"Reach for the sky!" We're finally getting there in JAN 2012!!!TR LINK PG 69!

[Victoriasmom98]

I hear what you are saying, Karen. I think Savannah should have a set amount of money and that should be it. I know you want to buy her something (yeah, I NEVER feel like that..) but I would be like you and I would feel like I'd have to buy Lesley something, too. It's a tough situation, but the real present is being able to take them both to Disney, right?

Oh, and perfect thinking about the lunch ADR!!!! DISNEY, DISNEY, DISNEY, DISNEY!!!!!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

I hear what you are saying, Karen. I think Savannah should have a set amount of money and that should be it. I know you want to buy her something (yeah, I NEVER feel like that..) but I would be like you and I would feel like I'd have to buy Lesley something, too. It's a tough situation, but the real present is being able to take them both to Disney, right?

Oh, and perfect thinking about the lunch ADR!!!! DISNEY, DISNEY, DISNEY, DISNEY!!!!!

I talked to her about it today and she's going to do some work/extra chores to earn money as well so that she has a certain amount as well to take. Of course, I am paying her more than I normally would for stuff, just b/c I want to make sure that she has a lot of fun money to spend, but it's just how I am. We talked about how Leslee won't have a ton of money and that it wouldn't be right for me to just buy her things and not Leslee, so she understands the situation as well.

Today is Disney Day with Hope and Kya!!! I know Hope hasn't been on the DIS lately since she canceled, but she's still with us in spirit! We are going to invite Leslee to some of our Disney Days as well so that she can join in the fun! Savannah & I made her a countdown calendar the other day, she's very excited!

Ok....on to my ADR post for the morning!...

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

So, it's ADR week and I'm normally up at 4-5am every other day of the year. What did I do today? I slept in! We had a lot of storms last night that kept waking me up. Woke up and looked at the clock and it said 6am. You should have seen me jump out of that bed! (I can make ADRs at 5am CST)

So, I ran to the computer, hitting the brew button on the coffee maker on my way and set out to get my ADRs that I figured would be difficult to get! These are for Saturday, October 1st, 40th Anniversary of MK!!! NOT A PROBLEM!!!!!!! Even an hour late, went like clockwork and I got both my ADRs at exactly the time I wanted!!!

This Saturday is the 5K, so Dallas & I will run and then go back to the house to clean up. We now have a 10:30am ADR at Ohana for a late breakfast!!! I'm really excited about this. We went to Ohana last trip, but for dinner, so having breakfast there after the race with the characters sounds like so much fun! Savannah & Leslee are both very into Stitch and Lilo right now as well, so that will be fun for them.

We're off to MK for a leisurely day (I know it's the 40th, so we have another rope drop day at MK, this day will just be for fun and to do whatever we feel like doing since it will likely be busy!)

For dinner, we are going to Boma at 6pm!!! I know, two TS meals in a day, but it's race day, so Dallas & I will be celebrating!

 

[Pixiedust530]

WOOOOOHOOOOOO! I can only imagine how scary it must have been to oversleep on an ADR day! LOL

I think your choices for Race Day sound AWESOME!!! You & Dallas wil have so much to celebrate!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

WOOOOOHOOOOOO! I can only imagine how scary it must have been to oversleep on an ADR day! LOL

I think your choices for Race Day sound AWESOME!!! You & Dallas wil have so much to celebrate!

Thanks Stephanie! Your ADR day is coming up too in a couple weeks, right?!!?

 

[Pixiedust530]

Thanks Stephanie! Your ADR day is coming up too in a couple weeks, right?!!?

Oh yes....April 18 to be exact! I am SOOOOO excited!!!

 

[mousescrapper]

Karen...

looks like after the inital ADR bump things are moving along well... good luck w/ the rest of your ADR making!

as far as the souvie thing...here are a couple thoughts...(I have such a tough time controlling my spending there too...so many cute "must haves")

1) I would talk w/ both girls (sep w/ your DD) and of course Leslie's parents...would they be sending any spending $$?

2) I agree on a set $ ammount and maybe a # of those splurge surprise buys at a certain dollar amount like 1 under $20 or 2 under $10

3) something new I did w/ souvie spending in Nov was I created these little suprise tickets. I had 2 sets 1 for a new trading pin and 1 for $10 toward a Mouse Gear purchase. 2 diff mornings I put the gift tickets on the breakfast table to surprise the kids. This worked great. Each child had a lot of their own spending $ and some gift cards (we always say we'll help supplemnt a purchase to a certain $ amount over too) and we bought each of our kids 1 souvie plus the gift tickets.

It worked out really well I always try to come up w/ a souvie wish list too and last trip I kept it in my phone so we would keep track of our spending and picking...

I honestly wouln't feel like I'd have to buy your DD's friend something each time you bought Savannah something...but you know these girls better than me.

good luck!

Julie

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Karen...

looks like after the inital ADR bump things are moving along well... good luck w/ the rest of your ADR making!

as far as the souvie thing...here are a couple thoughts...(I have such a tough time controlling my spending there too...so many cute "must haves")

1) I would talk w/ both girls (sep w/ your DD) and of course Leslie's parents...would they be sending any spending $$?

2) I agree on a set $ ammount and maybe a # of those splurge surprise buys at a certain dollar amount like 1 under $20 or 2 under $10

3) something new I did w/ souvie spending in Nov was I created these little suprise tickets. I had 2 sets 1 for a new trading pin and 1 for $10 toward a Mouse Gear purchase. 2 diff mornings I put the gift tickets on the breakfast table to surprise the kids. This worked great. Each child had a lot of their own spending $ and some gift cards (we always say we'll help supplemnt a purchase to a certain $ amount over too) and we bought each of our kids 1 souvie plus the gift tickets.

It worked out really well I always try to come up w/ a souvie wish list too and last trip I kept it in my phone so we would keep track of our spending and picking...

I honestly wouln't feel like I'd have to buy your DD's friend something each time you bought Savannah something...but you know these girls better than me.

good luck!

Julie

Thanks Julie! Those are great ideas!

Honestly, I don't know if they'll give her any money at all. They have told her she needs to save money for the trip, and they are having her do work/chores this summer for grandparents, etc. but I believe this is for her actual ticket/food money, so I'm not sure she'll have any souvenir money! We'll have to see how it works out. I do know that if she comes with no money for souvenirs, I will HAVE to get her a few things. It's just not right to go to WDW and not come home with something to remember the trip! Yes...I'm sick.

 

[3princesses+aprince]

Glad to see ADRs are coming along! WooHoo. I think that's a good idea too, to have Savannah have a set amount of money to spend so her friend won't feel bad or you won't be obligated to buy everything times two. I'm the same way when we go on vacation. I know i'd probably still pick up a thing or two and give it to my kids when we got home, i'd see things and REALLY want to buy them. One it's ADR time, the rest of the wait will fly by!!!!

 

[Tink-erin-belle]

Ooh! ADR Week! Great compromise on doing RFC for lunch I was going to comment on the souvenir issue, but mousescrapper had some really awesome ideas that I think I'm going to do with my kids now! See? This is why I love the chatter between the posts: so many good tips!

You had me scared with your story of what happened this morning! I'm so glad you got 'Ohana and I think you all will love breakfast. Outside of the park character breakfast places, 'Ohana is our favorite resort character breakfast with that pineapple bread and the huge platters of food! And Lilo and Stich of course, not to mention everyone calling you "cousin" Boma! I'm reading so many PTRs with people going there! I must have a Zebra Dome one day!

 

[mousescrapper]

Thanks Julie! Those are great ideas!

your welcome!

Honestly, I don't know if they'll give her any money at all. They have told her she needs to save money for the trip, and they are having her do work/chores this summer for grandparents, etc. but I believe this is for her actual ticket/food money, so I'm not sure she'll have any souvenir money! We'll have to see how it works out. I do know that if she comes with no money for souvenirs, I will HAVE to get her a few things. It's just not right to go to WDW and not come home with something to remember the trip! Yes...I'm sick.

I agree completely...you'll just have to be her Fairy Godmother in part

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

DISNEY DAY!!!!!! Ok, so I told you a few weeks ago that it was a ride, and none of you guessed correctly, but I did get some really good ideas from all of you! Now, you might have thought about what ride I would love to do a disney day around, that MIGHT have given you a clue! Anyone remember my favorite ride???
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Expedition Everest!!!

So, we set out to do a Disney Day based around it! First Kya and Savannah took fabric squares that Hope & I found in our scrap fabric stashes, and they wrote on them and made prayer flags. I think they had a really good time making these, Savannah is happy about hanging hers in her room.

we just used string and stapled the squares on, then we hung them up for decoration.

When I had asked Savannah what Disney Day she wanted, she had said EE with ice cream since EE looks like it has ice cream on it. This sounded about right to me! The girls set out to make their own mountain with ice cream, cones, chocolate, and sprinkles.

they really had a good time, Hope commented on how they always do when it's something messy!

We had a "yeti" as well, Jace (Kya's brother) donated his abomidable snowman since we didn't have an actual EE yeti to use for decorating. Savannah told me the other day that she has wanted to get an EE stuffed Yeti since our first visit and it's top on the list of things she wants to get with her souvenir money.

Of course, when they finished decorating, it was time to DIG IN and eat the mountain! They didn't even come close to eating it all, luckily, but they had fun!

We already know what we're doing in 2 weeks for Disney Day, it's a movie this time! We decided to invite Leslee to join us since she's going on the trip as well, so we'll have all 3 girls next time!

 

[Tink-erin-belle]

It looks like they had a lot of fun! I love the prayer flags. Great idea!

 

[-Hope-]

I've been pouting and not coming to the Dis but I had to come and see your post for our EE day. Kya loves her prayer flags!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

I've been pouting and not coming to the Dis but I had to come and see your post for our EE day. Kya loves her prayer flags!

You should start planning our 2013 girls trip! Where will we stay? Beach Club? Boardwalk?

I'm not going to make an official post for my ADR's today, since I just made Tusker House lunch, but I got my exact times! Tomorrow there are no ADRs to make b/c it's our first Epcot day and we'll be doing Food & Wine!

 

[Pixiedust530]

Wow! I love the creativity and ideas you come up with for your Disney Days! It looks like the girls had a great time. I am sure Leslee will enjoy coming for the next one.

Congrats on another successful ADR! I so wish it was April 18 already....I am not exactly known for my patience! Hahaha

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Wow! I love the creativity and ideas you come up with for your Disney Days! It looks like the girls had a great time. I am sure Leslee will enjoy coming for the next one.

Congrats on another successful ADR! I so wish it was April 18 already....I am not exactly known for my patience! Hahaha

Yep, I'm actually getting tired of the every-day-ADRs and kind of wish I could have done them all on one day! Would you believe me if I said that I slept late AGAIN this morning?!?!?!? This time it was only 10 minutes tho.

 

[Tink-erin-belle]

Yes, Hope, if I can already start my planning for a Summer 2012 trip, you can certainly start planning your 2013 trip! We miss you on the boards!

Speaking of 2012, Karen, what rental company are you using? Is it All Star Vacation Homes? I think that's the one my brother used but he stayed in a condo. If I can get a good second recommendation from you or anyone else who's stayed there, I'd feel more comfortable researching those homes.

Congrats on Tusker House! I think all ADRs are cause for celebration - especially when you get the time you wanted!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Yes, Hope, if I can already start my planning for a Summer 2012 trip, you can certainly start planning your 2013 trip! We miss you on the boards!

Speaking of 2012, Karen, what rental company are you using? Is it All Star Vacation Homes? I think that's the one my brother used but he stayed in a condo. If I can get a good second recommendation from you or anyone else who's stayed there, I'd feel more comfortable researching those homes.

Congrats on Tusker House! I think all ADRs are cause for celebration - especially when you get the time you wanted!

No, not All Star Erin. I think it's a private owner, who only has one house. Here's the link:
Orlando Vacation Villa

I'll be sure to give a full review of the house in my TR when we get back! I wouldn't recommend the last house we stayed at in 2009. It was ok, and I liked it well enough, but there were issues with the hot tub and I didn't think the management dealt with it very fast! Hopefully this one will be just right!

 

[Tink-erin-belle]

Thanks for the link. I'll check it out