Mingos in the Watah! What in the Wuhld?

[Mic_n_Min]

Enjoy your weekend with all of your girls, your ice cream, your laptop and your HGTV! You deserve every moment of it!

Have a safe and wonderful 3-day weekend celebrating Labor Day everyone!

 

[Poolrat]

Bella would be first in line for a DIStown swim class!

I would love to be the Distown swim instructor.

Happy Friday, everyone!
I plan to have a big bowl of ice cream for my dinner, and then I'm hanging out with the laptop and HGTV for the evening. That's as exciting as it gets, but I'm pretty psyched about it. You guys have a great day and a safe and fun and hopefully long weekend!

Sounds relaxing. I get the whole weekend off, even Monday.

I have some things that need to get done but overall, relaxing after a long, hot, summer is at the top of the list.

 

[MeMom]

Happy Friday, MeMom!!

I hope you enjoy your HGTV tonight, I'm recording all the House Hunters International episodes tonight since I'm off to my inlaws for dinner. I can't get enough of that show!

I ended up only watching one House Hunters show. By the time I got back from the funeral home and got all my school stuff into the house and sorted, ate my ice cream, and caught up with a few tasks, I was done. I think I fell asleep with the computer in my lap about 9:20. It was sure nice not having to get up and go this morning.

Happy Friday, MeMom and Jill!

Sounds like a long week for you, MeMom. Mine hasn't been quite as long but I have to work a half day tomorrow Today is Chris' mom's 50th birthday so we are going out tonight. Honestly though, nights like you are going to have are more my speed!! Enjoy it!

I don't know that I have ever been as ready for a Labor Day break as a I have been for this one. As far as my kids, so far they've been a pretty good class, so I have no complaints there, but the paperwork we are having to do right now has that building seeing a crowd of teachers coming in early and staying late more than ever.

Hope your birthday celebration was fun!

I get pretty psyched about those kinds of evenings myself! We're not boring... we just appreciate the small joys of life!

I could barely keep my eyes open last night. I didn't care if I was boring or not - I just needed to be away from the world and get some sleep!

Sounds like my kind of evening!! Great plans!!

Even a night hunkering down with HGTV and the DIS was too much. I fell asleep and bailed out on even that much excitement.

Laptop and HGTV sounds wonderful (That is what I am very happy with right now!!!)

I have to go back and reread- I missed the explanation of a Memom party- but I really think it is a great idea...celebrate Memom!!!

I am hoping that next week is easier for you (and all teachers) Memom! Did you start your second job?

Six weeks until Disney!

After hearing about all the new things we were going to be doing at school and factoring in the bring home money, I had already turned down the Y job. Now that school has started, I realize that was the absolute correct decision. There is no possible way I could be doing anything more right now.

Running Records and DIBELS testing is finished now, so we get to start teaching next week. We were supposed to have our new teacher starting Tuesday, but she's not starting until Thursday. When the ones she is getting from my class are gone, we can finally settle into a routine. I don't have enough desks in my room, so two of my kids are having to sit at the Reading table. They have to clear their things when we work back there and they move to other desks temporarily. It seems like little stuff, but it just adds to the chaos that already exists in a room of 24 6 and 7 year olds. We have one week to get into a routine, then we disrupt it to test for two weeks, then we settle in...finally!!!

Happy Friday!

Your evening sounds wonderful!
I recorded a couple House Hunters Vacation Homes episodes this week that I havn't gotten a chance to see.
3 night shifts in a row.
I will have time soon...cause I get Sun, Mon & Tues off!

Yesterday morning before work I organized my travel book...printed out the car rental, Seaworld and Flight stuff.
We got Mickey mail! Our first ME tags!!!

It's very new worrying about how heavy the suitcases are and choosing what to bring and not bring.
When we travel by car it doesn't matter.

Wig'd I'm glad Mark's surgery went well. I'm sure he will be quite happy to be loved on by the girls with remote in hand.
He needs to get a good "t.v. season" or "series" on DVD that he has never had the time to watch.

Ahhh...LOVE Soarin!!!! Oranges and Pine...ocean breezes...watch out for the golf ball!

I wish I could have a room in my house that was full of Disney plush that I could go hang out in.
My happy place when life get's to me.

I've never seen those Mickey ears from different countries before. Very neat!

Mousegears is where I usually spend the most money and World of Disney too!
I just read that AP holders get a discount at WoD!!!!
I hope I can find a Dooney & Bourke bag with good placement there....cause I have my suspicions (Lexi told me) that I may be getting one of those bags for my birthday... Love my DMom!!!

Shhhh! It's a secret. Don't worry, I will act surprized.

I think this morning before work I will go tackle cleaning out the fridge..."oh joy, oh bliss" as they say.

I wish I could have a Memom party too!

Enjoy the weekend all!

I am so glad to hear that you have three days off. You so deserve it!

Magical Express is awesome. The movie will get you really pumped for your adventure to come!

It's different for us when we drive, because we are so used to getting our 3 oz. bottles in quart sized bags for air travel. It seems weird not to have to do that!

Ask about AP discounts everywhere you check out. You will find that many, many places have discounts.

Enjoy your weekend with all of your girls, your ice cream, your laptop and your HGTV! You deserve every moment of it!

Have a safe and wonderful 3-day weekend celebrating Labor Day everyone!

I probably sound like a whiny teacher this week to you guys, but I keep my mouth shut about it at school, of course. If you knew what was involved in Running Records and DSA testing and had to do it on 24 kids, you guys would probably whine just a little, too. I pass up the little groups of teachers gathered at the classroom doors moaning and groaning to each other, and I come here and spill my woes to you guys.

I would love to be the Distown swim instructor.

Sounds relaxing. I get the whole weekend off, even Monday.

I have some things that need to get done but overall, relaxing after a long, hot, summer is at the top of the list.

As far as I know, no one else in DIStown is looking to fill that job, so I believe it is absolutely yours!

You and about a million parents are rejoicing now that the kids have been sent back to school. We have parents standing in line to get their kids in on Day One, and they are doing little dances as they go down the hallway and out the door as free birds once again!

Enjoy your easier season. Now you have more time to think about your next Disney trip.

 

[MeMom]

After we had shopped in MouseGear, Jill decided that she needed to see Illuminations again. She had not seen it during the past several trips. We just stayed up front in right in the Mexico area.

Here are my as always horrid shots of fireworks.

You know what comes last.
Put on your sunglasses.

And it finally all fizzles and fades into silence. People from around the world stand around the Epcot globe and applaud, then begin to make their way out of the park at the end of a beautiful Disney day.

Good night, Spaceship Earth.

 

[MeMom]

After another good deep Disney sleep comes another Disney morning.

For some, morning comes earlier than for others.

Cast members at Luggage Services ready to help the guests.
Not too much going on this morning, but they will get busy and stay busy as the day goes on.

If you want to know when is a good time to avoid the check in crowds, well...

One of Bella's favorite - and safest - climbing areas.

Kiddie art work.

I have never seen a grasshopper frog mouse in person, but if I run across one, I will know it from having seen this picture.

Good morning, Pop bunnies.

The Goofy Jets have not been working for quite some time.

All the way to the other side of the resort.

Back to Classic Hall

Omelet, anyone?

Can I find my way back to the room?

Day breaks, and children awake!

They each get a small cup of gummy bears to take on the bus with them.

Did you like that face?

Which park are the girls playing 'Wing Wown Wosie' in this morning?

 

[celeste.]

I can never seem to get good firework pictures, either.
Great Pop morning pictures..it must be nice to be one of the only people walking around!
& is that Animal Kingdom you're going to?

 

[Poolrat]

I love the late nights at the park and the early morning walks around POP.

Have you ever forgotten which room you were in and gotten confused from past trips? I think I may have gotten confused a time or two.




I know the park Animal Kingdom Of course.

 

[CanadianWDWfan]

We don't mind you venting your teaching wowes here. Just wish there was something we could do to cheer you up.

I enjoyed the fireworks this morning! It's been several trips since we have seen Illuminations too.

Thanks for the tip about the AP discounts.
I'm also going to use it at the car rental place.

Oh yeah...the 3oz liquid bag....that's different too.
You know what though....it is worth it to be there so fast.
It will be so awesome to get on and off the plane all before lunchtime!
Even though I will want to... there will be no hugging a palmtree or kissing the ground.

I spoke too soon about 3 days off...I arrived yesterday at work to find out I have to cover Tuesday night. I really do love my job!

I'm excitted about packing this weekend...I know it seems early to some but I have 2 weeks ahead without a day off.
My DMom has all the time she needs and Lexi will have to wait because she needs her clothes for school.
I will get to look at the "bright pink" suitcase in the corner of my room every morning before work to keep me going.

I ended up watching the House Hunters on Vacation.
WOW! the two families were so lucky to get a weeks vacation in those unbelieveable homes. They were amazing!
Don't think I'm weird but I wouldn't trade those luxurious vacays for my WDW one.
But...if I could have both that would be fine with me.

I was looking at some Aulani pics yesterday.... it looks gorgeous!
The price tag was a little "ouch".
And the flight times are long.
I wonder which one of our DIS friends will be the first to go....Wig'd & Shocker maybe?

 

[PlutosRHM55]

Awwww... IllumiNations, such a great way to end your EPCOT day! Glad to see you got to see it after Jill has missed it, I find it to be a must-do in Disney, such a fantastic show. Although, I like Fantasmic and Wishes a bit better, IllumiNations is in a league of it's own.

It's amazing how empty Disney is THAT early in the morning. Most pictures I've seen of Classic Hall are filled with people. It looks so much cleaner and nicer without the people there.

Omelet, anyone?

I'll take one!

They each get a small cup of gummy bears to take on the bus with them.

Did you like that face?

Ooooo... Gummy Bears, YUM! And Bella's face is just so adorable, candids are the best.

Which park are the girls playing 'Wing Wown Wosie' in this morning?

Ummmm... Animal Kingdom... should I know this?

 

[nowellsl]

Which park are the girls playing 'Wing Wown Wosie' in this morning?

Brooklynn is looking so grown up in this picture! Couple of cuties for sure

 

[Mic_n_Min]

What a wonderful way to wake up this morning! illuminations pics, early morning walk around Pop! and cute pics of the girls!

Can't wait to see Illuminations again in a few weeks! We have missed it the last few trips, so I am excited to see it again with my Mom! 26 days and counting!! This deserves banana dance!

Feel free to vent to all of us! That's what we're here for! I do the same to my friends if I've had a particularly bad photo session. Doesn't happen more than once every couple of years and the photos always turn out just fine, but I would never dream of venting where my clients could possibly ever read it. Just like you with school, I'm sure. We're here- vent or whine away!

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

Did you like that face?

Love it! She's too adorable!!

I think your Illuminations pics are a billion times better than whatever I can usually get! You can see the hot air balloon on the globe! My globe pics don't even turn out as a circular object!!

Pop looks so peaceful in the morning! I've still always been meaning to go there to try the tie-dye cheesecake!

 

[MeMom]

I can never seem to get good firework pictures, either.
Great Pop morning pictures..it must be nice to be one of the only people walking around!
& is that Animal Kingdom you're going to?

Pop is very peaceful in the morning. I enjoy watching it slowly to come to life.

Animal Kingdom? One of my very favorite places ever? It is possible.

I love the late nights at the park and the early morning walks around POP.

Have you ever forgotten which room you were in and gotten confused from past trips? I think I may have gotten confused a time or two.


I know the park Animal Kingdom Of course.

I don't recall ever forgetting which building I was in on any particular morning. I guess Kay was the one who needed that map the night she wandered around for nearly an hour trying to find her way back to the room!

Animal Kingdom it is. I hope that the next time we are there we might catch a glimpse of the new baby elephant.

http://land.allears.net/blogs/dnews/2011/08/new_baby_elephant_takes_center_1.html

We don't mind you venting your teaching wowes here. Just wish there was something we could do to cheer you up.

I enjoyed the fireworks this morning! It's been several trips since we have seen Illuminations too.

Thanks for the tip about the AP discounts.
I'm also going to use it at the car rental place.

Oh yeah...the 3oz liquid bag....that's different too.
You know what though....it is worth it to be there so fast.
It will be so awesome to get on and off the plane all before lunchtime!
Even though I will want to... there will be no hugging a palmtree or kissing the ground.
I spoke too soon about 3 days off...I arrived yesterday at work to find out I have to cover Tuesday night. I really do love my job!

I'm excitted about packing this weekend...I know it seems early to some but I have 2 weeks ahead without a day off.
My DMom has all the time she needs and Lexi will have to wait because she needs her clothes for school.
I will get to look at the "bright pink" suitcase in the corner of my room every morning before work to keep me going.

I ended up watching the House Hunters on Vacation.
WOW! the two families were so lucky to get a weeks vacation in those unbelieveable homes. They were amazing!
Don't think I'm weird but I wouldn't trade those luxurious vacays for my WDW one.
But...if I could have both that would be fine with me.

I was looking at some Aulani pics yesterday.... it looks gorgeous!
The price tag was a little "ouch".
And the flight times are long.
I wonder which one of our DIS friends will be the first to go....Wig'd & Shocker maybe?

They could give me a House Hunters on Vacation, as long as the house is in Orlando.

We have people who have been out of the classroom far too long or have never been in the classroom making unrealistic goals and demands. Until that changes, there are going to be a lot of good teachers who leave the profession and a lot of depressed ones that stay in. It is sad. We lost three more good ones this year. One is pursuing a music career, one went to Abu Dhabi (sp?) to teach, and one decided to stay home with her baby and find something part-time. Morale is low among every school I know of. If I could talk all of my family into it, we could all make the move to Orlando and I could start on my Animal Kingdom job.

Keep that suitcase in view. It will help you know there is a wonderful prize coming!

I am going to guess the first Aulani DISer (that hangs around here, that is) will be Happydog or Momof2TNboys.

Awwww... IllumiNations, such a great way to end your EPCOT day! Glad to see you got to see it after Jill has missed it, I find it to be a must-do in Disney, such a fantastic show. Although, I like Fantasmic and Wishes a bit better, IllumiNations is in a league of it's own.

It's amazing how empty Disney is THAT early in the morning. Most pictures I've seen of Classic Hall are filled with people. It looks so much cleaner and nicer without the people there.


I'll take one!


Ooooo... Gummy Bears, YUM! And Bella's face is just so adorable, candids are the best.

Ummmm... Animal Kingdom... should I know this?

Yay for Animal Kingdom, right?!?!?

The Pop food court is a very different place about three hours later. Your omelet might get cold before you get it paid for if you are in the thick of the crowd.

Brooklynn is looking so grown up in this picture! Couple of cuties for sure

She does, doesn't she? I can't wait to see them this weekend. I have not gotten to spend nearly enough time with them since school started.

What a wonderful way to wake up this morning! illuminations pics, early morning walk around Pop! and cute pics of the girls!

Can't wait to see Illuminations again in a few weeks! We have missed it the last few trips, so I am excited to see it again with my Mom! 26 days and counting!! This deserves banana dance!

Feel free to vent to all of us! That's what we're here for! I do the same to my friends if I've had a particularly bad photo session. Doesn't happen more than once every couple of years and the photos always turn out just fine, but I would never dream of venting where my clients could possibly ever read it. Just like you with school, I'm sure. We're here- vent or whine away!

I just wish we could have a building full of not-so-burdened teachers again. It really makes it hard to see everyone so down and spending so much time, knowing that in the end, there is very little chance we will make AYP anyway. I need Oprah to give me a million dollar grant for providing nurturing care in the afternoons until almost bedtime for some of our kids, and then we might see some incredible changes. Anybody know Oprah? I guess I could go down to her dad's barber shop and beg for some help.

Yay for 26 days! I'll add a banana friend to dance with you.

 

[IheartDDuck]

My fireworks pictures never turn out that well either. I have learned that I apparently will never get a good one unless I get a tripod. Apparently I am not steady enough in my camera holding skills.

I always love your early morning POP pictures. I can never get up that early in the morning, so I don't think I'll ever have good early morning resort pictures.

 

[Tink9721]

Electricity is a wonderful thing 6 full days without it really makes you appreciate it! We've been taking ice cold showers, eating take out every night, and sleeping weird hours. I was in bed at 9:30 the other night and woke up at 6:00 And this was before I started school! My normal teenager summer sleep hours are 2:00-10:00 My grandma was staying here while her power was out. Luckily hers came back 2 days ago so she could get back to normal. And we just had to go to the laundromat. Even though our power is back...our washing machine is broken Now we're off to do my grandma's grocery shopping and before we can do ours we have to...clean out our fridge My mom just told me that we had a couple "science expermient" type things growing in there

I'll be back later once things settle down!

I plan to have a big bowl of ice cream for my dinner, and then I'm hanging out with the laptop and HGTV for the evening. That's as exciting as it gets, but I'm pretty psyched about it. You guys have a great day and a safe and fun and hopefully long weekend!

I can do that now too!

 

[momof2TNboys]

Wonderful to take a walk around Pop in the morning. Yum, gummy bears.
I am not sure I will be the first. Jason is very hesitant to fly that far with the boys. I still may talk him into it. Who knows. I can see his point though. The trip wears me out. Can't wait to hear from the first to see Aulani though! Does it count that I saw it from the airplane in July?

 

[CandleontheWater]

I'm glad everyone had their power back! Now on to the regularly scheduled DISing!

I think your pics from Illuminations look pretty good! I never even try!

You were certainly up early that morning! I love how there was no one in line for check-in! It reminds me of one trip where we checked in at 3 am. Dh was coming back home from Navy training, so I picked him up at the airport in Jacksonville at midnight, and we drove right to WDW. His family was already there, so we had a reason for not waiting until the next morning, but the CMs were pretty surprised to see us!

It looks like you are getting ready for a fun day at ANIMAL KINGDOM! Yay!

 

[sunny_stace]

I spy with my little eye...Animal Kingdom!

I love Bella's face with her cup of candy! So adorable!

I might have to try watching Illuminations from Mexico sometime! I usually watch from France but your pictures are lovely! Looks like you must have had a great view!

 

[Megablocks]

If I had to choose between seeing Wishes or Illuminations, I'd choose Wishes, but I do love Illuminations. I've been listening to the music a lot. I've been listening to a LOT of Disney ever since Katie called me on Monday night to tell me they were driving to Disney a little later in the week.

I have a feeling if I told Charles that there is a Disney resort in Hawaii now, he would sigh deeply, shake his head, and say no, even if I did not ASK anything. He is dying to go back, and to take me, but even if we had the money, the long flight would deter him a little. In February, they flew from Boston to Chicago (just three hours), then Chicago to Honolulu, which was around twelve hours. I know it was really uncomfortable for him just because of how tall he is. He hates long drives, and I guess long flights, too. When I said something about going to visit Katie and Patrick, HE mentioned driving down, which really shocked me. I'll see what he says when I ask him again in a few weeks when we can go visit.

I really do love your early morning Pop pictures. It seems like on vacation, I am always the first one to wake up, so I did take a couple of walks around, but they weren't really too early in the morning. Your pictures just make me so excited to go back!

 

[coneygoil]

Hello BrooklynnsMom and MeMom! I came across this TR and started reading, but then saw yall had several TRs! I started from the beginning and have been working my way through all of them. I've really enjoyed all of them. It's helpful in a way to see how yall handled having Brooklynn then Bella as babies at Disney. I'll be bringing my DD to Disney for the first time. Cady will turn 8 months right before we leave. The merchandise pics are tempting me! There's so much I see in your pics that I want to get during this trip. Also enjoy seeing your party and family get-together pics. I wish my family's get-togethers were that cool!