Marriage: The Trip Report - Update 2/28 - Final Thoughts & Link to Disneyland TR!

[vamassey1]

Just got caught back up. Sorry about your Dad. Hopefully the surgery will help him

Sounds like you had a blast on vacation. Look forward to your return.

 

[John's Mom]

I'm glad your dad is doing better. Will keep him in my prayers.

Kathy

 

[PopArtGal]

Only a few more days until I see you! I can'T wait!

 

[brookelizabeth]

Glad to hear your Dad is doing better. Have a safe trip and see ya on FB.

Oh, and thanks you for the postcard. It was a nice surprise!

Your welcome!!!

So glad your dad is doing better!

Have a great trip to Minnesota!

Thank you! I'll do a "Dad update" below!

I hadn't read about your dad on fb (I'm not the best facebooker!)... I'm so sorry to hear he's been in the hospital!! I hope he continues to get better & you have a nice visit - not at the hospital!

Have a great trip!!

Thank you Amy for your words! Thankfully our visit was not at the hospital. (I was a bit scared it would be!)

I have started OUR PTR this morning. I would like to invite anyone to read it. I have invited Brook to add to it as well ,since this trip is hers, as well as mine.

Jen and Brook's Excellent Adventure

THANK YOU JEN! I posted over there quick and will catch up!!!

Headed over

So glad to hear your Dad is doing better. Maybe this will put the scare in him that he needs to start taking better care of himself.

Hope you enjoy your visit with your family in Minnesota!

So far it has done just that. He's scared - it seems to be it was a real wake up call this time...which is exactly what he needs!

FUN!!!!! i haven't been camping if forever!!! have tons of fun because i always remeber the ones that i have with family and friends!!

It was a BLAST! And oh, we have some stories to tell.... I'll be doing an update about our MN visit on my blog, and once I have it done, I'll post a link here for anyone who is interested!

I'm so happy to hear that your dad is doing better. Maybe this scare will make him start living a healthier lifestyle. Hope you guys have a nice trip!

Exactly! So far, that is just what it has done. I am hoping it stays that way. He NEEDS to be healthy.

Hoping your dad continues to do better. Safe Trip and we will see you when you check in.

Thank you!!!

I'm sorry to read about your dad's health but am glad that he is better.

Have a great trip

Thank you! He is doing better - but has quite the road in front of him too.

Prayers for your father! Enjoy the time back with family!

Thank you!

So what's this about a Feb trip?! When will you be there? My bday is on the 10th & I wanted to take a cruise but my friend who could go didn't want to. I'm thinking though that I should head down for a few days & relax, have some spa days, etc.

Have fun in MN!

WHAT?! Who doesn't want to take a cruise?! Man! That stinks! And yes, I think you should head down! We will be there the last full week of Feb, somewhere around the 18-26. It's not TOTALLY set in stone yet, because we will have to buy passes and that is expensive but, we usually find a way to swing just about any Disney trip.

Brook, I'm glad your dad is doing better now. Will keep you all in my prayers.

So fun that you'll be camping! We've been camping out a lot lately. Well, not exactly "out," since the tent is actually in the living room. Still, it's great fun and safe from these super-duper T-storms. As if the new neighbors didn't already think I'm nuts. But that's OK; their kids love me.

Happy trails & have a ball in MN!!!

Thank you for the prayers!

I LOVE that you have been camping in your living room! Love it, love it! That is the kind of stuff kids will remember forever. It's simple and easy and FUN! I'm certain my neighbors think I'm nuts as well. And I don't speak Greek, so they can even talk about me in front of me and I wouldn't know!

Hi Brook!! I just wanted to say hi because I joined in here and then got sooooo far behind...it just took me two days to catch up as I was months behind... However, I HAVE been keeping up with your fb updates and enjoying your pics and all your fun adventures! Hope you're having a great time in MN!

I SO understand about being behind. No matter what I do, I can't seem to get caught up here, so just do your best when you can!

 

[brookelizabeth]

Hi,

I don't post frequently but I have read all your reports and enjoy your writing. I will be staying at the boardwalk while your at the beach club in august with my 3 boys, husband and mother. I will have my eye out for Henry as I feel like I know him from all the reports!

Thank you for reading and posting!!!! Henry and Joe might be hanging around quite a bit in the YC/BC area, if I can get them into the pool. Henry could literally spend the ENTIRE day there, just digging and playing. If you happen to see us - or even just Joe and Henry while I'm at a meeting - be sure to say hello! Don't worry, Joe won't think you are crazy if you say you are a DIS friend-he knows all about it!

Hello! I am loving your TP you are such an awesome writer! I came over from Jen PTR about your TA trip coming up! JEALOUS! I am a TA as well, and for some reason this August one was available to us (we are EarMarked, but we were offered the one in June).. very strange.. anyway. I can't wait to follow along with you and Jen as you guys go in August.. I'll be going for sure in November!!

Your son is adorable! and I totally laughed about the clicking at soaring! I wait for it too..

I hope your dad is doing better as well.

I am thinking it has to do with the EarMarked thing - I had no idea they had different conferences for different agencies! I know I have a PM from you too, I'll be responding soon!

Thank you for reading - and your sweet comments! Isn't that clicking sound the best? There is NO other sound like it....only on Soarin'!

Brooke, I am all caught up again, I am SO SORRY to hear about your Dad! What is this I hear about a new TRIP??? How fun, I will have to check it out!

Yes! August! It was TOTALLY spur of the moment...but Disney can be cheap with a timeshare and APs. Good thing for Joe and Henry! I'll be posting over on Jen's PTR since I obviously have enough on my hands with just this...

Brook, glad you are having a fun time in MN. And hope your dad is doing better.

Thank you Kathy!

Brook! I got the job at Disney and will be there July 26th working at Epcot if you are going anytime soon I forgot to mention.
Hope your dad is feeling better!

CONGRATULATIONS! I posted on Facebook, asking where you were working - but now I see this! Epcot! HOW VERY VERY COOL! Will you be in Canada? We will be there in August, so I'll definitely look for you!!!

No, we just wanted to go to MNSSHP and the F&W Festival. I did think it would be kind of fun to wear anniversary pins, but celebrating two months late seems like a bit of a stretch.

Hope you had a great 4th of July!!

I think you can still make it work with the anniversary buttons if you want to. Go for it! Lots of people celebrate early/late due to travel plans.

Glad you're having a good time in MN, Brook. I just got back after visiting family also.

Thanks Glenn! I hope you had a great time with your family.

Just got caught back up. Sorry about your Dad. Hopefully the surgery will help him

Sounds like you had a blast on vacation. Look forward to your return.

Thank you! I am nervous about the surgery, but like you said - I hope it will help him. He is looking forward to it right now, because of the pain he's in...but it still makes me nervous!

I'm glad your dad is doing better. Will keep him in my prayers.

Kathy

Thank you!!



DAD UPDATE:
I know many of you saw this on Facebook, but I thought I'd post it here as well. My Dad was released from the hospital while I was in Minnesota, and he came to visit at my Mom's house. He was looking a bit rough-but I guess what do you expect, right? I could tell he was "scared straight" and he was very determined to do things right this time - he's on a bazillion different meds, on the nicotine patch, and on a low-carb diet. He truly has NO clue about living a healthy lifestyle, he literally thought summer sausage was a good choice....yikes. However, he will be living with his brother - who is a cardiac nurse at the Mayo Clinic (he has worked on my Dad even). So thankfully, he knows a thing or two about what to do. My biggest concern is that my Dad has been in this situation before-where he started down the right path of quitting smoking and eating right....but old habits creep in and soon he's back to the same old. He CANNOT do that this time. It's more serious than it ever has been. He's been diagnosed with diabetes and will be scheduled for open heart surgery when his doctor returns to the United States (he's overseas working right now-helping in a poor country on a medical mission sort of thing). He is determined to quit over-the-road-trucking, which is a HUGE factor to his unhealthy choices, so that is a good move. Keep him in your prayers please! He needs to stay on this path of healthy choices. I'll keep you posted as I hear things. THANK YOU everyone for your kind words, thoughts and prayers - they mean so much to me!

 

[brookelizabeth]

Only a few more days until I see you! I can'T wait!

I have no idea how this didn't get included in the mass reply.

All well!

I KNOW! YAY!!!! I was just looking at my calendar and realized it was SATURDAY!

 

[Softballgirl27]

sweet i love camping! i am glad to hear your dad is out of the hospital

 

[tiggrbaby]

Prayers that your dad stays on the straight and narrow!

 

[dekkerdisneydreamer]

Hi Brook,

Glad that you are safe in sound in the good 'ol NYC. From the looks of FB you've had a blast in MN with your family and peeps.

I truly hope that your dad stays on the path to a healthy lifestyle. Lord knows it's not easy and I will keep him in my thoughts and prayers.

 

[brookelizabeth]

sweet i love camping! i am glad to hear your dad is out of the hospital

Thanks! I'm so relieved he is out - hopefully everything with the surgery goes very smoothly.

It was a lot of fun! Lots of bugs and a thunderstorm too.

Prayers that your dad stays on the straight and narrow!

Thank you!

Hi Brook,

Glad that you are safe in sound in the good 'ol NYC. From the looks of FB you've had a blast in MN with your family and peeps.

I truly hope that your dad stays on the path to a healthy lifestyle. Lord knows it's not easy and I will keep him in my thoughts and prayers.

We did! It was a great trip. Before we know it, the snow will be flying and we'll be back visiting too.

Thank you for the prayers!

 

[brookelizabeth]

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

We left off with some late night rides at Epcot and hopping over to MK for a flight to Neverland and to defeat Zurg.

As we went to bed, I was feeling a bit off. I was exhausted. We decided NOT to set an alarm, expecting our trusty toddler would wake us up with plenty of time to make the 9:30 AM "Big Small World DIS Meet" at the Magic Kingdom.

Well...how is it that kids only sleep in when you don't want them to??? Henry woke us up at 8 AM, so we scurried around the Villa, but we managed. While on the bus it started to sprinkle...

Video: Magic Kingdom Bus Spiel (1:16) - this is an awful video, it's sideways! But, the bus spiel is always fun to listen to!

We made it to MK just after 9, and rushed through the rain over to Small World.

Awesome DIS kids!!

Amy (DisMomAmy) had brought stickers and Henry was so beyond excited about them! It was like he had never had stickers before in his life - he could hardly even listen or focus on anything but them! LOL

All DIS families!

Jill (BrooklynnsMommy) ordered us up a boat for 17 (or was it 19?) and off we went on the Happiest Cruise that Ever Sailed.

As SOON as we rounded the corner with the end of the ride I heard one of Amy's boys ask "Are we done now?" They were not havin' that Small World! Really though, we all enjoyed it! It was so much fun meeting everyone!!

Just as the cruise ended another DISer, Stacy, appeared--so a few people rode again, but Henry had already spotted his new favorite across the road....so we said our good-byes and

went flying again! The wait time had listed 25 minutes, but we waited less than 10!

We didn't have any plans for the morning - just a relaxed sort of day, so we again let Henry take the lead and he pointed us in the direction for everyone's favorite singing bears.

On the way I took some pictures of the skyway area because I knew they would be demolishing it soon for new bathrooms. In case you haven't read, the sky way tower has come down and a new building will be put there for bathrooms. The ones behind the Peter Pan queue will be destroyed and the Pan queue will become BIGGER yet. However, there is rumor of it getting the "NextGen" (interactive, ala Pooh) queue. AND, the pathways in that area are going to be changed a bit - the pathway will go behind the Yankee Trader and you'll somehow come out near the gift cart for the Haunted Mansion. All to allow for better flow in and out of Fantasyland. I haven't a clue what they are going to do with the massive stroller parking....

It's such a pretty building!

I just kept snapping pictures...

And apparently we went inside...probably for no real reason, other than we had never been in that store.

Cute little fox stuffed animals

And right next door was our destination

Wrong settings on the camera...oops!

It's not a "must do" on our trips, but it's always fun to do!

Continued in next post

 

[brookelizabeth]

After we sang and clapped our hands we had worked up a small appetite for a sweet, so into the shop we went

Hmmm...what looks good?

Joe was into the treats, but I spotted this

Henry had no idea who that big dude was, but he was elated to see him! But, Brer Bear was busy scoping out the candy--and "getting a hug" from his CM. As you might be able to tell he had a costume malfunction and she was fixing it!

Brer Bear took a minute to give Henry a quick hug on his way out

we made our purchases and stepped out just in time to see the start of the Frontierland Hoedown!

I had NO idea this even happened on a regular basis! I believe it normally occurs during the late afternoon, but this was still well before lunch. What a FUN event! My pictures are terrible because it was still on the settings for inside the Country Bear Jamboree, but hopefully it gives you an idea. Lots of dancing and singing and characters!

Henry got asked to dance by several different CMs and even the characters, but he refused. All he wanted was his SUCKERS that we bought from the store!

Meanwhile, Brer Bear was doing the Hokey Pokey 3 inches from us

No interest.

All well! I had fun!

After the hoedown we started to wander a bit - Joe took the camera, fixed the settings, and proceeded to get some beautiful shots!

As we approached Main Street we decided to grab some lunch. It was just before 11 AM and Casey's was just about to open. Like the Frontierland Hoedown, I had no idea Casey's sang when opening! How fun!

Video: Take Me Out to the Ballgame! (39 seconds)

We were shortly in the door and ordering at the counter. I noticed the gourmet hotdogs now on their regular menu:

While we waited for our order...

The Jesse costume freaks me out a bit. Am I alone in this? What happened to her neck?

And soon we were sitting and enjoying our food

NOT MINE.

Yes, you read that correctly. These were NOT MINE! Those were Joe's!

I figured I had many days still in front of me, plenty of time to get my Golden Beauties, so I opted for

The Chicago Sytle Dog instead! I am orginally from Chicago, and I LOVE real Chicago hot dogs, so I had to try it! It was pretty good - not fantastic. And, I've read this on other reports as well, the bun was too long...which was weird. But, I'd order it again!

After our bellies were full we made a quick pit stop over at First Aid. Remember that little blister I had? It was getting worse with the wet shoes from the morning rain, so I got a few band-aids and Joe took this:

Nice work hon!

Continued in next post

 

[brookelizabeth]

Henry asked to go to the hotel - and to have a Mickey Bar AT the hotel. So, that's just what we decided we'd do! We started out of the park and I was click-happy

When we arrived at the buses we saw a Yacht Club/Beach Club bus was there - so we hopped on board - we had always wanted to check out the Yacht Club, and now seemed like a good time!

Up Next: Crazy Birds and Ice Cream.

 

[mermaid764]

What an awesome MK morning you guys had, I love the scenery pics by Crystal Palace and the pic of Henry holding the statue's hands..too cute!

Can't wait to hear about the Yacht Club

 

[bellebookworm9]

this is an awful video, it's sideways! But, the bus spiel is always fun to listen to!

Listening to that bus spiel just now made me so happy! ...And I just realized we probably won't hear it on our next trip, since we plan to boat to DHS then bus to WL, as opposed to bussing to MK, boating to WL, and then boating back to MK.

I had forgotten, but I think we went into that store! One of the CMs (I think she was a manager type because she wasn't in a costume) saw that my name was smudged on my birthday button, so she took it, wiped it off, and rewrote it on!

The Jesse costume freaks me out a bit. Am I alone in this? What happened to her neck?

Oooohh that M&M cup looks yummy, that's definitely on my list of things to try!

I never noticed before, but yeah, that Jessie costume is a little scary!

Such beautiful pictures in these updates-I really like this B&tB one. Can't wait to hear about your adventures at the Yacht Club!

 

[onelilspark]

WHAT?! You didn't get corn dog nuggets?! It makes me sad :'(


On another note...*grumble grumble* I love how it never fails when you go to Disney you find something new that you never knew happened before!

 

[2xcited2sleep]

Fun updates! I am sad about the sky way building but I suppose whatever improves traffic in Fantasyland will be a welcome change!

I think the DIS podcast mentioned the hoedown recently. It sounded like something the CMs might initiate when rainy to generate excitement and improve spirits. Very cute. Too funny H only had eyes for the candy.

Great photos, as usual!

 

[Missyrose]

Wuh-hoo! You're back! Great updates, what a nice, leisurely morning at MK. How was Minnesota?

 

[Disneybuckeye]

Coming out of lurkdom to tell you how much I am enjoying your report. I am so jealous! Two weeks and then another trip in May and then again in August! You go Girl!

Sound like you are having a great time. I am so sad about the restrooms behind Peter Pan. Those were my favorite as after all it says Princess on the door (plus they never seem to have a line when I am there).

I also saw your picture with Jen and Anita on Jen's trip report. Looks like you had a great time at Cape May.

Looking forward to reading more!

 

[*dreamit*doit*]

this!!!