The faceless children take a top-secret trip to WDW...

Oh, the poor little guy. Fortunately, we haven’t had to deal with the death aspect with DD yet. However, she does fixate on big events & topics. She'll add in all sorts of strange details that may or may not be related and eventually start weaving a big event. It started just before she turned 3 & the older she gets the more in depth she goes. I think it's her way of figuring the world out & putting the puzzle together.

A few days ago I picked DD up early from daycare & the restaurant a few doors down had a grease fire that was just put out. There were a ton of fire trucks & other emergency vehicles in the parking lot - all the lights flashing - a real spectacle to a little kid. I told her there was a fire in the kitchen & she started talking about it & throwing in a ton of details. Fire in the kitchen, boys touched the hot pots even though Mommy told them not to, firemen poured water on hot pots, Fire boys went into the air to attack the fire, boys got big boo boos from touching hot pots. Five hours later when Daddy came home it was a 20 minute story. Three days later, she's still telling the story to anyone who listens (includes her stuffed animals & bowl of cereal) & it's getting longer...

I know driving past a bunch of fire trucks is no where on the scale of a death in the family, but I think compulsively talking about an event that drew their attention is a natural mechanism for the kids to find order in an otherwise chaotic world.

This is all so very reassuring, thank you! :hug: J.J. makes up stories like that too. he just goes on and on. Sometimes he just seems a little crazy! :laughing: I'm glad it seems normal for a 3 year old to get fixated on something like that!

And this:

I'm so sorry for your losses. I lost my Dad when I was a teenager. It still hurts. Every time I think about him, I still can't understand how life can go on without him, yet it does.

is the sweetest thing I've ever read. I cried when I read it. Nothing has ever summed up how I feel about my dad not being here as clearly as your lovely sentiment! :flower3:

It's getting closer! :banana:

I think we're living similar lives... :)

I was just having similar thoughts the other day about "alone" time with my boys. When DS5 was in preK last year and I worked part time, he spent his mornings with me and got back home about 5:15 after having been picked up by Daddy. I picked DS8 up from his after school program at about 4:15, so we had an hour together then. This year, with both boys in the same school all day, I put them on the bus together and pick them up together -- neither one of them spends any alone time with me, and I think it's contributing to their problems getting along. I wish I had realized this was going to happen, and I would have made more of an effort to do special things alone with each boy this summer. Oh well! You've got Disney to make some great memories for him!

My younger son was 4 when my FIL died this past spring. He would randomly blurt out things like "Grandad's dead" (not especially easy to deal with while we were with my MIL, who didn't get that it was a developmentally appropriate thing to do). It's unnerving, but I chatted with the school psychologist who reassured me that it was ok. Their little brains just process things differently. Hopefully he'll start to settle down soon. A month isn't very long. I'd like to tell you that we're doing better, but his birthday was earlier this week and that was a small setback for the grownups, which of course gets translated right to the children!

Firstly, I am sorry your life is paralleling mine! :rotfl2: Hopefully they can start to mirror each other in wonderful things soon!

It's hard feeling like there's just not enough of you to go around, and not enough time in the day! It's very frustrating! I have been trying to spend some time alone with J.J., but generally that means that Sydney is somewhere with DH screaming in the house which I also feel bad about, or it's cutting into any alone/sleeping time that I have! I feel very stretched thin these days! Such is life as a mom, I guess!

I am glad to hear that it's appropriate for him to be saying strange things about death. I had assumed as much, but it's always good to hear! I feel like death is so hard for adults even, and it's just such a shock for children. My friend and her family were in a car accident when I was 10. My friend, her brother, and her parents died, and the two littlest kids survived. I still remember that day felt like it was a year, it was just so long. Plus, on top of that, another boy from my grade died of leukemia that same day. I didn't know him, but it was just so much at once. It was my first experience with death, and it was a very harsh one. It's just terrifying to realize that people you love can just be gone in an instant like that. And I was ten, so I was old enough to be able to talk about things and understand more. I can't imagine being three and having someone who lived in your house die. Even though we were able to prepare him more because we knew it was coming, it still must be hard. He has experienced far too much death in his little life...and up close and personal since we were at my parents house pretty much 24/7 for the 6 weeks my dad was dying, and then obviously we were here with my grandmother. Things should hopefully be looking up for him! And I'm sorry about your FIL. Birthdays are always hard. Anything that is an extra reminder of them just brings the loss to the forefront. I hope you're doing okay, and that your little ones are starting to come around. It sounds like you are having a rough month! :hug: I'm thinking of you!
 
22 days!

Starting to feel close, as we're nearing in on 20 days! :cool1:

I am not sure where my list is at the moment (I am terrible at misplacing things!) so lets go with what I do remember...

22. Sydney's first trip!

J.J. has been to disney, so even though he only went while he was a baby, I feel like I've done this with him before. Sydney, however, has not! How exciting to be taking her for the first time! And how much restraint I will have to have....all those dolls and princess things...I've never done this with a girl before! Last time we went I was pregnant with her, but I had no idea she was going to be a girl, so it doesn't count. Considering the fact that when I only had an 11 month old little boy I spent about an hour oohing and ahhing over the things at the Princess Fantasy Faire at Disneyland, this could be interesting! I do wonder how she will do with the characters. I suspect she will love the "stuffed" ones and not care for the face characters. But we will definitely see!

Honestly, I've been emotional lately, I think I've just been overwhelmed. But I feel so lucky to have my sweet little girl, surgery over, happy and healthy, and to be able to take her to disney. I am very sad that my Dad can't be with us...I really think of her as "his baby" since I got pregnant with her because I wanted them to have time together. If he hadn't been such a proud and wonderful grandpa, and if he didn't get cancer, Sydney would not have existed. It makes me so sad that they did not have any time together. It's quite the thing, that he died before he got to meet her, but the thing that killed him is the reason that she's alive. Life is crazy sometimes. I take some consolation in the fact that he knew that she was a girl and knew her name, even though those are such little things. I'm going to be crying this trip, both happy tears and some sad ones! The last time we were in disney, I expected that it might be possible that my parents would be on our next trip. The last time we were in disney, we thought my dad's cancer was gone. The last time I was in disney, I was pregnant and had NO idea how terrifying that pregnancy was going to be. Sydney being born, alive and well, was the happy end to a terrible 6 months, and she really represents some hope to me in that way. I can not wait to take her to the happiest place on earth and be able to really truly relax and enjoy life for awhile. Some people do meditation to calm down and truly find themselves, I travel to disneyworld! :woohoo:

Today's activity was figuring out my game plan for the first two days. If my mom wasn't going to be with us, I would have us napping the first day, but since she is, that's out of the window. The kids are very used to just being with me all day long, so they would be able to do something like that if it was just us, but with my mom there it will throw everything off. So my plan is get in, check in, and then eat lunch at Pop. Then off to DHS for the day...eat dinner there (I'm thinking Farifax Fair, maybe. Anyone have a favorite place to eat at DHS? I haven't heard good things about any restaurant there!) We're going to try and catch the 7:30 Fantasmic. How early do you think we have to get there to make sure we have a seat? Sydney will not be easily contained in a theatre like that, so I'm hoping to get a snack before we walk over there to sit down. She can always be fed and be happy! We'll be running on fumes at this point, since we'll have been up since 4 am, so there is NO way we'll be able to make the 9pm show if we can't get into the 7:30. This is something DH does not want to do, so I really want to do it this night!

The next day, we're heading to Epcot. Not sure where to eat here yet...I didn't get a chance to look at the menus. My mom is a very bland eater, and she eats a lot of meat, whereas we eat very little meat and are more adventurous with food. So finding somewhere to eat can always be tricky. We must head back for a nap this day! J.J. can skip a nap for one day, but not two. Oddly, Sydney sleeps less than he does and is usually awake for most of J.J.'s nap lately. I'm hoping that will change. She may not need the rest, but I do! :rolleyes1 Now, it depends how long naptime is. At home, J.J. naps for about 3 hours (I know that seems extremely long for someone who is almost four, but you have to keep in mind that it's difficult to get him to sleep before 10:30 or 11 and he's up before 6 am most days. So he needs to get that extra sleep somewhere! That's how his schedule has always run. We've tried putting him to bed earlier in hopes that he would sleep later, we've tried taking his nap out, and it's either been a disaster or just shifts his schedule for a few days and then he starts getting up early again and then he's really tired and cranky. So, it is what it is, and it doesn't matter yet since he won't be going to school for almost 2 years yet.) But anyway, the point of that ramble was if he takes a long nap we might just hang out at the resort, go swimming, and eat dinner while we wait for DH, since DH should get in at around 8 or so. But, we also might want to go back to a park...in which case I suspect we should go back to Epcot for dinner and do a few things there. I know we'll want to be back at the resort when DH is checking in, because J.J. is going to be missing him something fierce at this point. He misses him when he's at work during the day, and it will have been almost 2 days since he's seen him!

So, I still need to work on Epcot resturaunts, but since I seem to only get part of my "thing to do" for the day done each day, that's not too bad!
 
Aww, it will be emotional to be there without your dad but at least you can enjoy the time with your mom. :hug:

We only ate at Pizza Planet at DHS and it was so-so. Typical Disney pizza. Meh. As for Epcot, are you looking for a place in World Showcase or Future World? In Future World Sunshine Seasons would probably be a good choice that would satisfy everyone. It has some meat and potatoes but also some other things that might be more adventurous. I would definately NOT recommend the new Cantina outside the Mexico pavillion. They don't have enough seating (we stood outside balancing our food tray on a trash can) and the menu is VERY limited.
 
I'm with you on not having heard anything good about the places at DHS. But, lately I've heard some good reviews of Starring Rolls Cafe so I think we might check it on our next trip. I agree with -Hope- that I would head to Sunshine Seasons in the Land Pavilion at Epcot. They are by far the biggest selection of food options so it should be easy to find something for everyone in your party.
 

The next day, we're heading to Epcot. Not sure where to eat here yet...I didn't get a chance to look at the menus. My mom is a very bland eater, and she eats a lot of meat, whereas we eat very little meat and are more adventurous with food. So finding somewhere to eat can always be tricky.

How about Biergarten? It's a buffet so a lot of choices for everyone. There's plenty of meat but plenty of other stuff as well (we're vegetarians and we all left stuffed). The kids loved the mac n cheese, spaetzle and pretzel bread as well as the many desserts. The music was also a big hit with everyone and the place was a lot of fun in general!
 
Aww, it will be emotional to be there without your dad but at least you can enjoy the time with your mom. :hug:

We only ate at Pizza Planet at DHS and it was so-so. Typical Disney pizza. Meh. As for Epcot, are you looking for a place in World Showcase or Future World? In Future World Sunshine Seasons would probably be a good choice that would satisfy everyone. It has some meat and potatoes but also some other things that might be more adventurous. I would definately NOT recommend the new Cantina outside the Mexico pavillion. They don't have enough seating (we stood outside balancing our food tray on a trash can) and the menu is VERY limited.

It's okay, being emotional isn't always a bad thing. Missing my dad makes me really value what I have. Life is short, so we better enjoy it!

I'm not sure where I'm looking! There's so much to eat at Epcot, plus the food and wine festival, but my mother is probably the pickiest eater that we have! I wish I could order her food off the children's menu. :laughing:

Thanks for the advice about Mexico. That's sad that it's not good. I love mexican food! Never good to be eating around a trash can though! Yikes! :eek:

I'm with you on not having heard anything good about the places at DHS. But, lately I've heard some good reviews of Starring Rolls Cafe so I think we might check it on our next trip. I agree with -Hope- that I would head to Sunshine Seasons in the Land Pavilion at Epcot. They are by far the biggest selection of food options so it should be easy to find something for everyone in your party.

I've heard good things about Starring Rolls cupcakes, and I definitely want to do that! I looked at the menu and it seems like they have two or three sandwich choices and that's it. However, do you think you could get a cupcake for desert on the dining plan if you eat there? Because that would totally be worth it!

How about Biergarten? It's a buffet so a lot of choices for everyone. There's plenty of meat but plenty of other stuff as well (we're vegetarians and we all left stuffed). The kids loved the mac n cheese, spaetzle and pretzel bread as well as the many desserts. The music was also a big hit with everyone and the place was a lot of fun in general!

We're on the counter service dining plan, so that won't work for us. We upgraded to the table service plan for January though, and we're actually eating there, so I am very happy to hear that anyway! Thanks!
 
21 days! 3 weeks from today, we will be settling into bed back at the hotel after a long, wonderful day! :woohoo:

21. Playgrounds

I've actually never set foot in a single playground at WDW. Not even the one at the hotel! I am really excited to let J.J. and Sydney play at them, they love playgrounds, and J.J. loves to play with other kids for a little while. I think it will be a great way to take a break from the parks. And by take a break, I mean, me chasing the kids around trying to keep an eye on them. ;) Not relaxing, just a change of pace!

Today we watched ride videos on Youtube! What would I do without youtube? :confused3 It doesn't compare to being there though. Not even a little tiny bit. But, J.J. is the kind of kid who likes to know what's happening, so he liked it. Sydney does not watch any kind of TV, so she was not interested. It was a good way to kill some time while we were waiting for DH to get home from work though! And what youtube disney session would be complete without the wolfs dance orlando?
 
DHS - I like the menu for studio catering company.
Epcot - I like the menus at yakitori house, & tangierine cafe.

All three are counter service, but I haven't been to Disney world so, I don't have firsthand experince.

One thing on my trip wish list is to playground hop to some of the resorts with more themed playgrounds. However, I think it might be frowned upon & would eat up precious park time, so I'm gonna forgo it on our upcoming trip. However, if there was one resort playground I hopped to, I think it would be coranado springs. The pics on that playground look really neat.
 
We loved watching youtube when we were preparing for our trip. You can find just about anything on there! :goodvibes

We never found the time to play at the playground at our resort and didn't make it to the Boneyard at AK but the kids did enjoy the Honey I Shrunk the Kids movie set playground @ DHS. There were lots of kids climbing around in there and while I've heard complaints about heat we thought it wasn't bad.

DHS - I like the menu for studio catering company.

Just a heads up- when we were there last week the menu had changed for Studio Catering Company. They are now serving cold sandwiches and wraps which is not something DH wants to eat on vacation (he works construction and pretty much eats this everyday). We were disappointed and had to trek elsewhere for lunch.
 
At DHS, I recommend the CS places over by ToT. Those include Fairfax Fare, Rosie's All-American Cafe, the Turkey leg place and there is also Anaheim Produce. Lots of choices!

I don't think you should line up for Fantasmic. We did the first show and didn't line up at all. We got great seats about 5 or 6 rows from the top (easier escape when it's over). They will let people in until it fills up,so you should try to walk in about 30 minutes before show time.

At Epcot, our favorite CS is Sunshine Seasons. Again, something for everyone!
 
3 weeks! Lucky you! (I keep saying that! :))

The Boneyard playground at AK is great! Your kids are little enough for the Toontown playground too, just to the left of Donald's boat. Too bad Pooh's Playful Spot is gone! I don't think Epcot has a real playground, does it?

The playground at POR was a fairly standard climber, but it was great for my boys. I'm guessing other resorts have nicer playgrounds?

A three day weekend has begun! I'm planning on getting the next long overdue installment of my TR up!
 
How about vegan chilli? my mom makes chilli with mushrooms beans & other veggies. It's so thick you don't notice the meat is missing.
 
Have to play catch up! We had a relative come in from out of town unexpectedly and we've been busy! Seventeen days! Can you believe it?

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20. Parades Parades are another thing I never liked before I had kids. Now I can't get enough! I'm especially looking forward to the AK parade and the MK night parade!

19. Trick-or-Treating I think there's usually Trick-or-Treating at DTD on Halloween, from everything I've read. I hope so anyway, because J.J. wants to be Buzz and he wants Sydney to be Tinkerbell, and that's not what they're going to the party as!

18. Dining Plan 11 days of not having to cook. That's just delightful! I can't even explain. And even better than not having to cook...not having to watch the dishes! :woohoo:

17. Buses DH drives a truck for a living. My children HATE the car and scream until they're at least two every time we get in the car to go anywhere, even 2 minutes away. Yup, Sydney is still in that age group. :scared1: So, no driving? No carseats? :worship: Thank you, disney!

And what have we been up to on our list?

Halloween Decorations:

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100_0747.jpg


Window Decorations (Post-Halloween):

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Mousekeeping Envelopes (Sydney helped with these, Jay wasn't into it...he got glue on his hands and that was it. He has some sensory issues like that.):

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AND, we started packing the kids clothes. I have a huge pile of ziplock bags sitting in my playroom! Good thing we did this early, because we couldn't find a whole bunch of Jay's shorts and had to run to the store to buy more! Very hard to find shorts in October in Buffalo, let me tell you!

Also, it turns out that DH's boss got the week before our vacation off, so he gave DH Friday off, for no real reason other than the fact that he's the nicest boss in the world! So he will be flying down on Thursday night now. My "two days with the kids alone" really turned out to be, "an extravagant day out with my mom and the children" :lmao: All that worrying for nothing!

 
3 weeks! Lucky you! (I keep saying that! :))

The Boneyard playground at AK is great! Your kids are little enough for the Toontown playground too, just to the left of Donald's boat. Too bad Pooh's Playful Spot is gone! I don't think Epcot has a real playground, does it?

The playground at POR was a fairly standard climber, but it was great for my boys. I'm guessing other resorts have nicer playgrounds?

A three day weekend has begun! I'm planning on getting the next long overdue installment of my TR up!

I don't really know what the playgrounds are at other resorts. My kids will be happy with anything! Somewhere to run? Other kids? They're there! Hope you had a wonderful 3 day weekend!

How about vegan chilli? my mom makes chilli with mushrooms beans & other veggies. It's so thick you don't notice the meat is missing.

I was JUST thinking about this today! I think I'm going to try it! Today I made fajita filling. I was so jealous, I wanted to eat it up! It smelled so good!
 
Have to play catch up! We had a relative come in from out of town unexpectedly and we've been busy! Seventeen days! Can you believe it?

:woohoo: So close!

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20. Parades Parades are another thing I never liked before I had kids. Now I can't get enough! I'm especially looking forward to the AK parade and the MK night parade!

Get a seat early! We thought 1/2 an hour would be plenty of time since we didn't care if we were in the very front- we were wrong! The people were already so deep and so thick that there was hardly any space in the designated areas! It all worked out but it was very stressful! I wish we'd gotten some food to go and taken it to sit and eat while we waited for the parade.

19. Trick-or-Treating I think there's usually Trick-or-Treating at DTD on Halloween, from everything I've read. I hope so anyway, because J.J. wants to be Buzz and he wants Sydney to be Tinkerbell, and that's not what they're going to the party as!

I've read that there's trick-or-treating at DTD and at some of the resorts- sounds like fun! :thumbsup2

18. Dining Plan 11 days of not having to cook. That's just delightful! I can't even explain. And even better than not having to cook...not having to watch the dishes! :woohoo:

Yep, that was heavenly! :cloud9:

17. Buses DH drives a truck for a living. My children HATE the car and scream until they're at least two every time we get in the car to go anywhere, even 2 minutes away. Yup, Sydney is still in that age group. :scared1: So, no driving? No carseats? :worship: Thank you, disney!

Just be prepared for it to take a while to get to and from the parks- usually about an hour by the time we walked to the bus stop, waited for a bus, drove to the park, and then walked to the gate. I think if you're aware of that then it wouldn't be so bad but I was just unprepared for it to take so long. Plus the value bus stops are, of course, the furthest from the gate so at the end of a long day it can seem like an eternity just to get there.

And what have we been up to on our list?

Halloween Decorations:

100_0755.jpg


100_0754.jpg


100_0748.jpg


100_0747.jpg


Window Decorations (Post-Halloween):

100_0745.jpg


Mousekeeping Envelopes (Sydney helped with these, Jay wasn't into it...he got glue on his hands and that was it. He has some sensory issues like that.):

100_0756.jpg


All of your decorations and mousekeeping envelopes are adorable! :cutie:

AND, we started packing the kids clothes. I have a huge pile of ziplock bags sitting in my playroom! Good thing we did this early, because we couldn't find a whole bunch of Jay's shorts and had to run to the store to buy more! Very hard to find shorts in October in Buffalo, let me tell you!

We had to buy a few clothes right before we left too- not easy!

Also, it turns out that DH's boss got the week before our vacation off, so he gave DH Friday off, for no real reason other than the fact that he's the nicest boss in the world! So he will be flying down on Thursday night now. My "two days with the kids alone" really turned out to be, "an extravagant day out with my mom and the children" :lmao: All that worrying for nothing!



Hurray that your dh is going to be arriving so soon! :goodvibes
 
You did a great job with the Mousekeeping envelopes! I'm so excited for you that the trip is so soon.

Amanda
 
You're getting so close!!!!! My kids loved The Boneyard playground at AK! As for parades, we saw the night time one at MK, the end of the day one at AK and the mid-day parade at DHS. The one at DHS was their favorite. Yay for your husband being able to come a day earlier!!
 
You're getting so close!

When we got home, my DH and I were talking about how during the week on vacation, the only decision we had to make was what we wanted to eat!

As far as the buses go, the buses at Pop were fantastic!!! We were always at AK, EP and DHS within about 15 minutes of getting on the bus. MK took about 20-25 minutes, but that's not bad at all. I do not like the Pop bus stops at MK and EP, but they are SO close at AK and DHS. :thumbsup2
 
Wow, you're getting close! That's awesome that your DH can come Thursday night now. The kids will be sooo excited!
I know a little about buying last min clothes around here. I had to buy some maternity things but luckily got some great deals. Just yesterday I got a sundress for $4 at Kohls!

You've done some great decorations! Getting close now :)
 












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