Our 1st family trip without a diaper bag! Jan 2012 PTR

[mandas08]

I would definitely get to photo pass

 

[princess&her4princes]

I would definitely get to photo pass

I think you're right!!

 

[princess&her4princes]

Todd & I had a chat last night about our parking/night before the trip dilemna and it was decided that we would just do the park and fly option in the morning. I looked into the hotel at Logan and with parking, it was going to cost us over $300!!!!!! Forget about it! I found a 20% off coupon for where we usually park and shuttle and it will only cost us, at most, $88 for the week to park! So it was a no brainer and as Todd said, it's only going to really save us an hour in the morning and $200! So that's what we're doing. I'm glad to have made the decision but now worried about this 6a flight! What was I thinking?!! We're going to need to leave the house at 3a.m! YIKES! Let's hope the kids fall asleep at some point during the day so we can enjoy AK that afternoon for a bit!

 

[mandas08]

3 am...ouch. You probably wont even sleep. I'm glad you figured out your travel plans to airport. Paying for parking stinks. Luckily we will be able to get ours $4-5 a day, but 13 days is going to add up for us, but I'd much rather pay than ask someone to take us. It is just easier.

I ordered a Mickey shirt from target similiar to the Minnie one you got ,. I think it was around $8 so I'm pretty excited!

When you went with little ones did you just pack diapers? I think I am going to order ours from diapers.com and just have them shipped to the resort. I will also get my granola bars, water, laundry detergent from their sister site soap.com. They offer free shipping on $49+ orders and have a $15 off $50 coupon as well. Maybe you should check it out? Although you couldnt get fresh fruit that way... But its worth a look.

 

[princess&her4princes]

3 am...ouch. You probably wont even sleep. I'm glad you figured out your travel plans to airport. Paying for parking stinks. Luckily we will be able to get ours $4-5 a day, but 13 days is going to add up for us, but I'd much rather pay than ask someone to take us. It is just easier.

I ordered a Mickey shirt from target similiar to the Minnie one you got ,. I think it was around $8 so I'm pretty excited!

When you went with little ones did you just pack diapers? I think I am going to order ours from diapers.com and just have them shipped to the resort. I will also get my granola bars, water, laundry detergent from their sister site soap.com. They offer free shipping on $49+ orders and have a $15 off $50 coupon as well. Maybe you should check it out? Although you couldnt get fresh fruit that way... But its worth a look.

I know! I can't believe it, what was I thinking?!! But at least it's Sunday morning that we're flying out, so Saturday afternoon we can pack the car, early dinner, baths and SUPER EARLY bedtime for ALL of us! If Todd and I got to bed by 9, at least we'll have a decent amount of sleep, assuming we sleep! Without a doubt, coffee with my my friend Sunday morning!

The T is SO cute! Hope you love it! I always make out well there at Target, how can you go wrong?!!

You know, it's funny that you mention it, I ALWAYS ordered diapers, wipes, J&J all purpose bath mits for the tub, and that sort of things PLUS my water, snacks, fruit from Garden Grocer. It's more expensive than what I pay at home, but for me, it was worth it not lugging that HEAVY stuff in our suitcases. Thanks for the tip! It's so nice to have that convenience while away, isn't it?

Thanks for being here!!

 

[Tickanee]

Todd & I had a chat last night about our parking/night before the trip dilemna and it was decided that we would just do the park and fly option in the morning. I looked into the hotel at Logan and with parking, it was going to cost us over $300!!!!!! Forget about it! I found a 20% off coupon for where we usually park and shuttle and it will only cost us, at most, $88 for the week to park! So it was a no brainer and as Todd said, it's only going to really save us an hour in the morning and $200! So that's what we're doing. I'm glad to have made the decision but now worried about this 6a flight! What was I thinking?!! We're going to need to leave the house at 3a.m! YIKES! Let's hope the kids fall asleep at some point during the day so we can enjoy AK that afternoon for a bit!

For some reason I missed your previous update. (I just went back and read it). We have the same dilemma every time we go. The stay, park and fly option always seems expensive to me. The last time we went, we had six people and our flight wasn't until 5:30 in the afternoon. The "boys" arranged a limo service. It was very convenient, but pricey in my opinion and I didn't care for the driver. We will do a car service again this May, but will be looking for a different company with better prices. Let me know if you know of any with decent rates. Our flight this time is at noon or 1, I think.

We have done that early 6 am flight a couple times. It's hard....and I am a morning person. We can't do it this time because my BFF has payroll to do the morning we leave, so I made the flight the earliest I could.

Where are you boarding your fur-baby? We had boarded our babies at the vet, but the last couple times we just had a nephew come and stay at our house. Not sure what we will do this time as he moved to an apartment in North Boston. I don't like to board our lab for as long as we are gone for. He is my sensitive baby, LOL!

 

[princess&her4princes]

For some reason I missed your previous update. (I just went back and read it). We have the same dilemma every time we go. The stay, park and fly option always seems expensive to me. The last time we went, we had six people and our flight wasn't until 5:30 in the afternoon. The "boys" arranged a limo service. It was very convenient, but pricey in my opinion and I didn't care for the driver. We will do a car service again this May, but will be looking for a different company with better prices. Let me know if you know of any with decent rates. Our flight this time is at noon or 1, I think.

We have done that early 6 am flight a couple times. It's hard....and I am a morning person. We can't do it this time because my BFF has payroll to do the morning we leave, so I made the flight the earliest I could.

Where are you boarding your fur-baby? We had boarded our babies at the vet, but the last couple times we just had a nephew come and stay at our house. Not sure what we will do this time as he moved to an apartment in North Boston. I don't like to board our lab for as long as we are gone for. He is my sensitive baby, LOL!

It's SO expensive!! I can't justify it and as Todd said, the kids wouldn't sleep in the hotel, so we'd be up all night anyways! Good point, it always takes us a day or so to get used to it in Disney, we don't need to do it twice! lol

My friend just told me about AA limo in Carver, haven't called, but you may want to. She really liked them and recommended them to me. Since we decided on the park & shuttle I'm not calling, Todd's points were all valid, I just need to go to bed at 6 p.m Saturday night!

Good question! We asked my parents, they so graciously said no, lol! I called a few other places but they were more than what we pay at the vet. So I think she'll go there...she's the EASIEST of all of us, as long as you rub her belly a couple times a day and feed her, Ruby is happy! And my sons friend will come in once a day to feed our cat, Kalie and Buzz our goldfish! Wow..sounds like I have a zoo!

 

[princess&her4princes]

I got a little magic in the mail today!

I cashed in my Disney Visa points last week and to my surprise, my reward came today! It's not much, but $53 less than we have to put out of our pocket when the boys find a souvie they love!

On other news, I have officially finished my Christmas shopping and Santa wrapping these last couple of days! Which means I can start working on our surprise and ironing out those details! YAY!!!!!!

Stay tuned!!

 

[Tickanee]

Thanks for the limo info! I think I will put the DH on it, LOL!

Yay for you finishing all your shopping and wrapping! I am gonna try and finish up Christmas shopping tomorrow with my BFF. We are heading over to Wareham crossing. We have been there twice, but have not had time to look at all the stores. So, tomorrow we can browse at our lesiure. And I love the new Wine & More store.

 

[princess&her4princes]

Thanks for the limo info! I think I will put the DH on it, LOL!

Yay for you finishing all your shopping and wrapping! I am gonna try and finish up Christmas shopping tomorrow with my BFF. We are heading over to Wareham crossing. We have been there twice, but have not had time to look at all the stores. So, tomorrow we can browse at our lesiure. And I love the new Wine & More store.

Good luck with your shopping tomorrow! Love shopping with BFF's...so much fun! You know, I haven't spent much time at Wareham Crossing either, just in and out of Target and Penny's! You'll have to let me know if it's worth a trip and Wine & More?!! Hmm....sounds like I'm going to have to make a trip for sure!!

Enjoy!! Have a nice weekend!

 

[mandas08]

I'm not even done shopping yet

 

[princess&her4princes]

I'm not even done shopping yet

you better get cracking girl!!

 

[princess&her4princes]

So a little of this and a little of that update!

Our Disney savings jar is filling up, so far rolled we have a couple hundred saved!

We use this as our spending money for souvies and that sort of thing. We're not going overboard there in the parks but I always like to find something small to remember our trip, whether it's an ornament, a bead for my Pandora bracelet, something like that. The kids usually get a buy a tshirt and a 'bigger' gift, like a toy or something? Last time they got to get lightsabors they built themselves and a few smaller things. As much as I'd love to go crazy and buy a million things, it's the trip that is the gift for me!

And a couple of books I'm adding to our surprise on Christmas morning! This is of course, after it's revealed!

For Ethan:

For me!

For Lucas:

And for my youngest, Cole:

the inside:

I think that they will really enjoy these! They will be fun for the plane ride to keep them busy!

I also picked this up for my stocking, thanks Todd!! It's a scarf, I figured it would look cute with a grey t and jeans one day!

That's all for today! I"ll leave you on this note...a pic of all of our babies!
Hope you have a magical day!

33 more days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Tickanee]

LOVE your scarf! I have a scarf that I bought a couple trips ago and I wear it all the time...I actually have it on right now, LOL! Good job on the savings jar. We do the same thing, but use it for our We Go Shop order and anything left over is for our adult beverage fund.

I am sooooo excited for you..32 DAYS!!!!

 

[princess&her4princes]

Where have my readers gone?

Missing you all! And if you're a lurker, would love for you to come out and join me on my PTR!!

 

[princess&her4princes]

LOVE your scarf! I have a scarf that I bought a couple trips ago and I wear it all the time...I actually have it on right now, LOL! Good job on the savings jar. We do the same thing, but use it for our We Go Shop order and anything left over is for our adult beverage fund.

I am sooooo excited for you..32 DAYS!!!!

Thanks Tiffany, LOVE my scarf, too!! So cute and so me!! I'd love to see yours!

That savings jar is a blessing for sure! Isn't it amazing how much you can save without really trying? The boys are so good with it, too, they will find a penny in the Target parking lot and will quickly say "Mommy, look what I found for our Disney jar!" so I've trained them well! Love that yours is for your adult beverage fund!! Great idea!

I can't believe how close it is!!!!!! As much as I was it to just get here, I hope time sloooows down when we get there!

 

[princess&her4princes]

One month from tomorrow we'll be at Disney World!!!!!!!!!!! I can't believe how close it's getting now! And with Christmas, my son Lucas' birthday (on Christmas morning), New Year's and my birthday (the Friday before we go!), it will be here even quicker!!! WOOHOO!!!!!

Cole starts his Christmas vacation from school tomorrow, he has his Christmas show in the morning, my older boys will be home as of next Thursday and they will all go back on January 3rd! I can't believe Christmas is almost here! Are you all ready? Shopping done? Wrapping complete? I'm happy to say that my cards are sent and my shopping has been done for about a week and I'm 80% done with my wrapping and ready to start baking now!

11 more days until our BIG reveal! Todd & I were trying to get very creative, we were trying to make it into a huge thing, but the reality of it is, it is a HUGE thing! We thought about a scavenger hunt, a play on words in a Christmas song for a hint, wrapping little presents leading up to the big surprise and what we've decided is to wrap the GIANT Disney store box Lucas' Spaceship earth for his birthday came in, and have Disney balloons pop out with a ticket to Disney attached telling them we are going! I think with the age difference (almost 5 years between Ethan and Cole) that Cole will get lost in the shuffle if we do anything differently than this. This way they can all open it up and help unwrap to reveal the surprise! I'm going to do my best to get this on video in hopes to be able to figure it out and post here for you all to share our excitement! What do you think?

I found the cutest Mickey and friends Christmas wrapping paper at Walmart yesterday, my plan is to wrap the surprise box and all of our gifts in this to the boys. We will have them open the big box first and then once the dust settles down some we'll give them the luggage, Disney books, t-shirts we've picked up for the trip as the rest of their gifts from us! I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!

Any thoughts, ideas, comments? I'd love to hear them! Hope you're all well!!

 

[Moodyzblu]

I'm still here !! Not sure why, but I haven't been receiving your updates in my Email.
Anyway .. you must be getting so excited !! It will even more exciting once the kids find out too. Then the whole house will be in on it.
I can't wait until we have dates for our trip so we can get excited too !!

Christmas shopping is slow here and I haven't gotten ONE present wrapped yet. It's just flying by and the mild weather is making my mind think I have plenty of time.

Love the books and scarf !

 

[princess&her4princes]

One month from right now we'll be in the air to MCO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am!!!!

Got to get the kids reaady for school...will write soon!

 

[Lcaemom]

Only one month!!!!!!!!!!!! Love the way the ticker looks...but, tomorrow it will look even better, when it says WEEKS!!!!!!!!!