October 22, 2005 Roll call

[pdarrah]

Hi fellow cruisers!

We're back! We had a wonderful week at WDW and it is very hard to come back to the cold and yucky weather Soarin' (new ride at Epcot) is REALLY cool - we were fortunate enough to ride it during a "preview" one day. DS5 (nearly 6) didn't make it to 44" for this trip, so we are planning a couple of days at the parks in October before the cruise so he can ride Space Mountain then. He did get to ride Dinosaur this trip - it was closed last year. He loves the thrill rides (BTM, SplashM, ToT, StarTours, TestTrack, etc.) and is just waiting to be tall enough for SpaceM.

Now we are just frantically getting ready for Saturday's birthday party. Currently, there are 15 kids coming and 9 that haven't RSVP'ed yet

Last night, we put up the big tents in our yard and since the forecast is for the low to mid 50's - we are going to have to put up the sides and put a couple of little electric heaters in there! I'm just hoping that it doesn't rain!

DH leaves on his business trip on Sunday (DS's actual birthday ) so then I am hoping to have a chance to relax a little bit. Once he gets back, we get into our crazy "Garden Club Plant Sale" mode - all the plants for our sale get "staged" at our house (we have a large yard and are only about 5 blocks from where we hold the sale) and they will all be dropped off over the weekend of the 7th/8th. We then spend the week making sure everything is labeled and priced and watered and all that. The sale is on the 15th, so the evening before all the plants get moved to the sale location and we all put in a very full day on the 15th. AFTER THAT, life finally slows down a little and I can start really thinking/planning for our cruise!

If anyone else has anything for the website, I'll probably be able to get back to it a bit next week before the plant sale craziness really starts.

Pdarrah

 

[scrapperjill]

Sounds like you had a wonderful trip. I'm trying to convence DH that we should do a couple days at the World after the cruise in October...but he's not going for it (Yet)....Weve never been...and it's been over 9 years since weve been to DL...So I think it's about time. I also figure with the cost of airfare to Orlando...it's not like we'll be packing up and going back anytime soon....so we may as well catch a couple days while we can.

Good luck on your birthday party...we have a couple of those comming up in May that we need to get planning. I know what you mean by frantically getting things together...our walk has me running laps these last few days...and we don't have a clue on how many people to expect....were guessing 200...but that's a total guess. Last year we had close to 150...we've grown each year...and now this year my planning committee has grown ALOT...so I'm guessing the number of walkers will grow also.

Well I better run...just thought I'd check in real quick like...Glad you had a great trip...and good luck with your party.

 

[Timon]

Tiffany,

Hope your DD is doing better, I can't imagine how hard it is to see your daughter get that sick!

Stacy,

I hope your kitty gets better soon, give him lots of TLC!


Pdarrah,

Glad you had a good trip! Isn't Soarin' great!!? We got to see it in DL in December and we loved it! We only got to see it once so we can't wait to see it again but this time in WDW!

Scrapperjill,

Yes, you MUST go to WDW!! Wow, I am surprised you didn't schedule a couple of days at WDW when you went on your cruise! It's so different from DL! It's got this "magic" (cheesy I know) about it that you just can't find anywhere else (ok maybe on the Disney Magic )

It costs us about $1300 (Canadian) to fly to Orlando so I make sure we spend time at the parks no matter what! I can't even imagine flying in to go on DCL and not going to WDW, it's SO CLOSE!!!!!!!!!!

Oh and yes, the boards have been stubborn lately, the last 3 nights I couldn't even get on! They are still a little slow so hopefully that gets worked out soon! I need my DIS fix daily!!!




I haven't been as busy as everyone else lately. Hubby has been in Houston on business for the past week so I've been scrapping up a storm! I finished my WDW 2003 album and posted it on my website. I've been having fun with my new camera and working my butt off (literally!) on my Elliptical and doing strength training.

Next few months will be a different story. I start school on Monday, taking a multimedia/wed design course. Then I will be working for hubby's company as well as for his dad's company which is about to get a lot bigger! They're in Houston right now doing a presentation at a conference about an idea that he recently patented and now are selling.

So by the time October rolls around, we both will REALLY need to get away!

I can't wait!!! Maybe we should start planning a meet soon so we can all get together onboard?????

I know most of you all have kids and probably already have something set up for the kids to get together but maybe we can get a big meet going too???

 

[scrapperjill]

Timon...We had planned to go to WDW for a week before our cruise last year. Actually my youngest daughter was granted a wish from a wish foundation...and picked WDW as her wish...so as we were planning her wish trip...the idea of going on a Disney cruise poped up also...so we asked if while were were down in the area for her "wish" trip if we could book our return flight later (By a whole week) and do a family vacation also. The wish foundation agreed...as long as we understood they were only sending us on the WDW portion (Flight down, accomadations, food, and park tickets for WDW)...anything else (aka the cruise) would be up to us %100. But being the time of year that we picked...mother nature had other plans for us. With all the hurricanes (one after another) Give Kids the World (the place we were staying while we were going to be at WDW)....cancled ALL wish trips until further notice. We were informed of this on Wednesday...and were planning on leaving on Friday...So at that point we were lost on what to do....The "wish" trip was cancled...but our cruise was still set...only thing though...we no longer had a flight booked. To make matters worse...by booking our flights so soon to when we needed them...we were looking at close to $2000 for the four of us to fly down to Orlando...for the cruise. Luckely the wish foundation felt for us (since we booked the cruise on our own and were relying on the wish foundation for airfair...we hadn't saved that kind of money for our flight...and at this point it was to late to cancle our cruise and get any thing back...but like I said the wish foundation must of felt for us...because they opted to change the wish to the cruise....and therefor pay for our flights down. We tryed and tryed to get the flights changed...so we could go to WDW either after the cruise for a couple days or before for a couple days "on our own"...but the wish foundation would NOT release the flights for us to make any changes. I know if we did it this year it would only be for a couple days either way...I don't think we could squeeze out a whole week. Do you think just a couple days for a first time visit would be enough? I think we'd have to really pre-plan and limit where we went...I don't think we could do ALL the parks in a couple days.

 

[Timon]

scrapperjill,

Wow, I feel for you guys. Okay, I don't think you are silly anymore for not going to WDW Bad timing I guess huh?

Well, I would go anyway for as long as you have, one day, two days whatever the case may be. Experiencing one or two parks is better than none! I would sit down as a family and maybe print out all the good attractions at each of the parks and decide which ones would suit your family and then pick the parks you can visit. Personally, with kids, I would go for MK and MGM unless you are REALLY into animals, then pick MK & AK.

I am all excited for you! I hope you can make it to a couple parks at least! We are going to WDW on the 12th and doing Discovery Cove for the first time, Seaworld for the first time (it's free with DC admission), IOA/USF and five days of Disney Parks and then we get to relax a bit on the cruise!

 

[American Scrapper]

Hello Everybody! Well, we are in full swing here with Baseball, Roller Hockey, and Dance so I haven't been posting much. I also have my DSs communion next week and have been working on the Disney Cruise swap over on the scrapbooking site! Hope everone is doing well.

PDarrah, It sounds like you had a wonderful time at WDW! Was soarin' scary for littler ones? MY DS8 is tall enough to ride all of the rides, but ToT scared him as well as RnRC. Although he did say that he is going to ride the RnRC again when we go in July. I think he enjoys them, but gets himself so worked up before hand, so we usually don't tell him the ride is fast or scary. I know, it sounds mean, but he is such a worrier that he would never ride some rides if we said it might be scary. This way, he decides for himself.

Hope your son has a great Birthday! I pray for no rain for you.

Timon, how is the camera working? I am really enjoying mine. I have taken several pictures and have really liked how they are turning out. I love the action setting. I was able to get pics of my DS while pitching and got the full pitch in three pictures. It is so cool!

Scrapperjill, hope all goes well for your walk today!

Oh well, gotta go.

Kathy

 

[scrapperjill]

Hey all...I just wanted to share our good news....Our total for the walk today was over $15,000 ....and we still have some comming in...we actually have until August to collect everything to count towards this years total. I'm so excited....it's only our third here in town...and we've grown each year.

Used my camera some today...so I'll try and post a couple if I get time...It's now clean up time from everything we dug out for the walk...time to box it back up for next year.

We also had perfect weather today...I'm so thankful...Yesterday it was raining and real stormy looking...and the forcast for tomarrow is the same, rain and clouds...So we really lucked out....it was beautiful.

Timon....I'm really hoping Jesse will be up for going to the not so scarry micky thing....either before or after the cruise....and maybe spending at least one day at the world.

Abby (our dog) is still holding onto all the puppies...but she's acting real nervious and pacing a little.

Well I better go...

 

[American Scrapper]

Scrapperjill, that is great news! I am glad the weather held up for you. Let us know when you have your pics posted.

Kathy

 

[pdarrah]

Hi everyone!

The weather worked out for us also and the birthday party was a success. Counting DS6 (I wonder how many times I am going to typo that as DS5?) we had 20 kids and they all seemed to have a great time. It was a little cool, but the kids didn't care and there was no rain and even a little bit of sun! Yeah! I am SO glad it is over We collected 18 bears for Operation TeddyCare (so far ... usually a few more trickle in for the week after the party) and thankfully, only a few kids also brought a gift. With 3 sets of Grandparents, DH & I, various aunts/uncles, etc - DS gets PLENTY of gifts. He actually got a lot of cash this year so since today is his actual birthday, I took him shopping this morning and let him spend some of it at ToysRUs.

DH left early this morning for Reno, DS is playing with all his new toys. So I finally have a few moments to relax and maybe try and get everything from yesterday put away.

I've heard the MNSSHP tickets went on sale today. We are planning on going the night before the cruise, but I'll probably buy the tickets sometime this week (Since they don't usually sell out this early, I don't see much point in rushing to call as soon as they are available).

Got to go now - DS wants to show me something he just built ....

Bye,

pdarrah

 

[scrapperjill]

Pdarrah...Glad to hear your party went well. It's always a nice relief at the end of "party" day...after all the planning and hoopla that goes into one. We have two comming up at the end of May...both of our girls have birthdays with in a couple days of each other....so the end of May is a busy time for us...it seem like just one big party (actually all four of us have our birthdays in ONE week...so it is Party, party, party around our house...but we really only celebrate the girls..one can only have so much cake in one week ). It always get tricky with the holiday weekend at the end of May...and trying to plan the parties. I have often thought of just planning a family getaway to celebrate all of our birthdays...I'd say we could do something fairly nice after you figure in presents, party goods, cakes, favors.... for everyone...Myself I think a nice weekend away would be perfect.

Well I just wanted to say real quick...I'm glad your sons party went well.

 

[ThreeSmiths]

Holy Cow!!! I have missed a lot! I can see I'm not the only one that has been busy! The pool business is in full swing and it seems like there's barely a minute to sit down until 10 pm. Then get up at 6 am and do it all again. DD has 3 more weeks of school left, and I am looking forward to no homework!

Glad to hear that everyone's big events were successful and that good weather prevailed I am planning DD's End of Year classroom party (an all day event) and I hope that it is just as successful.

Is it October yet? We went to visit my parents on Mother's Day and took a ride on their boat. It was 85 degrees and sunny...got me really itching to be in a tropical place with a tropical drink! We're going to the beach in 3 weeks....I know that's going to really get me itching!!

Gotta go...laundry is calling

Stacy

 

[chunkster20uk]

We have booked!

I am taking my DW Mandy (UKANGEL) for a romantic break!

Can't wait

 

[pdarrah]

Welcome Chunkster20uk!

Right now this thread is a little quiet since many of us have been very busy at home and the cruise is still 5 months away! I suspect that fairly soon we will get active again. If you are interested, we have a cruise website (see link in my signature) where you can "meet" most of us on the "Who's going" page. If you would like to be added, just email or PM your info to me (email: pdarrah@sprynet.com).

pdarrah

 

[pdarrah]

Hi everyone!

Well, we've made it halfway through the CRAZY month of May! So far, it has been a success. As I posted before, the huge birthday party went well at the beginning of the month. This past weekend was our Garden Club plant sale. This is a huge task for us - my father chairs the committee for the plant sale which means that DH and I get "volunteered" for a lot of work! ALL the plants get staged at my house for the week before the sale and we make sure they are all labeled and priced. On the Thursday before the sale there is a "member sale" at our house and then on Friday we move all the plants to the sale location (our community center in town). Saturday in the "Big day" and we start work at 6:30am in order to have everything ready for the start time of 9:00am! Thank goodness we get a lot of help from the club members for some of this. We sold thousands of plants and it was a huge success!

Now, I just need to organize and plan our trip to Nashville - we leave Friday evening after work! DH needs to be in Nashville around dinner time on Sunday for his trade show, so we will be able to take our time as we drive down Illinois and across western Kentucky and into Tennessee. The plan is to stop at "attractions" (i.e. Lincoln museum, a fort, etc.) for DS6 and me and antique stores for DH (DS and I will probably wait in the car after the first few antique stores! ) At the moment, the only set plans are our hotel in Nashville - for me this is unheard of - I usually plan and organize everything but I just haven't had time. I'm going to try and get to the library today and pick up some guidebooks and I did run to our AAA this morning and get maps.

I hope life is a little more laid back for the rest of you! Once we get through May it should slow down a bit for us.

pdarrah

 

[scrapperjill]

Welcome...Chunkster20uk. Does your wife know about the plans ahead? Or is this romantic break a secret suprise for her?

Pdarrah...i know what you mean by busy busy busy....it's been non-stop. After the walk at the end of April..I thought we'd have some down time...but no luck...Now it's birthday month. We have all four of our birthdays in one week durring the month of May. So it's like a non stop party planning and party throwing time. DD6 is wanting a pool/swiming party...but the pools really are not up and running until mid June around here..so that means a possable delay in party planning....then DD11 is of course wanting a sleep over...DH and I are planning a mystery/who done it party for her...but that a suprise...so keep it quite

Well I'm getting excited...only 5 months to go....and sooo much planning to be done. I'm getting a little impatient though....I ordered the 3rd edtion of the passporter...and I haven't recieved it yet. They started shipping pre-orders (which is what I did) on May 9th...and now here is is the 16 and no package yet.

 

[pdarrah]

Hi ScrapperJill,

I'm bummed about my passporter also! I ordered it on May 4th and they charged my card. I know they were sending out the "urgent" ones first starting on the 9th, but I really thought I would have it by now. I emailed them last night, and got a terse one line email reply today "Your package was sent out today by ups ground."

If it is being sent from Ann Arbor, MI (I assume) then it is 2 days via UPS ground and that doesn't usually include Saturdays. Therefore it won't arrive until Monday. Bummer! We are leaving tomorrow evening for our trip to Nashville and I was planning/hoping to read it in the car during the long drive.

I guess it will be waiting for me when I get home, but I am pretty disappointed that it took them so long to ship it after having charged my card. (And a nicer/longer explanation of what took so long or maybe a "thank you for your order" would have been nice!)

Have you received your's yet? If so, is it a good "upgrade" - I do have the 2nd edition so I hope it has even more info and/or updated info....

Pdarrah

 

[disboo]

I didn't read the whole thread, but just wanted to add that my sister and my husband and I will be joining you all on the 10/22 trip. Can't wait! See you all there!

 

[scrapperjill]

Welcome Disboo...nice were getting more and more people joining the cruise Pdarrah has a nice web site set up for us with a list and some photos of who else is going...you should check it out. I think she has the link in her signature line...just a couple posts above ...it also has the schedulle listed with all the ports along with some other fun information. Once you get to the site...I think all the info is there if you'd like to get added to the list on what to do.

Pdarrah...I e-mailed them the other day...and never got a responce...so I e-mailed them the same message again...and planed on doing it over and over until I heard back. After all I just wanted to see if it had been shipped. I picked priority mail throuhg USPS...it was a little cheeper and was just as fast if not faster than the UPS...but still figured it should have been here by the begining of this week...or the end of last week. Their sight just said they were starting to ship pre-orders on the 9th (I don't recall seeing anything on shipping some orders first...but I do remember seeing a section on the order form on how soon your traveling...and the section on the check out page when you pick the shipping option.) But anyway...I still figured if they started shipping on the 9th I should have got it by the 15th or so...I think I waited until Monday or Tuesday evening ( the 17th) to e-mail them...then again on the 18th in the afternoon (waited for the mail to come)....Finally yesterday evening I got a responce from them....They said that for some reason their computers were messed up a little...and they have no record of my order being shipped....so they were going to UPS it that day (the 18th) and it should be here in a couple days. They also added if the USPS order did get shipped and does show up...to feel free to keep that copy also... Well to make a long story shorter....I got a package today (USPS postmarked for the 17th). I haven't had a chance to look through it since I just got home...so far the cover looks just like last years. I'll look through it later today and let you know how diffrent it looks. Now I get to wait and see if the UPS one comes tomarrow...I'm sure my parents would get a kick out of looking through their own....if I get a second copy...(bad thing about that is...I ordered a deluxe refill...So I'll have a extra refill and no binder )

Spent the afternoon at a couple TA's looking into going to the world a couple days before the cruise....I know last year they had some GREAT deals for WDW in October...anyone know if they will be having deals like that again this year? Were also still shopping for air...right now the lowest is $350 a person RT..I might be silly but I have my fingers crossed for $200 pp/RT

 

[scrapperjill]

Well I thumbed through the passporter 3rd edition just now...and have to say i'm a little disapointed...There's not alot of new info...some but not alot. I'd say a good 80% of the book is word for word what the 2nd edition has. Of course there are some new things....like additional menus and a little on the new deck partys (pirate night). Thers also a good deal more photos...just of little things like the stateroom safe, the laundry room and their baby in one of the baby lifevests...but again ther are quite a few new (handy) photos. Other items....that's new...of course the West coast items, like the ports, the cruise terminal....places to stay on the West coast...things like that. As for our ports of call...I noticed a couple new excursions...Don't remember off hand what they were.

I guess I shouldn't say I'm disapointed...I kind of figured it would be ALOT of the same information...I guess I just didn't figure it would be word for word...page for page the same...(most of it is). But it's still nice...now having the 2nd and 3rd...both Jesse and I can read...without reading over each others shoulders...either that or my parents can have a copy.

Either way...it's great...and just gets me more in the mood to read, learn and plan.

 

[2IcePrincesses]

Hi!
We will be joining all of you on the Oct. 22 cruise. Myself (Kathy), DH (Ron),
DD9 (Kaylee), DD7on 10/3 (Kaytlyn), my parents, my brother and his girlfriend. I can't wait!!!!
We are also looking forward to seeing the Magic here in CA!!!