2011 Disney Dream Vacation – September 4, 2011 – Day 6

So Sad…My Niece and Nephew (and the rest of the family members) are leaving me today.

We did not tell Alyssa that we were staying on the ship, just that we were not on her same airplane on the way home. I was sad and wish she was staying with us.

She came over to our room to hang out a little this morning. We were trying to soak up as much Alyssa Time as possible.

Crazy kid!

Now I must warn you the trip gets much less exciting once the kids leave. Austin and Alyssa were the true stars of this trip report.

We took some pictures and waited for our waiters to come. As soon as Austin was born Alyssa announced that Belle was Austin’s favorite princess. LOL We have just went with it.

Of course everyone loves Popeye. Can you tell how much these kids adore my Dad. They cry when he leaves their house and when he is there Austin wants to be held the whole time and ALyssa can not be more then an arms length away from him.

It makes me sad sometimes thinking about how much they love my Dad and how much they would have loved my mom. She passed away 8 years ago and never got to meet the kids. I know she would have been right up there on the pedestal with Popeye!

Alyssa loved our waitress!

YOu can see my Photobombing Brother in Law peaking into this picture! LOL I can not begin to tell you how many photobombing pictures we have of him. LOL

We started with donuts and pastries for our first course. Alyssa had chocolate.

I would say she enjoyed it.

Austin was in a great mood. Boy was I gonna miss these guys.

Isn’t he the cutest!!!!

Thankfully we were sitting near Patty and her family and got to say our goodbyes to them. It was nice having them on our cruise with us.

After breakfast we headed out to the Lobby. My family got in live to get off the ship and we hung out with them.

Now one of the reason’s I requested the dining rotation I did was so we could din at the Royal Palace the last night, knowing we would also be there the last morning for breakfast. I have done this my last 4 cruises and it has worked out wonderfully.

Lots of Hugs and Kisses were exchanged. I told them to call me when they landed since they would be home in Baltimore before we set sail again!
We got off the the ship and headed down to customs. The guy in Customs called us cheap since we were not declaring anything on our form. I fixed him when I told him I was not cheap I was getting back on the ship!!!

HA!

So we headed up the escalator and re-checked in. It was super fast and we were handed a card with no boarding number! Weird. LOL

The led us to the concierge waiting area.

It was not too exciting. Just some sofas.

I went to the bathroom and looked around the empty port. Kinda cool!

At about 10:30am they came and got us and the one other couple who was waiting to reboard. They had not even started letting people in the building yet.

We walked in and they scanned our Key Cards and we walked down the hall and reached the screens where they take the welcome pictures. a Non-Disney Employee offered to take our picture.

Then we walked onto the ship. No announcing, no Cast Members clapping or cheering. Just us…well us an the couple who walked on right after us.

They took our picture and we took theirs and that was it. we had the whole ship to ourselves!

We walked around the Lobby a little bit.

It was sooo amazing being on the ship alone. We went to out room to drop off our passports and stuff and then we started a self guided tour. I wrote a complete review of the whole ship. All that we did wen we were onboard ourselves. The first part was published in my Travel Agency’s newsletter this month. There are 3 parts. Once they are all published my boss said I can share it….so I will add it to the end!

But let just say I LOVED it. I saw things I have never even thought about. Places I will never see as a passenger!

We went to lunch at the Enchanted Garden.

I liked lunch in Cabanas much better. It was more organized and the food was better for sure.

After lunch we headed to out room and put our swim suits on. We had a plan!

We headed to the life boat drill 5 minutes late and it was perfect. We waited no time at all and then we left the drill and went right to the adult pool!

It was empty!!!

Everyone else was at the sail away party.

It was great! We enjoyed it sooo much. We swam for a nice long time. We talked about our favorite parts of the ship, our favorite cast members. It was fun.

We got out of he pool with just enough time to shower and get ready for Palo!

Pete and I checked in and headed to the Meridian. It was really nice.

This table was set up outside. when we left dinner a group of officers from the ship were dining here.

They called out name, it was time for……

We were so excited. Our server came over and it was Annie Marie. Our MOST FAVORITE server ever!!!! This was our 4th time having her. We had requested her and I was sooo glad our request was granted. She is soo awesome. When we saw her last on the Magic she told me she would not me coming to the Dream. But her husband got a great promotion and she tagged along. Sadly (for the cruises) but wonderfully (for her) she was leaving the ship for vacation. Heading back on South Africa.

She remembered us and we shared hugs and did a bit of catching up.

Our table was set so nicely.

Palo was amazing. I could not get over it. I liked Palo on the Magic and Wonder, but Palo on the dream…WOW

Pete started dinner with a beer. I forget which kind. He said it was good.

Antipasti anyone?

YUM. The Dried Beef was my favorite.

Now it was time for appetizers. I had the Mushroom. OMG….I wish I had this every night. I wish I had gotten this as my main dish. Ge the Mushroom appetizer!!!

Pete got the Calamari.

We had Sorbet to cleanse our palate.

I got the steak for dinner and Pete got the Veal Shank maybe??

I also ordered the scallops for us to share. I love scallops. I love everything about Palo.

We also got Lobster ravioli to share.

Now since we were sooo full what did we do? We got desert.

Pete got the Chocolate soufflé.

I got Vanilla Ice Cream and the Chocolate Sauce. BEST hot fudge sundae ever.

Last but not least an after dinner lemon-y shot. MMM

Annie Marie too us on a tour of Palo.

This alcove is made of all glass tiles. They shimmer and glow!

This is the private room. It can be reserved for parties of 12 – 14.

The carpet in this room cost $20,000!!!!

Annie Marie told us to look at this window and she would be back in a few minutes.

All of a sudden the frost disappeared and we saw….

The Palo Kitchen staff!!!

We said our good byes and told Annie Marie we would se ever at brunch!

We took some pictures waiting for the elevator, and decided we were heading to out room to crash! It was a long day. Sure you didn’t see it all, but I will post the tour later, I promise!

2011 Disney Dream Trip – Day 5 – September 3, 2011

Today was Castaway Cay Day. We started off with Breakfast in Cabanas. There was a small misunderstanding, a small family fight and we got to the Island a little late.

Before that Popeye and the kids play in the Bunk Beds. Alyssa is a big fan of the Bearinstein Bears so she had it planned that Popeye was going to be “Brother Bear” and she was going to be “Sister Bear”.   So instead of sleeping in the Murphy bed my Dad was stuck on the top bunk. LOL

So Pete and I headed to the beach and saved spots. Everyone else come about an hour later.

2011 Disney Dream Vacation – September 2, 2011 – Day 4

Today was a big day…It was the day of the Princes Meet and Greet. Pete and I were up bright and early. We headed to Cabanas for breakfast.

2011 – Year in Review

Ok so I have seen a lot of people writing a year in review.  I thought I would try it.  It is a lot harder to do this since I am not blogging on a regular bases.  This is the best that I could come up with.

In January, we rang in the new year very low key since we were getting ready to  leave for a nice long vacation.  We went to Disney World for almost a week.  I got to spend a lot of time with my great friends.  Over 20 of us met for what we like to call a “Mega Meet”.  Pete and I also staying at Bay Lake Towers on rented DVC points.  After almost a week in Disney we headed to Port Canaaveral to meet my sister and family for a week long cruise on the Disney Magic.  It was Magical.  On board we took the plunge and bought Disney Vacation Club!  We also celebrated Alyssa’s 3^rd birthday on board even thought we were two weeks early.  Pete and I also visited Ocean City Maryland and discovered our favorite restaurant down the Ocean was closed up for good.  On Alyssa’s real birthday I made her cake, as I have every year since she has been born.  This year’s cake was a firetruck.

February brought in some more cold weather.  I surprised Pete with a weekend away on Superbowl weekend.  It was great.  We were sitting at breakfast and I told him we were going away for the weekend.  He didn’t believe me until we left Cookies and opened the trunk to see all of our bags.  We started in Clarks Summit, PA.  Boy was the weather nasty.  After that we headed to a Bed and Breakfast in Intercourse, PA.  What a FUN weekend.  I made the drive to Connecticut, first time visiting that state!  I helped my friend Amy host a baby shower for our friend Laura.  Laura’s twins wanted to come early and she almost missed the shower.  Thankfully they held off for another month or so.

In March, must have been a slow month.  I can’t think of anything exciting.  Well besides the fact that Pete had Lasik Eye surgery and is not enjoying life without glasses.  We also visited good friends in New Jersey.  Always lots of fun.

When we got to April,  Pete got his iPad2 finally and I got me a new camera.  I got a Nikon D7000.  It took a while to get used to it, but I can honestly say I love it!  Pete and I also took a week long trip to Arizona.  It was such a great visit with P Daddy and Mama Reese, oh and Ann too.  I got to spoil our friend’s little girl Zoey with lots of Disney goodies.   The week was over way too fast but did include visits with lots of family and friends.  We also visited Jerome, AZ as well as Phoenix, Green Valley and Tucson.  We also had a great Easter with our favorite kids!  I went to PA to a fun baby shower/sleepover with great friends the last weekend of April.

May…YAY my Birthday Month!  This month started with a new job.  I was happy to have a job that came with lots of benefits.  I went through the training class in Annapolis and started working full time in Columbia.  May also marked 8 years since I have gotten to hug my Mom!  I still miss her so very much and can not believe we lost this wonderful lady 8 years ago.   Pete also bought me a great Birthday Gift.  MORE DVC points!  YAY!  I am so excited to own a little piece of BLT!

June came with another New Job.  I started with Pixie and Pirate Destinations as a Disney Specialist Travel Agent.  I was sad to leave my old agency, I learned so much there.  But at Pixie & Pirate my business has grown.   We also booked our January vacation in June.  8 nights at the Boardwalk Resort in a 2 bedroom villa!  Alyssa started her countdown.  That child loves a good vacation as much as her Aunt Lisie.

We rang in the 4^th of July with a visit from some Great Friends.  Caitie and Jasmin, along with their Mom & Dad came for a great 4^th of July.  We visited Cunningham Falls State Park as well as watched the fireworks in Columbia from a VIP Policeman Family location.  In July we also reviled to Caitie and Jasmin that they would be joining Alyssa on her birthday trip to Disney World in January.  Towards the end of July Pete’s sister Ann came for a nice visit.  We love when she has summer conferences on the east coast.  She told us that her winter conference would not be on the East Coast this year so we would not see her for Thanksgiving.

August was the most stressful month of the year for me for sure.   The highlight was joining the Disney Wedding Blog as a Mentor for Cruiseline weddings.   Pete and I found out that he was going to be sent to India a few days after his 35^th birthday.  It was originally going to be a two week trip.  This turned into a slightly longer trip once he was there.  He enjoyed meeting his co-workers from India and sharing his knowledge of the job with them.  I missed him terribly.  While he was gone there was an Earthquake in Maryland.  It was super scary.  The only casualty for our family was our beautiful mirror that was over the mantle.  Another slap in the face by Mother nature was Hurrricane Irene!  I was home alone to face the storm and to keep the basement dry.  It was a long stressfull night.  I was never more happy to welcome someone home as I was the day I picked Pete up from the Airport.  Two days after landing back in the good old USA Pete (along with me) headed to the airport to head to Orlando.  We spend two great nights at the Animal Kingdom Lodge at Walk Disney World.

September 1^st we stepped aboard the Disney Dream.  We did a 3 night cruise followed by a 4 night cruise to the Bahamas.  It was great to cruise with our extended family.  We celebrated Austin’s 1^st Birthday on board.  It was so much fun.  Once we got off the ship we headed for another for days at the Villas of Wilderness Lodge.  We visited Hollywood Studios and had a great post cruise vacation.  Once we were home we planned for Austin’s 1^st Birthday on the 17^th of September.  Pete and I also booked next year’s vacation….Disneyland and Hawaii aboard the Disney Wonder.   When we were in Disney we had received notice the P Daddy was pretty sick.   We were pretty worried, it seemed serious.

In October my laptop died.  I was cut off from the world.  I use my laptop for work, so I was pretty upset.  Pete bought me a MacBook as an early Anniversary gift.  I was in love!  We followed P Daddy’s progress.  This took a turn for the worse and Pete flew out to Arizona to be with his family.  Two days later we lost a great man.  I flew to AZ the day after he passed to be with my family.  It was so hard.  Losing a parent is never easy.  We flew home to Baltimore the day before Halloween.  We went and spent Halloween with Alyssa and Austin.  The cutest Flounder and Princess Ariel ever!

In the beginning of November I broke down and bought a Kindle.  What was I waiting for???  It has changed the way I will read books forever.  I went to work planning Pete’s Dad’s funeral.  We decided to hold the funeral the weekend before Thanksgiving.  Mama Reese and Ann came to stay with us for that week.  Although we were all together due to a horrible tragedy it was so nice to have Thanksgiving dinner with my entire family!   We also decided that Mama Reese would be coming back to Baltimore for Christmas!  YAY

In the beginning of December we decorated for Christmas and put up our brand new Christmas Tree.   We also booked the Grand Californian for our pre cruise stay at Disneyland.  We will be visiting Disneyland with our good friends, Zoey and her parents!  Pete and I made a trip to New Jersey to put out Christmas flowers for his brother and father.  We also picked up Christmas Decorations for my Mother and Grandmother’s graves.  I dodged a layoff bullet at my job and Pete worked 6 day, 60+ hour weeks for all of December.  We were so happy when Mama Reese landed in Baltimore.  We enjoyed Christmas morning at Laura’s house with the family and the Skyped with Ann once we got home.  We have Christmas at Aunt Lisie and Uncle Petey’s house a few days after Christmas.  We said good bye to Mama Reese before New Year’s eve.  Pete and I spent a relaxing New Years Eve at home, together!

It was a year filled with ups and downs.  We can not wait to see what 2012 holds for us!!!

2011 Disney Dream Vacation – August 31, 2011 – Day 2

Today was the day the rest of our family was joining us at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. We had booked everyone’s rooms with our “bonus” DVC points that we got for adding points on. We had rented points from a friend and the original plan was to stay at Old Key West, but we switched to the Animal Kingdom Lodge and used our points for the upgrade in rooms. We got my Aunt & Cousin and my Sister and her family Savannah View rooms. My Dad was crashing with Pete and I.

We woke up this morning and enjoyed our fabulous view.

I was sooo excited that my family was going to be here today. They all got to the airport on time. They had an uneventful flight.

The tram at the airport. Alyssa loves her cousin Matthew. He is her favorite cousin.

Pete and I went to downtown Disney. I forgot the Camera. We had lunch at Wolfgang Puck Express and bought some Christmas ornaments and some treats in Goofy’s for the kids.

We got back to the hotel and waited for everyone.

My sister had call me and Pete and I were waiting out front. We wanted to see what everyone thought of the resort right away. I also wanted to help them check in in case there were any issues.

Everyone’s rooms were ready right away. It was like 1pm

We went and checked out everyone’s rooms. My Aunt and sister’s rooms were right a crossed the hall from us.

They had not eaten lunch so we went to the Mara and grabbed lunch.

After lunch we played in the kiddie pool for a bit.

After we ate Alyssa and Pete went to nap while the rest of us went to check out the Animals.

I headed up to our room and found Alyssa still asleep. Pete was already awake.

After everyone woke up we headed to the pool! Alyssa LOVED the slide!!

After a few hours at the pool Pete, Alyssa and I were going to head to the Poly to see the fireworks and get dinner. I then realized we had spent too much time in the pool. We didn’t have time to get there in time for the fireworks . Instead we all took showers and headed to the Mara for dinner.

After dinner my sister had to do laundry and we all laid around hanging out. Alyssa was in our room with my sister. Brandon had put Austin to sleep so Alyssa and Laura were hanging out with us. Laura had fallen Asleep and Alyssa and my Dad stayed up so late playing. LOL Finally everyone settled down and we all went to sleep!

Disney Dream Vacation 2011 – Day 1

This trip report is a report on my Back to Back on the Disney Dream in September 2011. I must finish this in 19 days…We are heading back to Walt Disney World for Alyssa’s 4th birthday.

Cast of Characters

Me – Lisa
DH – Pete
DSis – Laura
DBIL – Brandon
DNiece – Alyssa – 3.5
DNephew – Austin – almost 1 year, this is his Birthday Cruise
DD – Dad
DA – JoJo, my Aunt
DC – Matthew, my cousin

Me and Pete:

Laura and Brandon

Alyssa

Austin

Dad & Aunt JoJo

Matthew

I planned this trip for all of us. I was so happy my Dad, my aunt and cousin were joining us this time. I love vacationing with my family.

I have over 2000 pictures from this trip. So lets get started.

August 30, 2011 – Travel day

Pete worked today. As soon as he got home we were packed and ready for my BIL to take us to the airport. Brandon and the kids got to my house around 3pm and we loaded the truck. Alyssa helped with last minute packing.

Went we got to the airport she was not very happy to be saying good bye. i told her I would see her tomorrow.

Out flight was uneventful. We landed at MCO around 9:30pm. We made our way to the Magical Express.

We had a small wait. Once we got on the bus we stopped at Old Key West first and then the All Stars, Music I think. Finally we were at the Animal Kingdom Lodge.

We checked in and we had been assigned the perfect room facing the pool just like we requested.

At this point it was about 11pm. We were starving and of course the Mara was closed. We ordered a chicken sandwich and a burger. The bill was like $45 but at that point it didn’t matter. In room dining was great. They come in a set up a table for you. It was really nice.

After dinner Pete went for a walk around the resort and I went to sleep!

Two Days until we board the ship….

We stayed here at the Animal Kingdom Lodge for our Honeymoon and we were not too impressed. After this trip we changed our tune for sure. We thouroghly enjoyed our stay this year.

Disney Vacation 2011 – Day 13 – January 15, 2011

 

Today we got up and had breakfast in Triton’s and headed off the ship. We almost missed our flight and got the last 5 seats on the plane. It was stressful to say the least. I have No pictures from today!

Once we got home we all crashed!

It was a great vacation and made me sure that a week was the way to go!

2011 Disney Trip – Day 12

Day 12 – January 14, 2011 – Castaway Cay

Today is our last day of the cruise!!! Sooo sad, it’s almost over! Today was the day we were heading to Castaway Cay.

A little over two years before this day we were here…..

 

Everytime I visit Castaway Cay I replay my wedding day in my head. Best day of my life!!!

We had breakfast and then we were ready to head to the beach! Sadly it was very cool and very over cast. 

We made the best of it. On our way to the gangway we ran into these guys!

 

Once we got off the ship we saw a beautiful bride. Ahhh what I wouldn’t give to relive this day!

 

We also ran into this guy. I love when we see Captain Jack. He is always so funny. Disney does a great job casting.

 

You can see in this picture the overcast. One of the risks of cruising in a low crowd, low cost season!

 

We only had a few minutes to wait for a tram to head to the family beach.

We boarded the tram and I tried to get the kids to pose for a few pictures. LOL
 

We were heading to our seats, near the slides and saw this. 

I love the aisle. Look at this….Ahhhh…memories…. 
 

Ok OK…Back to the trip report.

We set up our stuff in a good location. It was way to chilly to go swimming. Alyssa did not even have an interest in it. So we hung out, listened to music, read a bit and played.

We got lunch from Cookies Too….It was good as always. 

 
 
 
 

We headed over to take a picture in the spot we said “I DO”

 
 

Ok, I slipped another one in. I can’t help it. This is what I do the whole time I am on the island.

My sister recreated my walk down the aisle.

Austin didn’t want to take part in the reenactment. 

My sister decided the kids needed a nap. So Pete and I headed to the Adult Only beach when the rest of the family went back tot he ship.

I laid on the hammock a while, but the skies were getting darker and darker.

 

We were the only people on the beach. It was dark and chilly!

We hopped a tram back to the ship. Two last pictures before we got back onboard for our last night.

We got back on the ship and got ready for our last night. My sister and family attended the show. Pete and I did not. 

Alyssa spent lots of time in our room. We loved having the little visitor.

Before dinner these two were out posing for pictures.

Dinner was casual tonight. Thank goodness since we had packed up almost everything to put outside our room.

Orange Roughy, best meal I had all week in the regular dining rooms (not including Palo)

The farewell is always so much fun. We rushed around to get final character pictures before I got a good spot in the balcony to get the group picture!!

My first visit with Princess Tianna. I love her!

Group Picture!!!

Alyssa collected lots of Mickey Confetti. 

We were greeted with these little guys. What a nice surprise for our last night.

We had a visitor before bed.

She came bearing gifts…

We ordered room service for the last time. I had cruises all week without a Mickey Bar. I wanted one before I got off the ship.

We headed to bed. Tomorrow was the day we were heading home.

2011 Disney Vacation – Day 11

January 13, 2011 ~ Day 11

We started today off with a little princess Meet and Greet!!!

We walked around the ship for a while and then Pete and I settled into some chairs waiting for our Tea Party with Alice. We were lucky. We had the sweetest princess going with us.

The Tea Party was fun even if we did have bad seats. This tea party started a love of Alice for Miss Alyssa. 

Today was pretty low key. It was nice, they had a Matinee showing of Disney Dreams. We didn’t make it to that show, but were ready at 6:00pm for your show. 

After the show, Pete and I ran back to our room to get dressed for dinner.

Dinner was stressful. Poor Alyssa was over tired, Brandon was sick and Laura was handling it all by herself. After a threat of going to Bed Alyssa was in much better spirits.

Austin was in a great mood during dinner!

After dinner Pete and I took a stroll on Deck 4. My favorite place for quiet!

We ended the day with a movie. I can not remember which one. 

We headed to bed, a big was up for tomorrow…Castaway Cay!

Visitors

So my Mother-in-Law and Sister-in-Law are coming on Thursday for 8 days.  I can not wait to see them.  I hate that they live so far away.  It won’t be all fun, they are coming for my father-in-laws funeral.

Tonight Pete and I cleaned, spring cleaned, we moved furniture and moisturized the leather furniture and even polished the kitchen cabinets.  We planned where out new Christmas Tree was going to be set up….look at this baby… CHRISTMAS TREE

I love it.  It should be delivered in a few days.

I also ordered flowers for the table, mantle and the guest room.  I just love having flowers in the guest room when people stay.   Lets them know we are happy they are here.

Tomorrow night Pete will steam clean the floors and I will do the bathrooms!  I love getting ready for guests!!!

Look at this amazing picture of my inlays that I took in April!  I love it…I love the “love” that they had after 45 years of marriage!

 

 

 

Since August??? Really?

Wow, I am now the winner of the bad blogger award!  It’s been since August since I have posted.  DO I have anyone even reading this anymore.  So lets play catch up!

I still need to finish my January 2011 trip report and start and finish my August/September 2011 trip report.  I hate this. These are my memories and I need to get them written down!  Lets not even talk about my pictures that have been/have not been uploaded and edited.  I MUST get this all done before January when we are heading back to Disneyworld for Alyssa’s 4th birthday.  We are staying at the Boardwalk hotel in a 2 bedroom villa.  I am very excited.  It is going to be MAGICAL!

I am a travel agent for Pixie and Pirate Destinations so if you would like a Disney Quote come on over to our web site or my Facebook page.  I can help you plan a magical Disney Vacation!

This is the Disney Dream!  It was amazing.  I still can not understand why anyone would want to cruise with another Cruise line.

That brings me to other good news.  Only 11 months (almost to the day) until our next cruise,  We will be cruising on the Disney Wonder.  That is the ship we were married on.  We did cancel our New york cruise to be able to go on this one.  Where are we going???

I CAN NOT WAIT!  This is going to be a long 11 months. We are going on a 14 night cruise to the Islands of Hawaii.  But before we step foot on that boat we will be spending two days in Disneyland with wonderful friends of ours!  We will be checking into the …..

During the wait we will have house guests for both Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Pete’s Mom and Sister are coming for Thanksgiving and then his mom is coming back for Christmas.  Pete is so excited, I am too!  I am sad about the circumstances that make these visits possible, but very happy to see my family.

Pete’s dad passed away on October 23rd.  Pete and I spent a week in Arizona helping his mom deal with all of the things you must take care of during such a sad time.  We will be having his funeral on Saturday, November 19th in Pete’s hometown in New Jersey.  I am not looking forward to it.  I hate being sad.  I had a great father-in-law and he will be missed for sure.

On a lighter note….my favorite kids are getting big!!!

Austin is walking (and running) and climbing and just growing so fast.  He is so much fun these days!  I love watching him grow and learn!

Alyssa is growing so fast.  She is already 42 inches tall!  She is also soo smart.  She can write all of her letters and is starting to sound words out.  She is sweet and lovable and kind.  She is a pure joy to be around!

I do not love my new job full time job, but it pays the bills and allows for extras.  Speaking of extra’s …..

Pete bought me a New Macbook Pro for our anniversary…

This baby is Disney-fied and ready to work.  I love it and it makes my Travel Agent business so much more enjoyable.  It is super fast and so portable.

I also bought a Kindle Touch, canceled my order and bought the Kindle Keyboard & Pink light up case.

Life changing purchases!  I love it!

I am really going to work on blogging and keeping up to date on this blog.  I hate the holes in my life story!

2011 Disney Vacation ~ Day 10

So since my husband is in India and I am stuck here I am going to get this Trip Report finished! I have to, we leave for our next vacation in 9 days! January 12, 2011 ~ Day 10 Today was our Cozumel Beach day. We had made reservations are Nachi Cocom. It is a private Beach club that only allows 100 people a day to use it. It was raining when we got off the ship, but we still had to go or they would charge my credit card. One thing I didn’t like was that they will only charge your credit card if you don’t show up, if you do show up you have to pay cash. We got off the boat and made our way to the taxi stop. It was a huge long line and I can only imagine how long it would be if it was not raining. We got a taxi and made the 30 minute drive to Nachi Cocom. Our drive was uneventful. Alyssa was so excited about her beach day! We got there and checked in and discovered my sister didn’t read her emails and didn’t bring enough money. We begged them to just charge the card on file and they wouldn’t. UGH! So Alyssa had to go to the bathroom and we made plans to just head back to the ship. Well a very nice couple who was on our ship offered to lend my sister the money. We accepted and felt like fools but tried to enjoy the rest of our day! It was so pretty! We sat on the beach some. Alyssa loves the beach! We went up to the cafe area and ordered lunch. The electricity kept flashing on and off. Here is a pitcure of my Pretty sister and my nephew. After lunch we got back in the hot tub. It was too cold to get into the pool. It was all so beautiful. I would go back again for sure. Alyssa showed off her swimming skills. I would have enjoyed laying here reading my book for hours. After enjoying some drinks and some more time in the hot tub we headed back to the ship. There was a band in the market place playing music and we stopped and listened for a while. The tile floor of the marketplace was sooo slippery. We made out way carefully to the boat and went to shower and all before dinner. This little cutie came over and spent some time with us. Tonight was pirate night. Would I get to see the fireworks? I hope so. Alyssa was a bit scared of Captian Hook, but she can’t wait to meet him this cruise. Thank you Jake and the neverland pirates! After showering Pete and I headed up to the DVC office. We did it. We bought Disney Vacation Club. Bay Lake Towers!! We went to dinner afterwards so excited! Dinner was good. Alyssa was all decked out in her Pirate outfit. She was excited about the party. After a fast desert we headed up to the party. Laura took the baby to their room and I took Alyssa to the top deck to get seats for the party. Pete and Brandon went with us. They were looking at the waves on the side of the ship. It was INSANE. The water was all coming out of the pools, the decks were soaked. We were rocking like no other cruise I have ever been on. Then it happened…the worst! Alyssa coughed twice then threw up all over me and all over the poor unsuspecting people below us! OMG was it a mess. I called to Brandon who took her and went to shower, Pete and I went another way to our cabin. I got in the shower myself and my sister collected my clothes to go wash them. I got out of the shower and got my Pj’s on. Then I heard a little knock on my door. It was Alyssa. She came in and told me she was sorry she “Frowed up” on me! I asked if she felt sick and she said no the wind just got stuck in her throat. She was coughing and she does have the weakest gag reflex ever! So I don’t think it was sea sickness. I do however wish she had eaten less for dinner and maybe skipped desert! LOL She asked me if I would come lay with her and read her a book. I went into my sisters room and climbed into bed with Alyssa. We read one book then she snuggled up to me and fell fast asleep. Pete and Brandon went to the movies and after about an hour of snuggling I went back to my room! I have never felt a ship move like it did that night!

Traveling

I love traveling.  We have lots of vacations planned in the next year or so, both for our jobs and fun.  A new trip has just been added to the mix.  Pete just found out today that he is going to INDIA for two weeks.  INDIA!!  It’s a work thing and I know he has to go but I sure wish I was going with him. 

 

I am not envious of the 20 hour flight though!  I though 5 hours to Vegas was killer!  LOL  Pete gets home just in time to wash clothes and pack for our Disney Vacation.  We have 2 nights in Disney followed by 7 nights on the cruise and then 2 more nights in Disney!  By the time we get home Pete is really gonna want to sleep in his own bed!!!

2011 Disney Vacation ~ Day 9

January 11, 2011 ~ Day 9

Grand Cayman day! We woke up today and went to Lumier’s for breakfast. It was a good breakfast and the service was great. We really like the sit down breakfasts. It is easier than the buffets with the kids since you don’t have to hold a tray and a kids hand all at the same time. After breakfast we waited for them to announce that the tender boats were starting to take people to the Grand Cayman.

We had no real plan for today. We just wanted to go to Hell and send some post cards.

We got on the tender boat. It was my first time not pulling onto a port. What a neat experience.

OMG the water was the prettiest color ever! We were amazed!

Alyssa aka “Jessie” really enjoyed the ride.

Once we got off the boat, we had to walk through a security area.

Alyssa loves her Uncle Petey!

We were told which tent to return to after we were done on the island. I had done some research and found out that we could get a tour including Hell for about $10 a person. Well once we got here I couldn’t find the sign advertizing that. I didn’t know to bargain. My sister got scared talking to the van drivers and was afraid of getting killed or something (EYE ROLL) so they opted out of going to Hell. Seriously she has little kids to worry about so I understand.

We looked around and there was a shopping area set up with people selling all kinds of items. Like coconuts.

Look at this cutie pie!

Pete and I found a guy who took us to Visit the post office in Hell. He was also taking 3 Cast Members to the turtle farm so we got a bit of a tour. We saw some of the pubic beaches and it made me want to go swimming. I will know for next time.

We dropped the CM’s off and then he took us. He told the girls he would be back in about 45 minutes.

We got our post cards and mailed them. Shame on my husband for not knowing his parents address! Then we looked around for a few minutes before heading back to the van. While we were heading back to the Van we ran into Lisa A fellow disboard member, who got her tour for $10 a person. UGH!!!!

This is Hell, Cayman Islands.

Looks it’s me in Hell!

The driver left us in the van an went looking for the CM’s at the turtle farm. I snapped this picture!

Look at the price of Gas!

We saw some more of the island on the way back to the ship.

They drive on the wrong side of the road and it was kinda scary!

We dropped the CM’s off at Wendy’s….yuk….and the driver said he would be back to pick them up since it was a really long walk back to the ship and it was getting very hot out.

Once we got back to the port we looked around a bit, but we didn’t buy anything.

We went back through security and boarded the tender boat.

I got some really nice ship pictures from the little boat!

Look at that water!!!!

Once back on the ship Pete and I walked around some before grabbing some lunch.

Lunch was good, we went back to Lumier’s again today.

If you want to order off of the kids menu, no one even questions it! LOL

After lunch we headed back to the room. Austin and my sister came over to visit before we headed to the matinée show of Twice Charmed.

Pete and I took Austin and went to save us seats since no one else was ready. Austin flipped out and cried like a big baby (HA!) so we had to take him back to my sister. I met them at the door and he stopped crying soon as she swooped him up. Figures!

I loved the matinée shows. We had good seats and the show started just about as soon as we sat down!

After the show Pete and I went to our room to get ready for Palo!!! We got married on the Disney Wonder and had our reception in Palo. It holds a special place in our hearts!

Empty pools on the way to Palo!

That is the same dress I wore on our wedding night, then again last year on our 1st Anniversary, and on this trip (celebrating our 2nd anniversary).

We checked in and made sure we had Annie Marie as our waitress. If you are on the Magic you should see if she is still on the ship! She was sooo great!

We started with some Rosa Regale….My favorite!

Palate Cleaner

My desert…it was so good. Chocolate and raspberries!!! MMM!

After dinner we got a picture taken with Annie Marie and Laura and Joe from the Disboards.

After dinner we walked around and settled on Deck 4 to relax before heading to bed!

2011 Disney Vacation ~ Day 8

January 10, 2011 – Day 8

Today was an at Sea day. It was a busy one! We woke up and had a quick breakfast before getting our swim suits on.

Pixie & Pirate Destinations

I am so excited to talk about a new part of my life!

 I have started working for a new Travel Agency.  Pixie & Pirate Destinations.   They are a brand new Disney Based Agency.  I am really trying to find a way to do the Travel Agency job as my full time job.   If all of you guys could please come “LIKE” me on Facebook  and pass the word on to your family and friends.  You know I will take wonderful care of my clients and help in any way possible. 

Did you know that it is the same price to use me, a graduate of Disney’s College of Knowledge ad you personalized Disney Vacation Planner as it is to book online with Disney.  The only differance is you (or who ever books) will be helping me out and getting quality service in return.  Check out the web site.  I have my own page on the website .  The Web site is great, you can fill out the form online  for quotes  and there is an online payment page too.   It is great!  I know you guys are there for me and I really appriciate all of you who let me book your Disney Vacations!!!!

2011 Disney Vacation – Day 7

January 9, 2011

Today was the day we were going to be docking in Key West. The Magic did not dock until 1pm so we had some time in the morning to sleep in a little before our character breakfast. We headed to Parrot Cay a few minutes early and were seated right away!

The characters started coming around pretty fast!

Alyssa and Austin loved them all….except Pluto. He scared Alyssa so much. Look at her little face!

Breakfast was really good.

Except….Mickey Waffles are NOT the same in the parks and on the Cruise ships. These were dense and not very tasty. I have just discovered the goodness of a Mickey Waffle at Walk Disney World a few days prior, so I was disappointed!

Alyssa would get so excited each time a new character would come by!

After some drama over Brandon’s breakfast the waiters made us all fun hats out of napkins. Look at Pete’s…

We still had a few hours before it was time to get off the ship. We walked around some.

Then it was time to learn to Do-Si-Do with Snow White. Alyssa was not registered in the kids club this cruise. She still visited the nursery. But we took her as often as possible to go play in the kids club. She isn’t fond of strangers so this was the best option. She could still visit the nursery when she needed one on one babysitting, but we could take her to play with the bigger kids.

Notice her fingers again!

Alyssa got picked to go into the back for a special meet and greet with Snow White after the party. She couldn’t stop talking about it.

We headed up to the Deck and got a littl ebite to eat before we got off the ship.

Once we got off the ship we stopped and talked to the Trolly Tour lady that was set up right at the pier. Pete and I knew we wanted to do the tour, but we talked Laura and Brandon into joining us too. It was a great deal, much cheaper then Disney charges and when you book the Trolly through Disney excursions you do not get the hop on and off option.

We waited for the next tour to start.

We got our seats and the tour started pretty soon.

Austin and I enjoyed it. LOL It was a really good tour. We saw some interesting sights.

By the time we got to the southern most point Alyssa was out like a light!

Austin had taken a little nap too so he was in a good mood once he woke up.

Chickens were everywhere!

We waited our turn for a picture and when we got there Alyssa didn’t want to get up. She ended up in her family’s picture and ours. Love her! She was not happy about her parents trying to make her get up. Look at that face!

We walked back to the bus stop and Alyssa found something she liked!

We got back on the Trolly and started towards one of the places I was most excited for….the Key West Winery!

We got off and walked a few blocks to the winery.

We bought some of the best wine ever! Key Limon. I LOVE it and can not wait to get more. I am hoarding one lone bottle, but I want alot more. LOL

We walked back to the ship after we were done at the winery. We wanted watch the sun set onboard.

I think we all liked Key West alot!

It had gotten hazy and the sunset was not as clear as it could have been.

We had to go get showered for dinner. One of the reason’s I like the late dining is because you don’t have to rush as much. You have more time before dinner.

The beauty of the Disney ships still amaze me.

Dinner was in Parrot Cay tonight. These chicken fingers were my favorite part of dinner tonight.

Alyssa was drawing some pictures to help pass the time. The dry erase board was nice to have at dinner.

We celebrated Alyssa’s birthday tonight! The was her 3rd Birthday cruise!

Even with cake she needed a Mickey Bar.

After dinner Pete and I went to the club and it was 70’s night. We enjoyed a good show before we headed up for bed!!!

2011 Disney Vacation – Day 6

January 8, 2011

This morning was my last morning waking up in Bay Lake Towers! I woke up extra early to sit and look at my Castle. It never gets old. I could take a whole vacation and do nothing but look at the Castle. After showering and getting dressed Pete and I headed over to the main building of the Contemporary Resort. We had a breakfast date with some great friends and Mickey & the gang.

Laura and Jennifer were there and we checked in and got our picture taken.

We got a great table and hit the buffett. Before long the characters started coming around. They don’t wait any time at Chef Mickey’s!

We had a good time at breakfast and I was so glad Laura and Jennifer made it to breakfast. The Marathon was this morning so traffic was bad. The girls were heading to the Magic Kingdom and Pete and I had a boat to catch. We said our goodbye and shared hugs before we parted ways.

This was the view from the walk way between Bay Lake Towers and the Main building.

This was the view facing Bay Lake.

We sat on the balcony a little while until we saw this……

Our Limo was here!!!! We grabbed our bags and headed down to the lobby.

It took a little longer then usual to get off property since there were detours for the race. It was nice to be riding in style.

We got to the port and checked in. We got number 8, so we started waiting. Well then Laura calls me and she got lost in the airport then they checked in at the airport for the cruise. The called number 8 but since our family wasn’t there yet we traded with a family that had number 21. Pete waited at the steps we missed Alyssa and Austin so much. Finally we saw them! YAY!!!!

Alyssa was so excited to start her Disney Cruise! We got in line to see Mickey. Pete and I had bought Alyssa an Autograph book while we were in the Magic Kingdom. Notice her hands in her mouth…we discoved that is what she does when she is nervous!

We got a great group shot! Our Tie Dyes looked so good together!

We got on the ship and had the picture taken before being annouced as “Princess Alyssa’s Family”.

Once we got on I went to the member services desk and got our tickets for the Tea with Alice and the Mad Hatter. I also turned in the Pillow cases I made to get signatures for the kids.

We headed to Parrot Cay for lunch!

After lunch we stopped for a quick dance party! Alyssa was already having so much fun! It’s no wonder that Disney Cruises have shot to the top of her favorite vacation list.

It was now after 1:30pm so we could go check out our rooms. We were close to the evelator when Pluto wanted a look at our baby Austin!

We cut through Beat Street to the elevators closest to our room. Alyssa love “walking in the road”!

She also loved the portholes. She climbed in them evertime we walked by them.

Pete and I had arranged for a special deliverly to be waiting in Alyssa’s room. This was her Birthday Cruise! She was very excited!

She loved it all. We had ordered it from A Perfect Gift. Shirley toook care of us and it was full of sand toys, juice boxes, her favorite snacks and a few extras….

We started to unpack some then we had to head to the Walt Disney Theater for our life boat drill. But in all honesty if the boat was going down I am running right to a boat and jumping in. LOL

It was time for the Sail away party. I love the Sail away party!!!

Alyssa LOVED it! She danced and cheered and enjoyed it whole heartedly. Austin on the other hand….

Everytime the crowd cheered he screamed and we all laughed! LOL So mean of us!

Once the party was over we took Alyssa up to the kids club to get all checked in and to play awhile. She loved it, the rest of us were tired! The kids club was great though I wish DCL was around when I was like 8 or 9! WoW!

see tired…

The first day goes so fast and before we knew it we had to get dressed for dinner! We had the late dinner, which I prefer it gives you time to do somethings without rushing too much!

This Pasta dish was so good.

But Alyssa enjoyed this alittle more. So much more she had one every night for the next 6 nights!

We had a special guest at dinner. Pete’s favorite Mickey Mouse!!

Alyssa was already making friends with out assistant waiter. He was great and so nice!

After dinner I think we walked around the ship a little before heading to bed. Look even sleepy my girl is adorable!

When we got back to our room there was another gift for being a Gold Castaway Club Memeber!

2011 Disney Vacation – Day 5

January 7, 2011

Today was a non-park day! We slept in just a little bit before heading to the Polynesian for breakfast at the Kona Cafe. Pete wanted some Tonga Toast, I wish I would have headed and gotten a Dole Whip. We only had a few minutes wait and then we were seated. We ordered and waited for our food. Our waitress was less then Magical and I really dislike the open-ness of Kona. I feel like I am eating in the lobby. BUT the food was pretty darn tasty!

Love the lights here.

Breakfast…….

We were almost done eating when we saw our friends from home (We had planned to meet up with them). Ms. Val and Amy! Ms. Val was running the 1/2 Marathon. What a wonderful accomplishment!!!!

We walked around the hotel a bit after we were done eating. It is so very pretty here. I totally want to do a vow renewal at Sunset point. Maybe in 7.5 years

We grabbed a bus to downtown Disney. We wanted to shop a little bit before we met up with my DISNEY BRIDE friends for our Mega Meet!

This is our favorite store in all of Downtown Disney! We used our entire wedding registry gift card in here during our honeymoon.

This totally makes me want to do a train garden at Christmas time.

We had a few snack credits left so we stopped in Goofy’s. When did the Pretzel rods become 1 for one snack credit?? Too bad this isn’t one snack credit!!

Pete wanted to head into the World of Disney and I wanted to sit and people watch (and look for my friends)!

Thankfully I was sitting there because in no time at all I spotted Laura! We talked a few minutes then she went to meet Amanda and little Miss Emma. They came over and I made Pete take our picture!

We all sat around and chatted. Pete ran back to the room to get a sweatshirt since I thought we were going to be outside and he was kinda chilly (BAD IDEA).

Look at pretty little Emma!

We took a quick group picture since Tricia, Carly and Rachel were now here! I love being with my friends in the happiest place on earth!!

Look at adorable Owen! I love him…so sweet!

We all started the walk over to the other side of Downtown Disney. We had a reservation for like 50 at Bongos!

We got all checked in and headed up to the area we were going to be sitting! It was nice, but I hated the way the tables were set up. We couldn’t mingle well at all. After some of us ordered then we took a group picture since a few ladies had to leave early!

Look at us all….Me, Tricia, Lori, Tracy, Leah, Lisa, Sandy, Jennifer, Laura, Amy, Vanessa, Amanda, Patty, Cam, Betsy, Rachel, Mikkel, Carly & Owen, Jenna & Riley, and Amanda & Emma!!!!

My favorite Red heads! Lisa and Vanessa.

Loook at the boys! I think they are friends already!!! They even wore matching outfits.

I love this picture of Howard and Melody! Vanessa your kids are so friendly!

We got a few appitizers. They were ok. Fried Plantains and Ckicken Croquets.

I also had a STRONG drink and was a bit tipsy!

Kisses from Mikkel!

Look at me, Sandy & Amanda!!!

Tracy & Danny. He was probally telling her which Powerball numbers to pull so him and Amanda could be the big winners!

Speaking of Amanda here is a picture of Jennifer, Amanda and me!

Look at short Cam and I. Lucky Amanda and her long legs!

Look it’s two of the three prettiest nurses I know (where is Sandy)!

Here she is….Sandy and I!

Things were dying down and some people were heading to Epcot, Pete and I on the other hand were heading back to our room to watch Wishes, one last time! Oh but we will be back to BLT! But first….Me and Vanessa!!!

So Pete and I talked about it and since he had such a hard time with the buses (It took him 2.5 hours to get back to Downtown Disney) we were going to catch a cab back to our hotel. We walked to the parking lot with these ladies!

Tracy, Betsy, Leah, Me and Mikkel!

We got a cab and when we were in the cab I got a call from the town car service and they had upgraded us to a LIMO! How fun! We got to the Contemporary for our dinner reservations at the Wave. I was still all excited and we jumped out of the taxi. We walked in and sat down in the Wave. The waitress asked to see our room key, I went to pull it out and my purse was GONE!!!! I left it in the cab! Can you tell I am a Cab rookie. Pete and I ran to the front desk. They called the Cab company and left messages and were super helpful. We were leaving on the cruise the next day and all of my money, my license, everything was gone. I was crying, Pete was insanly mad, it was bad. Then my cell phone rang. It was the Contemporary Vallet service and they had my purse! My phone number was written on my shipping receipt from the Magic Kingdom. The Cab driver had brought it back. Pete ran out to the vallet service and we got the purse back. Oh did I mention it was my D&B Mickey Purse…yeah it was! Everything was still in there…including my $200!!! Talk about Disney Magic!!!!

So we calmed down and went back to the Wave. Honestly we should have skipped it…Ick!

We rushed through dinner and raced back to our room. Just in Time!!!

It was a perfect end to a perfect (1st half) of our vacation!!!

We finished packing and laid in bed and I looked at the Castle until my eyes could not stay open any longer!

Disney Vacation 2011 ~ Day 4

January 6, 2011

We woke up and it was cloudy and rainy. It didn’t stop us though we headed to Hollywood Studios. We had ADR’s at Hollywood and Vine. We have never had a meal here (I have but us together..never). We decided to make this a day of firsts. We usually just do Hollywood Studios as a half day, so there is a lot Pete has never seen here.

It was awesome to be some of the only people in Hollywood Studios, one of the reasons I love making dining reservations before the park opens.

My first Mickey Waffle! Who knew they were so light and tasty!

June is such a cutie!

We went to line up for the running of the bulls to Toy Story Mania of course.

When we got there Pete got in the longest line ever, but I ran into Sandy!

I love the theming in this area!! I took some picture before we got in line to meet Buzz & Woody.

Look it’s my very own Stinky Pete!

It was around this time we got sad and started missing our girl! Alyssa loves Toy Story and I couldn’t wait to get to the cruise to see her!

Pete and I went down to where Mike & Sully come out. Again something new for Pete! I love the little things that go into making each area special!

Now it was 10:45 and our fast passes were good for Toy Story Mania! YAY! Finally we will get to ride this all star ride!

I was kinda bummed I didn’t get to spend more time in the line. There was so much to look at in here. Toys from my childhood bring back such good memories!

After Pete kicked my butt we played with some Green Army men for a while.

We sat down and people watched for a while. We were talking about what to do next and decided to go tour One Man’s Dream. I have been wanting to go in here for years. I love Disney History.

After the movie at the end of One Man’s Dream we headed to one of the shops. We needed to get some gifts for Austin and Alyssa..shocked I know!

We wanted to try the animation studio. We didn’t stand in line for all of the awesome characters, but I needed a picture of Lotso. “Hims a mean bear, hims broke the baby’s heart” ~Alyssa age 2.

We just missed a drawing class, so we pulled up a bench and waited for the next one. I was really hoping we would get to draw something great.

After we sat down we found out we would be drawing Grumpy! YAY!

I think we did pretty good. What do you think?

We had time for one more attraction before lunch. Since Pete had never seen it…The Little Mermaid. We sat in the back and had a great view!

It was time for our ADR at 50’s Prime Time. It is always so much fun. Pete loves when we get a good waitress who plays along. Ours was great and she took Pete’s cell phone away and made us play a game. Can you name 1o body parts with only 3 letters each? “leg” … any other guesses?

I love the burned tops of the smores!

The crowds were rolling in due to the Marathon. We couldn’t stand it so we talked about it and decided to head back to the hotel.

But first we decided to stop at Staring Rolls to get a treat. Our friend Shawn raves about the cupcakes here and they surely didn’t disappoint. We took this one “home” and had it for breakfast the next day!

I love love love the details. Look at this…Roger Rabbit! Wonder if he will ever make a comeback?

Ballons in Disney are my favorite things. I just smile when I look at them!

Two quick photopass pictures before we head to the bus.

I love the “Magic” pictures.

It was around 4pm when we got back to Bay Lake Towers and it was drizzling so we skipped the pool and Pete took a nap and I called my BFF then curled up on the sofa and read my book a while. It was a relaxing afternoon. We got showers and got ready for dinner a little early since we had one show to watch before heading to Meet the girls at the Yachtman.

WISHES

We jumped in a cab since we were running late. Amy was waiting for us at the Yachtman since she has eaten an hour or so earlier.

The Christmas Tree was still up when we got there. Thankfully I snapped a picture going in since they were breaking it down when we left.

Amy and Alec had enjoyed their dinner and were waiting in the lounge for us. I was so happy to see them! We hung out and talked awhile until Lisa and Tammy got there.

Lisa called and yay she was here! I was so happy to get to spend some time with my friends!

Now for some Food Porn. Dinner was good as always, but company was even better.

Butter

Garlic (YUM)

Scallops

Steak

Desert

Soo glad we were on the dining plan. We tipped in cash, I fould that easier then charging the tips.

We closed the place down. Lisa and Tammy were taking the bus and Pete and I got a cap. I did check for Lisa to make sure the buses were still running and then they got a great bus driver who bypassed downtown Disney and took them right to the Pop.

We had a great night. I got ready for bed and climbed in and this was my view until I finally fell asleep!!!

DVC & Vacation

So I know I promised to update and then dropped the ball…LOL!  It’s so hard with no internet access at work.  I mentioned in the last post that I was looking forward to some upcoming vactions.  I can not wait for vacation. 

In September we are going on a cruise for Austin’s 1st birthday and in January we are visiting the Castle for Alyssa’s birthday!

When we were on our last cruise Pete and I bought into the Disney Vacation Club.  This is Disney’s version of a time share.  This is not for everyone, but it makes so much sense for our family.  We love Disney and we love vacations.

With Disney Vacation Club you buy into a “Home Resort” that you have access to making reservations at 11 months prior to travel, you can book hotel rooms at any Disney Vacation Club Resort besides your home resort 7 months prior to travel. 

Our home resort is……

Bay Lake Towers

It has this as it’s view….

We stayed here in January of 2011 and fell in love.  Isn’t it pretty.  Now for the next 50 years I will be able to stay! 

This year before our cruise Pete and I, My sister and her family, my Dad and my Aunt and cousin are using some of our points and staying at the Old Key West resort.

This will be a first for us.  I think it will be fun!  After the cruises (there are two of them…more on that later) Pete and I are staying at the Wilderness Lodge Resort.  Again another first for our family.  This one I am extremely excited about.  Look how lovely!

We are only staying a few days, but I already know it won’t be long enough.  Funny saying that when the whole vacation is going to be 11 nights long.  Thank god for Paid Time Off.  I love that my new job offers vacation time more on the level of Pete’s 4+ weeks of vaction time. 

Now for the cruise.  We are going on the new Disney boat….the Disney Dream!

 

I am so excited about this cruise.  I have wanted to go on the Disney Dream since I first heard about it.  I knew that a 3 night cruise would just not be long enough so Pete and I booked an additional 4 night cruise to make a whole week.  Basically when one cruise is over we walk off the ship, re-check back in and walk right back on!  Isn’t that great!  The cruise just goes to the Bahamas and to Disney’s island (the Island where we got married) Castaway Cay.

 

We like to go visit the spot where we said “I Do”each year.  Because we are taking two cruises we get to visit Castaway Cay twice.  I am so excited about this.  TWO STOPS at Castaway Cay.

In January we are doing just a week at Disney World.  Alyssa is turning four this year (FOUR…where did my baby go) and what better way to celebrate!  We have love of princess meals planned and some other surprises.  I can’t wait.  My dad is joining us on this trip too.  I am excited about the memories Alyssa and Austin are making with “Popeye”.  They love him so much and he loves them more then anyone else in this world.  Hense the reason my non Disney loving dad is taking two Disney vacations less then 150 days apart!  🙂  We are currently booked to stay at Bay Lake Towers, but with the addition of my Dad we are going to need a two bedroom villa.  I am going to do my best to switch us to the Boardwalk resort. 

 

 

I think my family will love it.  I know Pete and I love it.

I am so glad that we bought Disney Vacation Club and I can not wait to plan many more vacaitons using our Disney Vacation Club Points.

I’m baaaccckkkk………..

So it has been forever since I have blogged.  I think facebook is ruining the blogging world.  At least for me.  I want to blog, I really do.  I write blogs daily in my head.  I just never have time to put them on the computer.  Some of the things I want to blog about are:

What’s been up with me.  My new job, vacation planning, new vacation plans, new camera and of course my favorite people in the world, Alyssa and Austin.   If I actually get to all of these topics we are looking at a VERY long blog entry.

Let’s start with my new job!  I am very excited about it.  There are so many positives with this new job and so far only two semi negatives.  The first being the business attire I am required to wear everyday and the 2^nd being the very very limited internet access at work.  I am actually typing this at work and I am going to email it to myself to post from home.  I hate being so restricted.  I can not access anything.  Dressing up kinda sucks too.  I have worn semi casual clothing to work for the past  15 years.  WOW 15 years, I am so ready to retire.  LOL

The positives out weight the negatives for sure.  My favorite benefit is the 3 weeks vacation time I get after I finish my probationary 90 day period.  THREE WEEKS!  As you may or may not know I live for vacation!  Speaking of which I still need to post all about our Arizona vacation from last month!   I’ll add that to the list of topics!  LOL  Some of the other great benefits are the 401K with matching up to 5%, Health, Dental, Vision and life insurance, plus lots of other benefits like a discount of my cell phone bill and home internet/cable/telephone.  The job is in a whole new field.  For the past fifteen years I have worked in Real Estate either for Attorneys or Title Company.  While 15 years ago this was a lucrative profession to enter into, with the downturn of the economy and the housing market it was pretty scary out there.  So I enter my new career in the Healthcare field.   I am working for a huge company with about 3600 employees.  I have never worked with more than 15 people so this is all so brand new.  It is exciting though!

I have been planning my next vacation.  I can’t wait.  Only 109 days until I fly to Florida.  Yes Yes Florida again.  Why do you always ask me this?  We are going on the Disney Dream!  We are heading down a day early for a little retail fun at Downtown Disney and then Pete and I, along with my Dad, Sister, Brother In Law, Alyssa, Austin, My Aunt and cousins will board the Disney Dream for a 3 night cruise. 

 As soon as that three day cruise is done we will get off the boat and turn around and get right back on the boat for a 4 night cruise.  Making it a week on the Disney Dream!

Doesn’t that sound like FUN?  I can not wait to be sitting on that balcony watching the sun come up over Castaway Cay!    Oh I am so looking forward to the AuqaDuck.

Once we are all cruised out Pete and I will be heading for a 2 night stay at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge.  I am almost as excited about this as I am about the cruise. 

 We plan on possibly visiting Epcot while we are there.  If we don’t it won’t be that big of a deal since we are heading to Walt Disney World for Alyssa’s 4^th birthday in January or as she says her FOUR BIRTHDAY.

In January we are heading to Walt Disney World for a week.  It is going to be great!  My Dad is going along with my sister, Brother in Law and the kids.  We are staying at the Boardwalk Resort.

This is the first time staying at the Boardwalk for our family.  The Boardwalk is such a great resort due to being so close to Epcot and Hollywood Studios.  Alyssa is so excited.  We talk about it daily.  She is going to love it and what better way to celebrate a birthday then in Disney World.  I am also excited about this trip for other reasons that I will go into at a later date.  HA, cryptic right.  LOL

Pete and I have another cruise planned for June of 2012 with our friends Patty and Dale.  This is going to be fun.  We are going to Canada on a 5 night cruise followed or preceded, haven’t decided) with a quick trip to New York City since the cruise is sailing out of New York.  I am excited about not needing to buy airfare to go on a cruise. 

I am also working on some weekend getaways of course.  Now you can see why I am so excited about the 3 weeks vacation I get at the new job!

The thing I am most excited about here lately is my new camera.  I have had my old camera a little over 3 years and it has been wonderful.  But I mastered using it and wanted more. 

 Pete bought me a Nikon D7000!  I love it.  I still have so much to learn with it though.  It was a nice step up for sure.  Look what a baby my old camera is compared to the new one.  My lucky sister ended up with the old one though.  Here are a few of my favorite pictures I have taken so far with the new camera.

I am so looking forward to the vacations we have planned for this year and hope to take lots of great pictures.

My babies!  They are growing up so fast.  Look at them! 

Alyssa is growing so fast.  She is SUPER smart.   She knows all of her letters and numbers.  She can write her name.  She can spell her name, Austin’s name, Mom, Dad, Pop and a few other small words.  She remembers EVERYTHING.  She is also getting very tall.  She is at least 40 inches tall and is wearing a size 5t!  She loves playing angry birds and Candyland.  I love having conversations with her.  She really is one of my favorite people in the whole world and I would do anything to make her happy. 

Austin is a fast learner too and is already trying to walk in addition to crawling and climbing the steps!  He is a shorty though and all of his pants need to rolled up.  He is getting more and more red hair.  He has way more than Alyssa had at his age.  She is saying Dadadadada and making lots of other noises.  He is eating babyfood and baby snacks even without any teeth.  He wants to eat grown up food so bad.  Hope those teeth come in soon!  We will all be happier!

So that is my update in a nutshell!  Look for more updates on a regular  basis, I am really going to try!

Saving Money…Disney Money!

Tonight was interesting to say the least! LOL

We owe $2300 on our September back to back cruises. Sam’s club had Disney Gift Cards with a bonus Disney Store Gift Card. So I had the brilliant idea to Take $2500 we had in cash and pay it towards our Disney Reward Visa. Then use the Visa at Walmart to buy $2700 worth of gift cards, earning $27 dollars worth of Disney Reward Points. Then use the Walmart gift card at Sam’s club to buy 27 $100 Disney gift cards at $98.87 a piece saving us $30.51, as a bonus we got a $10 Disney Store gift card with every $100. Grand Total of savings/rewards for our next vacation …. $327.51

That is the GOOD!

The BAD is the Drama! LOL

On Sunday we asked at Sam’s Club if we could use a Walmart gift card there to pay for the Disney Gift card. We were told yes. So today I called and checked again. Again I was told sure. So we went to Wal Mart and bought a $100 gift card, then went to Sam’s and used it to buy a $100 Disney Gift card with the bonus $10 Disney Store Gift card. Went off without a hitch…perfect!

Back to WalMart we go. I grab a gift card and I asked the Checker if there was a limit. She told me no. SO I said I would like one for $2600. After she picked her jaw up off the floor she said she needed to check with a manager. The Manager comes over and says there is a $1000 limit. I said no Problem and grabbed two more gift cards. I got them to split it up. Then it was time to pay and she told me I couldn’t use my Visa since the amount was so high, but she will go check. Well they told her that $3000 was the limit. So cool we are set. Then my card gets declined…WTF! So I call chase and apparently they put a hold on my account since I bought $1000 worth of Airline tickets today and $200 worth of luggage and a few other bills hit the card today. LOL I assured them it was me and was fine. So then the customer service person got a manager and the manager fixed it and 30 minutes or so I was back at Sam’s club.

I get back to Sam’s and by this time Pete is tired and doesn’t want to shop anymore. I don’t either, so we grabbed 26 gift cards and found a young checker with a nice smile. He started the process of scanning and activating each card, then he did something wrong and missed a few cards. he called for a manager who came and voided it. Then the manager said He would help us. He asked how we were paying for them and I said gift cards. He said “you can’t use a gift card to pay for gift cards” ….. WHAT? He said he will go check.  He goes and gets a higher up mananger and they tell me that store policy is you can not use a gift card to buy these gift cards. This is when I whip out the receipt and card from less than an hour ago.

The manager then tells me she doesn’t know who did it, but it was wrong. Pete took a step back and I started talking…LOL I told her that obviously their system “allows” it to happen since we had just tested it out. I also informed her I had called and asked in person earlier this week. She asked where we got that and Pete pointed to a register and said there. LOL I think it was the sheer volume of gift cards I was buying that freaked them out. LOL

So then I tell her that they are going to try it, since it obviously worked once today, and I am going to appreciate it very much. I informed her I can not pay for my Disney vacation with (non returnable) Wal Mart Gift Certificates and since they did it once they can and will do it again. I was VERY nice, but direct and to the point. She was huffy but told Dennis that he could try it. I smiled sweetly and thanked her. Well obviously it works and we reaped the benefits of $327.51!

We plan on using the $30 savings to buy a Disney Gift Card, saving the Disney Reward Dollars for WDW, and using the Disney Store Gift cards online to buy gifts for the kids and Park merchandise like souvenirs before we go.

2011 Disney Trip – Day 3 Continued

January 5, 2011 – Day 3 – Continued

SO Pete and I rushed around to get ready for dinner. We walked to the monorail and took it over to the Polynesian. We were well rested and looking forward to the fun the night had in store for us.

We got to ‘Ohana and checked in. Pete got a beer and we waited maybe 10 minutes before we were seated. Our host was a college student in the college program and it was her last day. This is teh 3rd one we encountered this day that was sad to be leaving. She told me that the next week a whole new group of college students were starting. I wish I would have known about this college program when I was in school. How awesome would it look on your resume.

I snapped a picture of where the cooking happens before we got to our seat. We had a kinda crappy seat with no view, but I knew we didn’t need it since we were staying with a view. I planned dinner so we would be done in time to watch the fireworks with some of our favorite people!

Pete ordered a Lapu Lapu and did share a rink with me. One of these knocks me on my tail so a sip or two is all I need. MMM

In case you have never eaten at ‘Ohana the menu:

Starters

‘Ohana Welcome Bread

Mixed greens with a honey-lime dressing

Appetizers/Accompaniments

Chicken Wings

Pork and Vegetable Dumplings

Lo-Mein type noodles

Veggies (Broccoli, Snow Peas and Carrots)

Skewers Prepared over an oak fire

Oak Grilled Chicken

Asian Barbecued Pork Loin

Marinated Sirloin Steak

Spicy Grilled Peel – n – Eat Shrimp

Dipping Sauces

House Made Peanut Sauce
Chimichurri Sauce
Pineapple Sweet and Sour Sauce

Dessert

Bread Pudding with Bananas Foster

I just got the Ice Cream, I can’t really eat it cause it makes me sick, butI needed something to transfer the Bananas Foster sauce to my mouth. A few bites didn’t hurt.

We were almost done when I spotted Lisa M/ heading to the bathroom. (Told you we had a crappy view). I sent her a text. “I see you”. She was seated soon after that and I had plans to stop by her table to say Hi!!! I loved that my friends were all here this same week!

Pete and I took pictures after we got Lei’ed

Then I feel a Tap! It’s LISA!!!! Yay! big Hugs. I love Lisa!!!

We chatted a few minutes then she went back to her friend Tammy and we paid and get out of there. We had to get back to our room! LOL Notice a trend here, I wanted to be in our room the whole time. LOL

While we were waiting for the Monorail the sky opened up and poured! I was so scared the fireworks would be canceled.

While waiting in line some girls commented on my Awesome Dooney and Burke PURPLE Mickey Wristlet. My Sister in law is awesome. It was a christmas gift.

 

I am not sure if I got a real picture of it or not. I will need to take one!

So we got back to our room and I made the bed from Nap Time. Jenna called and was on her way so I headed to the DVC entrance to let them in. What a great view from there. Pete set up the tripod for some pictures. LOL

Jenna got there with like seconds to spare. I was so excited to share the fireworks with them!

I got extra Snuggle time with Boo Boo! and we all hung out for about an hour or so. It was so nice to be relaxing in Walt Disney World.

I wish I would have taken those leis out of my hair. This is like the only picture Jenna and I had taken together all of vacation!

Jenna, Bobby, Jillian, Sylvia & Riley had to get ready and go before the monorail stopped running. So I got one last hug and we said our goodbyes!

It was only like 9:30pm or so and we were not really tired. i asked Pete if he wanted to go to bed early and get up in time for our 8:00am Breakfast Reservation at Hollywood & Vine or if he wanted to go swimming and stay up late and sleep in. Well of course I couldn’t do that so we went swimming AND got up early the next day! LOL

Picture this at night (since I have no night pictures of the pool!!)

After swimming ….Brrr!!! It was freezing and raining too. LOL ….. I took some more Castle pictures, saw the Electric Light Parade and watched the castle until way early in the morning. I couldn’t stop looking at it.

Finally Pete told me to GET IN BED!!! I did and fell asleep looking at the castle!!!

Day 3 – January 5, 2011

This was the day that was supposed to be our first day before we added the extra days on. We slept in again this morning, We never sleep in so this was a big deal! Pete went to get us breakfast and I showered. When he came back with a bagel for me and a muffin for him we ate and talked about our game plan for the day!

We packed up the last of the things we had laying around the room and bell services came to get our bags. They tagged them for Bay Lake Towers and took them away. We were sure to tip the guy, we had so many bags. LOL

We walked around the hotel grounds a little bit on the way to the bus.

Jenna’s New Room!

We finally made it to the bus and took the 1st bus that came. Downtown Disney. It wasn’t a real long ride and as soon as we got off the bus at Downtown Disney a bus for the Contemporary showed up! YAY!! We were on our way.

We got to the hotel and found out that Bay Lake Towers checks in at the main building. I don’t love this, but what ever!

We waited in a very short line and went to check in. They told us that our room was not ready, no surprise since it was like 11:00am. I asked what floor we were on and was told the 4th. NOPE Not gonna happen. I was not going to stay in Bay Lake Towers and be so low. I sweetly asked for something higher up and was told oh look here, there is a room on the 10th floor and it’s ready now! SOLD! We will take it!

We got our key and headed up to the walkway. The view is nice from the walkway!

We passed this on the walkway, hmm a sign of things to come maybe?

We get to our room, 8218 (why does our room on the 10th floor start with an 8??? Who knows.

This is what I see when I open the door. I may have uttered a few curse words here in excitement! LOL

I did not like that both sicks were in the “Kitchen Area”. We didn’t have any food here, but I doubt Pete would have appreciated me spraying hairspray in the kitchen if we did.

After a quick tour of the room and a few iphone pictures we headed back to the monorail. We had Lunch reservations at the Grand Floridian Cafe.

Pete loves Sorcerer Mickey.

Here comes our ride!

In no time at all we were at the Grand Floridian. My friend Shawn loves the Grand Floridian Cafe and since this was our off day we thought we would give it a try.

I love the Grand Floridian, but it seems a little stuffy to me. I don’t know if I would want to stay there. Well of course I would want to, but I may feel out of place.

We made our way to check in and we got a seat right away! It was so nice relaxing and not having anything at all planned for the day!

We both got the shrimp as an appetizer since we were on the deluxe dining plan.

I also got a nasty smoothie. It was supposed to be “Very Berry” but I think is needs more berries cause it was “Barely Berry”!

I got the Grand Club or something like that. Turkey and Ham and Cheese sauce. It was good, but boy was it alot. I finished maybe half!

Pete got the Grand Floridian Burger. It had lobster on it. It was good he said, but I don’t think I would want that!

Now our waitress tricked us on the deserts. LOL She didn’t bring us a dessert menu and rambles things o ff. Well we both got a Mini dessert, that I later found out we could have gotten the Mini Trio. It was good though. I had the Lemon Berry Cheese Cake and Pete had something…I don’t remember what.

Now obviously it’s lunch time, the family next to us was sitting there with maps planning their day (at lunch time). They were not on the dining plan, AND didn’t even know about the dining plan. They were asking us a bunch of questions like “Where is the Indiana Jones ride”? “where do we get the bus to Harry Potter”/ So I gave them a mini lesson and the dining reservation number, since they were going to be there 8 days and had no reservations and “detested” counter food. There were nice, but they were totally a different class of people then us! LOL The guy asked for my phone number in case he had any other questions and his wife scolded him. I slipped him a card on my way out!

We walked around the Grand Floridian and went on all of the stores. I didn’t buy a single thing. So proud of myself! We got the monorail back to our hotel around 2:30 or so. On the way we passed a wedding reception.

When we got back to our roomI wanted to go swimming.

Pete said it was too cold and wanted to nap.

He agreed to sit on the balcony for a while with me. What a site…

Then he went and got into bed. I called my BFF and we talked over an hour. We had a lot to catch up on. After that clouds were rolling in so I went in and covered up on the sofa with my book and read two pages and fell asleep! LOL

Pete had set a wake up call and got up to shower, only to realize we didn’t have our luggage. I called to the front desk for them to bring it, but it took a little while so Pete skipped his shower. I was happy I had taken mine in the morning. LOL

2011 Disney Vacation Day Two, Part 2

January 4, 2011 – FIREWORKS & Hoop Dee Doo!

Yay Wishes, my favorite part of any Disney Vacation! Get ready for picture overload!

As soon as Wishes was over I handed Pete the Camera and we took off to the exit. I was closing the tripod up as we power-walked to the exit. Pete knew I had a special dinner planned, but he didn’t know what or where. We got to the boat dock and he figured it out. We were about 15 people back in line so we really lucked out.

The boat came and we had a nice relaxing ride to Fort Wilderness.

Once we got there we checked in for the Hoop Dee Doo and had the pictures taken, I wish I could have justified $30 for it since it looked nice, but no way!

We waited maybe 25 minutes for the prior show to let out while I talked to my Dad. Then we got our seat. It was a great one right on the floor!

Pete was sooo impressed, he told me it was the most fun he has ever had at Disney. Everytime I looked at him he was smiling!

When the show was over Pete told me we NEED to bring his parents here next year! We walked out and they had a bus for us right there ready to go. We got back to Port Orleans around 12:30am. The room was perfect. It was clean and smelled fresh. I am so glad Disney came through. We got a drink and headed right to bed! Tomorrow we move to Bay Lake Towers!

2011 Disney Vacation – Day 2

January 4, 2011

We had an early morning dining reservation at the Crystal Palace, but I was tooo tired and I turned off the alarm and rolled back over. I just could not get back up at 6:30am! I just couldn’t.

I got up around 9am and Pete went to the food court to get us breakfast. I had a bagel (that he didn’t toast??) and he had something…Eggs and a biscuit maybe? We got showers and got dressed. Bobby called from next door and they were able to find them a ground floor room so they were moving. The room wasn’t ready yet so I gave Bobby my room key and they moved their luggage into our room. Bobby also gave us our rum for on the ship. The housekeeper kept coming to see if we were gone yet. They wanted to get in our room to clean. We told Jenna and them goodbye and told them we would see them at lunch.

Pete and I made our way to the bus. There are two side by side bus stops at Port Orleans and the Magic Kingdom is the 2nd one. We were there about 10:30 or so.

It was close to 11:00am when we got to the Magic Kingdom. I was just as excited today as I was yesterday. I love the Magic Kingdom.

We walked around into the shops on the right hand side of Main Street. We spent a long time in the Art store. This is one of our favorite stores on Main Street. We picked out some Art, but didn’t buy anything yet.

I did take a picture of the cute Toy Story figures.

I love this little street. I took Pete down here to hear the “Music Lessons”.

The next store we went in was the glass blowing store. There wasn’t a person there at this time, but I got a picture anyway.

We shopped a bit before we went to check in at the Plaza.

I love the Plaza. It is so quaint and cute. We got sat right next to Jenna.

Pete ordered a Milk Shake as his drink. I love that they use Chocolate Ice cream for the shake instead of vanilla. It really does make a difference.

I got the Chicken Sandwich with Ham and Cheese on it and Pete got a Ruben.

Can you tell I forgot to take a picture before Pete started eating. LOL Oh and his bread was not burned, it was marble rye bread. Mine was very good (Jenna’s sister got the same thing) and Pete said he enjoyed his too.

Jenna and crew was on the dining plan so they got dessert. We didn’t start our dining plan until tomorrow and were SOOO stuffed that we didn’t have dessert. Instead we got Riley!!!

Look at Pete…He is making fun of Riley’s “serious face” LOL.

Pete always gets him first, but I got my turn and a kiss.

and a nose squeeze

LOL Silly Boy!

Riley wanted a group picture so of course we had to pose for one.

I know I said it before but I love this kid. I feel a special connection to him since I knew about him before almost anyone!

As we were leaving we saw these two.

I love them. It’s so cute that Disney adds this little skit to your meal at the Plaza.

We got Jillian, Jenna’s sister to take our picture with Pete’s phone. He has a really cool app called “Simply Postcards” that lets you take any picture and turn it into a post card. So we wanted one in front of the castle to send to our parents.

The Move it Shake it Show was starting so we enjoyed it. I love the music.

We said bye to Jenna and headed up to the Castle area since the show was getting ready to start. We took some Statue pictures while we waited.

A nice lady offered to take our picture….CHEESE!

The show started…

I wish I had the zoom lens, actually I wish I had a 15mm-200mm lens!

When the show was over we saw this cutie. Pete named her Princess of the Trash. LOL

We wanted to see Rapunzel, but the line was starting for the 3pm show and it was maybe 1:30pm. I didn’t want to wait, so I snapped some candid pictures.

She was really pretty. I always picture her as Mandy Moore since that is the voice I hear when she talks. This girl really looked like my mental picture.

We wandered around Tomorrowland next. It wasn’t real sunny, but the temperature was perfect. Pete bought a pin and I got a water then we jumped on the People Mover. We stayed on twice since I love it so much. Doesn’t it seem longer since the renovations.

Now it was time for my favorite Walt Disney Attraction EVER!

I wanted to ride Buzz Lightyear, but Pete said it wasn’t worth 45 minutes in line. So we went to Monster’s Inc. instead.

I got yelled at for taking pictures as soon as I snapped this blurry one…LOL

They used my joke in the Monster’s Inc. Show. What do you call an Elephant in Glass Slippers? Cinderellaphant! LOL

We walked past the desert party location and talked about how awesome the party was last year with all my friends. Here is a picture is refresh your memory.

The sun came out and it was getting a little warm.

So all this dessert talk made us want a sweet treat so we stopped by the bakery. I got a Cupcake (for icing purposes only) and Pete got an Ice Cream Sandwich.

This turned out to be Cream Cheese icing and not buttercream. I should have asked. It was ok, but no Buttercream!

We ended up back in the glass store and there was a guy making a vase. It was so cool, I wanna learn how to do that!

We took pictures of overpriced nick nacks.

Then I found the perfect sun glasses. Pete said get them, but I saw the price tag….$35. I decided to pass. But he made me get them. I am so glad, I love them!!!

ahhh to be a Disney Bride again!!!

We listened to some street music (why are they still playing Christmas songs, sure my tree is still up, but the Holiday is OVER) before we went back to the Art store.

We bought two prints for our guest room and a picture of a beach scene for my Dad’s beach house. We are going to frame it and hang it next time we go down there.

I wanted one last look at Toon Town (Sniff Sniff) so we took the train that way, but in true Reese fashion stayed on an extra loop before getting off.

I am going to miss Toon Town, I am not crazy over the Circus area at all. I don’t even like the real Circus!

Pooh and Tigger were out, we just waved as we walked by!

We walked hand in hand around Fantasyland talking about the new improvements coming and being there when it was empty for our wedding pictures. I set up this picture of Pete trying to pull the sword from the stone, I like it with the Castle in the background instead of the Carousel (feel free to borrow it).

How cool is it that the fireworks from the Castle show went off soon as I took the picture.

My Picture is not as awesome, we need a class on how to focus properly, I wish I could take my own pictures.

Since we missed Mickey’s Philharmagic I made sure we saw it this time. We timed it perfectly, no line.

I took this picture for our own little Wolfgang!

I had idea for a Carousel picture. I set up the tripod and Pete ran to the bathroom. I got one picture before it started raining.

We took cover under the overhang near Pinocchio’s. We got chairs and waited out the rain for about a half hour.

I love it!! I want to frame it for the guest room!

It was about 6:30pm and I wanted a good spot for the fireworks so I took a few pictures behind the Castle before walking around to the front side.

We still had almost an hour til Wishes, but I really wanted a good spot. I set up the tripod and stood cover to make sure it didn’t get bumped. This is about where I set it up.

I took a few test shots while I waited.

Now I had Pete standing in front of me and a nice guy and his little girl to my left who were in position for the fireworks. Then a lady walks up tp me and hands me her Photopass card. LOL I told her I was not a Photopass Photographer. Since when do they wear Tie Dye. LOL

I was nervous about getting bumped. I had to hold my arms out to the side to make sure no one hit me. It was worth it though….

Stay tuned, fireworks pictures are coming soon!

January 4, 2011 – FIREWORKS & Hoop Dee Doo!

Yay Wishes, my favorite part of any Disney Vacation! Get ready for picture overload!

As soon as Wishes was over I handed Pete the Camera and we took off to the exit. I was closing the tripod up as we power-walked to the exit. Pete knew I had a special dinner planned, but he didn’t know what or where. We got to the boat dock and he figured it out. We were about 15 people back in line so we really lucked out.

The boat came and we had a nice relaxing ride to Fort Wilderness.

Once we got there we checked in for the Hoop Dee Doo and had the pictures taken, I wish I could have justified $30 for it since it looked nice, but no way!

We waited maybe 25 minutes for the prior show to let out while I talked to my Dad. Then we got our seat. It was a great one right on the floor!

Pete was sooo impressed, he told me it was the most fun he has ever had at Disney. Everytime I looked at him he was smiling!

When the show was over Pete told me we NEED to bring his parents here next year! We walked out and they had a bus for us right there ready to go. We got back to Port Orleans around 12:30am. The room was perfect. It was clean and smelled fresh. I am so glad Disney came through. We got a drink and headed right to bed! Tomorrow we move to Bay Lake Towers!

 

2011 – Disney Vacation Trip Report – Day One

It has been a little over a year since I was in WDW and I was dying to get back. A few weeks before our trip Pete and I were talking and we realized he was off work from December 31st to January 17th. We decided to start vacation early. We thought about driving to WDW, stopping in the Carolina’s to visit some friends and getting to Disney on our original check in date of January 5th. BUT a one way car rental was over a $1,000 so nope not happening. Then I switched our flight so we flew out of BWI on January 3rd. I made us a two night reservation at Port Orleans French quarter. I was excited to stay here! So two extra Disney Days! YAY! I was so excited.

January 1, 2011

I finally finished our Disney Tie Dye shirts. I had to make 9 of them. They took forever. I am so happy how awesome they turned out.

Disney 2009 Trip Report – Almost done.

We are going on vacation in less than a week and I still haven’t finished my trip report from our last big vacation!  Sooo I MUST finish it before we go!  Soooo…..

Day 9 – Castaway Cay Day – November 7, 2009

I was so excited about this day of the cruise. It was Castaway Cay Day! The day I get to return to my wedding spot. We got up early and had a quick breakfast and then headed off the ship.

First stop was the post office to mail a post card to Pete’s Parents and to say Hello to these guys!

Christmas in the Air!

We decorated my sisters tree last week. We did mine this weekend, but I haven’t uploaded those yet. Here are some from Laura’s tree. Alyssa has decided that she still loves Halloween, but she may like Christmas too! LOL

First a picture of my 2010 ornament that Pete got me. He knows I love my villains.

He Also got this to hang on our front door. I love that my Boy gets my Disney-ness!

Look how big my baby is getting! Sooo fast!

Alyssa hung her new Ornament from Uncle Petey! He loves buying Christmas ornaments.

Last Year! Look how much she has grown!

Snow White is Alyssa’s favorite!!

She loves her Uncle Petey! She likes to tease him and tell him he is her Neice…LOL Silly Girl!

Mickey Mouse Club House!

Alyssa had to “help” Austin hang his Dumbo Ornament from Pete.

Alyssa is pretty much just learning that us saying “Smile” means she Smiles. She is still in the super cheesy smile phase, but it is easier than trying to make her giggle to get a picture. I am sure when she is 16 she will just love these pictures!

Even though my sister and family were looking like actors from the movie Joe Dirt, I tried to get a family Picture….LOL  After 4 takes I gave up!

We had alot of fun. I will update with Pictures of my BEAUTIFUL tree soon! LOL

Loves of my Life!

I haven’t written in forever, I haven’t written anything worth reading in even longer than that!  I will be finishing my last Disney Trip report since we are heading back to that Magical World in only 36 days!  I can not wait to be in Sunny Orlando with some of my best friends!  We have 3 nights in Disney World then a 7 night cruise!!!  YAY!  I can’t wait!

Anyway….

I was watching a “where are they now” episode of Biggest Loser and there was a lady named Abby who was on one of the past seasons.  She told “Her Story” and the sort version was that she had a 5-year-old daughter and a 2.5 week old son who were killed in a car accident along with her husband.  She ate to comfort herself and gained lots of weight.

This made me thing alot about how fast your life can be over, but more so it made me thing of the Loves of my Life; Pete is my love, my rock, someone I never thought I would find after the lowest point in my life.  Pete is not only my husband, but my friend.  He is more than I ever could want in a husband.  My other loves are my niece and nephew.  My sweet Alyssa is my favorite person in the whole world.  She is funny and smart and beautiful.  She lights up my day anytime I see her.  I never ever knew love that felt like this until the day she was born.  She is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me.  Then came her brother, Austin.  He is such a sweet baby. He is so cute and so sweet and I love him so much.  When he smiles my heart melts.   I can not wait to learn more and more about him as I watch him grow up!

A few weeks ago I had the scare of my life.  Alyssa fell playing at a park and was taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital in an ambulance.  They almost sent her in a medivac helicopter.  My Dad and I were spending the weekend at the beach when we got the call.  We took off for Baltimore once we got the call that Alyssa had lost conciousness.  We made a 3 hour drive in 2 hours and 20 minutes and that included a stop for gas.

In the end she was fine, more then fine, she is perfect.  She had a concussion and obvious facial scratches, bumps and bruises.  But with in a few days she was back to her old self.

I can not imagine my life without these kids.  I have heard that you love your own children even more, but sometimes I wonder.  the people who say this to me don’t realize just how much I love these kids.  AND it’s not just love, I like Alyssa too.  You can totally love someone and not like them.  But with this child … ugh … I don’t know how to describe it.  I don’t know any other Aunts (except for Jamie…hey you!  Um email me sometime) who loves their nieces (or nephews) like I love Alyssa and Austin.  I grew up with 6 aunts of my own and I know none of them love/loved me like I love these kids.

I am lucky because I am a park of their lives every day.  Well not everyday but a few days a week.  I am there to help bathe them, change diapers (even if I don’t like it), spending holidays together, dinners, movies, etc!

Alyssa talks about “Her Family” all the time and that includes her Mom, Dad, Brother, Popeye (my Dad) and her Uncle Petey and Aunt Lisie.  She loves doing things as a family.  Recently she requested we all go see Tangled like a family, so I think we are going on Thursday!  We have family dinners weekly, vacation together, just spend lots of time together .  I can not go more than 2 or 3 days without seeing these kids!  I love them so so much!  I don’t know how Abby got on with her life.  I really don’t know if I would want to go on without them!  I hope that  they realize how loved they really are!!

 From the first time I held these children in my arms I loved them.  I knew I would die for them!  I am so lucky to have them in my life.  They are the very best kids in the world!  They are more special than I could ever imagine!

I treasure them and every single second I have with them!

 

 

Not only am I totally blessed to have these children in my life, but I have a husband that most people would kill for!  He is so sweet and caring and he is patient and calm, he goes along with any craziness I come up with!  He is my support.  All of this, and… he is funny and smart.  He lets me win too!  I have had other boyfriends and some relationships have ended well and some have ended messy, but none of them have been “the one”  he is the one that completes me! 

Halloween 2010

Better late then never!

A few nights before Halloween we carved pumkins. My Dad is like best pumpkin carver! Alyssa LOVED Halloween and is very sad it is over!

Alyssa LOVES her “popeye” more then anyone else in the whole world!

Me and my favorite kids!

After only 2 hours the finished product!

GO RAVENS!

Alyssa is into smiling as cheesy as possible here lately!

On Halloween Pete and I went to my sisters to have dinner and give out candy. I LOVE that I get to spend so much time with my family! I love them so much!

MMM Cupcakes! Alyssa made them!

Alyssa got into costume. Her friends stopped by for a visit before my sister headed out trick or treating!

Pete and I along with Austin stayed back and handed out candy. We had soo many Trick or Treaters.

After Trick or Treating Alyssa was sooo tired!

She was the cutest Jessie ever!

I hung out with Austin while Alyssa took a bath and got into her Skeleton Pajamas!

After Alyssa’s bath I dressed Austin in his Skeleton PJ’s too! Alyssa was so excited to Match her Uncle Petey and her baby brother!

Don’t the three of them look so cute!

One last picture of me and my girl! She is making spooky noises and faces!

The Scariest day of my life!!

So this weekend my Dad and I went to Ocean City for “work weekend”. This is the weekend that all of the condo owners get together and do work on the condos. There are 8 in the building. So we worked most of the day Saturday. I had a nice 2.5 hour nap in there. Around 5:30pm my Dad came in and interupted my book reading on the back deck and asked me if I had talked to Laura. I told him yeah a while ago. He told me she just called and Alyssa fell at the park. I wasn’t alarmed and either was he, she is always falling and my sister has the flair for the dramatic. LOL

They were all at the park playing and near the lake they were looking at the water and Brandon said to Alyssa, “come look at this snake int he water”. Alyssa came running and tripped down the cement incline. She landed flat on her face, not a single scratch on her hands or knees. Full face plant! They calmed her down and checked out her injuries. The decided to take her to the hospital. My sister called the fire station near the park (it was in the county she works in) trying to get her friend who was on the medic unit. With no luck she called the dispatch center instead of 911. She got another of her friends on the phone who sent a Medic Unit immediately. Laura’s good friend and another lady she knows were the first to respond. After checking Alyssa out they decided to Air lift her to John’s Hopkins hospital in the Medivac. My sister told the paramedic that she is not allowing Alyssa to fly with out her. They said fine, no problem. After the consult they decided that the medivac was too far away and they were going by land. So my sister jumped into the back of the medic and rode with Alyssa to the hospital followed by Brandon.

Brandon called us and told us that they were going to the hospital and for us not to come home unless it was really serious once they got there. My dad and I were working on the plumbing in the condo and then I just couldn’t take it and told him we need to go, lets pack up. I called Pete and told him what was going on. He said that if it was serious he would head to the hospital. I started getting changed and he put his paper work away. Then 10 minutes later Brandon called and told us Alyssa just lost conciousness. I told my dad and started crying. We packed up everything we had brought with us and hauled ass out of there. We were on the road in less than 5 minutes. I called Pete to let him know and he told me he was already dressed and printing out directions to the hospital, he was on his way!

My Dad drove, now we had taken my car because he can’t see great driving at night and I wanted to drive. He wouldn’t let me drove when we left the condo. He drove in silence looking straight ahead crying. I was a mess and texted a few people because my Dad would not talk to me. He was so upset and concentrating so hard on driving. I have never ever felt so scared in my life. I love Alyssa more than anyone else in this entire world!

We got a text 20 minutes or so later letting us know Alyssa was awake. THANK GOD! We both stopped crying, but my Dad still couldn’t talk. He also wouldn’t let me talk on my phone. Like the sound of me talking about it upset him so much. SO I texted. LOL

Then I got this picture:

It relaxed us some seeing she was ok and awake. My sister called me and cried telling me how scared she was. Alyssa had a CT scan and x-rays. My sister told me the whole story. I had the phone on speaker so my dad could hear and he couldn’t talk he was so choked up. I nudged him and told him to say something. He couldn’t. He choked out a “I Love you”, before Laura and I hung up.

We were driving so freaking fast. I don’t know how we didn’t get pulled over. Pete called a few times with updates. He was at the hospital with Austin. Brandon’s parents were there too.

Then they got an all clear from the CT scan, but still had a few more x-rays to redo. They couldn’t see all they needed to. Once they took her off the back board, my big girl insisted on using the potty! Then she finally got to sit on my sister’s lap.

Laura called me again with another update. Told me the Doctors were beyond nice and that Alyssa had lots of stickers and was ok. It is weird she can name all of her fingers, Thumb, Pointer, middle, Ring and Pinky. At the hospital when they were asking her questions and all she kept getting them all backwards.

Pete was alone in the waiting room with only Austin to keep him company.

Poor Pete, he is so scared of teeny tiny babies. LOL He did good if you ask me.

My dad and I got there and Pete instantly handed Austin off to me.

I held him a few minutes before giving him back and going to check on my girl. She had just fallen asleep. Poor baby! Austin needed to eat so I sent my sister out to feed him and I was with Alyssa. My Dad couldn’t leave her side. At this point Brandon’s parents left.

I went back out in the lobby and let my sister rant and rave a bit. She fed Austin and I put him to sleep while she went back with Alyssa.

Almost 2 hours later they came out ready to go. Alyssa has a concussion, facial trauma and neck contusions or something like that. She has to wear the collar for a week and John’s Hopkins wants to see her back in a week.

Alyssa showed me her stickers and told me she had a blue ice pop. She was so tired. I put Austin in his car seat and we were all ready to leave.

We all walked out to the cars and I hugged and kissed her good bye. I was so relieved. My Dad drove me home and Pete followed. It was 1am at this point and Pete and I headed to the diner for a bite to eat. My Dad on the other hand went to my sisters to spend the night with Alyssa.

She had an ok night. Just woke up for about 45 minutes crying and complaining about the neck brace. She had an accident in her bed too. She went back to sleep after 45 minutes of hell and slept until after 8am.

This was the good morning picture I got.

Pete and I got up and went to the store we got stuff to cook dinner and a BIG Halloween Balloon and a Mickey Pumpkin for Alyssa. We spent the day with her and she was almost back to normal. She was sore, but played and had a good time. She took a great 2 hour nap and we all watched the football game. I make a yummy dinner and we all enjoyed being “Family”.

Alyssa was playing with my phone. We got this picture.

You can see part of her Balloon in the back ground.

Laura took the neck brace off and gave her a bath. Alyssa had alot of fun on the tub with Mommy! She was so excited to show off her Skeleton Pajamas. She is so into Halloween this year!

After her bath we all got ready to go. Her little lip is sooo swollen but s he gave Pete, my Dad and I little kisses and big hugs. We headed out and then she ran onto the porch and yelled “Lisie” I turned around and walked back towards the porch and she said “Thankyou for making me dinner, it so good”. She held out her arms and gave me another hug and kiss. I got into the car so full of Joy! I love this little girl and can not imagine my life with out her.

Baby Shower Fun! – The Shower

So I realized I never posted Baby shower pictures….

It was a great day! Everything turned out perfect! Well EXCEPT Alyssa was home with Daddy and he could not get her to wear her Monkey dress that cost me $40!

I took these once I got everything set up!

Baby Shower Fun! – The Plan

After seeing my friend Carly’s shower and her baby Owen’s room I wanted a Monkey Theme for “Baby Brother’s” Shower! I will post all the goodies I have so far!

We have Banana’s for the Cupcakes made by the SUPER talented Mikkel.  She is such a great friend!  www.mikkelpaige.com

Along with Cookies for the favors. I love them so much!

Here are pictures of the rest of the stuff I have bought for the shower.

This Banner will say “It’s a Boy” instead of Happy Birthday and she added some blue in it for me:

I also got stickers that look like the Monkey. I am not sure if I want to put them on the cups, or if I want to roll up the silverware (well the Blue & Green wear) in napkins and secure them with the stickers.

These Water Bottle Lables will be on the bottle of water. I got Dasani so the bottles would be blue.

These cards are so everyone can leave a little Note to the Baby.

This is a scratch off game. Laura loves scratch offs….LOL Two will be “it’s a Winner” cards. I still need to get “gifts” I am thinking starbucks gift cards.

The other game is a “how well you know Mom” game.

For the Cup Cakes. I got the Bananas for some and these for the others:

One of my gifts to Laura and “Baby Brother” is this Diaper cake.

Along with this sweet handmade blanket:

and the car seat:

It’s a safe seat, which apparently they are not making anymore. Graco switched over to two differant sizes of the snug ride. WELL we own 4 bases for the safeseat and the snug ride car seats will not fit the safe seat bases, although the safe seat car seats will fit the snug ride bases (IT’S A SHAM IF YOU ASK ME). This was the only pattern Babies R US still carried of the safe seat. I like it, but don’t love it. My sister was dead set on not getting a new cover for Alyssa’s seat. She didn’t want to spend $140 on a cover when the new seat cost the same amount.

Along with a few outfits and a monkey freezer thing to put in the bottle bag. (can you tell I like themes). LOL I also talked my dad into the Medela Pump with the back pack.

Now we couldn’t leave Alyssa out.

This is what I bought her for the day:

and this hair bow:

I have also bought Blue and Green, Napkins, forks and knives & Cups, along with plates that have a Blue and Green design.

We are having Water (in Blue Bottles), Blue Lemonaide and Brown Iced Tea. LOL

I am making Mini sandwiches. I am cooking a Ham for Ham Sandwiches on Ranch Rolls, Chicken Salad Sandwiches on Hawiian Sweet Rolls and Shrimp Salad Sandwiches on Mini Rye Bread. We are having Potato Salad and Pasta Salad, Fruit Salad and Cucumber Salad along with Deviled Eggs, Chips-Pretzles-Veggies and Dip, Cheese & Peperoni and Crackers. For desert there will be Brownies, Cupcakes and Cream Puffs!

Day 8 – November 6, 2009 – Pirates IN the Caribbean – Part 3

Pirate Mickey. We didn’t stop to see him, we just headed up to get seats for the party. We got the same seats we did for the sail away party!

Alyssa ran around before it got crowded and burned off some energy.

We took some pictures waiting for the show to start.

Yay show time! I love this show so much and I was so sad I missed most of it last year on my wedding night.

That one is for you Cait!

Look at my dad enjoying himself. Who said Disney is just for kids!

Then Mickey saved the day and there was fireworks at sea! (Please excuse my horrible at sea fireworks pictures. They are not my norm for sure!)

It was a great show!

My sister took Alyssa down to bed while Pete and my dad and I hung out on deck awhile.

[img] http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2656/4149595160_665dd635e0.jpg/img]

After we hung out for a while we headed down to the club for some Karaoke. This is my friend Edwin’s favorite song. I wish he would have been with us. I am sure he would have done a great job singing it.

There was a special group of young adults on the ship with us. They had various levels of mental handicaps. The group (I used to know the name) provides independent living. These young adults were having a blast. they must have all showed up at Karaoke soon as it stated cause no one else was singing. They were getting shots for preforming and were so excited. You could see the bonds they had with their counselors/chaperones. When we got home from the cruise I sent an email to the organization and told them I was honored to share a cruise with such a great group of people.

After Karaoke we walked around the ship. My dad has an unnatural obsession with Ariel. Alyssa knows Areil not at “the Little Mermaid” but as “Popeye’s girlfriend. LOL

Can you tell he has a few drinks tonight….LOL Silly Dad!

This was the last picture of the night. We told my Dad good night and he was heading back down to the sports bar to get a snack. Pete and I crashed.

Up Next…Castaway Cay

Day 8 – November 6, 2009 – Bahamas – Part 2

So since I lost my whole last post….lets try again!

After naps we headed up to go swimming a bit. It was nice and relaxing. That is what I love about DCL most. The relaxing. LOL

While we got ready for pirate night Laura took Alyssa to the kids club. Since she wasn’t 3 (or even 2) she couldn’t stay and play with the big kids unless mom was there. She had a blast though.

We stopped by the room and grabbed my Dad the pirate and headed to dinner.

We got all seated and the waiter came over and apologized over and over about the hair in Laura’s food last night. LOL They sent this fruit platter over. It was all so fresh and good.

We got the Jerk Chicken, Some Dip, Mango Soup and a Salad for Appetizers.

Alyssa colored and was very well behaved.

Look at my Dad…LOL he cracks me up!

I don’t remember what all we ordered for dinner. SOme sort of steak and the mushrooms with lentiles were really good.

The waiter kept us entertained.

The wait staff is top notched on DCL. I love the way they really try to get to know their guests.

Before desert my sister and Dad went to Limbo!

Alyssa tried to fake us out.

But a second later she was “wake” again.

She started getting fussy right before dinner was over. But for almost an hour and a half she was good as gold.

Brandon took her for a walk while we finished desert. A Trio thing for me and Laura had a Mickey Bar (notice a trend here?)

Up next…pirates IN the Caribbean Party!

Baby Brother

Yesterday we went to have the 4D sonogram done for my Nephew.  It was great to put a face to a name….oh wait….Thats right Baby Brother doesn’t have a name yet!  UGH.  There are so many personalized gifts I want to buy him….Pick a name already Laura…My Vote is on Alex or Adian — they are not even in the running though. . . .LOL

Isn’t he adorable???  He looks alot like his big sister.

She was very well behaved during the sonogram.  She made sure we all seen her “baby Brother” on the screen.

In the waiting room my Dad helped Alyssa build (and knock over) a tower of books.

 

They have the identical hair color!!!

Laura is doing good and has gained a whooping 16 or 17 pounds.  She looks amazing!

Baby Brother’s baby shower is this weekend.  I will post lots of pictures of that for sure!!

Marrying the Wrong Guy

This article is one the Yahoo home page today. 

http://yahoo.match.com/y/article.aspx?articleid=11625&TrackingID=526103&BannerID=683667

It is really a good article and I can not wait to read the book.  I almost married the wrong guy back in the early 2000’s.  I thank god all the time that I didn’t marry back then.  In the back of my mind or deep down inside I always knew I could do better, my friends thought so too (although they didn’t tell me until after the fact).  I think I continued to go forward because I did love him, he treated me good and I never wanted to hurt him.  In the end he hurt me 1000 times worse than I could have imagined.  Even after his deceit and horribleness he still talked about being together, still wanted to get married.  I told him he was nuts and that I could never, would never have a life with him. 

Thankfully I found out what a bad person he was before we got married (I can not imagine the mess it would have been if I found out after the fact).  So in a sence I was forced into not marrying him, I didn’t come to that decision on my own.  It’s not like I woke up one day and made up my mind.  My life crumbled in the matter of 2 hours one night.  Thankfully he told me the truth which made my decision to walk away so much easier.  Sometimes things seem so horrible at the time, but they are truly for the best.  Everything does happen for a reason.

I look at my life now, the life I would have never had and I am so very thankful.  I have a husband I adore, who is an honest, great man.  He is sweet and caring and so so smart (a doctor even…LOL).  But more than all of that, we mesh so well together.  We are two parts of one whole.  He is the person I would rather spend my time with before all others.

So for any ladies (or guys) out there who are having doubts…Don’t do it!   You have the doubts for a reason!

Random Updates

It’s Friday and I so wish I was home already!  I have a bunch of things to write about, but they are all swimming around in my head.

There is only 6 1/2 months until our Disney Trip and Cruise.  I can not wait for vaction.  I can not wait to stay at the Contemporary Resort, I can not wait for a week on the caribbean!  I know it’s a long ways away, but I can make dining reservations and stuff in 2 weeks.   The next 6 months will fly by.  The new baby will be here in 3 months and Alyssa and I are so excited.  She tells me she Loves her baby Brother more and more lately. 

I have booked our next cruise, you know the vacation following the one in six months.  LOL  We leave in about 444 days…give or take.  LOL I know it is forever away, but we are excited because it will be a Birthday Trip for my Nephew and all of our first cruise on the Disney Dream.

I am hosting Laura’s baby shower at my house and we have no grass in our side yard.  This is the yard our kitchen door opens into so more like a back yard on the side of our house.  Last weekend Pete and I busted our butts in the yard.  Two days, over $100 worth of grass seed a tiller and 50 plants….It was HARD work!  LOL  The grass has started growing and is making us so happy.  The birds eating over $100 worth of seed is pissing me off though.  Lets hope in the next month and a half we get a full thick lawn.

We are going to see Toy Story 3 tonight.  Me, Pete, Laura, Brandon, Alyssa and my Dad!  It’s Alyssa’s first movie and she is really excited.  She can not wait to wear her “movie Sunglasses” and see Buzz and Woody!  LOL  I loved the first 2 Toy Stories and have seen them each 100 times since Alyssa discovered them.  So a new story line will be a treat.  I heard it is a tear jerker (this did come from my 8 month pregnant friend Jenna so who knows) so I have tissues in my purse all ready!

Last week I was missing my Alyssa girl so I headed over my sisters after work for a visit.  Brandon met me at the door with the BIGGEST lip ever……

He had been stung by a bee seconds before I got there.  It just kept growing and growing to the point Laura made him go to the ER. 

 

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