It's been a while

I know. I know. It's been far too long since I've updated this. The day came and then life took over.  The kids reacted to the surprise as I expected. Wes pitched a big fit about not going to Texas and Jonah just had a hard time believing us. Click here for full details

Magic Kingdom was.. Well, magical. haha. The whole atmosphere was just amazing and the crowds weren't so bad. I will say that waiting in line for the Peter Pan flight was insane. Out of all the rides needing a queue update, this one is it. The boys were able to meet Mickey Mouse, Belle, Mary Poppins, Ariel, Rapunzel, Cinderella and Chip and Dale. I have to say that story time with Belle was amazing. Jonah was picked to be the beast. Easily the best memory. Click here to watch him dance with her. I can't think of a single ride that was disappointing.  The Haunted Mansion was, as expected, my favorite... But, some of that was because the boys were TERRIFIED of it. They screamed and cried the WHOLE time. What was even better was that Jonah decided to overcome his fear. By the second day we were at Magic Kingdom he rode it, voluntarily, two more times. While there we also got to see Anastasia ride the Carousel while her mother, Lady Tremaine, watched.

Next up was Hollywood studios. It was significantly smaller than the other parks but it also had lots of fun shows to watch and participate in. This was one of the easier parks to take on with the kids. The Honey I Shrunk the Kids park was a blast and the kids really enjoyed the Muppets 3D show. And, as everyone says, the Toy Story Mania game was amazingly fun... But the line was simply too long to do it more than once. With that being said, my favorite memory from Hollywood Studios is a tie between Matt being an active participant in the Hollywood Back lot tour and Fantasmic (Just as a note, the link to the Fantasmic video was not taken by me. We were far too busy enjoying it to actually video tape it. While there the boys got to meet the Army men from Toy Story.

Epcot was wonderful but, admittedly, we would have enjoyed it more without the kids. Eating our way around the world was exceptionally fun as was Test Track. There was plenty of interactive computers around the park to go with the various rides to explore. Admittedly, Soarin was boarin'.... as were some of the educational videos but, that's okay. We told the kids it was Disney School day and there is always at least one boring thing at school, right? The firework show was a bust too, however, in all fairness, we couldn't find a good spot so we barely saw any of it. I'm sure it deserves another shot. While here the boys met Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy.

Animal Kingdom was wonderful. The boys joined the Wilderness Explorers and had fun earning "badges" all around the park and the animals were simply stunning. We were mean parents and made the kids go on Expedition Everest.... They were SO terrified afterwards that we ended up buying them stuffed animals. Wes was terrified after riding the Dinosaur ride but Jonah loved it so much that he and I rode it 3 times. While here the boys met Donald, Daisy, Dug and Russel.

The one downside to the entire trip was Wes. He threw fits EVERY day. Several times a day about everything and anything. His big theme was that he didn't want to wait and that he didn't want to be here, he wanted to be in Texas. Even when we were back he complained that he never wanted us to go again and that he wished we hadn't gone etc. It really was a MAJOR damper on the entire trip. Two valuable lessons were learned from this. 1. Wesley really doesn't like surprises 2. He might have been too young for this trip.

On the upside, the rest of us loved it so much that there is no doubt we will be going back. As a matter of fact, Matt and I will be going back next year for my birthday, just for a few days. Our hope is to do one day at Magic Kingdom and spend a whole day hanging out at Downtown Disney at their arcade We also will be taking the boys to Texas in 2015... It's been made apparent that we need to get that out of Wesley's system.

2 Weeks

And I haven't packed a THING!
Take that back, I have at least organized the kids things into a tote so that I could make sure I had everything and it's all neatly placed in a tote... But that's not the same thing as actually having it packed. This week will also be a bit of a busy week so I'm getting anxious about when I'll actually have time to do it.
Tonight will be Tae Kwan Do for the kids and grocery shopping. Tomorrow I go over to Som's house and make the iron on's for the kids shirts so the first opportunity I will really have to pack (without waiting until RIGHT before bed) will be Wednesday. The 1 1/2 week mark. yikes. I've also started to lose weight (yay) so I'm a bit paranoid about packing certain things of mine in case they don't fit right.

I have printed up all of the maps and confirmations.
I've printed up and put together all the activity pages for the kids.
I printed their school absence excuse letter but haven't delivered it yet.
All my packing check lists are printed and ready to make packing a less stressful task.
Luggage tags are made, scrap books ready, etc.

Things I still need to do:
1. PACK
2. Get two black washable markers for autographs
3. Drop off the letter at school
4. Pick up the kids homework

One month! Oh it's ON!

That's right, 30 days until we go on the BIG trip... The one I've been tirelessly planning and obsessing over for 3 years! Now that we're coming down to the wire, I suddenly can't stop finding things that still need to be done.
1. Get the house clean (so my buddy doesn't have to endure our yucky house for the whole 5 minutes she'll be spending in it, watering our plant and bringing in the mail)
2. Create packing lists/check lists
3. Go through these lists and actually verify that we have everything that we need
4. Buy the things we don't have yet
5. Get my hair done
6. Get a mani-pedi (This is important stuff people)
7. Get a massage scheduled (best to be as relaxed as possible before the kids have a giant meltdown at the park)
8. Get the kids and hubby's hair cut
9. Officially pack
10. Organize the kids busy bags
11. Print copies of all the paperwork needed and maps everywhere (just in case the Tom Tom fails)
I could keep going, seriously.. It's ridiculous.

On a super bright side.. This also means I can finally post the NUMBER ONE thing that I'm super excited about for this trip.
Drum roll please.......

That's right! I'm SUPER excited to see how the kids react to the news.  Now keep in mind, I'm not expecting weeping, wailing and screams of joy. I'm not expecting fainting... But whatever their reaction is it'll be good. The oldest one will probably jump up and down while repeatedly asking "really? You really mean it? We're going right now?" while the youngest one will probably have a complete meltdown because we're not going to Texas to see his cousin... That's REALLY what he wants to do. Disney, sure that's fun, but his cousin... Now that's an AMAZING good time in his book. So the thought that he might actually have a meltdown over that cracks me up and I actually look forward to it. 

30 days... 30 days and then we get to tell them! WOO HOO!

7 weeks and counting

So we're down to 7 weeks left. I'm oddly calm. Scrap books are basically done. Luggage tags are done. Suitcases purchased. Travel packs for kids toothbrushese etc. ready to go. I also just ordered a bunch of boxers and t-shirts so the kids have basic pajamas for the trip. Yeah, that's right, I ordered them. It was just way more convenient to have them delivered to my house than to try and explain away why the kids can't have what I brought home from the store. Plus, I've kind of reached a point where I'm lazy and I simply don't want to bother going to the store to get it. Spring break has been a great temper towards my need to pack. Since the boys go to their daycamp everyday, they need their swim trunks everyday. Clearly I can't pack what they're using. Plus, I'm finally content with waiting until about 2 weeks ahead of time. The hubs is right, if I pack now, I'll have to unpack it and re-pack it all later to be sure it's all there.

2 months left to go

And you know what that means. Time to add another picture to the countdown:

That's right, Splash Mountain.

You know this has to be an amazing ride when you've only ridden it ONCE (the year it came out) and you've been dying to ride it again and again ever since.

Yes, that's right, I rode this at Disneyland the year it debuted (1989). Yes, I WAS at Disneyland in 2004... So why didn't I ride it then? Was it closed? Was it too cold? No, neither (not that the cold would have stopped me anyways). Why didn't I go on it then? Oh, that's a fun story... Because I couldn't convince my husband of how AMAZING the ride was. No matter what I said he seemed to ignore me and was convinced it was just another flume ride... As if Disney does ANYTHING that's just another _fill in the blank_ ride. 

When we first started saving up to go to Disney World we "rode" rides on YouTube for fun. It gave us a heads up on what kind of rides the kids would really like and gave us something to look forward to. When my husband actually sat down and watched Splash Mountain he paused... Looked at me... And said "Wait a second... This? This is Splash Mountain."....... "Yeeeeessssss"... "This is Song of the South. I loved that story when I was a kid.. Why didn't you tell me this was Song of the South?" ....... "Okay, A. I didn't know it was called Song of the South and B. I distinctly remember telling you that it was the story of Brer Rabbit and had the Zippedee DoDa song in."

Yeah he swears he doesn't remember any of that. He now owes me the opportunity to ride this ride a MINIMUM of 3 times... Maybe more! ;)

It's a sign.

Haha! Look what I found in my husband's bar of soap this morning:

Really makes me look forward to May.

3 months to go

It's so hard for me to comprehend. 3 months. It's so close yet so far away. It can't get here fast enough yet I still feel so ill-prepared.
I have one mini M & M container filled and ready to go for the penny presses but I need to do 3 more. Yes I want to pack the kids stuff, but I also realize it's WAY too soon. In the meantime.. I like to think of what #3 is on my list:

Until the ride shown at #2 on the list came around this was, by far, my favorite ride. I loved the music, the scenes of pirates chasing each other around, the beautiful bayou at the beginning. I recognize that I lose the bayou scene at Disney World and, for that, I'm pretty sad... But I know it will be a fun ride none the less. Plus, now I get to look around for Capt. Jack Sparrow. That'll be fun pointing that out to the kids.

Checklist

1.Ordered and received fun cinch bags to put the kids pins in so they won't lose them- check
2. Pins- received, sorted and put in fun baggies for the kids- Check
3. Scrap books updated with even more fun things- Check
4. Ordered a soft sided cooler and giant beach towels to share- check
5. Pack up the bags to figure out how to keep it under the weight limit - still needs to be done....
And yes, I will wait to do that until we get closer to the date.

Pins

Just went to ebay and bought myself a large pack of pins. I admit it, I was nervous doing so.
Why? Because, apparently, there are fakes out there. The big warning I got was that if it was cheap it was probably fake. Of course not to say that the internet can't lie but the ones I bought were guaranteed to be the real thing and, from what I could find, they seem very reputable. They're top rated, which I doubt they would get if they were selling fakes.

I know Soms promised me her duplicate ones but I've got myself in a corner here... The corner I knew I'd end up in.. The corner called "You're so excited to do everything that now you've done everything that can be done so you have to sit and twiddle your thumb until the next phase".

Yeah, I can't stand that corner. I can't pack, it's too soon. I could finish the luggage tags but I need more string anyways and that's a two second project once I have that. I don't need to do much more with the scrap books. Everything is booked, everything is paid for.. How do I bide my time for 4 more months?

Apparently I do this by buying pins for the kids to trade. At least, this way, I have something to look forward to arriving at our house... And having fun deciding who gets what pins etc. I think that will help... At least for a few more weeks.

All done.. kind of

Sat down with my hubby today and got our place booked. We now have the following thing taken care of:
tickets : check
Airplane: check
Car rental: check
Place to stay: check
Dinner reservations: check
Luggage purchased: check.

Yay! Now all that's left is the fun stuff... Packing, getting scrap books ready etc.

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.
.
.
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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.