So this is what mid-life crisis feels like? Dec 2011 PTR

[shocky5]

Sorry I'm no good in writing. I just like things vague as to confuse people more. Maybe search for other people's disney letters?

Love the confusing people part!!

I know I am late in joining but I can't resist a good Pre TR !! Especially since your trip is so close ! I'll admit I haven't read all 55 (?) pages .. but promise I will skim through as many as I can.
I hope you guys have a wonderful trip !!

Too bad about Nates missing out on his class presentation .. but if he's anything like MY guys .. he'll understand once he realizes WHY ! I hope that goes well for you.

Looking forward to hearing about how the morning goes and your trip !

Welcome and thank you!!! I think Nate will be fine, as you said, when he realizes WHY. I will definitely be filling everyone in - probably in this pre TR while we are there and then will do a full blown TR when we return!!!

Glad to have you here!!

I would maybe try to make the letters rhyme (loose poetry). Maybe 4 lines each (I did a scavenger hunt for Chris's birthday one year with a 4-line poem as each clue).

If you give us the landmarks that they are going to be looking for, maybe we can help you word them.

Your first letter from Stanley could be more than just 4 lines.

Oh, sad that Nate will be missing the program. Will you be able to tell him the teacher was in on the secret the whole time, so Nate knows that he's not leaving his class high and dry and that the narration will go on without him?

I won't be able to help much with the letters today/tonight. I'll try to check in tomorrow and be of some help.

Do you want each letter to have a little clue of where you're going? Sort of how Tammie is including clues in the Advent countdown that her kids are totally oblivious to?

See below Tammie's quote...

Give me some of the landmarks you are going to use...and let me see if I can come up with some clues! Are you driving past that cool McDonald's over the highway? Do you want the clues to somehow incorporate Disney?

Here is an idea...you know that alphabet game with signs...have them find a sign every 5 minutes that spells DISNEY WORLD...11 signs 5 minutes apart...that gets you to the airport!

As for Nate - yes we will definitely reassure Nate that his teacher was in on the secret - that's where I'm going to bribe him to complete his trip journal - she's interested in him showing it to her when school resumes in January.

Ahhh the cool McDonald's... my kids know that place well!!! Wrong direction... we are in between cool McDonald's and Tulsa and will go straight south and McDonalds is north. BUT I love the alphabet game with signs!!!

Okay... things on our trip that those letters fit...
D - Dewey
I - Iguana's (zoo exit)
S - Skiatook
N - Neighbor of Distribution center (casino)
E - Exit to 36th street
Y - Yale Avenue sign

W - Wash your car here
O - Owasso
R -town of Ramona
L - Love to eat ice cream here (Braums)
D - distribution center

Order the kids will see these:
Dewey
Braums
Wash your car
Distribution center
Casino
Ramona
Skiatook
Owasso
36th Exit
Yale Avenue
Zoo exit

Going to have to be a combo of landmarks and signs... not much between us and the airport...

Okay - Susan - I'm going to do the four line poem or so from Stanley for in the morning... I will let you all know how it goes. It will have something to do with the kids missing school on Friday to go see relatives...

Thank you for the ideas!!!

 

[momabaarjo]

D - Dewey

One of Donald's nephews...

I - Iguana's (zoo exit)

While it might not be a zoo it is a kingdom...



S - Skiatook

This place has a blizzard beach that you might just find yourself ____(atook)


N - Neighbor of Distribution center (casino)

Are you feeling lucky, lets make a bet that this adventure will be great


E - Exit to 36th street

Once we are there you will not want to exit...



Y - Yale Avenue sign

I word that rhymes with this avenue, watch out and you just might be Soarin...


W - Wash your car here

Watch out for the rapids and the splashes...here you will be in a car but there a raft or log.


O - Owasso

I am a friend of Pooh's whose first two letters and the same as this town...


R -town of Ramona

While this actress did not play Ramona, we can find her at Waverly Place...


L - Love to eat ice cream here (Braums)

While it is not our usual place the Plaza might just well be a treat...


D - distribution center

The TTC is a the place to distribute people in this case....


Now unscramble the letters to form 2 words...the clues might just give you a hint...

 

[momabaarjo]

Love that place...[/COLOR]


Going to have to be a combo of landmarks and signs... not much between us and the airport...

Okay - Susan - I'm going to do the four line poem or so from Stanley for in the morning... I will let you all know how it goes. It will have something to do with the kids missing school on Friday to go see relatives...

Sounds like you are going to be right along with me in the confessional booth...I have lots of hail marys and our fathers to do!

Thank you for the ideas!!!

 

[lilpixiebabe101]

I have a big one of those socks...how do you think I managed to do this trip the Dave Ramsey way!

Get those socks out girls the day you get back and lets fill them up...and I don't mean let fill them up!

I agree! I agree!

Sorry for the quick departure... had a work interruption! So I'm back and ready to do another update...

As I said in prior post - Erin ended up having croup. So I've got steroids for her and 'back-up' for the boys in case they come down with it for the trip. It could have been something worse, right?? I'm thankful the weather is going to be good on each of our flight dates and thankful the weather looks to be pretty good while we are on vacation!

I TWEAKED!! Again! I got overly anxious about monorail issues on our MVMCP party/MK day... so instead of leaving the park for an ADR early dinner at 1900 Park Fare, I canceled and scheduled one at The Plaza in MK. I think the kids will enjoy the 'ice cream parlor atmosphere' and we will be close at hand to get in character lines if that's what the kids want to do. I'm happy about it!

I put our 'tip envelopes' together last night - finished my school work at 2:30am this morning... It's done!

Left on the list...
1) get kids ready for tests tomorrow - going well!
2) finish packing, which translates into LAUNDRY
3) get my mom's xmas gift and the boy's last santa gift
4) check us in for our flights - which I can't do til tomorrow morning but oh so close...
5) go through my documents, etc. to make sure all of our info, tickets are together
6) make the kids ID cards for them to carry in case we get separated


NOW - here's where you all come in.... my 'how to reveal' finally hit me this morning as I was placing Stanley in his new daily spot... I've debated on taking him with us and I've decided he will also be going to WDW with us. Just as a reminder - Stanley is our Elf on the Shelf....

SO - I am going to write a letter... er... Stanley is going to write a letter to the kids for them to read in the morning when they get up telling them that if they will do good at school on Thursday and 'pass' their Friday tests on Thursday, that they can miss school on Friday. And then, on Friday morning - have Stanley in the car with the reveal gifts and several letters that they will open on the 40 minute drive to the airport - only they won't know we are going to the airport and they will have to look for certain 'landmarks' to get the next letter... and then at the end, they will get to open their gifts...

SO does anyone have any good ideas about how to word these letters? Tammie? Susan? Betsy? Kathy? Ashley? Anyone? Bueller? Anyone? Bueller? If you've never seen Ferris Bueller's Day Off... my humor will not make sense to you...

One more thing... this is going to be very hard for Nate to understand missing school on Friday - his class is performing a small narrative of "The Polar Express" that he is going to miss... he's the narrator (which basically his wonderful teacher created for him of which he has no idea) knowing he would be gone that day. But he gets to practice it at school with his class, none the wiser... I believe it's actually the part the teacher will say to introduce the class and end the performance. I'm worried he's going to be upset about this... what do I do?

Haha when you started listing names I thought. "Tom Morrow. Paging Tom Morrow" for the TTA!

I think once he figures out where you are going, I don't think you'll have a problem anymore. You could always tell him you have something better in mind to get him into the car without too much fuss!

Give me some of the landmarks you are going to use...and let me see if I can come up with some clues! Are you driving past that cool McDonald's over the highway? Do you want the clues to somehow incorporate Disney?

Here is an idea...you know that alphabet game with signs...have them find a sign every 5 minutes that spells DISNEY WORLD...11 signs 5 minutes apart...that gets you to the airport!

So Creative Tammie!

D - Dewey

One of Donald's nephews...

I - Iguana's (zoo exit)

While it might not be a zoo it is a kingdom...



S - Skiatook

This place has a blizzard beach that you might just find yourself ____(atook)


N - Neighbor of Distribution center (casino)

Are you feeling lucky, lets make a bet that this adventure will be great


E - Exit to 36th street

Once we are there you will not want to exit...



Y - Yale Avenue sign

I word that rhymes with this avenue, watch out and you just might be Soarin...


W - Wash your car here

Watch out for the rapids and the splashes...here you will be in a car but there a raft or log.


O - Owasso

I am a friend of Pooh's whose first two letters and the same as this town...


R -town of Ramona

While this actress did not play Ramona, we can find her at Waverly Place...


L - Love to eat ice cream here (Braums)

While it is not our usual place the Plaza might just well be a treat...


D - distribution center

The TTC is a the place to distribute people in this case....


Now unscramble the letters to form 2 words...the clues might just give you a hint...

Again I repeat! So stinkin CREATIVE Tammi! Send some of that my way! lol

 

[shocky5]

Tammie! You are so creative!! Thank you! These are perfect!!

We made it through the elf letter this morning - they bought it hook, line and sinker... I took a picture of letter and Stanley holding them and no promises because so much to do today, but "clean pictures off camera" is on my to do list for tonight so I will make an attempt to get those pics posted whem I do my 'last post' before departure!!

I woke up completely anxious this morning... I'm going to admit I'm a little bit stressed about flying without Eddie... not because I think that the kids and I have any problems...Nope - not in the least worried about that but as much as he drives me bonkers from time to time, I wish he could leave with us tomorrow. He seems perfectly okay with it but I like my family 'togetherness.'

But I also know the trip will fly by meaning he will be with us before we know it and we will all be coming home together.. Are we ever satisfied??

And yes, Tammie - I giggled about your hail mary's and our father's!!

My last whopper... Nate remembered about 10 minutes after letter that he had his Polar Express program tomorrow... and he says "OH NO! What do I do?" So I said "Well, we can try to get back for it, I guess..." to which he replies "Nah... this sounds like it's going to be fun." I'm not sure what I would have said had he wanted to come back for his program... I think I was hoping once we got on the plane, that thought would be long gone!

Lots to do today - finish packing... make Eddie's honey do lists... poor guy... still need to finish finding those last few presents! I've got quite the list but I know it will get done... and tomorrow will be all about:

 

[Moodyzblu]

What a great plan !! I love it. Glad it all worked out so far !

Getting so excited for you !

 

[shocky5]

Well... first off... I'm no closer on the packing than I was when I posted earlier this morning. HOWEVER, I do have everything crossed off of my list except for packing and cleaning house (which includes finishing laundry). Slowly but surely getting there...

Now for the news... and believe you me... I've already cried privately about this and am doing okay now that things are back in perspective... SO I gather up my children after school... and Nolan blurts out "I know we are going to Florida tomorrow!" To which Nate replies "What? We are??" I was so shocked and speechless and in the midst of a bunch of school kids and couldn't even react...

Turns out, Erin spilled beans to four of her friends yesterday... one friend told her mom who told her son who is in Nolan's class at school and the little boy is the one that officially told Nolan. However, ultimately, Miss Erin took it all very hard - seeing me upset knowing it started with her - so all I could do was go in my room when we got home, lock the door, cry for about a minute, and then put a smile on and start anwering questions. Good news is - I don't have to try to pack in secret right now.

Anyway - regained my excitement about the trip tomorrow - lots to still get done so I'm officially saying "Farewell for now - until I arrive in Orlando and can update from there!"

Tammie - I'm pm'ing you my cell - texted with Heather some today and we both realize, Ann too, that we don't have your number!! If you feel comfortable sending it to me, please do!

Susan - I will be looking for you at the Poly! And Ashley at Crystal Palace!!

Have a great evening, all!!!

 

[momabaarjo]

Seriously...you made it within 12 hours of leaving and the surprise is out!? I am so sorry, glad you got a little cry behind the doors and are looking at the bright side! Poor Erin, I know she feels awful about hurting...rub it in that she disappoint all of us because we wanted to see her award winning acting!

Your right....now the kids can pack themselves! That is a little silver lining in it all...

I will PM you might phone number...love to share any texts or pictures you want to send...unlimited plan so don't worry...I am sure I will be so lonley next week with you all gone!

With the surpise out I am wishing your family a very Magicial Trip...I know everyone is going to have so much fun! Tell everyone you run into HI for me...eat a Mickey Bar and find a fun drink and toast to me! I can't wait to here about it when I get back!

 

[Moodyzblu]

Oh no !! Are you serious ??

Well glad you got a minute to cry it out and regain your momentum.

You are all going to have a fantastic trip !!

 

[swwake]

Sorry the secret got out! I hope I get to see you at the Poly so you can tell me how wonderful the trip is going!

 

[lilpixiebabe101]

Well... first off... I'm no closer on the packing than I was when I posted earlier this morning. HOWEVER, I do have everything crossed off of my list except for packing and cleaning house (which includes finishing laundry). Slowly but surely getting there...

Now for the news... and believe you me... I've already cried privately about this and am doing okay now that things are back in perspective... SO I gather up my children after school... and Nolan blurts out "I know we are going to Florida tomorrow!" To which Nate replies "What? We are??" I was so shocked and speechless and in the midst of a bunch of school kids and couldn't even react...

Turns out, Erin spilled beans to four of her friends yesterday... one friend told her mom who told her son who is in Nolan's class at school and the little boy is the one that officially told Nolan. However, ultimately, Miss Erin took it all very hard - seeing me upset knowing it started with her - so all I could do was go in my room when we got home, lock the door, cry for about a minute, and then put a smile on and start anwering questions. Good news is - I don't have to try to pack in secret right now.

Anyway - regained my excitement about the trip tomorrow - lots to still get done so I'm officially saying "Farewell for now - until I arrive in Orlando and can update from there!"

Tammie - I'm pm'ing you my cell - texted with Heather some today and we both realize, Ann too, that we don't have your number!! If you feel comfortable sending it to me, please do!

Susan - I will be looking for you at the Poly! And Ashley at Crystal Palace!!

Have a great evening, all!!!

about the surprise at least they were able to help pack.

and for me. With everything else going on the last few weeks I completely forgot about the text tree until it was too late!

 

[KatMark]

I'm so sorry that the surprise was ruined for you. So close...yet so far.

And I am so disappointed that I missed your send-off. We have some health issue with our youngest son and between phone calls, emails, etc., with him and his girlfriend, I lost track of the time and when you are leaving. Please forgive me.

I hope you are having a most magical time.

 

[Monknmom]

I didn't check back on the thread, and not sure I want to know what building it was in. We will be checking our beds/sheets. But I read that the lady might have brought them with her in checked luggage from the plane. So I guess there are lots of ways bed bugs can get there.

From research I did last Fall when we went to NYC (Where bed bugs are apparently rampant), it is best to visit a hotel/resort immediately after a reported incident, because they typically have done a full sweep deep clean of the property. So that puts my mind at ease a little.

There is a website somewhere that lists reported cases of bed bugs all over the country (maybe world?). I might try to find that.

Yeah NY CITY has a lot of them, not really the island or upstate, but because of that they send these pamphlets that tell you how to test if you have them. I live on the east end of the island so am lucky, but still I get the pamphlets! I used them on the trip though and it helped! You should look in the seams of the mattress and if there are red spots or bugs themselves that's a sign, we looked at both beds before bringing any bags in and were clean! But even though we didn't have any they also tell you not to leave luggage or clothes or anything on the floor so we would unpack the bags and put them up on the shelves!

Ahhh you are so sweet to think about me doing the single digit dance alone! Just enjoy your trip and if you have time or a chance pop onto facebook and let me know how much fun you are having. I can't wait to hear abour Erin and her acting ability.

What time are you leaving again on Friday?

My children are clueless...yep, the may have the brains in the education department but in real life they are as blond as their hair color!

I hope that you keep posting while your gone too! Now that I think of it your lucky to go after all of us! Now I look back at what everyone else is doing and wish I could be there now!



Catching up from everything I missed while I was away! I'm glad that you got everything done!
What exactly is a "dirty sana" gift though? And I guess that's why everyone must have been so tired when you got there on the 16th? I am sorry that you guys weren't feeling well! That stinks! I was sick for the first few days of the trip too!
It's so weird reading what you wrote while I was gone and I remember texting back and forth with you about not having Tammie's cell phone number! LOL me and Ann were in the seas I think when we realized it?!?! I am so sorry that the beans were spilled! I feel bad because you have been trying SO HARD to keep it from them and wanting to tell them, but wanting it to be a surprise. It's okay though I am sure that the trip is still going great!

 

[Monknmom]

Merry Christmas I hope that all is well and happy!!!!!

 

[KatMark]

Merry Christmas Amy and family.

 

[shocky5]

My deepest apologies to everyone for being so absent!! So many things to tell you - guess I will save it for the TR I plan to start, possibly tonight or tomorrow. Some very dear friends of ours our moving tomorrow, only 70 miles away, but with our hectic lives, it will be difficult to see them very often. SO we have dinner plans with them tonight.

But in a nutshell - the trip was wonderful! Few minor hiccups here and there but the memories made and the fun we had far outweigh those. We didn't get home as early as we had hoped on Christmas Eve (one hiccup secondary to plane issues in Houston) so it was straight to my mom's house from the airport, then home and to bed, then up with the kids for Christmas morning, then back to my mom's and then yesterday was spent trying to clean up the bomb that went off in our our house when we brought in luggage, souvenirs and had Christmas morning... oh yes... and then there's always this... Eddie's family arrives on Friday so it's going to be a mad house here through New Year's.

I hope everyone has had a wonderful Christmas and I will be attempting to catch up with you all this week and get my TR started. I ended up with over 800 pictures! So proud of that! Some are mine and about 200 are from the photopass... and yes, my family got to the point where they were saying "Really? Another picture???"

More later...

 

[Moodyzblu]

Welcome home !! Will be looking forward to your TR !

Hope you had a nice Christmas !

 

[KatMark]

Welcome home! We can't wait to read the TR, but get yourself settled and organized...we will wait patiently.

 

[lilpixiebabe101]

Yay for Amy being back... I need to kick my own butt in gear over my TR.... lol.. Susan's the only one who's got hers rolling I think.. well besides Ammie's who is now complete already!

 

[annmarieda]

My deepest apologies to everyone for being so absent!! So many things to tell you - guess I will save it for the TR I plan to start, possibly tonight or tomorrow. Some very dear friends of ours our moving tomorrow, only 70 miles away, but with our hectic lives, it will be difficult to see them very often. SO we have dinner plans with them tonight.

But in a nutshell - the trip was wonderful! Few minor hiccups here and there but the memories made and the fun we had far outweigh those. We didn't get home as early as we had hoped on Christmas Eve (one hiccup secondary to plane issues in Houston) so it was straight to my mom's house from the airport, then home and to bed, then up with the kids for Christmas morning, then back to my mom's and then yesterday was spent trying to clean up the bomb that went off in our our house when we brought in luggage, souvenirs and had Christmas morning... oh yes... and then there's always this... Eddie's family arrives on Friday so it's going to be a mad house here through New Year's.

I hope everyone has had a wonderful Christmas and I will be attempting to catch up with you all this week and get my TR started. I ended up with over 800 pictures! So proud of that! Some are mine and about 200 are from the photopass... and yes, my family got to the point where they were saying "Really? Another picture???"

More later...

I understand the absence and the need to catch up. I hope to get all caught up and start my TR soon.


I am glad you had a good trip. I hate that a. I wasn't on here to send you off...and b. that we never actually got to meet. I wish your kiddos felt better. And as for the surprise being ruined... I am so sorry!!!