The Disney Grump & Family Take on the World-Our '09 Christmas w/ the Mouse, COMPLETE

[ladybugmom]

WOW!! You got more snow than we did!! It's beautiful!! Your boys look like they're having sooo much fun!! GREAT pics!! They cancelled school again here tomorrow b/c we still have icy streets. I'm getting a little stir crazy!!!

 

[lovegrumpy]

Yes we get a choice. They give my dh a list and we choose were we would like to go. This next move well be 14yr olds 7th move. Both my boys love it. They have seen so much of the USA that they never would have if dh wasn't military. I actually never would have meet him if he wasn't in the CG.

 

[Charleston Princess]

I'm afraid I did not participate in the snowball fight - I really, really, really hate to be cold, so I would just pop out and take a few pictures then get my rear back in the warm house

Smart woman! That would have been me -- I can't stand the cold!

 

[SoonerGirl]

Thursday night we only got about 2 inches and then during the day on Friday another 3 inches perhaps...
Just not enough to close schools here. We are supposed to have an icy mix here tomorrow though during the day so I'm sure we will have school. Oh well, we are leaving just as soon as school is out so I sure don't want to have any make up days! Enjoy your snow day tomorrow!

I think if we had just gotten the snow school wouldn't be out, it's all that ice we got first.

This will make day #5 at home - I'm ready for them to go back to school, they're driving me crazy

WOW!! You got more snow than we did!! It's beautiful!! Your boys look like they're having sooo much fun!! GREAT pics!! They cancelled school again here tomorrow b/c we still have icy streets. I'm getting a little stir crazy!!!

We did get quite a bit, way more than we are used to! We've got icy streets too, so we're out of school again today as well. I hate that they are going to have to make up so many days at the end of the school year.

Yes we get a choice. They give my dh a list and we choose were we would like to go. This next move well be 14yr olds 7th move. Both my boys love it. They have seen so much of the USA that they never would have if dh wasn't military. I actually never would have meet him if he wasn't in the CG.

It is a wonderful way to get to see lots of different places. If my parents had stayed married just one more year I would have gotten to live in Germany for 3 years - now that would have been cool!

Smart woman! That would have been me -- I can't stand the cold!

That's why we live where it's normally not so cold! I don't know about you, but we don't even have proper clothing to wear in this kind of weather!

 

[brookelizabeth]

I love my camera bag, I bought it right before we left for this trip. It's got lots of room for my camera, zoom lens, extra battery & memory card. Plus I carried a small wallet, my phone, hand sanitizer & a brush in it as well! Here's the inside - love the hot pink, it's so girly!

It's gotta be the camera!

Don does always act like he's having a good time, thats why I'm so baffled when we get home and he says things like he said the other day - he told me he wouldn't mind if we NEVER went back to WDW

LOVE THAT BAG even more with the inside! So, so cute! Joe is the camera bag carrier in our family, so we've got a "manly" one. But, if we ever switch rolls...

I agree, must be the camera.

My response to Don would be "Never say never..." He can't be completely serious, can he?!??!?!

Love the snow pics! That is a lot of snow and ice, makes for pretty pictures though! Looks like you guys had a blast in it! It's nice when you have snow, and warm enough weather to enjoy it. We have tons of snow here this year, but it's bitter cold.

 

[MeMom]

We did get quite a bit, way more than we are used to! We've got icy streets too, so we're out of school again today as well. I hate that they are going to have to make up so many days at the end of the school year.

Fun snow day pictures! The frozen tree branches is what we get sometimes here. Fallen branches cause a lot of damage, too. Our driveway is an ice skating rink right now, but it is supposed to get into the forties today, so I think we'll be back at school tomorrow. We have five free snow days, and after that we have to start making them up.

We're just going to pretend that the 'never going back to WDW' statement was never made.

 

[SoonerGirl]

LOVE THAT BAG even more with the inside! So, so cute! Joe is the camera bag carrier in our family, so we've got a "manly" one. But, if we ever switch rolls...

I actually looked at the bag that you have too, but when I saw this bag I had to have it. Don told me in no uncertain terms that he would NOT be carrying the giraffe print bag with the hot pink lining so that if I insisted on buying that one, I would be camera bag carrier. It was worth it

My response to Don would be "Never say never..." He can't be completely serious, can he?!??!?!

I'm really afraid he might be.......

Love the snow pics! That is a lot of snow and ice, makes for pretty pictures though! Looks like you guys had a blast in it! It's nice when you have snow, and warm enough weather to enjoy it. We have tons of snow here this year, but it's bitter cold.

You're right, it's cold for us (upper 20's, low 30's) but it's nothing like the temps you guys get. I remember the last time Don & I went up to Minnesota for Christmas and it was just frigid cold, you couldn't even go outside without your mouth covered or your lungs hurt - it was crazy!

And then a few years ago we went up in January for my grandfather's funeral and we couldn't help but laugh. When we left our driveway the car temp read 42 degrees, when we pulled into my aunt's driveway it read -3 Seriously, I don't know how you people survive the winters up there!!

Fun snow day pictures! The frozen tree branches is what we get sometimes here. Fallen branches cause a lot of damage, too. Our driveway is an ice skating rink right now, but it is supposed to get into the forties today, so I think we'll be back at school tomorrow. We have five free snow days, and after that we have to start making them up.

We're just going to pretend that the 'never going back to WDW' statement was never made.

I wish we had that many snow days built in, we've got 2 so we are one over as of today. Our high today is supposed to be 35 so we may not even get enough of a melting for them to get back to school tomorrow. I'm glad we don't have a trip planned starting as soon as the school year ends!

I like pretending that Don never made that statement, keep the wool pulled over my eyes right?!

 

[SoonerGirl]

When I last left you we had just finished up walking through One Man's Dream and watching the short movie afterwards and now the boys were thinking that they needed a snack. They both had an itzakadozie, then we walked over to see the Indiana Jones Stunt Show.

I took this on the way over - I just love Disney balloons!

It was 30 minutes before show time but the theater was already 3/4 of the way full! I broke out the zoom lens and tried a few shots in this show too

After Indy saved the day we went back to do the Animation Academy again. This time we drew Donald. He was a little harder than Tigger was, but our drawings still turned out pretty good. No pictures this time though. We wanted to get out of everyone's way, so we rolled up the drawings and put them in the side pocket of the backpack. We were going to take pictures of them later, but they must have fallen out somewhere because we got back to the hotel and didn't have them.

Continued in the next post

 

[SoonerGirl]

It was now about 6:00 and I had fully intended on being at DHS until close to closing time. We were going to go over to see the Osborne Lights right before closing to miss some of the crowd, but we were just spent, it had already been a long day. So we made the decision to go over to see the lights now and then just head back to the hotel. I took this as we walked over

It was very crowded on the Streets of America, but it was worth braving the crowds to see these lights! Oh my gosh, they were so pretty. We watched them dance a couple of times, we got snowed on and took a few pictures

Our photopass pics

Then we slowly headed towards the exits. Of course, I took some more pictures on the way out

When we got back to the resort we stopped in the food court and had dinner. I think we all had the chicken quesadillas this time except Don, he had the kids ribs. The boys wanted to go to the arcade again, so we let them and Don and I enjoyed the peace and quiet of our room!

We also had another new friend waiting for us upon our return today!

Up next: A Christmas Eve Shopping Excursion!

 

[ladybugmom]

We did get quite a bit, way more than we are used to! We've got icy streets too, so we're out of school again today as well. I hate that they are going to have to make up so many days at the end of the school year.

We have icy streets as well and are also out of school again today! But we're not going to be here to make up the school days--we'll be in WDW!!!!

Great update!! Your pics are beautiful!! What setting did you use on your camera? I love how the lights look and your family pics are just precious! I cannot WAIT to see the Osborne Lights--amazing!!

 

[KathyRN137]

I'm married to a Disney Grump, too. Ed says the same kind of things to me all the time... if I start telling him how I plan to save money on our next trp to WDW, he'll say something like, "We could just not go at all and that would save a whole lot of money." Trouble is, he says it with a straight face so I don't know whether he's joking or serious!

I felt bad about you losing your animation academy drawings! Too bad they can't send them right to your resort like they do your shopping bags.

You got some wonderful shots of DHS...why is it that I don't recognize that fountain with the mermaid? There are so many things to see...so many wonderful details...

Isn't it so hard to tear yourself away from the parks? But, if you let yourself get over-tired you're not doing yourself any favors and it makes waking up early the day after really hard!

Looking foreward to Christmas Eve!


Kathy

 

[Lovemy3babes]

I'm sorry you lost your drawings. What a bummer! That picture you took of the hat is beautiful! I would frame that.

 

[MHTeacher]

Sweet pic of you and your boys!

Sounds like a fabulous day at DHS.

BTW, I love that you think to take pictures of things I normally don't do. I'm going to do better next trip!

 

[Charleston Princess]

I love Disney balloons, too!

You got some great shots of the Indy show with your zoom lens! What a shame you lost your Donald pictures. The pictures of you and your family at the Osborne Lights are great!!! Those lights are just so gorgeous!

 

[klacey1]

Great update!! Love, love, love the Osbourne pictures-- I think that's the most magical thing about Disney at Christmas time!

 

[stace208]

I like pretending that Don never made that statement, keep the wool pulled over my eyes right?!

Men always have that "selective" hearing so I think you can have it this time too!

I loved your update! You got some great shots that night. I love the one of the big hat. I know some folks don't like it but I actually do! Osborne lights looks so wonderful-all the pics I've seen on different TR's. I can't wait to see it myself this December!!

Your boys had arcade cards, right? I am sure my DS will want to spend some time in the arcades on our upcoming trips so I am trying to budget for that. Are the cards reloadable?

 

[SoonerGirl]

We have icy streets as well and are also out of school again today! But we're not going to be here to make up the school days--we'll be in WDW!!!!

Great update!! Your pics are beautiful!! What setting did you use on your camera? I love how the lights look and your family pics are just precious! I cannot WAIT to see the Osborne Lights--amazing!!

That's so exciting that you are leaving for WDW the day after school lets out! That gives Ally two things to look forward to!!

I'm not positive what setting I used - I'm just stabbing in the dark with this thing - I really need to take a class! I looked at the details on my pics from that night and I'm pretty sure that I set the ISO @ 1600, then put the camera in 'Program Mode'. The aperture & shutter speeds were different on almost all of them and I know I didn't change them every time, so I must have let the camera do it (good thing IT knows what it's doing ). Also, no flash

I'm married to a Disney Grump, too. Ed says the same kind of things to me all the time... if I start telling him how I plan to save money on our next trp to WDW, he'll say something like, "We could just not go at all and that would save a whole lot of money." Trouble is, he says it with a straight face so I don't know whether he's joking or serious!

I'm pretty sure my Grump isn't joking.......

I felt bad about you losing your animation academy drawings! Too bad they can't send them right to your resort like they do your shopping bags.

I was bummed we lost them too, what makes it even worse is that our Tigger drawings from earlier were rolled up with them so we lost both sets.

You got some wonderful shots of DHS...why is it that I don't recognize that fountain with the mermaid? There are so many things to see...so many wonderful details...Kathy

I don't think I had ever noticed the mermaid before either - brookelizabeth had a picture posted of it in her last TR, so I had my eye out for it. There are probably tons of things that we walk right by all the time and we just never 'see' them.

I'm sorry you lost your drawings. What a bummer! That picture you took of the hat is beautiful! I would frame that.

I was so happy with that pic of the hat - I think I might pick out several of my favorite shots and frame them together and hang it in my office

Sweet pic of you and your boys!

Sounds like a fabulous day at DHS.

BTW, I love that you think to take pictures of things I normally don't do. I'm going to do better next trip!

I do try and take pictures of different things, that way I don't have the same photo album trip after trip

It was a good day at DHS, if we could have done it with about 20,000 fewer people it would have been perfect!

Great update!! Love, love, love the Osbourne pictures-- I think that's the most magical thing about Disney at Christmas time!

The Osborne lights are amazing! I've had a hard time coming up with the most magical thing at WDW during Christmas - it's a toss up between the Osbourne lights, the Castle lights and the Candlelight Processional. Too many wonderful choices really!!

I love Disney balloons, too!

You got some great shots of the Indy show with your zoom lens! What a shame you lost your Donald pictures. The pictures of you and your family at the Osborne Lights are great!!! Those lights are just so gorgeous!

I had used my zoom lens quite a bit for sports pics of the boys, but I really fell in love with it on this trip - so glad DH bought it for me!

The Osborne lights are so cool, I really wish we had gone back later in the week closer to closing time so that we could walk around a bit more and really take them in. I know I missed so many details - just another reason to go back right?!

Men always have that "selective" hearing so I think you can have it this time too!

I loved your update! You got some great shots that night. I love the one of the big hat. I know some folks don't like it but I actually do! Osborne lights looks so wonderful-all the pics I've seen on different TR's. I can't wait to see it myself this December!!

Your boys had arcade cards, right? I am sure my DS will want to spend some time in the arcades on our upcoming trips so I am trying to budget for that. Are the cards reloadable?

I like the hat too - makes for great pictures! I understand why some people don't like it though, it does hide the beautiful Chinese Theater.

The boys did have arcade cards, they each got one in their gift baskets upon arrival, and then I had 3 that someone had given me that had game time still on them (shhhhh, I know they aren't supposed to be transferable.........). They are reloadable, which we did a couple of times, plus the boys said that after 9:30pm the games all switched over to free.

 

[ladybugmom]

That's so exciting that you are leaving for WDW the day after school lets out! That gives Ally two things to look forward to!!

I'm not positive what setting I used - I'm just stabbing in the dark with this thing - I really need to take a class! I looked at the details on my pics from that night and I'm pretty sure that I set the ISO @ 1600, then put the camera in 'Program Mode'. The aperture & shutter speeds were different on almost all of them and I know I didn't change them every time, so I must have let the camera do it (good thing IT knows what it's doing ). Also, no flash

I know!! We are sooo excited!! Ally cannot wait to get back to WDW (neither can the rest of us)!!

Thanks for the setting info! I know what you mean! I would LOVE to take a photography class. We messed around with a lot of different settings on our last trip and got some great pics. I just wish I wasn't guessing all the time.

 

[lovegrumpy]

Love the photo's of you guys in Hollywood Studio's. I've heard Germany is awesome. One place we can't go. My ds who is 14 wants to join the AF so I might get to go visit.

 

[RachelNinja]

Ooo, I like the perspective of the pic you took of the Sorcerer Mickey hat!

I've been talking to my mom about staying until closing or at least close to it this trip. She said it's okay since Weird would be there with me, of course. She also said that she might stay with my younger brother if my dad wanted to go back to our condo for a while. It'll definitely be an experience! A tiring one, I'm sure!