Life is too short for self-hatred and celery sticks: updates 5/24 p.85&86

[rentayenta]

Originally Posted by Uncle Remus

Faaaaabuuuulous picture of y'all!!

Thanks darlin'! It was a long day so I don't think we look half bad.

[rentayenta]

I have been waiting to share today with you. It was our first water park day. On our two previous trips we had done both Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach; one each trip. We had a blast at both and knew wed want to go back. Our YES tickets had 8, count them 8, water park days. Id be happy if we could just visit them each once.

Typhoon Lagoon was open from 10-5 and the weather was perfect. We woke the kids up about 10:00, threw some food in them, and were off. Of course I was up by 7:00, had my coffee, made guacamole, cut fruit, and packed our backpack type cooler thing.

Because it was mid October I was expecting TL to be empty. Boy was a wrong. I was 100 kinds of wrong. We didnt bring our big camera for obvious reasons but I wish I had. Thankfully, I took decent iPhone pics.

We walked around for a few minutes trying to find a good spot. We settled on some chairs near the wave pool. They were good, not prime, but theyd do. Now if you know anything about me youll know I am a water/pool/drink/sand/boat junkie. Match that with a view junkie and bingo, youve got high maintenance.

We set our stuff down, sunscreened up, and the kids took off for the slides. Michael told me hed be right back, he was going to get towels. I dont know how I forget towels. We had to rent towels. Amateurs.

I sat in my chair, pulled out a magazine, and watched the waves. I was already craving a tasty beverage. Michael was back about 10 minutes later and said: cmon were moving. I was like huh? He said, lets go....... I got us a cabana! Goodness that man knows me. The only issue was that the kids were gone off to who knows where and we had no way to get a hold of them. He said theyd figure it out and away we went. Yeah. We bailed on the kids. But guess what, they found us.

When he went to rent our towels the CM told him cabanas were half off due to not that many being rented that day. It was only about 11:30. Total score! I still don't know how much half off amounted to but let me tell you, it was worth every unknown penny! We had a cabana server who was all over it. Our cabana came with towels, refillable mugs which we later used for ice water when at the pools and Blizzard Beach (we love our ice water). It also came with water bottles and a cooler filled with ice to keep them cold. As many as we wanted. We ended up taking over a dozen bottles of water with us after TL that day. At $3 a bottle, it wasn't too shabby. Plus we each had waters there. The kids used there mugs for soda but mine and Michaels remained empty and clean. In fact the kids ended up giving the unused ones to friends as souvenirs. We regifted. Don't judge.

It was a perfect 88* and the best day ever. Between the cabana, the service, the kids being totally occupied, the downtime with Michael, and the vibe of Typhoon Lagoon, it was one of my all time favorite days at Disney. Michael brought *blue* our portable speaker so we were able to enjoy some Bob Marley and Jimmy Buffet. I hope I'm painting an accurate picture.

Without further wait, here are the pics.....



Our cabana:



Us:





Our view:





My unusually large calves:



The kids:




continued in next post....

[rentayenta]

More view. The ship is so cool:



Cheers! We had many of these today. So good. I was silly.



Now you see them:



Now you dont:



Note the guacamole:



Cutie:



Our feast:



Besties:



Inside the sharks mouth with strategically placed children:





Shark reef:













Some diver guy:



Our view via panoramic pic:



We stayed until about 5:15 because we were chatting with our server who's name unfortuneately escapes me. We sauntered out and hopped, or tried to hop a bus back to SSR. Here's where things get sticky. For some reason, they were diverting people to DTD and then having them take a bus to their resort. It was a total cluster. It was about 5:40 before we got on a bus to DTD. We had an ADR for 7:00 at The Turf Club....would we make it?

[PrincessInOz]

That's a great day at Typhoon Lagoon. I'm hoping to check out one of the water parks next year....looks like TL just made it to the top of the list.

And tell Michael he did good with the cabana. He totally understood your high maintenancy.

[MEK]

Oh No! The SSR bus travel woes. I am all too familiar with that from our June trip to the treehouses. Will you make you dinner ADR? Nah - you'll be late, but they will let you in.

I didn't know that TL had cabana rentals. That's how long its been since I was there. But my DH and I are going to take my two eldest nephews for a day this summer, so perhaps a cabana is in order. And one of those drinks. Yes please!

[Goofyluver]

Originally Posted by rentayenta

Whats Great Wolf Lodge? Sounds familiar.

Please please post a FB status reaction to the boys getting two trip. Lucky ducks!

Great Wolf Lodge is hell...

It's a hotel/indoor/outdoor waterpark combo. And it is horrible. Don't ever go there.

Of course I'll post a FB status update...complete with pics!

Also, of course you're making that ADR. I have faith in my Jenny.

[eandesmom]

What a fun update, perfect perfect day!

WTG Michael. Jeff would NEVER do that. Which is odd as he was all over the concept of getting one for Castaway Cay and I thought that was crazy for teh $$ but I just can't see him doing it at the waterpark. Who knows. 1/2 off though? that is a total score!

I'm impressed the kids found you. I don't think mine would have.

The question is, did you want to change before dinner?

Originally Posted by rentayenta

I finally told Gabby that its her foot and I'm not nagging her. It's so not worth it. It can continue to hurt or she can fix it. I'm sure I sound raggy but between the three of them and Michael gone for 48* it's all I can do to not come unglued with all of the reminding.


I remember you guys having ticket drama but don't recall what exactly happened.

Seriously, sometimes they have to learn the hard way. Oh those tickets. K convinced Jeff to buy them on her behalf for herself and her BFF under false pretenses. First being that she had the money in her bank account (that her mom manages, not us) to pay for it and second, that her BFF (who I adore) did as well. Implication being that all parents involved knew and were on board. We knew K's mom was aware that the purchase was going down, did not know she had neglected to mention that the agreement was K was buying her own ticket.

$500 later...neither girl has money and Jeff's ex wants us to pay for her flight to Utah for a tournament. So we tell her just to have K pay her out of her account the amount she owes Jeff, her half which would be our half of the plane ticket. Seems easy and painless that way huh? Nope, all heck breaks loose. Bear in mind this is a woman who thinks that Taylor should get to keep all the insurance money he just got for his "totaled" car and that we should buy him a new one. Even though he didn't pay for the first one (free) or any of the repairs (split with her) and what he got from insurance was enough to buy a new one and have quite a bit of money left over. She thinks he should get it all.

Kendall has never tried to pull anything like that before, I think she really thought Jeff would just pick it up. I can't imagine why. After LOTS of drama and back and forth, Jeff threatening to put them on eBay or Crag's list, his ex refusing to get any $$ out of K's account (and who knows what is really in there) and with her BF's parents...BF got in a patootie of trouble with them over it got resolved. Sort of. Not really.

Basically Jeff caved. As she played/assumed/predicted he would. His "deal" was that she had to work it off, cleaning our house. Deep cleaning, 3x, top to bottom. HAH! She's never cleaned a THING in her life. Love the girl to death but they have no chores at the other house and aren't at ours enough to enforce anything.

Two attempted scheduled cleanings later, we've had one half day done. fairly decent job, I will give her that. Which of course required Jeff to teach her what to do as I was having nothing to do with it. Now to me, it should have come out of her grade money.

Jeff gave her a choice.

Yeah, like she's going to choose not getting her grade money? Or bank on scheduling making sure she doesn't have "time" to clean.

Can you say played?

Supposedly the house is getting cleaned again before Christmas. Or over break, or after Christmas.

I will believe it when I see it. I called it before he bought the tickets and while I hate being right, he did it to himself.

[pooh'smate]

Originally Posted by rentayenta

You have to wait until the end to get shots like this:

Love

I am slowly getting caught up on the dis since my parents were here.

[DrMomof3]

We've never been to a Disney water park but your pictures make me want to go!!!! And I know Tom would insist on renting a Cabana (that's how we roll! ). We've been to Sesame Place a few times and the time we had a Cabana was AWESOME!

Amanda

[rentayenta]

Originally Posted by PrincessInOz

That's a great day at Typhoon Lagoon. I'm hoping to check out one of the water parks next year....looks like TL just made it to the top of the list.

And tell Michael he did good with the cabana. He totally understood your high maintenancy.

It really is so fun. Like I mentioned the bright white of Blizzard Beach doesn't give off that tropical relaxing vibe. Its still a great water park but Typhoon lagoon wins hand's down.

He totally gets my high maintenancy. Guess we all have our thing.

Originally Posted by MEK

Oh No! The SSR bus travel woes. I am all too familiar with that from our June trip to the treehouses. Will you make you dinner ADR? Nah - you'll be late, but they will let you in.

I didn't know that TL had cabana rentals. That's how long its been since I was there. But my DH and I are going to take my two eldest nephews for a day this summer, so perhaps a cabana is in order. And one of those drinks. Yes please!

Travel woes indeed. The worst part was getting from DTD to SSR and realizing that the boat was around the corner. Did you have poor bus service from the THV to SSR?

I would recommend the cabana for sure especially if its crowded. Without getting too ahead of myself, we didn't get a cabana at Blizzard Beach but we also made it by opening.

Originally Posted by Goofyluver

Great Wolf Lodge is hell...

It's a hotel/indoor/outdoor waterpark combo. And it is horrible. Don't ever go there.

Of course I'll post a FB status update...complete with pics!

Also, of course you're making that ADR. I have faith in my Jenny.

I'll take your word for it and opt out of visiting hell! When did you go? Why do I recall something about you going there? Did Jon hate it too?

I will be on the lookout for the Christmas Day WDW vacation x 2 extravaganza!

Originally Posted by eandesmom

What a fun update, perfect perfect day!

WTG Michael. Jeff would NEVER do that. Which is odd as he was all over the concept of getting one for Castaway Cay and I thought that was crazy for teh $$ but I just can't see him doing it at the waterpark. Who knows. 1/2 off though? that is a total score!

I'm impressed the kids found you. I don't think mine would have.

I love to lounge and it was worth every penny. I'd totally do it if we ever make it to Castaway Cay. This last summer in Vegas he did the private thing at the Luxor. That was his first taste of being spoiled by the water and he loved it.

Thy always find us no matter how hard we try.

Seriously, sometimes they have to learn the hard way. Oh those tickets. K convinced Jeff to buy them on her behalf for herself and her BFF under false pretenses. First being that she had the money in her bank account (that her mom manages, not us) to pay for it and second, that her BFF (who I adore) did as well. Implication being that all parents involved knew and were on board. We knew K's mom was aware that the purchase was going down, did not know she had neglected to mention that the agreement was K was buying her own ticket.

$500 later...neither girl has money and Jeff's ex wants us to pay for her flight to Utah for a tournament. So we tell her just to have K pay her out of her account the amount she owes Jeff, her half which would be our half of the plane ticket. Seems easy and painless that way huh? Nope, all heck breaks loose. Bear in mind this is a woman who thinks that Taylor should get to keep all the insurance money he just got for his "totaled" car and that we should buy him a new one. Even though he didn't pay for the first one (free) or any of the repairs (split with her) and what he got from insurance was enough to buy a new one and have quite a bit of money left over. She thinks he should get it all.

Kendall has never tried to pull anything like that before, I think she really thought Jeff would just pick it up. I can't imagine why. After LOTS of drama and back and forth, Jeff threatening to put them on eBay or Crag's list, his ex refusing to get any $$ out of K's account (and who knows what is really in there) and with her BF's parents...BF got in a patootie of trouble with them over it got resolved. Sort of. Not really.

Basically Jeff caved. As she played/assumed/predicted he would. His "deal" was that she had to work it off, cleaning our house. Deep cleaning, 3x, top to bottom. HAH! She's never cleaned a THING in her life. Love the girl to death but they have no chores at the other house and aren't at ours enough to enforce anything.

Two attempted scheduled cleanings later, we've had one half day done. fairly decent job, I will give her that. Which of course required Jeff to teach her what to do as I was having nothing to do with it. Now to me, it should have come out of her grade money.

Jeff gave her a choice.

Yeah, like she's going to choose not getting her grade money? Or bank on scheduling making sure she doesn't have "time" to clean.

Can you say played?

Supposedly the house is getting cleaned again before Christmas. Or over break, or after Christmas.

I will believe it when I see it. I called it before he bought the tickets and while I hate being right, he did it to himself.

O.M.G I'm Jeff. I get suckered all of the time or feel like I get suckered. And Gabby is K though she hasn't pulled something like that yet, I never say never (cue Justin Bieber).....We did a group buy but it went through we moms as it's for Christmas and yup, we're at $250 a ticket. I've never even spent that to see U2 and Bono walks on water. I am idiot. But that's honestly the only big gift the girls are getting. Gabby is going to have to buy her own iPhone upgrade when it comes time. And as far as cleaning, she's Kendall. Her idea of deep cleaning is listening to Coldplay or meaningful lyrics while cleaning.

Originally Posted by pooh'smate

Love

I am slowly getting caught up on the dis since my parents were here.

Glad you're back. How was your visit? Are you getting ready for Christmas?

Originally Posted by DrMomof3

We've never been to a Disney water park but your pictures make me want to go!!!! And I know Tom would insist on renting a Cabana (that's how we roll! ). We've been to Sesame Place a few times and the time we had a Cabana was AWESOME!

Amanda

Hi girl. Hope life is all back to normal post Sandy. I promise you'll love the water parks. I find, like most things, its more fun when the kids are capable of being more independent. And you've got to get a cabana. It was so much fun. I wish we'd had our camera because the cabanas come with a safe/locker. They're roped off and the CMs keep close watch. I saw them deny guests access to the cabana areas.

[Goofyluver]

Originally Posted by rentayenta

I'll take your word for it and opt out of visiting hell! When did you go? Why do I recall something about you going there? Did Jon hate it too?

I will be on the lookout for the Christmas Day WDW vacation x 2 extravaganza!

We went last year. Jon and C loved it. We, on the other hand, were aware that we were on the verge of a total breakdown (individually and possibly as a whole family) just by being there amongst the craziness.

We're going to convince them that Disney's water parks are better.

[Native NYer]

TL looks like so much fun. Love the cabana.
What a great way to have a non theme park day.

[Misskitty3]

Love those mugs! I don't think I have ever seen ones like that at Disneyland?? Feel free to "regift" to me...I will not judge!

An impromptu cabana rental = totally awesome!!

88 degrees sounds amazing right now........

Great update!

[rentayenta]

Originally Posted by Goofyluver

We went last year. Jon and C loved it. We, on the other hand, were aware that we were on the verge of a total breakdown (individually and possibly as a whole family) just by being there amongst the craziness.

We're going to convince them that Disney's water parks are better.

They are better! And with PAPs you should be able to squeeze them in. What made it so crazy?

Originally Posted by Native NYer

TL looks like so much fun. Love the cabana.
What a great way to have a non theme park day.

It really was the perfect non park day. I really like the water parks. The only thing we haven't loved was Disney Quest. Kind of hard to get into a big arcade/virtual theme park when the four parks are right there.

Are you getting excited for WDW? I can't believe you are going again so soon. So so envious. Are you get to do the Christmas Party too.

[Goofyluver]

Originally Posted by rentayenta

They are better! And with PAPs you should be able to squeeze them in. What made it so crazy?

I think Great Wolf Lodge is crazy because you can't escape the craziness. The water park is inside the hotel, and so your room is right next to the festivities, if you will. Plus, they turn the whole hotel into a big treasure hunt as an added activity, and so there are always loud children running up and down the hallways, at all hours of night. It is literally one of the loudest places I have ever been.

I had surgery the day after we went, and I was actually happy to be in the quiet hospital.

Plus, although there are some kinda cool slides, that's all they are. They're just kinda cool...nothing about it is awesome because it's geared towards kids. So, everything is small scale.

I'll never go again.