Unfortunately, my family STILL thinks I'm crazy..a double PTR. *6/6-Beating the heat?

[AKL LOVER]

Here we go again...



The eye rolls .
The sighs .
The bored, glazed over looks .


I knew it was bound to happen. At this point, I shouldn't even be surprised by it!




That's right--we booked another trip and the fact that I did so just put my family one step closer to throwing me in the looney bin. Seriously. I can't believe it didn't happen the last time we booked a trip. I don't know what I was thinking this time around. I'm certain that I will not actually make it to Disney this time because I will be stuck in a padded room courtesy of my family.




For the love of Disney, why did I even tell them?!? And because I had to open my big mouth and tell them about it, now I can't actually talk about it. Not that I could before anyway. Which is a darned if you do, darned if you don't situation anyway, if you know what I mean.


So what's my only option at this point? Write a PTR of course!!





This PTR will focus on highlighting not only what we will do on our trip, but also all the reasons why I might actually be crazy.....



....So if you've ever been accused of being crazy because you LOVE Disney...



or if you think you might actually be crazy because you LOVE Disney...



or if you LOVE Disney because you are crazy...



...then this PTR is for YOU


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Introducing my partners in crime!

So am I really crazy? Let us count the ways...

According to my family, first and foremost I am crazy because...
Brainwashing or pure genius?
On two things I may agree with my family that I am slightly crazy.
Your making what?!?
You want WHAT?!?
How do YOU have adult fun at Disney??
Countdowns galore
You know it's a good day when...
HELP! Photopass ideas wanted!
Time for you to chime in...What would YOU do???
Countdowns, t-shirts and to do lists, OH MY!!
Can I have your autograph?
Things are finally starting to come together...
Park Plans--Finally!

 

[dilligaf212]

Oh I can't wait to read lol.. How could they not be excited to go to Disney

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

I'm coming along for the ride.

 

[SDS33]

Same here! I have decided to go on my first solo trip and when i explained to my mom what I was doing she said that I maybe shouldn't tell anyone because people will wonder why I am going without my children.

Just a little back-story... my children have been there several times, so i am not depriving them of a trip to see the Mouse. My husband does not want to go back and I tried to get him to go. He said to me that if I wanted to go that i could. That's where the solo part comes in

I always worry about what other people think, i always have. My husband tells me that I shouldn't. We haven't mentioned to his family that I am going because I am afraid of what they might say or think. DH said to me, "After all of the stupid things they have done, why would you care what they think?"

So, i am trying to take his advice. I want to enjoy my trip and I hope that you enjoy your trip also.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Joining in and looking forward to another report!

 

[MiaBella05]

joining in

 

[Lidian]

Totally here!

 

[nvsnot]

Great start , I'm in !!!

 

[Nermel9]

I'm in, and can totally relate...I texted my DH while I was at work today and asked "can we go to Disney in May AND September?" (I'm supposed to pick one or the other, as of now! ) To which he replied "this is insane, it's getting out of control." Whatever, I just want to go to Disney World!!!

 

[Robinh]

I can't wait to read more.

 

[Deemarch]

And I'm in again!!

 

[AKL LOVER]

Wow guys! Thanks so much for all the traffic so far...and I haven't even really gotten a true post up yet!

But I'm not one to disappoint, so let's get this party started...



This trip includes just the 4 of us again. Myself, DH, DD7 and DS4 (he'll be 5 by the time we go). We most recently went in May 2011:

First there is myself, Melissa.

I work full time as a teacher--7th grade Life Science to be exact. I like to think that I took this job to make a difference, but deep down I think I took this job just to prepared for all the drama DD unleashes on our house on a regular basis (In case you are wondering, I have ESP so I totally knew that I would have a dramatic daughter before I even had her!). I'm the one that started the Disney-craze in our family. And I'm afraid it may die out without me...good thing I'm here to keep it going! It really amazes me at how much I learn about my family each time we go to Disney. I'm a little sorry to admit that I put very little time and planning into our first trip. In fact, if you can believe it, we booked at about 6 weeks out!! But the trip really turned out great and we immediately fell in love with Disney!


Next is my DH, JJ.

Lord, he would be so embarrassed if he knew this picture was posted on here!! (I posted a nice picture of me but a silly one of him because that's just how I roll!) I love DH to death because he continues to put up with my crazy Disney fits and he even get's into it himself sometimes. But don't tell him that I told you! I even have proof of this fact:

See?!? What grown man would do this if they weren't enjoying themself at Disney??


Then there is DD7.

While she can be a bit dramatic, she is generally a happy go lucky girl. She alsmost always has a smile on her face and is in a good mood. As she is getting older, she is definitely trying my patience. It just so happens that I have acquired a lot of patience in my 10 years of teaching so that works out really well for us.


Last, but definitely not least, is DS4.

He is such a mama's boy and I LOVE IT. He is so sweet and snuggily. Like every mom I hate that he has grown so big. It makes my heart ache. And is making me itch for another addition...but THAT is a totally different story! DS is currently at the perfect age for Disney. He just loves everything Disney. My family thinks I've brainwashed them, which really brings me to reason #1 of why my family thinks I'm crazy...

My KIDS now talk about Disney. Going to Disney. Rides in Disney. Disney characters. They will bring Disney up in a normal conversation around my family and the eyerolls have a tendancy to start. Hehehehe...I love it, I love it, I love it!!

Wow. I learned from this update that I really do love a lot of things! And now I leave you with a few pictures from our very first trip. Enjoy!

Continue to next update

 

[AKL LOVER]

Oh I can't wait to read lol.. How could they not be excited to go to Disney

They think I'm crazy for loving Disney and I constantly insist that they are crazy for NOT loving Disney.

Same here! I have decided to go on my first solo trip and when i explained to my mom what I was doing she said that I maybe shouldn't tell anyone because people will wonder why I am going without my children.

Just a little back-story... my children have been there several times, so i am not depriving them of a trip to see the Mouse. My husband does not want to go back and I tried to get him to go. He said to me that if I wanted to go that i could. That's where the solo part comes in

I always worry about what other people think, i always have. My husband tells me that I shouldn't. We haven't mentioned to his family that I am going because I am afraid of what they might say or think. DH said to me, "After all of the stupid things they have done, why would you care what they think?"

So, i am trying to take his advice. I want to enjoy my trip and I hope that you enjoy your trip also.

I just fessed up over the weekend to my family that I'm going down for a girls trip. I actually didn't get as much flack for it as I thought I would...I count that as progress!

Don't even worry about what your family thinks or about depriving your kids. I'm sure you deserve a solo trip--ENJOY it to the fullest!!

I'm in, and can totally relate...I texted my DH while I was at work today and asked "can we go to Disney in May AND September?" (I'm supposed to pick one or the other, as of now! ) To which he replied "this is insane, it's getting out of control." Whatever, I just want to go to Disney World!!!

This is almost exactly how my girls trip came about. DH thought 2 family trips would be too much (what do you mean you want to spend your 2nd week of vacation relaxing?!?) so I decided to take the other trip without them

 

[Joyciemc]

I'm joining in!

I try not to tell extended family when we're going back to Disney again, but Ben usually blabs it. Then he tells them how we own DVC and I cringe. I mean I love WDW, but I don't need every new person we meet to know just how nuts we are. If we had kids, we could blame it on them!

 

[dilligaf212]

great update can't wait to read mre.. we just booked our flights today for our march trip

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

I'm in!!! Oh, I am ALWAYS made fun of for my Disney obsession!

Can't wait to hear more about your plans! (And what resort pool you'll be having to put up with this time!! )

Love the pics from your first trip, the one with Goofy is so cute!

 

[AKL LOVER]

I'm joining in!

I try not to tell extended family when we're going back to Disney again, but Ben usually blabs it. Then he tells them how we own DVC and I cringe. I mean I love WDW, but I don't need every new person we meet to know just how nuts we are. If we had kids, we could blame it on them!

You know, the first couple of trips, blaming Disney on the kids worked. Now I think my family has caught on...

great update can't wait to read mre.. we just booked our flights today for our march trip

for booking airfare! That really makes it official, doesn't it??

I'm in!!! Oh, I am ALWAYS made fun of for my Disney obsession!

Can't wait to hear more about your plans! (And what resort pool you'll be having to put up with this time!! )

Love the pics from your first trip, the one with Goofy is so cute!

Oh you just wait until you hear about my pool plans. I may be asking for it this time!

Thanks for the compliments on the pics. That particular picture was Goofy's idea when he saw DD sleeping in the stroller. It was ssoooo cute...he was all excited and motioning to us and it took us at least 2 or 3 minutes to realize what he wanted to do! It's a great memory!

 

[AKL LOVER]

So, I thought that it would be fun in this PTR to highlight the various reasons why my family thinks I am crazy. One or 2 of the reasons I will mention, lead me to believe that I might actually be crazy. But I'm getting ahead of myself on that one.




So, first and foremost, the reason of utmost importance as to why my family thinks I'm crazy is probably apparent from my PTR title...




.......




.......




.......





.......



I'm going to Disney twice next year!



That's right. Read it and weep folks. I can't hardly believe it myself! I mean, what is better than taking more than one trip to Disney in one year?? Well, just you wait because it does get better!!


First, here's how it all started.

I was planning our annual family vacation to the World. Of course I was. Who isn't? I think you are crazy if you aren't currently in some way shape or form in the process of planning a trip to WDW. I mean, as soon as I come back, I start planning the next trip (even if it's only in my head...)We had no definite plans for our 2012 trip and I was pretty open to going whenever. When what to my wondering ears would appear, but a conversation about a girls only trip with my college girlsfriends sometime in the next year. Several of them, like me, LOVE Disney and visit there often with their families. And so after many chats via email and FB, we came up with a plan and our June girls trip was born.

I am over-the-moon excited to be at Disney just FOR MYSELF!! I am going to run around MK and EP like a little girl loose in a candy store. Which would be another reason why my family would think I'm crazy, but they won't get to see me do all that anyway, so that doesn't count! Anyway, I'm not sure that I am accurately conveying my total and utter excitement to be going to Disney. BY MYSELF! Getting to do whatever I want, whenever I want. Eating where ever I want. Touring for as long as I want. Avoiding the pool as much as I want These things are what my girls trip is going to be all about!!



Let's pause here and point out, that this is Reason 2 why my family thinks I'm crazy--I'm going to Disney with adults only and no kids. Really?? Disney with NO KIDS?? What in the world was I thinking?? I mean, who goes to Disney with no kids? What would I do at Disney with no kids? (Those words were literally spoken to me, mind you.)


Ahem.


Obviously, none of my family reads the DIS. And I don't think I will be suggesting these boards to them anytime soon as it would only suggest that perhaps their theory may even be remotely possible. They don't need any more encouragement on that end!



So, with a girls only June trip planned, I decided that our family trip would be in April over spring break. I made reservations for our April trip and started looking at airfare. All was going smooth until DH threw a kink in the plans...Not a bad kink though....


Say hello to DH's kink:

A trip to St. Thomas for just him and I. Those of you who followed my last TR know that we took our first adults only trip this past summer to Jamaica. So I was NOT going to argue with another one if that's what he wanted! And since I hadn't booked any airline tickets, our Disney trips were flexible.

So with a trip to St. Thomas booked at the end of April, a family Disney trip in early/mid April would just be too much. A quick email to my girlfriends confirmed that they would be willing to go in April instead (at the end of spring break so I wouldn't have to take off work), so this allowed me to move our family trip to June.

Even better was that a discount had just been released for June...I was more than happy to switch our family trip to these new dates. The prices during spring break at Disney are outrageous!



Without further ado, here is the final (and official) breakdown of our Disney dates next year...



April 11-15 (Wed-Sun) is my girls only trip. I'm excited to get a peek at the spring break crowds without having the whole family in tow. This will allow me to decide if we could handle spring break at Disney in the future.


June 11-18 (Mon-Mon) is our family trip. I've already switched our resort reservation dates and bought our airline tickets. I found roundtrip nonstop Jetblue flights from DC for $170 each. I couldn't pass that up!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Up next: Could there possibly be a reason that might lead me to believe that I am actually crazy???


Continue to next update

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Yay for Disney but SUPER YAY for St. Thomas/St. John!

 

[AKL LOVER]

So another reason that my family thinks I'm crazy, resurfaced over Christmas, so I thought it appropriate to bring up next instead of what I was planning on posting about.


It all started with a bag. And it's not even a Disney bag at that!


Here is said bag:

This was a gift from my mom to my DD. It's a cute little bag. And when DD opened it, she was super excited. So excited in fact that the first thing she yelled out was--

I can take this to Disney!!!


*sigh* A girl after my own heart. I considered this idea to be a stroke of genius ....


....My family thinks I've brainwashed my kids.


Of course, I had to listen to all the groans and sighs. But it's ok because those will all be a distant memory as I step onto Main Street and see the castle come April

Now that's a sight worth seeing no matter how much ridicule I have to take from my family!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Up next: Even some of you DISers may begin to question my own mental state!


Continue to next update