~Snowbird Chat 2~

[jenjolt]

Thanks guys for all your warm wishes and prayers! They are very much appreciated!!!!!

We did get some good news last night that they are putting off letting us know about our positions until the end of March...while that makes the waiting game a little longer. The more information and more time they have to really look at next year's budget means I'm less likely to lose my job and that is good news!! Our Board of Trustees also made some good decisions to help our budget with our district's rainy day fund and our state legistlature is moving to pass a bill to access some money from our rainy day fund to help with the budget deficit. So all in all I'm feeling a bit better and the good news is I can enjoy Spring Break. Although I have to be honest I am fixing up my resume and getting things together to apply at other jobs if necessary.

OOOH Sheree!! Your trip is getting so close!! You must be getting so antsy and excited to share the news with the girls!!! I love suprise trips!!!

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

Haven't been to the Bahamas at all, but my parents and sister have visisted the Caribbean....Aruba, St. Maartan, Dominican Republic....and they loved it! I can look into some properties if you want (yes, I can do other things besides book Disney trips).

yeah,..if you can find out anything I would greatly appreciate it!! I don't even know which islands we should look into staying on...was thinking the big island or nassau....Sherree...I had heard that before and was kinda leary of being mugged or stolen from or whatever ....we are still discussing it, my older kid HATES the entire beach, open water thing..but I am thinking he hasn't seen beaches like this or any of these kind of experiences so he may end up lovin' it.
Jen...hope you get good news, but I would be working on my resume also!
Sarah..hope you are recovered!!!!

On a totally other topic...guess what we did this morning? Mike is in our local rotary, they meet every Thurs morning for breakfast--lately they have been using the meeting area in our new firestation. Todays speaker is a member of the ambulance/rescue business...so he invited the chopper and crew for emergency rescue. So....we all got to fly in the chopper this morning. They weren't gonna let the kids..it had been announced by the director 18 & older,,,but they ended up letting us all up. Mike took Gracie, Saylor & Kipper, then they picked up me and my friend Tiffany. It was tooooootally amazing!!! none of us have ever been in a chopper before, so it was thrilling...and he really catered to the kids and visited and explained things to them. Saylor is really wanting to go into the Army and end up in the Rangers or go Airborne--one of our best friends is an Ex-Army Ranger....he was touring in the Gulf war and later....so he has lots of stories to tell and Saylor is fascinated. So today was good for him--the pilot is ex-military. Actually all 4 pilots they rotate are military, and the new guy just got out 2 weeks ago!!! I got some pics and will try to post them later....we now have to calm down and try to focus on school. Don't really see that happening for a while! LOL.. we have ballet in about an hour--hopefully she can focus!
so...if you ever get a chance to fly in a helicopter jump on it!!!

 

[crzyred]

Shawna - HOW COOL!!! The kids must have just loved that!

xxxxx
Did my taxes this morning....yay that's over. I need to work-out, shower and do reviews for work. Reviews are supposed to be done while I'm gone, so my boss was able to convince our District Manager that should do them before I go (the DM told me that I can just do them while I'm on the plane and email when I get to the hotel....I challenged him with paying for my flights then because it would be business related....). So I got the paperwork Tuesday and was told to have it in by Saturday, Ok fine, whatever, at least it's not during my trip. Then I get handed a STACK of papers.....I have 12 reviews to do.....GRRRRR. I'm assuming it would be wrong to just write "Good/Bad/Needs to leave"....

12 days til Florida....12 days....


Have a great day everyone!

 

[Northern Disney Girl]

Kim, your three-day drive sounds like it will be a great adventure! Willl you plan to stop at any "interesting sights" along the way ("South of the Border" doesn't count! ), or will you keep moving as much as possible? Please, please, please do a trip report with Ken's comments again!

Oh you know it girl!!! Ken is already thinking about that!!! He really loved doing that TR! It was sooo much fun for him! He loves that all you ladies think he is soo funny! I will keeping a VERY detailed travel journal for this trip and we will start to retell our adventure probably just we get the girls settled into school in September!!

Ken has already said that he wants the first day to be super long - like 14- 15 hrs of driving!! He has done the drive to Chicago numerous times and wants to get past that point so we can take our time on the second and third days and see stuff that we haven't seen yet! We plan to doddle a bit through the more southern states and we are even considering a quick trip to NOLA on our return trip! Ever since our stay at POFQ last winter the girl have been curious to see the reall New Orleans!!! I confess I have always wanted to see it as well!

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

Shelly...I don't know, I think the Good/Bad/Needs to Leave pretty much says it all-I would be tempted to keep it brief! for the readers benefit anyway!! LOL...yeah...they are still talking about it...it was fantastic! I know you can't wait for your trip!
Sheree..are you packing yet?!!!
kim~ I think the idea of the first day being the longest is your best bet...get more out of the way when the kids are all excited, then you wont be tired when you get to Disney. I agree about Atlanta--it's crazy from what I hear, so assuming is a Sunday afternoon I bet you will just sail right through it!!
And yes, we love Kens trip reporting!!!!

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Uh, packing? Not exactly. I have few things put in a box (the FE stuff for the cruise).
I plan to work on it tonight a little and tomorrow night for sure. I have been revising my list!! Does that count?

It's different this time because of the surprise factor. The Disney stuff I have to sneak in, so I didn't want it laying around. Plus, I had my house cleaner coming today, so I wanted to wait before I put suitcases out on the floor.

 

[Dancegrl624]

yeah,..if you can find out anything I would greatly appreciate it!! I don't even know which islands we should look into staying on...was thinking the big island or nassau....Sherree...I had heard that before and was kinda leary of being mugged or stolen from or whatever ....we are still discussing it, my older kid HATES the entire beach, open water thing..but I am thinking he hasn't seen beaches like this or any of these kind of experiences so he may end up lovin' it.
Jen...hope you get good news, but I would be working on my resume also!
Sarah..hope you are recovered!!!!

On a totally other topic...guess what we did this morning? Mike is in our local rotary, they meet every Thurs morning for breakfast--lately they have been using the meeting area in our new firestation. Todays speaker is a member of the ambulance/rescue business...so he invited the chopper and crew for emergency rescue. So....we all got to fly in the chopper this morning. They weren't gonna let the kids..it had been announced by the director 18 & older,,,but they ended up letting us all up. Mike took Gracie, Saylor & Kipper, then they picked up me and my friend Tiffany. It was tooooootally amazing!!! none of us have ever been in a chopper before, so it was thrilling...and he really catered to the kids and visited and explained things to them. Saylor is really wanting to go into the Army and end up in the Rangers or go Airborne--one of our best friends is an Ex-Army Ranger....he was touring in the Gulf war and later....so he has lots of stories to tell and Saylor is fascinated. So today was good for him--the pilot is ex-military. Actually all 4 pilots they rotate are military, and the new guy just got out 2 weeks ago!!! I got some pics and will try to post them later....we now have to calm down and try to focus on school. Don't really see that happening for a while! LOL.. we have ballet in about an hour--hopefully she can focus!
so...if you ever get a chance to fly in a helicopter jump on it!!!

I will definately look into it for you. I priced out a stay at Atlantis for my FIL awhile back, so I know for sure I can book that. There are tons of other resorts as well.

How cool that you got to ride in a helicopter!!! I'm such a wuss and I don't think I'd be able to do it.

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

Uh, packing? Not exactly. I have few things put in a box (the FE stuff for the cruise).
I plan to work on it tonight a little and tomorrow night for sure. I have been revising my list!! Does that count?

It's different this time because of the surprise factor. The Disney stuff I have to sneak in, so I didn't want it laying around. Plus, I had my house cleaner coming today, so I wanted to wait before I put suitcases out on the floor.

of course it counts!!! LOL...I keep forgetting the surprise thing!! Of course you can't pack yet!!! And I loooove to know my house is all clean before we leave I have a better time that way!

I will definately look into it for you. I priced out a stay at Atlantis for my FIL awhile back, so I know for sure I can book that. There are tons of other resorts as well.

How cool that you got to ride in a helicopter!!! I'm such a wuss and I don't think I'd be able to do it.

I have heard that prices for Atlantis is crazy expensive! Is that true? of course, compared to Disney I think everything is a rip-off ...more power to Disney for having us totally hooked!!!!

 

[Monny2AE]

Kim...4 is so much fun!!! How was she at 2? my kids skipped the terrible twos(praise the Lord!!!) but, at 4 they realized they had a bit of an option on minding me. Mind and we are good...don't and you will have consequences! they were not bad--it's just that around that age they start to process the 'choice' factor....which was sad for me,because it's a sign they are not little babys anymore ...But it'll be good...and she is so stinkin' cute, how could she act ugly?!!!
Jen..I am soo sorry and will be praying for you!! My friend just told me about this Sat --she's probably gonna get the cut too...WOW! I could sooooo find other areas to cut $$ from before I took it from teachers!!!Schools are messed up enough right now without taking more money from our teaching depts!!!
Kimmy~ I would NEVER drive that far to Disney!!!! But that's just me....now,...for just a cross country road trip....possibly,,,in a fully contained RV perhaps!! LOL....I have some really bad childhood memories of driving from here to Disney (and other vacations) as a kid and I just couldn't do it. No kidding...it was really bad... I could write a book.....so...it's not my thing of choice. Now...if your kids do okay in a car (which, didn't y'all go across Canada last year?) and you think that your family would like it, I say go for it!!! And remember to stop and take pictures at each state line!!! Hopefully it'll be the best memories you ever made!!!
Shelly...yep, we are gonna go in Nov again...we just fell in love with that! Talked to Mike Sat about skipping the DDP, we think we are gonna try that this time-just need to sit down and run some #s..but I think it'll work out better not doing it.And of course, with the GCs it'll still be pre-paid--except tips. I am still trying to sell him on doing Club Level at the CR tho'...he didn't really light up at that idea. I thought it was BRILLIANT,....of course!!!! We have plenty of time to decide though...and when the 40% off deluxe or free dining option comes out (if it does!!) we always pick 40%, so that will dull the pain a bit.
Totally here, but have any of y'all vacationed in the Bahamas? We are considering a trip there before the end of the school year ..also we would beat the start of hurricane season! We wanted to fly down and spend a few days....rather not cruise....we wanted our days to be there, not onboard. Of course, it may work out that way- at this point we are still tossing it around...just curious if anyones been what your opinions are.....

Em wasn't bad at 2. It's just been the past few months that she's started getting really whiney and testing the limits so I think 4 is going to be my tough year with her.

Thanks for all the well wishes and advice everyone!!! I think our trip will be fabulous!!! We are going to start out with one loooong day - probably do at least 13-14 hrs and then the next day will be only around 10 and the last day will be super short, only about 4-5.

The only thing I am nervous about is driving Atlanta!!! I have read so many horror stories about that city! We will be passing through most likely on a Sunday early evening so I hope that time won't be so bad!

We will have to but a new DVD player cause ours bit the dust last summer - it was well used! I think we will invest in a double console system! One for each kids with the ability for them to each watch their own show! That plus their mp3 players, books, car games and a few stops along the way should keep the "are we there yet's" to a minimum!! They are both really good at just looking out the window for a while too!!!

Oh, I booked the Pirates and Pals Fireworks Voyage for Nats birthday this morning!!!

What are you packing to keep Ken's "are we there yet's" to a minimum?

Hi ladies! I've been totally MIA!

Last Thursday:
-Woke up with a sore back
-Came to work. Where they were painting. Indoors. in a poorly ventilated building. Promptly got a migraine, stomach ache, and asthma attack. Went home until Tuesday

Friday-Monday: still sore back.

Tuesday:
-finally went to see a chiropractor. Ow.
-got an email from Disney, advertising FREE quick-service dining for the dates including our July trip!

Wednesday: woke up to find out our TA had been able to save us $420 with that new discount!

oh yeah! Happy Wednesday!!

Woo Hoo for Free Dining!! I'm waiting very impatiently to find out if free dining will be available for the fall.

Don't give up on the chiro. I was sore for the first few times too but in the long run it is well worth it. I haven't been in a while (insurance doesn't cover it anymore ) but I may have to start back up again.

I will be on my way to WDW in ONE WEEK!!!! Yikes! So much to do!!

Shelly - I'd be thrilled if class sizes were 25. My 4th grader has 36 and my 2nd grader has 28 in her class. It's getting ridiculous.

Sarah - glad that the TA got you a good deal!!! Hope the back feels better too!

Kim - Atlanta at that time shouldn't be bad. The nice thing is the highway is so big - there's like 6 lanes each way! We've gone through during rush hour and it was BAAAAD, but on the weekend not so bad at all.

One week!!!!! So exciting!!!!!

yeah,..if you can find out anything I would greatly appreciate it!! I don't even know which islands we should look into staying on...was thinking the big island or nassau....Sherree...I had heard that before and was kinda leary of being mugged or stolen from or whatever ....we are still discussing it, my older kid HATES the entire beach, open water thing..but I am thinking he hasn't seen beaches like this or any of these kind of experiences so he may end up lovin' it.
Jen...hope you get good news, but I would be working on my resume also!
Sarah..hope you are recovered!!!!

On a totally other topic...guess what we did this morning? Mike is in our local rotary, they meet every Thurs morning for breakfast--lately they have been using the meeting area in our new firestation. Todays speaker is a member of the ambulance/rescue business...so he invited the chopper and crew for emergency rescue. So....we all got to fly in the chopper this morning. They weren't gonna let the kids..it had been announced by the director 18 & older,,,but they ended up letting us all up. Mike took Gracie, Saylor & Kipper, then they picked up me and my friend Tiffany. It was tooooootally amazing!!! none of us have ever been in a chopper before, so it was thrilling...and he really catered to the kids and visited and explained things to them. Saylor is really wanting to go into the Army and end up in the Rangers or go Airborne--one of our best friends is an Ex-Army Ranger....he was touring in the Gulf war and later....so he has lots of stories to tell and Saylor is fascinated. So today was good for him--the pilot is ex-military. Actually all 4 pilots they rotate are military, and the new guy just got out 2 weeks ago!!! I got some pics and will try to post them later....we now have to calm down and try to focus on school. Don't really see that happening for a while! LOL.. we have ballet in about an hour--hopefully she can focus!
so...if you ever get a chance to fly in a helicopter jump on it!!!

How cool you got to fly in a hippercopper. That's what Andrew used to call them so that's what we call them round these parts.

Shawna - HOW COOL!!! The kids must have just loved that!

xxxxx
Did my taxes this morning....yay that's over. I need to work-out, shower and do reviews for work. Reviews are supposed to be done while I'm gone, so my boss was able to convince our District Manager that should do them before I go (the DM told me that I can just do them while I'm on the plane and email when I get to the hotel....I challenged him with paying for my flights then because it would be business related....). So I got the paperwork Tuesday and was told to have it in by Saturday, Ok fine, whatever, at least it's not during my trip. Then I get handed a STACK of papers.....I have 12 reviews to do.....GRRRRR. I'm assuming it would be wrong to just write "Good/Bad/Needs to leave"....

12 days til Florida....12 days....


Have a great day everyone!

I see nothing wrong with good/bad/needs to leave. Sometimes it's better to Keep it simple.

 

[Monny2AE]

Jason will hopefully have a start date for his new job by the end of next week. He turned everything in and they told him it takes about a week to process everything. It's been a looooong month at our house and stressful for Jason keeping things quiet at his current work. He feels a little dishonest that he hasn't told him yet but needs to make sure everything goes smoothly before giving notice.

I'm toying around with our October trip and trying to figure out a way to bump it to November so we can see Disney at Christmas. We won't have Andrew's school schedule until next month though.

 

[Northern Disney Girl]

What are you packing to keep Ken's "are we there yet's" to a minimum?

Well, he will be doing the Lion's share of the driving but he has been promised the single malt scotch flight at Rose and Crown so he hopefully won't complain too much!!!

 

[Dancegrl624]

I have heard that prices for Atlantis is crazy expensive! Is that true? of course, compared to Disney I think everything is a rip-off ...more power to Disney for having us totally hooked!!!!

It is pretty pricey, but when I quote prices it includes airfare too. If you want to send me a PM with some dates you're thinking about, what airport to fly out of, etc I can put something together for you!

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

I love our chiropractor!! I started going last May when my neck had reaaally been bothering me for about a month or longer...my dr (of course) prescribed a ton of stuff including pain pills, muscle relaxers...i was knocked out but still in pain after one entire round...so after the first visit to the chiro I was a million times better. My x-rays looked awful! He thought I would be very sore, but I wasnt....that's how bad I had been hurting! I have only been a little sore one time...and I think that was after my adjustment after Disney. Carrying gracie around Epcot with bags and a backpack just wasnt the best thing for my neck! LOL
Meghan, I will PM you! thanks!!

 

[Monny2AE]

Well, he will be doing the Lion's share of the driving but he has been promised the single malt scotch flight at Rose and Crown so he hopefully won't complain too much!!!

Hopefully the road trip goes smoothly or Rose and Crown will become the first stop on your itinerary? Maybe you should print out a pic of it and stick it to the front of the hood facing the windshield so it will be like leading a horse with an apple. Might get him to drive a little faster.

 

[Monny2AE]

I love our chiropractor!! I started going last May when my neck had reaaally been bothering me for about a month or longer...my dr (of course) prescribed a ton of stuff including pain pills, muscle relaxers...i was knocked out but still in pain after one entire round...so after the first visit to the chiro I was a million times better. My x-rays looked awful! He thought I would be very sore, but I wasnt....that's how bad I had been hurting! I have only been a little sore one time...and I think that was after my adjustment after Disney. Carrying gracie around Epcot with bags and a backpack just wasnt the best thing for my neck! LOL
Meghan, I will PM you! thanks!!

I'm really hoping that the insurance we get for Jason's new job will include chiropractor coverage again. I really miss it. Lifting little ones on a daily basis takes it's toll on my lower back and neck. If not we may have to work it back into the budget. It's technically business related so it might even be a tax write off

 

[Monny2AE]

Multi quote isn't working for me for some reason today?

I'm so happy it's Friday!!!! I have 6 out of 7 kiddos snoozing and am giving the stare down to the last little hold out. Then I have a date with a cup of tea and a basket of laundry that needs to be folded.

What's everyone's big plans for the weekend?

The kids and I are having breakfast at Panera Bread (cinnamon buns!) with some friends then heading to the mall for a special Dr. Seuss celebration. Jason has to work- it's his LAST Saturday to work! He won't have to work Saturdays at the new job!

 

[Monny2AE]

Well since no one else is here I'll just keep talking to myself

Here's some pics from Em's birthday last weekend at Adventure Aquarium. We had a blast! If you're ever near Camden, NJ I highly recommend this place- it was so interactive!

The seahorses were fascinating!

Nemo where are you?????

Found him! Disney is never far from us. All we talked about all day were the characters from Nemo.

Touching jellyfish- remember to only bounce on the tops.

This sign was under a tree that had lots of birds perched on it and it made me giggle. An older gentleman kept trying to get his grandkids to stand under the birds and it was hilarous.

Of all the creatures in the aquarium Em was terrified of the jelly fish. She wouldn't even go near their tank.

This guy looked like he would be great sitting next to a little dish of melted butter.

We got to touch some sharks. They felt different than what I expected. I thought they would be smoother and slick but they were more leathery. Andrew wouldn't touch them. He said he wasn't afraid but that the water was too cold.

I tried feeding them to the sharks.

Penguins (like the ones in Mary Poppins according to Andrew )

They had lots of places to stick your head out of

Me and my babies

Came home and had a little ice cream cake! My baby is 4!!!

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Hey Kim- cute pictures from the aquarium. It reminds me of Underwater Adventures at the Mall of America.

I have lots of plans for the weekend! Packing, packing, shopping, packing, um let's see, maybe some packing!!! And worrying! This upcoming storm for Tuesday has me wondering when we should leave!!! It's going to get interesting. Pray that it doesn't hit where and when they think as of today. I need it to wait until Tuesday night and to go NORTH!!!

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

Kim...love all the bday pics and disney references...you have smaaaaart kiddos!! LOL
Sheree... i say throw all those clothes in some luggage and take off Monday!!! Pack it neater a little farther down the road Just get out of town!! Keep us posted!

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

Let's talk about spring break...I was gonna take this week off for our break after our 3rd quarter of school...but we didn't. good thing or we would have missed the helicopter ride!!! So...we are gonna take a trip in April or May instead of the end of Feb. Our local schools are all out next week and I didn't want to be out when they all were.....so....we will finish school in April as planned!!!
Just wondered what your schedules were! Well...have a great weekend!