Our May plans

[JodyLynC]

Hello and Namaste to All!

A little bit about the family:

Me (41), DH (42), Veronica (4), Vicky(4) from Columbus, OH. PreK (preKids), DH and I lived in Ocala, FL. We had Season Passes and visited WDW countless times. We've stayed at (ASMu, ASMo, ASSp, BC, WL, CSR, POR, and CBR). After we moved to OH, it was several years before we ventured down south and spent 3 days at WDW with our then 2.5 year old girls. (This time we stayed at the Poly).

We are about to venture south again. This time in May (before was early Dec.) We are driving this time (flew before). On the way down, we will meet up with my mom for a couple of days in TN. Here is the breakdown:

May 7th: Leave at 11am from Col. to PF, TN.
May 8th: Dollywood (Mom who lives in NC, loves Dollywood and is insisting that we go. We are happy to go, but 5 days at WDW is kind of overshadowing 1 day w/Dolly.)
May 9th: Leave after lunch and drive till we are ready to stop.
May 10th: Drive into Ocala, FL (which we hope to reach by noon.) Spend the afternoon and evening w/old friends.
May 11th: Check into a FW cabin and head over to MK. Dinner at O'hana.
May 12th: Breakfast at PF w/Mary and Alice. Epcot Day: munch around the world and enjoy the KidCots. Dinner back at FW at the cabin.
May 13th: Breakfast in the cabin. MK again. Lunch at either CHH or Pinoc's. (or maybe a little bit of each.) Dinner back at the cabin.
May 14th: Breakfast at the cabin. DHS day. Lunch at Scifi. We may spend the afternoon at AK. Dinner at Boma's
May 15th: Departure Day. Breakfast at Chef Mickey's. We will either do AK or back to Epcot. Leave for Crystal River, FL late in the day.
May 16th to 19th: Spend w/friends and family
May 20th to 21st: Take the long way home.

I'll be posting more as the trip gets closer. I'll leave more details for our day plans and talk about some of our choices and why. I'll also chat about how we are counting down the days, etc.

Be seeing you!

 

[dreamer17555]

Subbing. Everything sounds good so far.

-Becca-

 

[JodyLynC]

Why we chose FW:

My mom and stepdad live in NC. They are semi-retired and have a permanent site at a camping resort. So they get to fish, drive around in golf carts, play bingo, and enjoy a campfire. Well, my girls have not stopped talking about Grandma's Campground and how much fun we had there so reason number one.

Reason number 2: Money. We really can't afford a super expensive vacation this year. In fact, we probably shouldn't go at all but the girls will be in school next year, FIL and MIL (who live in Crystal River, FL) are in their 80s, [insert other excuses here]. By staying in FW which has a full kitchen we can cook a number of our meals in the cabin (or on the grill) and save some serious moola.

Reason #3: Sleeping comfort. Spending 4 nights in a single room w/2 preschoolers is a little stressful. The cabin gives us a choice to spread out a bit.

Reason #4: It is one of the places onsite that DH and I have never stayed at so we are excited to try it.

Since we are driving in, we can bring food for meals with us. We are excited about going to the campfire, etc. I've started my food/cooking/camping list so we make sure that we pack the necessities. (I'll have to post that as we get closer so my fellow Disers can help me to remember things I have forgotten and leave things I can do without.)

See you soon!

 

[BeeBopp]

Great start! I would love to stay at FW someday. I'm sure you'll have fun with your twins! Looking forward to reading more.

I'm thinking of starting my own PTR soon, but I'm new to the site so I'm a little nervous. I'll have to learn by reading everyone elses
Keep it going!

 

[JodyLynC]

I am starting on a couple of projects to help with counting down to our vacation this May. (some of this is on the Disney for Family forums)

1) My girls each have a wall calendar that we use to write down their classes, activities, and events. At the end of each month, I put something on each blank day of the next month. It might be a Disney stickers, a glob of glitter glue (to look like pixie dust), or a fun fact. I cover each Disney item with a sticky note that can be pulled off on that day. The sticky note lists the number of months, weeks, days till our vacation.

2) Earning spending money for the trip. (Not me, I wish, but for the girls). The girls now have a chart in which we give them stamps or stickers for doing chores or for certain behaviors. They can also earn a red X which is earned by very bad behavior. The girls will get Disney dollars to spend and Points to spend on choices such as certain rides or events outside the parks.

3) Disney movie night. Every 2 to 3 weeks we do a pizza and movie night. From now until the trip, we'll do Disney movies and note cool lines that we can say to the characters when we meet them.

4) Ordering custom maps from disneyworld.com. We haven't received them yet, but I will let you know how they look.

5)Raid Home Depot for Mickey Heads. Last week we got 8 lime green Mickey heads from the paint display. (That is 2 for each of us.) I also picked up 1 head of each additional color. The girls can use them for decoration when they go to make their autograph books, passports, and photo journals.

That is it for now. I'll be dropping in to add more notes and such. I'm getting such great ideas from these boards.

 

[JodyLynC]

Ok. Here is an update about me. I am working on losing some weight before the trip. I don't have a set weight in mind. I basically set a goal of 5 lbs. After I hit that goal, I celebrate and set a goal for the next 5 lbs. I am weighing myself only once a week. Last Thurs (2/14), I weighed in at 184. I'm thrilled. I started out 8 months ago at almost 200.

I am trying to lose weight in the healthiest way possible so I am less likely to gain it back. So far, I am managing to keep the bulk of my lost weight off. I eat at least 5 servings of fruits/veggies a day. I walk when I can. Of course, with winter set in I haven't walked my normal amount so I try to do stairs often during the day. I make myself eat breakfast (1/2 grapefruit and 2 hard-boiled egg whites) every day. My mid-morning snack is usually canteloupe and a slice of Healthy Choice Chicken or Turkey. Lunch is usually a Lean Cuisine or Smart Ones entree or Progresso or Campbell's healthy version soup. Afternoon Snack is a salad and a stick or two of Krab. Dinner is a small portion of whatever the rest of the family is having. I drink lots of water all day and evening.
My biggest obstacles are 1) snacking after 8:30pm and 2) coffee w/cream several times a day. I'm trying to limit myself to after hours snacking one day a week. I only crave coffee when it is very cold out. This winter I have probably had more coffee than I have had in the last 10 years. (Wasn't the effects of La Nina supposed to give us a warmer winter than usual?)

Anyway, my weight loss is having some wonderful effects on my body. My cholestrol level is extremely good. My good cholestrols are high and my bad cholestrols are low. My Blood Pressure is stable and my Sugar is not too bad. I've dropped from Obese to Overweight in my Body Mass Index.

I'm really looking forward to warm weather so I can push the coffee away and get some fresh air and exercize. I'm really looking forward to walking outside and training for WDW!!!

 

[Native NYer]

Great pre-tr! And you're doing a great job with your diet. I try to go to the gym after work everyday, but sometimes I just wanna go home.

 

[3mickeys&me]

Good for you!! Sounds like you are doing a health diet and doing well sticking to it. I too have a hard time staying away from the coffee. You can have it ya just gotta watch what ya put in it. Its freezing here as well so I am not walking as much as I would like either.

May is an awesome time of the year to go to Disney, I hope you and your family have a Magical Trip.

 

[JodyLynC]

I had all kinds of neat things planned for the month of March. Unfortunately, stuff happens. It started out good. DBIL flew up on Feb. 29th to celebrate the girls' birthday. (They turned 5 on the 4th.) He lives in Tampa and is very excited that we are coming to FL. He is going to join us our 1st and 2nd day at WDW. We couldn't be more thrilled. The whole weekend he was up was a blast.

On the weekend of the 8th, we were going to go shopping for supplies to make a countdown chain. We were also going to have some friends over for a Bday celebration for the girls. Well, we live in Columbus, OH. That weekend we were snowed in. We had a record snowfall of 20.5 inches and Blizzard Warnings. Since we didn't have our art supplies, we watched Disney movies instead and planned to make our countdown chain the following weekend.

Mar 15th, DD1 is sick with a terrible cold and ended up missing out on the Michael's Kids craft event and our grocery store's Easter Egg Hunt. DD2 was fine so DH did crafts w/her and I did the hunt. (Fortunately, our local Giant Eagle Kid Event staff know our girls and sent a basket home for DD1).

This weekend, Easter. We spent the weekend doing Easter activities that didn't get done previously so that knocked our Disney activities another week.

The only thing we did this month besides watch Disney movies is make rice krispie treats in the shape of a giant Mickey head. At least the month has gone by pretty fast.

Next weekend is our first trip to the dollar store. We are going to start getting some things to put in the girls' travel fun bag for the car trip. I also want to pick up some white binders to make vacation books the following weekend. The weekend after that we are going to start gathering info for Epcot WS adventure. I'll keep you posted on that.

The next few weekends should start to pickup for us. I need to call AAA this week and make our final payment. I'll probably start a packing list, too, pretty soon. Actually, I better find the to do list I started in January and start marking things off.

Wish me Luck!!