Princess Phoebe's Pre-WISH-Trip Report (arriving in MK 4/17/10)

[jordanyosh]

I gotta go see Princess and the Frog.

Sounds like a good 1st movie outing. Glad the little ones didn't see the PG13 version going on in back of you...

 

[TokyoDina]

I enjoyed the Princess and the Frog. I dragged the DH to the Park Place Mall to go see it with me. I have to say I really loved it and I'm glad Disney is FINALLY going back to 2D animation! I was going crazy that they left it. I can't wait to see Tiana in the park now! I think she debuted recently!

Melissa your story is so heath warming. I love your girls! They are soooooo adorable and I hope the trip is the best in the world! I loved it there the first time we went last year. It rained the whole trip! But it was the best!

Let's just hope this year since we are staying at Shades of Green and we'll actually have a fridge......(we stayed at the All Stars Music last time and we didn't get a freaking fridge!) it won't rain....I hope!

Can't wait at all to hear about the trip!

Dina

 

[yinyanggirls]

I gotta go see Princess and the Frog.

Sounds like a good 1st movie outing. Glad the little ones didn't see the PG13 version going on in back of you...

At least it was only PG-13! I just wondered why on earth they chose THAT theatre to "hang out" in. There were plenty of other choices.

I enjoyed the Princess and the Frog. I dragged the DH to the Park Place Mall to go see it with me. I have to say I really loved it and I'm glad Disney is FINALLY going back to 2D animation! I was going crazy that they left it. I can't wait to see Tiana in the park now! I think she debuted recently!

I'm so happy our trip is timed after her debut! Being a "high-density" girl family, we love our princesses. It will be fun to meet the newest, an American, and one that resembles our beauty Tessa to boot!

Melissa your story is so heath warming. I love your girls! They are soooooo adorable and I hope the trip is the best in the world! I loved it there the first time we went last year. It rained the whole trip! But it was the best!

That is the attitude that makes a trip great, I think. I know ours is going to be great, no matter what! Have you done a TR of that trip? I'd love to read it if you have.

Let's just hope this year since we are staying at Shades of Green and we'll actually have a fridge......(we stayed at the All Stars Music last time and we didn't get a freaking fridge!) it won't rain....I hope!

Can't wait at all to hear about the trip!

Dina

So I'm guessing your DH is Air Force? We laugh because our neighborhood is almost exclusively AF, BP, Sherrifs, Fire, or Raytheon. When we meet someone new it's easy to guess that their family works for one of those.

 

[yinyanggirls]

Well, I wanted to wait until after the holidays to add some of our newest updates and news. I figured with all the trips happening in December as well, everyone had plenty of reading material already.

In early December I was contacted about being a recipient of the BIG GIVE!!! (Yes, Amanda, you guessed it right)

I don't know if you can really understand my excitement about this news!!! I have two gorgeous little girls, and I have virtually no talent in the craft dept whatsoever. After seeing some of the beautiful creations of this talented group, I was truly hoping that we would either be selected for this or come into a lot of money and be able to hire all of these wonderful people to create the custom items I had been eyeballing since joining the DIS months ago. And after having been in suspense for our dates from August 1st until Nov 16th (!!!) it was such a relief to know about this in advance and not be in suspense for the many months to come! Hurray DISboutiquers! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I was contacted by two particular DISers who offered to make some especially custom items for the girls but I will leave you hanging right there.

And speaking of coming into a lot of money...well, a little money...we recently found out that DH is slated for a significant raise sometime during this first quarter! It's already been announced but the date was left vague. I hesitated to write this here because I know so many families are struggling with job loss and cut backs right now. Believe me, we understand. Been there done that. But it looks like our finances are on the upswing finally. By living paycheck to paycheck for the last several years we have been able to pay off almost all of our credit cards, we have finally eliminated some of the old medical bills that were following us around since 2006 (we're down to just 4 payments a month - only one of which is leftover from '06 - down from about a dozen at one point!). We will need to purchase a new wheelchair friendly vehicle sometime this year I predict, but I'm hoping that will be long after our trip. So if the raise does show up before April, we will be able to breathe that much easier (assuming our taxes go as planned!) I know you WISH trippers understand...it's hard to plan and feel secure that your needs will be met on your trip when you don't know how much, if any, spending cash you will receive. I also feel better about extending our trip now. I had planned on staying at Motel 6 and sharing $5 subs that week and still putting the whole thing on our credit card. It would have been worth it either way because I knew it wasn't likely we'd be back in Florida any time soon, and put off taking a "real" family vacation for several more years. Other than day trips or visiting family, we haven't been anywhere new and exciting since...2004 when we boated around Lake Powell and Tessa wasn't born yet. So long story summed up, I feel so blessed that we are going to be receiving this blessing at this time in particular.
Flashback to our last "real" vacation in 2004 with a 3 yr old Phoebe and a nonexistant Tessa...

As for trip planning and preparations, I've not made much progress. I found a pair of cute walking shoes but after wearing them in the house for an hour or two I decided they weren't comfy enough and I returned them. I haven't been using my new elliptical machine because we had to move it to make room for the Cmas tree! Thankfully (???) I was sick for so long last month that I managed to lose a few pounds despite my lack of workouts. I bought the girls calendars at the dollar store to put stickers on, but I haven't completed the big countdown poster with the Mickey heads. We DID accomplish one thing this weekend though...we had our first Movie Night! I'll report on that tomorrow as I need to get to bed. It's back to school day here and Phoebe's bus comes at 6am!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Melissa, what a great update filled with good news for your family! Can't wait to see what the Big Give group comes up with for your girls -- they are bound to be absolutely adorable! Congrats on DH's raise! I know how relieving that must be!

 

[dawnbu40]

What could be a better update than one filled with good news?! Congrats!

 

[TokyoDina]

At least it was only PG-13! I just wondered why on earth they chose THAT theatre to "hang out" in. There were plenty of other choices.



So I'm guessing your DH is Air Force? We laugh because our neighborhood is almost exclusively AF, BP, Sherrifs, Fire, or Raytheon. When we meet someone new it's easy to guess that their family works for one of those.

We are both serving so last year we really banked on our tickets. Because they offered the free tickets for the military. Yeah I think these two areas a big military communities. I'm surrounded on all sides with military families. It's kind of funny. You think if you lived 30 minutes away you'd get away from the base but you come to find that you end up being a lot closer. I do have a TR but it's really short. Ha! It was my first one. It rained our whole trip but we had a really good time.

Our WDW 2009.

 

[pipersmom]

Woohooo for the update, and the Big Give! I was hoping that was what it was..the girls are going to be sooooo cute! And hooray!! for dh's raise and getting bills paid off, I'm glad you'll be able to feel more financially secure, I know how much stress money can cause! For the great update!

 

[Momofwishkid]

Yay!! I bet you are so excited about the Big Give. Your girls are going to be adorable in their custom outfits. Congrats on Dh's raise. Cant wait to hear about your first DFN.

 

[yinyanggirls]

I loved the idea of Movie Night when I saw it on others' PTRs and was really admiring the creativity and effort of people like StefaniLyn who really went the extra mile to make them special. This was inhibiting me from wanting to commit to doing Family Night, as I am not very crafty (as mentioned in the previous post) and really focus on keeping things simple around here, so as not to induce any unneeded stress. I try to have an occasional bday party to remember but other than that, simple=good!!!

Last week was sort of an unofficial Family Night, when we decided to take the girls to the movies on Cmas day to see Princess and the Frog. It was great fun, but other than Jambalaya we didn't do any creative food or crafts. This weekend I decided it would be a good time to do one because my sister was visiting along with my niece and nephew whom Tessa happens to idolize. I knew if they were to sit down and watch a movie she would too. Likewise on the crafts and foods. Tessa is a fairly typical preschooler in that she doesn't warm up to new things easily. She won't watch a new movie I put on for her, but if she happens to see a commercial or see it at a friend/relatives house it could be her new favorite. Decision made - we're doing Family Night with the cousins.

I've made a list of our already fave movies and then tried to think of the others that we aren't as familiar with that will have some significance at the parks. Toy Story was high on the second list. I've tried showing it to Tessa when it was on the D channel but we don't own it. I tired looking at Blockbuster and WalMart but no luck. I contacted my friend who owns every kids movie ever made and of course she had Pt1 and 2 as well as a huge collection of Potato Head accessories and five, count 'em, five, potato heads. She also had the large main character toys. WOOHOO! We hit the mother lode! So Toy Story it is...

These pics were taken at the end because I forgot to take one of the movie at the beginning.

We let the kids make Potato Heads while we started the movie and it was the perfect activity to keep Tessa in front of the tv long enough to start getting into the movie.

(Eww, I just noticed I really need to dust inside the tv cabinet. Yuck!) (Notice Phoebe's displeasure that I have left her side. Typical Phoebe behavior. That is my excuse for not cleaning when she is on school break. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!)

We decided to keep Tessa interested and in one spot, we would have dinner during the movie. Phoebe was also making it quite clear that she was not willing to wait so we first gave the kids Toy Story fruit snacks.

Then T-rex nuggets.

Followed by Pizza Planet Pizza and Slinky fries.

During the movie the toys came in really handy and I know they helped keep both girls interested. Phoebe liked that Buzz made noises and talked. We really lucked out getting our hands on all these toys.

For dessert we had sheep. LOL

Man those were harder to assemble than I imagined!

My sis found some cute toys and games at the dollar store. We didn't have time to do the coloring, but I'm hoping to keep the movies a few more days and get Tessa to watch them again. I also have some fruit snacks left over, which should be a good bribe 'cause I never let her have those.

The kids made so many different Potato heads I didn't get shots of theirs, but here is mine.

I'm ready to leave!

I think in all it was a success, even with an hour long interruption of the neighbor kids from next door. (Miscommunication with 13 yr old who was babysitting her brothers and thought they were invited to join us...we let them go jump on the trampoline for a while then have sheep with us. Thankfully it was toward the end that they came over and Tessa was totally into the movie and ignored them!) After the neighbor kids left and Phoebe was in bed (6am bus, remember) we went ahead and started Toy Story 2 and she watched all of that! She was about asleep on the couch by the end but she watched. Success!!! Next time, I hope to be a little more involved in the creation of the food, and not rely on packaging so heavily, but for a last minute plan this worked out okay. I'm ready to plan for the next one...maybe a classic Princess favorite?

 

[Momofwishkid]

Awesome DFN! And please dont feel bad about not being creative (you've seen my DFN's) You did a great job and it looked like so much fun.

 

[MaryAz]

Great updates! Yay for the Big Give! Hurray for a raise-good news all around!

 

[pipersmom]

Melissa...that was a very cool DFN! I love the cotton candy sheep and can just imagine how much fun it was to get the lil suckers to stand still like that! So glad Tessa is doing so well with watching the movies! I think we may have to do our first one this weekend..Piper has not seen Toy Story either, and you just gave me some good food ideas Will just have to figure out a craft! I've been putting off starting it for the same reason you did...and it's just the two of us..will definitely plan one now though..so thank you!

 

[Charleston Princess]

For someone who claims they aren't crafty, you were very creative with your Disney movie night! I love all the food and the playing with the Potato Heads!

 

[jordanyosh]

I'm still catching up on your PTR.

You are amazing! What you deal with daily...

 

[StefaniLyn]

LOVE IT! You did wonderful Melissa! Congrats on getting your first (of many I hope) DFN in the bag! I'm so glad Tessa made it through the movie too! I guess I should have warned you about the sheep, sorry!

 

[yinyanggirls]

What could be a better update than one filled with good news?! Congrats!

Thanks Dawn! I've been making my way through your TR and loved the pics of Tiana's dress. I love how you think! I love that I have a niece 4 yrs older than my oldest so I have one in every age range to shop for!

We are both serving so last year we really banked on our tickets. Because they offered the free tickets for the military. Yeah I think these two areas a big military communities. I'm surrounded on all sides with military families. It's kind of funny. You think if you lived 30 minutes away you'd get away from the base but you come to find that you end up being a lot closer. I do have a TR but it's really short. Ha! It was my first one. It rained our whole trip but we had a really good time.

Our WDW 2009.

Dina, thank you thank you thank you for serving!!! I read your TR on speed (you are fast girl!) and loved the picks. You guys are a cute couple and I love the balls it took to wear the Stitch ears all day.

Woohooo for the update, and the Big Give! I was hoping that was what it was..the girls are going to be sooooo cute! And hooray!! for dh's raise and getting bills paid off, I'm glad you'll be able to feel more financially secure, I know how much stress money can cause! For the great update!

I thought it was so funny that your news was revealed within 24 hrs of ours. Also ironic, you were contacted by HeatherSue and I was contacted by her awesome sister TeresaJoy. Heather is especially cool because she has a Tessa. :rolleyes1

Awesome DFN! And please dont feel bad about not being creative (you've seen my DFN's) You did a great job and it looked like so much fun.

Thank you! This one was a little chaotic because we did it last minute. I hope the next will be a tad more creative but also less stressful.

Great updates! Yay for the Big Give! Hurray for a raise-good news all around!

I know, right?!?

Melissa...that was a very cool DFN! I love the cotton candy sheep and can just imagine how much fun it was to get the lil suckers to stand still like that! So glad Tessa is doing so well with watching the movies! I think we may have to do our first one this weekend..Piper has not seen Toy Story either, and you just gave me some good food ideas Will just have to figure out a craft! I've been putting off starting it for the same reason you did...and it's just the two of us..will definitely plan one now though..so thank you!

I'm glad my simplistic style has inspired you to go for it.

For someone who claims they aren't crafty, you were very creative with your Disney movie night! I love all the food and the playing with the Potato Heads!

Well thank you. I'm sure it was all lost on Tessa (and definitely Phoebe) even though we explained each item. We also had Bugles (the chips) to pretend to be cones from TS2 (when they cross the street underneath them) but didn't get that far.

I'm still catching up on your PTR.

You are amazing! What you deal with daily...

Aw, thanks Jordan. I'm sure any WISH tripper here will tell you that we don't really think about it that way. We just do what needs to be done. And to be honest, in all my years as a parent (8, haha) I've learned that there is no escape from trials in this life. We all have 'em and we all just try to get through 'em. If we can make some good friends along the way and support each other we've succeeded. Right?

LOVE IT! You did wonderful Melissa! Congrats on getting your first (of many I hope) DFN in the bag! I'm so glad Tessa made it through the movie too! I guess I should have warned you about the sheep, sorry!

Thanks a lot Steph. A little warning would've been nice, but NO. You're all like "you MUST do the sheep Melissa!". It wasn't too bad once I gave up on trying to keep them fluffy looking. LOL

 

[kayrosek]

I am so excited your were selected for the Big Give. That's wonderful! As for your DFN I loved it! We got back from our first WDW trip a month ago and I found these boards a week and a half before we left so there wasen't any time for anything like countdown calenders or DFN's but my kids are more into Disney now than ever (they are older so I thought some of that was lost to us forever), but now they keep looking for ways to relive the magic so I think I'm going to introduce DFN's (we try to do family nights once a week anyways). I may have to start with Toy Story now. My son loves that movie and he won't be able to resist a menu made up of pizza, chicken nuggets and curly fries (not to mention cotton candy, I remember the sheep from Stefanielyns thread but I had forgotten them thanks for reminding me.)

 

[yinyanggirls]

I am so excited your were selected for the Big Give. That's wonderful! As for your DFN I loved it! We got back from our first WDW trip a month ago and I found these boards a week and a half before we left so there wasen't any time for anything like countdown calenders or DFN's but my kids are more into Disney now than ever (they are older so I thought some of that was lost to us forever), but now they keep looking for ways to relive the magic so I think I'm going to introduce DFN's (we try to do family nights once a week anyways). I may have to start with Toy Story now. My son loves that movie and he won't be able to resist a menu made up of pizza, chicken nuggets and curly fries (not to mention cotton candy, I remember the sheep from Stefanielyns thread but I had forgotten them thanks for reminding me.)

I think that's a great idea to start after your trip! I know for sure Tessa is going to want to continue after we go on ours. The menu really was a nutritionists nightmare, but hey, it's Toy Story!

 

[cantwaittoseemickey]

Congratulations on being a part of the Big Give! I just love your little sheep!Looks like they had alot of fun for DFN.