The ABC's of a BSN Celebration! Trip Wrap up; Final Thoughts (7/11)

[Steppesister]

How nice Mikki gets to join you!

I was thrilled!

 

[Steppesister]

Congrats on your BSN! I graduate in May and I'm planning my graduation trip for September, with my kids, but if they back out then I'll move it to August. My professor asked me the other week where I get my super power from, going to school and working 2 jobs (both at hospitals), I told her that it's called divorce. Sounds like you're going to have a fun trip.

, Jen!! How fun to haveyou join in! And May will be here before you know it, then it'll be NCLEX time. But, if you can get through school wiht 2 jobs you'll pass just fine. :yes:

I hope we'll all see you here often (as you can, but I know how school can suck the life out of you!) and join in the chatter! Lots of stories coming up!

 

[Steppesister]

Wonderful news! She sounds a lot like Michelle. We've added her a couple of times to trips and still waiting to see if she ends up joining us in May.

Looking forward to all the fun you'll be having.

Isn't it so super fun to have our adult kids join us. I absolutely LOVE spending time with them and in Disney is the best! I hope Michelle can join you and helps you plan. Your trips are always so much fun!!

 

[Steppesister]

Yaaay!!! How exciting that Mikki is going to join you for the trip!

Isn't it exciting!?! Now Mikki gets to spend an entire week with 3 "old-but-young-at-heart-farts" and see how Disney is really done! LOL!

 

[Steppesister]

This sounds like fun and definitely worth the trouble. Last minute trips are exciting. I decided to go with my sister just yesterday for a trip that starts on Friday. We'll be staying at Coronado Springs, a new resort for both of us

I super needed this vacation and to get to spend time with Mik and 2 amazing ladies will be just what the doctor ordered. :

But WAIT!!! You will be there too? Would you like to say hello at a quick DISMeet?! I'd love to put a face with a name! PM me your number and I'm sure we can make something happen. I"ve not ever stayed at CSR. I was supposed to last trip with Mom but was upgraded to GF which was so nice and unexpected!!

 

[Steppesister]

I love that......our adult children choosing to hang out with us is always a gift!

It truly is. I adore each of my kids- they are all so unique with such different personalities. But 1:1 time with them is just simply the best!

Now I am curious!

Well, it fell through. The day after Mikki told me she was going, she asked a friend and that friend was 90% sure she could go on short notice and get the time off. Sadly, she couldn't. I am actually fine though. It would have really changed the dynamic of our time together and I'm happy getting her more to myself than shared with another 20-something.

Glad you were safe.

So many wrecks. I even passed an SUV today on the way home that was flipped over. EMS had just gotten there. Dozens of cars were smashed on my road as I live at a higher elevation. Many just didn't make it home, so I'm SO glad I chose to bail and go straight to the hospital instead of trying to make it home. I don't sleep well there through and that made 3 nights in a row that I haven't slept worth a crap.

 

[Steppesister]

Our daughters must be cut from the same mold! Alyssa is also working on her TOEFL and plans to go to either Korea, Thailand, or Madrid, Spain. She was in Korea, Thailand, and Cambodia at this time last year and fell in love with Thailand. The people there are amazing!

Yes, they are!! So friendly and kind. I fell in love with Thailand and would go back in a heartbeat.

Nice of them!! They saw what Bo Peep did in the Haunted Mansion to @pkondz in 2019 and knew not to spark your ire!

Don't EVER mess with Bo Peep. She has a crook and ain't afraid to use it!!


Don't forget the Jamitors! I bet they could work wonders with a couple of metal bedpans, IV poles, suction canisters, and surgical forceps! All in honor of your BSN!

I actually did hear they are still there. And my kids ALWAYS have to stop and watch. Always.


Is she a distant relative of Go With the Flow Flo?



Why yes, yes, she is.


Don't touch that dial! (Do kids even know what a TV dial is these days?)

I highly doubt it. They probably always wonder what the "clicker" is too.


I would go for the hummus and chips. Just make sure the hummus is a single serving size less than 3 oz. My 8 ounce container which was suppose to feed three kids got confiscated in the bag check area! I never thought that Hummus was a "liquid".


Oh, good call!! And yes, that seems a little.... over-the-top. I will always wonder where common sense went in our culture. Poof!

Sounds like my kind of day! That was the only snack we bought outside of Epcot when we were there...besides frozen margaritas, of course.

I'm up for the challenge. AND best part? I have some ladies whom I"m sure will be glad to help me out with them, should I get bogged down.


Can't wait to read what happens next! Have a great time! Get lost in the Disney bubble and enjoy being away from reality!

I promise there will be loads of stories!!

 

[pkondz]

They saw what Bo Peep did in the Haunted Mansion to @pkondz in 2019 and knew not to spark your ire!

She will pitch in for the room, get her own ticket and her own food. She makes almost as much as I do, so time to adult up.

My youngest is making exactly zero dollars right now (due covid & school) while eldest is just finishing up her Ed degree and will be making real money soon.

The cruise company- Celebrity. I guess the ship we were booked on is still in US waters and the CDC, the agency in control of that sort of thing, won't allow them to depart to European territory. Whatever. I'll strike out on my own.

Oh, okay. Bummer.

It was a wild one!

I'll bet!

We were both a little tipsy/silly that night. When there's not much else to do in a hotel room during Covid, you drink cocktails and watch movies.



And take ridiculous selfies.

Wait... did I know this? I'm trying to think when you went on a trip last year with her and I'm drawing a blank.

Most of mine ask me, "What kind of really great drugs can you give me?"

Liesa's answer: "You're about to find out!"

We got a cold snap and snow, as you know, you know, and I did think about it a few times. I could wipe out today and my whole trip would be off.

Yikes! Don't do that! It wasn't a suggestion!

Last time, I had to wake her up to give her the keys and pee, and I felt badly. I don't want to impose, I guess. I have done it once before and I don't think she minds, but don't want to take advantage or wear out my welcome.

Ohhhhh. Okay, totally get it.

 

[Steppesister]

3 days!!!

 

[pkondz]

3 days!!!

Soon!

 

[Wood Nymph]

But WAIT!!! You will be there too? Would you like to say hello at a quick DISMeet?! I'd love to put a face with a name! PM me your number and I'm sure we can make something happen. I"ve not ever stayed at CSR. I was supposed to last trip with Mom but was upgraded to GF which was so nice and unexpected!!

There must be something special about Coronado Springs because we got a magical upgrade from Coronado Springs to Grand Floridian - just like you did. They first offered an upgrade to Saratoga Springs, which my sister declined. The next day they called back with an offer to switch to a garden view room at GF. We are thrilled.

I would love to meet you, too, but we arrive Friday night after 10pm and leave Sunday afternoon. I think the only way we could meet is if our flight home gets cancelled because of the big snowstorm that is supposed to start on Sunday night.

 

[jsgrant5]

Yes, anytime would be great to get together! Would love to! We could meet halfway in Corvalis and have coffee or lunch and talk about Disney or whatever strikes our fancy.

As soon as we can eat in restaurants again lets make a time to meet.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Yeah to your daugther coming with you! I hope my girls will still want to go to Disney with me!

 

[Steppesister]

DTD treated us well tonight.

 

[pkondz]

View attachment 554341
DTD treated us well tonight.

Beautiful shot!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

beautiful!

 

[tundra1]

So happy you made it safe and sound! What an elegant picture of DTD! The water is so calm! I hope your trip is amazing!

 

[Steppesister]

F is for FINALLY Off and Flying High!​

Here it is, the post you’ve all been hoping would come. And go. But, my Friends, it must be done. Because all good stories begin with a beginning. Unless it’s Groundhog Day and then you get more beginnings than you’d ever want. So, it’s a Beginning you shall have, but only one. And I can’t remember the last time I began a Disney Trip that I didn’t lose, forget, or break something along the way. Why would this trip be any different? I mean, I’m all about traditions! But that’s getting way ahead of myself so let’s take a look at why I was so antsy to find myself… well, anywhere else than home.

January 26th presented itself all wrapped up in white. That was a Wednesday, and I was scheduled to work at my other job, 30 miles away, on Thursday. While beautiful, and fairly rare for Western Oregon at lower elevations, we suck at driving in snow. No really. We suck. We don’t have the equipment to deal with it and we are ill-practiced at best. My shift was supposed to start at 6:30 AM and there was NO way I was going to drive in the icy darkness at 5:00 AM or earlier to get there in time. Beyond that, by Wednesday night there was already a multi-car pile up in my neighborhood and folks were having a rough time getting home. (I live 500 ft up a hill and that amount does make a world of difference.) So I made the executive decision to just head to the hospital and spend the night in one of the sleeper rooms there rather than risk a wreck. I did arrive safely, only to be told I’d been called off for my shift. Ah well, better safe than sorry- even if the normally 30-minute drive took me 90.

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That brought me to just Thursday and Friday. Thursday brought some horrible drama to work (can’t give details-it’s still ongoing) but I did get off much earlier than expected on Friday. Beyond that, it’d been far too long since a real vacation that wasn’t filled with papers and homework. I desperately needed rest and a change of routine as for months I’d been working almost 50 hours a week at 2 jobs and often taking weekend call shifts. I was just plain tired.

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I had planned to make the entire day on Saturday a “Pre-Trip Spa Day” but was able to shift some appointments around and take care of my nails, hair, and brows on Friday. Huzzah!!

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All that was left was my lashes (eye lashes, not the 50 lashes I probably deserve) appt at 9:00. That taken care off, I felt amply beautified, and came home to load my bags and head up to Michaela’s for the night. In hindsight, I’d have added a day to our trip. Ah well, 20-20 and all that. That gave us the whole afternoon and evening to dink around.

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We ended up at Target to grab some last minute junk- a hat for her, some sunscreen , and some other stuff I can’t remember, then we went back to her place to cook some risotto for dinner, share a bottle of wine while we watched Palm Springs (another movie with beginnings ad nauseum) and Soul, and hit the sack on the early side. Had it not been for her dog scratching all night long, both of us tossing and turning with the usual pre-trip wiggles, too hot, too cold, is-my-alarm-really-set nerves, etc…, etc… I might have woken up rested.

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I had to laugh at this guy while we were out. If you’ve seen Soul, you know exactly why that is funny.

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4:00 came early enough and with a quick shower, last minute checks, and charging cord gatherings, we hit the road at exactly 5:02AM. Remember I’d booked a stay at an airport hotel? When Mik decided to travel with me, I cancelled the room saving the $169 and thought we’d take a $20 Lyft from her house about 30 minutes from the airport. Well, Mik(ki) (short for Michaela) did the math and decided that taking her car and parking was going to be cheaper than risking a Lyft surge. She got burned coming home from Vegas one time and spent over $80 to go 10 miles. Personally, I was elated at being spared from barricading my door at another airport hotel. We’d checked in early, but when you have to drop a bag, you need to visit the ticket counter anyway. Duly dumped, it was time to head through security… which was empty-ish. We breezed through in 10 minutes and were at our gate with plenty of time to spare for grabbing a latte. Because I don’t do mornings without one. I also took a requisite PDX carpet shot. It’s just what we do. Some people here riot, others take foot selfies. We also had packed some snicky-snacks for the flight so saved some money on a gut-bomb there too.

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Believe it or not, we took off early! But even better we made up time en route too and arrived 40 minutes early into MCO. WOOT!! The short 5.5 flight was great! I slept for almost 2 hours, maybe more, of it and watched Mandalorian along the way. We sailed off the plane, grabbed our checked bag from the A side (did I mention how annoying this is?) (Did I also mention that Mikki put some of her stuff into the bag too?), trekked all the way back to the B side for ME, and were on a bus within 45 minutes of landing.

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Palm Trees!!!

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I had anticipated arriving to AoA at 5:30, but instead chugged into the lobby at 4:30.

It's tough to get a front seat anymore on ME:

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While I was still in line at Check-in at 4:42 I got our “Room Ready” text. Obviously, they were waiting for us to arrive to assign the room. Guess what we got? I had a bunch of stuff to do at the desk including assigning the MB I brought for her, getting her set up with charging, and attaching her email to it, and confirming that MaryEllen was in our party and room.

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By 5:51, we were on a private bus to MK…

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OUR Magical Trip had officially begun!

 

[Steppesister]

There must be something special about Coronado Springs because we got a magical upgrade from Coronado Springs to Grand Floridian - just like you did. They first offered an upgrade to Saratoga Springs, which my sister declined. The next day they called back with an offer to switch to a garden view room at GF. We are thrilled.

I would love to meet you, too, but we arrive Friday night after 10pm and leave Sunday afternoon. I think the only way we could meet is if our flight home gets cancelled because of the big snowstorm that is supposed to start on Sunday night.

I have also heard of others being upgraded from there. I think they are going through a giant refurb and space is a bit limited.

I hope your trip was wonderfully magical! I am finally unpacked and settling in again.

 

[Steppesister]

Yes, anytime would be great to get together! Would love to! We could meet halfway in Corvalis and have coffee or lunch and talk about Disney or whatever strikes our fancy.

As soon as we can eat in restaurants again lets make a time to meet.

Yes, let's do!!