October 22, 2005 Roll call

[marnight]

Hello everyone,

Haven't been to this site in a few months. It looks like I have a lot of posts to catch up on

We just completed our move from Pennsylvania to Maryland which has kept us pretty busy. After getting ourselves situated and kids signed up in school, now I can once again start thinking about our upcoming vacation!!

Now I'll go back and read what I've missed here.
Take care, and see ya in a few months!!!

Maria

 

[ThreeSmiths]

my kids are not too keen on trying anything new and I can only imagine what would happen if they found out they were eating snail! Once my dh, in disgust, told my ds (he was about 6 or 7) that he needed to try a bite of some vegetable or go to bed right then, and ds just got his jammies on and got in bed.

So funny!! I have the same problem with Kaylee...she is not adventurous by nature, and this includes FOOD. When I took her for her 5 yo check up (three years ago) she grew 5 inches in one year!!! The doctor was amazed and asked me what I was feeding her. I told her that Kaylee barely eats anything at all!

She is also SLOWLY getting better. She used to eat no meat at all...and not for ethical reasons, but because she does not like the texture. She is just now starting to eat a little bit of ground beef. So we are always trying to get alternate sources of protein in her...beans, cheese, eggs, nuts, etc. The only meals she ate on the cruise were cereal for breakfast, cheese pizza for lunch and macaroni and cheese for dinner. I wasn't going to make an issue of it, after all it was her vacation too, and DH and I were certainly not following any healthy eating habits that week!!!

TTFN!
Stacy

 

[jeanyusjean]

We will be there Oct 22- 29 but we will be offsite (Westgate Vacation Villas)

 

[scrapperjill]

We will be there Oct 22- 29 but we will be offsite (Westgate Vacation Villas)

Huh??? What is Westgate Vacation Villas???

 

[UKANGEL]

hi all
just got back from a week's surprise trip to WDW that my darling Husband booked for my daughter and I

we had a wonderful time and it was good to spend some time with my lovely DD (age 17) as she wont be coming with us in October.

Back home now and we actually have sunshine!

 

[American Scrapper]

Welcome back UKAngel! What a great surprise!!

Kathy

 

[pdarrah]

Hi Everyone!

We got home from our Wisconsin cabin trip last night. The laundry is almost done so I have taken a few minutes to try and start catching up here at the DISboard! DS is going back to the cabin tomorrow with Grandma & Grandpa so we had to get his clothes packed back up again tonight.

UKAngel - Cool! I wish I got surprises like that

MelissaE1 - Other than Palo, I can't remember much about particular meals - probably because I was so busy laughing. We had a wonderful time with our DIS-friend table mates. I do have a couple memories outside of the dining rooms. One general thought that goes with "cruise" for me is this: DS loved room service - I think just having food delivered was "cool" for him - and he ate chicken fingers nearly every day. We kept thinking he would get tired of them, but he never did. Another memory isn't Disney food, but it happened on the cruise: About a month before we sailed, DS (then 5) saw a tv show (travel channel or maybe food channel) about best vacation food. There was a whole segment on conch fritters in Key West and he declared he wanted to try them when we were there. He held to his plan, but when we got to Key West he was having so much fun in the club that he begged to stay on board while we went into Key West. As we left, he reminded us to bring him back conch fritters to try. Well, we had lunch at a little seafood shack (B. O.'s Fish Wagon) and brought some conch fritters back with us to the ship. We picked him up from the club and took him back to the room to try them. They probably weren't their best since it had been about an hour since they were served and the before and after photos of him trying them are priceless! This year, his plan is to try escargot - I think those have a better chance of being a hit!

pdarrah

Note to all: If you want to join us for dinner, just let me know pdarrah@sprynet.com. The post about this is here.

 

[MelissaE1]

Wow, pdarrah, I love it that your ds tries things like that. My kids are soooo suspicious. I think I ate just about everything as a kid, but these guys apparently didn't get that from me.

Stacy, it's nice to at least see a little progress in the eating department, isn't it? DS learned to play chess when he was in first grade in one of his classes and last year they had a chess tournament, so he wanted a chess computer. We got him one, but I told him that he could only have it if he ate one serving of five different fruits or veggies. (He has some sort of texture issue, so this is truly torture for him). It took him over a month to do it! The funny thing is, the one vegetable he truly enjoyed was -- get this -- artichoke. Not a run of the mill one like peas. Kid has expensive taste like me. He now eats artichokes whenever I offer them, and he will eat pineapple although I don't think he really enjoys it that much yet. I figure if I just keep giving it to him he'll get used to it. People who don't have a child like that tell me if I let him go hungry he'll eat what I put in front of him, but I swear this kid would starve to death first. Thank goodness he seems to be slowly getting better. My BIL was the same way as a child and he eats anything and everything now, including being a gourmet cook, so I figure there's hope. <g>

Hello UKAngel... what a nice DH you have!

So does everyone have all the clothes they need or is anyone hanging out on eBay like me looking for kids suits? How come October seems so close when I think about packing but so far when I think about just getting on the ship and having fun?

Melissa

 

[scrapperjill]

We just found the girls a couple suits Wednesday at Limited Too Of course we wern't looking for swimwear ....we were actually looking for school clothes...and ended up get suits. I wasn't planning on getting them suits for the trip...but Sydney's suits have became all bleached out from the club pool....that I figured she could use a new one...and heck they were close to 75% off Can't pass that deal up. So what if all she has for school clothes is a bikini and flip flops

As for cruise clothes...I don't think I'm really going to bother getting anything new for the trip. Oh...I guess I can't say that.... I did get our whole family those Mickey Tiki shirts from Disneystore.com..we ordered those way back when they first came out....shortly after we rebooked. I was even able to get my family and our friends that are going to order them also...So we'll be that group of 12 all wearing matching shirts.

I did go out yesterday and purchase a few odds and ins for the trip..I found lime green luggage straps at the dollar store ...(I found the same things at both Target and AA for $7.99-9.99..so a buck is a GREAT deal). I also got some miscellaneous things like headach meds and hair gel. I do still have a "list" of items that I need to get like a couple more media cards and a backup battery for the camera. I want to get a flash for my D-SLR but I'm not sure if I'll be able to budget it in. I'm thinking after the girls go back to school...I'll be able to put in a bunch more hours at work and earn some "trip money"....I guess we'll see.

How's eveyone elses planning/shopping going. What we have less than 10 weeks to go. How soon... is too soon... to start packing???

 

[ReneeQ]

Hi Everyone!
I haven't posted on this thread lately, though I've been on other threads on the board. I've been busy getting ready for MILs 60th BD this weekend. Also lots of friend's baby showers, bridal showers, birthday parties and weddings coming up, so I've been busy.

I think we have all the clothes bought that we're going to buy for the cruise. Didn't need much. I'm planning to start "pre-packing" on Labor Day weekend, as it's actually a 3 day weekend with nothing planned right now, so I'll have some extra time. At least will get all the toiltries, etc. packed and anything else we won't need to use before the cruise.

I'm really getting excited!

 

[MelissaE1]

Hello ReneeQ!

ScrapperJill, my dd would LOVE to wear a bathing suit and flip flops to school, lol. That's her uniform of choice all summer long. Since we live in a beach town and have a small pool in our backyard, we are pretty well set up for swim suits, but ds11 needs a "real" suit (the dress up kind) as he hasn't owned one since our last cruise when he was 8. I guess we're heathens at my house, lol.

Actually everyone is pretty much set up for clothes except for me. I have no decent shorts, and for some reason I have had the hardest time finding them this year. Of course it's 100 degrees outside here but we have winter stuff on all the racks. I won't need to wear any lime green ribbon or anything at our DIS meet... I'll be the one in the shorts that look like I've been stranded on a desert island for years, even though it's not pirate night.

What kind of camera do you have? I have the Digital Rebel, and I always joke that I take it more places than my kids. I was so excited when a digital SLR broke the $1,000 price barrier. I love that thing! I do have two batteries for it and that was money well spent. I would also love an external flash, but that's not going to happen before the cruise. Sometimes if I'm shooting close up I tie a little piece of paper napkin or something around the pop up flash to diffuse it, but usually I forget and have to Photoshop stuff. The napkin trick does help, though.

Well, back to eBay, lol.

 

[scrapperjill]

MelissaE1..... I'm part of the Digital Rebel club also.. And I'm loving it. I'm hoping I can swing the flash...but alot depends on if I get more hours at work...or not. I did just get a new camera bag for it... I have a backpack lowpro camera bag...but it's fairly big and bulky and I don't plan on switching lenses ALL the time...so I got a smaller bag that just fits the camara with lense and a couple cards and spare battery.

So far I only have one battery for it...and haven't had any trouble. But I figure on the trip I'll be taking ALOT more photos each day. Have you had any problems with just two batteries? I was thinking of getting two spares plus the one it has.

I too have shorts that look like I've been stranded for a long time also...but those are my favorite ones (actually I have two pair like that...that I tend to wear ALL the time). But mine are cut off jeans....that I figure will be to "heavy" to wear on the cruise. Anyways..I was set in my swimsuit and wrap all week long last time.

 

[ThreeSmiths]

Hi Everyone!

MelissaE: I agree, I know that Kaylee will eat like a normal human being one day, so I don't push the issue too much...just find nutritious alternatives to meat for now. I'll take any progress, no matter how small it is!

ReneeQ: Happy Birthday to your MIL!!! We suprised my dad a couple years ago and went home to Chicago for his 60th...it was a lot of fun!

We had our annual garage sale today...we do it every year and use the money we earn as "play" money on vacation. It was a good sale....we sold a ton of stuff...which I love because I needed to clean out...but it was hot as blazes out! We started early...7 am and went til 1pm. But by 9 am we were sweating buckets! So now I finally feel like I can concentrate more on doing our final cruise shopping.

Scrapperjill: What a great deal on bathing suits!!! Especially from Limited Too! Kaylee loves that store, but most of the clothing is too big for her...even though she's 8, she is just now wearing a size 7. She's just too slim for 8's. She really likes going to Limited Too for the Neopets. They are her favorite thing right now.

I need to still find some formalwear for all three of us. I am in the old shorts club too! And we need to buy a new digital camera before we go as well. Quite a bit to do before we leave. School starts Thursday, so time will be more limited....but will also go faster!

Well, gotta run. Hope everyone's doing well!

Stacy

 

[scrapperjill]

Stacy...
Sydney loves The Limited Too also...we have to look hard to find things to fit her..but we've done fairly well with the 7's. They even have slims most of the time which fit her the best. Right now they have some really cute sweat suits....pants and jackets...but I think I'll wait awhile until they go on sale... The one around here (closest one is in Seattle) has a big clearance section most of the time. Most of Alexis friends get upset because they've outgrown the sizes there....which I find strange since they're all around the same age (11-13)....either her friends are really big...or Alexis is really small for her age ...actually I think it's a mixture of both...Anywho...I know what you mean about their sizes and having trouble there.

 

[pdarrah]

Hi Everybuddy,

We are in pretty good shape for cruise clothes. A few weeks ago I picked up a few last things at the clearance sales. Other than clearance, we are pretty much all winter clothes in the stores now also. I would like to pick up a few more t-shirts/tank tops for me just for my general summer wear, but have had trouble finding anything....

For formal night DH already has a tux (we sing in a choir where he need one twice per year so it is worth owning his own.) and I bought DS6 a tux on Ebay for $25 (including shipping!). I bought a dress last year for our first DCL cruise. My parents love to ballroom dance and go to a few "black-tie" dances and dance weekend things every year so my father owns a couple tuxes and my mother has a closet full of dressy clothes! I am looking forward to getting a photo of DH, DF and DS in their tuxes

MelissaE1 - DS6 is usually pretty good about trying new food - he doesn't always like it, but he'll try it! He actually likes almost all vegetables. His absolute favorite is artichokes (that is a family thing - we all love them) and his next favorite is Broccoli! It took him quite a while to eat meat and he still usually wants to coat it in BBQ sauce. When he wasn't eating much meat our doctor suggested we give him yogurt to round out his diet a bit - he became a yogurt fiend and to this day eats tons of the stuff. He will actually choose yogurt over things like cookies or cake most of the time! However, all is not perfect - the foods he doesn't like he is VERY stubborn about. Not a bite of squash will get into that kid. He can detect squash in the smallest quantites no matter how it is disguised! Of course, I have a garden full of zuccini right now


Note: It has been a few pages since we mentioned our cruise website. If there is anyone lurking out there who would like to be included on our "Who's Going" page (as much or as little info as you like!) just let me know. A link to the website is in my signature.

pdarrah

P.S. If you want to join us for dinner, just let me know pdarrah@sprynet.com. Post about this is here.

 

[scrapperjill]

Hey everyone...I've been busy today working on our buttons....but I haven't heard from very many people so I'm at a stand still.

So far I have on my list:

American Scrapper
ThreeSmiths
Pdarrah
Timon
ReneeQ
Afoss**
ScDisneyDawn**
MNmousecouple**
Skallyway**

Those of you marked with a **...I haven't recieved a "list" of who's in your sailing party...I just took the names from the "Who's going" page on Pdarrah's web site.

Anyway I'm sure there are others out there who would like a dis button...just let me know. For those who are just joining us. I am making buttons for any fellow diser's on our cruise. The buttons are just a fun way to id other disers while were on the cruise. If your intrested in getting a button made just PM me your dis name along with all the "real" names of those your cruising with (along with your real name) and your stateroom number...the stateroom number WON'T be on the button...it's only used to get you your buttons IF you don't make it to the FIRST cruise meet at the Mickey pool on Saturday.

As for planning the trip itself...I've been busy trying to come up with some sort of pirate costumes for the four of us. Anyone else done that yet?

 

[scrapperjill]

Here is a sneak of the buttons I hope everyone approves

Oh...I'm also planning on doing a color code...where the "dis-members" (screan names) are in red and the family members/travel party has the "dis-members screan name in Yellow. That way we'll know who's a family member of the diser and who is a diser themself. Sound okay??

 

[ThreeSmiths]

Sandi-

The buttons look sooo good!!!! Hooray for you and thanks so much for undertaking such a huge project!!! I can't wait to wear mine!

Stacy

 

[pdarrah]

Scrapperjill - Great Job! It looks fantastic.

I have been spending way too much time reading the T-shirt thread over on the theme parks board. Way too many cool ideas!

pdarrah

 

[MelissaE1]

Well, I'm soooo excited. I've been looking for a pair of white shorts and/or white capris for at least a year or more now. I have a very high waist and have the hardest time finding things that fit (and I have no idea who they use for models to create this stuff, but their hind end can't be much bigger than the average six year old's, lol). Can't tell you how many pair I've tried on. This morning I went into Sam's Club on a lark and there on a table was ONE pair of Lizwear white shorts, just happened to be my size. I took them home and tried them on and they fit perfectly. As a bonus, there were some Jones NY white capris and guess what? They look pretty darn good too!

Scrapperjill... outstanding job on the button! Wow! What program are you using to create them?

Also as far as batteries go, I can honestly say that I have never had the need for a third battery. I guess there's the off chance that one might bite the dust at some point, but I haven't seen that yet and I've had mine for a year and a half. I always throw the dead one on the charger at the first opportunity and then into my camera bag pocket. If you make sure you have your charger you should be fine, and if not, I'll have mine, you are welcome to it!