The DIS-Functional WonderPeeps are Triple-Dippin' Castaway Cay! 7/20 & 7/24, 2008

[RonnieJo66]

Mornin' Peeps!


I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas



Katie: Glad that you got a room with a view!



I will be spending the day doing and packing for our trip to Chateau de Knebel

Have a nice day all!

 

[CamColt]

Thanks for reminding me RJ. Gotta go move the laundry to the dryer.

Have a good visit to the Knebels!

 

[Anal Annie]

Yay CamColt!! I'm so glad for you! I keep reading about how small the "Value Studios" are & am worried we won't have room for all of our luggage ('cuz you KNOW I will overpack)! Floor space & storage was apparently overlooked when they made these particular rooms...so I've been wondering if I should call back to see about going up one level to a "standard" studio. I don't know. (If only I could just talk DH into buying more points I wouldn't be pinching my pennies so much! LOL)

Betsy - I'm right there with you on the whole back to work thing! The lady I job share with is out today & tomorrow so I'm swamped since I was off on Friday. And for Canon cameras! I have one of the Powershots too plus a Rebel XT....

So RJ - when do you leave for Chez Knebel? Looks like we're gonna have another quiet week around here 'eh guys?!

OK, so here's my newest saga. The gang from our neighborhood always gets together for New Years eve. (the usual 6 or 7 families). It usually rotates from house to house from year to year and what usually happens is one family will volunteer to "host" the adults and one family volunteers their basement for the kids. When they were younger we hired a couple of teenagers to "watch" them. Now they're all pretty much between 9-11 yrs. old so nobody wants to get sitters. We hosted the adults last year & said we could do it again this year but then this other girl said she wants to do it 'cuz her husband's birthday is Jan. 1. OK. That's cool. Meanwhile, my next door neighbor had initiated everything this year by volunteering their house for the kids. She started the email chain. Now they're away this week in the Bahamas & she emailed me today & said she doesn't know if she's feeling up to it (she's the one with Chrons) AND "would WE consider hosting the kids at OUR house"?!?!? Ummmmm. I'm thinkin' NO! She's been doing this a lot lately - she's the one who initiated that weekend at the Chesapeake Bay then she spent the whole weekend in their room.

Their basement is finished, but it's not furnished so it's a little different - their basement is definitely more casual and "kid friendly". And I would never volunteer to host the kids party on my own. And basically, we're talking about (10-12) 10 year olds for 6-7 hours unsupervised in my house?! We'll still be in the neighborhood but not home. I'm picturing drinks spilled on the pool table, sticky finger prints on EVERYTHING...who knows what spilled on the furniture. I don't know. I'm barely comfortable entertaining the adults....let alone turning my house over to a bunch of kids. How would you feel?! (DH hasn't answered me yet so I haven't answered her yet...) Who would say Yes without giving it a second thought and which of you would be like "no way"!?

 

[CamColt]

Hmmm, I wouldnt be too thrilled about that, Annie. I wouldnt be thrilled if we were here, nevermind leaving them alone. But how to get out of that?????

 

[Soccermom-Cheri]

Um...NO

Or rather YES I would mind "hosting" a bunch of kids and NO we're not leaving them unattended. Kids get older but they are still kids. And GroupThink takes over very quickly. Even the most mature, responsible kids can get carried away. That's just my 2 cents. (7 hours? WOW! You guys throw one heck of a party!)

 

[Anal Annie]

DH just got home & we "sorta" discussed the kid party thing. HE, of course, sees no problems with the idea. He just thinks I'm too anal. I on the other hand am hyperventilating at just the THOUGHT of it. I think he's more upset at the idea that if we don't do it that there may not be a NYE party to GO to.........nobody wants the kids party..........well, the couple that had them last year MIGHT (their basement is completely unfinished so the potential damage is kept to a minimum) but my neighbor hasn't asked anybody else yet. DH suggested asking his step brother to come over to supervise (he's 16).

Oh, OK, and maybe we only celebrate for about 6 hours or so....they usually like to start by around 7 or so....

 

[Soccermom-Cheri]

Maybe the people hosting the grown-ups can have the kids in their basement? that way the mess is confined to one place and parents can take turns poking heads downstairs to see what's going on.

 

[Anal Annie]

Maybe the people hosting the grown-ups can have the kids in their basement? that way the mess is confined to one place and parents can take turns poking heads downstairs to see what's going on.

Nice thought Cheri, but the people hosting also have a really nice finished basement and that's where they do all of their entertaining...and at this point, we've had separate parties for so many years it's like it's a requirement to NOT have kids around. We know where our kids are, we're close, we're safe, we don't have to drive anywhere so we tend to drink a lot (last year I think 5 of us killed the BIG bottle of Ketel One! ) I know it probably sounds odd to you guys...but it's kind of like a night out! Out of all of us in this group, there's really only a couple of basements left that are perfect for this kind of kids party. I just wish my next door neighbor wasn't feeling so sick these days - theirs is really perfect and she's always been our "social planner"!

What does everybody else do for NYE?! Anything special? (Well, we know the Croutons are going to Chez Knebel...probably a black tie event going on there?! )

BTW Cheri - did ya get your "heep beeg boat" for Christmas?!

 

[Soccermom-Cheri]

no
but there's always next year. don't want a boat until it's seaworthy. no likey the whole "sinky" thing.

 

[CamColt]

no
but there's always next year. don't want a boat until it's seaworthy. no likey the whole "sinky" thing.

LOL! Yeah, then you would have to return it and that would be such a hassle.

If anyone is interested, Jet Blue's schedule has come out for July! I just booked my flights. They were more than I had wanted/expected, but I will keep an eye out and if they go down, Ill get the credit and probably use it for a December trip. I'd rather book high than wait and have them go higher. I know my return trip last May (which also was a Sunday afternoon flight) was outrageous, so Im afraid that will happen again and with 4 of us, that will add up.

So, Im having a productive week with this July trip. Makes me think its really getting close!

 

[CamColt]

Nice thought Cheri, but the people hosting also have a really nice finished basement and that's where they do all of their entertaining...and at this point, we've had separate parties for so many years it's like it's a requirement to NOT have kids around. We know where our kids are, we're close, we're safe, we don't have to drive anywhere so we tend to drink a lot (last year I think 5 of us killed the BIG bottle of Ketel One! ) I know it probably sounds odd to you guys...but it's kind of like a night out! Out of all of us in this group, there's really only a couple of basements left that are perfect for this kind of kids party. I just wish my next door neighbor wasn't feeling so sick these days - theirs is really perfect and she's always been our "social planner"!

What does everybody else do for NYE?! Anything special? (Well, we know the Croutons are going to Chez Knebel...probably a black tie event going on there?! )

BTW Cheri - did ya get your "heep beeg boat" for Christmas?!

I was so excited about my flights, I forgot about this post before. The more I thought about this, Annie, I would definitely have someone in charge of the kids if you are leaving them alone at your house. That just seems so long for young kids to be alone. Sometimes there is safety in numbers, but there can also be more trouble too (speaking from my kids and their friends ). And God forbid anyone ever got really hurt, would the parents turn and blame you because its your house? You just never know. I would either have someone responsible in charge or not allow it at all.

I do understand the night out thing. New Years Eve has been non existent since I had Cam. Ive been lucky in having my parents who babysit usually whenever I need them, but NYE is the one night no one is around, so Ive sort of given up on that. School does have a little party at the Boys Club in town, but that goes 5:00-7:30. It had been earlier in past years, but since it is a Monday this year, they had to go later. I like it earlier so I can be home in my PJs with a drink at a decent hour. I know I'm such the party animal, arent I?

 

[Anal Annie]

If anyone is interested, Jet Blue's schedule has come out for July! I just booked my flights. They were more than I had wanted/expected, but I will keep an eye out and if they go down, Ill get the credit and probably use it for a December trip. I'd rather book high than wait and have them go higher. I know my return trip last May (which also was a Sunday afternoon flight) was outrageous, so Im afraid that will happen again and with 4 of us, that will add up.

Yay! I will start looking on Kayak now too....do u think the fares are best when they're very first released?!

What are the airlines that DCL does check-in for from the port? JetBlue is not one from the port...neither is SW....I won't use Delta to FL anymore (nothing direct from here) so I THINK that leaves us with Air Tran, AA & United (Ted) to pick from....

 

[Anal Annie]

CamColt - when I go to JetBlue's site the schedule doesn't go past April... How did you find flights for July?! When I use Kayak the SW schedule LOOKS like it's posted (and they have flight times I'm interested in) but when I go to the SW site it says they're only booking thru May 9..... You must be able to use the secret handshake or something?!

 

[CamColt]

Well, as long as no one else sees the secret handshake.....try this link.

http://www.jetblueairways.com/cgi-bin/skylights.cgi?intcmp=minibooker&

DH couldnt get in either(he was trying at work) and I sent him this and it worked. Go figure??? On a funny note once I was able to book JB on Kayak, but not on JB's own site. These airlines make no sense.

As for fares, I have seen them start low and go up, start high and go down and back up...basically jump all over. If I werent planning on flying again this year, I probably would have waited a bit to see if they went down, but since I know I will be and can easily get a credit if they go down, I would rather chance that than chance them going up higher.

 

[Anal Annie]

Alright, I don't know what's going on CamColt! But there are like hardly any direct flights showing from BWI, Dulles or National for July! We can use any of them but National would be our last choice. Anyway, whatever's out there right now is WAY TOO much $ - so at this point we're walking to FL! (Continental was like $800!! LOL...RIGHT - like I would pay that much PER ticket - FOOLS! Good luck selling that to someone!)

But I still don't understand how you found the JetBlue schedule already... SW (tho not my fav.) has perfect flight times showing in & out of BWI - so I just need to know when they release it for sale to the public. I don't understand - United / Ted didn't even come up with anything direct.

 

[CamColt]

800.00!!!

Did that link not work for you? Lets hope I really am booked for July, LOL!

Now my next dilemma...we are doing 1 park day on Friday. Can't decide if we will do MK or Epcot. Such tough decisions!

 

[Anal Annie]

Well, as long as no one else sees the secret handshake.....try this link.

http://www.jetblueairways.com/cgi-bin/skylights.cgi?intcmp=minibooker&

DH couldnt get in either(he was trying at work) and I sent him this and it worked. Go figure??? On a funny note once I was able to book JB on Kayak, but not on JB's own site. These airlines make no sense.

As for fares, I have seen them start low and go up, start high and go down and back up...basically jump all over. If I werent planning on flying again this year, I probably would have waited a bit to see if they went down, but since I know I will be and can easily get a credit if they go down, I would rather chance that than chance them going up higher.

Thanks CamColt - strange...that link worked... I'm not sure I would jump at these flights tho. JetBlue only goes out of Dulles around here and they still only offer 2 direct flights per day...and I'm not 100% happy with the times they offer on either (later than I'd like going down & cutting it close early on the way back) AND they are about $100 more than what we booked for our January trip (in just 3 weeks from tomorrow - hope Betsy, Ophie & TZM are saving some warm weather for us)!!! Sigh. I guess I will have to wait for SW & Air Tran to release their schedules. Air Tran is a participating airline at the port so we could check in early and not have to do it at MCO.......DH wants me to stop hopping around from airline to airline 'cuz we can't seem to accumulate any miles in any one spot.....but I am very picky about the flight times and price (imagine that)!! LOL....

(PS) I emailed my neighbor that I wasn't comfortable with hosting the kids party...I just wouldn't be able to relax & enjoy myself!

 

[CamColt]

Sorry that didnt work for you, Annie. What times are you looking for? We will be arriving at 9:30 AM on Thursday and departing Sunday at 1:30PM.

 

[Anal Annie]

Sorry that didnt work for you, Annie. What times are you looking for? We will be arriving at 9:30 AM on Thursday and departing Sunday at 1:30PM.

Those are exactly the kind of times I'm looking for! But the JetBlue morning flight doesn't depart Dulles until like 9:30 so it doesn't land at MCO until 11:35 or something like that....they had one for $10 more that went thru JFK that landed 45 min. earlier 'cuz it left earlier - but I don't want to Xfer! I would like a 7:__something departure! Then their return flight was at 12:20 - and to be safe on the return I'd prefer something closer to 1:00. Plus they could still change the times - they moved up our return flight in January after I booked it to 11:45 or something.

The SW flights that I could SEE but not book out of BWI had a departure at either 7:05 or 7:20 and the return was around 1:30. United had one morning direct flight from Dulles that left at 8:__something...I don't remember what the return time was.... Guess I'll still be hedging my bets for awhile yet....but thanks for the link / heads up about JetBlue!!

 

[CamColt]

We still have time....and Im sure stuff will change. Good luck!

The first flight is a bit early for me 6:30 AM...Id prefer about 7:30 but I want to get there early and we plan to have a low key day that day, so hopefully getting up so early wont wipe me out.

Oh and good for you in telling them no to the kids party.