Ringing in 2010, 6 months til we'll be back again

[Charleston Princess]

40% off at the Disney store and a DIS meet -- that sounds like a great way to spend your Saturday!

 

[WrightFamily06]

Cute pictures from your Dis-meet ! Sorry to hear that your Disney Store is closing , we don't have one near buy either but I do have to say it saves me money throughout the year cause I'm not an online shopper . Then in turn there's more money to spend on our actual WDW trip lol

 

[Lovemy3babes]

Aw, what fun pictures!! How neat that you all get together like that. Seeing those Disney store photos makes me pine for one of our own. Ours closed up shop a few years ago. 40% off shopping makes shopping a little more fun!

 

[Stasieki]

It's supposed to be around 50ish, Wed/Thurs....that is going to feel like a freakin' HEAT

WAVE!!! I'll be wanting to go use our pool



I'm glad you guys had a great time and wish the time had worked out that I could come!

Had a WONDERFUL time at our b-ball game though.....we beat UF and it was a great win!!

I'm up for meeting at Cool Springs just about anytime!! LOVE that place!!

I"m looking forward to meeting you. Looks like we have close due dates. I'm due March 30th. When if yours? Pretty soon the meets will have a few more babies to join Bella

 

[k_reile]

I was picturing a white dumbo.
We live 3 hours south of orlando. It's been really cold and it's supposed to drop down to low 20s. People are reporting snow in some parts in FL. Just a little though mostly sleet with a few snowflakes. We're on freeze alert until Monday.

I hope it starts to warm up soon!! I am not going to be very happy to leave cold Ohio to come to Cold Florida! I want 70's before Feb 6th and not leave the 70's until after Feb 13th....is that too much to ask Florida??

 

[VAisforDisneyLvrs]

It looks like you had a lot of fun at your Hippo meet! We were supposed to get a Disney Outlet at the Prime Outlets in Williamsburg last year. Then, when Disney took back control of the stores from The Children's Place (Is that who it was??) they cancelled the opening. I drive to Virginia Beach with my sister about once a month just to visit the mall that has the Disney Store. It's only about a 45 minute drive, so I am lucky there is one that's not too far away. I like to visit even if I don't buy anything.

Cracker Barrel-yum! When I lived in Massachusetts for a year with my husband's family he and I drove to Albany NY a couple of times just so I could get my fix of southern food!

 

[MeMom]

normal is boring.

Yeah, it is.

I'm glad you guys got to make it to the Disney Store before it closes and got a Dismeet, too.

Cracker Barrel...mmmmm. I want to go there again so badly. I love their fried apples! I have an allergic reaction when I eat raw apples, but I'm glad to be able to eat the fried apples. There's a Cracker Barrel I think 30-45 minutes away from where I am, and I'm really hoping to get there soon. Too funny that Brooklynn said the lady called to tell her that they do have sliced apples!

It was a nice meet, but I am sorry the closest Disney Store is about to be gone.

We love good old home cookin' down here, so Cracker Barrel is just Grandma's cooking without the mess. Chicken and dumplings is my choice at Cracker Barrel nearly every time.

Yeah, Brooklynn was in the back seat using a high-pitched voice on her phone being the lady at Cracker Barrel. That's why we even noticed her. She was saying, "Yes, we dooo have apples!" in her best grown lady who works at Cracker Barrel voice.

I read this out loud to Tom and we were both laughing!




Definitely count me in!

She's one crazy little girl, and I love her more every time I see her!

We need to see what's a sort of centerpoint for a lot of us. How far is everybody from like Louisville, KY? That might be high enough north to get in all our northern friends.

Looks like you had a great Hippo meet! What fun! That was very sweet of Trent to bring your bag.

We did. Trent didn't even realize until last night that Jill had her money, gift cards, and license in the bag. He thought he was just bringing diapers and such, so for him to do that just for Bella to have diapers was definitely saying something. If you catch him in the right mood, he's a good guy.

The girls are so cute!!!

My grandmother used to say, "We don't allow no ugly babies in our family!"

What a great meet and what fun was had by all!! Sorry to hear about your Disney store closing!! Glad you could get some great deals! I love shopping pictures!

I love shopping pictures, too. Did you notice that wigd was getting into the shopping pictures groove on this past trip?

It's supposed to be around 50ish, Wed/Thurs....that is going to feel like a freakin' HEAT

WAVE!!! I'll be wanting to go use our pool



I'm glad you guys had a great time and wish the time had worked out that I could come!

Had a WONDERFUL time at our b-ball game though.....we beat UF and it was a great win!!

I'm up for meeting at Cool Springs just about anytime!! LOVE that place!!

I'm ready for those 50 degree temperatures.

Cool Springs is good for us, too. We'll probably do that maybe in May after you girls have your babies. What do you think about that?

What a great DIS meet! I'm sorry to hear your disney store is closing. Do you have another or is that it? I wish I lived closer you I could of met up with you guys. It was freezing today and it was raining a lot too. I only went outside to get the mail. It actually snowed in Orlando today.

We still have Cool Springs, which is way on the other side of Nashville, but I'm grateful for that one, and I hope we don't lose it, too!

I heard about the sleet, as I was following some people who were doing the runs this weekend. Pretty crazy stuff!

Thank you! I already made our ADR's

Tomorrow I get to see Caleb And possibly Kazin!

ADR's make it very real.

Hope you've had a good day with the little guys!

subbing before I lose you again!

Oooooh nooooo! Don't lose us!

 

[MeMom]

We have one more that will be left. Unless Disney decides to close all of their stores I'm sure the one in Cool Springs will stay open. It's a nice mall and still a great area. Also the Opry Mills store is considered an outlet store. So I really don't know how it may differ from the Cool Spgs store.


WOW! Disney didn't need any 'fake' snow today

I saw where it was 36 there, and that was at about 3pm. I know that is COLD for that area.....should be warming up soon

Yeah, since Cool Springs is not an outler store, I am hoping we can hold on to that one.

When I was walking down Main Street one night with the snow being blown around, it felt cold enough that night to be real. It was very pretty. Hopefully some of my pictures of that night will turn out.

All caught up! Can't wait to hear more about your New Year's trip! I wish we still had our Disney store...we are considering driving to the outlet store in Grove City this week just so that I can get a Disney fix

I am going to try to put up a new installment later on today.

After a marathon read I'm caught up! Looked like a fun meet today! 40% off would have done me in! Did you get some good stuff?
The pictures of Wilderness Lodge were very pretty. I would love to curl up there and go to sleep because it's bedtime and I'm very tired.....
Can't wait to read more!

40% off for a shopper like you! You would have wipred the place out.
I would have, too, if I had had any money.

I was picturing a white dumbo.
We live 3 hours south of orlando. It's been really cold and it's supposed to drop down to low 20s. People are reporting snow in some parts in FL. Just a little though mostly sleet with a few snowflakes. We're on freeze alert until Monday.

Unfortunately, all this cold is going to cost us at the grocery store later on, right? It's suppsed to break here tomorrow, too.

What a nice day of shopping and meeting! I am so sick of this cold!!! Ack!

I know anybody in the north must really have a lot of patience to do this endless cold year after year.

40% off at the Disney store and a DIS meet -- that sounds like a great way to spend your Saturday!

It was nice to be out, too, after two days in the house.

Cute pictures from your Dis-meet ! Sorry to hear that your Disney Store is closing , we don't have one near buy either but I do have to say it saves me money throughout the year cause I'm not an online shopper . Then in turn there's more money to spend on our actual WDW trip lol

That's what I have to do now - save all money for the real trips.

Aw, what fun pictures!! How neat that you all get together like that. Seeing those Disney store photos makes me pine for one of our own. Ours closed up shop a few years ago. 40% off shopping makes shopping a little more fun!

I may check back the next two weekends and see if it goes even lower. 70% off sure would be nice.

I"m looking forward to meeting you. Looks like we have close due dates. I'm due March 30th. When if yours? Pretty soon the meets will have a few more babies to join Bella

Bella will be happy to have some playmates to run around with.

I hope it starts to warm up soon!! I am not going to be very happy to leave cold Ohio to come to Cold Florida! I want 70's before Feb 6th and not leave the 70's until after Feb 13th....is that too much to ask Florida??

Maybe it will get a bit warmer for you by then. Hopefully this was just a very unusual cold front. The whole country looked pretty cold on the weather map.

It looks like you had a lot of fun at your Hippo meet! We were supposed to get a Disney Outlet at the Prime Outlets in Williamsburg last year. Then, when Disney took back control of the stores from The Children's Place (Is that who it was??) they cancelled the opening. I drive to Virginia Beach with my sister about once a month just to visit the mall that has the Disney Store. It's only about a 45 minute drive, so I am lucky there is one that's not too far away. I like to visit even if I don't buy anything.

Cracker Barrel-yum! When I lived in Massachusetts for a year with my husband's family he and I drove to Albany NY a couple of times just so I could get my fix of southern food!

That's about how far I'll have to go now, but it will be a nice fix when I need it.

If you ever come through this way, we'll be happy to cook you a good old Tennessee country meal.

And I promise - no possum!

 

[MeMom]

Okay, let's get on with the report.

Santa Claus had come and left plenty of goodies for Brooklynn and Bella. I waited to go to Alabama until Saturday morning so that they could have plenty of family time and I could make sure everything was done here on the homefront. The girls and I spent the day together playing with their new things while Jill and John picked up the van and did all their last minute stuff.

You may recall that Sebastian was left behind on our October trip, so this time I remembered to bring him. He didn't get out much on the trip, but he still got to go.

Here he is visiting with some friends on Jill's tree.

We ate supper and turned in early, as we planned to get up around one, I believe. I was laying down on the living room couch and all the lights were out when I heard a noise. I looked down the hallway to see a smiling Brooklynn, who was too excited to sleep. I told her she could bring her things in the living room with me, and we'd just sleep on the floor.

Three trips and about twenty stuffed animals later, she settled in on the floor.

It took her no time to fall asleep then.

Also among the stuffed animals, and coming along with Sebastian, was my Christmas Eeyore.

I had bought a New Year's Stitch to accompany us to the Poly beach, but...

I forgot him at home.

I am kind of negligent when it comes to my stuffed/plastic family, aren't I?

We got up in the wee hours of the morning, bundled the girls up, and hit the road.

It is a good thing to travel when little ones are sleeping.

A few hours later, it was time to stop for some leg stretching and a little something for our tummies.

Bella trying out Ronald's shoes.

Isn't it nice that God invented DVD players?

Brooklynn was set for the entire trip. She was either sleeping or watching a video the entire time, and she was just as good as gold.

Here we are entering our favorite vacation state.

At the Florida Welcome Center, there was fun with faces.

Brooklynn.

Bella.

Baby doll.

The Welcome Center was decorated for the holidays.

Bella liked being able to move around some more.

Yummy Florida orange juice.

We sent a phone picture to Erica, I think.

Jill, you can add details now, since your memory is sharper than mine.

 

[punkin413]

Cool Springs is good for us, too. We'll probably do that maybe in May after you girls have your babies. What do you think about that?

girlS? who else is pregnant that will have a baby by may and is in range to meet? i may have missed a baby announcement!

 

[MeMom]

girlS? who else is pregnant that will have a baby by may and is in range to meet? i may have missed a baby announcement!

Erica and stasieki are within a week or so of each other, I think.

 

[twob4him]

Yippy...we're on our way!!! Gotta love the DVD player! The girls look so happy and excited!!! Eyeore even looks happy for himself

 

[matosfam]

hip, hip, hooray!
You're on your way!

 

[MeMom]

We had added a night on at the Hampton Inn by the Florida Mall, since we could get two rooms for less than the price of Pop. This would give us an earlier start, as we planned to check out the mall the next morning, and we were thrilled that it was going to work out for us to meet wigd and her guys at DTD.

We checked into the rooms, freshened up a bit, and then headed toward Downtown Disney.

I was so happy to be back in this place. Even just walking around in Downtown Disney thrills me!

A quick peek in Basin, to get a part of Dawn's surprise.

I only allowed myself a couple of minutes, but I could stay in that place quite a while, and if I had the money, all of my friends would be getting gifts from here!

Jill, of course, wanted to see her favorite sandwich maker, Earl.

Right outside Earl of Sandwich, there was live music.

After we ate, we shopped a bit as we waited for it to be time to meet Anita and crew.

I also had a mission to find the Four Parks, One World CD for praisehisname, but they did not have it at my first stop.

It didn't take Brooklynn long to find the jewelry.

How fun it was to be here and taking pictures again!

For Jarvis and Ray, who like the Star Wars stuff.

I planned to buy several of these to take home, and they were half price!

The Dumbo for the Potato Head was purchased to add to Brooklynn's collection.

 

[RinkyTinkyTinky]

That's great that they slept for so much of the drive. You are right.... sleeping children in the car is a wonderful thing.

Don't you love seeing that Florida sign!

Earl of Sandwich looks great. I will be eating there next time! Just can't beat a good sandwich sometimes.

 

[MeMom]

Continued:

At the appointed time, 8:00, we went back to the games tree. Jill saw our Dis friends from afar, and I went over and spoke to Baylor first. Then they all joined us over at the tree and we talked as we listened to the music.

Brooklynn calls wigd Miss Anitawigd, a combination she came up with when Jill was trying to explain who her goody box came from earlier.

Here is Miss Anitawigd and her cuddle bunny, Bella, who was quite happy being held, being out of the car seat, and (I just know it) being in Disney World again!

You can see Shocker in the background, but I didn't get Baylor's face. Sorry about that, man!

Brooklynn and Baylor enjoyed dancing in the streets to the Christmas music.

Here is some of Brooklynn's dancing. She is holding a lightup toy that Baylor gave her. He became her friend forever, of course.



Notice she tossed her shoe right there at the end.

This was their last night, so they offered us all of their leftover water, drinks, food, etc. We were certainly happy to have that! The plan was that we would get the car and drive over to Saratoga Springs to meet them.

Should have been simple enough, huh?

You'd think, but give it another 'think'!

 

[manntra]

Great trip down! I used to love stopping for orange juice when I was little and we stopped at the welcome center. That was a looooong time ago though...
Love all of your shopping pictures...Basin and their soaps and good smells. Just like the sign sells the soap smells sooooo good...I know it does because I have some here. I know what you mean about even walking around DTD...it thrills me too!

Tracy

 

[punkin413]

such cute pics of your travel day! brooklynn moving her 194 dolls into the living room is too funny. isn't it SO NICE to get into florida???

 

[hlrababy]

Aww yay for the update!!!! I love the picture of Bella standing up in her carseat at the Florida Welcome center. That sweet toothy grin is just adorable. But, is it just me or does it look like you guys parked by the Mystery Machine????

 

[BrooklynnsMommy]

As MeMom said getting the stuff from Wigd and Shocker should have been easy. Take into consideration the facts:

1. We had driven to Downtown Disney in the rental van, therefore we had the room to put whatever they had without having to worry about the logistics of getting it on a bus.

2. They were staying at Saratoga Springs which is just a short walk from Downtown. Therefore an easy drive.

3. We knew that they were staying in the Congress Park section, so we knew where to find them.

These things you must remember or nothing that follows will seem as ridiculous as it actually was!

We parted ways at the tree and they walked back to the resort and we headed to the van. We drove over to the Saratoga Springs entrance and pulled up to the guard hut. Now I had my drivers license already pulled out because I know how this works.

Guard: "Welcome Home. Can I see your resort key card or a picture id?"

Me: "Why of course you can. Here you go. We are going to pick some stuff up from friends who are staying in Congress Park. Could you tell me exactly how to get there?"

Guard: "Of course I can. Just go straight through here and on your right will be the Congress Park bus stop. You can't miss it."

Me: "Thank you so much."

Guard: "You're welcome. Have a magical evening!"

That however is about as far from how it happened as you can possibly get. You see when we pulled up to the guard hut out stepped Barnetta Fife. That van with a mom, dad, two sweet girls, and a MeMom in the back just looked a little too suspicious.

Barnetta: "Welcome Home!"

Me: "Hi. We are going to pick some stuff up from friends who are staying in Congress Park. Could you tell me exactly how to get there?"

This is where we started to go south.

Barnetta: "What room are they in?"

Me: "I'm not sure. We just left them Downtown and we are supposed to meet them at the Congress Park bus stop."

Barnetta: "What are their names?"

Me: "Wigd and Shocker."

Barnetta: "Can you call them and find out what room they're in?"

Me: "I guess so." "Mom, do you have Wigd's number?"

MeMom: "I don't know. I mean I do I jsut don't know if it is with me." She starts digging through her purse for her address book and then starts looking through it.

Me (back to Barnetta): "We just left them at Downtown Disney and they are just meeting us at the bus stop. I have my license right here."

Barnetta: "Does she have a cell phone she can call them on?"

Me: "She is looking for the number."

MeMom gets in touch with Wigd and tells her about our dilemma. We get the room number. Problem solved. NOT!!!!!!

Me: "They are in room 3240."

Barnetta goes into the guard hut and then comes back out.

Barnetta: "Did she change rooms?"

Me: "They switched over here from Kidani."

Barnetta: "Do you have another name that the reservation could be under?"

SERIOUSLY!!!!

Me: "The only names it would be under are Wigd and Shocker."

She goes back into the guard hut and then comes back out.

Barnetta: "Okay. Go ahead."

John pulls on through quickly before she changes her mind and wants social security numbers and original copies of birth certificates. Then asks the question "Which way?"

Barnetta did not give us directions. She interrogated us like we were trying to rob the place and then didn't even direct us where to go. Luckily we were right in front of the Congress Park bus stop and so we parked and met up with Wigd and Shocker.

Lesson to take from all of this - If you are going to rob the place just ride a Disney bus to get there!