoyed it more. So special. So magical. So relaxing. Pretty yummy too!

After breakfast we rode over with my folks to the Carriage House. They planned to park the car there, go do some shopping at DTD, then leave from SSR to head to their friends house and offsite hotel where they would be for the rest of the week. While they had one day left on their tickets, they were saving it for later in the week when they could have a full solo day of their own.



Continued in next post

 

[eandesmom]

Continued from previous

Our plan?

I mean the boys plan, wish, and request?

Animal Kingdom!!! As usual, we all felt it had gotten the short end of the stick and wanted a bit more time there.

I required payment for granting their wish. In the form of photpass.











Seriously you would not know Evan had JUST gotten a haircut here, and had taken a shower that morning



The boys of course, had one mission



Somehow single rider line just doesn't make for the best pictures!



We rode it more than once. How many times? I truly do not recall! We had banked on it not being an issue, instead electing to save our FP's for later in the day with Jeff, at a different park. Our plan worked well!

We visited some monkeys





Looked at some shops



Listened to some music



And, honestly, that might have been it. Still, EE had been the main goal and the E's were happy, that was all that mattered.

And then we looked at the schedule. Jeff was due to be done around 1 and back no later than 2. He and I had a secret plan the boys didn't know about. In looking at the schedule we realized something was about to start. That we all wanted to see.

So we did!

We barely made it in and the seats were not the best but, we didn’t care!





In the interest of keeping my phone alive for the rest of the day, and being able to actually connect up with Jeff, that’s all I took. I love that the boys wanted to go see Nemo, I was not expecting that all. Their day, their choice!
After the show, we needed to leave. Like NOW.

The boys wanted a snack.

Like NOW.

I wouldn't let them.

I had a plan.

I wouldn't tell them what it was.

But we needed to leave NOW.

Jeff was waiting.

It's 5 o'clock somehwere, again

 

[glennbo123]

Nice job figuring out what to cook for breakfast with what you had in the fridge. The morning looked great! And I'm really curious to find out what your plan was.

 

[Mndisneygirl]

I would have loved the breakfast too! I'm impressed that you pulled that together and fed you all.

Sounds like a fun morning!

Now - what is the surprise??? Come on, tell!!

 

[rentayenta]

Breakfast on the deck looks perfect. Digging how you stretched 3 eggs etc to make 5 burritos. Can't wait to stay at the THV again.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Nice streeeeeeetch for breakfast.

YAY for another day at AK. I know a lot of people don't seem to like this park; but I think it's highly underrated.

Waiting to find out what your surprise is.

 

[Pinkocto]

I would love a fly by hug!!!!!!!

Excellent!!!


I land at 1:20, hopefully at the resort by 2:30, check in and head out. I can come find you wherever you are. I want to be at Epcot in the evening, I'm silly excited about seeing Hanson

 

[Pinkocto]

What a lovely morning relaxing with family I love that Eric came out and joined you after waking up. There's nothing like special vacation time


Too fun at AK, the EE line looked EMPTY!

Can't wait to hear about the surprise!

 

[MAGICFOR2]

What a beautiful morning! It's nice to have a few of those unplanned moments - good job making the breakfast stretch! Good call on the EE single rider line.

I'm glad Operation Grandma is working out and your plans have come together! I haven't been on your PTR for the castle run for awhile - I will stop by soon, scouts honor!

 

[elphie101]

Such a heart warrming and magical morning. I love how it's always the simplest and smallest moments that truly stick out after a trip is long done.

Animal Kingdom does always get the short stick! I'm glad you made it to Nemo, it's 100% my favorite attraction at AK.

Well, now I'm dying to know what your secret surprise is. Don't leave us hanging too long!

 

[annmarieda]

Operation Grandma is complete. My Mother In Law will be coming out the day before our trip starts, and heading home the day after we get back. We have purchased her tickets, the last one just this past week. With those in hand, I feel I can breathe. We both feel we can actually make real plans now!

I am so glad that it is worked out!!!

Who will likely be "home". Wherever that is. Right now my folks have a few options. The could retrofit their house to work for my dad and put it up for sale. As they need to sell the house regardless, this is less than idea from a making it attractive standpoint. They may retrofit their house until he can use stairs again and then put it up for sale after doing a lot of work to make it more marketable, find a place to buy once they sell, or contingent upon the sale. They could also buy my sisters house. In that scenario, they could possibly move in their earlier and not need to retrofit their house. This has some very positive and negative aspects to it. My sister is moving regardless so either she sells it to them, or puts it on the market. Unfortunately her house is worth more than theirs and theirs needs a bunch of work to maximize the sale. Given the state it is in, which isn't awful but there are some issues, it may not sell quickly given the market. My sister needs $ out of her house so she can remodel her fiancés. Her house should go quickly if she were to put it on the open market. To make all that work, it would mean a bridge loan for my folks and ultimately, them having either a small mortgage or pulling retirement funds in to pay for her house since there will be a shortfall. I am not sure that makes sense financially. It is however, an easy move in many ways, can be timed to what works for them and is a house that they would like to keep in the family. It is a house my dad grew up in!

All I know is my dad doesn't want to move period and so all of this may be moot. He is also in disagreement with what needs to be done to their house and the value it came back at being. Sigh. Need to have a few heart to hearts with him and my mom. At the end of the day though, their call. In any event I am VERY relieved that watching the E's is not something I need to add to their plate during this. Dad will maybe be home for 2 weeks or so when we leave, possibly less.

I hope this gets worked out too.

Without further ado I give you, the Verandah Junkies BFP.

I love how you have it all laid out! I think a very neat and tidy BFP!

9/19. WDW.
Morning run around the boardwalk! Breakfast at Boardwalk Bakery. FP+ at Epcot. Light lunch at F&W kiosks. Puerto Rico Culinary Seminar. (when I saw that on the agenda for the Festival, I had to book it!) Dinner at F&W Kiosks. We hope to meet up with Kathy and Mark at some point this evening. YAY!

I am jealous on two accounts... one that is a very nice sounding seminar and two you get to meet up with Kathy and Mark.

9/23. St. Lucia.
Gros Piton Hike. You didn't think we'd change that one did you? I did do a fun elevation exercise comparing it to other hikes. It is a similar elevation gain to Koko head for about one mile. However it’s spread over 1 mile…Koko was in ½ a mile! So hey, should be easy compared to that right? The other 2 shown include a regular hike and then the one we did last week. We definitely feel it is doable in the time limit (you need to do it in a max of 4 hours). This is our earliest day with an 8:30 am start to the tour/hike.

Of course this can not be changed! I find the elevation comparison intriguing!

[
9/24. Grenada.
We originally booked the adventure river tubing which was a 7:15 am start or something ugly like that. This has been changed to a Beach and Rum tour excursion which starts at 9:15 am. A little early in the day for rum but it was the best I could get and well, we may need it after the day before. Plus, it's vacation! The other one that looked good was also a 7:15am start. No thanks. We may check on board and switch but unlikely.

Early in the day or not, I think the run tour is an excellent choice!!!



[

9/28. WDW.
Brunch at Raglan Road, FP+ at MK. Could not get 7DMT FP. Boo.

Oh no! That stinks! I know I had more days to work with and finally was able to...but man what is up with that??!!!

[9/29. WDW.
Breakfast at Boma. FP+ at AK. DME to MCO. Home. BOO!

Sad last day I do find it funny though... just like in January.. you are leaving right before we arrive. (I think January was a tad closer though.)

[
He informed me that he most certainly would not! Which was fine of course but it caught me off guard as I didn't have a ticket for him for the day, assuming he would use his last day on the following day. It meant when he did hook up with us, before we went to a park, we would have to add a day to his ticket.

Grr. I could have added that day earlier in the trip when I added days to the boys!

Well, at least adding a day isnt too costly... but the time to go again to guest services is a pain.

[
Have breakfast with their grandparents

At the Treehouse

I think your breakfast was not only ingenious, but looks amazing! AND fun!!! AND relaxing! I can see why it ranks up there as a favorite morning for you.

[
Our plan?

I mean the boys plan, wish, and request?

Animal Kingdom!!! As usual, we all felt it had gotten the short end of the stick and wanted a bit more time there.

AK is such a nice choice!

[I required payment for granting their wish. In the form of photpass.

Great pictures and a very reasonable form of payment!

[
We rode it more than once. How many times? I truly do not recall! We had banked on it not being an issue, instead electing to save our FP's for later in the day with Jeff, at a different park. Our plan worked well!

I love that ride...but man I can't do it over and over.

[
And then we looked at the schedule. Jeff was due to be done around 1 and back no later than 2. He and I had a secret plan the boys didn't know about. In looking at the schedule we realized something was about to start. That we all wanted to see.

So we did!

We barely made it in and the seats were not the best but, we didn’t care!

I am very excited to find out about the surprise. And yay for seeing the Nemo show.

 

[franandaj]

That was a great stretch on breakfast. Leisurely breakfasts at the villa are one of the best parts of DVC.

The choices that your kids are making this trip are very surprising!

I can't wait to hear about this surprise!

 

[IheartDDuck]

I was thinking exactly what you ended up churning out. Stretch those eggs and make some breakfast burritos.

I would never say no to a mimosa.

We always feel like Animal Kingdom gets the short end of the stick on our trips too. Thankfully, in November, we have two different sets of people with us at two different times, so we'll have to re-visit.

 

[KatMark]

Perfect morning...coffee on your balcony/verandah.

Awwwww....so sweet the boys wanted breakfast with the grandparents; and an awesome job on making that breakfast with all of the leftovers!

Nice that you gave the boys the choice of what to do and they picked Animal Kingdom...one of my favorites. And how sweet that they wanted to see Nemo.

You have me curious as to what the surprise was for them.

 

[eandesmom]

Nice job figuring out what to cook for breakfast with what you had in the fridge. The morning looked great! And I'm really curious to find out what your plan was.

It was such a fun morning. I was very grateful that I could stretch the food far enough, it was close! I definitely hadn't planned on it being a full breakfast at the villa but the combo of leftovers around worked out!

I would have loved the breakfast too! I'm impressed that you pulled that together and fed you all.

I was just happy it was enough, luckily we had made way more taco meat than we needed and surprisingly had leftovers on the rest so it worked out really well! Not to mention being way more fun than a pasty in a park which is what I'd assumed we would be doing.

Sounds like a fun morning!

Now - what is the surprise??? Come on, tell!!

It was!

Breakfast on the deck looks perfect. Digging how you stretched 3 eggs etc to make 5 burritos. Can't wait to stay at the THV again.

Well it wasn't very "egg -y" if you know what I mean but it worked. Barely. Oh I loved loved loved that deck.

Nice streeeeeeetch for breakfast.

That is most certainly the most milk I have ever added to scrambled eggs

YAY for another day at AK. I know a lot of people don't seem to like this park; but I think it's highly underrated.

We really love that park. Mary Ellen and I didn't make it there in May but I think Jeff and I will.

Unless we play hooky for a day, which is appearing more likely

Waiting to find out what your surprise is.

Excellent!!!


I land at 1:20, hopefully at the resort by 2:30, check in and head out. I can come find you wherever you are. I want to be at Epcot in the evening, I'm silly excited about seeing Hanson

Nothing wrong with that! Our plans are a bit in flux for those days at the moment. We are really debating driving over to Margaritaville after all

Question is, when.

Our flight is late on the 29th so we will be around most of that day as well. As soon as we firm up the when on the Margaritaville idea (I think it may have moved beyond an if) I will let you know!

 

[eandesmom]

What a lovely morning relaxing with family I love that Eric came out and joined you after waking up. There's nothing like special vacation time

It was a nice morning on that deck!

Too fun at AK, the EE line looked EMPTY!

It was! And we were not there at rope drop, far from it!

Can't wait to hear about the surprise!

Coming up next

What a beautiful morning! It's nice to have a few of those unplanned moments - good job making the breakfast stretch! Good call on the EE single rider line.

It was a perfect morning

I'm glad Operation Grandma is working out and your plans have come together! I haven't been on your PTR for the castle run for awhile - I will stop by soon, scouts honor!

I am so grateful she is able to come. We have had some developments with my dad (gotta love insurance) over the weekend that will go into action today and tomorrow and I know there will be other curve balls that happen between now and the trip. So much better that this, on top of everything else, isn't on my mom's plate.

Such a heart warrming and magical morning. I love how it's always the simplest and smallest moments that truly stick out after a trip is long done.

It really is one of the best parts of DVC and one of the boys favorite activities on a trip is to have that villa meal. Or 2 or three lol! It was a very special morning.

Animal Kingdom does always get the short stick! I'm glad you made it to Nemo, it's 100% my favorite attraction at AK.

I was so surprised by that choice! I love Nemo and the boys love shows but still, I didn't see that one coming.

Well, now I'm dying to know what your secret surprise is. Don't leave us hanging too long!

I won't! I am trying to get this one done before the DL half.

I am so glad that it is worked out!!!

Me too!

I hope this gets worked out too.

Unfortunately it is very much becoming a immediate response situation, it's not giving my folks much time to think. We have to implement something today we had not expected thanks to insurance. It may or may not impact the big picture. I had hoped to chat with my mom about it last night but by the time she brought Evan back from the Sounders game (he used my Dad's ticket) she was pretty wiped. The boys will be helping her all day today, I am glad it is is summer at least so they can be of use. Evan helped her most of yesterday.

I love how you have it all laid out! I think a very neat and tidy BFP!

I am very happy with our BFP! Except...I think we have made some changes to the end.

Margaritaville is signing its siren song (compounded by cheap rental car availability lol)

I am jealous on two accounts... one that is a very nice sounding seminar and two you get to meet up with Kathy and Mark.

It is going to be a GREAT day!

Of course this can not be changed! I find the elevation comparison intriguing!

Kind of fun huh, I know I am a dork about those things. this is the one I did on Saturday when I hiked up to meet Eric



Longer, but obviously easier, only about 560 per mile on average gain or something like that. I was SO tempted to take Michelle's bib and do that race on Sunday but knew I'd be toast if I did both and didn't really want to give up the hike. I am so glad I stuck with the hike, it was spectacular.

Plus it let me test out the idea of the squeezable applesauce as a fuel option.

Nope.

Early in the day or not, I think the run tour is an excellent choice!!!

It will be interesting for sure! But it is vacation

Oh no! That stinks! I know I had more days to work with and finally was able to...but man what is up with that??!!!

I was able to get one. For Sunday at 11. Which is when we have the Raglan Road brunch booked. But that might be moving anyway. That whole part of the trip is kind of in flux, I need to figure it out.

Sad last day I do find it funny though... just like in January.. you are leaving right before we arrive. (I think January was a tad closer though.)

January was within 1-2 days I think!

What is crazy is you will have 2 trips after that one, before we go to PHM!

Well, at least adding a day isnt too costly... but the time to go again to guest services is a pain.

that was exactly the GRRRR part of it!

And it almost became a real issue.

I think your breakfast was not only ingenious, but looks amazing! AND fun!!! AND relaxing! I can see why it ranks up there as a favorite morning for you.

I don't know about ingenious but it worked! They were definitely the milkiest eggs I've ever made, it would not have worked if I didn't have all the other stuff to toss in there with it.

AK is such a nice choice!

Love AK!

Great pictures and a very reasonable form of payment!

I thought so! Eric was pretty good about pictures but Evan was quite resistant most of the trip so I was happy to get one.

I love that ride...but man I can't do it over and over.

I can do it over and over but at a certain point I'm kinda done. Not so much from a ride issue, just start to get bored. The boys, never get bored with it, I think once they did it 7 times in a day.

I am very excited to find out about the surprise. And yay for seeing the Nemo show.

YAY for Nemo! Surprise is up next. It's not THAT exciting.

That was a great stretch on breakfast. Leisurely breakfasts at the villa are one of the best parts of DVC.

They really are. However it's just not the same in a studio. I am going to miss being in a bigger villa on this next trip. Not that we have time for a leisurely breakfast anyway. The kids love the family meals in the villa, as much as going out. Which I find funny as it's not like we don't eat together at home all the time but for some reason it IS more special on vacation.

The choices that your kids are making this trip are very surprising!

Aren't they?

I can't wait to hear about this surprise!

Coming up next (though I am afraid I've built it up to be more than it is lol).

 

[eandesmom]

I was thinking exactly what you ended up churning out. Stretch those eggs and make some breakfast burritos.

I was just grateful there was enough leftovers to cobble together something!
It worked out quite well, and saved money too!

I would never say no to a mimosa.

That was a villa meal first, and quite fun!

Especially since it was mango orange juice. YUM!

We always feel like Animal Kingdom gets the short end of the stick on our trips too. Thankfully, in November, we have two different sets of people with us at two different times, so we'll have to re-visit.

Darn, twist my arm, make me go twice! LOL

Perfect morning...coffee on your balcony/verandah.

what more could I want?

Awwwww....so sweet the boys wanted breakfast with the grandparents; and an awesome job on making that breakfast with all of the leftovers!

They do have their moments those two. It was sweet, it's not like they don't see their grandparents all the time so to make it a priority even with that, was pretty lovely. I would have expected that request if it were any of the remote grandparents but they did surprise me and I couldn't have been more thrilled.

Nice that you gave the boys the choice of what to do and they picked Animal Kingdom...one of my favorites. And how sweet that they wanted to see Nemo.

Nemo suprised me! In a good way.

You have me curious as to what the surprise was for them.

It is probably not as exciting as I've made it out to be. LOL!

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

What did my kids want to do more than ANYTHING that morning?

Have breakfast with their grandparents

This gets an, "Awwwww..." from the audience.

Coffee! And alone time

Very nice!

Evan decided to take over the phone/camera

You can tell I am thrilled about it

And by "thrilled", you mean "ready to punch him in the face".

I required payment for granting their wish. In the form of photpass.

These are great pictures of you and the boys!

And, honestly, that might have been it. Still, EE had been the main goal and the E's were happy, that was all that mattered.

Can't go wrong with a few EE rides!

I wouldn't let them.

I had a plan.

I wouldn't tell them what it was.

But we needed to leave NOW.

Jeff was waiting.

Suspense is killing me!