The "too many resorts" trip, Feb 5-20, 2013

[kaoden39]

Thank you Molly!

 

[BellaBaby]

I am glad you feeling better.


We are displaced from our home for the next 6 months or so. Tuesday morning at around 4:15 or so our oldest daughter woke us up saying that our garage was on fire. Loren had been up playing video games when he was supposed to be sleeping. He was dozing off and something woke him up. He smelled smoke and got up to use the bathroom. His bathroom which shared a wall was hot and he heard crackling noise. As he ran to the kitchen to get my fire extinguisher he yelled to wake the girls and my mom. He sent Kacy upstairs to get us. I grabbed my phone and the TV remote (the things we do). Didn't grab anything else. Scotty grabbed his glasses and threw on his pants. Kacy ran downstairs calling 911. Loren by this time had run back in to get our dogs and Kody who didn't hear him yelling. As I came down the stairs I was in white smoke. As Scotty came down and headed out the door he saw the white smoke turn into a fire ball that went up the stairs.

Loren, my mom, Kody and the dogs were still inside. Scotty screamed at Loren to take them out the backdoor. They got out and then Scotty had to break the neighbors fence to get them out of the backyard. By the time the fire department got there the garage was fully engulfed and the flames were flipping over the roof. They evacuated three houses in all directions. I was in my nightgown, no pants, braless, shoeless and it was not pretty. Scotty had no shirt, we were all messes. It was a two alarm fire. We lost everything but our loved ones but that is the most important thing. That and that we have insurance. The news crews started arriving and what a bunch of vultures. Then the contractors and other vultures showed up, they learned that an angry Michele is not a nice Michele. This has happened every time I have been to my house they there have been creeps trying to get my business.

Tuesday night some scum of the earth took bolt cutters and cut the lock on the gate and broke into the house. They took my moms pearl necklace that her dad gave her when she was 13 and some jewelry of her mom's too. They also stole the tool set that we gave Loren for Christmas. What kind of creep does that sort of thing? But even in light of all that the out pouring of love, support and help that we have received from people. Neighbors that I have never met have done things like bring breakfast from McDonalds. Enough to feed everyone. With coffee and juice. The neighbor behind us that gathered toiletries, food for the dogs and for us. I could go on and on.


Sorry for but I really needed to share.

So, so sorry this happened to you. But so glad you are all alright! It was a good thing your son was able to wake everyone and get everyone out. So glad the dogs are OK as well. I know this will be a hard time, but I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers.

 

[bumbershoot]

It was a good thing your son was able to wake everyone and get everyone out.

That's a good point! Somehow I think he'll be allowed to stay up a bit late for awhile in the future.

Semi-related story...my dad lives in the redwoods near Santa Cruz. He and my stepmom were finally able to buy that home after a LONG time of not being able to do such a thing. My half-brothers (and half-sis) were allowed to sleep wherever in the house they wanted, and on this one night early on in owning the house, he decided to sleep in the living room. That night a HUGE redwood branch fell on the house, right over his room, and landed on his bed.

Now...it's not like he never slept outside of his bedroom, this wasn't the only time it happened, but we're all so glad that he slept on the couch *that* night!



I"m so glad you have insurance. The only person I know of who had a fire did not, and things got far more desperate for him than it already was. Glad you have that.

 

[nunzia]

I am glad you feeling better.


We are displaced from our home for the next 6 months or so. Tuesday morning at around 4:15 or so our oldest daughter woke us up saying that our garage was on fire. Loren had been up playing video games when he was supposed to be sleeping. He was dozing off and something woke him up. He smelled smoke and got up to use the bathroom. His bathroom which shared a wall was hot and he heard crackling noise. As he ran to the kitchen to get my fire extinguisher he yelled to wake the girls and my mom. He sent Kacy upstairs to get us. I grabbed my phone and the TV remote (the things we do). Didn't grab anything else. Scotty grabbed his glasses and threw on his pants. Kacy ran downstairs calling 911. Loren by this time had run back in to get our dogs and Kody who didn't hear him yelling. As I came down the stairs I was in white smoke. As Scotty came down and headed out the door he saw the white smoke turn into a fire ball that went up the stairs.

Loren, my mom, Kody and the dogs were still inside. Scotty screamed at Loren to take them out the backdoor. They got out and then Scotty had to break the neighbors fence to get them out of the backyard. By the time the fire department got there the garage was fully engulfed and the flames were flipping over the roof. They evacuated three houses in all directions. I was in my nightgown, no pants, braless, shoeless and it was not pretty. Scotty had no shirt, we were all messes. It was a two alarm fire. We lost everything but our loved ones but that is the most important thing. That and that we have insurance. The news crews started arriving and what a bunch of vultures. Then the contractors and other vultures showed up, they learned that an angry Michele is not a nice Michele. This has happened every time I have been to my house they there have been creeps trying to get my business.

Tuesday night some scum of the earth took bolt cutters and cut the lock on the gate and broke into the house. They took my moms pearl necklace that her dad gave her when she was 13 and some jewelry of her mom's too. They also stole the tool set that we gave Loren for Christmas. What kind of creep does that sort of thing? But even in light of all that the out pouring of love, support and help that we have received from people. Neighbors that I have never met have done things like bring breakfast from McDonalds. Enough to feed everyone. With coffee and juice. The neighbor behind us that gathered toiletries, food for the dogs and for us. I could go on and on.


Sorry for but I really needed to share.

I'm so sorry..how awful. So glad everyone made it out and is safe!

 

[bumbershoot]

Michele, if you're checking in at all, how are you doing?

 

[kaoden39]

Michele, if you're checking in at all, how are you doing?

Hi Molly. I am checking in. I need the sanity, in a world of crazy. Guess who didn't think that today was one of the biggest mail days of the year and went to do her change of address at the post office. I am tired, I feel as though I am being pulled pillar to post. In a little while I will be going with Loren to sit at a table in the hotel dining area to do his school work. It is quiet there and that will be good.


Tomorrow the big dance starts. I start meeting with the contractors. The recovery and clean up crew is in the house. They are going to gut the house. The good news is is that we do not have a major amount of asbestos. The general idea I am getting is that we will be back in our home before Christmas.

 

[bumbershoot]

I'm glad everything is moving forward. Oh yes, that was definitely a busy time to go to the PO! Yikes! I assume you had already filed taxes? I finally did it last night.

Glad you don't have to worry about asbestos stuff, whew!

 

[kaoden39]

I'm glad everything is moving forward. Oh yes, that was definitely a busy time to go to the PO! Yikes! I assume you had already filed taxes? I finally did it last night.

Glad you don't have to worry about asbestos stuff, whew!

I did not get our taxes done. Scotty's W-2 perished in the fire. I was going to do them on Thursday or Friday. Scotty needs to get a new copy of them.

 

[bumbershoot]

I did not get our taxes done. Scotty's W-2 perished in the fire. I was going to do them on Thursday or Friday. Scotty needs to get a new copy of them.

Oh gracious, I'm so sorry. They have exceptions for such things, though, right? I hope hope hope?

 

[bumbershoot]

Well, I might as well try to get back to the story!


On the 16th had moved to our new room, most of us spent a few hours at the pool. Poor Robert was tormented at the front desk, but did emerge victorious with refillable mugs and an usable room credit. The mugs of course are of dubious value to us, since we don't drink soda and I don't enjoy the coffee. But hey, souvenirs.

Then we all got cleaned up, had tea, and canceled our plans to hit Universal's Mardi Gras. Instead, we hung out at the room. But it was not as boring as it sounds.

Because, you see...we had Nerf dartguns. OK the kids did. And, well, the men. Oh and my cousin. Only I was unarmed.

These got some serious use on the 16th and 17th. It was SO much fun, even just to watch. It was silly and goofy without being dangerous, and because the grownups were playing too, it was all kept under control.

Oh, and I brought out the glowsticks (finally! I've been carting those things around for 3 years!), had enough to take care of any duds (old glowsticks). People wrapped them around themselves, around their dartguns...my cousin put hers in her ponytail... And then we simply had to turn off the lights. Which made it, surprisingly, safer (because people stayed put), but way more fun. Of course, every few minutes the lights had to go on so people could find their darts and reload. After a little while, it occurred to me that we had the blinds open, and that people might think there were very odd things happening in our room.

Either way, it was fun.


On the 17th, we went to Sweet Tomatoes for lunch. Yum.

He not only wanted a bunch of salad (not just lettuce separate from olives separate from hardboiled eggs), but he combined oil and vinegar, poured it on his salad, and ate it ALL. It was pretty cool.


At some point later on I was all alone. The kids and guys were at the arcade, my cousin and aunt (who had arrived at some point on the 16th) were somewhere, and I had some time with wine, a book, and the balcony. Ahhhhh.

(a view from outside, looking in at an aftermath of the dartguns)

What our room must have looked like during the dart-play.

Cousin's hubby's neon-wrapped Nerf.

Darts go weird places. Look up above the painting; it's green and blue.

My aunt left early, so she was just there basically one full day and one night. Again, she had demands made on her time but for whatever reason didn't tell me ahead of time. We'll have to figure that out at some point.


But it was lovely hanging out with the rest of them. Since our trip my cousin had joined a gym and is doing AMAZING. She said that she saw my progress and decided to do it, too. She's really competitive with herself, and in a 6 week program she's lost 14 inches! I'm so proud of her, and happy for her.


Alas, soon enough it was the end of their time there. They had originally planned to leave the night of the 17th, so we had kept the 2 bedroom to facilitate hanging out through the day, instead of having to move. We've done that before, move that is, and it makes it feel uncomfortable b/c they then feel like guests and not "residents" of the room, etc etc.

Then as plans continued, they realized that they wanted to stay overnight, and would leave EARLY in the morning on the 18th so they could get to work and school. And then on the cruise they realized that the 18th was President's Day and they all had the day off. So they had the day. It was unexpected, that's for sure.


So we all had to pack up and leave the nice 2 bedroom, and they wanted to follow us on over to our next room, a *studio* at WL. So off the caravan went!

 

[bumbershoot]

18th...


We caravanned to the WL, and all I remember is that I checked in alone, and it was a good experience. Not perfect, but they did imperfection well, and it was all most pleasant. I didn't have a single bad interaction with a CM at WL. Whew.

Our room was, shockingly, ready. And so we all got to trundle up our studio, together.

A studio is small with 7 people in it!

And so we went a'wandering.

Pennies.

I liked WL a whole lot better than the first time we were there! I found it to be pretty and airy, and the CMs were really nice.


My bitty cousin either had allergies that were getting worse, or a cold, and part of it involved licking her lips, which was causing an absolutely awful chapped situation. She had been refusing all balms except for wanting my cherry chapstick, but I was totally selfish and didn't want to share germs.

At the WL giftshop they sell a variety of items..."boutique" style lip balm is one of them. The one that's cherry flavored is called something like Beaver Butt. I bought some for her. Although I chose the absolutely WRONG time to give it to her (her mom had been trying to put Carmex on her lips, which she absolutely refused (as would I, with nearly bleeding lips), and I approached this difficult situation at its peak) and she refused it from me, the next day she was willing to put it on, and I guess it really eased the pain and helped. So, if you are having a lip problem and happen by Wilderness Lodge, pick up some Beaver Butt!




Are we sure we're not in Montana?

From there, we wanted to hit an arcade that gives out tickets that you can redeem for prizes. If you're going to play videogames, you might as well play the ones that you can get 5 cent prizes for, right? So we headed over to Art of Animation for some lunch and arcade!

Right now it's actually time to sleep (if I can...I had coffee around 4pm today to head off an asthma attack caused by cleaning and dusting...it worked, but I might not sleep until 4am...cross your fingers that I sleep earlier than that!) so I'll leave you with this.

Not sure when I'll get back to this tomorrow b/c I have a dentist appt and later I need to do a jog of 4.09 miles at the gym while wearing a running race t-shirt...it's a thing people are doing in response to today's Boston insanity. Probably in between there I'll be able to get online, while DS is doing his homeschool, but it's often hard for me to focus on anything but "should I go to WDW on Easter as my one and only visit EVER?" and "how much should I tip the leaf-blower CMs" and things like that, vs remembering the trip and telling it in a semi-coherent fashion.

 

[bumbershoot]

Some pictures in the moments before we leave for the Y.


The checkin desk at AOA. Same weirdness that they have at DLH checkin now. (not the same design, but the same "let's do something weird here)

I'll do more later. I do have to say that I liked the looks of AOA much more than I did from pictures! Especially the inside of the lobby. What looks impersonal, echoey, and lonely in pictures looked much nicer with humans roaming.

And the food court was tremendously good. Even though they spelled caesar wrong on *one* of their menu boards (not all, just ONE).


OK gotta go run early so I'm done by the end of gymnastics, rush home, change and drop off E, then go BACK to the Y for a volunteer meeting.

 

[kaoden39]

I love the pictures on the fixture. What a fun thing.

 

[bumbershoot]

I thought it was neat, too. Here are some more light fixtures. They are in the dining area of the food court. They are all the same size as each other, and I think you can see that they are large in the third picture here.

We had super-good veggie burgers (though they took AGES to make). E had a caprese sandwich made on hard, crusty bread, and he ate it all (except the tomatoes). We shared gluten-free mini cupcakes sold in a 6 pack there from Babycakes. Mmmmm, much better when fresh (or at least properly refrigerated). 'Twas a good meal.


View of outside from inside.

And then the arcade, which was mega-fun (especially for the players). The kids got just as many tickets from their wins as was good for them (it worked out freakishly well, with the oldest hitting a couple jackpots and being able to get the one big thing he wanted (lava lamp), the middle getting a bunch of smaller stuff b/c quantity makes him happy, and the littlest getting just enough tickets to get some plastic rings and other Pretties to make her feel princessy) (note, E got rings, too, because they made him feel Jack Sparrowy)). The adults had some fun. We had encountered some pixie dust in the form of a woman and her teen son, who were leaving Wilderness Lodge earlier that day to go home, and had seriously loaded arcade cards...they nearly shoved them into our hands, so the kids shared them. It was pretty neat.


E is playing a WW2 game here.

Since I was a non-player, I became acquainted with these weird cushions.

The ceiling.

E was sad that time was winding down.

At some point we all realized that they had to get going. One of the men, probably Robert, said, in a falsely chipper voice, "well, let's break the kids' hearts now!" We said some EXTREMELY teary goodbyes, like mega-awful-sad ones. We decided that we would go towards the exit and they would go the other way to look around the resort, and no one would look back. What we didn't realize is that 2/3 of our group had to use the bathroom, and the bathrooms were towards their direction! We opted to hold off on the facilities usage, and we just went out to the car and drove off. Sadness.

I saw pix later of them posing in front of Lightning, etc, so at least some of them had a nice time after saying goodbye. And we did too. Still, sadness.



Up next....

 

[kaoden39]

Love all the light fixtures.

 

[bumbershoot]

Now the trip got long and short at the same time. I'm sure most people here know that weird feeling.


We went on over to Epcot from AOA. Stopped for lattes at the Joffrey stand, because the adults were in need. Visited the bathrooms, too. Finally got to the turnstiles and went on in.

From the difficulties at SSR, Robert was also given 3 Priority Entrance passes to a ride of our choice. We chose Test Track, since Robert hadn't yet been on it. Used the passes as FPs and that was a good choice.

Inside the line (but not the FP line):

I've said it before...I'm just not a fan anymore. Sadness.


Afterwards, looking at the cars, the guys played around with the new picture taking areas. This is MY picture of the shot they were getting ready for.

And here are the pix that were emailed to us.

Believe it or not, E's expression was on purpose.

If E got a driver's license today AND this car, he would not be able to properly navigate the roads.

Unless he sat up on his knees.

And then we started a quick round of the Phineas and Ferb thingamadoohickey (formerly Kimpossible) missions. Note his Jack Sparrow-ish rings.

I got distracted.

Apparently Robert took some pix too.

Finishing up the Norway game. (we also did P&F in China but it was getting too dark and we were in a serious hurry)

Via Napoli. Here's the only good part of the meal.

The rest was just awful. Made worse by our CC company deciding that a charge of, literally, $5.19 from Saratoga Springs was fraudulent, thereby causing our room charging balance at VWL to get all wonky.

How did I find out about this? Because I logged into my DVC account for some reason, and right there on the front page it was showing that I had a negative balance, and the balance kept growing as we charged to the VWL account!

(indicating that WDW does NOT just charge once when it gets to a certain amount, but goes continuously, at least if there's a problem!)

So from the incredibly noisy Via Napoli, I mean seriously horrifyingly LOUD, I had to work all of that out. The first glimpse our server had of me was me on my phone. Robert was hurting and tired, and Eamon was starting to not feel well. We made a pretty picture. Then I had to leave the table b/c it was so loud, and so they ordered our margherita pizza and Robert got an americano and some appetizer, all while I was TRYING to hear the phone, trying to call both the CC people and the DVC people before they left. Stressy!

I really could not hear at this point so I took the phone back to the table and handed it over to Robert, whose ears are 2.5 years younger and had far fewer concerts in his 20s, and he got the CC stuff worked out quickly. So then I could eat.

And it was sad. Two bites, done. Give me that water. 'cuz that pizza was bad to my tastebuds. Robert barely ate any. He did not finish his appetizer. Eamon ate ONE piece of pizza. This indicated two things. He didn't much like it, and he was getting sick.

Fabulous.


I don't remember if we managed to do much of anything else that evening. Whether it was quick or slow, eventually we got back to Montana. Er, VWL.

 

[bumbershoot]

This evening of the 18th was supposed to be an early to bed one because the 19th was starting with breakfast, EARLY breakfast, at Ohana. But as the post-Epcot evening wore on, it became quite apparent that that was NOT going to be happening. There was some exhaustion, there was some not really feeling terrific, it just really was obvious that we needed to cancel. So I called them that night and canceled the next morning's breakfast reservation.

The next day was spent lazing around. The guys watched The Avengers and The Hulk and probably some other movies.


I'm in loooooove with sitting on the balcony at VWL, drinkin' my coffee. looooove, I tell you, looooove!

Sure, it's a bit close quarters IF someone else is out there, but no one was so that's OK.

mmmmm, coffee.....

If it weren't for being basically out of points, and for also falling in looooove with Port Orleans Riverside, we would so definitely be staying at VWL on our next trip. As it is, POR will be up next for a more extended stay, and we'll have to leave VWL for when the points are available again.

As the day went on I convinced everyone that being out in the sunshine would be healthy, so we had a swim at the quiet pool. Wow, that was wonderful. I spent the whole time in the hot tub, Robert went back and forth between places, and E mainly played in the pool with other kids and then would join me in the extra-warm water every so often. It was very nice. And it did, indeed, feel healthy.



Wandering.

Blurry.

In case you've ever wondered what sort of things are stocked in the giftshop stores (especially the ones with DVC attached), here you go!

Path to the quiet pool.

For some reason, WL has models of a Disney ship off the lobby.

 

[bumbershoot]

Seems like I'm always posting before doing something. Guess the pressure works for me. Today we're going to our local Road Runner Sports and taking part in an "adventure run". Hopefully Robert will be able to join us, but he's got his review this afternoon, so I just don't know when he'll be there.

So while E finishes up his reading, I'll post a bit more!


Even though E was a bit under the weather, we decided to run in to Magic Kingdom. Being at WL, we felt like we were closeby, we still needed to get a Mickey head balloon, and we needed to ride Jungle Cruise and Pirates.

We caught the boat. While waiting, I had the opportunity to feel a whole lot of empathy for families with differing physical abilities. A family there had a child in a motorized wheelchair, and even though they were at the front of the line for the boat that was taking off as we walked up, and remained at the front of the line for our boat, even that second boat didn't have a way for the child to get on. So they had to wait for another boat, and our boat left without them. So, yeah, they will get on first, but they were waiting for at least the third boat. Not so fun.

It felt like it took a long time to get to the boat dock at MK, but maybe that was just my perception. It was pretty, that's for sure.

So we went on in and slowly enjoyed the last hour or two of our park time. Got a FP for Jungle Cruise, went to Pirates. Surprisingly long line. And, as always at MK, it wasn't worth it; POTC is just so much better at Disneyland. Oh well, ya still gotta do it.

The difference the flash makes.

As we wandered, we realized that we had managed to forget entirely about the Sorcerer's game. Ugh. But no one was feeling up to figuring out how to start playing. And it was dark, too.

E wanted to ride the Aladdin's carpet ride, so E and I waited around for that. As usual, his goal was to make me turn green, and as usual I refused to do that, but still had my usual expression of ugh ugh ugh.



We were moving slow and getting hungry, so we headed to get a balloon and then leave. We wanted to eat at Territory Lounge in the Wilderness Lodge; otherwise we would have just gone for Columbia Harbour House there at the MK. Heartwrenching decision, if you can call a "this food or that food" decision "heartwrenching", and *at that time* we could. But we left, instead.

 

[bumbershoot]

So, I did not like the "adventure run". Makes sense; never much cared for scavenger hunts, either. Or easter egg hunts. Just liked the hardboiled eggs at the end of it, really. And this adventure run didn't have hardboiled eggs.

Though it did have beer. But even the beer thing was complicated, because it said all over the website "$1 beer for people who buy t-shirts", and I bought a t-shirt, and then it turned out that when I signed in I was supposed to have been asked if I wanted to buy beer vouchers for $1, but no one asked me and blah blah blah blah. Nonsense. No more adventure runs. Bleargh.




However! The thing we discovered while leaving Magic Kingdom Feb 19, 2013, is that the BEST place, for us, to watch Wishes (a fireworks show that many adore but makes us not-as-thrilled-as-perhaps-we-should-be) is from OUTSIDE the MK.

We discovered this totallly by accident. We had made the choice to leave (after buying a balloon) and we were walking out. The fireworks started, and even though none of us are partial to Wishes we felt a little pang because we SHOULD like it, and it feels unnatural to turn one's back to fireworks. So we got outside the gates a bit, and someone turned around and realized we could see the basic show AND hear the music and narration. (nicest thing about 4th of July fireworks? NO narration! stop narrating! stop being cheesy! just set off the fireworks with some neat music and that's all I need)

I can't find the video I took, and given how shaky it was you should probably be glad of that, but if you can just imagine how neat the above pictures would have looked with the camera pointing artistically though a blue balloon, then you know what the video was like. I like the "look through a blue balloon" version of the fireworks. As well as the "sit on a bench with NO crowds around you while still able to see and hear everything" version of the fireworks. I think that I'm going to buy a home that has a clear view of the 4th of July fireworks here in town, so I can do the "sit on my porch on a chair or bench and watch the dang fireworks through a blue balloon without anyone getting twitchy with me about the balloon" version of those fireworks. Given what houses here in town HAVE such a view, I'll be going back to work instantly (anyone have a law partnership to give to someone without any law experience whatsoever? 'cuz I need that level of income) and won't have any TIME to visit Disney or watch the July fireworks, but still. It sounds good.


Wow that was quite a "paragraph". So sorry about that. You totally get a pass for not reading that. Then again, you won't know where our future house is, when I'm around 65 and can finally afford it. So if you plan on visiting in 20+ years, you'd best read that "paragraph"!


We caught the boat, where we met another family that involves Caucasian and Asian genes and they sort of laughed at us b/c we homeschool and can vacation whenever we like, but here we were on President's Day week/end. Those conversations are weird, because along with "we can vacation any time we like" it's also "and DH gets to take 2 weeks off *at a time* so our vacations are long", and that's not necessarily the norm in the corporate world (thank you amazon, we love you!), so it's kind of embarrassing or something. So we just laughed it off, rather than getting into a whole thing.

Got back to WL, had tremendously large portions of fondue (2 orders of it was too much...1 would have been just fine) at Territory Lounge, I had a lovely beer, Robert networked by proxy while talking to our server whose husband had just accepted some sort of contract position with Robert's company, and so on. Eamon literally fell asleep at the table, whoopsie! So we got him back to the room, but it was kinda sad because I *loved* the vibe of the Wilderness Lodge's Territory Lounge, and could have stayed in there for hours.

And so we went to bed (after no doubt packing quite a bit).


And so I do, too, now, early April 19, 2013. Ooh, that's neat. I could potentially finish exactly 2 months after the trip finished.

Of course that would mean I'd have to finish up the WDW part and then do a slapdash TR for the Universal bit, which would be a lot of work tomorrow! Hmm, I'll have to see about that. Sure would feel good to have it done, though.

 

[nancy drew]

Disclaimers: I've had a few glasses of wine, after a 5 day juice cleanse and no alcohol for 2 weeks, and I tend to post without thinking on Disney topics....

So, Wilderness has been my secret favorite for a long time. Poly has really taken over, and if money were no object I'd pick the Contemporary, but when it comes to cost and availability, WL is my favorite. People compare it to GCH but it just doesn't compare, right? I freaking love WL.

How do you like the Agent P game at EPCOT? DD was so MAD that we didn't finish it in March. We were at EPCOT for like 3 hours, and I wanted flower and garden photos. We got to try some yummy foods (DS and I loved the fruit sushi) but DD didn't forgive me for not finishing the Agent P game.

So, have you ever watched the MK fireworks from the TTC boat launch? We did, by accident, in December, and it was awesome! DD is noise sensitive, and can't do fireworks in the park. But she was fine with this setup, and since they pipe in music it was perfect. If we had planned in advance we would have watched from the Poly beach. We did get a Ohana window view our first night too, but the kids kinda were checked out that night because they had a long day. TTC is a hidden gem for viewing fireworks. We were staying at Poly, near the TTC, and happened to get off the monorail at TTC while Wishes was happening. I took some nice photos, and DD didn't freak, which is awesome.

How is MIL?

Are you on Facebook? Should we be friends? PM me if you want. I'd love to share photos, but I don't always want to share on disboards.