Who knew choking each other would earn us fastpasses?

[MissLiz]

Oh Lisa, how much more do you need on your plate right now? Geez!!!

Hope you are able to find a new neurologist soon. I'm sure that is very stressful!

Your family is in my thoughts and prayers!

 

[3LittlePirates]

I have been MIA for a while now! Crazy few months...I am not sure what is going on with your family, I have to go back and catch up! Please know that you guys are in my prayers! Loved your last update...I forgot my hubby made the "That's how we do it in Louisiana comment!"

 

[MissLiz]

Just wanted to pop in with some pics from our quick trip this weekend. I didn't take many, though.

Notice the sign change in front of MK for the new theme:

I took these when the PeopleMover stopped. It seemed to be having some issues because it stopped a couple times:

And this picture was taken right after they announced that the ride had stopped and to please stay seated:

(Yep, she's a listener.)

Lunch at Crystal Palace:

We rode the train and I tried to get some pics of the empty Toontown because it was really creepy:

I could not believe how crazy busy it was in the afternoons. The mornings were great, but MK on Sunday afternoon was a mess. Everything had huge waits, but luckily we were done with everything that we wanted to do, so it didn't affect us too much.

Now I can't wait until our September trip to go back!!!!!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Good morning Lisa. I'm so sorry to hear about all the chaos in your family right now. They're not kidding when they say, 'when it rains, it pours'! I'll be praying for a quick resolution to the doctor problem for John and for your Aunt as well. And for you....to remain calm and have the patience to handle it all!

LOVE the kissing picture...embarrassing our children is what we LIVE for! I actually like the candid one better as it really captures the emotion of the moment!

I hope you had a nice Valentine's Day with your family!

Thanks so much for the prayers! I appreciate every one of them. I was actually going to post on your Facebook page to add us to your prayer list.

Embarrassing our kids is definitely fun. The one of John trying to dip me makes me look like I have a huge waddly thing under my neck.

Oh Lisa, how much more do you need on your plate right now? Geez!!!

Hope you are able to find a new neurologist soon. I'm sure that is very stressful!

Your family is in my thoughts and prayers!

I know! It seems like the prayers are working as we are getting some positive words on both my aunt and on finding John a new doctor.

I have been MIA for a while now! Crazy few months...I am not sure what is going on with your family, I have to go back and catch up! Please know that you guys are in my prayers! Loved your last update...I forgot my hubby made the "That's how we do it in Louisiana comment!"

Hey there! I hope that you've recovered from all of your medical issues. Are you feeling okay now?

Aren't our husbands the silliest things ever!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Just wanted to pop in with some pics from our quick trip this weekend. I didn't take many, though.

Notice the sign change in front of MK for the new theme:

I took these when the PeopleMover stopped. It seemed to be having some issues because it stopped a couple times:

And this picture was taken right after they announced that the ride had stopped and to please stay seated:

(Yep, she's a listener.)

Lunch at Crystal Palace:

We rode the train and I tried to get some pics of the empty Toontown because it was really creepy:

I could not believe how crazy busy it was in the afternoons. The mornings were great, but MK on Sunday afternoon was a mess. Everything had huge waits, but luckily we were done with everything that we wanted to do, so it didn't affect us too much.

Now I can't wait until our September trip to go back!!!!!

I am so glad that you posted these pictures! Your two girls put a huge smile on my face which is just what I needed.

 

[mickeystoontown]

As you can see from the pictures, it wasn't very busy in Frontierland. That's because they were all in Fantasyland! I went to the bathroom near Peter Pan and I could see the line to Peter Pan was wrapped all the way down to the bathroom.

The wait for Haunted Mansion wasn't long at all so we figured now was as good a time as any to get in line too.

I took a close up of this tombstone because we have two that we put out at Halloween and want to do another:

I wanted to see if any pictures would turn out if I turned off the flash. They didn't turn out good at all. As a matter of fact, they look as if I captured pictures of ghosts:

All too soon the ride through the mansion was over and we were on the moving conveyor belt thingy. Cute little bats were painted on it:

When we walked outside, we felt a few raindrops. Remember those darkening skies? Well, looked like we were in for some rain.

I snapped one more picture before we needed to duck for cover because the raindrops were coming a bit quicker than before.

My camera batteries had died in my old camera and I wanted to buy more but the little cart outside the Haunted Mansion exit was closing up shop. The castmember was nice enough to roll up the tarp to see if she had any more AA batteries. Of course, with my luck, she didn't. We thanked her and ran into the store where Mama and I had shopped a few days before. They didn't have any batteries and directed us towards the shops near the Christmas store.

**Continued in next post

 

[mickeystoontown]

But, before we could go out, we were in need of either our ponchos or an umbrella or two. John can't stand wearing the ponchos because he's hot natured and he has a big head. Hey, I'm not saying anything he doesn't know so don't go fussing at me for saying it. He usually rips the neck of his ponchos so they'll fit which kind of ticks me off because we just paid for the dang things. Anyway, he didn't want to wear his poncho so we bought two umbrellas for he and Hunter and I wore one of the ponchos we brought with us.

We walked over to the Christmas store:

The entire time we were in the store, I kept thinking "I wish Mama was with us because she loves looking for new Christmas ornaments." However, I also knew that it wouldn't have been good for Mama to be out in the rain and she needed the extra rest that morning. We looked around for a little bit and I took a picture or two:

or three:

well, actually four:

When we went into the store, the castmembers were helping other guests but now, they were available to ask if they had batteries. Again, just my luck, they didn't. They told us to run across the way to the store beside Hall of Presidents as they knew they had them. And that's exactly what we did and plopped down a gosh awful amount of money for four batteries.
What's a gal to do though? You're in the middle of Walt Disney World, your last day in the World as a matter of fact, and you just have to have batteries. (Never mind the fact that I actually had two cameras and one had completely charged batteries )

Batteries in hand, well, in camera and we were back out into the rainy streets of Liberty Square.

Ring! Ring! Ring! Guess what? John got a phone call! Hey, it was the first one of the day and it was already mid-morning. That must be a record for him.

Hunter and I talked while John was on the phone and we decided we wanted to go over and see how long the wait was for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. I told John where we were going he tagged along while on the phone with his brother.

Instead of going directly down the streets of Frontierland, we walked down to the walkway around the river. We've found over the years that this is a path less taken and we can avoid a few hundred million people by going that way.

Okay, so maybe I was exaggerating the few hundred million people this time but I swear it's a better path to take than the streets during the more busy times of the day.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Once we reached Big Thunder Mountain, we saw that the wait was just 15 minutes. That's not bad for a weekend in June! John was being a sissy and said he would sit and wait for us because the train seats always hurt his back. Cry baby! Hunter and I certainly weren't going to miss it so we jumped in the line and were soon boarding our mine train:

These pictures were taken on the climb up one of the hills:

I guess because it was still sprinkling rain, they had slowed the ride down more than usual because, even though we were still zipping around the tracks, we certainly weren't going as fast as we normally would have been going. We weren't the only ones who noticed it either. There was a lady and her son behind us that were commenting on it too.

Oh I forgot, Hunter left his umbrella with his daddy and put on a poncho instead.

Even though the ride had been slowed down considerably, we still enjoyed it and were glad that we had waited in line. A couple of pictures I took before meeting back up with John:

By the time we had gotten off the ride, the wait time had increased to 20 minutes. I guess some of the Fantasyland guests had made their way over to Frontierland by that time.

**Up next: What do we do now? How 'bout a little explorin'?

 

[laashley]

Doesn't look like Hunter was too mortified with mom and dad kissing. Secretly he is glad you love each other enough to flaunt it in front of him.

HM is such a difficult ride to take pics of. I am always shocked when you can actually tell what the picture is of.

Even with the rain it looks like your last day was off to a good start. I'll take rain over large crowds any day.

Prayers for your aunt and for John finding a new neurologist soon.

 

[ronnmel]

Hope all your medical and non-medical issues get resolved quickly.

Sad that it's already your last day. I really have enjoyed your TR so far. Love the kissing pictures.

I see many great backsack patterns and colors. But I must resist, we just bought two new backpacks for our next Disney trip last fall. Haven't even been used yet!

 

[rndmr2]

Sorry to hear about your aunt's medical problems, hops her surgery goes well.

My Hubby has seizures, too (since he was about 17 years old) and his neurologist left over the summer (he moved over to the sleep center) but luckily he had partners so one of them just took over Tim's case. I am a nurse so I understand frustration about insurance and trying to find new doctors, hope you are able to find someone soon.

Great Update! I love the HM. It's one of my faves, those tombstones and the Bluebeard monument (is that who it is with all the wives?) are so funny. I don't think I ever noticed those little bats on the conveyor.

Those backsacks are really cute! What kind of material are they?

 

[Kathy Jetson]

I'm sorry to hear your aunt is sick. I hope everything goes well for her. I also hope you find another doctor for John in time. I'm keeping your family in my thoughts.

I love your pictures of MK! We always take that path around the river to thunder mountain too. I thought that was my secrete path!

 

[mommytothreeboys]

I really love the pictures of a soggy Frontierland! Is that strange??

I think I need that Mickey jingle bell door decoration for my house!

We had to buy batteries in the MK once....I feel your pain! But...sometimes you just do what ya gotta do!

 

[MissLiz]

Hey! I almost bought that door hanger this weekend! But then I thought, hmmm, how hard could it be to make something like that? So, I'm going to give it a try. Eeek!




I talked to my DH last night about John needing to find another neurologist. Neurology is one of the practices that my DH is administrator for at one of our local hospitals and he said that he could do some checking for you, as well, if you wanted him to. He has access to a lot of neurologists that probably know of some in LA.

Let me know and I can have him check around!!!

 

[jenseib]

I hope you can get a new Dr for John ASAP. It's such a pain.
And I hope your Aunt does well. I know how hard a surgery is on an older person. They just don't spring back as well, but hopefully she has your families strength.

I love your MK day. Just take it all in and do whatever.

 

[natebenma]

Enjoying your updates from your last day at MK. What a great trip!

I am so sorry to hear about all of the turmoil and health issues- like the others, I'm thinking good thoughts for your family.

Here's our kissing picture- the boys' expressions say it all!

Those are great pictures of the two of you and the three of you!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Morning everybody! Only have time for a quick family update this morning.

The biopsy on my Aunt's thyroid has been scheduled and they want to see how she recovers from that before scheduling the surgery on her esophagus. One of their main concerns is how well she does with the anesthesia so I guess the thyroid biopsy will be a "test" of how she recouperates.

On John's doctor problems, I've gotten a couple of phone calls from the worker's compensation adjuster and he's found a doctor who will accept the insurance! We are more than thrilled. The only problem is we don't know how quickly he can fit John in. The adjuster is working on that now and hopes to get back in touch with us this week.

As far as whether or not he's going to run out of his meds, he's not! The general practitioner that John has seen for little things over the years called us back and they accept worker's comp. Meaning, we can get his meds refilled even before he gets in to see the new neurologist. Getting his prescriptions were our number one concern right now since he only has to see a neurologist twice a year for check-ups.

My boss is also feeling somewhat better after having to drive himself to the emergency room this weekend. He says that his chest still feels like an elephant is sitting on it and he's tired but he doesn't have the other symptoms he was having Sunday night. His doctors still think that the problems were (and the after effects still are) caused from the change of his medications.

So, I thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. They certainly seem to be working!

I hope to be back a little later to post more of our Magic Kingdom day.

Oh and Lacey gets to see some of her old Master's Commission brothers and sisters today. They are passing through our area on their way from Texas back to Georgia. They are hoping to stop somewhere to eat and Lacey will meet them there. She didn't get to see them when she was in Georgia a week ago because they were out of town. Needless to say, she's beyond excited.

 

[Caretames1]

Well, all that news sounds very promising! Hopefully your Aunt does well too.

Carey

 

[mommytothreeboys]

Great news about the doctor for John and the meds. I'm sure that is a huge relief.

I'll keep your Aunt in my prayers as she undergoes her biopsy.

 

[mickeystoontown]

We found John pretty quickly amongst all of the other park guests and asked what he wanted to do. He suggested we take the raft over to Tom Sawyer Island. Sounded good to us! We walked down the walkway to the dock and a raft was just pulling in meaning we didn't have long to wait until we were making our way over to the island.

Our first thing we wanted to explore was one of the caves:

Creepy!

We came out of the cave and back into the semi-sunshine and continued our exploration of the island. Let's go this way:

Views of Magic Kingdom from the island:

By sticking with our "keep going left" rule, we were soon looking at the entrance to the Fort. For years and years, we wandered around the island and never found the fort. But, thanks to mommytothreeboys, we found it a couple of years ago! Thank you Missy! So, for those of you who wonder where the fort is on the island, keep going left and you'll eventually find it.

We climbed up into the fort so I could take pictures of Big Thunder Mountain and Hunter could shoot the rifles:

I just noticed that Hunter still had on his disposable poncho:

** Continued in next post