My Name Is NOT Broccoli!

[Native NYer]

Yay!!! Your trip is so close!!!
Are you packed and ready to go?
I love your duffel bag.

 

[mickeyfan71]

Y'all have a great trip! I'll be ready for the TR to keep me occupied while I wait for my October trip!

 

[reelmom]

Not much longer now. I am so excited for you. I look forward to reading all about it. We still have 97 days until our trip but at least we are doing the double digit dance.

 

[CandleontheWater]

Its always so sad to leave the world, but at least you knew you'd be back soon!

I can't believe your next trip is almost here, I will certainly be thinking about my Dis buddies in the World!

Is there any way I can get on the picture list? I'd be happy to PM my facebook link to whoever needs it. I would love to get a few pictures from the world to brighten my link.

 

[laashley]

Just two more days for you! I am very much looking forward to the facebook updates. Just 31 days till me and dh are back in the world. I am starting to get restless.

The look on Brooklynn's face is just so sad, but I bet that frown is upside down now.

 

[alicat25]

I saw this on Facebook and thought of the teachers on this thread and wanted to share it.

Are you sick of highly paid teachers?

Teachers' hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or10 months a year! It's time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do - babysit!

We can get that for less than minimum wage.

That's right. Let's give them $3.00 an hour and only the hours they worked; not any of that silly planning time, or any time they spend before or after school. That would be $19.50 a day (7:45 to 3:00 PM with 45 min. off for lunch and plan-- that equals 6 1/2 hours).

Each parent should pay $19.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children. Now how many students do they teach in a day...maybe 30? So that's $19.50 x 30 = $585.00 a day.

However, remember they only work 180 days a year!!! I am not going to pay them for any vacations.

LET'S SEE....

That's $585 X 180= $105,300 per year. (Hold on! My calculator needs new batteries).

What about those special education teachers and the ones with Master's degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage ($7.75), and just to be fair, round it off to $8.00 an hour. That would be $8 X 6 1/2 hours X 30 children X 180 days = $280,800 per year.

Wait a minute -- there's something wrong here! There sure is!

The average teacher's salary (nation wide) is $50,000. $50,000/180 days = $277.77/per day/30 students=$9.25/6.5 hours = $1.42 per hour per student--a very inexpensive baby-sitter and they even EDUCATE your kids!) WHAT A DEAL!!!!

Make a teacher smile; repost this to show appreciation for all educators.

 

[disneyfan61]

I wanted to get on here & make sure I wish you a wonderful trip. Cannot wait to hear all about it. I will be thinking of you all when you are having your big Dismeet!! Have a great time!!

 

[Stasieki]

DisneyKiwi - you and your family and all people of NZ will be in my prayers. I have been watching the coverage on our news and it is just devastating. So happy all your relatives are OK.


OK, girls. Sorry I've been MIA. It's been a crazy week getting ready for our trip and I have been sick, but I finally went to the doc on Wed and got meds. It is a sinus infection, which I usually don't get antibiotics for, but I told my doc I was heading to Disney and I better not be sick. He took care of me

One week from today we will be at a park of our choice/where we feel we have missed some stuff. We do have a 1900 Park Fare ressie at 4:30, but we may cancel. Somehow, I got super excited being on Free Dining and have an extra TS.

Can't wait to meet all my DIS friends and thier families. I plan on being at Small World at 9:30 on the 1st. If plans get messed up, I will text Memom or Jill. Or, if you guys get there earlier, shoot me a text. We should be in FL starting right at 9:00 so may run into you sooner. Just hoping our 8:05 BBB is on time (and we are on time for it). That would be our hold up.

 

[punkin413]

I know I haven't been around a whole lot lately (new job/baby keeps me soooo busy these days) but I wanted to wish you well in your upcoming trip.....hope it's MAGICAL!!! Can't wait to read about it, as always. Feel free to send me text updates....I always enjoy them.

 

[micandminforever]

DisneyKiwi my thoughts and prayers are with you.

MeMom have a great trip if you do not hear from me again until next Tuesday. My desk top is in the shop, and I am back on my 10 year old laptop that could go at any time.

 

[MeMom]

2 SLEEPS!!!

Are you bringing the duffle bag with you?
It was so thoughtful of her to buy it for you....she is an awesome daughter!

Very cool pic of Lola and Brooklynn.

Awww, Bella is dreaming of going on that DCL bus....someday....her dream may come true.
I'll let you know how big the room is.

Goodbye bus is bittersweet but .....that is soon going to change! Magical Express here you come!

You must be so thrilled it is so close!

Yes, the duffel bag is going to make the trip back. It holds a lot of goodies. I can put my purse in it, too, for the plane, and just have one bag to carry on. She is truly an awesome daughter.

I tell ya, you have this TR thing down to an exact science! One wraps up as soon as you are walking out the door for another trip! You are so close, you should be able to smell the popcorn by now!

I meant to ask you... how are you able to go in February? Does your school have a winter break or are you just using some of your days? DD is out for three days starting tomorrow for their winter break but no other schools around here get that time off. When I picked her up from school yesterday, she was all flustered about something. When I asked her what was wrong she told me that one of her classmates was going to Disney over winter break and "THAT IS JUST NOT FAIR!!!" What was I supposed to say to that? She's right! So I just reminded her that when we are there in October, her little friend will be stuck back here in NC saying the same thing about her!

we've always gone during spring break, but this year the flights were high, so I looked at the prices for a little earlier. There was such a difference that I was willing to give up some 'sick' days. Our principal does not care how we use the sick days. He just says the way he looks at it is you'll be sick if you don't go, so he tells us to just use them however we want.

I couldn't have picked a better year to change things, because now they're taking away a spring break day to make up a snow day. People are so mad, but most teachers and parents say they're leaving anyway, so it's going to be a bit of a mess in this county on that day. One teacher I knw said 20 of her teachers were going to be gone. Should be interesting.

Yay!!! Your trip is so close!!!
Are you packed and ready to go?
I love your duffel bag.

I am pretty much packed. It helps to be a Plain Jane when it comes to packing.

Y'all have a great trip! I'll be ready for the TR to keep me occupied while I wait for my October trip!

We will count on you to be with us.

Not much longer now. I am so excited for you. I look forward to reading all about it. We still have 97 days until our trip but at least we are doing the double digit dance.

Dancing with you!
Did you tell your nephews yet, or did I miss that?

Its always so sad to leave the world, but at least you knew you'd be back soon!

I can't believe your next trip is almost here, I will certainly be thinking about my Dis buddies in the World!

Is there any way I can get on the picture list? I'd be happy to PM my facebook link to whoever needs it. I would love to get a few pictures from the world to brighten my link.

I am so ready to leave this school behind for a few days.

Talk to Jill about the pictures. I think she said she'd do a link here, but we can FB you, too. The pictures will be on her FB page until we get a chance to tag them.

Just two more days for you! I am very much looking forward to the facebook updates. Just 31 days till me and dh are back in the world. I am starting to get restless.

The look on Brooklynn's face is just so sad, but I bet that frown is upside down now.

Even Bella knows what Disney World is now, so they are both very excited. If you want something to keep you form thinking about the trip while the days go by, come up and spend some time in my classroom. You'll be so twisted and pulled that you won't have time to think Disney thoughts.

I saw this on Facebook and thought of the teachers on this thread and wanted to share it.

Are you sick of highly paid teachers?

Teachers' hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or10 months a year! It's time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do - babysit!

We can get that for less than minimum wage.

That's right. Let's give them $3.00 an hour and only the hours they worked; not any of that silly planning time, or any time they spend before or after school. That would be $19.50 a day (7:45 to 3:00 PM with 45 min. off for lunch and plan-- that equals 6 1/2 hours).

Each parent should pay $19.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children. Now how many students do they teach in a day...maybe 30? So that's $19.50 x 30 = $585.00 a day.

However, remember they only work 180 days a year!!! I am not going to pay them for any vacations.

LET'S SEE....

That's $585 X 180= $105,300 per year. (Hold on! My calculator needs new batteries).

What about those special education teachers and the ones with Master's degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage ($7.75), and just to be fair, round it off to $8.00 an hour. That would be $8 X 6 1/2 hours X 30 children X 180 days = $280,800 per year.

Wait a minute -- there's something wrong here! There sure is!

The average teacher's salary (nation wide) is $50,000. $50,000/180 days = $277.77/per day/30 students=$9.25/6.5 hours = $1.42 per hour per student--a very inexpensive baby-sitter and they even EDUCATE your kids!) WHAT A DEAL!!!!

Make a teacher smile; repost this to show appreciation for all educators.

I did see this. It's nice to be appreciated. I try not to say too much, because a lot of people get all bent out of shape and tell teachers to stop whining because they get all the holidays and summers and such. I am glad to have a job, and I do love the teaching, but I do not like the testing and the discipline problems. Would I trade it for a higher paying/longer months/ less holidays job? Probably so, if I knew of something I enjoyed doing. I do think people should spend more time inside schools before they speak on teachers, though.

I wanted to get on here & make sure I wish you a wonderful trip. Cannot wait to hear all about it. I will be thinking of you all when you are having your big Dismeet!! Have a great time!!

I'm sure Jill will put up a few pictures of the meets.

DisneyKiwi - you and your family and all people of NZ will be in my prayers. I have been watching the coverage on our news and it is just devastating. So happy all your relatives are OK.


OK, girls. Sorry I've been MIA. It's been a crazy week getting ready for our trip and I have been sick, but I finally went to the doc on Wed and got meds. It is a sinus infection, which I usually don't get antibiotics for, but I told my doc I was heading to Disney and I better not be sick. He took care of me

One week from today we will be at a park of our choice/where we feel we have missed some stuff. We do have a 1900 Park Fare ressie at 4:30, but we may cancel. Somehow, I got super excited being on Free Dining and have an extra TS.

Can't wait to meet all my DIS friends and thier families. I plan on being at Small World at 9:30 on the 1st. If plans get messed up, I will text Memom or Jill. Or, if you guys get there earlier, shoot me a text. We should be in FL starting right at 9:00 so may run into you sooner. Just hoping our 8:05 BBB is on time (and we are on time for it). That would be our hold up.

Get better! We'll see a healthy you on Tuesday.

I know I haven't been around a whole lot lately (new job/baby keeps me soooo busy these days) but I wanted to wish you well in your upcoming trip.....hope it's MAGICAL!!! Can't wait to read about it, as always. Feel free to send me text updates....I always enjoy them.

Feels like it has been so long, even though it was just October. I am more than ready, and we will send you pictures.

 

[brookelizabeth]

I think we would enjoy a short cruise. I do not think I would enjoy the inside small hallways and rooms. Too claustrophobic. I could probably do it for one night just to be able to go to Castaway Cay. I know it's fabulous, and if I could sleep out on the open deck, I could probably handle it, but the thought of going down small hallways into the inner portion of the ship takes all the thoughts of cruising away.

Oh yeah, and there's wallet thing you referred to, too.

Ah, yes...I tend to forget how teeny tiny the rooms and such are. Though, Disney's are larger than average.

That wallet can be a pesky one, can't he??

Hi Memom and everyone

Can I ask you all to say a few prayers for people here in NZ. There was a major earthquake in Christchurch our 2nd largest city Monday lunchtime. 75 have been confirmed dead and there are still 400 missing in buildings that have fallen down. Its the biggest disaster we have had here so I suppose we are lucky in that respect but being a small country it has hit us all hard as most of us know someone there.

They only had a big one last September, but that was in the midle of the night and noone was killed but lots of damage - this time as it was the middle of the day and more powerful and it has caused total devastation in some areas - it is awful to see. Christchurch has lots of old buildings, churches built back in the 1800's and most of them have fallen down or have to now be pulled down. Its sad to see all that history gone in the space of a few minutes.

I personally have lots of cousins, aunts and uncles living there and so far 4 of the families have lost their houses but they are all alive which is the main thing.

So a few prayers and thoughts would be much appreciated if you dont mind. Sorry to put a downer on your thread Memom.

I hope you Jill and the girls have a great break and catchup with Trent. Your updates are a bit of sunshine in life at the moment.

Thank you

Oh my goodness! Praying for NZ. I have a good friend who's in-laws live there. I saw your post and quickly texted her. They too are okay! Whew!!!

 

[nowellsl]

I can sympathize with you Memom on the cruise feelings. I've been in all different levels and much prefer to be above water level

What bothers me worse is being out on the deck late at night, surrounded by blackness and realizing what a tiny speck you are out in that huge ocean, that gave me the weirdest feeling

If I don't get a chance before you leave, have a great trip!! I know Trent and Tanya can't wait until you guys get there!! Wish I was going, the Small world meet sounds fun!!

 

[celeste.]

Have lots of fun on your trip, MeMom!

 

[reelmom]

I did tell my niece and nephew this past weekend. I did a scavenger hunt for them. The prize was Disney Tickets that I had printed off of the Creative DISigns Board. It took them a moment to figure it out. Once they did, they were super excited. We made countdown calenders and had a Disney Dinner. I will try and post pictures later. Photobucket is not my friend right now.

 

[Tinkergurl20]

I hope you guys have an amazing time on your trip!!! I have been re-reading and catching up on your trip reports the last few days...and probably will be for the next week as I was diagnosed with an antibiotic resistant strain of pneumonia and most likely will be in the hospital within a few days since I am not getting better and my fevers are peaking at 102.5 most of the time. So I will be following along with you probably from the hospital...but your updates make the time go by much faster!! Can't wait to see the pictures and hear all the cute stories about Bella and Brooklynn!

 

[2xcited2sleep]

Have a great trip!!!!

 

[Poolrat]

Hi Memom and everyone

Can I ask you all to say a few prayers for people here in NZ. There was a major earthquake in Christchurch our 2nd largest city Monday lunchtime. 75 have been confirmed dead and there are still 400 missing in buildings that have fallen down. Its the biggest disaster we have had here so I suppose we are lucky in that respect but being a small country it has hit us all hard as most of us know someone there.

They only had a big one last September, but that was in the midle of the night and noone was killed but lots of damage - this time as it was the middle of the day and more powerful and it has caused total devastation in some areas - it is awful to see. Christchurch has lots of old buildings, churches built back in the 1800's and most of them have fallen down or have to now be pulled down. Its sad to see all that history gone in the space of a few minutes.

I personally have lots of cousins, aunts and uncles living there and so far 4 of the families have lost their houses but they are all alive which is the main thing.

So a few prayers and thoughts would be much appreciated if you dont mind. Sorry to put a downer on your thread Memom.

I hope you Jill and the girls have a great break and catchup with Trent. Your updates are a bit of sunshine in life at the moment.

Thank you

Thoughts and prayers are going out to you.

I, too, thought of you when the news broke in the US. Glad to hear you and your relatives are ok.

 

[MeMom]

Ah, yes...I tend to forget how teeny tiny the rooms and such are. Though, Disney's are larger than average.

That wallet can be a pesky one, can't he??

Oh my goodness! Praying for NZ. I have a good friend who's in-laws live there. I saw your post and quickly texted her. They too are okay! Whew!!!

I would have to save up enough to have a fancy suite.

I can sympathize with you Memom on the cruise feelings. I've been in all different levels and much prefer to be above water level

What bothers me worse is being out on the deck late at night, surrounded by blackness and realizing what a tiny speck you are out in that huge ocean, that gave me the weirdest feeling

If I don't get a chance before you leave, have a great trip!! I know Trent and Tanya can't wait until you guys get there!! Wish I was going, the Small world meet sounds fun!!

As much as I would love to see and photograph Castaway Cay, I'll probably stick with dry land.

Jill will put a picture from Small World on FB Tuesday morning.

Have lots of fun on your trip, MeMom!

We will!

I did tell my niece and nephew this past weekend. I did a scavenger hunt for them. The prize was Disney Tickets that I had printed off of the Creative DISigns Board. It took them a moment to figure it out. Once they did, they were super excited. We made countdown calenders and had a Disney Dinner. I will try and post pictures later. Photobucket is not my friend right now.

I look forward to seeing the pictures. I know they will have such a great time and remember it for the rest of their lives.

I hope you guys have an amazing time on your trip!!! I have been re-reading and catching up on your trip reports the last few days...and probably will be for the next week as I was diagnosed with an antibiotic resistant strain of pneumonia and most likely will be in the hospital within a few days since I am not getting better and my fevers are peaking at 102.5 most of the time. So I will be following along with you probably from the hospital...but your updates make the time go by much faster!! Can't wait to see the pictures and hear all the cute stories about Bella and Brooklynn!

Certainly sorry to hear all of that. Maybe you'll turn the corner and get better before hospital time.

Have a great trip!!!!

We plan to.

Thoughts and prayers are going out to you.

I, too, thought of you when the news broke in the US. Glad to hear you and your relatives are ok.

I'm going to read the latest on all of this in just a few minutes. I have barely seen any news this week.


*************************************************

Sitting on a plane, ready to go home....

well, not ready to go, but forced to by real life, like bills and jobs to pay them...

this was our view.

Goodbye, lovely palm trees.

My precious ones busying themselves with some fascinating reading material.

Here we go.

Back in Nashville.

So, that's it, guys. It was loads of fun.

So fun, that we may do it again soon.

We're supposed to get tornado weather tonight so if I am not around, I am either packing or spinning around in a funnel cloud.

I hope it will be the first one.

One more school day and the girlie girls will be here!

Saturday morning, it's up, up, and away again!
Jill will send you some Disney happiness often through pictures.
We're meeting some DISers Saturday, and we're also scheduled to meet Debbie from the BOGP. Tuesday, we'll meet a bunch of friends for a ride around the world. A very small and colorful world that sings all the time.

As always, thank you for joining us on this last journey. We enjoy seeing the pictures again, and we love having all of you comment and tell about your similar times. You truly are our friends, and we appreciate all the kindnesses that have been shown to us in so many ways.

In honor of our trip, I am going to be a rebel and wear a Disney t-shirt to school tomorrow.







Not really.

You know I am not a rebel.

We are wearing shirts we can read tomorrow, so it's allowable.
I have to decide if the kids will be reading Soarin', Pop Century, Mickey's Summer Getaway (or something like that), Magic Kingdom, You Might Get Wet, Walt Disney World, Animal Kingdom Lodge..... I have more choices. I've just gotta pick one. It's so hard trying to get dressed for work.

 

[<3myfamily]

I've been lurking/following all your trips throughout the years. It has been fun seeing the girls grow up! Can't wait to follow along on your upcoming next trip! Have a safe trip and have a great time!