Divas, Zebra Domes, and Pixie Dust! A Week in an African Paradise! New TR Link Pg.145

[winkers]

I can't believe how early your school starts!
We don't start untill Sept. 3, but then we don't get out untill the middle of June.

 

[MeMom]

Don't be putting up too many updates while we're gone!

We just did Star Tours yesterday - Trent, Jarvis, and I. Jarvis is going back to spend some time (and money) in the gift shop, since he's a Star Wars fan. Jill's family and I are headed back to Hollywood this morning to open Toy Story, and the guys are supposedly going to open Animal Kingdom. After pretty much closing Magic Kingdom between 1-2 the morning, I'm believing that when I see it!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Next Thursday! Are the kids ready????? My kids got out June 4th and they go back August 27th.

I will admit.....30 minutes of shaking is not good. I don't think the ride is as bad as it used to be. The first time I rode it was 2002 and I thought a couple of those drops were nasty. It's definately not as bad now, but once you get that nastiness stuck in your brain, its hard to go back with an open mind!

Chelsea is definitely ready to start back, but Connor would be on permanent summer vacation if he could!

One of these days I will attempt ToT again.

May 21, now that's awesome!

Yes, it will feel super early, I am sure!

Jackie,
Hope today went well... back to school yuck!

It went as well as could be expected -- two-and-a-half hour faculty meeting in the morning, a little bit of time in our rooms to actually work, and then another two hour meeting in the afternoon. At least we have the weekend now though.

Hey Jackie. I came back to find that I was 15 pages behind!



Are you going again in October???

I thought I quoted your DHS morning too but its not here
We always head to TSM too but never as quickly as you got there. I guess that is where the stroller slows us down. I am not a fan of the muppets 3-d but the kids LOVE it. Love all your pics of the SW props After seeing all of them DH said he wants to go back and actually go to DHS on a SWW. We have been in June twice now and didn't go to DHS on a weekend? What is wrong with us???

Charles and I are headed down for a quick weekend trip in October -- I can't wait!

All of the SW stuff was really neat -- we had a good time with all of it!

I can't believe how early your school starts!
We don't start untill Sept. 3, but then we don't get out untill the middle of June.

I am always so jealous of all the people who start school after Labor Day and are still enjoying their summer -- of course, I know I won't be complaining at the end of May!

Don't be putting up too many updates while we're gone!

Trying not to --

We just did Star Tours yesterday - Trent, Jarvis, and I. Jarvis is going back to spend some time (and money) in the gift shop, since he's a Star Wars fan. Jill's family and I are headed back to Hollywood this morning to open Toy Story, and the guys are supposedly going to open Animal Kingdom. After pretty much closing Magic Kingdom between 1-2 the morning, I'm believing that when I see it!

Can't wait to hear what Jarvis buys at the Star Wars gift shop!

Have fun in Hollywood today!

 

[micandminforever]

Sorry to hear about school starting Friday, but my sister starts back Monday, so you only have a one day start on her. The teachers in my county have one more week before they start. How is your county handling furloughs? The counties around me seem to be taking the money from different county funds to handle the cost for the three days.

I love the latest picture of Bo and Chelsea. I believe she has grown since the last Bo Picture, but middle schoolers do that in the sixth grade. Is she excited about school starting?

 

[DreaGirl]

Back to school already? They don't start back here until after Labor Day, but of course they go to late June. I'm not sure which way I like better. I think I would like an after Labor Day start and getting our late May.

 

[KathyRN137]

How did I miss that you're going back... and so soon??

... and before ME!!

Please give me a recap of what I missed! Will there be a PTR forthcoming?


Kathy

 

[Charleston Princess]

Sorry to hear about school starting Friday, but my sister starts back Monday, so you only have a one day start on her. The teachers in my county have one more week before they start. How is your county handling furloughs? The counties around me seem to be taking the money from different county funds to handle the cost for the three days.

Our county went ahead and took three instructional days for the furlough days and extended the school day by 12 minutes through December. I am pretty bummed as it works out to a pretty hefty chunk of change that I am losing. I was joking the other day that I would have to start holding fundraisers to finance my Disney trips -- like a Pennies for Mickey Pancake Breakfast.

Needless to say I am less than pleased with our governor right now.

I love the latest picture of Bo and Chelsea. I believe she has grown since the last Bo Picture, but middle schoolers do that in the sixth grade. Is she excited about school starting?

She has grown so much -- even since the beginning of the summer she has changed a lot -- soon she will be taller than me! She is very excited to be starting seventh grade in just a few short days.

Back to school already? They don't start back here until after Labor Day, but of course they go to late June. I'm not sure which way I like better. I think I would like an after Labor Day start and getting our late May.

Me too! My ideal summer would start the end of May and end after Labor Day -- don't really see that happening though...

How did I miss that you're going back... and so soon??

... and before ME!!

Please give me a recap of what I missed! Will there be a PTR forthcoming?


Kathy

It's just been tidbits dropped here and there. Charles and I are headed down October 1 -- 4 for an adults-only weekend for the Food and Wine Festival! We will be staying at CBR and while we have made two ADRs we may not keep them if we stuff ourselves enough walking around World Showcase. Apparently I am so excited about it that I dreamed last night that we were at Epcot but all the food kiosks were like our mall's food court offerings and I was so upset! If I finish this TR before we go, I will do a PTR, if not, I will definitely be doing a trip report.

 

[KathyRN137]

Charles and I are headed down October 1 -- 4 for an adults-only weekend for the Food and Wine Festival! .... If I finish this TR before we go, I will do a PTR, if not, I will definitely be doing a trip report.

Fantastic!


Kathy

 

[IluvXU]

So what did your dumb governor do- explain your furloughs please...

I am curious, ours tried to add 20 days to the school year over a few years, with no explanation of how to pay for it, add all day kindergarten (my district would have to build multiple schools to house this) and all this did not happen since we have huge financial problems in OH--- but he cut our five built in snow days to 3, so I am figuring our year will be extended.

 

[Charleston Princess]

Fantastic!


Kathy

I think so!

So what did your dumb governor do- explain your furloughs please...

I am curious, ours tried to add 20 days to the school year over a few years, with no explanation of how to pay for it, add all day kindergarten (my district would have to build multiple schools to house this) and all this did not happen since we have huge financial problems in OH--- but he cut our five built in snow days to 3, so I am figuring our year will be extended.

Well, apparently Georgia has huge financial problems, so our governor figured out that the state saves something like $33 million a day that teachers don't work, so he and the state legislature mandated that teachers take three unpaid furlough days before the end of 2009, but it was up to each district to decide how it was done. Recently he has said he may have to do the same thing for 2010 (up to five days). I am a little stressed about it since he has also taken away the homestead exemption -- it all just seems to keep adding up. Needless to say, he is not up for re-election (this is his second term).

 

[julezdisney]

Can you believe it?! I'm all caught up. Actually- I kinda like falling behind on your TR's CP, cuz then I can open a whole row of tabs at the top of my browser and read straight through 4 and 5 chapters in a row!! Like a mini-novel! LOVE IT!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Can you believe it?! I'm all caught up. Actually- I kinda like falling behind on your TR's CP, cuz then I can open a whole row of tabs at the top of my browser and read straight through 4 and 5 chapters in a row!! Like a mini-novel! LOVE IT!

Hurray! I am glad you are all caught up again because I am getting ready to update tomorrow morning!

 

[wigdoutdismom]

So when did you sneak in that new ticker?

That furlough would be a real bite for Shocker and I, sorry you all have to deal with it. We got a teeny tiny raise this year, I guess we really had nothing to complain about...

 

[Charleston Princess]

So when did you sneak in that new ticker?

That furlough would be a real bite for Shocker and I, sorry you all have to deal with it. We got a teeny tiny raise this year, I guess we really had nothing to complain about...

I put the ticker up earlier this week!

My dad keeps reminding me that I am fortunate to have a job, so I keep trying to remember that.

 

[Charleston Princess]

When I was doing research on the Animal Kingdom Lodge, I was excited about all of the activities offered for kids. One of them was the Ceramics Activity offered on Tuesdays and Fridays from 11:00 until 1:00.

Here is the description from the activity sheet we received at check-in:

Ceramics Activity
Join us for the ceramics activity and create your own work of art! This is a paid craft and prices will vary. Pieces are picked up the following day.

I knew this was something Chelsea would really get into doing. When we got back to AKL, Connor declared, “I am not feeling very crafty. Can I just go back to the room?” He and Charles headed back to the room to watch cartoons or something, and Chelsea and I headed to Simba’s Clubhouse.

They had several different pieces available to choose from -- giraffes, zebras, flip flops, tiles, several different types of boxes with lids. Chelsea chose a round box with a lid to paint. It was $15.00, and the CM explained that they would glaze it and it would be available for pick-up after 10:00 the following day.

Chelsea got right to work painting her box. She chose pinks, purples, and blues and decorated the box and lid with Mickey heads. It turned out so cute!

Here it is all finished and pretty:

After she was finished painting, we met Charles and Connor for lunch at the Mara. Charles and Chelsea had the bacon double cheeseburgers, Connor had chicken nuggets, and I ordered the chicken flatbread. Oh my! That chicken flatbread was DELICIOUS! So very yummy! For dessert, Connor ate Charles’ brownie, I got the carrot cake, and Chelsea got another box of zebra domes. She was blissfully happy eating them!

While everyone else digested their food, I wandered around the Lodge.

All of the animals were hiding during the heat of the day except for this guy.

According to my receipts, I wandered into the gift shop and bought some postcards. Afterwards, we went down to the pool for a little bit and played until it was time to get ready to head back to DHS for dinner and thrill rides.

UP NEXT: What do you mean you aren’t coming to dinner???

 

[TarzansKat]

I was all ready to comment on your chapter with some lovely discourse, and then I read, What do you mean you aren't coming to dinner?

Oh my.

Anyway, what a lovely afternoon! I can't wait to see how Chelsea's ceramic came out. You know, I feel sometimes these relaxing afternoons at the hotel are nicer than park time. Don't flame me, people! We love our parks, but this downtime is nice, and sometimes, unexpected and wonderful.

 

[dddisrunner]

Great update Jackie! Chelsea looks so peaceful painting her box! What a cute activity and a nice way to spend some one on one time together! Don't you just love the selections at Mara! Thanks for the gorgeous pics. of the Lodge, LOVE them! Uh Oh about dinner....Charles right?

 

[Lady Lallie]

Oh.

No.

What a wonderful update until the "What do you mean you aren't coming to dinner?"



But, but...it's the Brown Derby!!

Don't leave me hanging too long!!

 

[Queenofallthings]

Oh I can't wait to get there..glad we're doing Saratoga first and ending at AKL, love that painting activity, I hope one of the girls wants to do it so I can go too!

Our kiddies don't go back to school until the Wed after labor day, however, they do go until the very end of June, especially the lower grades. Jasmine was done on June 13 and the following week was exams, but she only had to write one and that was on the Monday, so she is getting an extra long break this summer.

 

[xoktenox]

On the non-TR front, I can't belive you guys go back to school so early! To me it seems like up here we should go back earlier and get out earlier because it's still soooo hot down there! Waiting until the beginning of September at least would let it cool down down there a bit.

And, you and Charles are going back in October?! I can't wait to hear about your plans!!

That ceramics painting sounds like fun! So does lunch at the Mara, yummm. Chelsea's love for zebra domes is making me sooo curious (and hungry) to try some! Honestly though, I'm not totally sure what's in them!?