Spinal Dalmatians, Eliminations, and The Merry Go Round of Life...June 2011 New 2/19

[Kat in GA]

All caught up and finally joining in!

My girls went WILD trying on hats in mousegears. They must have tried them all on. And then made my husband try on the girliest ones they could find I so need to get my act together with a TR and back to my PTR!!

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

I agree with Ethan - Living with the Land is an awesome ride! I know it's not thrilling, but I think it is so interesting and informative. I could ride it over and over again, too!

We love trying on all of the various hats, too! It's a good way to waste some time in the A/C!

 

[teachermommy78]

Ethan is so cute about how excited he got on The Land ride I wish I could have been there to hear his excitement. What adorable kids you have!

We only ate once at Sunshine Seasons and I barely remember it. I can just envision you standing there with 3 little ones hanging onto you while you are balancing a tray (I raised 5 kids) and have so much sympathy for you but you are a real trooper! It seems your family always finds the best in every situation

Sometimes I don't feel like we do a great job in finding the best in situations! But we try, and that's what counts!!!

Love the report! I was a bit behind - caught up now - but I have to tell you how excited I got for your family when I saw your pics of Disney World and the first night venture into DTD.

Can't wait to read more!!

Thanks! I am moving so slowly in this report. I took lots of pictures, so each day is dragging! But that means that it's just easier to NOT get too far behind!

The situation with the dooney's is funny. At some stores they are under lock and key like World of Disney and you can't see them unless a CM gets it for you. At other stores they are just set out on a table and you can pick them up and exam them without a CM hovering around you like at the Deluxe resorts or even the store on Main St.

I completely understand why they would want to guard them! I ended up getting mine the other day in the mail!!! Disneystore.com had a 20% off sale and I got the large sketch. The stitching was ripped at the top, though! I am waiting for a return label so I can get a new one. Its a bummer, though, because my placement was AWESOME!

Sounds like a great deal on the pin lanyard! Those locking pin backs are a good idea. I should have bought some of those about 8 lost pins ago.

Love the picture of Ethan with the Goofy hat. Too bad he didn't like it, but R2D2 ears sound fun.

I still had a lost pin with the locked backing! I think I did it incorrectly, though. The patient accountant husband did the rest because the impatient teacher wife likes to rush a bit.

All caught up and finally joining in!

My girls went WILD trying on hats in mousegears. They must have tried them all on. And then made my husband try on the girliest ones they could find I so need to get my act together with a TR and back to my PTR!!

It is really fun in there! Great selection!!!

I agree with Ethan - Living with the Land is an awesome ride! I know it's not thrilling, but I think it is so interesting and informative. I could ride it over and over again, too!

We love trying on all of the various hats, too! It's a good way to waste some time in the A/C!

I think it was fun, too! A bit long, but fun. Someone said going on at night is a completely different experience. I think I'll try that next time.

 

[teachermommy78]

Sorry for the delay in updates! Sophie's bday was on the 30th and Ethan's was on 31st. And we had a bday party for both. Yesterday we dropped Sophie off at camp until Wednesday I miss her. TODAY I have a job interview for a teaching position! I am currently employed but am pretty miserable at my school. Hoping for the best!!!

Where we left off...we were heading to dinner! Scott had to run to the car to get a crucial piece to our dinner shenanigans, so we all decided to slowly meander through the park while we waited for him. We discovered some lovely topiaries left up from Flower and Garden due to the Cars 2 movie opening (which I believe was that week).

After that, Sophie saw the queue for Duffy the Bear was very short, so we decided to go ahead and get in the line. Sophie really thought Duffy was cute and wanted to spend some time in the Duffy shop. Being that it was our first real day in the parks and she only had about $30 left to spend for 9 days, I encouraged her to wait until another time. She agreed. My mother in law was a bit border happy and added borders to EVERY photopass picture! Too funny!

Scott joined up with us and Sophie and I went to the bathroom so I could change her into a princess! We were going to Akershus, of course!!! The wait was INSANE. I think we stood for 45 minutes in extremely cramped and hot crowds. It was pouring rain outside so we were like sardines. UGH. We were right at the end of the list, almost the last to be seated. Finn was continuing to act VERY out of sorts. Very wild and whiny. So unlike him. Someone held him the entire time. We just kept taking turns. But then whenever we would hold him, he would start grabbing our faces and hair, and kicking (just playing, etc). That was annoying. No one could stand it for more than a few minutes at a time.

We were SO GRATEFUL when our name came up!!! We got in line for our free pictures. Since we had 7 people, we got 2 free sets! We also had them added to photopass later.

Sophie's dress was from when she did Bibbiti Bobbiti Boutique when she was 4. We got her a size 6 dress then, and it was big. Now she's 7 (and in a 10 because she's so tall!). The dress was pushing it, but she still looked cute and was glad she brought it.

Once seated, we ordered drinks immediately and went to the buffet. The kids loved the fruit, salami, and cheese. The rest of us got a bit of almost everything. We all really enjoyed it! We ordered our entrees. All of the adults except Scott got the meatballs. He was a bit more adventurous and got something else. Can't remember what! It was meat, though. I am Swedish and took Swedish language in college (that got me far in life, let me tell you! ). I love all things Scandinavian, so this was right up my alley. Finn's shirt says, "Mini Viking!"

The food was DELICIOUS!!! Scott said he wished he got the meatballs. I must say, this is the best deal in the park. Princesses with free photos, a buffet, drinks and entree, for 1 TS credit. AWESOME!

Princess Interaction the next post!

 

[teachermommy78]

The princesses here were phenomenal. They were so sweet and took their time.

First, they had the princess parade! Aurora came right to our table and grabbed Sophie first!

Then when they returned, our table was first!

(The only one Ethan agreed to! )

Finn got special attention from Ariel!

Up next... we are going on a dark, dark journey!

 

[ZFamily5]

Happy belated birthday to Sophie and Ethan!! What kind of camp is Sophie at? She is so cute in her Belle dress!! And Finn is too cute with the kiss mark on his cheek! I'm sensing a bit of foreshadowing with Finn's behavior though...

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

I love it when the Princesses kiss the boys and leave the big mark behind.

 

[jeremysdisneymom]

Getting all caught up! Sophie is just adorable in her Belle dress. She looks like she is having so much fun! Askerhaus looks like a neat place to eat.

 

[teachermommy78]

Happy belated birthday to Sophie and Ethan!! What kind of camp is Sophie at? She is so cute in her Belle dress!! And Finn is too cute with the kiss mark on his cheek! I'm sensing a bit of foreshadowing with Finn's behavior though...

Thank you!!! Yes, Finn's behavior was definitely off!!!

I love it when the Princesses kiss the boys and leave the big mark behind.

I love it too! Unfortunately he wanted it OFF ASAP!!!

 

[teachermommy78]

Happy belated birthday to Sophie and Ethan!! What kind of camp is Sophie at? She is so cute in her Belle dress!! And Finn is too cute with the kiss mark on his cheek! I'm sensing a bit of foreshadowing with Finn's behavior though...

Missed a question! Sophie is at a bible camp in Lake Geneva!

Getting all caught up! Sophie is just adorable in her Belle dress. She looks like she is having so much fun! Askerhaus looks like a neat place to eat.

I missed this! I think we were posting at the same time. Thank you! Akerhus was a great experience.

 

[ZFamily5]

Missed a question! Sophie is at a bible camp in Lake Geneva!

Sounds like fun! You'll have to let us know how she liked it!

 

[teachermommy78]

Sounds like fun! You'll have to let us know how she liked it!

Well, I think she's having the time of her life! The camp does daily updates in a Facebook group, a blog, and via text message. So far I've seen her on a banana tube being pulled by a speedboat, with yogurt all over her face from a game, singing, dancing, and swimming. Last night's text said that her group was covered in shaving cream! All the pictures feature HUGE smiles and hugs with her counselor (who happens to go to our church). Frankly, I'm jealous!

 

[teachermommy78]

Norwegian Dinner complete, where else is there to go but...

"THE SPIRIT OF NOR-VAY" ride! This is better known as "Maelstrom" to those not in my family. The standby time was 10 minutes, so we jumped in line!

It was a bit scary for all three kids, but they quickly began to love it! We hammed it up on the drop and the kids thought it was funny. Here is Sophie afterwards.

Does anyone EVER stay for the show? A few times (yes, we rode this many times!) the light started blinking. I figured it meant that the show would be starting soon. We ran through the theater!

And everyone has one of these in their albums, I'm sure (well, not of my kids, of course).

Here's where Stacey messed up. It's not my fault. When I was uploading to photobucket, the pictures got completely out of order and spread between three pages. Therefore as I'm updating, I need to go through each picture to make sure I got the right order. Apparently, I didn't get the right order. This next set of events took place BEFORE dinner. It really doesn't matter, and I probably could have just pretended that it happened after dinner, but that probably would have caused me some stress, so I had to insert this blurb!

AFTER Test Track but BEFORE Mousegears for hats, we went to Mission Space. Uncle Ron didn't want to ride so he headed off to find grandma and Aunt Judy.

We all decided to go on the green side. The stories I heard about orange scared us all a bit. I figured I would try out green first. Plus, Ethan has a heart defect. We consulted with his cardiologist prior to the trip and he assured us that his particular defect would not cause a problem with any thrill rides. In fact, he said he would even say sky diving or bungee jumping would be just fine someday. Still, I really didn't want to do orange until I checked out green! Ethan and I went in one row, and Sophie, Scott, and grandpa got another row. E and I were with a mom and her teenage son. I TOTALLY did NOT follow directions (I think I was really nervous, actually) and had no clue where the flight attendant lady told us to stand to wait once we were let into the doors. So the four of us wandered a bit before someone directed us back (I didn't even know our number). Then the people before us were delayed in leaving their simulator which confused me even more because I thought we were STILL in the wrong place. I joked with the mom about being a teacher and following directions. Anyway, the kids LOVED the ride. Ethan thought it was awesome.

Now this is AFTER Mousegears where we bought hats, but BEFORE dinner at Akershus.

Splashpad fun!

Then it was off to Spaceship Earth! I rode with Finn, Scott with Ethan, Grandma with Sophie, and Grandpa by himself. Sophie was a bit nervous about this ride being dark.

Scott: It can't be a scary ride if they don't even have seatbelts!

This sentence caused MAJOR problems for Sophie. Grandma started FREAKING out about looking for a seatbelt because she heard:

"Make sure you buckle your seatbelt!"

Both Sophie and Grandma are now frantically looking for seatbelts. And the both were bent over when the picture was taken. Poor Sophie. She was so upset! We assured her she would get another chance later in the week. But how boring must that end part have been without pictures to entertain you!

Finn and I

OK! Now we are back on track! We ate at Akershus, went on Maelstrom, yadda yadda yadda.

The drizzle was starting up again and it was about 8:30. We still hadn't checked into our room. We decided to skip Illuminations and head to our home for 10 days.

Next up check in, and the start of our second day!

 

[anjalee6]

Sophie looks adorable in her Belle dress. I always think it's funny to see the same person as a character in someone else's pictures. We had the same Aurora the night we went to Akershus for dinner. We are going back in September for a quick MNSSHP trip (we are surprising the kids) and I hope DD doesn't notice if the princesses are different.

I can't believe you were able to get do much done on your first full day.

How did your job interview go?

 

[teachermommy78]

Sophie looks adorable in her Belle dress. I always think it's funny to see the same person as a character in someone else's pictures. We had the same Aurora the night we went to Akershus for dinner. We are going back in September for a quick MNSSHP trip (we are surprising the kids) and I hope DD doesn't notice if the princesses are different.

I can't believe you were able to get do much done on your first full day.

How did your job interview go?

Thanks! I can't believe how short the dress is on her now! I'm very jealous of your fall trip!!! If only our drive wasn't so long! Looking back, I really can't believe how we toured. This is pretty much the same for each day. I'm very surprised the kids didn't fall over. I wonder if this puts us in the "commando" category. Next time we will have to slow down!

The interview went awesome. It was probably the best interview I've been on. I was confident and calm. I think I got the job IF a teacher from the Lutheran church isn't considered as well. It's a Lutheran school and I know they prefer teachers who are willing to join the congregation with their family. We aren't willing to leave our church, but I am willing to be involved with the school's church as much as possible. Who knows. Thanks for asking!

 

[shocky5]

for the job possibility! Glad you feel good about the interview!!

Great update and pictures! I loved your blurb about the pictures being out of order... I would have done the same!

 

[ZFamily5]

Great update! I'm so glad that Ethan's heart defect won't slow him down at all! This is really random (and I think I wrote this on my TR too) but we need to have a DIS meet sometime. We could get together at Oakbrook or the American Girl Store or something! Just a thought...

 

[Sooze]

Girl... I am right there with you on the Photobucket and the out-of-order pictures. I do it every time!!!

And teachers are the WORST at following directions!! We are also the WORST students. I'm sure you are put through professional development workshops and such... aren't we terrible during them?!

Great update! Loved the princess pics! I think we had many of the same ones at our Akershus breakfast!

 

[teachermommy78]

for the job possibility! Glad you feel good about the interview!!

Great update and pictures! I loved your blurb about the pictures being out of order... I would have done the same!

Thank you! I hope I get the job. Trying not to get my hopes up! Chances are slim, but it would be nice! And I'm glad I'm not the only nut who is anal about things like that!

Great update! I'm so glad that Ethan's heart defect won't slow him down at all! This is really random (and I think I wrote this on my TR too) but we need to have a DIS meet sometime. We could get together at Oakbrook or the American Girl Store or something! Just a thought...

Thank you! Yes, I'd love a Chicago meet up!!! That would be lots of fun. I think Thing 3 and Sophie would get along well!

Girl... I am right there with you on the Photobucket and the out-of-order pictures. I do it every time!!!

And teachers are the WORST at following directions!! We are also the WORST students. I'm sure you are put through professional development workshops and such... aren't we terrible during them?!

Great update! Loved the princess pics! I think we had many of the same ones at our Akershus breakfast!

I don't get why that happens with photbucket! I'm uploading a day of the trip at a time, so luckily it didn't happen to all 1000+ pictures. This next batch came out perfectly. And yes, you are right. Teachers are the worst at directions! And at eating. I was having a conversation with Scott about this today. He is always amazed at how fast I sometimes eat. It's not ALWAYS, but occasionally it's crazy. When you are used to eating lunch in 5.5 minutes because you have to go to the bathroom, eat, make copies, prepare for an art/science/food project, return 4 phone calls and emails all in a 20 minute period of time, eating fast becomes an art!

 

[teachermommy78]

Where I left off, we were leaving EPCOT and on our way to check into our hotel for a good night's rest. The plan was hitting rope drop the next day! Scott took care of our reservations. The ONE thing I asked him to request was that the building be near parking. He said he just wanted to leave it up to chance and that he was sure that wherever we landed would be just fine. WE arrived at POP Century. We were NOT close to parking! It wasn't terrible, but we had to go through the Lady and the Tramp sculpture section and the ground changes from nice smooth concrete to brick. When we are trying to roll strollers, suitcases, etc., it causes everything to get knocked around and fall everywhere. I do have to say, we did have a SUPER quiet location. We were right on the water and had a great view of the new resort construction. The quiet pool was right around the corner. Very serene. We got the kids in the room, and my plan was to get them settled. They were all REALLY sleepy. I got their PJs on and teeth brushed. They were pretty much out as their heads hit the pillows, and we moved Ethan to Scott's parents' connecting room. Scott and his dad continued to make trip after trip with the strollers to the car/room. I don't know why no one even thought to go get a cart from the lobby. We had SO MUCH STUFF. We even brought a mini fridge so we wouldn't have to pay $10 a day. I unpacked and got everything settled. I cannot relax until that is done. Around 11:00, Scott and his mom made a trip to Walmart with my list and got breakfast stuff and other odds and ends. I was glad I could just go to sleep.

My tub of baggies! I learned this from The Dis as well. I placed each kids' outfit into a baggie, down to undies. Then in the mornings, I just had to grab a baggie and not hassle with finding anything. It worked so well!

When we awoke, the kids were thrilled to find little boxes of cereal and yogurt. We also bought poptarts, which we NEVER have! Sophie was excited for those! The rule was if you eat a sugary cereal or poptart, you had to have fruit too. Our kids aren't big eaters to begin with so sometimes getting the healthy in is impossible if we allow ANY junk. It's a tricky balance. My goal was rope drop, and we were headed to Hollywood Studios! Again, I was dismayed to realize that we were not going to make it in time. And again, as we pulled into the park, it was about 15 minutes past rope drop. UGH.

I admit that I was annoyed, and really couldn't stand waiting around any longer, so as soon as we got there, I grabbed Ethan in the stroller and started walking. My inlaws would take the tram along with Sophie, and Scott and I would walk with the boys in their strollers. We did this 3 years ago, and it was SO MUCH EASIER than folding the strollers into the trams! I looked back after about 3 minutes. No one. After 5 minutes I start calling everyone on their cells. No one is answering. Trams are going by. Ethan and I turn to start walking back to see what is happening when Scott called. My MIL had tripped and fell. Her leg was bleeding, which can be serious. She gets blood clots in her legs and takes a blood thinner daily. This causes even slight cuts to bleed profusely. Luckily, they were able to wrap the wound and stop the bleeding. She was embarrassed and a bit upset that she was bleeding on her white pants. They got her on a tram, and Scott and I started walking toward the park.

Once inside, my FIL and MIL headed to first aid to get cleaned up. Scott booked it to Toy Story, and the kids and I were going to meet him in that general area at a slower pace. The kids and I met some PP Photographers. Sophie was the only one who wanted a picture.

Scott ended up being quicker than we thought! He reported that the standby time for Toy Story was already 60 minutes. This is when I realized that I'm probably not cut out for rope drop anyway. I think the mad rush would stress me out beyond belief. I like getting there super early, but after rope drop. This way I still get the FPs, but I don't need to worry about the cattle drive. PLUS, the park is still nice and empty with everyone trying to ride the big ticket rides standby. We found his parents somewhere along the way and decided on our first stop of the day!

Next up...Ethan's dream come true...STAR TOURS!