March 15-22, 2008 Eastern - Way-Way Early Check In

[carolmp]

I'm back. We also hit a record 87 degrees here in St. Paul. And we were in a non-airconditioned bunk house at a YMCA camp. It got a little warm....

For our honeymoon some 19 years ago we went on the Big Red Boat. That's what I finally got around to scrapbooking. That ship isn't very big. So I'm really looking forward to seeing the Magic.

 

[limati]

We broke a record for heat - 91 degrees today. Hopefully we'll finally get our fall temps. later this week. Maybe in the sixties.

I cruised on Carnival several years ago. The look of the cruise ship at that time was very Vegas-like (not that there's anything wrong with Las Vegas!).
Disney ships seem to have a more classic look to them. I can't wait to see it.

Have a great week everyone.

 

[nlm]

I'm back. We also hit a record 87 degrees here in St. Paul. And we were in a non-airconditioned bunk house at a YMCA camp. It got a little warm....

Ackkk! That's a little hot! Hope you at least had a fan.

It's been hot here too. Sunday was 91 and yesterday was 92. Today should be our last hot day and we should finally get some rain tonight. Yeay!! We're about 15 inches below normal for rainfall - so we can really use it.

So - how was the scrapbooking? Did you get a lot accomplished?

 

[carolmp]

Scrapbooking was good. I got caught up in all of the albums that I needed to. I don't take that many pictures. So it's pretty easy for me to keep up. I have a book for each girl where I only do 4 pages a year. Kelly has been dancing for 11 years so I have an album of just dance. (Lauren's dancing too, just not as long, so I haven't started an album for her yet.) I have sports albums for each girl and then my own family albums. I got all of the albums caught up to current and was able to go back to our "life before kids" pictures. Those are mostly just vacations we took. There are very few everyday type of pictures. I'm debating getting the Creative Memories software to do online albums. I have my parent's heritage pictures that I would like to get into an album for the girls. Then I realized that if I do them online I can just print two copies of the pages and give them to each girl. That sounds better to me than trying to manually create two albums.

Well, our weather turned. High of 56 today. We had the air conditioning on over the weekend and now I'm trying to hold off on turning on the furnace! It's pretty windy too, so I'm thinking most of the leaves will blow off. That's always sad. It's snowing in the northern part of the state. I don't want to see that yet!

 

[Pammy jo]

Carol, I do alot of scrapping. Do you post over on the scrapbook board here? I used to all the time, but rarely do anymore. I love doing Disney albums best! Have you tried mousememories.com for supplies? I also get alot of my stuff from Michael's and AM Moore.

 

[nlm]

Scrapbooking was good. I got caught up in all of the albums that I needed to. I don't take that many pictures. So it's pretty easy for me to keep up. I have a book for each girl where I only do 4 pages a year. Kelly has been dancing for 11 years so I have an album of just dance. (Lauren's dancing too, just not as long, so I haven't started an album for her yet.) I have sports albums for each girl and then my own family albums. I got all of the albums caught up to current and was able to go back to our "life before kids" pictures. Those are mostly just vacations we took. There are very few everyday type of pictures. I'm debating getting the Creative Memories software to do online albums. I have my parent's heritage pictures that I would like to get into an album for the girls. Then I realized that if I do them online I can just print two copies of the pages and give them to each girl. That sounds better to me than trying to manually create two albums.

You've got a really great system set up for pictures. My older pictures are all shoved in picture boxes under the bed. It will take a long, long time to organize them. If I ever get around to it, I might just copy your idea of 1 sport book & 1 misc book for each girl.

Well, our weather turned. High of 56 today. We had the air conditioning on over the weekend and now I'm trying to hold off on turning on the furnace! It's pretty windy too, so I'm thinking most of the leaves will blow off. That's always sad. It's snowing in the northern part of the state. I don't want to see that yet!

Okay, this weather is starting to prove my theory of only two seasons - Summer & Winter!

We're still hot - yesterday it was 94 at Dulles airport , today it is suppose to be 83, and tomorrow is only forecasted to be 68. The day after that, everyone will be sick!

 

[carolmp]

Carol, I do alot of scrapping. Do you post over on the scrapbook board here? I used to all the time, but rarely do anymore. I love doing Disney albums best! Have you tried mousememories.com for supplies? I also get alot of my stuff from Michael's and AM Moore.

No, I haven't posted or even looked over there. To be honest, I didn't know that existed. I'll have to check it out. I buy most of my stuff through Creative Memories. But I was really disappointed with the Disney stuff they have. Otherwise I usually go to Archivers. I don't think we have AM Moore's around here, though we do have Michaels. Archivers pulled through for me with some really cute stuff. I'm planning on picking up some things on the cruise. My consultant also gave us a freebie pack of paper/stickers that was beach themed, so I'm saving that for our cruise. It was very timely!

Okay, this weather is starting to prove my theory of only two seasons - Summer & Winter!

We're still hot - yesterday it was 94 at Dulles airport , today it is suppose to be 83, and tomorrow is only forecasted to be 68. The day after that, everyone will be sick!

Yep. Wore my lightweight winter coat to work today. Wore shorts and sandals on Saturday and Sunday. AAARRRGGGHHH! I do like your comment about being sick. Isn't that true?

Nancy, my photo system only works as long as you don't take a lot of pictures. If I did, I'd be in big trouble!

Talk (or whatever this is) to you later.....

 

[nlm]

Yep. Wore my lightweight winter coat to work today. Wore shorts and sandals on Saturday and Sunday. AAARRRGGGHHH! I do like your comment about being sick. Isn't that true?

Nancy, my photo system only works as long as you don't take a lot of pictures. If I did, I'd be in big trouble!

Okay - you've caught me. I'm a believe in quantity and maybe they'll be a few quality shots! Thank goodness for digital cameras....

 

[carolmp]

Yep. Love that digital camera.

I'm starting to look at pictures really differently. Since I got the job to go through my parents' pictures (shoes boxes full), I am going solely for quality now. After looking through all of their pictures I probably assembled about 100 that I thought were keepers (great-grandparents, family functions, our family life in general). I scanned those and am planning on putting them in an album for the girls. Otherwise I probably have 1000+ pictures that I will probably just through away. Either they are bad (which I throw away my own bad ones, so I don't feel guilty), or they aren't anything special. You only need so many pictures of an event. They are all in boxes now, divied up between my siblings. I'm sure they will get thrown at some point or another.

 

[carolmp]

My local Hallmark store had kid's Disney Crocs in it. They even had a sign on the door stating they had them. They didn't have any adult sizes or I might have bought myself a pair. Don't know if they had them or not.

 

[nlm]

My local Hallmark store had kid's Disney Crocs in it. They even had a sign on the door stating they had them. They didn't have any adult sizes or I might have bought myself a pair. Don't know if they had them or not.

I just caved at Labor Day and bought my kids crocs. They had the option of Disney crocs, but went with the plain ones. Our Hallmark has those things you put in the holes of the crocs - like shoe jewelry - that are Disney themed. (PotC, Belle, Ariel, Donald & Daisy, Mickey & Minnie, etc.) Once again I caved and bought a few for the kids. Fortunately, they hate shopping and so they are never in a store to ask for more!

 

[Pammy jo]

I bought some pink disney crocs and I love to weatr them around the house. Very comfortable. Just don't see myself wearing them out in public though. So big! My boys have them and they are cute. (not pink of course) Little ones are very cute.

 

[nlm]

Well, we now have reservations at the Residence Inn AND the Radisson!

Last cruise, we stayed at the Radisson. It was okay - but then we checked in at 1:30am and checked out at 9am, so what do I know? They offered the room, a free shuttle, and parking, but no breakfast.

This cruise, I decided we would try someplace new. I heard good things about the Residence Inn, so I checked it out. I got a great rate, parking and breakfast - but we'd have to pay for the shuttle. I then came up with an elaborate plan where DH would drop us off at the port w/luggage, drive back to hotel, pay for 1 person on the shuttle, and meet us at the port. Same thing reversed on the way back.

Then, thought I'd check out the Radisson again. Their rates dropped! For $15 more than the Residence Inn, we can get the room, bfast for 2, parking, & shuttle. We could all go on the shuttle and save the hassle - hmmmm......

Looks like we're changing to the Radisson and canceling the Residence Inn!

 

[nlm]

Wow - page 3. Where is everyone?

Well, I'll tell you where I just came back from ..... High School Musical on Ice! I'll just say that it was quite a production!

DD10 & DD5 both enjoyed it - and that was what was important. The hardest part was getting out of the center after the performance! The concession stands were everywhere and people were spending money hand over fist. One of the more popular items was the hat that the actress that played Kelsi wore in the movies. They had them in every color!

What's everyone else up to?

 

[carolmp]

Hi Nancy,

We also have tickets to HSM on Ice, but it won't be here until Dec. I think my tickets are for Dec 15th. We have always enjoyed the Disney ice shows. We've been to quite a few. Is this one any good? I have 4 tickets, I was planning on the whole family going. Should I leave my husband and DD14 at home and take two 9-year-old friends?

We actually had state-wide teacher meetings on Thursday and Friday, so the kids were off of school. We went with another family to a resort about 3 hours north of the cities. It was really nice to get away for a while. A nice mini-vacation. We didn't do much. Just spent most of the time either wandering around the resort or hanging out in the room playing video games. Does anyone have the Wii system? Our friends have it. It was really fun. We golfed, bowled and played tennis. I didn't realize I was so athletic! You should have seen my diving saves on the tennis court! They were incredible!

Later,
Carol

 

[carolmp]

I'm thinking I may need to buy some new luggage for this trip and wanted to see what everyone else likes. We have a camping trailer that we typically use for vacation so we don't have much need for luggage. About 8 years ago when we first took the girls to DW we bought a large duffel on wheels. We had a 5 and 2 year old and DH was solely in charge of the luggage. I was in charge of the 2YO. He only wanted to have to deal with one piece of luggage. The salesperson told us that the rolling duffel would hold the most. In fact, it holds so much that that was the only piece of luggage we brought that trip. We each had a carry on, but that duffel held all of our clothes and shoes for a week. It was pretty amazing. The duffel bag has a telescoping handle, so it is very each to handle. It does weigh a ton when fully packed! (I know I need to keep it under airline limits).

Fast forward to 9 years later when the girls clothes are much larger than they were. I won't fit all of our clothes into that duffel anymore. I am contemplating purchasing another one or wondering if I should purchase a larger (24" - 26") standard suitcase. The standard suitcases I have are really old and I know that the new ones have better wheels and handle better than what I have.

What does everyone else have? What do you like/dislike about them? I know I want something on wheels.

Thanks for your help!

 

[nlm]

We also have tickets to HSM on Ice, but it won't be here until Dec. I think my tickets are for Dec 15th. We have always enjoyed the Disney ice shows. We've been to quite a few. Is this one any good? I have 4 tickets, I was planning on the whole family going. Should I leave my husband and DD14 at home and take two 9-year-old friends?

Hi Carol!

The show was good, but I left DH at home and took DD10, DD5 and DD10's friend. I'm glad I left him home - the pre-teen scream/squeals ever time the skater playing Troy did something would have sent him over the edge.

To tell you the truth, I enjoyed Nemo & The Incredibles so much more. This was good, but the skaters were better in other shows that I've seen. Of course, it was their third performance of the day - so I shouldn't be so hard on them. Besides, I can't skate at all - so I have no room to talk!

We actually had state-wide teacher meetings on Thursday and Friday, so the kids were off of school. We went with another family to a resort about 3 hours north of the cities. It was really nice to get away for a while. A nice mini-vacation. We didn't do much. Just spent most of the time either wandering around the resort or hanging out in the room playing video games. Does anyone have the Wii system? Our friends have it. It was really fun. We golfed, bowled and played tennis. I didn't realize I was so athletic! You should have seen my diving saves on the tennis court! They were incredible!

Nope, no Wii here (although it is on Santa's list) Are you planning on getting it?

 

[limati]

We have a Wii and my kids love it. My dd is a boxing star. I like the bowling and we have fun when we play. There is a new game called Carnival that has skeeball (sp?), darts, and balloon pop game that sounds like fun.

As for luggage, I'd like to get our clothes into 2 large suitcases with each of us having a carryon. I'm a notoriously bad packer. We'll see how it goes!

 

[nlm]

I'm thinking I may need to buy some new luggage for this trip and wanted to see what everyone else likes.

What does everyone else have? What do you like/dislike about them? I know I want something on wheels.

We're in the market for some new luggage as well. I'm sick of being "overweight" at the airport and shuffling our stuff from one bag to another while kneeling on the airport floor!

We currently have a set from Atlantic. It's nice, and it's held up very well, but its HEAVY! Next set, I'm going for the light weight stuff. I thought about that spinner luggage, but read too many reports of the wheels breaking off from the "delicate handling" of the baggage people.

I've heard good things about TravelPro. Anyone have any light weight luggage they can recommend?

 

[nlm]

Okay - I got my Disney fix today. First, I saw the Mickey hamburger patties at the grocery store that Carol talked about earlier. Then, I got home to find mail from the Disney Cruise Line. It was basically a "Welcome back aboard" letter w/travel kit.

One interesting thing it listed was planning dates. Our booking date for excursions, spa, and Palo reservations is December 16th. Hmmm - I'm not ready to book yet! I've got a lot more research to do yet. Better get a move on...

Anyone else get this?

P.S. - Whoo hoo - we made it to 200 posts!