4 in the countdown

I don't care that it's not officially 4 months until January 5th. I'm excited gal darnit and I'm posting #4 in the countdown today. WOO HOO:

January is just a day away

It will officially be 2014 tomorrow. I've got my RCI certificates in hand and am now just waiting (with bated breath) for the right timeshare to become available. Then I will pounce on it like Nala. haha.
Yesterday I emailed a request for reservation for the T-Rex diner at Downtown Disney. I haven't heard back yet but I'm just SOO excited. I'll call them next week if I haven't heard anything back by then.
I'm once again getting into panic mode. How soon is too soon to start packing? Or at least making a test run on packing and making sure everything fits and doesn't exceed the airlines weight limits? I still need to get one more suite case so that everyone has one and then we should be good.
So, besides suitcases what else is there to panic over? Well, let me think:
1. What if I don't get a decent time share and we end up staying somewhere crappy?
2. I've packed on some pounds since last summer. I'm working out but what if I can't fit into my clothes by the time I need to pack and have to buy more clothes. yuck.
3. Because I'm working out nightly now, when will I have time to redo the luggage tags and finish the fun scrap booking I've been doing for the trip?
4. What if we end up fighting the whole time? I could see me, very easily, yelling at the kids "Shut your pie holes. This is the happiest place on earth and I won't have you take that away from me with your stupid fighting! Now shut up and be happy!" *face palm*

Okay, now that I've got that out, let's dispel the fears.
1. All the time shares on the site are decent. Worst case scenario we end up staying in one of the hotels with a partial kitchen and sharing a room with our boys. Would that suck? Yes.. Is it survivable considering all of the other AMAZING things that will be happening. Absolutely.
2. Yes it would suck if I compared my pictures from Disney to the one of my husband and I 10 years before and I can clearly see I've turned into a hamball. Should that stop me from having a blast with my family? No. I'll look amazing because you'll see the joy just pouring out of me. Plus, I do like having reasons to buy new clothes (not that I'll dare use that as an excuse to not exercise... I really do want to at least be the same weight (which is doable if I do the right things)
3. Really? You're worried about that? There is plenty of time, don't take something so fun and freak out over it.
4. Yes, they're going to fight, but remember how much you and your mother didn't get along growing up.. Then the two of you spent a whole week in Puerto Rico.. Together... JUST the two of you. You were practically BFF's. This will be fine.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope everyone has a magical day.

December is here

So, here we go, another month to add to the countdown.

That's right, Peter Pan's flight!

I adored this movie as a child and remember getting teary eyed every time I rode this ride, even when I went as an adult almost 10 years ago. There is something so magical about flying over the streets of London with that famous music playing and there's just something that gets me right in the feels whenever I hear Michael say "Come on, Nana". I can't explain why, it just is what it is. Thinking about this ride reminds me why I'm so excited to take our kids. I can't wait to pass on the magic and wonder I experienced to them... And to be able to experience it all together.

Thankful

Thanksgiving is just a few days away and I have so much to be thankful for. My God, my family, my dog, my health.. the list could go on and on... BUT, since this blog is dedicated to our Disney trip... Let me point out the big thing I'm thankful for on that subject.

OUR FLIGHT AND CAR RENTAL ARE BOOKED! IT'S OFFICIAL!

Now there really is no going back. We're going this spring and that's all there is to it! WOOOO HOOOO!

Now to get those time shares booked and make sure all the supplies are organized and packed and we are SET! woo hoo!!!

Woot, It's November!

You know what that means!! It means it's time to be Thankful (isn't everyday?) and boy do I have a lot to be thankful about. Besides being thankful for my health, my family, my church and all the little blessings that happen throughout my day..... I'm thankful that our big trip is now just SIX months away!!! Woo hoo!

Relief

When I was originally looking at getting time shares, it looked like the rules stated you could only stay in one place for one week in a 12 month period. I was bummed by the idea that we'd have to move to two different places on our vacation.

Last night, we were looking up our options (since we'll be able to book soon) and found one of the places that we really wanted to stay. My husband asked the question about length of stay and by asking that he planted a tiny seed of doubt in my mind. I'm glad he did. The place we really want has a policy that you can stay TWO weeks. I'm stoked. Now we can stay in ONE place the entire time. What a relief!

A Disney Halloween

Normally we make random jack-o-lanterns for Halloween. This year, we decided to go with a theme; A Disney theme.

First we start off by prepping the pumpkins in the only way a manly man can... With power tools!A hole saw to cut the bases out of the pumpkins.

Then we attach a kitchen beater to the power drill for quick gutting!

Put stencils on and cut out your designs and viola!

Disney logo and Tinkerbell

Vampire Mickey and Jack Skellington

It's October.

Okay, so the official 7 month mark isn't until Saturday but I'm going to go ahead and share the next on my countdown.

My husband and I have watched this ride on Youtube about a hundred times. We're extremely excited for this one.... However, this ride will still be a tricky one for us. My oldest will NOT want to get on this ride. I'll still ask him but we will, in no way, force the issue. Our youngest might just barely be tall enough for it... Considering that it has no loopy-de-loops, I think we might be able to get him on it but that's not certain. What I do know is that my hubs and I will be figuring out parent swap on this for sure. We LOVE roller coasters and I'm especially excited to ride this one.

And a dog throws a wrench in everything.

So, the original thought was that we wouldn't get a dog until AFTER our trip. That way we wouldn't have to worry about where said dog would go while we were away.
.
.
.
Then Ella happened. My hubby fell madly in love with a Brittany Spaniel mix named Ella and now she's taken up residency in our home. Don't get me wrong, I'm in love with her too... But it does throw a wrench in my plans for surprising the boys. In case you don't remember, I was originally planning on walking them most of the way to school, having a "chance" encounter with their grandparents and then getting a ride to the airport where we would THEN tell them about the surprise.... Having Ella toys with that.
You see, I could keep to the plan and have Ella in the car with us.. But then that means we have to deal with her terror as the boys scream up and down about where they're going, we have to navigate the airport situation while we're getting our stuff checked in to board and that also leaves my in-laws responsible for getting her to my parents house where she'll be staying.

It's doable... and the idea of being able to wake up and shower in my own home the day we leave is VERY appealing (I love my parents but they have a lot of dogs... You smell like dog when you leave)..... BUT, sticking to the original plan just doesn't seem very convenient or easy when you throw Ella into the mix. The more logical plan seems to be to go down to my parents house Sunday afternoon, stay the night (so the kids don't even think about the fact that they're supposed to be in school) and go from there. I mean, I could always have my in-laws on skype so they don't miss the surprise (they really want to see it)

Pros and Cons of the new idea:

Pros:
1. Less stress for Ella because she'll be able to acclimate back to my parents house for longer before we're gone.
2. The boys won't have to be wearing their school uniforms
3. My parents could give us a lift to the airport and they're a lot closer
4. No drive time for my in-laws.
5. Don't have to deal with leaving Ella in the van OR taking her into the airport

Cons:
1. We'll smell like dogs
2. My parents are notoriously late (the last time I had them give us a ride to the airport we BARELY made it on the plane on time.


I know the Pro's outweigh the cons.. But that smelling like a dog bit is a really big deal for us... And, I really do love my parents... but it's awful how dirty we all are when we leave and I'm just not 100% sure how stressful it will be taking extra precautions to make sure we're all clean and smelling nice when we leave in the morning.

Autograph/Memory books

I got to working on upgrading the kids Autograph journals the other day. Like I said before, I realized that there are way more pages that could be autographed than will be autographed... So, taking a queue from my buddy, Sommer, I started making scrap book pages for the kids to write and draw their memories. Here's what I've got so far.

I gave the boys different themes based on what they liked more.

I also added different things for them based on their age level. So for my Kindergartner I asked him to draw how he feels vs. my 3rd grader who I asked to write how he feels.

This is for me to add a picture of each of them as we're getting ready to enter the park for the first time.

Pretty sure Disney loves me

Yeah, I'm convinced that Disney can't wait for me to come visit. I got home from picking up the kids yesterday to be greeted by this great tri-fold card from Disney. It talked about how school breaks are coming up and even marked possible dates we might want to consider coming in 2014. The part that really made me giggle was all the planning tips it gave. I just looked at them and went , yup, check, check, check, check. One step ahead of you there, Disney!
My truly favorite part of this card was all the great artwork on it. It gave me the great idea to modify the kids autograph books that I made. I'll take some pictures and try to get them posted later tonight... In truth, the idea originally started with my friend who went over the summer. The books we got are so thick, there was no way they were going to be used strictly for autographs... They wouldn't fill 1/2 the pages... Yet, they could use them as their travel journals. They could color, sketch and write about their experiences in them. Which is what my friend had decided to do with hers.
So, last night I sat down and got to work on creating fun themed pages for the kids to fill in. I look forward to creating a few more decorative pages in there and then letting them go at it.... It almost makes me want to make my own...... I actually just might.. Why? Because I'm a dork like that and I'm okay with it. I'll probably just keep a journal of our adventures so I can look back on lessons learned, what went well and what didn't, that kind of thing.. And then fill it with fun little tidbits and decorations.

Fact

100% true

Graphing our emotions

8 months and counting

Time is just flying by... Which, interestingly enough, leads into number 8 of the countdown.

My husband thinks I'm crazy, but I REALLY love flying. Do I like airport security? No. Do I like the idea of luggage being lost, long delays or the kids misbehaving? Of course not. But how can anyone deny the magic of being above the clouds. Of realizing just how small we all are in this big world? I know the kids will share my excitement. The last time my youngest was on a plane he was just barely 3 months old so this will be all new for him.
I also realized that in the next month or two I'll be able to finally book our flight and our time share.. Everything is really starting to come together and it's all getting this "unreal" feeling. I'm entering a phase where I just can't believe this vacation is actually going to happen. This SURPRISE is actually going to work. Several years of hard work is coming to a close in 8 months time. It's just crazy to me. And if that's how I feel now, how am I going to feel when there's 4 months left? 2 months? 2 weeks?

Bits and Baubles

Just wanted to share a couple of gems I came across lately.

First up:

Everything We Need to Know We Learned from Disney Movies: Part 1

 My Aunt sent this to me an hour or two before I got some disappointing news. Totally lifted my spirits.

The next one:

What’s Your Disney Motto?

Mine is "Faith Trust and Pixie Dust" which does really describe me pretty well.

Enjoy!

Character schedule

Found this nice little character schedule while on Pinterest the other day. So, it appears that Peter Pan is an "unscheduled" character... I take that to mean he just roams about and is there when he's there. That would explain why it's so difficult to track him down. Almost makes me wonder if we should scrape up a bit more so that we could do the firework pirate boat thing I had found months ago. I was pretty sure you met Peter Pan there.. If not you for sure met Captain Hook and Smee.

http://magicalmemorymaker.com/disney-character-locator/

That's right, another month has passed

Time for the next picture in the countdown.

Yes! I really do look forward to the beach. The smell of the salt in the air; The feel of the ocean wind; The sound of the ocean waves as they race up the sandy shore. It'll be great. Also, the more devious side of me is looking forward to seeing the terror in my children's eyes as I try to convince them that the ocean is for swimming in.

Adventure is out there

That's how I feel today. I don't know where this new burst of energy came from but I'm excited and full of life today.  I'm okay with dealing with fall (it's been fall like weather lately), I'm not looking forward to winter... But I sure am excited for next Spring.. Next May to be exact. I'm excited for November or December since that's when I can book our time share... I'm excited for January or February when I can book our flights.. That's the last step to making all our plans final... And, of course, I'm over the moon excited about capturing the moment our kids find out where we're going.

I also found this helpful height chart on pinterest today. It'll come in handy for the trip and might help you out too.

My youngest is currently 42" so, unless he grows 6" in the next 9 months or so, he won't be riding the 48" rides. At best he "might" grow another 2". With that in mind, hopefully that means I'll be able to get him onto Space Mountain and Expedition Everest... The frightening thing is that he's already tall enough for Tower of Terror.. I can tell you right now that I won't be able to get my oldest on it. He likes "fun" rides, not "thrill" rides. I'm just glad to see that the boys will be able to go on the majority of rides available to them.. Not sure yet if my oldest will ball his eyes out over Big Thunder Mountain and I'm 99% sure he's going to have a complete meltdown over Haunted Mansion... But as I've said over and over again... I have insurance and can afford his therapy. ;) haha.

Re-thinking my top 12 countdown

No really.. I might have to make a 1.5 or something to it. The more pictures I see about Peter Pan and the more You tube videos I find.. The more I'm dying to meet Peter Pan. Yes I realize it's a full grown man in a costume acting like a kid.. But DANG what an awesome job to have... And he does it so well! He's hilarious. Part of me really hopes I convince Wesley to wear the Peter Pan costume we have on the day that we go so that way we can see Peter's reaction to it..... Jury is still out on whether or not I'll ever be able to convince Wesley to wear it though.. No one rocked that costume better than Jonah did... Maybe I'll have to get a bigger Peter Pan costume for him and let Wesley wear a pirate costume.. That's more his style anyways.

But, seriously, I can't emphasize this enough... Peter Pan is AWESOME! Just look below for proof.

http://iamnofallenstar.tumblr.com/post/52750714788/can-we-talk-about-the-peter-pan-s-at-disney-world

Xbox- Disney game

I haven't played my x-box in a while... Even more specifically, I haven't played the Disney game in a while. What can I say? I'm a wife, a mom and a friend.. I've been busy... I've also been less than motivated to play. It's been hectic at work and I've been struggling with exhaustion.
Well, Matt got the x-box going today and after a while of watching him play his game, I suddenly decided I was ready to play some more... Look, nothing really exciting to post or anything.. It just felt good to walk around Disneyland for a while and see the sights and hear the sounds that make me happy. If only it were easier to unlock all those hidden Mickey's- HA!

Another month

Another month has flown by and so I add another picture to the countdown.

Although, I must admit that I'm glad Matt and I like to "visit" the parks through you tube. We checked out this Ariel show at Hollywood studios. BOO. If I hadn't seen it I would have insisted we went to it and then I would have been bitter about it all day. Still very much looking forward to the Little Mermaid ride, however.

Another place we'll have to stop by while we're there.

My family LOVES Putt putt. So this will be a must on our vacation.

http://land.allears.net/blogs/kristin-ford/2013/06/fantasia_gardens_at_walt_disne.html

Starbucks BABY

http://land.allears.net/blogs/debwills/2013/06/starbucks_opens_in_magic_kingd.html
YEAH BOOOYEEEE!

Bummed out

Talked to my buddy, Sommer, today. She's down in Florida having a blast at Disney World... But she gave me some news that bummed me out. You can no longer collect Fast Passes to just use whenever you want throughout the day. You HAVE to use it during the allotted time window stamped on the ticket. I was sure she was wrong, just sure, so I texted my cousin to get the scoop. NOPE. she was not wrong. Apparently they are cracking down on that now. My cousin indicated that it had something to do with these new wrist band things they're going to be trying out but she couldn't tell me more. I knew I had read about them somewhere so I went to good ol' www.allears.net to dig up some more dirt. Couldn't find much other than that the wristbands would be used for basically everything: park admission, buying food and merchandise, fast passes etc. So I did some more digging and found the following articles:
http://www.technologyreview.com/view/515641/disneys-electronic-wristband-illustrates-why-big-companies-push-contactless-wallets/

and
http://www.geekosystem.com/disney-world-id-bracelets/

Not sure how I feel about it. I see both the perks and the downsides. Instead of having to carry my tickets and my photo pass plus card on my lanyard, and my wallet, it could all be in the one wrist band.... But there is that fear of losing my wrist band, or someone stealing it or all the data they'll mine on me. We'll see.

So why is this place so important to me? Well, I know I talked about it in my first post but I've been looking at this picture, above,  for a while and realized that it has more meaning for me. Not just because of the place but also because of that year and all the things that went on from there on out.
I'm getting ahead of myself. You see, my husband and I had a crappy honeymoon.. No, I mean that quite literally. We were pretty poor and decided to just go to a bed and breakfast on the other side of the border from us. It sounded cute and quaint.... Meh was a pretty good word to describe it. It was a drafty old house, cute but, again, drafty (which doesn't bode well in the winter time). They advertised a whirlpool tub, that sounded romantic. Nope, it was very literally a tub (so no romantic baths for two) and the jets came out at such a rate that it bruised up my legs. Then my husband of two days came down with the flu, a horrible flu. Did I mention our honeymoon was only for a weekend? Needless to say it was just a horrible horrible start. Good things came from it but that really wasn't how we wanted to remember it all.
The plan came about a few months later that we would save up and have a honeymoon-redux and go to Disneyland. My husband had never been and I grew up in California so it seemed like a no-brainer. February of 2004 came about sooner than we expected and we were off for 2 weeks of fun in the sun. It was great road tripping with him across country and experiencing new sites with him. He LOVED seeing my face light up as we walked across the street to Disneyland. I was a child all over again. He made it clear that he really wanted to do this again, but next time, we should go to Disney World.. Just so we could experience it all.
Now I know I said all of this before, but the more I got to thinking about it, the more I realized how impact full that year was. One month after this picture was taken we moved back to his hometown. Two months from that picture I got hired at my current company (WHICH I LOVE) and began a career. Seven months after that picture was taken I found out I was pregnant with our first child.
Next May I'll get to hold true to the promise I made to my (relatively new) husband 10 years before. We'll go to Disney World and have a new picture taken...One that shows how we've grown together, how we've added to our family and how we're all still children at heart.

New month, new pictures for the countdown

New information to contemplate

So, I just confirmed that my buddy, Sommer, will be flying out of Moline, IL through the same travel company I plan on going through. Because she's flying out of Moline, she can fly out on a Saturday... If I fly out of CR I'll have to fly out on a Monday.. Flying from Moline would have some perks but it would also have some draw backs. Same thing for flying out of CR.

Flying out of Moline Pros:
1. Could leave a day earlier than expected which means we could get more of our money's worth from our timeshares
2. Would also get two extra days in Florida.
3. Could keep the surprise to just our little family instead of making any Grandparents jealous that one set or the other got to see the look on the kids faces when they found out where they were going

Flying out of Moline Cons:
1. We'd have to drive to Moline vs. driving to CR
2. We'd only get 1 day back home to acclimate to being back vs. 2
3. We may or may not have to get a hotel room for one night (depending on when check in or check out is at certain time shares
4. We'd have to pay for long term parking ($35.00 a week)

Flying out of CR Pros:
1. The original plan I have for surprising the kids still sounds like a lot of fun
2. My in-laws could give us a lift to the airport therefore saving us gas money
3. And parking money
4. We'd get 2 days to acclimate back to being home vs. 1 day

Flying out of CR Cons:
1. We'd have to check in "late" to our timeshare, which just feels like a waste of money.
2. We'd also have to fly back on a Friday, which means we'd have to check out early from another timeshare... which also feels like a waste of money.
3. Chance that one set of grandparents will miss the surprise leading to a twinge of unhappiness.
4. Would have less time in Florida

hmmmm

Wow! How sweet is this?

So.. In looking for fun things for Sommer to do on the plane I came across this AWESOME site.
http://www.themouseforless.com/downloads.shtml#kids

It even has a school excuse letter along with fun trivia and word puzzles. I'll definitely be going back to reference this site when my turn comes about!

Summer is almost upon us

Memorial day brings in the unofficial opener to summertime. However, my kids are still in school for this week (need to make up snow days) and it has been raining everyday for the last 4 days and is due to continue to rain for the next 4. Is it any wonder that out of all the things I could be looking forward to in the "now" like my youngest graduating from preschool and going to the same summer program as my oldest... The boys starting swim lessons... Me getting to ride my bike to work a few times a week... Six Flags, Water park, Family coming to town etc... I'm more looking forward to Disney NEXT YEAR?
Sommer leaves very soon for her vacation... which means my vacation is even closer... Still almost a year away? Yes... But also LESS than a year away? Yes.

Fabulously AWFUL

Sommer felt it was wrong to not include a fabulously awful picture of the fail-masterpiece! So, here it is.. I present it to you in all it's hideous laughable beautiful glory:

Forgot to mention

Because I like several ways to remind myself of how fast our vacation is approaching (don't judge me, it feels fast)I have this counter on my blog that counts down the days, my Little Mermaid countdown frame on my desk counting down the weeks, and my cover photos for my FB page counting down the months. No, I was NOT joking about the rabbit hole going deep. The picture for this month is from my Top 12 things I'm looking forward to:

Yes I know this isn't at Disney, but we're also going to Universal and I'm really excited about Harry Potter Universe. My husband and I are both fans of Harry Potter, but our oldest son has us beat. He's OBSESSED with Harry Potter and desperately wants to find out (at age 11) that he's really a wizard and gets his Hogwarts acceptance letter. Poor little muggle.

What do you do when your final product sucks?

That's a good question. The picture frame I had originally made did NOT turn out like I wanted to at all.. It kind of looked like something a 5th grader accomplished. Now, I'm not saying I don't have a crafty bone in my body.. I do, my other crafts turned out pretty nice... But THIS one just takes the cake for being awful. So, what do you do with something like that?
Well, the first thought was to draw an equally ridiculous stick figure drawing of Sommer and myself having fun at Disney. It looked pretty hilarious for a little while... But then I got to thinking, why stop at a hilariously awful stick figure drawing when you could go for a hilariously awful photo-shopped picture?
And that is how you end up with this:

Come on! Tell me that isn't awesome (in a "it's so awful it's awesome" kind of way). It really makes the frame complete! ha ha!

The excitement seems to have made a transfer

Last Wednesday I talked to a friend of mine at church who told me to be sure to make reservations at any restaurant there that I want to eat at, especially if there's character dining because it books up fast and then you'll have to wait a long time. Sometimes you need to book 6-12 months in advance. I know she didn't mean to freak me out but she totally did. I don't even know why. I only have one restaurant that I desperately want to eat at.the T-Rex (https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/downtown-disney/t-rex/) in Downtown Disney. It does accept reservations but, sheesh, it's not the end of the world if we don't get to eat there (even if it's based off of the end of the world for the dinosaur's. ha). I think I panicked because I was worried for my friend, Sommer, who does want to do character dining (which we don't plan to do). I ended up having dreams about our Disney trip just being a complete flop because we couldn't get into anywhere. By the next morning I was ready to just put all my Disney stuff away and swear off of it for a while.. Clearly I needed an intervention. Thankfully, it didn't actually come to that. Ha!

The next day I did throw away my countdown to Six Flags and my countdown to Chicago. I had way too many countdowns. It was pretty ridiculous. I realized that having so many countdowns distracted me from enjoying the now and there was plenty to enjoy right now! My youngest having Kindergarten Round-up and my older boy finally feeling confident on a bike, just to mention a few.. As long as I kept those things in perspective, I should be alright. Not only that, but the excitement really seems to have gotten to my husband.
Just yesterday he pulled up the Mickey Site and Sound parade on you tube to see what it was about and wanted me to sit and watch it with him.. Then, while were were grocery shopping he noticed that Mio was advertising new flavors... He wanted to try a bunch of them (you know, so we can figure out which ones we like to bring next year). It was so cute to get a glimpse at my excitement in someone-else eyes. He even talked about it while getting his haircut.( in code of course, our boys were also there getting their hair cut).

My oldest is going to celebrate his 8th birthday on Wednesday and I'm so excited for him. 1) because it's just so hard to believe he's been in our lives for 8 years. 2) He's been so much fun to watch grow up so far 3) That really marks the 1 year mark until we go on our trip.  I sat with him on his bed last night and we were talking about his birthday and how excited he was and how happy he was having his birthday party and the science place here in town. Then I asked him "Hey, if you could go ANYWHERE right now, where would you want to go?"
He responded with "I want to save up my money and go to Disney in CA or Disney World... Yeah Disney World first. But I need to put more money in my cow bank." It was so sweet. We've been able to keep Disney a secret for this long because we've told them exactly how much money it costs and how we are going to have to save up for a loooonnngggg time to be able to go there. I can't wait until next year when I ask him that question again only to fulfill it a few days later.

Overwhelmed and strange dreams

I was looking up fun trivia books about Disney and hidden Mickey's the other day. I thought it might be fun to have them to look at on the plane ride. I found some pretty cool books. I might even get one for Sommer... But I was also overwhelmed by some of the trivia I read. Mainly, that all of Disney Land can fit int he parking lot of Disney World. All I know is Disney Land... WTH am I getting into with Disney World? I already thought Disney Land was big enough. Holy Crikies! My husband mentioned that, perhaps, I'm trying to squeeze too much into this vacation, what with autograph books, trading pins, and trying to find hidden Mickey's on top of riding the rides that will be all new to our kids. He might be right.. but I really think the finding hidden Mickey thing is more for me anyway.

I get that it's one year away, but now that I'm starting to wrap my brain around just how HUGE this place is and ALL the things you could possibly do there, I'm working hard not to hyperventilate. I have to accept the fact that we won't be able to do everything. That's just ridiculous. So we're going to have to prioritize things... and there's only a certain amount of decision we can allow the boys to have in the process. Not because they're incapable but because it seems that God has designed them to want to do the opposite things as each other... And that might work for one or two situations but not all of them.

I'm beyond grateful that Sommer is going first. To know how they do it, and during one of the busiest times, will help me feel more at ease and sort out what's realistic and what's not. I know I could take all my info over to Rob's house too to get some peace of mind. Haha.. Actually, seeing the look on his face and listening to the way he bubbled on about Disney when he saw us this weekend makes me thing that I might be treading into dangerous territory for him and his wife... I might end up convincing him that they should really go again.

I suppose on the bright side, I can feel better knowing that the planning isn't really done. I do get kind of sad/bored sometimes when I've got nothing to do for this trip. I can't book my time share places until the end of the year... I can't book the plane or car rental until about March... The only thing I can do between now and then is buy little tid bits and trinkets to put into the kids overnight bags so we don't have to trip off any alarms with why their tooth brushes are gone in the morning or where xyz is, etc. Now that I can add, organizing a priority list of stuff to do while there, that'll keep me plenty occupied until then.

As for the strange dream, I dreampt that I could "jump" (teleport) and so I jumped my family to Disney Land... but it was old school Disney Land. Back when the characters roamed the park instead of being in one set location. And the old school characters where there, like the Three Little Pigs and an older fashioned looking Mickey Mouse, etc. The kids were super excited to meet them all and hug them and get their pictures taken, etc.  Then we'd jump back to our hotel room to chill out for a while. Everything took a strange twist from there though... Because my darn logical side kicked in... Logically no one can "jump" so every time I would try I would fail or I'd end up in the middle of a road about a block away or something. I was able to jump all the way to the gate but couldn't seem to jump INTO the park... Then I realized that we had gone further back in time and had jumped back to the time when you had to have tickets to get on the ride, like E-tickets or A-tickets or whatever they're called... So even if I did get into the park, I'd have no way to get on the ride because I wouldn't have any tickets. *sigh*

Project time! Yay!!

Sommer and I finally got together and were able to work on some of our crafting projects together. We made a countdown frame, photo frame and autograph books. I took a step further and made luggage tags while Sommer also decided to make some photo albums for the kids.

I've got some nice close ups that I haven't downloaded off of my camera yet but Sommer was gracious enough to take a couple of snap shots that I can share. Please also enjoy the ridiculous "mickey" pepperoni pizza in the background and the other odds and ends that made it into the shots.

Here is what I put together, from left to right: Luggage tags, Disney picture frame (please enjoy the childish drawing of Sommer and I enjoying Disney together), Pirate themed autograph book (with the initial J for my oldest boy), Brer Rabbit themed autograph book (with the initial W for my youngest boy) and Ariel countdown frame. (take dry erase marker and write on the glass over top of the Mickey Bubble to countdown to your trip.

Sommer's, I believe, turned out even more super fantastic.

From left to right: Photo album for one of her nieces, Disney World picture frame, Pluto themed autograph book for her daughter, pirate themed autograph book for her son, Awesome Mickey countdown frame and photo album for her daughter.

More to come.

Perfect plan, muahaha!

One of the things I've been kicking around, over and OVER again is this: How do we spring the surprise on our kids? What's the perfect way to do this? How do I keep this a secret for so long? How will I even be able to contain myself the day of?

While I can't answer those last few questions (as it's a year out and I clearly want to let the cat out of the bag, desperately).. I have come up with a beautiful scheme for the first two questions.

So what is my masterful plan?  Well, it will require the help of my in-laws, which I figure will be no problem because I know my M.I.L really wants to see the kids faces when they figure it out. The night before we go, we'll have everything all packed up and put into my in-law's van. We'll get the kids backpacks packed up with their homework and carry on snacks, etc. In the morning, we'll treat it just like it's any other day of the week. They need to get up, get ready for school etc. However, if the weather co-operates, instead of driving them to school, we'll walk them to school. When they ask why Mommy and Daddy are BOTH walking them to school, we'll just tell them that we have the day off to get some things done around the house and thought it would be nice to walk them to school. I also figure we'll carry their back packs for them (they usually don't mind) that way there are no suspicions on why their bags are heavier than normal.
When we get to the school, Grandma and Poppa will be waiting there. We'll talk to them casually and they'll offer to take us on a special trip to CR for the day. (You know, to see my parents, the dogs, maybe watch some planes take off, etc.) Once the kids get excited about the prospect of skipping school for the day, we'll load them up and off to CR we go. Once we get to the airport we'll have Grandma or Poppa take them in to look at the neat stuff at the airport while the rest of us go park the van. That way, when they see us coming in with our luggage, they'll want to know what the heck is going on... And THAT is when we'll ask them "If you could fly anywhere in the whole world right now, where would you want to go?". They'll probably say "Texas" first (since that's where some of their cousins live) but we'll coax them into Disney pretty quickly and then there will be screaming and tears and laughter and pictures and..and.. I think that's the point where my heart explodes with joy! :)

Photo Pass Plus- Disney World

My, how quickly my husbands mind is changing towards things he had previously shot down. The biggest one being Photo Pass. When I originally discovered Photo Pass, it seemed a bit pricey ($165.00) but it also seemed pretty cool. Disney cast members would take pictures of your whole family in various poses and you could customize them as much as you wanted to. My hubby wasn't sold. That seemed like an awfully steep price and, come on, we'd both have cameras anyways AND the cast members would take pictures of us if we handed them our camera... We're really paying for the customization aren't we?

I understood where he was coming from so I gave up on it for a while. Then, while I was re-pinning things on Pinterest, I came across this pin called 101 tips for Disney World. Now, this isn't the first time I've pinned something similar but I figured, "Hey, you never know.. Maybe this one will have some tips I hadn't thought of yet.". I'm glad I did. As I was showing him the board and we were reading through the tips, one of the things it mentioned was Photo Pass plus, which was the same as regular Photo Pass BUT included your pictures from various rides. That perked him up right away. We like to see our pictures from the ride but we have never bought them before because they're ridiculously expensive (in our minds anyways).

We did a little more digging and found out that if you buy your Photo Pass Plus BEFORE you go, you save a ton of money. Right now they're selling for $149.00, that's even cheaper than buying regular Photo Pass at the gate. That was really all he needed to see to push him over the edge to want to buy it. Knowing that we could capture all sorts of great moments, customize the heck out of them AND have full access to all of our ride pictures sounded like a complete steal to him and he wanted me to buy the photo pass RIGHT there and then! Never have I been happier. To finally have my husband as excited about this vacation as I am feels amazingly wonderful.

For information about Photo Pass Plus, please check here:
http://www.disneyphotopass.com/specialoffers/wdwppp.htm

Top 12

I'm now just over a year away from our wonderful vacation to Disney (and Universal) and I got to thinking about the top 12 things I'm most looking forward to.

12.  Hogwarts

11. Meeting Characters

10. Ariel's Grotto

09. The beach

08. The plane ride

07. Expedition Everest

06. Hidden Mickeys

05. Peter Pans flight

04. The Haunted Mansion

03. Pirates of the Caribbean

02. Splash Mountain

01. The look on my kids faces when they realize where they're going.

Yes, I admit it. I'm ridiculous

I looked over at my friend today and said, "Hey Guess what... 58 weeks left."... She looked at me, dumbfounded for a minute and asked, "58 weeks until what?". "Till I go to Disney World, Duh!"
"Are you kidding me right now?," she asked, incredulously... That's when I realized that I am pretty off my rocker. So I decided to change to a different truth. "Well, actually that is how many weeks left, but that's not really what's funny. My husband is mad at me because I made him break his one rule about getting excited for a trip."
"Oh, what rule was that?"
"Not to get excited about a trip more than 12 months in advance"
haha!

So, it official. I'm dragging my husband into this excitement. The one thing he'll regularly ask me about is to see my Disney Pinterest board. It's kind of nice to share the insanity with someone.

..And the results are in...

Our friends LOVED Disneyland... As if it was possible for them not to. You can check out their take on Disney and their pictures on their blog, here: http://danforthfour.blogspot.com/

Maybe while you're there you'll even stay a while and see what they're about. They're a great family and I love having them in my life!

Paying it forward

    My husband and I host a small bible study group at our house on Sundays. As a group we wanted to be very purposeful in supporting our missionaries, so we "adopted" a missionary family from our home church. We'd pray for them, keep up to date with them (and vice-verse), hang out with them when they're in town, etc. Saturday, I received a picture text from them showing that they were in CA and enjoying the lovely 85 degree weather. This sparked off a conversation on what they were going to do while they were there since they have 2 young kids. In a very short amount of time we found out that they'd only be there for a few days and wanted to go to Disney but opted for Knots Berry Farm because Disney was too expensive... Without hesitation the decision was made to go online and get their family tickets to the Magic Kingdom of Disney Land. There was just no question. They wanted their kids to be able to see the cool things that America has to offer before they head off, long term, to Africa later this fall... And there just really is no place cooler than Disney.
    I hated making the decision without the rest of our small group being there but when we met the next day they all completely understood why it had to be made so quickly and were all very supportive of the idea. I'm very grateful to have such generous and Godly people to love on and to help me love on others. The Danforths (missionary family) are there today making memories that will last a lifetime. I'll post a link to their blog once they've documented their memorable adventure!

Planning and other fun tips

When should you go?

At what time in the year you go to Disney is a pretty personal matter.  You may only have certain times when you can go due to work schedules, holidays, etc. So, while this is by no means a must, here are some things to consider when planning the dates of your trip.

 1.Are you okay with pulling your kids out of school for the trip?

If so, then going during the less busy seasons is a highly recommended option. I have a link, below, with when the crowds are their lowest. In general, the best times are After New Years but before Spring... After Spring break but before Summer vacation early November, and the first two weeks of December. Going during a slow period will allow you more time to relax and enjoy all that Disney has to offer. It will also be easier on your kids (and your nerves) if you don't have to stand in line for hours at a time. If you're not okay with pulling your kids out of school, the below link can also help you sort out the "least of evils" as it were with when to go.

2. What kind of budget are you working with? Again, the site I have linked up below also ranks when it's more and less expensive to visit the parks. Knowing that information may also help gauge exactly when you and your family want to go.

Best and Worst times to visit

Other Fun Tips:

Another great website that I found with fun tips and tricks is My 101 Best Disney World Tips. It's full of nice tips for whether your staying at a resort on Disney property to fun little "Easter eggs" that around each of the four parks.

My favorites are below:

 19. It’s important to know where the crowds are going to go as soon as the park opens.

At Magic Kingdom, they will head towards Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Fantasyland (mainly Dumbo and Peter Pan) and Space Mountain.
At Epcot, they will head towards Soarin’ and Test Track.
At Animal Kingdom, they head straight back to Kilamanjaro Safaris.
At Hollywood Studios, Toy Story Mania is the main attraction with some people heading towards Tower of Terror and Rocking Roller Coaster.

22. FASTPASS is a wonderful program that Disney offers all their guests. Fastpass essentially reserves you a spot in a shorter line during a specific hour during that day. To get your Fastpass ticket, you will look for the Fastpass machine located outside select rides. You insert your park ticket and it will give you a Fastpass ticket with a return window printed on the front. When the time comes for you to redeem your Fastpass ticket, return to the ride but use the Fastpass entrance. You will then get to skip ahead of all the people in the regular queue and you will feel like a celebrity! See the park map for all the details on which rides have Fastpass. 

** Bonus tip from my pastor and cousin: Have one parent wait in line with the kids to meet a Disney character (or do some shopping or other activity) while the other parents races off to whatever the "BIG" ride is for your family and gets the fast passes. That way you know you'll be able to ride that ride when you're ready and won't have to wait in line.

** Also, while it's true that you can only get one set of Fastpasses at a time, that doesn't mean that you must use it in the allotted window that it shows you. It only means you have to use it anytime from that appointed time on out. So if you know you're going to want Fastpasses for other rides and aren't ready to ride the "BIG" one yet (for our family it will be Splash Mountain) then go get another set of Fastpasses as soon as your allowed to. That way you'll save yourself more time and effort.

37. Rope Drop – Want to experience shorter lines, cooler temperatures and smaller crowds? Just make it to the park about 45 minutes before it opens. This will ensure that you enter the park in front of the crowds. We can typically squeeze in about 10-12 rides in the first hour the park is open. It will take you 3-4 hours to ride that same number of rides later in the day!

41. You can get in line for an attraction up until the park closes. So if the park is closing at 9 pm, as long as you get in the queue at 8:59 pm, you will get to ride!

58. If one of your souvenirs breaks while you are on vacation, Disney will replace it for FREE! Just take it to the nearest store that carries that product and let the Cast Member know the issue. On the last trip, we had to replace 3 different items including a pen that ran out of ink and a lanyard that broke.

And THIS is by far my most prized tip that I found:

62. You do not have to carry your packages around with you all day. You can either have them sent up to the front of the park to pick up on your way out or if you are staying on Disney property you can have them sent to your resort’s gift shop (next day).

Budgeting tips

Here are some of the things I've picked up along the way while planning this trip. If you're on a tight budget like my family, these tips will be helpful in making your trip a reality.

Budget:
1. Go through your finances. Understanding where your money is already going will help you to understand what you need to fix in order to save up what you need. It will also help you to have a better picture of what you can afford to put aside each paycheck.
2. Understand the costs. Look at ticket prices, airfare (or gas if you're driving Plan to put a specific dollar amount aside every week (or every paycheck), and hotel pricing. Be real about how much you want to be able to spend on food and trinkets/souvenirs. Our families budget started at $5,000 (we're also doing a day at universal).
3. Do the math. Now that you have an idea of how much you need, and you know how much you could afford to stash away each paycheck calculate how long you'd have to save up for to make this trip a reality.
4. Don't be discouraged if it's going to take you a long while to save up. The journey is almost as rewarding as the actual destination. I promise! It's amazing how good it feels to see the progress you're making.

Tips on how to save money:

1. Buy the tickets! No really, as soon as you have enough money to at least purchase the park tickets, do it. The count down for expiration doesn't start until the first time you use them. So purchase them as soon as you can. Disney raises their ticket prices a couple of times a year so you will really save money if you do it this way.. I bought our family's tickets in April of 2012.. By doing that, I've already saved around $150.00. Imagine how much that will equate to when we actually go in 2014?

2. Drive. If your kids are good at handling long car rides and...more importantly, you're good with being in a car for that long with your kids.. Just drive there and save yourself the airfare. Even with gas prices rising it would be less expensive.

3. If you're going to fly, shop around for discounted airline tickets. My family and I know better than to trap ourselves in a car with each other for more than a few hours... So we're flying. Thankfully, there's an Allegiant  Air within good distance from us and they fly directly to Orlando. You can bundle your airfare, car and hotel with them or just airfare and car (what we're doing). They also offer other add-ons like kids eat free coupons for a certain dollar amount per child... and prices tend to go down the closer you are to your actual booking date.  Right now, if were were to go in May our package would be just a little over 1,300.. I'll let you know if that goes up or down the closer May gets (yes I know we're not going until May of next year... but that's the thing about Allegiant, you can't book that far in advance..which is fine).

4. Buy groceries once you're there. Make sure you get a hotel that will actually have a fridge for you to put food in (doesn't have to be a big fridge, just enough for some basics).  You can bring food into the park so don't waste time buying meal plans or buying the food there. Just get some staples (snacks, poptarts, muffins, bread, the types of things your family likes for sandwiches, some fruit, etc.) and then pack them up in a soft sided cooler or your backpack when you go into the park.

5. Pack light. Make sure you get a hotel with a laundromat. That way you can bring enough clothes for only 1/2 your stay and then do laundry one day while you're there. Much easier than over packing and then trying to figure out how you're going to get all of those souvenirs home. Plus, depending on how long your stay is, you might be able to fit it all as carry on for your flight and that will save you some dough. And even if you can't use it as carry on.. You may be able to fit all of your spouses items and yours into one bag and then your kids into one bag and that will save on how much you have to pay for check bags.

6.  Don't add park hopper to your tickets- It's your call but there's plenty to do at each park for an entire day. No need to hop from park to park. However, if your family really is only mildly interested in any one park then park hopper may be a nice option to spend 1/2 a day at one park and then 1/2 a day at another.

7. Know your resources. Reach out to family and friends. Someone you know has connections somewhere. Me? My mother works in reality and was able to hook us up with a timeshare voucher for around $200.00 for a weeks worth of lodging. My cousin works at Disney world and is able to give me even more tips and tricks (which, I'll gladly share here).There are also plenty of websites and Pinterest boards out there with park information and tips on how to score good deals throughout the year. My favorite is www.allears.net.

8. Don't buy drinks. Seriously, just bring a few water bottles in with you and bring your favorite flavored drink packets. Ice and water are free at the parks anyways and, really, do you need the pop? It just makes you more thirsty.

A little background is required

I was not always so obsessed with Disney. Heck, at one point, someone could say I was actually somewhat normal. I've been to Disneyland approximately 3-4 times since I was a child. The last time was about 10 years ago. On that last occasion I was newly married and I was ridiculously excited about going. My new husband had never been to Disneyland or Disney world and I saw this as a great opportunity to share an important part of my childhood with him and have something we could both love. It took us 1 year to save up the money to go and  I was worse than a kid in a candy store with glee at the planning process for our trip. When we finally went cheeks hurt from all the smiling I did when we were there. Disney truly is a magical place. I figured it was only magical because I associated it with my childhood and, well heck... They play nothing but happy music all day long!
Afterwards we decided that someday we'll go back and we'll go to Disney world since neither of us have experienced that. We knew we wanted to start a family so we decided we would wait  until we were done having children and that they were at the age where they could really appreciate and participate in most (if not all) that Disney would have to offer. Knowing it was that far off down the road made it easy to just shelve any excitement and, for the most part, forget about the idea all together. Things were calm.
Then we had our two boys and time flew by quickly. About 1 1/2 ago we knew that the time was getting near and if we were going to make it a reality... Let's start the planning and the saving. We knew we'd really want to have a great time and Disney world is expensive so the plan was to go in 2014. As usual, I designated a notebook and started jotting down the different things we would need to budget for and explore various way to save money.
THAT'S WHEN THE OBSESSION STARTED
First nice and slow.. Who doesn't like to find a good deal? Who doesn't get a tiny high when they know they've saved money? But, over time it has built in intensity to the boiling point.... To the point where we bumped up our trip by 6 months because the thought of waiting 22 more months was unbearable... But 15 months seems relatively do-able.
Here are the things I blame for my illness:
1. My cousin works for Disney world
2. My pastor and his family also love Disney world and had all sorts of fabulous advice for me.
3. The Internet..... It's just so much easier to access all sorts of helpful information than it was 10 years ago.
4. The sheer delight in my children's eyes anytime they see anything Disney related
5. The nostalgia of my joyful times and Disneyland.
6. The fact that this trip is a complete surprise to my kids and I'm picturing the overwhelming wave of joy that will hit them when we go.
7. Pinterest.... no really, pinterest is wonder full.....and evil!
8. We got the Disneyland Kinnect game for Christmas.. So we go to Disneyland practically everyday.
9. My good friend, Sommer, is going with her family in June and she's allowing me to be her unofficial travel agent.

So now all I can think about is Disney and what we can do while we're there and how much fun we're going to have etc etc. etc.
To spare my family and friends the grief of having to listen to me talk about this upcoming trip non-stop on my facebook page, I'm taking it up to making my own blog. A little get away where I can spout off all of the things I'm finding and enjoying without having to force it upon others. haha.I figured, worst case scenario, I'll go back to fooling people into believing I'm a normal and sane person once more.

So there it is.. The background of why I'm obsessed with Disney. My intent with this blog is to share the fun things I've learned (whether it's a useful tip or a fun Disney trip craft project) and just have a release for all of this pent up obsession. I hope you enjoy it (whether it's to simply laugh at the crazy or because you're crazy like me).