Turning into a Gustav Report! - We're home!

[Fall1]

Such cute Halloween pictures and I'm soooooo excited for you that you might be going back again, and so soon!! A birthday weekend without the kids would be great!!!!

Now, we need to move closer to WDW - haha!!

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

Yeah....Mardi Gras 2009 is out of the question unless a lot more money starts rolling in around here.

Of course, my friend (in St. Bernard) had this to say: "There is always 2010, when you move here..." I don't know about all that ...but maybe I will get to go in 2010.

*sigh* This is what I get for attempting to be a responsible adult.

 

[DisneyTiger]

Awww, great costumes!! Those witch dresses are adorable.

Thank you! Everyone thought she looked like a punk witch so it worked great with Brendan's rock star costume!

I am sorry Typhoon Lagoon didn't turn out as you expected it to. I wasn't great for us either. Grace was too cold to go in the water. I can't believe the photopass guy didn't take more pictures. Maybe when your kids are older they will like it better. I don't think we will go back next time.

I hope you get to spend the weekend at Disney for your birthday. That would be so cool. I haven't been around much because I still don't feel better. I hope I am not having a relaps. I enjoyed the update. Thanks.

Yeah, TL was a lot more work than we thought it would be. We'll wait until they're a lot older to go back. The water was very cold. 80 degrees my butt! That's what they say they keep it at!

I am so sorry to hear that you still feel bad. Have you gone to the doctor again? Get some rest. I'm sick myself but nothing as bad as you. Just a head cold. I hope you feel better!

Somehow I missed your 2nd update...I must have been typing my reply when you were doing the 2nd TL post. Bummer that it wasn't as great as you were hoping. Good thing the Beach Club has a great pool!

Yeah the cup is sitting here. I have about 15 and I didn't have to fight for them. My friends were like TAKE SOME. TAKE MORE! TAKE ALL YOU WANT!! I went through all of them to pick my favorites.

That'd be cool if you got to go to WDW on your birthday! I'll be in WDW the 12-14th of December and I'm really looking forward to it, even though it's a SHORT trip! I'm staying at the Fake French Quarter, er, Port Orleans French Quarter....and friends from all over the country are meeting up in the parks...I can't wait!

Yes, SAB was unbelievable. I just love that pool. There is just such a cool atmosphere that goes with it.

That's funny about your friend pushing her cups off on you! I had tons too but we finally just had to get rid of them. Know what's taken their place??? Refillable mugs from every Disney resort we've stayed at! Those things take up a lot of room! At least you can stack Mardi Gras cups!

I had forgotten about your quick trip in December. How much fun is that going to be??? Meeting up with a bunch of people sounds like such a good time. Are y'all all staying at the same resort?

A couple of weeks ago I told you I was going to post a picture of Courtney all dressed up for homecoming. I am late with the pictures because I was sick but here they are.

I forgot to tell you that Courtney had trouble pinning Lance's flower so I decided to help her. I snapped the rose right off. Courtney was so mad at me. I tried to hot glue the flower back together but it didn't work. Faron fixed it with a long straight pin.

Wow, she is beautiful. And her BF is precious. I hope they had a good time, even though you decapataed his flower! That is so funny. How embarassed was she! Faron to the rescue!

Such cute Halloween pictures and I'm soooooo excited for you that you might be going back again, and so soon!! A birthday weekend without the kids would be great!!!!

Now, we need to move closer to WDW - haha!!

Thanks! Yeah, the birthday thing would be a dream come true. It's also me and Jason's dating anniversary - 10 years on 12/18! Another reason to celebrate. It's a crazy time of year to ask someone to babysit so I'm not sure if it's going to happen. We shall see!

Driving to WDW is not one of my favorite things to do but I think DH and I could make it fun.

Yeah....Mardi Gras 2009 is out of the question unless a lot more money starts rolling in around here.

Of course, my friend (in St. Bernard) had this to say: "There is always 2010, when you move here..." I don't know about all that ...but maybe I will get to go in 2010.

*sigh* This is what I get for attempting to be a responsible adult.

Bummer. I know, I just wish I could win the lottery and travel for a living. How nice would that be. So is moving here an option for you??? What a crazy culture shock you would have to endure! No more snow that's for sure

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

That's funny about your friend pushing her cups off on you! I had tons too but we finally just had to get rid of them. Know what's taken their place??? Refillable mugs from every Disney resort we've stayed at! Those things take up a lot of room! At least you can stack Mardi Gras cups!

I had forgotten about your quick trip in December. How much fun is that going to be??? Meeting up with a bunch of people sounds like such a good time. Are y'all all staying at the same resort?

Bummer. I know, I just wish I could win the lottery and travel for a living. How nice would that be. So is moving here an option for you??? What a crazy culture shock you would have to endure! No more snow that's for sure

Yeah my friend said "take all you want" and I'm thinking "my husband is going to be like WHAT is all this?!?" So I didn't take too many. (She gave a lot to somebody else too...which is funny because the other person took them even though she lives in Louisiana!) Between those silly Mardi Gras cups and the refillable Disney mugs, my cupboards are quite full too!

No, we're not all staying at the same resort. We are going to be all over the place. I think there will be 4 rooms at POFQ with us in them. We are not all arriving and leaving at the same time, but we all overlap on the weekend of the 13-14.

My DH and I are "done" with NYC. I have no regrets moving here and it's been a good experience overall. I've grown a lot as a person and I've learned a lot, but I'm ready to move on. I'd like to live somewhere where my dream in life is not to find housing that has a washer and dryer. I moved to NYC in mid-2005, with the intention of it being somewhat temporary. Went through culture shock then so I can handle that again. Louisiana is an option but so are a few other places. We will move most likely in mid-2010. And for me, no snow is kind of the point!

 

[RieandMatt]

Love the TR!! I'm a fellow Louisianian too!!

 

[DisneyTiger]

Love the TR!! I'm a fellow Louisianian too!!

Yay! There are a few other Louisianaians reading along as well. Thanks for posting!

 

[DisneyTiger]

Hello everyone. Gotta love day light savings! How I used to look forward to getting an extra hour of sleep. Then I had kids. Too bad they have no idea that it's an hour earlier than normal. They were both asleep by 7:00 last night but they woke up at 6am Getting them adjusted is a pain. Oh well. Hope everyone had a great Halloween weekend! Onto my post...

(I forgot to mention that the night before, I started having second thoughts about my carefully planned initerary. I knew that we were going to have to roll with the punches and things were not going exactly as planned. I also realized that of all of my ADR's I had failed to make one with Mickey Mouse (gasp)!!! Aubrey had been asking to see Mickey since the plane landed so I had to do something about that. I called the dining line and jokingly asked if they had anything for Chef Mickey's. The CM on the phone actually screamed when she saw that she had a spot for us the following night at 7:30! She was excited for us. I also made an ADR for lunch with the princesses at Akershus for later in the week. Aubrey had become obsessed with them while we were there.)

When I last left y'all, we had gotten back to our room after a rough morning at TL. The kids had their milk and were asleep before their heads hit the pillows. I had to take these pics. Now, do they look wiped out or what???

After I got through getting them down in the bedroom, I came into the living room to find this...

Jason was wiped out too! Hmmmm, now what was I supposed to do? Hurricane Hannah's here I come! I left a note for Jason and told him I would be exploring. Call me if he needed anything. I knew I had time to kill since our ADR for Chef Mickey's wasn't until 7:30. I took this oportunity to explore the halls of BC. I walked down past Cape May's and over to the Yacht Club. Here's the hallway by Cape May...

I then crossed over to Yacht Club. I have to say that there were two ladies there in the hallway that looked at me like I was crazy. I had one of those Pretty Woman moments - you know when she went into that little boutique on Rodeo Drive and the ladies working there made her leave?? Oh well, I didn't let them get to me and snapped a pic of the beautiful hallway...

What a change of scenery. The YC is gorgeous with it's dark wood and warmness. I felt like getting a cup of hot chocolate and sitting in the lobby to soak it all in. I opted to head out to the pool and get another Mojito! I snapped a few pics along the way. Here are some rocking chairs in front of YC...

A shot of the lighthouse...

A cool shot of the beach...

On my way to Hurricane Hannah's I came upon The Pearl Factory, a little stand right outside SAB where you can pick an oyster and keep whatever pearl you may find inside.

Now, many times I have passed this booth on our many other trips. And many times I thought about stopping. I never did though. Just too busy to stop I suppose. Well, not today. I was going to do it. Why not??? It was only $15 to pick an oyster so let's go for it! I walked up to the counter and was welcomed by Valerie.

She was so sweet. I explained to her that my entire family was fast asleep upstairs so I snuck out to have a little fun! She got a kick out of that. I told her I had always wanted to do this but never took the time to stop. She gave me some pointers on how to pick the best oyster. She said to pick the ugliest shell that was discolored with barnacles. I picked one that looked pretty bad. She took the oyster from me and sat in down on the counter. She explained to me that it is a tradition in Hawaii to tap the shell three times and then say "Aloha" before opening it. She handed me the knife and I followed her instructions. By this time, a little crowd had formed and were watching my every move. I felt a little silly but it was fun. She then took the knife from me and cracked the shell. After removing the oyster, there lay a beautiful antique looking pearl! I really had no idea if this was a good pearl or not because I had nothing to compare it to. After seeing Valerie's reaction, I realized I had done good! The average pearl that they have measure 4-5mm and mine was 7mm!!! And it was an antique color and not bright white which made it more valuable. She cleaned it up for me and even appraised it. She said it was worth around $80! I was shocked and so excited. Everyone around got a big kick out of this and were probably wishing that they had stopped to pick a pearl too!

 

[DisneyTiger]

So what was I to do with a beautiful antique white 7mm pearl? Well, thankfully Disney thought of that. Valerie had tons of settings for me to choose from. I looked at a bunch of ring settings and of course my favorite was platinum with diamond chips and cost about $300 Ummm, I was tempted, but said no. I asked if she had any pendant settings and of course she said sure! After going through a few of them, I decided on a pretty silver setting that was only $25 - much more my speed. She set it for me and gave me the care instructions on how to take care of my pearl. She said that wearing it actually makes it look better because the natural oils of the body keep it shiny! I have not taken it off since that day! I was so thrilled with my necklace, I just wished that I had taken pics of the process to show Jason and of course my DIS friends. Valerie said she could arrange that. She actually recreated the process for me every step of the way and took some pictures. So here's how it worked...

Here's me picking out my ugly oyster....

And here I am tapping the oyster and saying "Aloha"!

And my treasure...

Here's what it looked like in the shell...

And the final product. Da ta da...

It really came out so beautifully and I was just thrilled. I had a blast with Valerie and promised I would come back to see her one day. She's great. If anyone passes this little booth by SAB, stop. It's and adventure!!!


Ok, so after my pearl experience, I decided it was definitely time for my Mojito. I walked over to Hurricane Hannah's and ordered a passion fruit mojito, a little different than my usual. While waiting in line, a woman commented on my shirt. After TL, I had put on my red shirt with the stick figures. Just a reminder of the graphic (thanks DISigners!!!)...

She asked if I had made it and I proudly said no, and that a friend had done it for me. She then smiled and asked if I was a DISer! How funny. Yes, I proclaimed! I told her about my PTR and she said that she had read some of it. For the life of me, I cannot remember her name exactly. It was something like MickeyMomof2 or DisneyMomof2. She was from New York I believe but not sure. Anyway, it was fun having another mini Dismeet. Just another magical moment during my perfect afternoon.

I got my drink and decided to go to the beach and relax in the sand. I found a chair and got comfy. As I laid there, my eyes began to well. I just couldn't believe that I was actually there, at BC, on the beach, having a drink and wearing a beautiful new pearl necklace! I wished my mom could have been there with me so I called her and decribed all that had happened. After chatting with her for a while, I hung up the phone and decided to document this moment from my perspective.

Now if that doesn't describe this perfect moment, I don't know what would!
Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end and I was jolted back into reality when my phone rang. It was Jason wondering where in the world I was. I told him about my adventures and he was happy for me. The kids were awake and I needed to get moving. I snapped a few more pics to remember my perfect afternoon...

Up next, fun on the Boradwalk and Chef Mickey's!

 

[kathleen27]

Just caught up!

How exciting that you won dream fp at AK!!!!

The pictures of Aubrey watching Illuminations are great. Love her expressions.

I have never been to the water parks, and your description of the temp is not convincing me. I don't like cold water at all. And I think its cold when most people are comfortable. My kids are begging to go sometime, but since we are usually there in Feb and never have enough days it hasn't happened yet. If we go in spring or summer I will take them though.

Your solo time walking around the resort sounds wonderful! Your pearl is beautiful. I'll definately have to try that, it sounds like a lot of fun!

That's great that you got Chef Mickey's for dinner!!!

And I love the kids Halloween costumes!!! They look Adorable!!!

 

[coteau_chick]

I loved this update. I guess because I could sure use a afternoon like you had. I want a pearl like yours. It is beautiful. I am glad you had a nice time relaxing by yourself.

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

What an awesome afternoon! I love how you recreated the steps so we could see it! Thanks!

You are making me want to go back to WDW! Oh wait...I am! DME tags came today!

And I like the shots of the hallways. It really does sum up the difference in ambiance between those two resorts.

 

[DisneyTiger]

Just caught up!

How exciting that you won dream fp at AK!!!!

The pictures of Aubrey watching Illuminations are great. Love her expressions.

I have never been to the water parks, and your description of the temp is not convincing me. I don't like cold water at all. And I think its cold when most people are comfortable. My kids are begging to go sometime, but since we are usually there in Feb and never have enough days it hasn't happened yet. If we go in spring or summer I will take them though.

Your solo time walking around the resort sounds wonderful! Your pearl is beautiful. I'll definately have to try that, it sounds like a lot of fun!

That's great that you got Chef Mickey's for dinner!!!

And I love the kids Halloween costumes!!! They look Adorable!!!

Illuminations was so much fun. I love thinking back and remembering Aubrey's reactions. It was so much fun. The water was freezing at TL. I have to say. I can't even imagine what it would be like in Feb! Maybe you could bring wetsuits You should definitely try the pearl thing. I think there is another stand at DTD. It really was fun. I was excited about Chef Mickey's too. It was one of those meant to be kind of things. Halloween was a blast. Thanks!

I loved this update. I guess because I could sure use a afternoon like you had. I want a pearl like yours. It is beautiful. I am glad you had a nice time relaxing by yourself.

Thanks, this was an awesome day for me. You should go get yourself a pedicure or something. You need to pamper yourself after being sick so long!

What an awesome afternoon! I love how you recreated the steps so we could see it! Thanks!

You are making me want to go back to WDW! Oh wait...I am! DME tags came today!

And I like the shots of the hallways. It really does sum up the difference in ambiance between those two resorts.

I feel like I overdo it with the pictures sometimes but I know that I love seeing pics on other reports so why not. I really want to show exactly what I did and how I was feeling. I took so many pictures specifically for my TR. My DIS buds were always on my mind

I am SOOOOO jealous. I want to go back so bad and my birthday trip thing is very up in the air. Don't know if it's going to happen.

The hotels are really different. I guess I've just never noticed that. I used to always get them mixed up until I stayed there! Now I know they are very different!

PS- I want one of those cute dancing turkeys. Hint Hint

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

Oh...DisneyTiger...I thought of you this morning. I commute on the subway train here in NYC and the train I take in the morning is elevated. When I was coming off the train (at rush hour!) I got to the bottom of the stairs - 3 flights down - and at the bottom is a mom with a double stroller. She was waiting for us to stop coming down so she could carry it up the stairs - WITH the two children in it!

Carrying strollers up and down the stairs is normal, but it's rare that I see a double stroller, and at rush hour no less!

 

[DisneyTiger]

Oh...DisneyTiger...I thought of you this morning. I commute on the subway train here in NYC and the train I take in the morning is elevated. When I was coming off the train (at rush hour!) I got to the bottom of the stairs - 3 flights down - and at the bottom is a mom with a double stroller. She was waiting for us to stop coming down so she could carry it up the stairs - WITH the two children in it!

Carrying strollers up and down the stairs is normal, but it's rare that I see a double stroller, and at rush hour no less!

That really does sound like a nightmare. I hope she made it ok. Maybe someone stopped to help Poor thing.

Funny that made you think of me. I've been there before for sure! Well, not in the subway but you know what I mean

 

[DisneyTiger]

Hello everyone. Sorry it's been a while. On Tuesday, I decided on a whim to paint my dining room - RED! I had a red dining room in my first house and I have missed it since we moved. Don't know what came over me but I started painting and am almost finished. Red is such a hard color to paint. It's going to take 3 coats I think. It's worth it though. I love the color. I will have to take a pic when I'm done so I can share it with you. So that's been distracting me and then last night there was that little election thing going on. Man, what an exciting night! I don't want to get all political here or anything but no matter what side you're on, you have to agree that this is a huge thing! I really felt like a part of history. I was up until almost 1 watching every news station I could! Can't wait to see what the future holds.

Anywho, time for another post. When I last left you, I had just finished up my most perfect afternoon. I headed up to the room and got everyone ready for our night out. We had an ADR for Chef Mickey's at 7:30ish (I can't remember exactly when!) and we had some time to kill. I wanted to explore the Boardwalk a bit so we decided to rent one of those surrey bikes. I've always wanted to do that and I didn't notice until this trip that there are seats up front for little ones to sit! It was perfect for us. The kids played in the grass while Jason filled out the form. It always amazes me how much an open area amuses my kids. They just love to run...

I think it was $20 for 30 minutes but I can't remember for sure. The only rules were that pedestrians of course have the right of way and you are are only allowed to go clockwise around the boardwalk. Sounded easy enough. Here we are all loaded up and ready to go...

Here are the kids in the front basket. They absolutely loved this. They are the ultimate people watchers!

Here's a cool shot. I took it when we passed by the ESPN restaurant. It's our reflection in the mirror! Even though my thigh looks like a hamhock, I still like the pic. Those windows added about 10 lbs!

Ok, so here's the deal. We were having just a grand ole time riding our surrey bike and ringing the bell as we almost ran over people. But then we came to the hill near the International Gateway. It was pretty tough to get over but we managed. I needed a good workout. We kept going and came to the second hill on our route. It's the one right next to the Dolphin. This one was a doosey but we peddled on. Problem was, we were only about 5 minutes into our 30 minute ride which meant that we would be making multiple laps and going over these hills again - 3 times to be exact First time it was tough, second time we struggled, third time, well, just see for yourself...

We couldn't do it. Not even with my hamhocks peddling as hard as they could! We were exhausted! I just kept thinking about the people staying in the Dolphin whose rooms overlook this bridge. I would really love to stay in one of these rooms for the sole purpose of being able to laugh at the people on the surrey bikes trying to get over that hill!!!

It was fun but we were very much ready to be done when our 30 minutes were up. In fact, I think we turned it back in a bit early Oh well. By this time, we had all worked up an appetite and were ready for CM! We caught the bus from the Boardwalk and were on our way!

Up next... juggling two kids, a husband, a huge buffet, camcorder, camera, autographs, and oh yeah, feeding myself! Our first character meal at Chef Mickey's!

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

Those surrey bikes look like fun. Someday maybe I'll rent one too. But those hills....

One time I almost got ran over by one of those bikes. Turns out it was my mom's best friend from high school. Go figure! *insert Small World music here*

And a RED dining room? I'm going to need to see photos. I don't think I'd be so brave to paint ANYTHING bright red! I'll be it looks great though...all those house photos in magazines where they use bold colors always look awesome.

 

[coteau_chick]

I refused to ride the sury sp? bikes when we stayed at Boardwalk. I told Faron and the kids they could ride but not me. I still had our paddle boat ride in Mexico on my mind. I thought I was going to be washed out to sea I couldn't paddle the darn boat anymore and we couldn't get out and push. Of course Courtney was complaining the whole time. I wanted to throw her overboard. We were paddleing against the waves
I can't wait to hear how Chef Mickeys went. We didn't go because I didn't think my family would like the food. I don't know about your family but at the end of our disney vacations we all are desparate for rice and gravy. (you know, real food) Disney is supposed to release some great deal anouncement for the first half of 2009 today at 5:00 eastern. I heard about it on the discount code board. It is also on Mousesavers.

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

DisneyTiger....where are you? I'm missing your updates! I hope all is well with you and your family.

Actually, who am I kidding? I have a sneaking suspicion I know what you're doing today.....eating/tailgating followed by watching a BIG GAME! Geaux Tigers!

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

Here...methinks you need one of these:

 

[DisneyTiger]

Here...methinks you need one of these:

Still in too much pain to post. Will do later. Thanks for the hug. Jarret Lee for president