3rd Times a Charm! Mar. 8-14..lots of pics

[jenseib]

Thanks.
I'm not good to ask about itchy dresses, because Claire will take beauty over comfort. She did say a few times she was hot, but wouldn't take it off. With her Ariel Wedding dress she wore at HS she did get too hot and changed to a sundress.
I do think most of the dresses look itchy though. LOL

 

[jenseib]

Hey All!
We went to a waterpark this weekend, so I'll try to do a mini TR of that in the next few days. I only took my point and shoot camera, which seems to be on it's last leg, so I don't know how well the pictures turned out.
I'll try to load them tomorrow. We did have fun though. Claire was VERY sad to come home (it was only 20 minutes away. LOL)

 

[jenseib]

Remember that venting I did a while back back about the tax refund?

Well I got an update on that.

Yesterday Skip came in for lunch. He was feeling frisky (I swear when isn't he? LOL) and I told him I was busy and Paige was coming over soon, etc. So I went outside to pull weeds in my flowerbeds. A few minutes later he opened the door and said "get in here now". I'm like what? And he said "get in here now. I just looked at my checking statement and you need to see this...and now you have to...." I was like why would I have to >>>> because of a checking statement? LOL!
So I go in and he points to the line where it says deposit from IRS. He is just all giddy. I said I know all about it. And he looked puzzed and said "You did? I didn't". He had no clue we got a refund. LOL! He said he just went and picked up the papers, asked what he owed and they said nothing. So he put them in the drawer and never opened them. So of course I questioned how they got his bank account to direct deposit, which he had no clue, but then we wondered if they just took it off his check that he wrote to pay for services.
So he was so funny and practically jumping all around. So I said I was almost really mad at him for hiding it, but I decided not to be. And we laughed about how I could've been really nasty and he would've never even known why.

So of course I mentioned..."you can now pay off last years trip in full (plus some) and says you're right, we'll be back to scratch....Which I said. Now we can plan a December trip...and he just smiled....
So It wasn't a no.....theres a glimmer of hope! YAY!

On another note, I have been saving moeny whenever I can and putting it in a "secret" place. I have $800 plus saved, and a few giftcards too.
So now I'm really hoping they offer free dining for Dec like last year or i get a PIN for it again ,like I have for the last 2 years.
Ironically I have had 3 or 4 pins now for free dining over the summer. The latest one arriving last night. I hope they keep them coming. LOL!

 

[mickeystoontown]

I am sure that you feel lots better knowing that Skip wasn't actually hiding the money from you. You need to head over to the Codes & Rates forums. Canadian Guy has the scoop on when they think free dining is going to be released. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!

 

[jenseib]

Yes, I am so glad. I am also so glad I didn't go with my initial madness and yell! LOL!

I am working on my water park Mini TR, but photobucket isn't liking me very well today and going so slow or just not uploading at all in some cases. But I will start a post when I get a few pictures up

 

[jenseib]

Oh! And is he predicting fall free dining or winter? I am in hopes for the winter/late fall one that they had last year.

 

[jenseib]

A Mini Trip Report from our waterpark adventure!

My birthday is in Feb. and Skip had said we should go to a local waterpark for something fun to do in celebration of my birthday. Tell this once to Claire, and she'll NEVER forget.
My birthday fell on a Sunday and I think it was Presidents day weekend as well. The park just didn't seem like a good idea that weekend. (it is only open on weekends, though you can stay at the hotel any day of the week) So we kept saying next weekend, and then something came up, or things were already planned.
So I suggested Spring break. We also looked into Kalahri and Great Wolf lodge which are about 1 1/2 hours away. But it just came down to being close to home for Skip, so we booked Splash Bay for last Sat/Sun.

So Sat. arrives and Claire can hardly contain herself. I am not a big waterpark fan at all. I had a mishap years ago at one and fell hard and really scraped my knees badly, while in the meantime Paige had left the area. So through tears and pain, I was searching for Paige, who had gone to a completely different section in a blink of an eye, and I had blood running down both my legs, which took months to heal. (it was just awful and I didn't explain it well, but you get the jist) I also hate the wedgies you get going on a slide. Nothing fun about it to me, but I am ALL about hottubs!

Skip said we would leave around 1 or so. I can't remember the exact time we did leave or when we go there, but I think it was around 2 or so.
We checked in and got our room..... I happened to see a lady I know checking in too. She is selling her house and it was being painted. She had family in town, so they came over to the park for the night. Small World.

We took our bags into the room and got dressed into swimming suits. I was immediately depressed at what a cow I look like. I have gained a few pounds since last year. Not alot, but enough to make me even more jiggly. (Note to self...STOP EATING ICECREAM!)

We went down to the park , and after some hunting, found a chair to place our towels and bag on. I decided to just keep my shorts on for awhile and take pictures of Skip and Claire.

Here she is all ready to find some fun!

And after a walk around looking to see what to do, her and dad decide to try some slides.

And then you hear a blood curdleling scream of glee and Claire appears at the bottom.

She LOVED it. Next thing I know, I am getting drenched....Skip came down and quite a wave of water came with him. LOL!

Then it was off to try the other one.

Alot of time was spent here. Claire really loved these slides. And about 95% of the time each time down was accompanied by that scream.

 

[Kathy Jetson]

Glad to hear it was a misunderstanding about the refund I bet that makes you feel alot better about things. I'm realy glad to hear Skip didn't say no to a trip this time. Good luck!

It looks like Claire was having the time of her life at the water park! I don't like them that much either except for the lazy rivers. River loves them and I feel bad about not taking him to the ones at Disney.

 

[jenseib]

I left off with Claire having lots of fun Squealing down the slides.

Skip decided to go try the big blue slide on the other side of the buiding. So I put the camera away and came back and watched Claire go up and down over and over.

After a bit he came back and said it was fun and I should try it.....Uh...NO! LOL!

He then said that Claire could ride the raft slide if an adult was with her. So he took her over there. I grabbed the camera again and sat waiting for them. It's next to impossible to know when they were coming. I couldn't see them on top and the tub was yellow and most of the ride wound outdoors anyways, so I just had my camera ready for each person that came out. I did learn that a big wave of water comes out right before someone pops out.

Here they are!

I took a ton actually, but I was using my point and shoot and it's seen better days, so I won't bore you with some of the blurrie ones. LOL

They floated around the lazy river then that connected to the slide pool. I decided it was time for the hot tub. I saw it had an indoor and outdoor one and they connected, but the connection was blocked by a gate. But there was adoor to the outdoor one. I decided on the indoor one so they could find me easier. It was nice, but actually wasn't as hot as I think it should've been. But still nice. A ton of people though.
ALOT of kids. and not kids with there parents. It seemed that alot of kids thought this was just a warm swimming pool and were goofing around. But being the "nice" witch I can be. (LOL) I would politely let them know if they splashed me or got a little wild that this was a sitting pool, and people were here to relax. And they would stop or move to the other end.

Skip and Claire found me. I think they had hit the raft slide a few more times. We all sat for awhile and it was so nice. I told Skip about the door to the outdoor one, and he wanted to go out there, so we did. It was nice, but again a ton of kids. And I was the nice reminderer of pool ettiquette to them when needed.

Skip then decide to do the "toilet bowl". It's a big red slide that spits the person into this red bowl and they slide around then then out the bottom where there is a whole.
I pushed Claire in the lazy river...brrrrr...that was cold after the hot tub, while Skip went on it. We got to the river area where he would be spit out and we waited and laughed. You could see his shadow going around in the bowl.
We hit the kiddy area for just a bit more. They had spray things and Skip was trying to get me standing at the edge. He came back walkingtowards me and this little boy walked up to him and reached his arms up to him. It looked like he thought Skip was his dad, Skip started to bend down towards him, I guess to see what he wanted...and the kid gave him a tiddy twister. LOL Both hands grabbed right for his man ****s! Skip caught on quick before much damage was done. Claire and I were laughing so hard! (and yes Skip does have a bit of man ****)

I was getting a bit hungry, so I ran up to the room for some money and came back and took Claire to get some Nachoes to share. Just the cheap kind. Nothing great...in fact I thought the chips were stale and the amount of cheese they gave us was hardly nothing.

Skip had gone outside to smoke and then met back up with us. We went back to the outside hot tub and Claire and this little black boy became friends. He was hilarious, but he had been in there the whole time we had been there. And no adult around. So we got to talking to him. He told us he was 7...much to young to be left in a hot tub alone all day. I asked who he was here with and he said his brother Franklin was having a birthday party there. I asked how old Franklin was, and he said an age and then said no he's 7 like me. We're twins. ...OK wouldn't that make it his birthday party too? And he said "OH yeah it's my birthday too." So then we knew "Franklins brother", as we now called him, was a bit of a BS'er.
We decided to take a rest and get ready to eat some supper and headed back to the room.
We got dressed and Claire started watching HighSchool Musicale 3. She looks so tired, but actually her eyes hurt from the clorine. I tried to get some shots of the room too.

Gotta stop here till I get more pics loaded.

 

[jenseib]

Well I had the upgraded account with photobucket. I got it last year as I kept going over with the TR....it expired recently...and wouldn;t you know I got an email this morning that said I was about to exceed the width, and then 2 seconds later one that siad I did! LOL!
Last year when I got it I did the trial offer of joining the movie club and buying some Disney movies. it worked well for me. But I certainly didn't want to do that again, I still have 1 or 2 movies to buy to finish my commiment. So I thought of letting it go to the 1st, but that would mean about 10 days with no pictures.

So I decided to take a look at the trials...and I killed 2 birds with 1 stone. I had actually planned on making Paiges graduation party invites today on Vista print. We're just doing postcards with the basic info on them. Well I found I could order something off Vistaprint and have my upgraded account reinstated, so I did just that. So I didn't have to spend any money that I wasn't already going to spend today anyways. It all timed out very well. If I hadn't gotten that email, I would've ordered without any such deals.
I was actually going to do it 2 days ago, but I have had connection problems with the interent, so I waited (got the cable guy coming out tomorrow to see whats up)

Ok, I'll do another update now!

 

[jenseib]

I left off our Splash Bay fun with us taking a break and getting cleaned up.
Claire and Skip were watching High School Musical, so I decided to run out to the car and also take some pictures.

I went back inside and was about to snap this next picture when I hear, "sorry maam, no pictures allowed in here" ..so I quickly snapped it and then looked. LOL

Remember earlier when I said I ran into a lady I know at check in...well she and her Daughter were in the bar area...and she was just messing with me. It's been awhile since I have seen her, even though she now lives kind of near me, and her DD is in School with Paige. So we talked a bit and then I went on my merry way.

Back in the room, Claire was still watching TV. She looked awful though. I figured she was wiped out from all the fun

I shot a few pics of the room again. Here is her pull out bed

Excuse my shirts on the desk, ....was letting it dry out.

We then decided it was time to eat. Claire was just so exhausted by this suggestion

But she made it!

 

[mickeystoontown]

I am soooo behind in my subscribed threads. So sorry I haven't made it over to comment yet on the water park installment. It certainly looks and sounds like Claire had a great time as did Skip. I often wonder why parents just let their kids go wild and not keep track of them.

I now have four photobucket accounts. I am just too darned cheap to pay for an upgrade. Good to hear that you didn't have to pay to reinstate your's. Looking forward to seeing more pics.

 

[mickeystoontown]

You and I must have been posting at the same time.

Isn't it neat how you can run into somebody that you know even when you aren't in your hometown? Like you said, it's a small world.

Poor Claire does look really tired. I am sure it's because of all the energy she spent running around the water park. Swimming always makes me tired but hungry.

 

[jenseib]

I'm behind too on alot of threads. My internet keeps going out. Supposedly no one in my are has this problem but me. I had this problem off and on and in March they came out and replaced the modem box, hoping that was the problem, but evidently it wasn't. It was off more than on on Tuesday and yesterday just fine. Today it has gone out again a few times. Very frustrating.

We later fine out that Claires eyes are burning from the chlorine. And she had much more energy thant I thought she should. LOL!
I'll try to update later today or tomorrow. We have dance class this afternoon, and I have a few errands as well. I really need to get in the shower and get out of my PJ's now! LOL!

 

[Disneychix]

Awesome news about your DH "not saying no!" I hope you get a nice fall/winter PIN code!!

 

[jenseib]

LOL! Yes. Claire asked him the other night about going for her b-day again. I was picking up stuff, and edged over nearer to him to hear what he would say.... He said that would make it a really special birthday wouldn't it. and they talked a bit about it. So there is a little hope. I think we are slowly breaking him.

 

[jenseib]

I left off with it being time for dinner.

We went down the hall to the elevator to take the short trip down 1 floor.

The restuarant was empty. I think it was around 5:30 or 6, so a little early for crowds.
We looked over the menu. I beleive Claire got chicken strips. Kids eat free with an adult! Skip was getting a fish sandwich. I debated over Ziti, but Skip kept saying they have Frog legs, which he knows I like, so I ended up getting that. Of course Claire thought that was funny.
While waiting Claire kept crying about her eyes burning. This is when we realized that she wasn't tired, but that her eyes hurt.

Skip and I talked about the water, and I mentioned that some got in my mouth and tasted like salt water. He said the same thing. Thats weird, as we are no where near an ocean. LOL!
After some crying I took Claire up to room to wash her eyes out with a wash cloth....hoping that would help.

But that leasted about 5 minutes.
So I went to the gift shop and they had eye drops and bought those. Of course it was not easy to get those in here eyes. But we got a few drops in and things seem to be a bitter after that.

The dinner was good. Not the greatest, but still good and the prices were decent. Claire got an icecream sandwhich for dessert with her meal.

Back to the room we went and rested for a short time. Claire was ready to get back to the waterpark, so any resting done wasn't enjoyable with a 5 year old begging to go back constantly.


Back down we went for a little more fun.

They did the tube slide again, and I took some pictures. I don't think I went in the water this time around...can't remember for sure. (sign of aging. LOL)

 

[jenseib]

I left off with Skip and Claire in the lazy river after the big tube slide...

They then headed off to the hot tub again.

I went and snapped some pictures again

Claire's eyese were bothering her again, so I went off to the gift shop and bought her some goggles. That seem to help ALOT!. I guess she opens her eyes all the time under water. We told her not to, but she said then she wouldn't know where she was going. Makes sense. LOL!

We played till about 8:30 or so and then headed back to the room.
Here's a couple short videos I took. I was hoping to get her scream when going down the green slide, but of course that was about the only time she didn't scream.








Back at the room we watched alot of Wizards of Waverly Place. I think a mini marathon was on. Claire looked exhausted, but at 11 I had to tell her the TV was going off. I think she would've watched it all night.

Skip fell asleep pretty early. We were aonly about 20-30 minutes from home and he was getting up at 5:30 to run home and take care of some "cow" business.

I slept awful. The bed was pretty, but very hard.
Skip got up, went home and returned about 9:30. He said that he bet no one in that hotel did the things he did that morning. LOL! He delivered a baby cow for one thing.

When Skip got there we went down to the restuarant and got some breakfast. It was just OK. It was a buffet, but alot of stuff like boxed donuts on it. But it did the job and we were full.

We went back to the room, packed everything up. I took it out to the car and Skip and Claire headed back to the waterpark. The I joined them. I mostly lounged in the hot tub. Skip did talk me into going down the big tube slide with Claire. We start going down, and she just about flies off. Scared the crud out of me. Needless to say, I didn;t think it was fun. I was in fear she would fly off again. I held her arm with a death grip the rest of the way down.
After an hour or so I changed back into clothes, and shortly after Skip was ready. Claire wasn't, and cried the whole ride home. Non stop. Lovely!
We did get her mind off it a bit by talking about perhaps visiting a waterpark at Disney next time we go. But it didn't help alot.
Then were home, and I unpack and pretty much had a lazy day.
I did take pictures, but they are pretty much the exact same as what I have posted already, so I'll skip posting more of those.

 

[Kathy Jetson]

Sounds like a fun getaway besides Claires eyes burning and her crying on the way home ( I know just what thats like). Skip gets the award for most original thing to do on vacation- leave and deliver a baby cow!

 

[jenseib]

Yeah, it was nice. I imagine if Disney was that close to us, he would do the same then too. LOL