We're off to see the wizards! Movie day and trip update

[Twoboysnmygirl]

You had a "Universal Day"...and without me! Looks like the blast, LOVE the twinkies! HAPPY 1 YEAR!!!!!!!!!!! It's gonna fly now. Don't wait too long on deciding the condo, the great priced ones book up fast, even a year in advance.

[-Hope-]

Originally Posted by macraven

Hope, you need a correction in your graph.
parking at the hotels cost $17 + tax per night.

the day you leave, there will be no parking charge as the rate begins at midnight each night.

are you using the rack rate for onsite hotel costs?

Thanks for the correction! That's the AAA rate. I do realize I might be able to get a slightly better deal but not $400-500.

[-Hope-]

Originally Posted by reelmom

Too funny about recording the movie in Spanish. We do Countdown Dinners too. They are so much fun to do.

Yep, my family had a good laugh at my expense. We love doing the themed dinners! And with a UO countdown I have a whole new batch of ideas since we've pretty much exhausted our Disney days ideas.

[-Hope-]

Originally Posted by Twoboysnmygirl

You had a "Universal Day"...and without me! Looks like the blast, LOVE the twinkies! HAPPY 1 YEAR!!!!!!!!!!! It's gonna fly now. Don't wait too long on deciding the condo, the great priced ones book up fast, even a year in advance.

Haha, I kept thinking it wasn't the same without you if that helps! I figured J would be more likely to get in on the fun if it was just us. :

I know, I have at least until the end of the month though because the calendars on the rental sights only show 12 months at a time so next September won't show up until October 1. I'll have to crack that whip soon after though. Tough job.

[BabyEeyore]

Your Despicable Me night looks like it was so much fun! And that is just too funny that you recorded the Spanish version. Sounds like something I'd do.

[-Hope-]

Originally Posted by BabyEeyore

Your Despicable Me night looks like it was so much fun! And that is just too funny that you recorded the Spanish version. Sounds like something I'd do.

Thanks! your Brave party was super cute too! We haven't seen it yet but are very anxious.

[BabyEeyore]

Originally Posted by -Hope-

Thanks! your Brave party was super cute too! We haven't seen it yet but are very anxious.

Aww, thanks. We love the movie so much. DD was scared of it the first time (there were kinda scary moments), but we went to go see it a second time and since she was prepared she was able to enjoy all of it more.

Oh, and I'm sorry, this is off topic, but one of the smilies on here reminded me. lol DH is going to be the 10th Doctor for Halloween/MNSSHP and I made him some 3D glasses out of old ones we had (that were yellow but had the red and blue lenses) and white poster board since I couldn't find any white ones. I thought you might appreciate that... at least more than most people I know.

[-Hope-]

Taking a deep breath and trying this again... I was nearly done with this update when I accidentally left the page and now I have to start over.

So, first of all, I just heard from my mom (our fellow dark side tripper) and she just arrived in Orlando! She and her friends are cruising out of FL to the Bahamas tomorrow. I'm so excited for her but also trying not to think about how close she is to Harry and Mickey right now! So, I'm focusing on the fact that two weeks from this moment we will only be about an hour or so from pulling up to our beachfront rental in Gulf Shores, AL!

I've pulled together a few things for the upcoming road trip and, since many of you road trip to Orlando I thought you might like to see... (Don't you just love how I rationalize this OT post.)



I saw a pin on Pinterest that recommended using these baskets...


to hold food and drinks in the car for easy reach and to avoid spills. They were in the clearance aisle so Jace gets purple but he doesn't mind. He says real men wear pink and purple with pride.

I also picked up these complete impulse buys from the clearance rack...


The beach we'll be at is for the neighborhood, not a public beach, and will be slow since it's October. We should have plenty of room to get these babies up in the air... I've never actually gotten a kite in the air but maybe if we sing Mary Poppins we'll get some all the way in Alabama.

I also picked up these binders for 50 cents each.


I was going to take the printables to Staples to have them bound but now we can reuse these every road trip. And we put in their pencil pouches so they can keep their markers and pens handy.

In the above pic you can see a couple of the printables I included, a scavenger hunt and license plate checklist. There are also close the box and tic-tac-toe templates...


Car Bingo (with 4 different cards for each of the kids) and mazes...


I figured you didn't want to see pics of each page but I also included word searches, vacation themed mad libs, word jumbles and more! Everything you need for a great road trip.

I just googled things like "road trip printables", "printable mazes", etc. One of the blogs I found also had this super cute road trip countdown...


We'll hang the string along the back of the suburban (being careful not to block the driver's view) and as we cross various landmarks we'll pull one card down. For example, when entering a new state, stopping for fast food the first time, etc. The last one we'll pull down is seeing the Gulf!

In addition to the snacks, binders and countdowns the kids will also have their electronics to keep them busy. Wal-mart (which Karen and I call Volde-mart because we hate it) has a program now where they'll convert your dvds to digital copy for only $2 each so I guess I'll be venturing in so we can get iPods and iPads loaded up. The kids also both have various games on their devices as well as the Kindle App and I'm going to buy them each a few new books. Jace requested some choose your own adventure and they have them for Kindle! You just click on your choice and it takes you to it instead of flipping back and forth- how cool is that?!

With all those devices (plus all of our phones) we're going to need to keep this stuff charged. I had a bad experience with a cheap charger once (it zapped my mp3 player) so I don't do cheap chargers. I was at the AT&T store to upgrade Robbie and Kya's phones the other day and found this cool device...




You plug it in at home and it will hold 480 hours worth of charge while you're on the road! It has 5 USB ports on the side and you just plug your stuff in and use the charge from the device to recharge your other devices.

It was a little pricey and I almost didn't buy it but I was already spending so much that day on cases, adding data, etc. that the girl cut me a great deal. We tried it out today with Robbie's iPod and it worked great!

I still need to buy snacks and drinks for the ride but other than that we are all set for the road trip portion of the trip.

And completely OT, having nothing to do with the road trip or UO I just have to share the cool barefoot sandals we got for the beach.




A toe ring and anklet, connected so your feet get a little bling. I just these! I hate wearing shoes so these are perfect for me.

All right, I'm done with all the stuff. Off to make dinner.

[-Hope-]

Originally Posted by BabyEeyore

Aww, thanks. We love the movie so much. DD was scared of it the first time (there were kinda scary moments), but we went to go see it a second time and since she was prepared she was able to enjoy all of it more.

Oh, and I'm sorry, this is off topic, but one of the smilies on here reminded me. lol DH is going to be the 10th Doctor for Halloween/MNSSHP and I made him some 3D glasses out of old ones we had (that were yellow but had the red and blue lenses) and white poster board since I couldn't find any white ones. I thought you might appreciate that... at least more than most people I know.

That's AWESOME! You guys are totally crossing the timeline though with Amy walking around with the 10th Doctor... If winged bat creatures show up at WDW, I'll know who to blame!

Oh, and I tried to talk Jace into being the 10th Doctor. He was all for it for a while but now wants to be some Minecraft character- as if MC trumps DW.

[BabyEeyore]

I love all your road trip stuff. I love reading about those type of things because it gives me great ideas. I'm not printing off word searches and stuff for Ashlyn or anything, but she loves her travel binder with all her coloring stuff. We only need things to occupy her for 2 1/2 hours when we go to WDW, but we're planning a 5 hour trip to AL in November plus some since we're all going to Pine Mountain, GA as well.

Originally Posted by -Hope-

That's AWESOME! You guys are totally crossing the timeline though with Amy walking around with the 10th Doctor... If winged bat creatures show up at WDW, I'll know who to blame!

Oh, and I tried to talk Jace into being the 10th Doctor. He was all for it for a while but now wants to be some Minecraft character- as if MC trumps DW.

OMG the winged bat creature comment made me laugh so hard! I keep explaining that it makes sense... it's just all wibbly wobbly. Plus I have a major crush on David Tennant (Aaron knows this) and so since Aaron so kindly agreed to dress as 10, I let him pick which companion I'd be. He says if he had to pick, he thinks Amy is the cutest.

[-Hope-]

Originally Posted by BabyEeyore

I love all your road trip stuff. I love reading about those type of things because it gives me great ideas. I'm not printing off word searches and stuff for Ashlyn or anything, but she loves her travel binder with all her coloring stuff. We only need things to occupy her for 2 1/2 hours when we go to WDW, but we're planning a 5 hour trip to AL in November plus some since we're all going to Pine Mountain, GA as well.

OMG the winged bat creature comment made me laugh so hard! I keep explaining that it makes sense... it's just all wibbly wobbly. Plus I have a major crush on David Tennant (Aaron knows this) and so since Aaron so kindly agreed to dress as 10, I let him pick which companion I'd be. He says if he had to pick, he thinks Amy is the cutest.

You should have no trouble finding things for Ashlyn's binder. When I was searching there were tons if things for younger kids. I really had to look hard to find stuff my big kids would enjoy.

And who doesn't have crush on David Tennant!

[Twoboysnmygirl]

OMG, that roadtrip countdown ROCKS!!! I wish we had one last January...we could have added a few things like... "darkness, pitch black outside & Mom can't see to drive!", "car begins to jerk and break down...for miles on end", "screaming at each other, totally stressed!" ...oh, that would be fun!

LOVE all your roadtrip stuff, I have no clue what I'm going to do without you for a week. I've been happily in denial about it. Will you have email access? I may die if you don't!

[-Hope-]

Originally Posted by Twoboysnmygirl

OMG, that roadtrip countdown ROCKS!!! I wish we had one last January...we could have added a few things like... "darkness, pitch black outside & Mom can't see to drive!", "car begins to jerk and break down...for miles on end", "screaming at each other, totally stressed!" ...oh, that would be fun!

LOVE all your roadtrip stuff, I have no clue what I'm going to do without you for a week. I've been happily in denial about it. Will you have email access? I may die if you don't!

Puh-leaz! You are leaving me TWICE in the next 6 months to go to WDW! This is just early payback.

Yes, I'll have email access. The house has free wi-fi so I'll be all set- probably emailing you to complain about my parents...

[Tink-erin-belle]

Ooh! A chart! Your UO day was adorable! Loved loved loved the Minions! I liked all of the stuff you pulled together for your road trip, too. The kids will definitely have fun in the car

[-Hope-]

Originally Posted by Tink-erin-belle

Ooh! A chart! Your UO day was adorable! Loved loved loved the Minions! I liked all of the stuff you pulled together for your road trip, too. The kids will definitely have fun in the car

Thanks! I hope the car is fun. It's a loooong drive so I wanted to make it as enjoyable as possible.