The Disney-fication of our Non-Disney Vacation...an October 2013 TR

[KatMark]

Okay the snow is pretty...but it's enough for the year, thank you very much.

How nice of your kids to do that for Operation Christmas Child.

 

[cheekypoppins]

HUH no fair!!!! how do you have more snow than us? I'm putting in a formal complaint!!!! Actually no because today we are supposed to get our first winter storm,lots of people are being whiney on Facebook about it But i am super excited I might get to go play outside before Disney woot woot!!!!! see apart from Disney there are a few other things like snow and real Chipmunks that get me very Excited!!! oh and of course Lego because let's face it i am a child inside!!!

 

[Pluto0809]

We used to do gifts like that for a local elementary school here in Atlanta. We would spend the whole week before Christmas blowing off work and wrapping gifts. But sadly the lady that used to do it retired and we stopped doing it.

We haven't gotten any snow yet here. Tonight is supposed to be a bit iffy with freezing rain. I'm hoping it's not too bad since Mom is flying in tomorrow for Thanksgiving!

 

[oopsiDAISY]

There's nothing better than a day spent browsing the DTD stores!

We spent quite a bit of time in the Lego store this time too. Jim liked it so much he's probably going to visit there again in February. Since he's only coming for the Wedding and not going to any parks, he will be on his own his first night when the rest of us are still in Epcot. I just hope he is able to find his way to DTD and back without getting lost. He is very directionally challenged.

I love all of the Potato Head creations but the duck lips on Brian's had me .

Yes, we have talked about Jim's Lego obsession. We really need to set up a Lego store play date for him and Gabe!

Those duck lips were hilarious!

it's show your Disney side.. i would TOTALLY DO THAT!!!!! or something like it!
Do something fabulous!

LOVE DTD!!! i can walk that forever.. ya know i have NEVER been there during the day?

not that the Potato head creations aren't priceless works of art.. BUT the duck lips are my favorite...

Lovin the trip report!!!!



keep it comin...

If I had the extra money to afford one of those ritzy costumes, I would probably do something like that. Of course, my family would probably abandon me from embarrassment, and I would be left to board the sailing vessel all on my own..

<<<< That would be me waving at all the strangers yelling "Goodbye, I will miss you!" like Jack Dawson and Fabrizio did in the movie.

Let me tell you, we had always gone to DTD at night too...it is MUCH less crowded during the day. We got there around 10 am, and it was practically empty. We really enjoyed it much better!

I love the potatoe head creations but wheres yours mom? Not much longer until I'm looking around for something for you at disney lol.

Very observant my friend! Mom and Dad spent that day visiting with friends that lived nearby.

Great picture of the cruise ship! Love the potato creations!

I cannot wait to be on board that beauty....

It looks like you guys are off to a great day at DTD. Love all the Mr. Potato Head creations!

We had a great day at DTD...stay tuned for another update.

What a great start to your DTD day!!

Indeed it was. More of that coming up soon...

LOVE DTD! What a great way to have a little Disney while not in a park.

Although we don't have little kids anymore, we usually ALWAYS stop at the Lego store and the Once Upon a Toy store so that my "big child" can play.

Great Potato heads by all!

I absolutely love that Mark is so playful! It makes your reports so fun to read!!

 

[oopsiDAISY]

HOw awesome! I love that you are doing Operation Christmas Child, it is a wonderful way to give!

Drive safe in the snow.

D~

Our kids loved doing the shoe boxes. Great way for us to get outside our own comfort zones to realize these may be the very first gifts these kids have ever gotten in their lives. Makes you realize how blessed we truly are!

I know you are used to much more snow than that. I actually grew up in Southern Illinois, and learned to drive in much more snow as well...it's the other, less experienced drivers you have to worry about around here!

Okay the snow is pretty...but it's enough for the year, thank you very much.

How nice of your kids to do that for Operation Christmas Child.

You, like D~, are used to much more snow... We don't get much, so we get REALLY excited when we get some of the magical white pixie dust!

HUH no fair!!!! how do you have more snow than us? I'm putting in a formal complaint!!!! Actually no because today we are supposed to get our first winter storm,lots of people are being whiney on Facebook about it But i am super excited I might get to go play outside before Disney woot woot!!!!! see apart from Disney there are a few other things like snow and real Chipmunks that get me very Excited!!! oh and of course Lego because let's face it i am a child inside!!!

Girl, you know we don't get much snow around here. How many times was I jealous of your beautiful white weather last year? People around here go NUTS when it snows...the grocery stores sell out of milk, eggs and bread when it snows. My brother wondered out loud..."why does everyone make French Toast around here when it snows?"

We used to do gifts like that for a local elementary school here in Atlanta. We would spend the whole week before Christmas blowing off work and wrapping gifts. But sadly the lady that used to do it retired and we stopped doing it.

We haven't gotten any snow yet here. Tonight is supposed to be a bit iffy with freezing rain. I'm hoping it's not too bad since Mom is flying in tomorrow for Thanksgiving!

We are supposed to get more tonight!

 

[oopsiDAISY]

After making some wacky Potato Head creations...we had a SWEETER destination in mind. But first, we stopped for a family photo:



Sadly Mickey's ears got cut off in the picture. But what can you say when very kind DTD guests take the photo for you? You can only say THANK YOU!

Then the kids spotted another photo op:



My dad tells the story of Alice in Wonderland being performed at his grade school. He and his twin brother were recruited to play the Tweedles, of course. And guess which Tweedle Dad was? Yep, Tweedle Dum. So the kids wanted this picture to share with their Tweedle Papa!

Now it's off to pick up some treats for later...



The kids LOVED this store...imagine that! Jillian took over the camera for a few minutes:





Wonder if anyone actually buys those giant things? After picking out our poison... I mean treats, we headed back to the resort. The treats were in hand, but we were saving them for an afternoon snack. Sooo, you will have to wait a bit for the picture!

After getting back to the resort, we had a lunch of leftover tacos. Brian had some homework to get done, so the kids and I headed down to do one of the resort craft activities. Since it was October, we were going to make Tootsie Pop spiders...so sweet! It was actually sort of cheesy. The activities director just dumped out a bag of Tootsie Pops and a bag of chenille stems and....well, that is all she did. No instructions, no examples for the kids to see, just "there it is, have fun!" So, we made the most of it and got to work:



Deep concentration:



Charity roped Jillian into doing one for her:



Finished products:







It was pretty not that fun, but we got free lollipops out of it! And then we headed back up to the room for more SWEETS:



From the left, going clockwise we have: GIANT cookie shared by Jillian and Charity, bag of random candies handpicked by Gabriel, DELICIOUS chocolate dipped pineapple spear for yours truly (because her best Cheekypoppins Disfriend highly recommended it ), and for Brian a great big turtle candy. That pineapple was SOOOO good, I will stand with Cheeky in HIGHLY recommending it for those of you who are always looking for a new MUST DO Disney snack!

For the rest of the afternoon we just chilled by the pool for a while. My parents had spent the day visiting friends who lived nearby. When they got back, they were on Kiddie Duty that night. They blessed Brian and I with a precious night to ourselves...DATE NIGHT!!! Wonder where we went?

 

[missangelalexis]

What a lovely family photo! All your treats look so yummy! Can't wait to hear about date night

 

[DMGeurts]

Great update! And I almost missed it! You need to tell me when you do updates. LOL

Loved the family photo - despite the missing ears - it's a great one!

LOL at the Tweedle D-D picture... The girls have one from our last trip in that exact same location. And just wait until you see one of my customs for our next trip... I may have to mail it to you all to borrow for your own trip.

LOL - kind of crappy craft, I agree... but I also agree with the free tootsie pop comment... Nothing wrong with free candy.

OK - adding the pineapple spear thingy to my list... I have a feeling that DTD will be a snacking sort of day becuase I must do Ghiradelli too... and next time, I am not sharing.

And I am a bit early - but I won't have time to do this tomorrow. So, I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving! Big hugs to the kids and family!

D~

 

[cheekypoppins]

Gold star for you my friend ! I'm so proud of you!!! yep all this praise for eating pineapple who knew? seriously though it's the best!!!

Anyone curious about the pineapple you can also find it at mainstreet confectionary and in karamel kuche at epcot with caramel added of course either way It's the best and you gotta eat it!!!

 

[oopsiDAISY]

This comes a day early, but I will not make it onto the Disboards again until next week. I am thankful for all of my Disfriends....you put a smile on my face each and every day. To one and all...

 

[disny_luvr]

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family. We leave tomorrow for our cruise. We've been planning this for over 2 years and I can't believe it's this close now. I'll try to update FB when I can.

 

[KatMark]

Great family photo...Mickey ears or no Mickey ears.

I could go crazy in that candy store, but so far I've been good and refrained most of the time.

Seriously...no sample of how to make the spider?

Oooh....date night? Where do we go?

Have a great Thanksgiving.

 

[Chicago Mo]

HELLO MY FRIEND!

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

LOVE the update! score on treats!!! YUMMERS!!!!
Finally we see your creation, the spider is cute! Can't believe they just dumped it like that?!?! as usual you make the best out of it and ROCKED the project! The family picture is adorable. didn't even notice the Main mouse's ears chopped.

Chocolate covered anything is delish!

 

[oopsiDAISY]

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family. We leave tomorrow for our cruise. We've been planning this for over 2 years and I can't believe it's this close now. I'll try to update FB when I can.

You are not here to see this comment... I have been watching you post photos on Facebook...I may or may not be a tad jealous.

I hope your cruise is super special and ever so magical!!!

Great family photo...Mickey ears or no Mickey ears.

I could go crazy in that candy store, but so far I've been good and refrained most of the time.

Seriously...no sample of how to make the spider?

Oooh....date night? Where do we go?

Have a great Thanksgiving.

It feels like I have been gone from the Disboards forever....and now you ARE gone...to DISNEY!!! I am keeping up with you on FB! Have a wonderful trip with the urchins!

HELLO MY FRIEND!

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

LOVE the update! score on treats!!! YUMMERS!!!!
Finally we see your creation, the spider is cute! Can't believe they just dumped it like that?!?! as usual you make the best out of it and ROCKED the project! The family picture is adorable. didn't even notice the Main mouse's ears chopped.

Chocolate covered anything is delish!

We definitely made the most of that little craft! We had a great Thanksgiving! Keep scrolling for a recap....

 

[oopsiDAISY]

Happy Monday Friends!!! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Thursday we spent the day with Brian's parents. We got up bright and early Friday morning to make our annual pilgrimage to see extended family in Alabama. I thought I would share a few fun pictures of our weekend in Alabama with you. Is that okay?

Jillian and Charity actually got along quite well while we were down there! Want evidence? This is what they did for about half an hour:



Yes, they rode TOGETHER! It was actually kind of funny!

My dad brought Gabe a new "costume"...just what the boy needed!



The funny thing about that? Dad got one for Brian, too, so that he can play with Gabe! He hasn't done it yet, but you can believe I will have the camera ready when he does!!

So, then my Uncle did this:



Did I tell you I have a really fun family? They are the BEST!

Later in the weekend the girls pampered each other in the sun room:



My mom has crocheted baby blankets for each grandchild when they were born, and then bigger blankets after the baby blankets were outgrown. Gabe has slept with his baby blanket since the day he was born, and it was finally time for his "big boy" blanket. Mom had already started it, but she finally finished it while we were together this weekend. So, this is what she looked like all weekend:



Meanwhile, the men spent the weekend doing this:



That would be them watching football!

Gabe has another cousin that is his exact age. They played outside ALL DAY Saturday, only coming in for lunch.



It was a fantastic weekend spent with family we only see once a year, but cherish every memory made!

 

[oopsiDAISY]

For those of you who have followed my past reports, you know that I like to do Christmas up all December long. This month crept up on me for sure! Here is our schedule of Christmas fun for 2013:


Saturday, December 7- Decorate Tree, Read “The Legend of the Christmas Tree”, watch Sound of Music (DVR Dec 5)

Sunday, December 8- Make Chocolate Drop Cookies, Week 2 of Advent Wreath, watch Holidaze on ABC Family

Saturday, December 14- STAR WARS WEEKEND

Sunday, December 15- Make Fudge, Week 3 of Advent Wreath

Monday, December 16- Jillian's school Choral Concert

Tuesday, December 17 or Wednesday, December 18 (we haven't heard the exact date yet )- Gabe's school Christmas play

Saturday, December 21- Watch Deck the Halls (DVR on Dec 4), Christmas Lights Tour

Sunday, December 22- Make White Chocolate Pretzels, Week 4 of Advent Wreath, watch Muppet Christmas Carol (DVR on Dec 6)

Monday, December 23- Christmas baking with BFF's family, Week 5 of Advent Wreath, watch The Nativity Story

 

[missangelalexis]

Glad you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend! All your Christmas activities sound so fun!!

 

[quackattack]

If I had the extra money to afford one of those ritzy costumes, I would probably do something like that. Of course, my family would probably abandon me from embarrassment, and I would be left to board the sailing vessel all on my own..

<<<< That would be me waving at all the strangers yelling "Goodbye, I will miss you!" like Jack Dawson and Fabrizio did in the movie.

That would be fun. It does not take much coaxing to get the adult members of the QuackAttack family into costume. (Teenage member is a little harder to convince.)

You and I should at least do hats for afternoon tea. I put together a great hat for a tea party we had for a friend when she retired. We could do small scale versions.

 

[DMGeurts]

I love your December activities... Ours is pretty much booked solid, with nothing fun, sadly.

I hope you'll share photos with us throughout.

D~

 

[Chicago Mo]

OH HOW MUCH FUN!!!
Honestly! love how everyone just gets together and has a blast!!!
as always your whole family is adorable. LOVE the pinata Gabe picture.. how long was he up there for??

LOVE your Christmas schedule!!! Can't wait to see all the pictures!