The Week

I had such an enormous to-do list at the beginning of the week! Some of it has been accomplished, but there are many things yet to do! I did clean the house between last night and this afternoon, so if we can keep it clean, that's one thing OFF the list! I am staying on top of the laundry, so that hopefully won't BECOME a to-do item!

We have the floor mostly fixed, but we had to leave some spots at the last corner where we need to re-cut boards to fit. We haven't had a free evening to drag the saw and all out, so that is still to-do. Rescheduling the cookie swap freed up some time, I just don't know how I would have ever gotten 6 dozen cookies plus an appetizer made, PLUS get ready for company AND feed my own family this week.

The kids trees are up in their rooms. The Christmas shopping is mostly finished. That is one thing I definitely want to have done before we leave because that kind of stuff I really do NOT like to do last minute. When we get home we will be at 10 days from Christmas, so being able to enjoy that time getting together with people and THEN doing the cookies swap and other fun projects with the kids will be much more enjoyable than doing any more shopping!

I plan to finish my shopping tonight, wrap presents at some point tomorrow, as well as help Corey finish the floor.

OH! I did already finish my Esther homework for the last session Monday night, so that is one thing DONE!

Which means... I may end up finishing my to-do list early! BUT, there are plenty of things waiting that can't be done until last minute, like packing for the kids and a lot of the stuff for Corey and myself as well. Hopefully I am on track to get it ALL done so I have plenty of time to leisurely pack and get all our "stuff" together and printed that we will need for our trip (reservation confirmations, etc).

That's what's up over here. I am getting so excited about our trip, and the time seems to be creeping, yet flying.

Disney Trip: Last post....for a few months anyway...

I just finished all the detailed daily trip reports and posting all the slide shows!
Check it out by clicking the photo to the left!!!

What a great time!!!!!

Coming Soon....

I am really taking a break right now, just because I am overwhelmed with things I have to get done here at home. I still have laundry to finally finish, things to organize and find a place to store....and get school things back on a schedule and lessons finished for co-op next Monday. *sigh*
I am so ADD that it is difficult for me to get any one of these projects done, and on top of all that I am wanting to get my detailed Disney trip report posted on my other blog and all the photos organized and shared.
It is coming....I promise. I just can't move on till I get everything else done first.

See you soon!

Home at last!

This IS my photo...breathtaking fireworks!

We left this morning, had breakfast at Bob Evans, hit up the souvenir shop, then made our way home. After a too brief stop at the Freeman's to drop off souvenirs and swap goodies, a quick bite at Cici's Pizza, a Red Bull for Corey, and one bathroom stop besides those, we got home at about 8:00pm.

Noah asked if we could go to Disney again on Wednesdays. Yeah...we all enjoyed it, a LOT!

In other news...I have announced the winner of my Disney giveaway. Check it out by visiting my at:

www.thompsonsgotodisney.blogspot.com

I will be posting more photos and trip reports on that site this week. What a wonderful week...just wonderful fun...but it is good to be home! I can already breathe more clearly! :)

Day 8: Last Day at Magic Kingdom

not my photo, but we saw it too! :)

We were up early again today to get to the park for the opening. We watched a short opening ceremony where Mickey, Daisy, and some other characters rode in on the train..that was pretty cool. We made a beeline for Dumbo because Katie had not had a turn on it and Noah wanted to ride the Speedway (go carts) so he and Corey did that. I took Katie over to meet Ariel while Mama stood in line for Dumbo. After Dumbo it was time to join the rope drop line for Toon Town and to get in line to see the Fairies in "Pixie Hollow." We had missed this the other day because we went to see princesses first and at 20 minutes past opening the line for the fairies was at 75 minutes! They have created a complete and beautifully detailed environment where you meet the fairies. Katie loved it, of course! Corey and Noah also rode Pirates of the Caribbean while we were in line.

After that we toured Mickey and Minnie's house, rode Winnie the Pooh, saw Mickey's Philharmagic again, It's a Small World, then took the train back to the gate to head home to rest and have lunch.

We headed back to the park around 5:30-6pm. We staked out a spot for the parade and fireworks and ended up on the terrace of a Tomorrowland restaurant. We ate dinner at some tables and basically just hung and out and waited. We could see the Spectromagic parade pretty well, but the view of the fireworks was just amazing!!!! Wonderful! Tinkerbell flew right over our heads!!! After that we went to do Buzz Lightyear one more time, Mama and Daddy did the Stitch's Great Escape attraction and we took Katie over for one more spin on the Magic Carpets of Aladdin. We ended the night by buying a balloon on Main Street and riding in the front of the monorail back to the parking lot.

It was a great ending to a great week! And...Corey even wants to come back next year! I call that a great success!!!! Too late to upload photos...going to sleep!

Day 6: Magic Kingdom and Day 7: Hollywood Studios

Katie and Noah with Mr. and Mrs. Incredible! YAY!

Katie at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique....so sweet!

I was so tired that I didn't even get around to my blog yesterday evening! ha ha! I have actually really enjoyed writing these up every day because it helps me remember....after a few days it is difficult to remember the details of each one.
Yesterday, Katie went to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique in Cinderella's Castle. This is where little girls can get a "princess" makeover...complete with hair-do, makeup, and nail polish. If you have a little girl who loves being a princess, then this is a MUST DO when you visit Disney World. They were so sweet and treated Katie like a princess from the moment she walked in. We brought a Belle dress for Katie because it starts at $189 for the costume package! ha! The hair, makeup, nails package is *only* $58 with tax. HA!!! Totally worth it though. She got a beautiful tiara, a sash, and all her extra makeup and nail polish to bring home. We also got to take her to another location to have a mini photo shoot which is on our photo pass. Everywhere we went the employees and characters made a big deal out of her being a princess. They called her "your majesty" and bowed. She LOVED it! The rest of the day was at Magic Kingdom. Corey and Noah and my dad made their way to do some "man" stuff while we were in the boutique. They were able to ride Buzz Lightyear 3 times in a row, Dumbo, Peter Pan....all in the first hour. We also did Peter Pan together, saw the castle show, Snow White's Scary Adventure, Mickey's Philharmagic (my fav thing I think), Buzz together, Monster's Inc, the Tea Cups, Pirates of the Carribean, saw the Pirate tutorial show, met Alice in Wonderland, the princesses Aurora, Belle and Cinderella, met Captain Hook and Peter Pan, oh we saw the Fairy Godmother right as we left the boutique. The kids rode the Magic Carpets twice with my mom and dad......and we saw Story time with Belle. I think that's all. We left by late afternoon and ate at Cracker Barrel on the way home. Katie got her princess "do" washed out and they were just totally wiped out!

So...on to today. The group split today. My parents wanted to go back to Epcot because they wanted to browse a little more thoroughly in the countries and they didn't really have much else they wanted to see at Hollywood Studios. We got up this morning and headed out to be there when the park opened. On a last minute whim we asked if there were opening for the Playhouse Disney breakfast, and there were, so we went on in for that. It was cute and the kids enjoyed meeting JoJo, Goliath, but mostly they enjoyed meeting Leo and June from Little Einsteins...they love that show. After breakfast we went over to meet Buzz and Woody....Noah wore his Indiana Jones hat today and all the characters we saw had fun playing with it. VERY cute and fun pictures. We rode Toy Story, saw Voyage of the Little Mermaid, Playhouse Disney Live, rode Star Tours, met Bolt and the hamster (can't remember his name) Mr. and Mrs. Incredible, Frozone, Sorceror Mickey, The Sheriff of Nottingham (he was pretending to look for money on people for taxes and the kids each gave him a penny which he thought was cool and held up for a pic).....I think that is all. It was actually kind of frustrating today because I put a lot of time into planning what days to go to which park based on crowd predictions, etc...and today there was an American Idol premiere at the park because they are launching a new American Idol attraction this weekend. They had lots of the walkways roped off and it was very inconvenient to get from one place to another. Supposedly there was going to be a motorcade/parade with all the American Idol judges and some of the winners. Corey saw David Cook playing...but that actually meant that most of the attractions were pretty empty, but getting there was a huge pain!
We got to ride the new Toy Story ride twice, saw the Muppet 3D show....Corey and I took turns on The Great Movie Ride...and then it was time to go because I was finally able to get a reservation for Boma! We went out to the Animal Kingdom Lodge for that meal and it was GREAT! It is such a nice hotel...we saw a giraffe, some zebras, and other animals from the viewing areas around the hotel.

So...now we are back at the townhouse and the kids are sleeping. Tomorrow is our last day. It will be a LONG day at Magic Kingdom ending with the best fireworks ever (sorry Bethany! :)

It has been a long week, but I can't believe it is almost over!

Day 5: Hollywood Studios

TOMORROW is the last day to enter my giveaway! Click on Mickey photo to the left for details....

Outside the Toy Story Midway Mania ride.
Yeah, Noah is looking down...he is pretty much tired of pictures by now...

Noah fighting Darth Vader to complete his training

We tried to sleep in this morning, but we only made it to 7:30 ha! BUT, we did take our time in heading out. We spent today at Hollywood Studios. The most exciting thing today was that Noah got picked to be a part of the Jedi Training Academy!!!!!!!!!! We were SO excited! This is a show where they pick about 8-9 kids out of the audience to participate to be "trained" by a Jedi Master...then Darth Vader comes out and fights each one of them to complete their training. I have heard about other families who have gone and even went to every performance of this show throughout the day and still not be picked. But, we got there really early, and when he was looking around to pick kids, Noah just stood up as tall as he could and raised both hands straight up in the air and he was picked! He was a little star-struck at first I think about being on stage, but when it was his turn to fight Darth Vader he really gave it his all! They had one of the park photopass photographers there to take up close photos of all the kids so I will have MUCH better photos of this to share later...but he was thrilled (and Corey was needless to say extremely excited as well!!) He got a diploma as a keepsake at the end.
They loved everything at Hollywood Studios today. We rode the new Toy Story Ride, which is awesome!
Tomorrow morning Katie becomes "Belle" at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique!

Day Four: Epcot

Dining at the Rose and Crown

Bethany...Epcot reminded me of you all day! From the green house tour full of innovative way to produce bountiful harvest in all conditions, to the "Earth Day" video Noah and I watched while killing time. Epcot is your park! Plan to spend 2 days there when you go, for sure!!!!

We spent a lot of time at Epcot today. Had a great meal of "fish n chips" at the "Rose and Crown" and road Soarin and Test Track to our heart's content...each person had a great day and we are all completely and totally exhausted once again! Just one photo to share today...I am too lazy to upload more and....we didn't take as many today, but we got lots more Photopass photos (taken by the roaming photographers around the park). We met Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, and had photos taken with Mickey, Minnie and Goofy all at the same time during our Disney Visa character greet!

Katie LOVED Soarin...Noah did NOT. Noah LOVED Test Track...Katie did NOT! ha ha! Oh what fun!

Animal Kingdom

Katie got to see Pocohontas! She was just standing over to the side with no one around, so she got to talk with her and take her time and it was GREAT! Katie had been talking about seeing her for days now so we were THRILLED that it actually happened so soon in our day!
Here we are with Chip and Dale. Katie and Noah had talked a lot about the fact that we didn't get to see them at all last time, so YAY!!!!! (sorry these pictures are kind of blurry, we have a new camera and I can't figure out the best settings to use yet, and no time to edit right now)
Katie and Noah in front of the tree icon at Animal Kingdom. It has animals carved into the side of it.
I was NOT zoomed in on this photo. The safari ride is AWESOME and the giraffe was really this close to the truck!!!
The flash did really badly on this photo because we were in front of a light wall, glossy kind of. Anyway, here we are with Daisy during our Tusker House breakfast buffet. Like our matching shirts?! The men LOVED them!! ha!
This is a photo I took of us waiting in line to get in. We didn't want to be late for our breakfast, so we arrived at 7:20. The gates didn't open until 7:45, so we had some time to kill.
I will give a complete trip report later, but these are just some highlights of the day. There were MANY more and we are having a great time!!! Don't forget to go over and enter my disney blog giveaway! (top left)

Having a Blast!

We have been so super busy! We had a fantastic, but too short visit with Andy and Bethany last night, stayed overnight in Valdosta, left there around 10:00 this morning, then arrived in Downtown Disney this afternoon. After a quick lunch at Earl of Sandwich and then some quick shopping (Noah and Corey created a lightsaber and he also picked up some Lego goodies) we checked into our town house. The kids and Corey went for a quick swim, then it was fast dinner and bedtime for Katie and Noah because I was able to change our Tusker House character breakfast to TOMORROW MORNING at 8:30, so we have a super early morning. I had been trying to change that all week from Thursday and they finally had an opening this morning when I called.
I am extremely sleepy right now so I will direct you to Corey's Twitter page for some photos he took with his phone throughout the trip thus far. Maybe I will get to upload some from our camera tomorrow! Talk to you soon! Don't forget to enter the Disney giveaway (top left of page). Here's the link:

www.twitter.com/sackfullofgeek

We're Off! (and other exciting news!)

Well, not yet, but almost! The bags are packed. The car is full of gas. I have taken two benadryl...and I am ready for BED! HA! We are so excited. Katie and Noah can't wait. And, to top it all off, we get to see our wonderful and awesomely fun friends, Andy and Bethany tomorrow night when we stay halfway in Valdosta. Can't wait for a fun game of Quelf!!!!

AND, to top off the exciting last day of our countdown, I found out today that I won something!!!! AGAIN! This time, it is for a free ticket to Universal Studios!

Last week, someone on one of the Disney groups I am in posted a link to a contest. It was a Superbowl giveaway for a 2 park, 7 day unlimited admission to the Universal Studios parks. The link said something about signing up after you see a commercial during the Superbowl. First of all, we don't even have "channels" on our tv (as the kids say) and secondly, even if we did, we wouldn't be watching the Superbowl probably.
WELL...when I clicked on the link, it said "the second commercial has just aired, sign in to see you are one of the first 100,000 people and receive a free ticket." Well, I signed up, not thinking much about it...there are sweepstakes posted all the time that I enter.

I got an email today saying that I WAS one of the first 100,000 and I DID WIN a FREE TICKET!!!! Can you believe it?!?! It is valid March 31st-December 31st, 09. I have to show ID to pick it up. I am so excited! It is a $94 value. I won ta contest that you had to enter after seeing a commercial AND WE DON'T EVEN HAVE ACCESS TO WATCHING COMMERCIALS!!!!!

(don't forget to try and be a winner too...click on the pic on the top left and participate in my very own giveaway!)

Corey just THOUGHT he would be finished hearing about trip planning after this week!!! HA HA HA!!!!!

I really really really want to leave the computers at home, but, it is just too easy to find out anything you need to know, so they will be coming with us. We will see about posting blogs or photos...it will just depend on how much down time we have. Corey and I hope to get out one night to see a movie after the kids are in bed (oh the joy of bringing babysitters! :)

Hasta la Vista!!!!!

Giveaway on my Disney blog!

I have just posted info about a giveaway I am hosting on my "Thompsons Go To Disney" blog. For details visit by clicking HERE. Sorry, but my mom, dad, any persons actually GOING on the trip or who may be visited on the way, are disqualified from participating.
This is because those people, I am pretty sure, already know the winning info for the contest!

Planning and Planning....and more planning

I have managed to squeeze quite a bit of planning into this trip, in spite of the fact that I found out I was going only 4 days before leaving!

Bethany's babysitter (her mom) will be driving down with me (hopefully that will still be the plan!) to stay with her kids at their house while she is gone. I hope to leave Adairsville by 6am. This is just a necessity since we have to go through Atlanta you must leave super early or late. I don't want to leave late because it takes 4-5 hours to get to Valdosta and we need to be leaving there by lunch time in order to get to Orlando in time for our evening plans.

Bethany and I have decided for sure to go to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party the night we arrive. It is only shown certain nights of the week and Tuesday night is the only night it is showing while we are there and you can get into the park at 4pm!

I am very excited about this! Bethany has NEVER BEEN to Disney World before!!!! This is an after hours event that you buy a special ticket for. They will serve hot chocolate and cookies for free (well the price of the ticket, $52...you know), have a special Christmas themed parade....have a special Christmas fireworks show, SNOW falling at the beginning, special meet and greets with the characters dressed for Christmas, and most of the major rides will still be open. The park will be open until midnight for the party, so this will be a perfect way to experience the park without paying the full price for a ticket. The crowds should be non-existent as well....I am really really excited about that and I hope I can talk Bethany into wearing a "first visit" button while we are there! :)

My "online friend" Marcy, is going to be in Disney World next week too, so we will finally get to meet in person while we are both far from home! She actually lives in GA and is a college friend of Bethany's so we plan on meeting maybe Thursday in Downtown Disney. Isn't that wild?! I was so jealous when she started planning her trip that she was going so soon, and CRAZY that I get to go the same time! They are celebrating their anniversary, so Happy Anniversary Marcy and Scott! See you in FLA!

I also have been challenged by Corey with my food budget. He thinks it would be unthinkable for someone to be able to eat on $30 for 4 days. This is not my budget by the way, but when we were deciding how to afford it I suggested that I COULD do this if I had to. He thinks its impossible. I plan on proving him wrong. Bethany already has her BOGO coupon for Sweet Tomatoes ready! ha ha! Anyway, who knows if I will actually make the budget, but I do plan on being as cheap as possible with food just to see.....

I have a long list on my fridge. Katie has been busy herself, making lists of things....she is so cute! She has a list of toys to take to Nana's house (babys, dolls, frog Lily, etc), a list of foods to tell Nana to have (oreo dessert, soda pops, strawberry pop tarts) and just general lists...remember to tell Nana that we love you mom...just adorable! Don't worry Nana, they aren't bringing all that stuff! I think they still don't understand exactly what is going on...Noah mentioned spending the night at Nana's earlier and I explained to him that he would be coming home to sleep. It is so odd for them to think about being HOME when I am not there...staying with Daddy. It is the other way around when Corey has to travel as he does regularly, so this will definitely be different for them. I hope and pray they will not miss me too very much that they cry at night or something.

My list includes every single thing in the world I want to remember to take....believe it or not "clothes" is on my list. ha ha. And, before you think that is a little nuts, let me explain. It will remind me to check my clothes again just to be sure I have what I needed and didn't forget to add something I was washing to get ready to go. Also, computer,camera and memory sticks, vitamins, snacks, swim suit, etc...the usual stuff.

The funniest thing has been the things that Corey has requested I get ready for him while I am gone. He wanted me to get all the clothes laid out and ready for the kids for the week...yeah, Katie's clothes can be a challenge sometimes as far as what still fits, what shoes go best with which pair of jeans (some are long and require boots for example).
He also said to be sure that if their nails need clipping to do that before I go! ha ha!
Another request: be sure there is a brush and at least one pony tail holder where he can find it!

This will not be the longest I have ever been away from my kids...I am pretty sure Corey and I were gone on our solo Orlando trip this long too...but this is definitely the longest amount of time that Corey has had the kids on his own! I know he will do fine...I just hope he remembers the vitamins and medicine every day!

Anyway, better get back to getting things ready....laying out clothes...packing up stuff...cleaning..calling Bethany 100 times to discuss stuff...

I'm a WINNER!!!!

AGH! I just found out this morning that I won a drawing for a three night stay at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Hotel!!!!! The catch is that I have to go NEXT WEEK!!!

WOO HOO!!!!! I never win anything and I am so excited!

One drawback is that since it is so last minute, we had no time to prepare for spending money, etc, so I can't take my dear husband or children! *sniff sniff*

But, the bonus for that is that I get to have a girls' three night getaway!

I have talked to my only friend who is as Disney crazy as I am...PJ...so if she can go we are going to head out Tuesday. We will probably just spend time touring the resorts and relaxing! The hotel it supposed to be very nice! I am SOOOO EXCITED!!!!

Update: I have more time to write now....so, pending the budget, and if time permits, we may go to the Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party on the Tuesday night we arrive. It only costs $52 and you get to go into the Magic Kingdom early and see special characters dressed up for Christmas, a special parade and fireworks too. Also, a lot of the rides are open as well. This would be cheaper than the $130 to get a 1 day park hopper, which would be my choice if I had the $$, but I have to think of the other people who are coming also. If I did that I wouldn't be able to eat while I was there, AND my poor friends probably wouldn't want to be power pulled through 4 parks in one day with me! ha ha! We'll see. Whatever we do it will be fun! The resort itself provides a day's worth of activities and I really want to spend time seeing all the other resorts as well.

As awesome as it is to win this, it does come at kind of a hard time of the year for spending $. For us, we are already saving for our trip to Disney in February, and also Christmas is just in a month....so whatever we do I will love it and I can't wait! I will have to add a countdown! ha ha!

*Anyone who would like to make a donation to the "1st ever last minute girls' trip to Orlando and no time to save $", please email me at creativecarriet@comcast.net ha ha!

Double Digit Countdown!

We are now in the double digit countdown for our Disney trip! I updated our vacation blog with more details:

www.thompsonsgotodisney.blogspot.com

Disney On Ice!

Well, it's 11am. I just finished eating breakfast and uploading our pictures! ha ha!

We slept in this morning, and YAY-Noah slept until almost 10 this morning! We all got in the bed about midnight-thirty. But we had a BLAST at Disney on Ice last night!

We stopped at Sweet Tomatoes for an early dinner on the way, then went on to Phillips Arena. We were early, so we hung out at the Food Court for a second and got Katie changed into her Tinkerbell costume, which drew compliments from EVERYONE she saw. I would say about a third of the little girls there were dressed up and Katie was thrilled...she said "everyone looks at me surprised!" So, thank you, grandparents, the costume was a huge hit at the show!

We went up to the "Princess Pre-Show" which featured beautiful displays of Princess dresses. Then it was time for cotton candy and finding our seats. You know you are going to pay a premium for cotton candy at these events, but at least they throw in a foam hat with it! ha ha. Another cool thing....the bags of cotton candy had moist towelettes in them! How cool and smart is that?!

The show was great!!! Katie was absolutely thrilled to see The Little Mermaid and she sung along with the songs...all the parts were great. Noah loved seeing Cars and they both loved The Lion King segment. The Tinkerbell part was really cool...the songs from that movie seem to have an Irish feel to them, as do the characters. We haven't seen it or heard the songs before so that part wasn't "AS" cool as the other parts, but still fun. It had parts where the characters "flew" across the sky on the cable things, so that was fun.

Overall it was a lot of fun and a perfect way to celebrate a birthday.

I also included some pictures of Noah at his first day of "Little Dribblers"...his basketball "class." He really enjoyed it. They learning to dribble using "spider" fingers and worked on passing and catching. It is a great introduction to the sport for his age!