Mom and Dad's Dream Trip-34 Yrs in Making-Jun08 SOUVIE PICS PG 51 NEXT TRIP!!???!!!!?

[MegansMom]

Hey Gang!!

So sorry that the updates have been somewhat scarce lately--I forgot to tell you all that my computer had to go BACK to Best Buy last Friday to be sent out AGAIN for servicing!!!! UGH!!! Apparently the small prong in the hole where you plug in the power cord became loose while being shipped out and back last time they had it---so they had to ship it out and back to get it fixed. SUPPOSEDLY I am going to get it back tomorrow--but I am not going to hold my breath!!! I have had to keep up with Tom's work computer and my parent's laptop. I will SO look forward to getting it back again--I hate when it is gone!

Anyway----I have LOTS of pics I want to post on here from all our happenings recently---the March of Dimes walk, Megan's last day of school picnic and her handprint/footprint brick, Megan's Snow White outfit, and our countdown calendar---so I should be able to start getting those on here tomorrow as long as I get my computer back!!! I will also post the continuation of our itinerary plans. I know I keep saying it, but I just can't believe how close the trip is getting!!! Yesterday, Megan and my niece and nephews received their postcards from Mickey that were sent out by their Fairy Godmailer!!! Megan beamed when I carried in the mail and she saw Mickey's face sticking out smiling back at her! I will have to post a pic of that too!!! I love it when we hit the 30 days and less mark, because then I go into packing/organizing/planning mode to the EXTREME!!! You should see all the lists I have written out---every time I finish with one, I think of something else I need to write a list about!!! Oh well--that is part of the fun! Talk to you in the morning!! Jen

 

[ampc3]

Hey Jen, I just read a comment you made on Lesley's PTR about warning your husband that you may run into stranges knowing each other! That cracked me up too, b/c I have been warning my hubby the same thing. He just sooo doesn't get the Dis! I feel like I have a good chance running into your family and Lesleys...
Annette

 

[ampc3]

ok Jen, I am trying how to figure out how to post pics... if you don't mind you are my test

 

[ampc3]

ugg... what am I doing wrong?? HOW do you do this from photobucket??
step by step I am NOT computer savy...PLEASE

sorry to be doing this in your tr but I soo need help..

I think I may have figured it out, but how do I make the picture smaller! jeez that is a big picture..

 

[DisneyDreamnDeb]

Jen, Sorry to hear you are having problems with your computer again, hope you get it back soon. I loved Megans reaction to her gift! SO SWEET!!!
I'm looking forward to all your pics. and more of your plans! Have a great day! Deb.

 

[Beana9802]

ok Jen, I am trying how to figure out how to post pics... if you don't mind you are my test

these kids are SOO cute!

 

[cherbear]

thanks for the update!

Sorry about your computer

Can't wait to see the new pics!!!

 

[MegansMom]

Hey Jen, I just read a comment you made on Lesley's PTR about warning your husband that you may run into stranges knowing each other! That cracked me up too, b/c I have been warning my hubby the same thing. He just sooo doesn't get the Dis! I feel like I have a good chance running into your family and Lesleys...
Annette

It will be so much fun if we all run into each other! At least we will get it !

ugg... what am I doing wrong?? HOW do you do this from photobucket??
step by step I am NOT computer savy...PLEASE

sorry to be doing this in your tr but I soo need help..

I think I may have figured it out, but how do I make the picture smaller! jeez that is a big picture..

Don't worry---I can help!! I had the same problem at the beginning too! When you are in photobucket, click on the picture you want to use, and then once in the picture, there will be a toolbar above the picture--one tab says "resize." When you click on that it will drop down a menu of sizes--select the one for message board--it will make it the size of the pictures I post. If you want them smaller, then select web page. Hope that helps!!

Jen, Sorry to hear you are having problems with your computer again, hope you get it back soon. I loved Megans reaction to her gift! SO SWEET!!!
I'm looking forward to all your pics. and more of your plans! Have a great day! Deb.

Thanks Deb!!! I got the computer back today, so I am burning the midnight oil trying to get everything all caught up!! Hopefully by tomorrow all will be well!

these kids are SOO cute!

I agree!!! Really cute kids! Beautiful setting--is that where you live? Beautiful view!

thanks for the update!

Sorry about your computer

Can't wait to see the new pics!!!

Thanks for the well wishes on the computer---here come the pics!!!!!!!!

 

[MegansMom]

First of all--sorry the pictures are so big--I forgot to resize some of them. But here they are-----Here is the Countdown to MICKEY!!!!! When we take off one of the numbered Mickey Heads (THANKS HOME DEPOT!!!) I put stickers underneath of a bunch of the different Disney characters Megan knows and loves. On special days--like 20 days, 2 weeks, 10 days, 1 week, etc.--I am going to attach small "Tink" gifts to the card. The gifts are small Disney related items that I picked up at my Dollar Store shopping spree--the one from a few pages back. Right now it is in Megan's room--she wanted me to put it in her room so she could see it all the time!! She is so excited!

INTRODUCING BUDDY BEAR!!! HE WILL BE AROUND FOR A LONG TIME!!! Look forward to Buddy's Adventures to Mickey's House in the TR!

Here are some pictures from Megan's Last Day of School Picnic--so MUCH FUN!!! Megan is carrying the handprint/footprint brick she made me.

Here's the Snow White Attire:

The shoes, headband and wand---

The dress---

 

[ampc3]

Thanks Jen, if you don't mind I am going to try and post again with a pic...

I LOVE your countdown (I will show you ours)but I LOVE yours all color coded and everything sooo cute! Megan is just a doll, I bet you hear that all the time

Thanks Again!!!!
Annette

 

[ampc3]

yea it worked , I figured out how to make it smaller!!! THANK YOU!

I am one step closer to having the nerve to post our own...

 

[DisneyDreamnDeb]

Jen, I love your countdown to mickey's house, very creative. Megan and buddy look very happy, I bet they have a great summer!
The pic. with all the kids in sunglasses is just to cute! And I love the way the handprint/footprint Brick is wrapped, she must have had a very creative teacher!! And the pic. of you and Megan I can see how proud you are of her, your glowing! And I must say "Lookin good Mama!!!"
The snow white dress is just beautiful, she will look every bit the princess she is! Have a great day! Deb.

 

[MegansMom]

Thanks Jen, if you don't mind I am going to try and post again with a pic...

I LOVE your countdown (I will show you ours)but I LOVE yours all color coded and everything sooo cute! Megan is just a doll, I bet you hear that all the time

Thanks Again!!!!
Annette

YEAH!!! You got it down right!! Your countdown looks great!! Your kids are too cute Annette!! I am glad I could help you out!

yea it worked , I figured out how to make it smaller!!! THANK YOU!

I am one step closer to having the nerve to post our own...

You can DO IT!!! I would love to read yours--let me know if you ever start one!

Jen, I love your countdown to mickey's house, very creative. Megan and buddy look very happy, I bet they have a great summer!
The pic. with all the kids in sunglasses is just to cute! And I love the way the handprint/footprint Brick is wrapped, she must have had a very creative teacher!! And the pic. of you and Megan I can see how proud you are of her, your glowing! And I must say "Lookin good Mama!!!"
The snow white dress is just beautiful, she will look every bit the princess she is! Have a great day! Deb.

Thanks Deb!!! Megan loves the countdown so much--I think she might want to keep it around even afterwards!!! Megan and Buddy have yet to be apart!! She has done a good job taking care of him! The kids looked so cute--they are really adorable! The brick was simply wrapped in a kitchen towel and secured with a rubberband. Then they made flowers and used a pipe cleaner as the stem and wrapped that around the top--too cute! Our brick is now proudly on display in our Family Room on one of the shelves of our entertainment center--our favorite kind of artwork! To say I am proud of our little princess is an understatement!! I can't find a word that expresses the pride we have for her enough--I am glad that it shows on my face!!! I always want her to know how proud of her I am!!! Your compliments were so sweet!!! My sister was with me that day, and she said the same thing--that she could just tell I was glowing with happiness, and she said that it was the first time she really noticed a difference in my appearance with my weight loss. Now that I look at the pic on the web, I can actually see it too!! It is a great feeling!! I will weigh in again in the morning---I need to update my total loss--so stay tuned!! Thanks again Deb!

 

[Beana9802]

Megan and Buddy have yet to be apart!! She has done a good job taking care of him!

I have had Theodore Edward Bear (Ted E Bear) since I was 4, and he's not going anywhere (I'm 28)

 

[MegansMom]

I have had Theodore Edward Bear (Ted E Bear) since I was 4, and he's not going anywhere (I'm 28)

I LOVE THAT!!! Now the current plan is that Megan is supposed to give Buddy back when preschool resumes in September--I hope I can convince her to return him then!!! GOD HELP ME!!! I do think he is a regular Build-a-bear Bear--so hopefully if she has issues with returning him, we can just build a new Buddy!!!

 

[MegansMom]

Happy Friday Everyone!!!

I am sure you are reading the title and thinking "WHAT? You are making changes with only 28 days to go?!?!? YOU'RE CRAZY!!!"

Well, call us CRAZY, because that is EXACTLY what we did! Here's how it all happened..............

This morning the first phone call I received was a nice surprise--it was from my wonderful brother Mike! YEAH! He was calling to apologize because the night before precious Maddie had called me to see if she could spend the night tonight without his permission. (I unfortunately had to tell her no because we are starting our Mother's Day activities a little early--tonight--to avoid the crowds. But she will be spending the night probably next Friday.) Anyway, after letting him know there was no need to apologize--what Aunt doesn't love being asked to come and spend the night?--we then began talking about our favorite topic--OUR TRIP!!! YEAH!! We talked about the countdown calendar, I shared with him how I almost felt like I was going to be stopped by the Home Depot police for taking so many paint chips, and then we started talking about some of the recent posts on here about SWW and his revelation about Maddie's concerns with characters. Even though Mike and Tom are huge SW fans, being the good parents we are, we are very concerned how Maddie and Megs might react to seeing the menacing-looking Stormtroopers carrying fake weapons around the park. We had a very honest discussion about our concerns for this day's plans and the kids, and both frankly agreed that it would probably be in our best interest to move DS to another day. We knew this was going to probably be the first day in the parks, and we didn't want to scare them to death right away and ruin the rest of the week--especially Maddie who hasn't been there yet. Mike was VERY concerned that it would be WAY to complicated to move things around at this late stage in the game. I told him I would do some research and calling, and would try to do what would be the best for everyone.

So, I then started looking over the spreadsheet that has all our info, park info, etc. to see what would be the best move--what could we feasibly move to Sunday? could we still try to stick to the "best parks" strategy as best as possible? and where else would be a good day to do DS? I was happy when I realized I would not have to switch much--merely flip-flop Sunday and Thursday's plans. We could then do AK on Sunday (a best park day) and then DS on Thursday (also a best park day).

Then came the hard part--dealing with ADRs!!!!!!

My first call to Disney Dining--result: We were able to get a ressie at Boma (where we were originally going to eat on our AK day) at 7:50pm for all 10 of us!!! Good Enough for me! It is a little later than what we originally had, but it works fine! When I tried to get another ressie at Sci-Fi diner for Thursday though, we were out of luck--the earliest ressie was at 9:15--way too late! I hung up, and called Mike and left him a voice mail about the first changes!

I started thinking about what else we could do for our DS day, and then decided I would just call DD back and ask what the other DS restaurants had available.

My second call to Disney Dining--result: We were able to secure a ressie at Mama Melrose's for the 9 of us at 7:30pm. There was an available ressie at PTC, but not until 8:40. We didn't want to do Brown Derby b/c of 2 TS required, and the ressies at H&V were in the 9pm hour also. I hung up, and called Mike again to give him the news. In between the two calls though, I realized that we would then be eating Italian two nights in a row--Tony's on Wed. (Trust me, Tom would have loved this since he is Italian, but I don't think we all could handle that two nights in a row!) So then I began to worry again! I brought this up to Mike. He also was concerned--we felt that it would be better to keep Mama Melrose's--so on to changing Tony's! We will be in MK that day, so we started thinking about the restaurants in MK or in one of the surrounding restaurants. ALOT were weeded out right away b/c they are character restaurants, and Maddie is probably not going to do to well with them. We are already eating at all the Poly restaurants, so we looked to Grand Floridian--1900 Park Fare (I know it is a character thing, but they are face characters--I think she will be okay with them) and Grand Floridian Cafe. SO.................

My third call to Disney Dining--result: 1900 Park Fare had no openings, so I started crossing everything I could and hoping against ALL hope that Grand Floridian Cafe would have SOMETHING!........................................................WAIT..................................WAIT ......................................................... ....................................................


And THEY DID!!!!! They actually had SEVERAL ressie times available to us! I picked the 5:10pm ressie. I then cancelled out all our old ADRs, hung up, and immediately called Mike to let him know our good fortune!! I CAN NOT BELIEVE IT!!! 28 days out, and we still were able to move everything we needed to AND get what we were hoping for---or at least close to it! YEAH---Let's all do the Happy Dance right now! (Sing "Celebrate Good Times" by Kool & the Gang as you watch the smilies shake it! Celebrate Good Times Come ON!!)


OKAY--enough dancing!! I have worked up a sweat!

Here is the NEW AND IMPROVED ITINERARY!!! (May the old one rest in peace--you were good while you lasted!)

• Friday June 6th--All departing at some point, headed due south to MICKEY!
• Saturday June 7th--All arriving at some point, checking in at OKW--swimming it, beaching/boating it, or DTD'ing it! ADR: Turf Club 7pm
• Sunday June 8th--AK (Open 9-8pm) ADR: Boma 7:50pm
• Monday June 9th--AK (Open 9-11pm) BBB--Crown Package 12:40pm (Maddie & Megan) ADR: Kona Cafe 5pm
• Tuesday June 10th--EP (Open 9-12am) ADR: Marrakesh 6pm (Them) Akershus 7:55pm (Us)
• Wednesday June 11th--MK (Open 9-11pm) ADR: Grand Floridian Cafe 5:10pm
• Thursday June 12th--DS (Open 9-10pm) ADR: Mama Melrose's 7:30pm
• Friday June 13th--OPEN (Tom and I will probably do MK) ADR: Ohanas 6:50pm
• Saturday June 14th--Departure Day (Tom and I will probably do MK until we leave in the evening) We will head home, Mike and the kids will head to the beach for a few days. We will get home some time on Sunday June 15th.

So what does everyone think? Can you believe we were actually able to make those changes! Talk soon, Jen

 

[ampc3]

Looks great, we still have the same iten for mk day wed, and now HS thursdsay.... You know what will be funny now, after all this changing around, Maddie will end up loving the characters!~lol...
Glad it all worked out!

 

[MegansMom]

Looks great, we still have the same iten for mk day wed, and now HS thursdsay.... You know what will be funny now, after all this changing around, Maddie will end up loving the characters!~lol...
Glad it all worked out!

You are probably SO right!!! I hope for her sake that she isn't as scared of them when she gets there, but if she is, that is okay too! If the first characters she is going to see is Stormtroopers and Chewbacca, she might just bail out on us all week--I think we made a wise move!

 

[MegansMom]

Remember a couple of days ago when I posted begging my brother Mike to "let me in on the little secret" he had planned for Friday?


WELL, GUESS WHAT! HE DID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do to all the changes we made today, Mike updated the spreadsheet he created for us for the trip info and sent me the updated sheet. He had ALOT more in it this time --I think because the trip is so close and he has more intricate details to get together now--packing list, shopping list, etc.

WELL, he also had the details and important info for the surprise he has planned for us for Friday night--so he told me to look for it in the spreadsheet before I opened it up so that I could be in on the surprise. When I saw it I could not BELIEVE it!! I got choked up and tears welled up in my eyes-------------------------He has booked us a Wishes Cruise at 9pm leaving from Poly to watch the 10pm fireworks that night!!!!!!!!! AAAWWWWWW!!! Isn't he the BEST! How sweet of him to do that for all of us!! I was so surprised!!!! I think we will still try to surprise the kids and our parents with the info--my Mom will cry when she finds out--I just know she will!!!! She will probably cry the entire time--especially during the fireworks!!! That is WAY better than any surprise I could think of!!!! MIKE YOU ARE THE BEST!!! LOVE YOU!!!

Just had to share it with all of you!!!

I know I will have more opportunities to say this again this weekend, but I just want to start off this special weekend with a HUGE "HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY" wish to all the WONDERFUL mothers out there that read this thread and those also that don't!!! I hope your special day is at least HALF as special as you all are!!!!

 

[MegansMom]

I know I have had QUITE a few postings today--all with BIG news--and this one is NO DIFFERENT!!! I just had to run and post on here really quickly because I needed to share it with someone who would appreciate it!!!

Remember when I told you all that I decided to really kick the weight loss regime into high gear because I had bought two shirts through disneyshopping.com and they were too snug?!?!?!? Well, after I had posted that I had already lost 12 lbs. I did try those shirts on again, and they were still too snug for my own comfort. It was okay though, because I had backups lined up already and I wasn't going to beat myself up if I wasn't able to get into them this year.



WELL, I just tried them on again--just for kicks--and YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE IT............................THEY FIT!!!!!!!! I know this will sound silly, but I teared up and started to cry I was so happy! I know that I have been losing weight, but I just hadn't really been able to SEE it yet. Yesterday, my sis and I were trying clothes on at a local store, and I tried on this one top that was very fitting and flattering, and she started crying in the dressing room because she could see how much I was losing and how "good" I was looking according to her. I STILL DIDN'T SEE IT--but after I tried on those shirts, and realized how they used to look--I COULD NOT BELIEVE IT!! I have to pat myself on the back for once in my life--I am so PROUD!! I had to share--tears are streaming down my face right now--thanks for letting me celebrate with you!!!