Our 1st "Magic"al Cruise w/ the Election Day Castaways 1 Nov 08

[wuv tigger]

It all started as I wouldn't leave the kids for our 15th anniversary for 10 days in Hawaii ... this was post 9/11. The kiddos would have been shuffled around to 3 homes & 3 states. Not what I wanted to do to the kiddos. So, that trip was nixed!

He then told me we were going to WDW for our 16th anniversary in Aug 2007 which does wonders for my asthma. We went & I got to surprise dh with personalized menus from the Coral Reef in the Living Seas. I was able to scan our wedding pix, pix that the kiddos drew of us as a family & a recent family pix from our last WDW trip. The kids were supposed to go w/ us to dinner. I got them into the Sand Castle Club for the night. The menus were perfect. I KNOW I shocked dh with that and he was shocked w/ the dessert that was planned. It was a chocolate champagne flute filled with chocolate mousse and fresh berries. It was wonderful!

Dh then planned for us to go again to FL last fall. This time it was for our Nov 08 cruise on the Magic. I was shocked that we were going. NOW I had to keep it a secret from the kiddos. They would drive us crazy for the next 14 months if we didn't keep it a secret.

We got the kiddos passports completed early this spring 2008. We told them we might need them to go to England if dh went there for the summer again. They bought our story.

I spent the spring/summer buying matching skorts, shorts, capris from Lands End. The girls love to dress like twins which they aren't All of them were on sale with FREE SHIPPING! What a deal! I told the kids they were such a deal that I had to get them. They were able to wear them for the summer and the 1st 6 weeks of school. I also snagged some great travel backpacks for the flight down to FL.

I also bought new cruise clothes for me. I got some carpi's, shorts and new polo shirts. The girls NEVER figured that one out ... Mommy buying new clothes?

The only time was when we told the teachers at Open House at their school which was held the last week of the summer. Neither of the teachers spilled the beans. Everyone in our family, our dis friends, our neighbors, our church family knew, except our kiddos.

 

[wuv tigger]

We took the girls dressed as Disney Tourists to the Gymastics Academy for a special Halloween Night fun on 10/24/08. We weren't going to be able to TorT as we would be on the plane heading to FL. We figured this would kill 2 birds w/ 1 stone. We would get our packing done and let them ToT done.

Having them out of the house gave us 3 1/2 hours to pack the luggage. We had been putting things into dh's office since Sept. 1, 08. I am one of the WORLD'S WORST PACKRATS! The kids took no mind that they couldn't go into dh's office. They didn't notice that some of their clothes were missing. They didn't notice the clutter in dh's office.

The only snag in the packing was the LONE shoe for one of the kids. DH couldn't for the life of him, figure WHY I would pack 1 shoe. That way I KNEW I had to find the other. I would have hated to be on the ship w/ no dress shoes for one of them. We found the lost shoe under the bed in their room.

 

[wuv tigger]

I was printing their journals off while they were at school. I found some great journal sheets on themouseforless. The kiddos are supposed to journal 15 minutes or so each day. This journal would be part of their grade for the 3 days missed for the cruise. I did leave papers around the family room but they figured it was just more of Mommy's junk . I worked on the Scrapbook exchange that some of us were participating in on the cruise. I got one of the kids to help me. She never figured out why I was making sand castle, palm trees & shells for a beach themed layout. I got them ALL made but I left the sand castles & shells at home! So much for feeling good about the packing.

 

[princesspaige]

DH, DD, and I just want to say what a pleasure it was to meet you and your family. We may end up making that trip out to the DC area so Paige can visit her friend. Would love to be able to meet up with you if it happens. We must stay in touch!! Who knows, maybe we will meet up in WDW one of these days.

 

[LivingtheWDWdream]

Great start!

 

[Mom2PrincessesLinSy]

Hi guys! Did you see your pictures from the sail away cruise! It was so nice to see a friendly face on the ship now and again. And I hope you ended up buying that pic of DH and you! It really was grand!!

Patiently waiting for pics from YOUR cruise!!

 

[wuv tigger]

dh: aka princessdadx2 ~ the ULTIMATE Disney Trip Planner!
dw: me, scrapbooker who's still behind a couple of WDW trips
dd1: shy & quiet, loves to draw & journal
dd2: gonna run the kids clubs on board the DCL one day

It was great to join our DCL trip thread, The Election Day Castaways. IF you have a cruise booked, find the thread for your trip and join . It was great to get to know folks on line. It was even better to get to meet them in person at the 3 PM meet & greet at the Promenade Lounge & throughout the rest of the cruise.

The EDC members were great in helping me to keep the secret of the trip from the kids. They also knew about the birthday package I purchased for dh. It consisted of: huge door magnet, birthday banner, and 2 "sprouting" decorations w/ suction cups. One of those was taped to the ceiling and one was on our table next to dh's cake.

He really enjoyed the decorations in the stateroom. And he was surprised!

 

[wuv tigger]

Hi guys! Did you see your pictures from the sail away cruise! It was so nice to see a friendly face on the ship now and again. And I hope you ended up buying that pic of DH and you! It really was grand!!

Patiently waiting for pics from YOUR cruise!!

We bought LOTS of pix. The embarkation pix of all of us, the formal night ones & lots of pix on CC.

 

[wuv tigger]

I am sick.

I hope to get back to the TR during Thanksgiving break.

thanks for your patience

 

[podsnel]

We bought LOTS of pix. The embarkation pix of all of us, the formal night ones & lots of pix on CC.

I would just like to know how many of the 3000 photographs from CC you ended up purchasing!! That's one photo I really wish I had taken- the 2 of you on the floor the last night with ALL THOSE PHOTOGRAPHS scattered everywhere around you!

Hope you're on the mend soon!

Ellen

 

[wuv tigger]

I would just like to know how many of the 3000 photographs from CC you ended up purchasing!! That's one photo I really wish I had taken- the 2 of you on the floor the last night with ALL THOSE PHOTOGRAPHS scattered everywhere around you!

Hope you're on the mend soon!

Ellen

It was dh's idea to do that! I him!

We did get some great shots via our camera to fill in around the edges for our scrapbook.

I actually was able to stoop down without falling over

That's improvement. I am still waiting for the results of the Lyme test.

thanks for your kind words

 

[wuv tigger]

I am negative for Lyme disease!

 

[wuv tigger]

My viral inner ear infection is slowing healing!

I can walk without falling over, get dressed by myself and I even made tea today without a spill. It's still a bit hard to try to type my TR but I promise to get it done SOON!

These were/are BIG goals as this time last week I couldn't walk without holding onto someone.

I hope to get back to the TR later this weekend.

Have a wonderful & blessed Thanksgiving to my EDC family!


wuv tigger, princessdadx2 & dd's