You're Livin' the Dream, Mater Boy! *Aug 2010*(WE'RE HOME and HAD A GREAT TRIP!!!!)

[Charlefours]

Hey Karen!

Looks like you have a lot to juggle the last month or so but I know you can do it! My DD wanted to have her birthday party at the lake, so we are having it before we leave on our trip, which I am happy about--I think. I have so much to do, why not add to it? It is going to small so it will be fine.

Great job on the running!! I want to get back to scrapbooking too--I need to do DD's autograph book among other things. We never do anything for our anniversary either, but it is December 20th. We are talking about taking a trip when we hit 10 years (with DD since it is so close to the holidays) but we may go out to dinner and may exchange gifts but that is normally it.

The summer is flying by so quickly!!

 

[wdwgirl03]

Wow, only 6 weeks! I know my sisters and I are excited...we've only got about 3 1/2 weeks to go. Ahhh I can't even imagine though how excited you are since it's your first trip. I really can't wait to hear all about it when you get back (not to rush it or anything) because I love hearing first timers' reactions!

 

[Cory's Gal]

Hi Karen! Yeah, I got caught up again! Your autograph books are just awesome! Of course I like the Toy Story pages best!! They turned out beautiful!!! Sorry there are so disappointing closures during your trip! The Cantina is closed BUT there is a Margarita station still set up outside the pavilion!! So you will still get a margarita, they are SUPER good too!! I had one!!!

Sorry the 10K turned out not so great! I am so impressed with your running!! I have been running too, running 3 miles 3-4 times a week, but on Saturday my knee started to give me problems. I had broken my knee and leg back in 94 and I have a bunch of hardware in there, they are thinking I may need to have that stuff out. I go in today to the Orthopedic Doctor, I hope I can get some answers!! Sounds like you have such a busy July and August, BUT less than 6 weeks and you will be in WDW!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[MommyMcQueen]

Hey Karen!

Looks like you have a lot to juggle the last month or so but I know you can do it! My DD wanted to have her birthday party at the lake, so we are having it before we leave on our trip, which I am happy about--I think. I have so much to do, why not add to it? It is going to small so it will be fine.

Great job on the running!! I want to get back to scrapbooking too--I need to do DD's autograph book among other things. We never do anything for our anniversary either, but it is December 20th. We are talking about taking a trip when we hit 10 years (with DD since it is so close to the holidays) but we may go out to dinner and may exchange gifts but that is normally it.

The summer is flying by so quickly!!

I can't believe how fast summer is going either! It's the middle of July already and we have to much stuff we want to do before summer is over! Still haven't made it to our favorite beach or state parks!

Yeah, there is a lot to do - it will sure put my list-making skills to the test! I started making some lists yesterday and jotting things in my planner to remind myself to do certain things. I do enjoy being busy and keeping busy....but do feel like there is alot going on right now. The list keeps growing too - today I added several things for that wedding weekend that I need to do - get a card and gift, need dress sandals to go with my new dress, and several other things to do for that! It'll be a busy and fun next few weeks!

Wow, only 6 weeks! I know my sisters and I are excited...we've only got about 3 1/2 weeks to go. Ahhh I can't even imagine though how excited you are since it's your first trip. I really can't wait to hear all about it when you get back (not to rush it or anything) because I love hearing first timers' reactions!

5 weeks as of tomorrow!!! YEAH!! I hope you have a great time with your sisters!!! That should be a lot of fun. To say I am excited is the biggest understatement of the year!!! I find myself laying in bed at night thinking about it - imagining the kids on the rides, how much fun we're all going to have!

Hi Karen! Yeah, I got caught up again! Your autograph books are just awesome! Of course I like the Toy Story pages best!! They turned out beautiful!!! Sorry there are so disappointing closures during your trip! The Cantina is closed BUT there is a Margarita station still set up outside the pavilion!! So you will still get a margarita, they are SUPER good too!! I had one!!!

Sorry the 10K turned out not so great! I am so impressed with your running!! I have been running too, running 3 miles 3-4 times a week, but on Saturday my knee started to give me problems. I had broken my knee and leg back in 94 and I have a bunch of hardware in there, they are thinking I may need to have that stuff out. I go in today to the Orthopedic Doctor, I hope I can get some answers!! Sounds like you have such a busy July and August, BUT less than 6 weeks and you will be in WDW!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks Beth! I'm happy the autograph books are done, I know I'll proabbly have a little work to do on them once we're back with characters I didn't make pages for, but that's okay.

Thanks for the tip on the Margarita!!! So glad to hear I can still get one! LOVE me a margarita!!!!

Sorry to hear you are having trouble with your knee yet - I know you had mentioned it in your PTR. I hope the Ortho Doc can give you some good news! Yeah, that 10K had me down but this week I've had a couple good runs - very excited and actually feel stronger since struggling through that cursed 10K! So, maybe it wasn't all bad - taught me to push through when I COMPLETELY wanted to quit. I honestly can't believe how much I enjoy the running - it is still a strange concept to me since I spent the last 30 years hating running! Going to attempt an 8 mile long run this weekend I hope it goes okay!

 

[MommyMcQueen]

The mailman just came!!!

I'm not normally that excited about this daily event, but today he brought me:

and inside was :

YEAH!!! My DME packet!!! Last week I received my customized maps which I thought were my packet, and was so disappointed when I saw it was just the maps. But today it's here!!

So, I'll be getting one additional packet from Disney yet, right? The one with the plastic luggage tags? Does anything else come in that packet?

 

[wdwgirl03]

Hooray for getting your ME stuff! Now you are OFFICALLY getting close!

 

[Charlefours]

I have so much left on my to do list too!! My classes this summer have been insane so I have not had much time to do much else. My family has just under eight weeks left to go.

It is getting so close!!! I bet getting the DME makes it seem even more real. I want to order another set of the maps but I am not sure if they are updated with the closures. I know I will get several maps while we are down there, but of course they are not the same.

 

[MommyMcQueen]

Hooray for getting your ME stuff! Now you are OFFICALLY getting close!

Yeah - it's official!! I know I'll be running out to the mailbox everyday now looking for the other packet!

I have so much left on my to do list too!! My classes this summer have been insane so I have not had much time to do much else. My family has just under eight weeks left to go.

It is getting so close!!! I bet getting the DME makes it seem even more real. I want to order another set of the maps but I am not sure if they are updated with the closures. I know I will get several maps while we are down there, but of course they are not the same.

You are getting so close too!!! I have like 4 sets of the maps now, I've been ordering them for like 2 years! Oh well, I know I'll use some of them in my scrapbooks and I can give the extras to the kids to look at and use.

I'm happy to have the DME pack and see that we have 4 tags like we're supposed to - no problems so far! Hope I get the other packet soon!

 

[MommyMcQueen]

I hope everyone had a good weekend! I was able to take some time yesterday and run a whole bunch of errands and get a bunch of stuff taken off of my to-do list! Felt great to get some things done and a few more things started.

I picked up the iron-on tranfsers and a few t-shirts to try to start making shirts!!! I didn't get all of them, had a bit of a hard time find colors/sizes I wanted, but I got enough to get me started at least. I got 2 shirts of each of us. Right now I am washing up the kids shirts and plan to attempt my first shirts today!

Today I am making 2 Chef Mickey shirts for the boys. I have printed out the transfers already so once the shirts are dried I'll iron them on this afternoon. If I like the way the transfers came out I'll plan to start printing out the other designs, but I'll wait to see how these turn out first. I got the transfers at JoAnns, they had decent reviews on the website so I just picked them up in the store, so I'm hoping they work well. If not I'll have to try another brand I guess.

So, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that these will turn out! I'll post some pix when I'm done today!

 

[MommyMcQueen]

Well I made the first t-shirts for the kids - the shirts for Chef Mickeys - and am pretty happy with how they turned out. Here they are:

The kids really like them and are excited to have new shirts! I don't plan to let them wear them until the trip, since I really don't know how the transfers will hold up in the wash. But I am really happy with them, they were easy to use, they printed nicely. The only little issue I had was that the parchment paper leeched a little ink off the first one, so when I did the second I got a little ink on it...it's pretty faint so I'm not going to remake the shirt or anything. But I'm not sure if I can use just any old parchment paper, I have a big roll of it?? I'll have to figure it out before I make the next shirts so I don't get that ink transfer again.

2 down....many to go!!!

 

[MommyMcQueen]

This morning I was able to do 2 more shirts for the kids - the Epcot World Showcase shirts. Here they are:

I have Epcot designs printed out for Dan and I, but I don't have shirts for us yet. We are both doing Drinking Around the World shirts (even though we'll hardly be drinking anything at all!) with the beer logos, his has Grumpy and mine has Snow White. I also have Animal Kingdom designs printed out for everyone but need shirts for the boys, only have mine. So, tomorrow the kids are going by grandmas for the morning and I'm going to go out and get some more shirts!! I also need to pick up another 10-pack of transfers as I have used all of mine up! I am happy with the transfers so far, they go on well, I just hope they hold up in the laundry okay.

I am so excited to be getting these done! I still have to find some kind of design for HS and MK. I'd really like to do something for our first day there - something that says First Trip or something along those lines. So I'll keep searching the DISigners threads.

 

[MommyMcQueen]

Gotta do a little One Month Dance today!!!!

I decided to borrow a great idea from Erika (JeremysDisneyMom) and start posting a "One Month From Today" post to review our plans and itininery. So here goes:

One Month From Today: Friday, August 20th

We'll be waking pretty early to head to the airport. My plan is for all bags to be packed and ready to go, and we'll just have to add any bathroom supplies/medications and load up the bags. Be on the road by 6:00am. Takes about 1.5 - 2 hours to get to MKE with good traffic. Flight leaves at 9:20am.

Arrive MCO at 1:00pm. Take DME over to Pop. Hoping we can be there and checked in by 3:00pm. Clean up a bit of whatever and grab a bus over to MK.

At MK the plan is just to check it out - do Main Street USA, do the Dream Along with Mickey stage show and/or Move It Shake it Celebrate It street party. Grab dinner at Caseys since we'll be right there - can get it while we're waiting for the shows or whatever. Maybe walk through the castle? Definitely get some ice cream. Do lots of pix and Photopass. See if we can find any characters? Really no plans to do rides or anything that first day, just enjoy being there and have some fun. I had thought about riding the railroad if we had time, but think I read that it is shut down now?

Plan to head out by like maybe 7pm, get back to the hotel by like 8pm - I'm sure the kids (and probably the adults ) will be tired and we have an early morning the next day. So that's it - day 1!

Anything else we should be sure to check out on Main Street?

 

[MommyMcQueen]

Today we started our Countdown Calendar! The kids were excited to pull off the first number!

And under the first tab was the Castle, of course!

This morning I also went out and got more iron-on transfers and additional T-shirts! I now have all of the supplies to make the Epcot shirts for Dan and I, and the stuff to make all of the Animal Kingdom shirts. So hopefully tomorrow I'll have more shirts done! I still need to find a shirt idea for MK.

One Month From Today: Saturday, August 21

One month from today will be our first full day in Disney! It is a Magic Kingdom day, opens at 9:00am. I'm hoping to be up early, we'll get some breakfast at the Pop food court and be on a bus by 8:00am to get to MK. I hope we'll be able to see the opening show. Today we hope to get through Fantasyland, ToonTown, and Tomorrowland.

After Rope Drop - we'll head directly to Fantasyland and Dumbo! After Dumbo we'll try to ride a few other things - Peter Pan, Pooh, or Tea Cups until we head over to ToonTown when it opens at 10am. After ToonTown we'll come back to Fantsayland and finish up. I'll be sure to grab a fastpass for something before we do TT so we can come back and ride something right away. Also gotta see Philharmagic. Probably grab lunch somewhere in FL.

After we're finished up there we'll head over to Tomorrowland. Hope to be able to get FP for Space Mtn, otherwise I'll try to get them for Buzz. We'll spend a couple hours here until about 2ish, then make our way up to Main Street for the parade at 3:00pm. Hope to be able to grab some snacks somewhere and secure a spot! After the parade we'll go back to Tomorrowland and finish up anything there we still want to do or have FP for. Plan to get dinner as Cosmic Rays. After dinner and once we finish up what we want to see, we'll head back to the hotel for the night. Probably be an early night - we'll probably all be exhausted!!!

 

[MommyMcQueen]

Another pretty productive day - I got 6 shirts done! Whoo Hoo!! I finished all of the shirts for AK, and the grown-ups shirts for Epcot - World Showcase.

So, I still have blue T's for everyone and I still need to find a design for our first day. I want to make MK shirts but I'm just not sure what to have on them. So I'll keep looking, but very glad to have all of these done!

One Month From Today: Sunday, August 22nd

One month from today we'll be spending our second MK day. The second day we hope to get through Adventureland, Frontierland, and Liberty Square. Park opens at 9:00am, and I hope to be there at rope drop, although maybe not as early as the day before since we'll have already seen the show, we may get there just after rope drop, we'll just have to see. I'm not sure if we should do Frontierland or Adventureland first though, right now I have it planned for FL first, but there is actually more rides we want to do in AL, so I may revise this and reverse the order.

We'll head straight to Frontierland and go to Big Thunder Mountain and do that first. Also want to see the Country Bears and Tom Sawyer Island (I know this is a not a fave of most, but we still want to go see it). Grab a fastpass for Splash, as I don't want to be wet all day but we'd do it before we leave.

After that we'll go to Liberty Square - I hope Haunted Mansion isn't too scary for the kids!!! I don't know about this one, I'd like to check it out though. The Riverboat is shut down during our trip, and I think we'll be skipping Hall of Presidents. So there's not a real lot for us to do in LS.

Then to AdventureLand. Get FP for Jungle Cruise. Do Pirates and the Treehouse. Maybe Tiki room and Aladdin if we can get it in.

The goal is to head back to the hotel by mid-afternoon and get some rest. Then we'd head back later in the evening for Wishes at 9:00pm. Not sure what time we'll come back, probably eat dinner at the hotel then head back over. Hopefully we'll be able to make a late night without the kids being too tired. Last time I checked there was so Spectro, but I want to go and check out the schedule again.

I'm now wondering if we should do Adventureland first this day - ideas??

 

[MommyMcQueen]

YEAH FOR MORE MICKEY MAIL!!

Our confirmation packet and luggage tags came today!

It feels so "real"! I can't believe we're getting to close! I spent a couple hours last night reading and working on my tour plans for AK and HS - still need to work through them a little more.

OH - I checked the schedules again and a showing of SpectroMagic was added to our last MK night! It's a little strange though - the schedule on Disney.com shows Wishes at 9:00pm and Spectro at 10:00. Originally the park was only open until 9pm, but they added EMH that night. It is unusual to have Wishes at 9 and Spectro at 10? Either way I'm happy - I really wanted to see it!

 

[wdwgirl03]

OMG, awesome for only one month!!! So excited for you guys! Your MK plans sound great. Dumbo sounds like the perfect first ride.

Off-topic, but did you guys get any bad rain yesterday? I know you're not in Milwaukee but we got hit pretty hard...lots of flooding! I'm glad to see the sun out right now!

 

[MommyMcQueen]

OMG, awesome for only one month!!! So excited for you guys! Your MK plans sound great. Dumbo sounds like the perfect first ride.

Off-topic, but did you guys get any bad rain yesterday? I know you're not in Milwaukee but we got hit pretty hard...lots of flooding! I'm glad to see the sun out right now!

Yes, we've been getting tons of rain!!! Didn't get much yesterday, it all went south by you guys. We do have high water here, I'm just south of Green Bay but our town is on the Fox River and it's beginning to flood. My DH is on standby this weekend with Brown County Emergency Management since two streets in town are low-lying right by the river - if they flood they'll have to be out sandbagging and shutting down the streets if we get a lot of rain again tonight/tomorrow. Luckily we live on higher ground so our home is pretty safe. Keeping our fingers crossed for little rain!!! How is it by you?

 

[wdwgirl03]

Yes, we've been getting tons of rain!!! Didn't get much yesterday, it all went south by you guys. We do have high water here, I'm just south of Green Bay but our town is on the Fox River and it's beginning to flood. My DH is on standby this weekend with Brown County Emergency Management since two streets in town are low-lying right by the river - if they flood they'll have to be out sandbagging and shutting down the streets if we get a lot of rain again tonight/tomorrow. Luckily we live on higher ground so our home is pretty safe. Keeping our fingers crossed for little rain!!! How is it by you?

OMG, last night it was really bad! I have never seen our street look like that before...first our backyard started flooding, then we noticed others' yards flooding. I'm not even joking, our street looked like a raging river. So scary! Luckily once the rain slowed down it went down and was pretty much clear later last night. We did have pretty bad flooding in our basement but again it's pretty much gone now. This morning you would have never known that anything happened. Just a lot of people on our block putting junk out by the street. Some of the pictures I saw were insane. Hopefully the rain stays away for a while!

 

[Charlefours]

Yippee for getting things marked off your to do list. I bet that feels great!

The shirts are turning out great!!

under 30 days!!!! ​

Your plans are looking great!!!

28 days left to go!! ​

 

[MommyMcQueen]

OMG, last night it was really bad! I have never seen our street look like that before...first our backyard started flooding, then we noticed others' yards flooding. I'm not even joking, our street looked like a raging river. So scary! Luckily once the rain slowed down it went down and was pretty much clear later last night. We did have pretty bad flooding in our basement but again it's pretty much gone now. This morning you would have never known that anything happened. Just a lot of people on our block putting junk out by the street. Some of the pictures I saw were insane. Hopefully the rain stays away for a while!

Wow Sarah! That is horrible and sounds scary!! I heard Milwaukee got hit hard last night, we have some family down there. Unfortunately it looks more may be heading our way tonight/tomorrow. Ugh....hang in there! Few more days you'll be in Disney again!

We live in a bit of a rural subdivision - only like 30 homes here and we have a vacant lot next to our house and a farm field behind us. So ALL the water from the field flows to the lot next door and there is about 8 inches of standing water there now. Luckily the lot is quite low and has a ways to go before we'd be getting water by us, but we cannot go outside AT ALL due to mosquitos from all the standing water. When it rained Thursday the bottom 3 feet of our fence was literally black from the all of the mosquitos, we've had our fence 4 years and I've never seen this before. Our patio door screen was covered with them, house was covered with them. Just sick. Went and bough major bug killer today and gotta spray the whole yard!

Yippee for getting things marked off your to do list. I bet that feels great!

The shirts are turning out great!!

under 30 days!!!! ​

Your plans are looking great!!!

28 days left to go!! ​

Thanks Stephanie!! Yeah 28 Days!!! Hope you are getting things taken care of on your To-Do list too! I'm feeling pretty goo about where I'm at - still a lot to do but I'm not as stressed about it anymore! I think I have the major stuff done anyway!