PTR; Joshua and Samantha's 1st Trip (Sep 17-26 '09) [Train Tour Pics!]

[cheap traveler]

Love the new haircut! My older DD was almost 3 1/2 before she got her first real haircut. My DD3 just recently got hers cut, and it seems that all hairdressers cut little girls bangs too short. Luckily my DDs hair grows really fast, and now a few weeks later she needs it cut again.

The itinerary looks great. I haven't done park-hoppers in a few years, mostly because I end up pusing us way too hard when I can go everywhere.

Have a great week waiting for ADR-day

 

[cheap traveler]

Aw, cute!

Happy Anniversary! Have a great night. Star Trek was amazing.

Hey I love your ticker!! I didn't know it was so close. That just made my day

 

[jenny105]

Hey I love your ticker!! I didn't know it was so close. That just made my day

Thanks! I think it's even closer because I made it when it was slated to open July 17. I believe it's now opening July 15.

 

[disneylovinfamily]

followed you over from my ptr you kids are so cute! Roseanna had an Alice party last year too and wore the same dress. Love all the homeschool activities you are doing, so fun!

 

[crocko]

Okay, I have an addition to our projects to add.

Along with the "school" projects for each letter, the kids have also been getting to watch a movie each week as well when they finish their projects.

A thru L, here's what they've watched so far:


A - Aladdin
B - Bolt (timing of its release worked out perfectly)

C - Cinderella
D - Dumbo
E - Enchanted (to my surprise, Samantha LOVES Giselle...particularly, animated Giselle)
F - Fox and the Hound
G - Extremely Goofy Movie (they'd already seen the first one)
H - Hunchback of Notre Dame
I - Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad
J - Jungle Book 2 (whenever we watched Jungle Book, kids were fairly bored...but Joshua LOVES this one....has asked to rewatch it several times)
K - Emperor's New Groove (Kuzco and Kronk's first movie!)

L - Lilo & Stitch







Up to this point, Samantha has mainly just been doing coloring and trying to learn her letters, but last night she decided she wanted to do Math Problems.
So, while Bridgette did math problems with Joshua, Samantha and I worked on the Disney/Pixar Cars counting workbook. She's so funny...educationally, she's a very smart girl with no memory.
But....she's getting there.

Actually, the thing I'm learning with her is how to handle mistakes. Man, she gets VERY emotional when she does something wrong. I was working on our pre-K Bible studies this weekend and we made an extra copy so Samantha could follow along. I told her to color a picture and then looked over to Joshua...when I looked back, she had colored not only the picture but half of the page...so, without thinking I said, "Samantha, no. Not all over." Well, out came the bottom lip and she climbed up on to the couch to pout....5 minutes later she had calmed down and came back. Then, when we were done she asked if I was mad at her (ugh....what a heartbreaker)

SO.........when working with her counting last night, whenever she counted too far or made "a very interesting version of a circle" I made sure that any correction came with a big smile. She can handle it as long as it looks like we're all having fun still.




Thanks for listening to my story.
Only 4 days until ADR's can be made!!!!

 

[crocko]

Update on Disney planning from today:

1) I mentioned previously that I ordered 20 Disney pins from ebay.....They have arrived! I'll try to take pictures tonight when I get home....(there's a couple that my wife says she may want to keep)

2) Last week, we went ahead and ordered the kids' tickets (which was well-timed considering rumors of prices going up soon). They arrived today as well! Joshua's has Mickey on it and Samantha's has Minnie. Very cool.

3) My sister and I have gone over some ADR back-up plans in case she gets on the phone and doesn't get exactly what we want.


Here's our current meal planning (summarized):

Sep 17 (THU) - 'Ohana @ 7pm (anywhere from 6:30-8:00 ressie will be fine)
Sep 18 (FRI) - Crystal Palace @ 8am (latest we want to start is 8:45)
Sep 20 (SUN) - Akershus @ 10am (anywhere 9:30-whenever is fine)
Sep 21 (MON) - Tusker House @ 10:30am (basically as late as we can get)
Sep 21 (MON) - Boma @ 6pm (anytime 6 or after is fine)
Sep 25 (FRI) - Play 'N' Dine @ 8am (as early as possible, basically)


So....not too many reservations, but the worrisome one's (Ohana and Crystal Palace) happen to be our earliest ones....which means that people with earlier trips are already starting to book those places & times.

So, we've discussed backup plans. If we can't get 'Ohana during a reasonable time period that first night in.....our backup is either Friday the 18th or any night from the 23rd thru 25th. Would be fun to start the trip with that meal, but won't be a big deal if it gets moved.

The one I MOST have my heart set on is that Friday the 18th breakfast at Crystal Palace...and specifically trying to get a right after 8:00 slot. I don't want to get too close to 9am, because then we start losing park time after it first opens. IF, it just won't workout to eat there that morning, we may end up shooting for Thursday the 24th. MK has early hour that day, so we would hit the 8am rope drop and then could plan for a late breakfast.
In less than 90 hours, I should know the results!!

 

[jenny105]

I hope you get all of your ADRs! Good luck! Maybe I'll see you when we're leaving the Tusker House. I'm going to try to reserve Ohana's on the 21st, which is a Monday night. I'm hoping we get that and Le Cellier on the 23rd. Keep your fingers crossed!

 

[stacikristine]

I just caught up on your PTR. GREAT JOB!! I love how you and your wife are teaching the kids and having a Disney countdown at the same time. All of the activities are just adorable. And Samantha's Alice in Wonderland birthday party was SOOO cute!!! I love all of the decorations. Do you and your wife do most of the planning for parties and the teaching together? Oh--and we're staying at AKL too! But we'll be in Jambo House. It's coming SOON!!

 

[crocko]

As for party planning, my wife does most of it...I throw in a few creative suggestions here and there and let her know what we can "afford."

One thing we've discussed is trying not to have "packaged parties". In other words, we could go to Wal-Mart, Target, Party Galaxy, etc. and throw a party based on whatever the current popular things are (which works good sometimes) but we like having slightly more unique themes. Joshua's first birthday was a monkey party.
Samantha's first birthday was Neverland themed (which reminds me...I've got to get a picture of the cake for that party. It was amazing!)
For her 2nd birthday, we had a Farm theme.
This year, Joshua is going to have a robot theme.....since his birthday is only 6 weeks away, we need to get brainstorming.


As for teaching ideas....some of the stuff is our work. This Disney project is almost 100% my creation.....of course, I'm using the Internet to get pictures and find good science/social studies projects and math worksheets, but I'm the compiler....Bridgette does 90% of the teaching (I do a little bit on weekends/nights).

Sometime next year, when we get into a "fuller curriculum" we will be using KONOS to help direct our teaching. It can be a lot of work sometimes, but very rewarding.



By the way, anyone have any good tricks for speeding up 8am to 4pm each day??????

 

[PookieB]

Joining in! Beautiful kids! I love Samantha's Alice in Wonderland birthday. What a great cake! Great plans & ADRs. Looking forward to reading more.

 

[stacikristine]

I didn't see your ADR plan earlier. It looks great! I always had theme birthday parties too. SO FUN!! My mom did a great job with them. One time I had a flower party and we did all kinds of flower type things including decorating flower pots and planting flowers. One time I had a surprising party where everything was exciting (like icing changing colors, and simple magic tricks) and all kinds of things. We would start planning the new party almost as soon as the other one was over! Your kids will love those memories! YES--post pictures of the Neverland party. It sounds great. That's awesome that your wife is able to stay home and teach your kids! I know yall are going to have a WONDERFUL trip!

 

[crocko]

Well, thanks to the news about online ADR's now available....did some "researching" to get an idea about the possibilities of getting our 1st choice reservations for Ohana and Crystal Palace.

For today, the last possible booking date is the 14th. At 11am CST this morning, I checked on both places. Ohana had a 6:30 and 8:20 availability. So, not too bad.
Crystal Palace still had 8:25am availability. So, 5 hours after the time slot opened.....pretty good openings still out there.

Hoping this bodes well.....will probably continue this research the next two days as well.
Why?

Well, I say....WHY NOT!?!

 

[chicagoshannon]

Can't wait to see how your ADR's come out!


I just asked you on my thread what curriculum you guys use. LOL Now I know. We're thinking of doing Alpha Omega Horizons.

 

[crocko]

Awesome....hope you find it to be a good one for you.








3 MONTHS TO GO!!!!

 

[stacikristine]

Well, thanks to the news about online ADR's now available....did some "researching" to get an idea about the possibilities of getting our 1st choice reservations for Ohana and Crystal Palace.

For today, the last possible booking date is the 14th. At 11am CST this morning, I checked on both places. Ohana had a 6:30 and 8:20 availability. So, not too bad.
Crystal Palace still had 8:25am availability. So, 5 hours after the time slot opened.....pretty good openings still out there.

Hoping this bodes well.....will probably continue this research the next two days as well.
Why?

Well, I say....WHY NOT!?!

I was looking into this new ADR booking plan this morning. I have some questions you probably know the answer to: When can I make these ADRs? Is it still at 7am? And this is really a silly question, but what is the time change difference between us and them--if there is one? Is it just the start of a new day (aka 12:01 am)--or do we have to wait to book online as well? Are you going to use this, or just call? Sorry for the random questions...thanks for the help!

 

[crocko]

Actually, I don't have the answers.

a) not sure when the new day comes online
b) not sure if you can do the 90+10 online.

My sister will still be calling at 6am(CST) on Friday to get everything booked the old-fashioned way.

 

[stacikristine]

I might call and try to get those answers...if it's still the same time (aka not being able to book until 7) then I'll do it the old fashioned way. But if we can book earlier, then I might try the new way. So they're one hour earlier than us?

 

[crocko]

Cool. Definitely let me know what info you find out.

 

[crocko]

We've never done this in the past, but part of our plans this year is to have some matching/themed shirts.

And last night we made our first one!

(Thanks to Dom13 and his Star Wars designs)

So far, Dom13 has made one for me and Joshua. For our first attempt, we tried making Joshua's shirt and I'm pleased with how it looks:

So, now we need to get a shirt for me and the girls....plus, waiting to see if Dom13 will be able to make names for the girls as well.

 

[jenny105]

I like that! Very nice! Good work