~~~~~~ Sew, I was the silent partner! ~~~~~~ DLP May 2018 (Updated 8-25)

Your deck looks nice.
Congratulations to Allison for getting a new car. What kind of car is it?
Aruba sounds exciting.


Two weeks ago we had a heat wave here in Tromsø. It was crazy warm. It was 86ºF outside in the shadow. On my balcony it was 104ºF in the sun. I'm so glad a have an air conditioning. I put the air conditioning on and managed to get 73.4ºF degrees inside. Most people in Norway doesn't have an air conditioning because normally it's not necessary. This week the temperatures have been back to normal which means the temperature has been between 57.2ºF and 64.4ºF. The coming week will have the same temperatures as last week and we will get some rain.

It looks like my ears are getting back to normal. I think I have connection between my ears and mouth which mean I can equalize the air pressure in my ears. Which is something you have to be able to do if you are going to fly. I'm going to Porsgrunn (a place in south Norway) in 3 weeks. This is a trip that was already planned a year ago. Ever since I came back from Berlin it has been uncertain if I could go to Porsgrunn because I have to take a plain to get there. So I was very happy when I finally could say that my ears are almost back to normal and it's safe for me to fly.

When I'm back from Porsgrunn and the flight has gone well I will start to look for airfares for next summers trip. Ulf and I are going to the UK. Our plan is to rent a car in London, then geocache our way up to Scotland and stay there for a few days before we will geocache our way back to London where we will return the car and stay in London for a few days before flying back home. I'm so looking forward to this trip. It has been some years since I was in London and I'm really looking forward to go back there.
 
Day 1 Part 3

Feeling a bit sluggish from our Dole Whips, Myrthe and I decided to hit the WoD store and get a little bit of shopping done.

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I walked into this store expecting it to be as big as the store at Disney Springs - and while it was impressive and much bigger than the MOA store - it was probably only the size of one or two of the "wings" at DS.

Despite the size of the store... We were able to do ample damage to our wallets. ::yes::

Myrthe modeling a backpack for V... (which I didn't get)

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(for Ariana)

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After finding a little bit of something for everyone on my list and also adding a bazillion items to my "want" list... We decided to head over to the Studios for a while.

I did love that all of the park gates were walking distance from each other - it was very convenient to hop.

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It was sure nice to see a few "old friends" in this park... The Earful Tower and the Sorcerer's Hat. :lovestruc

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When you walk "down Main-Street" here, it's actually inside a building... There are several shops and it's very similar to DHS - except it's indoors.

I had to get this picture...

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I have a similar "then n' now" from DHS in 2015...

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We decided to head back towards Toy Story Land...

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However - once we got back there - I was distracted by the Ratatouille area, and we decided to head that way instead. When in France, right?

We also thought it appropriate, since we had been in the parks all day, and we had yet to ride a single ride - we should probably do that. Of course, I wanted to ride things that I couldn't ride in WDW... The posted wait time for Ratatouille (or if you want to be official: Ratatouille: L'Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy) was 30 minutes... I thought - yah, we can do that. The queue was cute, we started off outside and the line eventually moved inside.

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I also took the opportunity to take a picture of my newest Pandora charm... I had to hold my wrist awkwardly, as the charms like to slide around to the other side due to their weight... I just love the Minnie/Eiffel Tower charm - it's so cute. It does like to get caught on clothing items though - so I have to be careful when wearing it. I also got the Minnie's hat charm... I got the Mickey one in WDW when we were there in January, and probably my biggest regret was not getting the Minnie also - as they are so cute! I told myself before we even left the US - if they had the Minnie Hat in DLP, it was coming home with me. So, that was a planned purchase - the Minnie Eiffel Tower charm was not.

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After a bit - the line moved inside... I just loved this area - it was so neat! It was made to look like the roof tops in Paris at night - I took a lot of pictures, but all of them, except for this one (and maybe this one too?) turned our blurry...

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Once inside, the line creeped along at a very slow pace... Sometimes at a dead stop for 10 or more minutes. Our 30 minute line wait had turned into an hour before long... I was a little annoyed with that.

I didn't get any pictures of the ride itself, because I really wanted to enjoy the moment... but here's a description of the ride taken from Wikipedia: The attraction's exterior is that of Gusteau's restaurant, and the surrounding buildings of the Parisian plaza.

After queuing on the rooftops of Paris, guests board their "ratmobiles" and find themselves "shrunk" down to rat size on the roof of Gusteau's restaurant, with Rémy and his imaginative Chef Gusteau trying to decide what meal they shall serve the riders. After deciding on their famous Ratatouille dish, Rémy and the riders fall through a swinging roof glass-pane, winding up on the restaurant kitchen floor. This starts a chase sequence with Rémy leading the riders and other rats away from the cooks, passing through the cold room and under the hot oven.

The little group eventually ends up in the dining area, attracting attention from customers and causing a riot. Chef Skinner tries to get rid of the rats and the guests, while Chef Linguini tries to help them escape into a nearby vent. The escape through the vent in the walls is almost wrecked by Chef Skinner's angry attempts to grab the rats or the guests through the venting grids. In the end, the little group makes it safely to Rémy's kitchen, where the cooking of the Ratatouille is ongoing.

The ride ends at the Bistrot Chez Rémy restaurant, where guests are bid farewell by the rat colony (and the imaginary Gusteau) and invited to join in.


And the youtube video (not mine) if you want to queue up with me and go for a ride:

It was a super cute ride, and even though they were having ride malfunctions (which is why the line took so long) - it was still a cute ride and I am glad we waited.

At the end of the ride, you get off with a view inside the Bistrot Chez Rémy restaurant, I did take a picture of this - I wanted so badly to eat here, as it had great reviews - but we already had dinner plans and it just didn't work out for us...

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Now, we headed over to Toy Story Land... This area was super cute - I loved the theming. I kind of expected it to be similar to TSL in DHS - but it really wasn't - I don't think... Comparatively, it was much smaller and I don't think that any of the rides were the same?

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Myrthe and I decided to ride Slinky Dog... Even though it wasn't the coaster that (at the time, wasn't open yet) was nearly complete in DHS - we thought it would be fun... And the wait time was 5 minutes. ::yes::

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Myrthe and I hopped into our car and took a selfie...

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And then I noticed this sign... No dancing in Paris either guys... ::yes::

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We hit a few more shops... With my endless searching for the "one mug" I must have every time I go to Disney...

Speaking of mugs... We needed coffee. We still had a long night ahead of us...

So, we headed into Starbucks... Remember - I don't have a voice - so Myrthe did all of my ordering for me. It's kind of funny - no matter where I go, or what Starbucks I go to - they can never get my name right, like EVER, not even in the USA. Sometimes I just give them a fake name, because it annoys me that I have such a dumb name - and even if they get the name right - it's spelled wrong. LOL Anyways - here we are in FRANCE - I can't speak the language or even just speak at all... And the barista (is that what they call the guys too?) totally and completely spelled my name right!!!!! :eek: For the first time EVER! Can you believe it? This voiceless person screamed with delight! I was so happy. LOL And then he turned Myrthe's cup around - having high hopes for her too... We nearly DIED of laughter... OMG - I almost peed my pants!

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Coffees in hand... We decided to do more shopping... Myrthe and I love to shop - we really do - and we are super good at it. ::yes::

We headed out into the DTD shops... These are a little more "upscale" than the WoD store.

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I had to take a picture of this Lego mosaic wall - it was just too cool!

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See... Impressive, right?

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And I loved these so much - but at $23 Euros (my keyboard won't let me insert the Euros sign) - I couldn't justify them. They are cute though.

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I found a few more items that I thought were cool...

I loved this canvas...

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And, of course, V loves Stitch...

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And my BFF has a friend who LOVES Scrooge McDuck, but she can NEVER find anything... Low and behold - I found this guy in DLP - so I grabbed him for her... And a few other items...

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Myrthe and I decided it was time to head out to our dinner reservation... I was very excited about this one - and so was she. I can't wait to tell you all about it!

Link to Day 1 Part 4

D~
 
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Looks like you continued to have a great day at DLP.
How funny that they managed to spell your name right at Starbucks but didn't manage to spell Myrthe's name right.
Sounds like you got a lot of great shopping done.
 
I am enjoying your deck updates as much as your trip reports! It looks beautiful ! Your husband is just as talented as you . Enjoy!
 


Well, I’m late to the party. I can’t believe I totally missed the start of your TR. I haven’t read anything yet, but will in the next day or two.
 
Oh my...your deck is fabulous !! I would spend at least 3 seasons out there and not ever go inside...

I am so excited for the Ratatouille ride coming in Epcot. Happy to see a report from you on this one.

How is it going for your debt free journey? It must be so close!
 


Your deck is looking good the cushions and coaster can=me out well. You like me, if you're going to do a sewing project you might as well do it right the the first time on
Congrats to Allison on getting a new car. What kind of car is it?
I'm glad you were able to get on airfare to Aruba
No much is going on here which is probably a good thing. I have to work later on today so I'm doing laundry right now. Tomorrow I'm going to the outlets South of me to look for a rain jacket for my trip to Disney next month.
Enjoy the weekend
Liz

Thanks - I was super happy with them, considering I've never made cushions before and I had to make all of the piping myself. LOL It was definitely a learning experience. ::yes::

She got a 2008 Ford Focus... It's a very nice car and has all of the options in it. The previous owner took very good care of it - however - the interior could use a very good cleaning.

Yes - I was surprised to get airfare to Aruba!

Did you find a jacket? Super excited for your trip!

Loving seeing the photos and reading about your time in DLP! Really nice you could make it just a girls trip. Special bonding time. Your deck is looking fabulous! Such a nice outdoor space - there's still plenty of summer and fall left to enjoy it. You two really get down to business when you set your mind to it! Allison's car looks so nice! You've set such a good example for your girls when it comes to budgeting and living within your means. I feel we did that with our boys too. It will serve them well their whole lives. I'll be watching for another update!

It was fun to just go with Myrthe!

Thanks! Yes, we are very happy with how our deck is coming together. We used to use it a lot... and then as our old furniture started to decay (lol, for lack of a better term) - we used it less and less, until I forgot how much we did use it. We have been looking for new furniture out there for probably 4 or 5 years now - and I was just so picky for what I wanted and what I wanted to pay. Even this set - isn't exactly what I wanted - actually it's not even close - I am not even sure that what I wanted originally is even made? But I am happy with it and most of all - I am very happy with the price I paid. It was a great deal!

Thanks - we are so proud of her! It was so fun watching her buy it and just the whole experience. It sure would be nice if her other car would sell though - it really is a great first car for someone.

Thanks for stopping by - it was great to see you. :)

Your deck looks nice.
Congratulations to Allison for getting a new car. What kind of car is it?
Aruba sounds exciting.


Two weeks ago we had a heat wave here in Tromsø. It was crazy warm. It was 86ºF outside in the shadow. On my balcony it was 104ºF in the sun. I'm so glad a have an air conditioning. I put the air conditioning on and managed to get 73.4ºF degrees inside. Most people in Norway doesn't have an air conditioning because normally it's not necessary. This week the temperatures have been back to normal which means the temperature has been between 57.2ºF and 64.4ºF. The coming week will have the same temperatures as last week and we will get some rain.

It looks like my ears are getting back to normal. I think I have connection between my ears and mouth which mean I can equalize the air pressure in my ears. Which is something you have to be able to do if you are going to fly. I'm going to Porsgrunn (a place in south Norway) in 3 weeks. This is a trip that was already planned a year ago. Ever since I came back from Berlin it has been uncertain if I could go to Porsgrunn because I have to take a plain to get there. So I was very happy when I finally could say that my ears are almost back to normal and it's safe for me to fly.

When I'm back from Porsgrunn and the flight has gone well I will start to look for airfares for next summers trip. Ulf and I are going to the UK. Our plan is to rent a car in London, then geocache our way up to Scotland and stay there for a few days before we will geocache our way back to London where we will return the car and stay in London for a few days before flying back home. I'm so looking forward to this trip. It has been some years since I was in London and I'm really looking forward to go back there.

Thanks! We are very excited to be "nearly done" - it will be a great space! And I love how well it flows with the rest of the house now.

Allison got a 2008 Ford Focus - his has all the options in it, so it's a very nice car and an excellent reasonable upgrade choice for her. :)

How is your new car running? Do you still like it?

I am happy to hear that your ears are almost back to normal and that you will be able to take the trips you've been planning for so long! I look forward to hearing about your trips all the time - you always get to see some very unique parts of the world!

Looks like you continued to have a great day at DLP.
How funny that they managed to spell your name right at Starbucks but didn't manage to spell Myrthe's name right.
Sounds like you got a lot of great shopping done.

We had a lot of fun! It helps that we both love shopping for gifts, LOL.

Right? I couldn't believe it!

I am enjoying your deck updates as much as your trip reports! It looks beautiful ! Your husband is just as talented as you . Enjoy!

Thank you! :lovestruc We are really enjoying the space... Well, as much as we can, until it's done anyways. LOL

I wonder if that ride will be similar to the new Remy ride at WDW?

That, I don't know... Sadly - I have not read one little iota on WDW since we returned in January... I honestly didn't even know they were putting in a new Remy ride, LOL.... I should go investigate and see. :scratchin

Well, I’m late to the party. I can’t believe I totally missed the start of your TR. I haven’t read anything yet, but will in the next day or two.

Welcome! This one is moving pretty slow - so, I am sure you'll have ample time to catch up. LOL I am happy to see you here! :hug:

Oh my...your deck is fabulous !! I would spend at least 3 seasons out there and not ever go inside...

I am so excited for the Ratatouille ride coming in Epcot. Happy to see a report from you on this one.

How is it going for your debt free journey? It must be so close!

Thanks! We do love it out there and we are spending a lot more time out there than we probably should. LOL The only part that I wish was different - is I wish we had a screened in portion... The bugs can get bad - especially the mosquitoes and gnats.

I will need to go investigate to see if the ride will be similar to the DLP ride... Had I even known they were doing it, I probably would have paid more attention. LOL

It's going well, thanks for asking. We are down to 4 CCs left - and the one is nearly paid off... It's kind of hard to stay strong when there is so much leftover at the end of the month. I am thankful though - that we have been able to cash flow everything... Our entire trip to Europe, now our airfare to Aruba and all of the deck stuff... Once upon a time, it would have been very different. We still follow our budget and once this deck is done - our focus will switch back to debt. I had originally projected our debt free date to be at the end of this year/spring next year... I'll have to double check my numbers, but I think it will be next summer. :)

Thanks for stopping by - it was great to see you here!

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Wow - I made it here for replies on a week-day! :eek: Miracles do happen.

Nothing real exciting going on...

The weather was good yesterday, so we were able to put the last of the Restore on the deck... It will dry for a day or two and then we can put our furniture back. We managed to "paint ourselves into the bar" last night though... Not sure if that was intentional or not? LOL But it was a good excuse to sit there and watch paint dry. ::yes::

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As far as the deck goes - we have some railings that need to be replaced and repaired (the one in the picture above is just a temporary railing to keep the dogs in) and the Restore will go on the railings too. Then Josh has a bunch of work to do on the bar, as far as shelving and stuff. I am almost certain that we are done purchasing stuff for this project, so that's nice. ::yes:: By the weekend - we should be able to utilize this space fully... It will be nice to have the grills back up on the deck... And hopefully we will be able to get rid of all our old deck furniture too - I was kind of waiting to get everything set up.

Otherwise, I am working all week and trying to work ahead... Josh has a huge family reunion coming up and it's several days long - I'd like to be there, if I can work far enough ahead. :)

Have a great week all! :)

Prayers and pixie dust to everyone! :lovestruc

D~
 
LOVE the deck! It looks so relaxing! I think the restore color will look great now that you have it totally done on the deck...it is just a jarring difference right next to the unfinished color. And you know I love the cushions! If you are going to paint yourself into a corner, a bar is the way to do it, lol.

Enjoying your report!
 
Sounds like a good car upgrade for Allison.

My car is running well. My electrical wheelchair is a hole other story. I miss places in my car to store stuff I buy or other stuff I want to take with me. But it's not easy putting in something that can stay in the car on a day to day basis that I can have things in since I need all the floor space I have in the car to get my electrical wheelchair in and out of the car. But other than that the car is working well for me. I still can't drive the car out of my garage by myself yet, but I'm practicing on it. Maybe I will manage to do it someday.
My electrical wheelchair can't go up and down very steep hills. This has resulted in me going out of the chair when going down hill because the chair was about to fall over me. So now I want to try and get a different electrical wheelchair that can handle steep hills and doesn't fall forward or backwards that easily. I also want to try and get something called SmartDrive for my manual wheelchair. It's a little motor that you can attach behind under your manual wheelchair which makes the wheelchair electric. What I like about the device is that it only weigh 13.5 lbs and is 15.3 inch in length, 5.7 inch in width and 9.5 inch in height. So it is very easy to take with you on an airplane. Or in a taxi.
 
Your deck is such an amazing space!!! I know you will get years of enjoyment from it.

You have every right to be proud of your girls, they are already showing great financial responsibility at such a young age.

I sure do miss you, friend. Let me know if you are ever in Knoxville again. I am fairly certain we will not take any other parks vacations for a long time. We will definitely plan to get a day in at DHS when Star Wars Land opens, but that will probably be about it.

Next year we are taking another cruise with DCL. This time we are taking an 8 night cruise, and I am so excited about that. We will be going to completely different destinations, all places we have never been. So ready for a vacation. We are booking our 2019 cruise in September, and it is going to do my heart so much good to have a countdown again!

DH and I are both using up all of our sick and vacation days for the year taking care of our girl right now. So, our October beach vacation will most likely not happen either. I AM grateful we have a beach Thanksgiving tradition. We will at least get to do that. To help us cope with cancelling vacation this year, we did book a room at the Opryland Hotel for my birthday weekend...(pricey as Disney). My parents are coming into town for three weeks, and they are going to stay at the house with the kiddos. REALLY looking forward to that!

Congrats on your upcoming Aruba trip, that will be so fantastic!!! How strange is it adjusting to life as just the two of you?? Brian and I are getting close to that phase of life ourselves.
 
Allison got a great car. That generation of Focus often sells at auction for more then the next generation. They were a solid little car that had few problems they just never got the "love" because they weren't very "exciting". Whatever, they ran and rode great and I always liked that light blue color.
Loving the updates, I haven't been on the Dis lots lately so at least I haven't missed too much.
 
Oh my goodness, I can't believe I missed the start of this TR! How did that happen? I've missed reading your updates and was wondering how you and your family was doing. I'm just over halfway through right now and can't wait to finish it, but must do some work first.

Super excited to hear about DLP! I really want to go to DL and DLP someday just to experience them. I doubt I'd ever get DH to go to Tokyo, Hong Kong or Shanghai, but you never know, so I will keep dreaming and hoping. WDW will always hold the top spot in my heart, but I would really like to see some of the other parks too. Unfortunately, I don't have any current plans for visits, so I have to be content with looking at pictures from past trips, reading TRs from other people and watching Tim & Jen Tracker and WDW Couple on YouTube.

It sounds like your girls are doing well. V's car looks nice. Love the picture of Max and Cooper in the car heading to the lake! What a great start to refurbishing your deck. Lot's of work there, but you will love it when it is done. Also love the updated sewing room! Nice to have such a cheery place to create.

We just came back from 4 days in Knoxville, IA. We went to watch sprint car races. Once we got there, we had a fabulous time. It was the getting there that was the problem. We ended up being stuck on the side of I-80 for nearly 5.5 hours until they finally towed us to the I-80 TA truck stop a couple of miles down the road. We had some issues contacting our roadside service that we have to figure out why/what happened, but we did recover from that to have a great time and watched the BEST sprint car race we have ever seen!

Other than our trip to Knoxville, we are just doing the usual - working, racing, running, living life. DH is doing okay racing, just wishing he could run a bit more consistently. DS is loving crewing on the car and working his first real job. And I am just trying to find any excuse to go back to my happy place!

Hope I am able to stop by again soon to catch up on the last bit of your TR. Have a great day D~!
 
Your deck looks great! I hope you’ve been able to enjoy it!

I’m loving all your pictures of DLP. Are the Earful Towers and Sorcerer’s Hat the same ones from WDW? Maybe one day I’ll get to DLP and experience it myself.
 
Day 1 Part 4

I am so excited about this update! In all of my years, going to WDW, I have NEVER once experienced a Disney dinner show! Can you believe it? Oh - believe me - every. single. trip. I. plan. - I research all of the magnificent dinner shows I want to attend... HDDMR, MBYBBQ... I want to do them all! But when it comes down to it - I just can't pull the trigger. I am a cheapo at heart - honest.

So, while doing my (very limited) research for DLP - someone in one of my FB groups mentioned that this show is a "must do"... Hmmm... :scratchin: A must do - really? OK, fine... I will be in Paris, after all... What's one little splurge? Right? I asked Myrthe if she would be interested - and she was - though both of us were a little skeptical (I think?)... I hopped on to the DLP website and booked our dinner show tickets... If that wasn't a fiasco - I wasn't thinking about the website being in a foreign country - it was only AFTER I'd managed to get all THREE of my debit cards shut down for fraud - I'd resorted to paying with an actual CC (I know, BAD ME) - and my CC emailed me to verify that the purchase wasn't fraudulent - I realized my error and once I'd OKed it - the transaction went through fine. But it took me HOURS to figure out the mess and get all of my debit cards turned back on... BTW - I paid off the transaction on my CC just as soon as it posted the next day. ::yes:: You have to print the tickets right away when you purchase - and REMEMBER to bring them on your trip... ::yes:: Or you are outta luck!

Anyways...

After Myrthe and I finished our shopping... We headed over to the Buffalo Bill's Wild West Dinner Show.

It was kinda weird - the location... It's literally NEXT to the WoD store... You'd never know it, from the building location, that there is an entire arena full of animals just behind it. Again - Disney's art of illusion... Myrthe and I were happy to see it right there though - because when we booked it, it appeared to be located at a resort - so we thought we would have to find it later.

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A brief description of the Show from the DLP website:

Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show... with Mickey and Friends: The Wildest Show in the West

Saddle up and witness how the West was won in this spectacular, gun-slinging live arena show. Hosted by the legendary Buffalo Bill, famous faces, such as Chief Sitting Bull, Annie Oakley and the Rough Riders, re-enact fabled moments from the frontier through stunning shootouts and sensational stunts. Plus there are special appearances by Mickey and Friends to help you cheer on all the action.

We checked in with our tickets (that I remembered to pack), and we were given our seat assignments and a souvenir cowboy hat to designate our group...

We rock them pretty well, huh?

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And we were "herded" into a staging area... (literally)

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Here, Disney treated us to a little "pre-show"... It was a cute set of skits - where we even got to see Goofy...

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These skits seemed to last forever though - personally - I was tired of standing there, and quite honestly - I was HUNGRY.

After several skits, they finally led us to our seats... The arena was set up very nicely - and while researching which Tier to purchase our tickets from - I realized that there really were no bad seats in the house - so we got the "cheaper" tickets. ::yes:: And I really loved the thought that Disney put into creating the seating for this show - and how the benches and tables were set up... They staged the timing of the food to perfectly coordinate with the show, and it was just a fantastic (and filling) experience.

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The "first course" was chili with corn bread... I have to say - for me - this was the best part of the meal... After eating French food for nearly a week - this chili and corn bread hit the spot. It definitely wasn't the best chili I've ever had, but it was good. And it's one of my favorites anyways.

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While eating, the show continued on... Introducing the characters... Wild Bill... Annie Oakley... The Rough Riders... Chief Sitting Bull and the rest of the Indians... The Rodeo Clowns... and of course... Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Chip & Dale.

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Our main meal was roasted chicken, bbq pork ribs, potatoes, beans and I think - some sort of sausage/bratwurst links... My ribs were really fatty and hardly no meat on them at all - I gave up on those almost right away. The chicken was good though as was the rest of the plate.

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Dessert was Apple Crisp with ice cream... by then, Myrthe and I were both stuffed. I think we both attempted a few bites though?

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And our Rodeo Clown was just the best... Very acrobatic and funny - he did a great job with crowd interaction and entertaining us.

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After dessert - the show started wrapping up and they did their grand finale...

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Overall... This was just a fantastic experience! I think Myrthe really enjoyed herself too? I am so glad we splurged and did something that we wouldn't ordinarily do.

After the show, we exited the arena to possibly the WORST pouring rain I have ever seen in my life! Thankfully - I still had my rain coat from earlier in the day, but Myrthe had nothing. I felt bad and offered her my coat, but she turned me down... I felt a little guilty about that - being the "Minnesota Nice" person that I am.

Needless to say... Myrthe and I ran for cover - and let's just say - it was a good MILE, at least, until we hit the covered walkways to the parking lot...

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We did eventually make it to the car (which we had moved closer earlier in the day)... And we made our way to our hotel - in the rain. I have to say that Myrthe and I were both pretty nervous about this hotel - we were not entirely thrilled with the hotel we stayed in near Normandy - and this hotel was part of that same chain... Though - it was a Disney "friendly neighbor" hotel (French version) - so we remained hopeful. :scratchin

Upon arrival - and the rain hadn't let up at all... we hauled our bags to the front desk. Myrthe checked us in (remember, I still can't talk) since the reservations were under her name, and after some confusion - we eventually found our hotel room... Which - by some miracle - was a very decent room and quite comfortable.

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Literally - we got out of our wet clothes - and were sound asleep in a matter of minutes... As, after waiting in line for so long earlier in the day, to get our ticket vouchers - we had every intention of being up and out the door EARLY the next morning. ::yes::

Link to Day 2 Part 1

D~
 
Great update! Love the picture of you two in your souvenir hats! The show looks like a fun time. Maybe like the medieval times shows with a Disney/wild west twist? Glad your hotel was comfortable. Hope day #2 was as good as day #1!
 
LOVE the deck! It looks so relaxing! I think the restore color will look great now that you have it totally done on the deck...it is just a jarring difference right next to the unfinished color. And you know I love the cushions! If you are going to paint yourself into a corner, a bar is the way to do it, lol.

Enjoying your report!

Thanks - it's coming together very nicely... We still have the railing at the back to put up though - and I refuse to do full "after" photos until that is done... Hopefully soon - trying not to nag. LOL

Happy to hear - it seems I've lost most of my readers - which makes me sad, but it's understandable since my updates are slow.

Sounds like a good car upgrade for Allison.

My car is running well. My electrical wheelchair is a hole other story. I miss places in my car to store stuff I buy or other stuff I want to take with me. But it's not easy putting in something that can stay in the car on a day to day basis that I can have things in since I need all the floor space I have in the car to get my electrical wheelchair in and out of the car. But other than that the car is working well for me. I still can't drive the car out of my garage by myself yet, but I'm practicing on it. Maybe I will manage to do it someday.
My electrical wheelchair can't go up and down very steep hills. This has resulted in me going out of the chair when going down hill because the chair was about to fall over me. So now I want to try and get a different electrical wheelchair that can handle steep hills and doesn't fall forward or backwards that easily. I also want to try and get something called SmartDrive for my manual wheelchair. It's a little motor that you can attach behind under your manual wheelchair which makes the wheelchair electric. What I like about the device is that it only weigh 13.5 lbs and is 15.3 inch in length, 5.7 inch in width and 9.5 inch in height. So it is very easy to take with you on an airplane. Or in a taxi.

That makes sense - how frustrating! Hopefully you will be able to get your car in and out of your garage soon - and until then, it's good that Ulf can help you. :)

OK - and how scary about your chair!!!! Wow... That would make me fearful of using it in hilly areas... I hope you are able to find a chair that more suits your needs, and is SAFE for you! :hug:

Your deck is such an amazing space!!! I know you will get years of enjoyment from it.

You have every right to be proud of your girls, they are already showing great financial responsibility at such a young age.

I sure do miss you, friend. Let me know if you are ever in Knoxville again. I am fairly certain we will not take any other parks vacations for a long time. We will definitely plan to get a day in at DHS when Star Wars Land opens, but that will probably be about it.

Next year we are taking another cruise with DCL. This time we are taking an 8 night cruise, and I am so excited about that. We will be going to completely different destinations, all places we have never been. So ready for a vacation. We are booking our 2019 cruise in September, and it is going to do my heart so much good to have a countdown again!

DH and I are both using up all of our sick and vacation days for the year taking care of our girl right now. So, our October beach vacation will most likely not happen either. I AM grateful we have a beach Thanksgiving tradition. We will at least get to do that. To help us cope with cancelling vacation this year, we did book a room at the Opryland Hotel for my birthday weekend...(pricey as Disney). My parents are coming into town for three weeks, and they are going to stay at the house with the kiddos. REALLY looking forward to that!

Congrats on your upcoming Aruba trip, that will be so fantastic!!! How strange is it adjusting to life as just the two of you?? Brian and I are getting close to that phase of life ourselves.

I hope so - that's the plan anyways. :)

Yes - I hope they continue with being financially responsible - it's not easy, we all know that.

I will definitely let you know when we are in TN again... I do hope to get down there soon - it was a fun and beautiful trip!

Ooooh - that is very exciting... I still hope to do a DCL cruise one day - it's on my bucket list! It's likely I'd end up on a cruise with you before I come to TN though. LOL

I know... I've been following your girl and her recovery very closely. :hug: Seeing all of your family together these days just brings a huge smile to my face... :lovestruc It sounds like you have some great family (and alone) time coming up! :woohoo:

Yes - we are excited for that trip... Let's just say - without going into a lot of detail... Now that we have had so much time together to reconnect - it has been WONDERFUL - beyond wonderful... :lovestruc Not that it was ever bad, but as sometimes happens in marriage, It's a winding river that ebbs and flows, other people and things in life distract and take precedence - it sometimes takes a conscious effort and time to reconnect. If that make sense? So, in a nutshell, it's been incredible. :lovestruc

So happy to see you here! I miss ya! :hug:

Allison got a great car. That generation of Focus often sells at auction for more then the next generation. They were a solid little car that had few problems they just never got the "love" because they weren't very "exciting". Whatever, they ran and rode great and I always liked that light blue color.
Loving the updates, I haven't been on the Dis lots lately so at least I haven't missed too much.

This is good to know... She loves her new car - and so far, it has been great to her!

I am glad you are enjoying the updates... I am trying hard to jump on when I can and get them done. :)

Oh my goodness, I can't believe I missed the start of this TR! How did that happen? I've missed reading your updates and was wondering how you and your family was doing. I'm just over halfway through right now and can't wait to finish it, but must do some work first.

Super excited to hear about DLP! I really want to go to DL and DLP someday just to experience them. I doubt I'd ever get DH to go to Tokyo, Hong Kong or Shanghai, but you never know, so I will keep dreaming and hoping. WDW will always hold the top spot in my heart, but I would really like to see some of the other parks too. Unfortunately, I don't have any current plans for visits, so I have to be content with looking at pictures from past trips, reading TRs from other people and watching Tim & Jen Tracker and WDW Couple on YouTube.

It sounds like your girls are doing well. V's car looks nice. Love the picture of Max and Cooper in the car heading to the lake! What a great start to refurbishing your deck. Lot's of work there, but you will love it when it is done. Also love the updated sewing room! Nice to have such a cheery place to create.

We just came back from 4 days in Knoxville, IA. We went to watch sprint car races. Once we got there, we had a fabulous time. It was the getting there that was the problem. We ended up being stuck on the side of I-80 for nearly 5.5 hours until they finally towed us to the I-80 TA truck stop a couple of miles down the road. We had some issues contacting our roadside service that we have to figure out why/what happened, but we did recover from that to have a great time and watched the BEST sprint car race we have ever seen!

Other than our trip to Knoxville, we are just doing the usual - working, racing, running, living life. DH is doing okay racing, just wishing he could run a bit more consistently. DS is loving crewing on the car and working his first real job. And I am just trying to find any excuse to go back to my happy place!

Hope I am able to stop by again soon to catch up on the last bit of your TR. Have a great day D~!

Lori!!!! It's great to see you here! So happy we can stay connected on FB though! As with many of my Dis friends! :hug:

I am thrilled I was able to experience DLP - but my heart is always in WDW... So, I know how you feel - while I'd love to visit all of the Disney resorts - I just don't think any of them will hold up to WDW for me?

Thanks! The girls are doing very well... It's hard - yet gratifying - watching them go through another stage in life.

Oh wow!!! Glad you made it to the race - that sounds like it was pretty stressful... . At least you were rewarded with a great race to watch! :)

Thanks for stopping by and checking in with an update - I always love seeing what all my friends are up to. :lovestruc :hug: Give my best to the family!

Your deck looks great! I hope you’ve been able to enjoy it!

I’m loving all your pictures of DLP. Are the Earful Towers and Sorcerer’s Hat the same ones from WDW? Maybe one day I’ll get to DLP and experience it myself.

Thanks! Yes - we've been spending a lot of time out there!

No, I don't' think they are the same ones... I think they are a bit smaller and just replicas. :scratchin

**************************************************************************************************************

A quick life update...

So... I feel like our life is one never ending car saga... A few weeks ago, V and Carter went out to eat at Buffalo Wild Wings (or as they call it B-dubs)... V was backing out of her spot and about 90% out, just getting ready to shift into drive - and some ******* backed right out into her... This has been an annoying situation. V was distraught (obviously) and not thinking... She took pics at the scene, but not of the vehicles in the locations that they were hit - so while we feel he is 100% at fault - and we turned it into his insurance company - his company deemed it 50/50... So we had to file with our insurance company for them to fight it. Anyways - it's looking like - at this time - her car will be totaled. :angry: :cry: For a rear fender/bumper dent. Sickening. It appears that the damage is only cosmetic and not structural (though we are taking it to our mechanic to double check) - and if that's the case, she is planning to buy back the car and fix it. We'll see... It' has been quite stressful.

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And then Allison is moving out next weekend... She starts college on Tuesday!! Yikes!!! I am super nervous about all of this - and she is super excited. I suppose that is the way it's supposed to be?

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V also enrolled in college - spring semester... This makes me very happy! :woohoo: She hated high school so much - I always prayed she would find the courage to go to college. :lovestruc

Um...

Oh we all went to a huge family reunion last weekend at the lake house - Josh and his dad have been coordinating and planning this event for the last year... It was great to see all of his aunts, uncles and cousins together - it had been 20 years! The lake house was FULL... the guest house was FULL... Both garages were FULL... And one of the neighbors took pity on us, and offered Josh and I their guest house - which turned out to be a giant blessing... We were the ONLY ones with our own bathroom and shower. :woohoo: It was a fun weekend!

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Allison even brought her camera and did a small photo shoot... She was able to get some great pictures of Josh and I!

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So, with Allison moving out... V is moving into Allison's room... And for the first time ever - living in a 5 bedroom house - I will have a guest room! :woohoo: While I will miss my girl lots - I am excited to have a space for friends and family to stay! We already have 2 weekends of guests slotted for September! My BFF from HS and her dd will be here in a few weeks... And then Brian and Myrthe will be here at the end of September... So we have lots of work to get done in V's room beforehand. We plan to rip out her "built-in" bed, and replace it with a double bed (her room is too narrow for a queen - which is what I'd prefer to have...) - and when Josh's dad remodeled the guest house at the lake - he had 2 extra vintage bed frames with new mattress sets... (I am taking one and V is taking the other) - I plan to use this in the guest room and I am super excited about it! Before I knew about this bed frame - I was pinning "spindle beds", "farmhouse beds" and "Jenny Lind beds" on Pinterest like crazy... How perfect did this turn out? I am still debating on whether I want to paint it black or not though... :scratchin The wood isn't in very good shape - even though it appears so in the pics.

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Inspiration photos for the above room:

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And then, eventually, when V moves out - Allison's room will also turn into a guest room... Thinking 2 twin beds... Similar to this - I just love this look! I think I want white beds though - and I doubt I will do pink walls... but this general look/feel is what I am going for.

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Yah - that room will be a while yet, hopefully. ::yes::

So, Josh and I will be working like mad over the coming weeks to get V's room ready... There is a lot of work to do up there... Taking out her bed, taking out the carpet, painting the walls and painting the wood floors (we have wood plank floors under the carpet) and getting all of the furniture up - and hopefully ready in time for all of our guests. ::yes::

And hopefully - all of my Dis friends will come visit me eventually too? :lovestruc

So, again - I will rush off... I hope to do a Day 2 TR update tomorrow morning, and then it may be a while again. Sorry everyone... I miss you all and looking forward to planning our BIG WDW 2020 trip soon... A few more months and we will be a year out - and I will need to start planning that. :woohoo: It's looking like that one will be a BIGGIE... Including - but not limited to... Josh, the girls, their boyfriends, BMTL and me! :eek:

Sending pixie dust and hugs out to all of you! :grouphug:

D~
 
Sorry about V.'s car. The same thing happened to my daughter. She was driving my car at the time. The girl that hit her was talking on her cell phone while backing out -right into my car. The girl's car has dents in every door. Apparently she did that a lot. The police officer told her that she was lucky that it was a parking lot because he would have ticketed her. Luck.i.y that damage to my car wasn't back and we never fixed it.
It sounds like you and Josh have another big project. I'm sure V.'s old room will be lovely when you're done. I have a full size bed in my room because it's too narrow for a queen.
There's not much going on here. I'm slowly getting ready for vacation becasue I'm still wearing most of the clothes I'm taking with me. I did find a nice waterproof jacket at Northface's outlet. It's black.
The dinner show looks like fun. The food looks good except for the ribs. I hate fatty ribs. I'm glad your room turned out to be okay. You never know what to expect.
Enjoy the weekend
Lizwhat to
 
I'm here, just forgot about disboards. Too much going on lately. Glad Allison got a good car - I loved my Focus...And so sorry to hear about V's car. Can't believe that it will be totaled from that amount of damage. I was in an accident last week. The girl hit me on my rear driver's side wheel and broke the axle. Charlie and I are looking for another Focus, but we have to wait for the insurance settlement. So right now, I'm driving a rental car - until Wednesday. Getting ready to make our annual September trip to WDW. My son Andrew will be joining us for a few days before he has to go to Bradenton.

I have a very busy week at work trying to get my desk cleared before I leave.
 
Sounds like you had a great time at Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show.

I'm so sorry to hear about V's car.

Sounds like you had a good time at the lake with family.

How exciting that Allison is moving out and starting college.

You have to start planning V's and Allison's room so that they have a place to stay after they've moved out and are coming to visit you with grand kids.


I was in southern part of Norway this weekend. I had a great time with friends and the best thing with the whole trip was that it was no problem flying with my ears.
 

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