(WE ARE BACK! TR LINK!) The-BFF-Birthday-bash PTR turned ANNIVERSARY trip

[Victoriasmom98]

OH Karen....I am soooo envious of your romantic trip!! It's so close now. Your first day sounds awesome --- a perfect start! I have to agree with Erin that the Kit Kat cake looks amazing!! I'll have to go pin it, as I've never seen that before! Day of the Dead, eh? That's a cool theme and the kids looked like they had fun! I love living through your plans and events!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

OH Karen....I am soooo envious of your romantic trip!! It's so close now. Your first day sounds awesome --- a perfect start! I have to agree with Erin that the Kit Kat cake looks amazing!! I'll have to go pin it, as I've never seen that before! Day of the Dead, eh? That's a cool theme and the kids looked like they had fun! I love living through your plans and events!

Thanks Ann! We are really looking forward to time alone! Last year, we went into St. Louis for 2 nights. It was the FIRST TIME in 21 years that we had gone away alone. We never even had a honeymoon. So, it gave us a taste and now we're hooked!

 

[SeptemberGirl]

I think that looks like a great short trip!

 

[-Hope-]

That looks magical! I can hardly wait to hear all about it. And am slightly jealous since Robbie would never consider WDW a romantic getaway.

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[Twoboysnmygirl]

I think that looks like a great short trip!

Thanks Liz! I'm hoping it doesn't fly by so fast that we can't savor it!

That looks magical! I can hardly wait to hear all about it. And am slightly jealous since Robbie would never consider WDW a romantic getaway. :roflol:

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Well, you know Rey would PREFER Vegas, but we can't afford Vegas the way he wants to do it! OMG, I'm sorry, I'm sick. I guess what Rey had was contagious, b/c I'm all congested, runny nose, and I feel like my head is going to explode. I'm keeping my distance from Kya today, but I'm sure she's been exposed. I hope she doesn't catch it!

 

[-Hope-]

No biggie, I'm sure she'll survive. Now if she spreads it to Robbie I may send him over because he is NOT a good patient.

I hope you feel better soon!

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[Stringbean&Wingnut]

Happy belated birthday to Savannah!!! Her party looks like so much fun!!! Yay for the Kit Kat cake - I had made one for Easter this year, it looks great as an autumnal version too!!

I think your plans sound great! I've never done Sanaa for lunch, but we LOVE dinner there!!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

No biggie, I'm sure she'll survive. Now if she spreads it to Robbie I may send him over because he is NOT a good patient.

I hope you feel better soon!

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Well, I've certainly been sicker in my lifetime, but it's not pleasant, so I hope she doesn't catch it! Not sure if Rey will bring the boys in or not this afternoon, btw. He's at PT until noon and then when he gets home, we'll see how he feels. I probably won't venture out since I don't have to!

Happy belated birthday to Savannah!!! Her party looks like so much fun!!! Yay for the Kit Kat cake - I had made one for Easter this year, it looks great as an autumnal version too!!

I think your plans sound great! I've never done Sanaa for lunch, but we LOVE dinner there!!

I saw the Easter one when I was looking, those are cute! It really makes making a cake pretty simple, no worries about perfect icing or anything. I may have to make more of them.

I'm hoping they still have the bread service for lunch hours? Is 2:45 lunch hours still? I think it will be fun to see the animals better since it won't be dark...oooh and maybe it will be a tiny bit cheaper???

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

If you post today and I don't respond, it's not that I'm not reading, I'm headed to the couch and can check the DIS from my phone...but responding is pretty hard to do on the phone. Hey, at least I'm getting the sickies out of the way before the trip, right?!?!?

Exactly 2 weeks from today, Rey & I will be sitting in Crystal Palace!!!!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

SINGLE DIGITS!!!!! 8 DAYS! When did that happen?!?!?

I've been so busy, and focused on getting this 5K done that I totally lost track of time! I cannot believe in a week we will be preparing to leave.

So, what has kept me busy? I ran my first-ever-5K! This has been such a long time coming, I have had injuries and gotten sick, so when I got sick this past week, my heart sank, but I decided that I was going to run no matter what! You remember the cutsie costume pic I posted of what I was wearing, right? (see my avatar) Well, it was just too cold for that! 32 degrees yesterday morning! So, I put on some layers and blew my nose and Dallas & I headed to our first race ever!

Rey took pictures, I was SO grateful b/c I really want to remember my first race. It was cold before running, but once we started, it was great! I couldn't keep my minnie ears on at all, ended up holding them the whole race, which was fine. We underestimated ourselves and stood too far back, we had to pass a lot of people at first.

OMG the hills! Dallas & I have trained for this, but our town (and the treadmill) is not as hilly as this course was! We ran the whole thing except for a couple times when the hills were so steep we needed to walk a bit. My legs are really sore this morning b/c they just weren't used to that incline!

We pushed through and aside from both having shoe lace issues, we came to the end of the race, tired, but knowing we had done it!

THE BEST PART was the end! You think you are done and you have really no more to give and you get close to the finish and everyone starts yelling for you to sprint! I looked at Dallas and said "RACE YA!" and we SPRINTED as fast as we could down the finish. It was SO fantastic, I cannot explain it!

and then nearly DIED! We sat on the curb for a bit to catch our breath! What a fabulous race! I love how Dallas barely looks winded. I kept up with him though!

We left, but later when I looked up our rankings, I found out we had BOTH placed first in our age groups! We missed getting our prize and everything (we're able to pick them up this week, luckily), we just never imagined that we would be in first. What happened is that there was a 10K as well, so all the superfast runners did that race! BUT, I beat TEN other women and all of them were younger than me, so I count that as a pretty big accomplishment!

After a fantastic morning running, I had to come home, get cleaned up, and do some petsits. Then in the evening I volunteered my photography to a local animal welfare group that was having a doggie Halloween Party to fund raise! Here's what the shots looked like:

So, I think it was a pretty productive day! NOW I can focus on this trip! I have started picking out some outfits and I have our mini-toiletries in their ziplock, so I'm at least started!

Oh, one more thing! So, they have CRAZY extended hours when we are there b/c of the AP holders previews at FLE and also I believe there are going to be BIG crowds our week (Jersey Week) So, Rey & I were playing around with adding a day to our 2 day hopper. It would mea we could get about 6 hours in the parks on our arrival day. We would have a late lunch at Sanaa like planned, but instead of DTD, we would head to AK and then DHS, which is open until 11pm. It would cost $132 total to do this and Rey says that's over 20$ an hour just for a few more hours at the parks. I'm on the fence about it. What do you guys think?

Would you pay $132 to go to the parks from 5 or 6-11pm? Would it make a difference that you only had 2 full days? Tues & Wed, our park days, do have VERY extended hours, so we could technically be in the parks from 8am to 1am on Tuesday and 9am to midnight on Wednesday already. I'm unsure if spending the money for 6 more hours is worth it??

 

[Tink-erin-belle]

Congrats to you and Dallas on completing the 5K! That is fantastic that you both were first in your age groups!

I read your laid back park plans and they look good. Eating and drinking around the world two evenings in a row sounds pretty nice to me Your morning plans on both days sound good as well! Considering that, as well as the fact that Rey can't ride much, I'm not so sure the extra park day would be worth it. You'll already be so rushed on your arrival day that it might be nice to just relax after your "Linner" at Sanaa. Besides, if you don't go to DTD, how will you get your Ghirardelli fix?

 

[-Hope-]

I am so impressed with your 5k accomplishment! I don't even know how to convey it - I could never do that and I think it's amazing that you even WANT to much less that you actually did it. Throw in all of the obstacles you've had along the way and its just amazing.

As for adding park days I guess my questions would be; 1) What will you be giving up if you do it? I mean, if you don't how would that money be spent? 2) What will you gain from it? I see you're adding AK but other than EE, which Rey can't ride what will you do there? And do you need more time at DHS? Or would this replace your other DHS time so you can focus on MK and EP your other days?

I'm not really sure what I would do in your shoes but weigh the benefits and losses and go from there.

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[Twoboysnmygirl]

Congrats to you and Dallas on completing the 5K! That is fantastic that you both were first in your age groups!

I read your laid back park plans and they look good. Eating and drinking around the world two evenings in a row sounds pretty nice to me Your morning plans on both days sound good as well! Considering that, as well as the fact that Rey can't ride much, I'm not so sure the extra park day would be worth it. You'll already be so rushed on your arrival day that it might be nice to just relax after your "Linner" at Sanaa. Besides, if you don't go to DTD, how will you get your Ghirardelli fix?

Yep, the more I think about it, it feels like adding the day we arrive in park tickets would just make it feel more pushed and less leisurely. This trip isn't about rides, and is more relaxed, so it feels like enjoying Linner and heading to DTD to relax will be better than more park hours!

I am so impressed with your 5k accomplishment! I don't even know how to convey it - I could never do that and I think it's amazing that you even WANT to much less that you actually did it. Throw in all of the obstacles you've had along the way and its just amazing.

As for adding park days I guess my questions would be; 1) What will you be giving up if you do it? I mean, if you don't how would that money be spent? 2) What will you gain from it? I see you're adding AK but other than EE, which Rey can't ride what will you do there? And do you need more time at DHS? Or would this replace your other DHS time so you can focus on MK and EP your other days?

I'm not really sure what I would do in your shoes but weigh the benefits and losses and go from there.

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Thanks my friend. I would be giving up souvenir money (which you KNOW I love! LOL) and you're right, aside from walking around AK and getting MORE time at DHS, which I'm unsure we actually need, it won't get us much. And, we would be giving up a relaxed evening at DTD...and Ghirardelli's!!

Also, I just balanced the checkbook and I'm thinking spending $132 would not be the best thing to do with how much money we have for food & souvenirs! That pretty much made the decision for me!

 

[-Hope-]

Good choice- food, souvenirs and DRINKS should always be a priority over rides, IMO.

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[Twoboysnmygirl]

Good choice- food, souvenirs and DRINKS should always be a priority over rides, IMO.

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I know you aren't going to believe me, but I'm feeling like I won't get many drinks. I was thinking about water at our nice dinner (to cut down on the price and b/c alcohol has been so dehydrating to me lately)...oh whatever...I'm sure I'll get there and totally change my mind on that!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

ONE WEEK from RIGHT NOW we will be:

Eating at Crystal Palace!

Disney has extended hours, so our breakfast will NOT be early anymore, the park opens at 8am, but we're not too worried about it. We don't have a huge list of things to do in MK and this is a relaxed trip. I'm hoping to get some pics in front of the castle: (lol...we both look different now, Rey's hair is short and he's lost weight)

Oh and speaking of photos. I'm SO PHOTOEXCITED (oooh, I made a new word!) b/c I'm renting a very wide angle lens for this trip. I always want landscape shots at Disney and they are never wide enough. This time they will be superwide! It arrives Thursday b/c I had to make sure it would come on time and they won't deliver on the weekend, so I'll have a few days to play around with it! YAY!

They also decided to extend hours to 1AM for MK, SOooooo, Rey said he would come back at night with me to get some shots of the icicle castle! I suspect we will end up doing a few things in the morning and then leaving to head to different parks since we're coming back at night. We're just gonna wing it! Feels pretty exciting not to have a schedule and list of stuff I HAVE to do this time. Freedom!

Oh and you'll be happy (and not surprised) to know that I am packed! Well, nearly totally. Rey, however, says he's going to pack Sunday right before bed.

 

[Tink-erin-belle]

I love your new word! I'd be photoexcited too if I were an awesome photographer like you! Hey, that rhymes! Anyway, have fun with that new lens. I can't wait to see your pics!

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Well, I know I'm PHOTOEXCITED for you guys!!! One week from today ---- just imagine. I'm so proud of you for being all packed up! I knew you would be shortly. Rey sounds like Peter who will throw clothes into a bag the night before. Ugh! I don't know how they can do that ---- oh wait, I do know ..... they rely on us to bring all the important stuff like suncreen, toiletries, etc.! Are you going to update on Facebook at all?? I hope so!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

I love your new word! I'd be photoexcited too if I were an awesome photographer like you! Hey, that rhymes! Anyway, have fun with that new lens. I can't wait to see your pics!

You're a poet and didn't know it! Thanks! I'm excited to do a TR, obviously, so keep an eye out for the link when I get back!

Well, I know I'm PHOTOEXCITED for you guys!!! One week from today ---- just imagine. I'm so proud of you for being all packed up! I knew you would be shortly. Rey sounds like Peter who will throw clothes into a bag the night before. Ugh! I don't know how they can do that ---- oh wait, I do know ..... they rely on us to bring all the important stuff like suncreen, toiletries, etc.! Are you going to update on Facebook at all?? I hope so!

Yep, I have to make sure I have all the little stuff, and let's face it, he'll just grab some jeans an tshirts...I wanted to make sure I was comfortable AND cute, so it too a little more effort. ABSOLUTELY I will be updating on FB! I wouldn't think of not updating! You might get sick of my updates, there will be so many.

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Nope.....never sick of Karen's updates! Bring 'em on!!!