Oh my GOSH! That picture of the dog is AWESOME!!!
And thank you for sharing the cute pics of the baby gorilla!!! Can we hear an awww....
She is a pretty cute little girl-illa.

Even if she does have a big head.
Which we would never say near the big gorilla!

I will not be pointing and laughing at the size of her head with her mother anywhere in sight. I guess even gorillas have that proportion problem for a while.
Well my first time walking around the neighborhood I was pushing that time linit. I do not consider myself a slow walker but I really need to step it up so I am not swept up.
Snow day #3 for us too. It is messing up 1st semester exams for my DS. Well the information they are giving us is confusing us.
#1- On Friday they were told to expect an exam on Wed. even if they were off Mon and Tues.
#2- message today before school was cancelled- No exam the day they return- it will be 1 day later and the make up day Mon the 17th will not be an exam day.
With the 21st being the end of the semester we are wondering how they are going to get these exams in. It is going to be interesting.
I wish you all the best in the race.

Our kids were supposed to be out Feb. 21, but teachers were going to have an in-service. Now kids will come. I think the rest will just be added to the end of the year. I have not heard of any intention to change spring break. It wouldn't affect me this year, since we changed our trip dates, but if it had, I would have just been on the call-in list, because I would sure have gone on the trip!

Aw cute baby girl gorilla!!
Wow 3 days off!! I could get so much done at home. They are predicting 12-18 inches here starting before dawn. I know I will probably have to go to work but hopefully the city manager will send us home early. We shall see.
Have a great day off tomorrow MeMom.
Unless there is drastic improvement, I doubt we will go tomorrow, either.
Hope you have a safe, safe drive!
Oh the baby gorilla is so cute!
My mom and my sister have the first snow day of the school year tomorrow -- it was called early this afternoon, after all the surrounding cities called it, but the fact that the superintendent called it soon after was amazing since it usually takes him several hours even in cases like that! My sister had to work today (she works with me at the same grocery store) and told our dad that it was the worst crowd she'd ever seen there. Being from Massachusetts does not mean that people don't panic over snow.
My friend (the only friend I have, locally, who "gets" Disney like us and is content to talk about it all the time), is in Disney right now. I wrote on her FB earlier, "so not only are you in Disney World right now, you're also missing a blizzard tonight into tomorrow, so I basically hate you right now" (totally joking of course), and she commented back saying that she is wearing an "I'm celebrating!" pin, but added "no snow" to it. She's there with her parents and two friends -- one of her friends is there for the first time! They went to Epcot first when they arrived yesterday, and my friend texted me that her first-timer friend was basically speechless -- just walking around looking at everything. They took her on Soarin', and she loved it! She works with us, too, so I really can't wait to hear her take on everything.
It's fun to get pictures from people who are in WDW.

I hope you guys all stay warm and safe in your cute little neighborhood, which I love.

I was hoping the "cute thing" would be the baby gorilla.
She is adorable! I want her for myself.
I'm sure her big momma would have a problem with that...
I could watch her all day.
All this talk about the October trips is getting me excitted!
Watching the animals is so interesting. Just being so close to some of them that are so massive is just exciting.
Every day is one step closer.

The photo of Trent and Bella is just precious!
It was kind of sweet, wasn't it?

Hi just catching up. It has been interesting reading all the posts about preperations.
Have to do my catching up tonight. Tomorrow my computer goes to the doctor for a while to get de-virused.
I will miss my distime.
Hopefully my daughter will let me borrow her laptop some??
Come back to us soooooon!
I think a lot of us have had much extra DIS time with all this snow.

Well, I had an interesting weekend It was good and bad. Apparently my grandma fell and hit her head at some point Friday night/Saturday morning.
After all of that, we had a very nice day with the family. I got to see my little guys together for the first time in a while.
I'm so excited because we have a snow day tomorrow! We almost never have snow days. Our district was the last one to cancel school. We're supposed to get 12-20 inches.
I'm used to it I loooove snow. Winter is my favorite season. But by February, I'm ready for a break from the cold so Disney is a good place to go But that plan kind of failed last year when it was 40 degrees the whole week It's usually in the 60's there in Feb so that was weird. But even when it's in the 60's I see people down there in winter coats. I can't help but laugh
I'm glad your grandmother was okay.
I bet you guys do get very excited about spring when it finally arrives!
I just had to comment on this, being in high school and such. Whether I'm going to Disney or a funeral, all of my teachers will give me the same amount of work.
I don't understand this thought process. If you're going to a funeral you should have some slack. My friend Reid had to go to a funeral on short notice and missed the day we had to turn in our biggest essay of the year and she gave him a zero. I just don't get it.
Thoughts, teachers?
I can't comprehend a teacher giving a student a 0 under those circumstances.
I am glad I only teach elementary school so that it is not such a big thing.
Great update - a really good set of pics!!!
I love the baby Gorilla - so furry!
I am SO excited we're going THIS YEAR!
Yesterday it was 7 months until we go - so this time in 7 months we will soon be waking up for our first day - and guess where we're going??? MAGIC KINGDOM!!! xxx
We are all excited for you, too. You guys have to wait so long in between trips that we can't help be excited for your long vacations.
Snow Day #3 for us, too. I am with Jill -- going a bit stir crazy. I made a to-do list for myself today -- I sat around and read all day yesterday and ignored my family, so today I am going to be a better Snow Day Mom.
In case anyone didn't see the recipe for the Doughnut Muffins on my PTR, here it is again:
Doughnut Muffins
Charles asked what the bakery was making today.I think I will try these since I have an unopened jar of strawberry preserves (surely that will work instead of apricot).
Apricot Bars
about the Naked Mole Rats. Too funny! Heaven knows, I hear Connor asking why those two aren't with the others every time I see a picture of them.
The Okapi stuffed animals are very cute, but not nearly as cute as the baby gorilla. It's growing up very quickly!
I would like to have several more of the stuffed animals for my classroom. I'll get a couple more next October, possibly.
I really wish I had known we would be out all these days. The girls could have come and stayed up here, and Jill could have had lots of reading time and DIS time and soaking in the tub time.
Question for Jill and any other Mummy's & MeMommy's of under 3s!
What do you do with feeding your toddler at Disney, in the parks, resorts etc... Toby will be 2yrs old when we go and he has a pretty good appetite. We have no problem with paying for him to have his own meal but the menus all seem to state 3-9 yr olds so I am worrying they won't let him order anything (not that he'll order himself). Or does he eat off our plates? I'm guessing buffets will be easier?
I have posted on the restaurant board too. I hope you don't mind me asking! Just worrying a bit
Julie xxx
The buffets are great. They have lots of variety and as much as they want.
And if you have a big purse, you can take home a big rib roast for later.

Have you tried some Main Street Bakery recipies? Since Charles is such a foodie maybe the final nail to loving Disney would be a thing or two from Disney?
Then again, if you can make things from Disney he may decide just to have you make them and not want to go. ooooh tough call.
Of course we want to see the strawberry bars. YUM.
The way to just about any man's heart is with the awesome food!
Lots of it.
I bet CP's house has smelled like Main Street Bakery this week.
Here's my experience of taking the kids out of school... Elementary (k-6) no problem and the teachers were really cool about it and the kids didn't have any problems with getting/doing homework...
Junior High (7-8) is a whole different ballgame... DD was in 7th when we took her out of school for a week to go to Disney and she had TONS of homework to do... And catching up was tough... She still got straight A's but she told me NEVER AGAIN was I (the mom) allowed to take her out of school for a week to go on vacation!!!
I say try it and see how your daughter does... And hopefully you won't get the same lecture I got...
Yes, that has much to do with it, too - what your child thinks about it. Middle schoolers have definite opinions about things. Thanks for chiming in.

Awww!!!
Thank you so much! I always feel like I have to justify things, all the time and in any situation. But as they are getting older and I can feel the years start to slip by, I realize that family time is just very precious. I like your Disney-biased attitude!
Family time is very precious. Look at what happened to my friend, Bill, who was out riding his motorcycle without a care and now can only move three fingers. Look at what happened to reelmom's friend. Their sweet memories of that ten year old son will be so precious to all of them forever.
Of course, we have to reasonable, but every so often, you just might have to do something different for the sake of the family. If you can pick a week where they already have some days off, of course that would be logical.
Hey Kelli - thought I'd throw my two cents in here for you too. I never had a problem taking the kids out of elementary school, but as NancyLuvsMickey said, Jr High was totally different. The work load is just so much heavier. If there is a week when they are already out for a couple of days, I'd lean towards picking that week to go on your trip. Make sure you talk to Morghan's teachers early and let them know she'll be gone, maybe she can get the work earlier and have some time to work on it before you go, that way she won't be so far behind when you get back.
And it makes a huge difference if they are on a school sports team. We were always at games or tournaments, even during the breaks. Dead week in the summer was about the only week we could be assured of being able to do anything.