October 19th Cruisers again and again... Part 2

[Denine]

Heidi: Too bad about not being able to post from work anymore. Jerry has never been able to post from work. He can read though and he does from time to time. I have your e-mail address saved, just have to remember that forwards go to your home address.

Kaleigh had a hard time concentrating in school today. She is just so excited. She was losing her voice last night and we had to tell her to stop talking. Not easy!

I am in the process of doing laundry

Started packing last night. The rest has to be finished tonight. I have Kaleigh's clothes set out for tomorrow. It is tough. It is supposed to be in the 40's in Detroit and the 80's in Orlando. How do you dress? Kaleigh's Pooh blanket just came out of the dryer, so it is as clean as it gets!

Dinner is simple tonight. OOh, I have to get out the extra food and water for the furbabies. Luckily I have it all down on a list.

I will try to sign on one more time tonight. Otherwise, I won't be on until we get home.

Barb: Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

We are going to vacation with ::cop: Capt. Garry and Capt. Jack.
We will be with &
After the cruise we will be meetin gup with &

 

[Mickey02]

Denine-Have a great trip. Your posts make me jealous we are not going too!
Darn that Hawaii! I would rather go to Disney!

 

[Denine]

Barb: You make me laugh! DO you know how many people would kill to go to Hawaii?

Everything is packed except the last minute stuff.

Julie called me from the airport telling me what a pain security was. She is supposed to call when they land.

Kaleigh is in bed.

We are ready to go!

Talk to you all when we get back!

 

[Pooh_Friend#1]

BYE LAUTER'S.....HAVE A GREAT VACATION!!!!!

Denine - I wish I could read and not post, that would help my withdrawal a lot more!!

That's okay, Barb and I emailed all day so I am sure she will definitely keep me in the know!!!!

I picked up my pictures from Walgreens that they printed for free and we picked up a total of 5 boxes...Chris and I were so embarrassed but it was hilarious!!! I haven't gone through them yet but I will tonight and tomorrow night. All the duplicates will go to my mom. Let's see there was a box full of my digital pictures from my camera of WDW and DCL, there was a box full of my niece and nephew, a box full of Chris's girls playing soccer, basketball, swimming, and last year's pumpkin festival, and 2 boxes from my mom's digital camera!!!!

Seeing the pictures definitely made my day. I was having a bad day and to top it off I dropped a vegetable tray down my stairs that I had just bought from the grocery store to bring to our birthday party celebration tomorrow at work. At work today an applicant was argueing with me because I said he was ineligible and 2 other people thought the same thing. The last thing he said to me was, "that is the problem with women doing men's qualifications...they are discriminating against men....and then he threatened, don't make me take this to the EEOC." Okay I am sure the EEOC would love your discriminatory comment about women. He told me to forward the email to my boss which I gladly did!!!! She was one that reviewed his application as well and said he didn't qualify!!!!!

Still no word from Jeanne, she must be enjoying her grandma time.

 

[Denine]

We got around early so I got a chance to sign on. Julie never did call last night so I assume they got in late.

It is sooo cold, only in the 30's right now. Can't wait to get to WDW. Our flight leaves at 2:47 PM, but we have a 2:20 hour drive to Detroit and then have to be at the airport 2 hours in advance.

Kaleigh's cold seems worse this morning. I don't know if everything is just starting to break up or what. If she stays like this, they won't let her in the clubs on the ship. Not good since she is soooo looking forward to going there and we were looking foward to adult time. Send some pixie dust!

 

[Mickey02]

K A L E I G H

 

[Mickey02]

Good Morning!

Lets keep our thread going. With Denine and Julie gone, Heidi not able to post during the day. My Mom and Sandy having computer problems, and Jeanne on "New Grandma" hiatus its just me during the day. I will talking to myself alot. Sigh......

 

[jiminyC_fan]

Oh Barb, hugs your way. I have been worrying about YOU having to talk to yourself here. I will do the very best I can. I think it will only be a couple more days. (yea, right, wishful thinking!) Give your mom a hug from all of us.

Heidi, can't wait to see the pictures.

WHERE IS JEANNE?

Julie, love your pooh and ghost signature. How cute!

I am lost in days. I know Julie is at WDW but is Denine?

I am struggling getting off my extra pounds to the point of depression. My clothes don't fit and it isn't my imagination.

Have to run. Time to get Graci. Love to you all.

 

[Mickey02]

Denine should be on the plane flying to Disney. Sure hope Kaleigh gets to feeling better.

Sandy have you heard any rumors about cruises in 2008? I have heard Hawaii. I would SOOO be there if they did.

 

[jiminyC_fan]

Barb, I heard the same thing as you.....Hawaii. But I do know that it is just a rumor mill right now. I would love to go to Hawaii via Disney. If that is the case, I might have to cancel next year. That would be hard to do though. Decisions.

By the way, Barb. You talked about my Juice thread. It is amazing that it is 250 pages. It has been going on since before the Panama cruise. You are MORE THAN WELCOME to post. Everyone is very warm. BUT...they are a different bunch of people than what we have here on this thread and I am not real sure if you would feel comfortable with all the drink talk. Just something for you to think about. Don't get me wrong....they aren't a bunch of alcoholics or anything. There is just a lot of talk about drinks and some have talked about getting drunk.

 

[jiminyC_fan]

I just dropped Graci off at her mom's office and it looked like a little boy was "run" over by a car. He was being cradled by a man. I saw the boys face, it was bright red and he had been crying. I don't think that he was injured bad but it was still awful to see. I bet I was only seconds away from witnessing it. The boy looked to be about 8ish and had been on a yellow bike. The bike didn't look bad. I drove a couple of more blocks to the dentist and parked and got out of the car and by then the sirens hit. I just feel icky. ICKY!! I was only at the dentist probably 3 minutes and by the time I drove back, the boy was already inside an ambulance and the bike was leaning against the street light. I hate this feeling! The scary part is that Heidi and I know a family that lives right there that has a son about that age. Barb, it is one of the ladies on the juice thread.
__________________

 

[Pooh_Friend#1]

Barb - this is for you since you need something to read, it is my next day of my trip report with pictures. Enjoy your Friday off from work. Hope Tiffany made it in okay.

Okay I am sure you are all going to get sick of me with all my huge posts today, but I am catchng up and posting more of my trip report!!!!

Sunday: September 3, 2006: Magic Kingdom

Woke up early to have breakfast at Crystal Palace before MK was open; it was a lot of fun to see main street almost completely empty. The breakfast was awesome and a lot of good character interactions. It was great to finally meet Jerry.

When we were done eating, the park opened so we ran to ride Pirates of the Caribbean. That is my favorite ride and I was so excited to ride it to see what changes they had made to the ride, the additions were awesome and it was so cool to Captain Jack Sparrow throughout the ride. We watched a performance of Captain Jack and he was really good. The girls didn’t enjoy their first ride on Pirates because they are afraid of the dark and they were afraid that something would jump out at them. Throughout the day they asked to go on it again and they loved it.

We went on Splash Mountain next and the girls both LOVED that ride. They wanted to ride it over and over again, same with Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

(that is me in the pink shirt and the girls are in front of me and beside me and Jerry is behind me)
We thunder mountain at least 3 times in a row. One time we were luck enough to skip the stand by line and go through the fast pass line because we had such a huge group. We had a trail of 13 people following one after the other, ride after ride. It was great, but sometimes a little stressful to keep everyone together and happy. While we were waiting to get on the next train we saw my mom and dad were on the train before us (this was the first time we had run into them since we have been there.) We waved, screamed and took pictures.

Next ride we attempted was Haunted Mansion, definitely didn’t take the girls on that one again. I had Emily in my lap in the doom buggy with her head buried in my chest and her begging to leave. Chris had the same thing with Amanda. Their favorite part was when they uncovered their eyes and saw a ghost riding with us. Their 2 younger cousins were scared also.

We took a lunch break and ate at Cosmic Rays. I was still stuffed from breakfast, but the girls wanted Chicken and Ribs so we all shared that and a hamburger. The Chicken and Ribs platter is huge and could easily feed 2 people, the meal was good. After lunch we went for Buzz Lightyear and Space Mountain. At Space Mountain is when we discovered that one of Chris’s daughters (Amanda) is a thrill/coaster junkie!!!! She loved it and Emily hated it.

(You can see Emily getting off about ready to say she is never riding that ride again!!)

Chris, the girls, and I left MK to go eat at Whispering Canyon. It poured down rain while we were waiting for the boat (no bus service between Wilderness Lodge and MK) and we met up with my parents for dinner. We had heard such great things about this place and asked for a server that gets into the atmosphere, but we didn’t get a fun server, we were just observers. I was disappointed but may have been okay since the girls were exhausted. After dinner we went back to the hotel to relax and take a nap because we were planning on going back to MK for the extra magic hours and to watch Wishes. I was so excited to watch Wishes because I heard how great it was but have never seen it before. I loved it. We stood on the street between Tomorrowland and the partners statue, it was a very special moment. I was looking forward to spending the night with just my parents, Chris, the girls and I, since I haven’t been able to do so far. Well the girls were overly tired and Chris ended up taking them back to the hotel while I met up with my parents. Left MK around midnight and went straight to bed.

 

[Pooh_Friend#1]

Here is a great picture of Jeanne feeding Cosmo the monkey!!

And Cosmo was lucky enough to get to dance with her too:

Cosmo hanging with the other officers:

 

[Pooh_Friend#1]

Today my mom and I are off to find Fall clothes for me and winter dress shoes for me!!! Fun fun fun. I will be back to post more of my trip report.

Can you tell I love my high speed internet?

 

[wildernessgirl]

Hi guys! We are here in WDW. The weather is wonderful! We got in our room around 9:45ish. The flight was great! THe kids have been real good. We went to the MNSSHP last night. It was fun, but I liked the other years parade better. The Big Guy got a girlfriend from Brazil. She was in her twenties! LOL! I'll post more about that later.

Well, gotta go. Gotta go meet up with Denine and Jerry.

TTFN

 

[jiminyC_fan]

Why am I not surprised that the Big Guy found another older woman????? How funny is he?

Heidi, love the trip report.

 

[Mickey02]

Good Evening!

Tiffany is home and sleepy of all things. She is not an early riser and had to be at the airport this morning at 7:00.

Sandy-How horrible about the little boy. I sure hope he is ok.

Julie & Heidi- How did you get those cute pictures on your post? I want one
(insert whining here)

Heidi-Love the pictures. I will never get tired of your trip reports. Cute family.

 

[Pooh_Friend#1]

Barb - Check your pm's. I sent them to you through pm. All you have to do is reply or forward the message that I sent to you. You will see the codeing of the mickey and than you can copy and paste that code into your signature.

 

[Pooh_Friend#1]

Monday - September 4, 2006: Animal Kingdom
Woke up early to enjoy the one hour early morning entry while the rest of Chris’s family slept in. We were able to walk on to the safari where we ran into my parents and the Disney Dudettes (Jeanne, Joyce, Bonnie), they went on the ride before us and the girls were running to try and get on the same vehicle as them but the CM’s wouldn’t allow it. We had a great safari and saw lots of animals, the girls really enjoyed it. From there we met Chris’s family at Expedition Everest. Once again Emily ran to me and begged me to ride with her while Chris rode with Amanda. I absolutely LOVED that ride, it was the best…but Emily did not enjoy it one bit. Chris’s sister, Karen, rode it one time with us to see if her daughter Brittany could ride. Karen was a little worried since Brittany just had heart surgery, but decided she could ride it because she was really looking forward to it. Everyone else went for a second ride with Brittany but Emily, Karen, and Fran.

We let Karen choose the next ride and she chose Kali River Rapids. At this ride we ran into my parents and the Dudettes again. The first time around Karen got soaked while everyone else, except me, got a little wet. We begged the CM to let us stay on and he did but they would not let my parents and the dudettes stay on in the raft behind us so we had to wave goodbye as we went for another round. The second round Karen decided to move and sit in the empty seat so she was assured she wouldn’t get drenched…..wrong again, as we get ready for the big hill the raft turns around and Karen is going backwards down the hill….SPLASH and a huge wave of water came over Karen and she was soaked again. I have never laughed so hard, we were all crying from laughing so hard. The others were soaking wet also but somehow I was the only one dry with just a few spots of water!!! When we got off the ride, Karen convinced all the wet soaked bodies to give me a big hug so that I could fit in with them. They did and I was a little wetter but it was not good enough for Karen so she was determined to get me soaked and push me into a fountain. I was fighting her and by the time she got me up to the spout the water shut off, so she got frustrated and dumped her bottle of water on me!!!! Can you believe she wasted a bottle of water in 100 degree weather at Disney, which she paid nearly her life savings for, just to get me wet!!! Good fun, I think Karen remained wet for the rest of our day. We ate lunch at Pizza Safari which was a nice break and had air conditioning for those of us who were able to dry off. Had fun at a Bug’s Life, it was so neat to watch all the kids reactions to that show. Emily, Amanda, Rachel and Morgan were all reaching out for the stuff and Rachel was sitting on her feet and Brittany stood up for quite awhile after the bee.

Our last ride was the safari again. This was a memorable time for me on the safari because a giraffe came charging out of the bushes towards the vehicle. It scared the daylights out of me. We hear a noise and the next thing we look at is the giraffe’s huge neck. I scooted over away from the giraffe and Karen who was sitting next to me scooted towards the giraffe to take a picture.

We ended our day shopping at AK and went back to the hotel to rest up for Epcot at night.

We ate at Le Cellier, and let me tell you that they had the best crème brulee ever. Their cheese soup and pretzel bread were good also.

After dinner we waited for Illuminations to begin. While waiting I pulled out all the glow necklaces and bracelets that I bought for the kids and they had a blast. We enjoyed the show and went back to the hotel. We didn’t attempt to do anything else in Epcot because we were coming back the next day. Brittany and John were suppose to leave tonight because Brittany had a math test that she was worried about, but Brittany decided that she wanted to stay because it wasn’t every day that she gets to spend time with both her uncles and cousins at the same time.

 

[Pooh_Friend#1]

Tuesday – September 5, 2006: Epcot

We made it to Epcot early for the early morning hours and because Karen and her family had to leave this afternoon. We were approached and asked if we wanted to try out a new attraction dealing with Kim Possible, all the girls shouted yes and we were told to come back at 10:30 to start our mission. (more on this later) While waiting for our time to come, we went on Soaring three times and went to test track. Emily was so nervous about Test track that she was using the excuse that she had to go to the bathroom. Of course she tells me this when we are in the debriefing room about to enter the loading area for the ride. I really thought she had to go, she is a good little actress and had me fooled. I told her there were no bathrooms around and we needed to ride to get to the bathroom. After the ride was done turns out she loved the ride, wants to go again and no longer had to go to the bathroom.

(Look at how unsure she looks right before we take off!!!)

Chris, the girls, his mom Fran, and I had to go to meet my parents at Coral Reef for lunch while the other went to find out what they were doing with the Kim Possible attraction. Lunch was great and enjoyed the atmosphere.

Lucky us missed most of the Kim Possible new attraction because of lunch and everyone else was fed up with the Kim Possible thing when we rejoined the group. With the new Kim Possible attractions you get into a team and go on a mission, sounds fun right??? WRONG. We all know how huge EPCOT is and a ton of walking. They give you a cell phone (1 per team which they make you put a credit card down for a $300 deposit per phone) and the cell phone gives you your mission and is linked to computer chips wherever the clue may take you. They had the kids running across EPCOT. One team started in England while the other team was in Germany, from there they were sent all around EPCOT in different directions. The team that started in Germany when they finished their clues at Germany were sent to Innovations and then back to the American Pavilion, and then Norway and then Canada. Each place had 3-4 different clues you had to find before the next mission. Whoa, we decided that is way too much walking so we aborted the mission with whiny, crying, angry kids.

(NEVER volunteer to do this unless your kids are good walkers!!)

Chris and Jerry stopped at every place possible to get a beer. By this time the kids were hot and tired of stopping and waiting for them, they just wanted to see characters and ride rides…so Karen and I left the guys and took the kids around.

We met up at Club Cool for some Coke (remember Chris works for Coke!!)

and then finished up at the fountains outside of Honey We Shrunk the Audience. The kids played in the fountains and got soaked.

It was time for Chris’s sister and her family to leave so we said our goodbyes and Chris, the girls, his brother, his mom, and I headed back to the hotel for a hair wrap, homework time, dinner and a swim.