Thanksgiving with Mickey again...a November 2016 TRIP REPORT! (DONE)

[kittylady1972]

A long day today and our first two park day also. I forget how hard these days are on my feet and then I am back and can't manage a late night anywhere.

We successfully made our first park opening at Animal Kingdom this morning. the bus was packed at 8am and standing room only...a we are the second stop within SSR. Oscar our bus driver was very very entertaining though.

We managed Expedition Everest first and child swap was helpful there but still meant
longer waits until ride two. That was triceratops spin twice for the little ones while two others went on Primeval Whirl. Since that was taking a while we hit Boneyard at 10am and let boys run and play there. Then it was time to hit Tucker House FINALLY....I almost cancelled this again if not for my brother wanting to go. Expensive but worth it and not just because we had mimosas.

Beyond that we had to do safari and that meant waiting 70-80 minutes (posted 110) for it. After that was some shopping a snacking and then to EPCOT where we did Frozen Ever After via Fastpass, then Mexico boat ride and finally Imagination.

Rather than catch a bus directly to Polynesian for dinner we did monorail which was linger of course but kids first monorail experience finally. Dinner was great and now at 10pm I a done.

 

[kittylady1972]

Greetings from the road as well make our way back home to Maryland. After a brief stop at Disney Springs this morning we hit the road around 11AM Maybe? We are in Georgia nowith and probably will reach home between 1AM AND 2am.

Sorry for the lack of updates but we had a great trip. There were many things we missed but we hit most of what we wanted to hit and we are definitely ready to rest this Weekend! We had several favorite new experiences and some really wonderful surprises also. Thanksgiving day yesterday was fun and crazy and wonderful and I am only sad my mom and dad couldn't be there for it. Travel with a 2yo and 4yo has some extra challenges but those nephews of mine did great.

I have to share this:

So my 4yo and 2yo nephews are there and the 2YO IS IN THE FRONT of the car with his hands in the air. This was the only coaster he could ride and he LOVED It! In fact when it was over he cried and said MORE as he didn't want to get Out! This was just pure joy and can't wait to return when he can ride more as he only missed the 40 inch mark by about 1.5 inches.

More updates to follow soon...

 

[kittylady1972]

Characters:

With two little ones, character meet and greets were essential. On our Studios day, we rode TSM via FP and then got in line for this:

The boys are huge Buzz and Woody fans so this 30-40 minute wait was worth it for them. Overall my kids went with the flow and stayed with us with minimal complaints. We did give them the option to go elsewhere but they didn't do that. We would have liked to do a little more here but this park was an afternoon only visit for us and we left around 7:30PM and since I had maybe 4 or 5 hours of sleep the night before after we did a girls night at MK I was more than ready to leave by that time.

We had character photos with Daisy (twice), Mickey (twice), Minnie, Goofy (twice), Pluto, Jake, Donald, Buzz and Woody, Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, and Eeyore. Pretty good overall.

 

[kittylady1972]

Food:

Saturday night: Dinner was at Manginos at SOG with my parents. Overall it was okay.

Sunday: Lunch was at Artists Palette at SSR and very good. Split an Italian Panini with DH and it was delicious. Flatbreads were also good and easy to share. We had dinner at a combo of Sunshine Seasons (ok) and Electric Umbrella (also ok). DH and I split Prime Rib burger ($19.9 for the meal or $8 for just burger) and it was not quite enough to share lacking much in the prime rib topping. The burger was cooked well and was juicy and not dried out..a nice surprise.

Monday: Snacked mostly until dinner. The popcorn bucket that you buy and then refill for the rest of your trip for $1.50 was the best deal ever. I think we sustained ourselves on Disney popcorn a lot. Dinner was at Crystal Palace and was surprisingly very very good. The beef was tender and peel and eat shrimp seasoned well and good. Molten brownie with ice cream for dessert. Totally worth it for the characters and food was also good and everyone enjoyed it.

Tuesday: No planned meals. I'm not even sure what we had but I think lunch was at Artists Palette after we had a late night previously at MK and were in no rush to get out that day. Arrived at Studios around 1PM and ordered from Chevys for a later diner once back at SSR.

Wednesday: Light breakfast in room to save for our 10:40am Tusker House reservation. I almost cancelled this (again) but my brother really wanted to do it and the boys wanted to meet Donald. We really enjoyed this meal a lot and the transition to lunch happened while there. My sIL asked for some champagne added to her juice...and so did I...so Good! After making reservations here several times on previous trips and cancelling I'm glad we finally made it here. Worth it. Dinner that night was at Kona Cafe...a favorite of ours always and still good.

Thursday: Our only planned meal was an early Thanksgiving day dinner at Boma. This was our second time doing Thanksgiving dinner here and as usual it was great.

 

[kittylady1972]

Post Vacation Blues...they are here.

I am missing spending every day with my family, waking up and deciding what crazy adventures we will be doing next.

So as an update, we left Walt Disney World late Friday morning. We helped my brother get some of their stuff packed up and around 10am we headed to Disney Springs for the VERY first time. I wanted to do a quick shopping trip before leaving. I must say I looked in several stores while in the parks and honestly there wasn't much at all that interested me, but I guess that's a good thing. I was hoping for a nice comfy Walt Disney World hoodie that I could wear because the one I have at home has shrunk a LOT in the years I've owned it...but the few sweatshirts I saw that were NOT zip up hoodies were just so thin and not what I wanted so I had to pass.

Anyway I really love the convenient parking garage at Disney Springs. From our resort at SSR it only took a few minutes to get there. We browsed World of Disney, grabbed some milkshakes from Ghiradelli, and then walked around a bit. I really wanted to check out the trees they had decorated and I must say...that was quite disappointing. Sure they were blowing "snow" and it was 80+ degrees and sunny outside...but the trees were so small and that area was just so...I don't know thrown together last minute is how it seemed to me. I wish we had made it to Disney Springs in the evening one time as maybe that would have been more fun, but it just didn't happen.

So we were on the long road back home probably close to 11am and arrived home in Maryland around 1:30am. The four cats were of course VERY happy to finally see us and tell us all about their week without us. We had my FIL check in on them once, but with him being so busy with my MIL we didn't feel right asking him to check more than that and they were fine.

Saturday was a total bum day at home and I finally got around to unpacking my suitcase yesterday evening.

I keep thinking about how we have NO trips planned as of right now...but we DID upgrade our tickets to annual passes so of course there will be more trips. I'm still thinking about an early March trip but as of now it isn't set and the airline prices have already increased since I last looked. I have a feeling we'll do at least one trip this summer, and then another one in the fall and possibly even return for Thanksgiving next year, but of course for that one I'd need to book in just a few more weeks!

I'll start an actual trip report sometime soon hopefully!

 

[kittylady1972]

So I just thought I'd post a few character and group photos from the trip...the only one we had taken with the ENTIRE family together:

I love the castle right at sunset...so pretty. My mom is really struggling right now with something to do with her eyes that the docs can't figure out. Chemo sucks in case I haven't mentioned that before.

Anyway this was taken right after our dinner at Crystal Palace, which was fantastic as I mentioned before. We had such great character interactions there and the food was also very good. Everybody enjoyed it.

My mom and my husband with Piglet:

My dad and mom with Tigger:

Me and Tigger (he's my favorite!)

My brother and his kids and my daughter with Tigger:

My SIL and the boys with Pooh:

I would definitely return to Crystal Palace in the future. It was a favorite of ours in the past for character meals and for the food, but I had read some not great reviews recently which made me question it. We found it to be quite good overall, meat was cooked perfectly and not dry, shrimp was very good, desserts were also good. We would return for sure.

 

[ariane37]

Just read all your updates! I'm so sorry your parents left early, this is the first I've become aware of that I hope she was comfortable once they returned home.
Also glad to hear you guys enjoyed your Boma Thanksgiving dinner! We really liked our holiday dinner at Trail's End, too. We did think overall the crowds were like, double what they were last year........
I hear you on the blues! We've gotten 2 trips out of our current AP's but definitely want at least one more.
I have to get moving on my TR and dining report!
Oh, and I STILL can't believe we ended up in the same park like 3x and I didn't realize it till after the fact

 

[kittylady1972]

Just read all your updates! I'm so sorry your parents left early, this is the first I've become aware of that I hope she was comfortable once they returned home.
Also glad to hear you guys enjoyed your Boma Thanksgiving dinner! We really liked our holiday dinner at Trail's End, too. We did think overall the crowds were like, double what they were last year........
I hear you on the blues! We've gotten 2 trips out of our current AP's but definitely want at least one more.
I have to get moving on my TR and dining report!
Oh, and I STILL can't believe we ended up in the same park like 3x and I didn't realize it till after the fact

Yes mom seems to be doing better...but hard to say because she downplays the whole thing and it's too hard to get the full story from my dad without her around. It sucks being so far away from them and not able to just head over there to check on her when I can or to help her out. My dad is really awesome but I know it's got to be tough on him sometimes.

Boma was awesome as usual and if we return for Thanksgiving next year (yes a good possibility) I'm sure we'll book it again, even though it would be nice to do something different.

Crowds were definitely crazy for sure. The Monday morning that we showed up late to MK, I could not believe how long it took me to get through the security lines. I think that was the same day we saw many tables setup around the area of Tomorrowland Terrace so I'm thinking there was some kind of press event. Perhaps it was all also related to D23 going on the weekend before as well. I really want to go next year and stay later and have already told DH I'd like to see the CP again next year.

I'm well behind in my TR also, but maybe later this week I'll begin! I still have photos from my camera I need to get online somewhere that I can share them here.

 

[kittylady1972]

So just when things were looking up and I have made a nice dent in my Christmas Shopping online (thank you internet) I get an email from my dad yesterday. My mom went in for an MRI of her brain...I think they were looking to see what might be going on with her eyes (she is having constant blurry vision and has for a few weeks) and they found a small tumor. Dad didn't provide many details except to say that they were taking in her TODAY for radiation and that the doctor did say "small".

I can't even begin to tell you how frustrating this is to hear. My mom has been battling cancer now for just over TEN YEARS! I am thankful, SO THANKFUL, for the fact that she is still with us. It started as a breast cancer diagnosis around December 2005 and in 2006 she had minor surgery to remove that followed by chemo...followed by some episodes of depression. It was probably a year later when I think she was done...and for almost 5 years things were pretty good. Then her oncologist during her usual 6-month bloodwork found something strange in her bloodwork...they did a scan of her whole body...and found a tumor in her lung. There was a lot of hope at that time that it could be removed via surgery, so in February of 2012 they took her in for surgery to remove a lobe of her lung and the cancer...and she came out of it learning that the cancer was too involved with a major artery near her heart and they couldn't safely remove it. Options were radiation for a while, followed by many rounds of different chemo drugs just to contain it and so far that's worked. The tumor continues to show minor activity but no growth, and it was very small when it was detected and detected early. I think her oncologist just wants to prevent it from causing any other problems...and that's why the constant different typos of chemo for the past few years. Mom is tired of the chemo, tired of not having hair, her skin and nails a wreck, lack of appetite, lack of energy, weakness...it just all sucks so badly. Now this...stupid stupid cancer why can't she catch a BREAK already??? I just hate it.

Anyway still hopeful that she can visit, as she had planned, for Christmas this year. Last year was the first year she didn't spend Thanksgiving or Christmas with us...because she was feeling weak and horrible both times and just couldn't make the drive here. I was shocked when they came to Disney...but not shocked that they left early. Now I'm certainly not getting my hopes up about her visiting this Christmas for the same reasons...but it sure would be nice. If not, I'll most likely make another trip down there after Christmas to visit them, but since my daughter is having surgery on her foot two days after Christmas she won't be up for the trip so it might just be me and maybe the boys. We'll see. Last year was the first year in a long, long time that we mostly had Christmas to ourselves. My family wasn't with us, and my husband's mom was in the hospital, also sick due to complications from kidney cancer, and not even aware that it was Christmas for the most part. She didn't even know her own family for a few days. We took her gifts to the hospital...I'm not even sure she understand what they were about. This year so far HIS mom is doing better than she has been in a while, so hopefully it remains that way for this Christmas. Christmas is really about family time more than anything so it would be nice if we could spend time with them this time.

Apologies for such a downer post on this FRIDAY which should be a day for celebration...weekend is almost here!

I was going to start a TR today...not sure if I'll get to it or not. I am planning to bug out of work a bit early today as I have gifts I ordered online at Best Buy that are waiting for me to pickup in the store. Kids are off from school and home all day, so I was thinking I'd knock out picking up those gifts and then maybe take care of some stocking stuffers also.

 

[piglet1979]

So just when things were looking up and I have made a nice dent in my Christmas Shopping online (thank you internet) I get an email from my dad yesterday. My mom went in for an MRI of her brain...I think they were looking to see what might be going on with her eyes (she is having constant blurry vision and has for a few weeks) and they found a small tumor. Dad didn't provide many details except to say that they were taking in her TODAY for radiation and that the doctor did say "small".

I can't even begin to tell you how frustrating this is to hear. My mom has been battling cancer now for just over TEN YEARS! I am thankful, SO THANKFUL, for the fact that she is still with us. It started as a breast cancer diagnosis around December 2005 and in 2006 she had minor surgery to remove that followed by chemo...followed by some episodes of depression. It was probably a year later when I think she was done...and for almost 5 years things were pretty good. Then her oncologist during her usual 6-month bloodwork found something strange in her bloodwork...they did a scan of her whole body...and found a tumor in her lung. There was a lot of hope at that time that it could be removed via surgery, so in February of 2012 they took her in for surgery to remove a lobe of her lung and the cancer...and she came out of it learning that the cancer was too involved with a major artery near her heart and they couldn't safely remove it. Options were radiation for a while, followed by many rounds of different chemo drugs just to contain it and so far that's worked. The tumor continues to show minor activity but no growth, and it was very small when it was detected and detected early. I think her oncologist just wants to prevent it from causing any other problems...and that's why the constant different typos of chemo for the past few years. Mom is tired of the chemo, tired of not having hair, her skin and nails a wreck, lack of appetite, lack of energy, weakness...it just all sucks so badly. Now this...stupid stupid cancer why can't she catch a BREAK already??? I just hate it.

Anyway still hopeful that she can visit, as she had planned, for Christmas this year. Last year was the first year she didn't spend Thanksgiving or Christmas with us...because she was feeling weak and horrible both times and just couldn't make the drive here. I was shocked when they came to Disney...but not shocked that they left early. Now I'm certainly not getting my hopes up about her visiting this Christmas for the same reasons...but it sure would be nice. If not, I'll most likely make another trip down there after Christmas to visit them, but since my daughter is having surgery on her foot two days after Christmas she won't be up for the trip so it might just be me and maybe the boys. We'll see. Last year was the first year in a long, long time that we mostly had Christmas to ourselves. My family wasn't with us, and my husband's mom was in the hospital, also sick due to complications from kidney cancer, and not even aware that it was Christmas for the most part. She didn't even know her own family for a few days. We took her gifts to the hospital...I'm not even sure she understand what they were about. This year so far HIS mom is doing better than she has been in a while, so hopefully it remains that way for this Christmas. Christmas is really about family time more than anything so it would be nice if we could spend time with them this time.

Apologies for such a downer post on this FRIDAY which should be a day for celebration...weekend is almost here!

I was going to start a TR today...not sure if I'll get to it or not. I am planning to bug out of work a bit early today as I have gifts I ordered online at Best Buy that are waiting for me to pickup in the store. Kids are off from school and home all day, so I was thinking I'd knock out picking up those gifts and then maybe take care of some stocking stuffers also.

I am so sorry to hear about your mom. I hope things get better for Christmas

 

[kittylady1972]

I am so sorry to hear about your mom. I hope things get better for Christmas

Thank you. So far we don't have much news as mom plans to meet with a specialist at Duke University as soon as possible for her options. She sounds hopeful as do the rest of us.

 

[kittylady1972]

So on a happy note...we have totally transformed the outside of our house into a Disney holiday home.

It started out quite simply:

I love my mouse ear lights and have them in my front windows. This was just the first day because my daughter insisted on putting up some lights and these are indoors and easy. I love Mickey and Minnie in the windows also.

Then I got inspired to make a wreath:

Gotta love the dollar store...this was SO easy...took me only about 5 or 10 minutes.

Then the house two doors down had an Olaf...and I HAD to have an Olaf to go with our Moose that we already had because close enough to Sven right?

And this is somewhat the finished product...can you see the Mickey fireworks on the garage and the Mickey ears my son made in lights on the front bush?

And let's not forget this, which is on our inside foyer wall, and we see it every day:

So yes we are getting into the spirit, slowly but surely. Last night I spent a lot of time editing our PhotoPass pictures because I want to use at least one of them for a Holiday card insert and print some of the others as gifts to family. I did order a holiday ornament for myself and for my brother and family that hopefully they will like, directly from the Disney site.

Anyway I've got a busy day ahead but perhaps if I get enough stuff done I'll have time to finally start a trip report!

 

[ariane37]

Hi Dina! Your house looks great and I love the Mickey wreath you made, I saw it on FB Also I'm sorry I never commented on your last post about your mom, how is she doing?
I finally started my TR! The link is down in my signature but as usual I can't get it to work

 

[kittylady1972]

Hi Dina! Your house looks great and I love the Mickey wreath you made, I saw it on FB Also I'm sorry I never commented on your last post about your mom, how is she doing?
I finally started my TR! The link is down in my signature but as usual I can't get it to work

Sorry I thought I replied to you here...but it doesn't look like it.

Glad you like the wreath...it was so easy to make.

As for my mom...well things aren't going well quite honestly, which hard at any time but especially this time of the year which should be a time of joy and family. It's very likely that we won't see them for Christmas...and I'm not even sure when we will get to see them again. Based on the email that I received from my dad earlier today, she is not doing well physically or emotionally.

I'm hoping to get over to your trip report at some point...promise.

 

[kittylady1972]

Here we are again...and once again I'm slacking off. It's been a while since I've been here. So much happening these days I don't know where to begin.

Work has been busy in a good way for the most part. I like my job and my team and so that's all just fine.

Home life has also been busy. Besides finally getting our tree up, I am still getting inside the house decorations in place but at this point I think I'm pretty much done. We are having a holiday party tomorrow which we do every year with friends and I just need to focus on putting away all the Christmas decoration boxes now and get ready for that. As usual, I am no where close to ready, still have food to prepare (although people will all bring stuff) and some gifts to get ready as we do a white elephant gift exchange also. Plus I've had pre-op appointments for my daughter who has her foot surgery on December 27th.

On top of that, I'm trying to keep my spirits up despite knowing my mom's poor health. She and my dad went to Duke earlier this week because they have some superior cancer treatment options there besides what is local to them, but the special radiation therapy they want to do for my mom's small tumors in her brain requires her to stay still for about 45 minutes while they make a "mask" of sorts to go around her head so they can target only certain areas of her brain, and mom couldn't tolerate that process for very long. So they gave up and will explore other alternative treatments closer to home, which I don't think will be as good but it's mom's choice. I don't think dad is happy about her decision either but he's doing the best he can and mom is now avoiding all visitors from friends and family as she doesn't want them to see her in her current state. This is unfortunately nothing new, as my mom has gone through a few periods of depression ever since her very first cancer diagnosis back in 2005/2006 so I'm used to her NOT talking to me for a while...even though it sucks. I may have to make time anyway for a trip down to NC alone to visit though.

On the flip side, my MIL is doing well overall these days...so there is that.

I finally finished editing most of my Disney photos and downloaded them and added them to a holiday card that eventually I hope to get out.

This week I had two sick/ill cats, with one who had vomiting and other issues (AKA our $10K cat....don't ask) but thankfully he seems overall better. I know he is just eating something he shouldn't and hopefully eventually he'll stop. The vet prescribed a pill to give him twice a day just as a precaution, some kind of antibiotic but he's fought me SO much when I've tried to give it to him (and I've never had a problem before) that I gave up. Efforts to put it in his food...he just eats around the crushed portions. UGH.

My youngest cat fell from the rail above our two-story foyer onto the hardwood floor two nights ago. Initially she was limping a bit and seemed hurt...and so we watched her for 24 hours to see how she'd do and she only got...better thankfully. No limp and she seems fine so dodged a bullet (and another fortune in emergency vet bills) there for now and I guess she's down to 8 lives now.

In any case, getting back to this report may have to wait until after the Christmas holidays at least. Oh one other thing was I did email DVC regarding the fact that my parents checked out early from their resort and they RESTORED some of my points back to my account. Plus I did get tickets/reservation to the special after hours DVC event in March. However now I'm too afraid to book anything else because I feel like if I book it I'll end up cancelling because of my mom or my MIL for sure. Plus flights aren't really that cheap right now, they keep going up and up. If they drop again I may change my mind though. I feel like next year we'll need a little more Disney in our lives after everything that's going on with my mom and my MIL and I hope we get to make good use out of those Annual passes for sure.

 

[kittylady1972]

A SINGLE DAY AT MK IS BETTER THAN NOTHING

TR title...too depressing? I don't know, but every time I think about our Thanksgiving trip I just have to remember that the ONE day that we all had to spend together was better than having not spent ANY time together there. I will remember that day with my whole family for a long time because it helps me stay positive on days when honestly...there is just so much going on right now that I'm sad about.

Therefore I'm going to start this TR right now because I think I'll find myself smiling about it often as I remember so many great things that happened...so here we go!

Up next: DEPARTURE DAY!

 

[kittylady1972]

DEPARTURE DAY!

So the day finally arrived...and we were ready for vacation. Here was the plan:

• 
  
  
  • FRIDAY Nov. 18th: Depart our house no later than 7am and start our 14+ hour drive to Florida. We'll pack a cooler with food and snacks to limit our stops. We are hoping to arrive at Universal's Royal Pacific Resort by 11pm. If my DH has it his way, we plan to tell the kids the night BEFORE that we are leaving Friday and maybe even be on the road even earlier...his hope is 4am but I'd be good with 5am. Northern VA traffic sucks so getting through it earlier would be preferable.

Actually that doesn't truly represent the final plan as my husband had already set down the rule that we would be leaving the house NO LATER THAN 4AM. This did not make me happy. On a normal work week I get up between 5am and 5:30am so you would think 4am wouldn't seem so bad to me...but it did. However I should have known...vacation anticipation makes everybody sleep less and this day would be no exception. I think I was up around 3:15am and was showered and ready to go with time to spare believe it or not.

I may have complained a little bit:

DH had packed the car the night before mostly, other than the cooler which was packed that morning with some drinks and food we wanted to take with us. Even the kids didn't complain...well except about me video taping this:

http://vid1244.photobucket.com/albums/gg572/disneyholic/Disney Nov 2016/VID_20161118_035208103_zpscolhdsxb.mp4

Hopefully that works!

And so we were in the car by 3:52am and on the road. It didn't take too long for us to leave Maryland behind and cross into here:

DH had packed "breakfast" for all of us...donuts!

I figured the kids would sleep for a bit before breakfast...but nope they were eating before 5am. So after a little breakfast...I got a little paranoid. My 12yo son was sitting in the far back...and he was eerily quiet. I asked the kids if he had had a donut...and he had...and then he was SOUND ASLEEP according to them.

Then I started thinking (and saying out loud) Who eats a donut and falls right asleep? I was hoping he didn't choke on it and we didn't know about it. So I made my daughter check to make sure he was breathing! Yes she verified he was fine...and so I felt better. Crazy!

Anyway we continued our drive and soon we would enter our next state:

We were rolling along and making great time of course. Before long we did need to stop...for gas and bio breaks for all of us! We stopped in NC and I chatted up a fellow football fan while there. My NFL team (Baltimore Ravens) was playing his team (Dallas Cowboys) on Sunday...so we exchanged some banter about the game in passing in the store. All in good fun!

Then we were back on the road!

Somewhere in NC, we passed this vehicle and I had to snap a photo:

Too funny but it totally reminded me of on of our favorite movies! We watch Christmas Vacation EVERY year while putting up the tree at home!

Now on the road for almost 5 hours, we would cross into another state:

SOUTH CAROLINA! It's always fun to see the signs as we approach South of the Border (this is at the NC/SC border for those unfamiliar). This place is a total tourist trap, and kinda funny and we have stopped there once or twice just BECAUSE you have to do it once. I can still remember as a kid one of the times we drove to Florida from Maryland and my parents stopped there. I used to have a t-shirt...still remember what it said: (SUMMER, SPRING, WINTER, FALL...all year along I love Y'ALL...SOUTH OF THE BORDER!). I believe we also owned a set of salt and pepper shakers from there!

I'm sure we probably made another stop in SC for food maybe...but I'm not totally sure. Yeah I can remember a t-shirt from when I was probably 10 years old...but not something that happened about a month ago!

Here was our next state though:

I think at this point we pulled over soon and that's when I started driving. So yes I think my DH drove for about 9 hours before finally handing over the wheel to me to finish the trip!

This might have been about the time I took over...or close to it...screen shot of the drive left:

And finally...this last one:

We would still have a few hours left to go, but soon the sun would be setting. When would we finally tell the kids our ultimate destination? At this point they had no idea where we were staying for night number one in Florida!

 

[kittylady1972]

LIFE before the holidays...AKA Crazytime. I swear two weeks ago I was thinking I was ahead...and now I feel like I'm behind. I've managed to address about a dozen or so Christmas Cards and get them in the mail. The rest are still sitting at home...about 30+ to go I think and no stamps.

Most of my gifts are done and even wrapped. Since I have no idea when I'll see my family, I still have time to finish with their stuff. I have some of it wrapped and other stuff in a bag in my room just waiting. We may see them sometime in January. It really all depends on my mom's health which right now is unknown. My brother and family are visiting overnight this weekend so hopefully I'll get a true update from him. My dad emails small updates now and then and last update was they were still waiting for the local oncologist to talk to them about treatment. UGH!

In the meantime I need a distraction so I'm planning my next Disney trip and right now that may end up being Memorial Day weekend. Flights are pretty cheap right now, and kids are out of school the Tuesday after that Monday holiday, so we may fly out Saturday and return early Wednesday morning right now. I've managed to book a rental car...that's it. I'll book our DVC resort soon.

I'd still like to go in March, but flights just keep going UP and I can't see spending that kind of money right now. Perhaps we could drive but it would be a whirlwind trip, we'd leave on Thursday and have to return Sunday or maybe Monday if we let the kids miss school. We'll see what happens. Twice in the past we've actually teased and said last minute "let's just drive to Disney" but we've never done it. Maybe this time we will.

Anyway over the weekend we had a Christmas party at our house, something we've done for the last few years and is always fun. Now we have to get ready to prepare Christmas Eve dinner, Christmas morning breakfast and Christmas day dinner. Part of me just wants to cut one of those meals out...maybe the breakfast? I don't know if DH will go for that though. The breakfast/brunch tradition was started when we had two homes to visit for Christmas day. We'd visit my parents, who at the time lived an hour away, for dinner so we would have HIS family over for brunch to do Christmas with them. His parents have always hosted Christmas Eve dinner (which is an Italian tradition called Feast of the 7 Fishes), but now that his mom is sick we have taken over that one for the second year. So I'm okay with dinner both nights...but think it wouldn't be crazy to skip the breakfast/brunch part.

Last year it was mostly just our family of five for Christmas Eve and day. His dad and sister came over briefly for both Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas Day brunch, but his mom was in the hospital so his dad wanted to spend most of his time there with her. She wasn't even aware for the most part of Christmas. My parents didn't travel as my mom wasn't doing well then, so I ended up leaving two days after Christmas, taking the kids with me, and spending a few days with them, driving 7+ hours there on 12/27 and then 7+ hours back on New Year's Eve while DH stayed here for his family.

I was hoping this Christmas would be different, with all of us together again but it just wasn't meant to be. Cancer sucks and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't concerned that this could be the last Christmas for either one of the moms due to that horrible disease.

Doing my best to remain positive and happy during this holiday as much as I can right now. There are times when I just find myself lost in sadness but I have to focus on the good.

I'm really looking forward to Christmas and extended time with family. Even my own kids are growing up so fast, so I want to enjoy the time with them as much as possible.

 

[kittylady1972]

So I did it again tonight. Yes that's right everybody...our next Disney trip is BOOKED!

I have been looking over flights and Memorial day weekend is actually pretty decent right now. WhIle I can't book the flights...I can book the room so we are booked in a 1BR at Bay Lake Tower.

I just love that resort and for a quick trip it makes sense to be on the monorail loop.

We are also wait listed for Grand FloridIan and Wilderness Lodge for studio rooms. Family really wants to try someplace new and GF would be new for us. We have stayed at WL but it's been a while and that was only for 1 or 2 nights. A longer stay there sounds nice to us.

So we will see what happens. So nice to have another trip planned Out!

 

[kittylady1972]

AAAND I've already made a change. I dropped the Wilderness Lodge WL and added a WL at Beach Club Villas instead. Both are studio rooms but we aren't there for very long and the kids do fine in that little drop down bed. I have a feeling our chances aren't great at either one of them (VGF or BCV) but we'll see what happens. I'm very happy to stay at BLT as I really love being so close to MK there. However the other two are less points so that would be better.

Really wondering if I shouldn't snag the flights right now also. I mean, it would be on SWA so if we needed to change them...we could later.

I'm just so excited to have another plan. I'm not even thinking about booking any dining though. For a short trip I'm not sure we'll do much other than counter service.