Making Good on a Very Merry Promise! COMPLETE!

[lovebuzzandwoody]

It is his wife???

My big sister? Nope. But that would be cool!

HAPPY BDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BDAY DEAR NICOLE, HAPPY BDAY TO YOU!!!!

Thanks Sharky! It's happy so far!

Aaaaahhhhh! Did she say WHO's John Schneider ?

She did... she really did. But we'll forgive her cuz she's just a youngin'.

Thank you!!! (That's my birthday dance!)

 

[Poohtigeey]

I had the Dukes of Hazzard metal lunch box !!

I had a metal Holly Hobbie lunch box. Thanks for the memory flashback!

Since everyone else admitted their crushes I'll admit that I was more into the "hair bands" so I had a HUGE poster of Jon Bon Jovi over my bed Along w/ some others that I don't want to admit to!


Happy Birthday Nicole!

 

[OrangeBlossom15]

I had a metal Holly Hobbie lunch box. Thanks for the memory flashback!

Since everyone else admitted their crushes I'll admit that I was more into the "hair bands" so I had a HUGE poster of Jon Bon Jovi over my bed Along w/ some others that I don't want to admit to!
COLOR][/SIZE]

Yes well quite a few years after John S. it was Motley Crue for me (did i just say that out loud?).

 

[Goofyluver]

Happy Birthday!!!!!

 

[mkluvsmickey]

Happy Birthday Nicole!!

 

[Leger13]

due to all the other birthday wishes I'm gonna guess it is your birthday. I'm not caught all the way up so I"m not current with all the catter but I will trust all the others and say

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!

Hope it's awesome and fun and awesomely fun!!

 

[Leger13]

ooo... withholding forgiveness! Tricky!

Don't blame you for bailing! I didn't mind it until Christmas but after that it was brutal. Especially on the west side of the state where you get all that lovely lake effect snow.



Good, you're caught up! Now I will continue. I was waiting for you... uh-huh, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!



Here's the thing... I haven't typed the next installment yet! I'll get right on it but in tihe mean time... how about some better pics?!?


Here is me and Evan and Owen (E is on your right and O is on your left)...

Here is my DH... shh... he doesn't know I'm putting him on here!

Here is Abby...

Now you have faces for inside your head while you read!

Pictures!! Your family is beautiful!! It's nice to have faces to go with the names. Thanks for sharing

 

[Leger13]

Okay… since you really want to know!

So… we have decided on the week after Thanksgiving. Sort of. We are starting our vacation on Friday, the day after Turkey Day and heading back home the following Friday. Because… we can! And we are driving. It’s only a 10 hour drive from here and flights for the 5 of us plus a rental car… out of the question.

Now… where should we stay?

This is where I begin to spend every waking hour on the DIS and the Disney website. I was lurking and reading everything! I priced every possible thing you could imagine. See… we have 3 kids. That means our options are: Values - family suites; Moderates – POR, using a trundle; Deluxe or DVC. Deluxe and DVC… tooooo much! Mods… double beds – no, we are not little people.

I finally decided that the best thing to do was get 2 connecting rooms at a Value… it’s actually cheaper than the family suite. I added all that up with tickets and presented my findings to the moneymaker. He choked a little bit. He then suggests we check off-site. Darn. He remembered that I was willing to stay off-site for the trip that never was and he called me on it. So… we checked out that Hilton … turns out you can’t get that room for $150 a night anymore! We checked every other hotel known to man. The fact remains that 5 people in one hotel room just isn’t very comfortable. The boys have to share a bed and one of them always falls out! And Abby has to sleep on a pull out sofa or a roll away and that leaves her feeling like the stepchild.

So I started looking at vrbo.com. Lots of folks rent a house or a condo. I found a few things and showed them to Tom later that night. One of them was a new condo-tel place called Lake Buena Vista Resort and Spa. It looks lovely. Brand new. Granite counter-tops, stainless appliances, big huge flat screen TV in the LR. We looked at a 2 bd/2 bath unit and saw that it had a king in the master, twins in the 2nd, and a pull out sofa in the living room. Abby could sleep on the sofa. Uh-oh, she heard that. She said, “People, for once in my life could I sleep in a real bed on vacation?!?” Well… there’s a 3 bd/3 bath for about fifty more bucks – total. SURE! In fact, you can have your own bedroom and bathroom. We were, even if ever so briefly, rock stars to her! So we booked it right then. We are staying off-site to the tune of $1200 for 7 nights.

PLEASE DON’T LEAVE ME NOW THAT YOU KNOW!!!

I do wish we were staying on-site… right there in the middle of it all. I love the total immersion… the all Disney, all the time. But the truth is, DH does not. Plus, this way we can spread out and hopefully not hate each other by the time our vacation is over! So, we did it my way last time and this time we will try it his way. He’s happy… that goes a loooong way in my book! And if it is a disaster… it’s all HIS fault.

I’ve given you a lot to read today so I’ll stop here. Coming soon… how many days will we visit the parks? What night are we going to MVMCP? Are we going to any “other” parks on this trip? I hope you will all stick around to find out… even though I’m a traitor.

off property is great too. Sounds like you got a really good deal on the rental property. We rented a house off property too once and it was a dream. Not all disney all the time but it was sooooooo nice to have our own pool and jacuzzy and own bedrooms and kitchen and all the other extras. We rented the house for about $1800 I think and it was a 6 bedroom. I did find a 3 bedroom recently that would've been about $1000 for our trip to WDW in Dec '08 but since that's my In Laws first trip to WDW I want them to get the full experiance so we're gonna stay at All Star Movies instead.

Anyways, I hope you guys have a blast at the off property rental. It will for sure be a whole new experiance.

 

[Leger13]

I'm a VETERAN BABY!









​

I wasn't even paying attention to that today! I just posted my 500th on DDads' thread telling Trentmom, Kindakrazy and OrangeBlossom that they almost made me pee my pants! CLASSY!

congrats on Veteran status.

at the post that got you to your 500th. Thats just too funny

Roxanne and Steve?? That reminds me of the movie Roxanne with Steve Martin in it..that movie always cracked me up

I love this movie too. The huge nose cracks me up every time

 

[Leger13]

I am the cool uncle!!!

Did you notice how LOVEBUZZANDWOODY named her kids??
Abby
Evan
Owen

Equals AEO- American Eagle Outfitters

This way she has a whole store with clothes preprinted with the kids initials!!!LOL!!!!!!

CYA!!!

hi to the cool uncle.

AEO me up!! Hillarious!!

Nice to meet the cool Uncle John!

Did you say they go to WDW without their children!?!?!?!? Now there's a big NO-NO...j/k. I'd love to go without the kids, and without the husband, too. Maybe do a girls trip sometime. That would be fun!!!

Hey - maybe we could do a DIS girls trip and leave the hubbies and kids at home!!

a DIS girls trip sounds awesome!! I think Chris would be upset at me though. I've talked a couple of times about doing a girls disney trip and he always finds some way to tell me he has to come too he's so silly

 

[Leger13]

You could still go...send the kids to that "other park and you guys do Disney. Its win win.

Maybe we'll have to change the DIS girls trip to a DIS adults trip. But no sticks in the mud allowed.


This is true!

turning the dis girls trip to a dis adults trip sounds excellent. Chris will like that better.

Moving right along! The next step in this wonderful process was buying park tickets! I was really excited about this part because it meant we were REALLY going… no turning back! I thought about going into the Disney store and getting them there. That’s what I did last time. But then I was reading on Mousesaver’s one day that the price of tickets was going up… the NEXT day! We decided we would just go ahead and order them online through the Disney site. We saved about 50 bucks buying them before the increase. Hey, 50 bucks is 50 bucks! I’ll take it! They arrived pretty quickly too! They are lovely! Each one has a different character on them and the kids all picked out which one they wanted to use! Abby chose Cinderella, Owen chose the Incredibles and Evan chose Mickey, Goofy and Donald in the teacups. Tom and I were left with Mickey ones. But then I realized that the Cinderella one is an age 3-9 ticket! Great… that will go over really well! I haven’t broken the news yet. Oh well, they can just trade after the trip!

So how many days will we be enjoying the happiest place on earth? Well, we get there on a Friday but Tom didn’t want to drive all day and then go to a park. Sadly, he is probably right. So that leaves 6 full days. Tom really wants a day off somewhere in the middle of the trip. Something about wanting to relax on his vacation… whatever. Baby! Okay, so now we’re down to 5 days. BUT! We’ve promised the kids we’d do “another” park. That leaves 4 days. As you all know… if you are going to buy 4 days you might as well buy the 5th day! It was like 10 bucks more total… a no brainer. So! We have 5 day passes… no hopper. We got hopper last time and used it once. It was $200 to add it and we decided not to. I’ll let you know if we come to regret it! So when will we use the 5th day? I’ve got an idea and it just might work… I’ll fill you in on that one later though!

On to MVMCP! We did not do this the last time because they don’t do it after Christmas. We did see the special parade because after Christmas they run it for everyone… not just the MVMCP crowd. It was great! But not enough for me! I cannot tell you how excited I am to go to this party! SNOW on Main Street… who wouldn’t want to see that? I ordered these tix online too and printed them myself… saving a whooping $3.00 for postage! Now I wish I’d have paid the stupid $3 and got “real tickets” that we could keep instead of 5 sheets of paper. Oh well… next time. Anyway, I digress. We had 3 nights to choose from to go to the party. Sun., Tues., and Thursday. I poured over everything I could get my hands on to read about which night to go! Again… looking to avoid crowds! Drum roll please…. I chose Tuesday the 27th! Here is the great thing… when you are going to a hard ticket event you don’t have to use a daily ticket to get in! AND they let you in at 4 o’clock even though the party doesn’t start until 7 pm. Sweet! This is the one night we will drag our children around as late as possible! I really am expecting this to be the absolute highlight of our trip. (Insert prayer for no rain here!)

So, what else did I promise you in this update? Oh yeah, the “other” park! Yes, it is Sea World! Remember when we took the kids to Chicago for the “consolation” trip? I mentioned we went to Shedd’s Aquarium. (If ever you find yourself in the windy city you really should go! We love it!) Well, my kids were fascinated by the Oceanarium. They have beluga whales, dolphins, sea lions and seals (I think) and a variety of other ocean creatures. Anyway, the belugas and the dolphins were a huge hit with my kids! They talked about it for months afterward. Evan decided he was going to be a dolphin trainer when he grew up and Owen decided he was going to be the ticket taker. Yep, the one who collected the tickets from the nice people who came to see his brother’s dolphin show! Ambitious, huh? (Just so you know… he has bigger plans now… he’s going to be a farmer and a firefighter! ) So we decided a long time ago that when we got back to Disney we would also go to Sea World. We took Abby when she was 3 to the one in Ohio that is no longer there. She loved it and so did I… I love Shamu! We are still undecided about whether or not to do the “Dine with Shamu” buffet. If anyone out there has done it, please share your thoughts.

So, that is all for today folks! Coming soon… what in the World (pun most definately intended) will we do with that 5th day ticket? Does Nicole have something up her sleeve to make her trip longer than originally planned? And will there be a special visitor during our trip? Stay with me to find out!

sounds like you've got something up your sleve for that 5th day. I'm so jealous that you are getting to go to MVMCP. I don't get to go until next year. Now you have to do a TR when you get back to tell me all about MVMCP.

I haven't been to sea world since i was very little. I wonder how it is today. Chris has no desire to go there since that's the only place his parents would take him when he was growing up...never to disney . i think going to sea world would bring back bad memories for him oh well. maybe we'll go back when we have kids. id like to see how its changed.

can you believe I"m almost caught up!? off to page 10 now

What Up Leger!!! Glad to see you here

haha im sure you knew i'd be here sooner or later. we always end up in the same places lol

 

[Leger13]

Cool..all the cool people are here

hey, I'm cool who knew!?





Thanks sharky

 

[Leger13]

guess what.....

I'M ALL CAUGHT UP FINALLY!!!!! ​

Just thought I'd announce that.

 

[Tat2ddisneymom]

Well, I'm not as old as Tom! He turns 40 on Sunday!

Its always fun to make fun of the hubbys that are older than we are.

HAPPY BDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BDAY DEAR NICOLE, HAPPY BDAY TO YOU!!!!

Yes, Happy Birthday! Hope its a good one.

Aaaaahhhhh! Did she say WHO's John Schneider ?

I'm sorry, is that bad?

I had the Dukes of Hazzard metal lunch box !!

I had Daisy Duke underroos. Does that count for anything?

She did... she really did. But we'll forgive her cuz she's just a youngin'.

Ok, thank you!

I had a metal Holly Hobbie lunch box. Thanks for the memory flashback!

Since everyone else admitted their crushes I'll admit that I was more into the "hair bands" so I had a HUGE poster of Jon Bon Jovi over my bed Along w/ some others that I don't want to admit to!


Happy Birthday Nicole!

I think my metal lunch box was Smurfs.

I was into the hair bands, too. And I still am. Why don't you want to admit that?

Yes well quite a few years after John S. it was Motley Crue for me (did i just say that out loud?).

Nothing wrong with Motley Crue! They were awesome!!!

 

[Poohtigeey]

I was into the hair bands, too. And I still am. Why don't you want to admit that?

Nothing wrong with Motley Crue! They were awesome!!!

Um, because I was in love with Slash from Guns N Roses...

I loved Motley Crue too!

 

[lovebuzzandwoody]

Since everyone else admitted their crushes I'll admit that I was more into the "hair bands" so I had a HUGE poster of Jon Bon Jovi over my bed Along w/ some others that I don't want to admit to!


Happy Birthday Nicole!

Thank you Monica! It has been a happy day!

A hairband you don't want to admit... hmmm... I'm gonna guess White Snake!
You know you wish you were on the hood of that car!!!

Happy Birthday!!!!!

Thank you very much!!!

Happy Birthday Nicole!!

Thanks Michelle!

due to all the other birthday wishes I'm gonna guess it is your birthday. I'm not caught all the way up so I"m not current with all the catter but I will trust all the others and say

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!

Hope it's awesome and fun and awesomely fun!!

Thank you Carla! It's been fun so far!

guess what...

I'M ALL CAUGHT UP FINALLY!!!!! ​

You're up to speed!!!


Thank you all so much for the birthday wishes! I've had fun today... some friends took me out for lunch (yum, Kung Pao Chicken!), ya'll left me birthday wishes and there is a chocolate cake in my very near future!! It's all good!

I'll check in later... but probably won't post an update tonight. Time to go help the kids with their homework now!
~Nicole

 

[lovebuzzandwoody]

Um, because I was in love with Slash from Guns N Roses...

I loved Motley Crue too!

I missed it... you snuck that in here while I was deleting smilies! There were 34! OOps!

Oh, I see, you like the bad boys!
I still think my guess was a good one!

 

[Tat2ddisneymom]

Um, because I was in love with Slash from Guns N Roses...

I loved Motley Crue too!

I am still in love with Slash. He's such a mess, but a total hottie!

 

[Poohtigeey]

I am still in love with Slash. He's such a mess, but a total hottie!

Actually I was watching a show on rocker wives, and I was pretty impressed with some of them. He seems like a good dad. Eeewww he's a dad! That kind of takes away from the sexy bad boy image!

I still have all of my cassette tapes and can't seem to part with them! I loved Poison too!

Nicole, I liked White Snakes music, but as a teenager the lead singer seemed really OLD!!!

Since you highjacked my report with tee shirt pictures I'm going to highjack your's with "I love the 90's!"

 

[mkluvsmickey]

Ok - I'll chime in with my hair band crush! I loved Mike Tramp from White Lion!

My roommate and I had a poster in our dorm at college (1991?) of a group - it was two brothers with long big blond hair. It is driving me nuts trying to remember who it was.... Anyone know what I'm talking about? I'm sure I have the CD around here somewhere.