So we are just a few short days away from our trip and it is amazing how the kids don't suspect a thing. I have had to let just about every adult in their lives know about it, and none of them have let it slip either. I have been gathering information, even though I would call myself a pretty seasoned veteran. Not quite a fanatic but I do know my stuff. We have our grocery order placed, although I'm continuing to add to it while I can think of more stuff. We have our online check-in completed, although because we are coming in so late, I doubt there will be much of a line. We have our park tickets bought, we have our eating reservations placed. We have our Bibbidi bobbiti boutique reservations made...and yes I did book a "knight package" for Trevor as I thought he would be interested in anything that made Gwen the center of attention. At his school carnival one of the most fun stations for him was the colored hair spray he got which is just what they do for them at the BBB. Gwen will be getting as much of a make-over as possible and I know she will be just thrilled. I got her a fancy Aurora gown, sparkly shoes and they will take care of the rest. We have dining reservations at Cinderella's castle that evening for dinner.
We have a day off from the parks to hang out by the pool or go to downtown disney. I've been watching the weather and it looks like the time we are there is going to be remarkably average. Upper 70s for the high, maybe low 80s but no big rain showers except for the day we get there....but it is late so it isn't a concern.
I bought the kids pin trading lanyards and got a bunch of pins off of ebay. I think the social aspect of the trading is what will be fun for them. We'll see. If they aren't into it, I'm not crushed because I didn't spend a ton of money on them. The crowds are due to be minimal the week we are there until the next weekend. Then they get hairy, but I'm glad we get full days at our three favorite parks with low crowds. That way it won't be stressful to be back for a second day and feel like we have so much we didn't get to do the first time.
I heard about an app for wait times on various disney rides. I got that for my phone, but THEN a new app just came out which includes interactive maps for each of the parks and when you are actually inside the gates of each of the parks, it unlocks wait times for things not just including the rides. Already got that one downloaded too!
We are actually heading off this evening to go to Disney on Ice. It is heavily princess focused, and I thought Trevor might not want to go to see it, but he was not wanting to do anything else if Gwen and I were going.
Oh, and for those of you wondering, we are doing a treasure hunt with 3 clues for each kid. I'm not sure of exactly how it will all end up but the ending will be that we have the bags packed under a tarp in our porch. They will uncover the tarp and their gear and gifts, and possibly a letter of some kind will be there saying we are leaving that evening! I'm wondering who will be more surprised.....or maybe who will be more excited. We will do our best to take video of it, as well as many of the other adventures during the trip. Like last time, I will try to blog about it every day or every other day. If it is like last time, we should be up pretty early but able to crash somewhat early too.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Saturday, February 18, 2012
14 Days and counting!
So we are at 14 days to go to our big trip. Plans are being made and finalized. I'm learning a lot of new things as a result of it being 3 years later than our last trip. We can check in online in 5 days. I'm not sure what that exactly entails, but I'm good with that. I'm also continuing to double-guess my dining reservations. I'm booking new ones and looking for better times with my existing ones. I've got our food ordered, but I'm continuing to add to it. I need to get a good inventory of clothes before we head out and I need to keep that on the DL.
You would think with everything going on and all the details it would drive a person crazy...not me! I love all the plans, and it gets me very excited to know that in a few weeks we'll let the kids in on the secret and get to enjoy their happiness and wonderful experiences coming!
I won't say these past few days are without stress. So the kids have continued to pass around colds...current situation is harder than previous weeks. Gwen really got knocked out and while I didn't let her go to school on Friday, she seemed in good spirits. A bad cough, but otherwise ok. Then last night, she was up multiple times and the last time she complained of ear pain. So we ran to the doctor, found out she had a double ear infection and then she finally could take a nap without being in extreme pain. I'm glad we don't have school on Monday so we can have an extra day of recovery. Get all this sickness out NOW so everyone is healthy for the trip. If we are on our usual routine, this year should be a good year for trips. It has been an every-other-year sort of thing for us. Usually only hitting Trevor.
So while I can't have any control over the sickness, I am hoping to avoid it at all costs. In the mean time, I probably should keep my mind on making sure all my responsibilities are taken care of before I leave on the trip. I can't wait to be able to keep track of our festivities while on the trip!
You would think with everything going on and all the details it would drive a person crazy...not me! I love all the plans, and it gets me very excited to know that in a few weeks we'll let the kids in on the secret and get to enjoy their happiness and wonderful experiences coming!
I won't say these past few days are without stress. So the kids have continued to pass around colds...current situation is harder than previous weeks. Gwen really got knocked out and while I didn't let her go to school on Friday, she seemed in good spirits. A bad cough, but otherwise ok. Then last night, she was up multiple times and the last time she complained of ear pain. So we ran to the doctor, found out she had a double ear infection and then she finally could take a nap without being in extreme pain. I'm glad we don't have school on Monday so we can have an extra day of recovery. Get all this sickness out NOW so everyone is healthy for the trip. If we are on our usual routine, this year should be a good year for trips. It has been an every-other-year sort of thing for us. Usually only hitting Trevor.
So while I can't have any control over the sickness, I am hoping to avoid it at all costs. In the mean time, I probably should keep my mind on making sure all my responsibilities are taken care of before I leave on the trip. I can't wait to be able to keep track of our festivities while on the trip!
The crazy activities of Trevor
I guess it had to happen at some point. Hockey can be a little bit crazy when it is the season. I asked Trevor if he wanted to do the 7 week basketball program at the YMCA and one of those dates, he also had 3 other hockey things at. Two scrimmages and one practice. He did all 4 things and didn't fall apart. We celebrated with a cheers at Baker's Square that evening. Because of the warm season we have had this winter, most of the outdoor times that the team was supposed to have, have completely fallen apart.
We had his parent/teacher conference the second week in February. That was a nice meeting where we came out if it with a few things to work on, but overall, having a kid with a 6th grade reading level, having completed all of the 2nd grade math requirements by mid-year is a definite proud moment for us parents;-) Thanks Trevor!
He's quickly moving up in the ranks of chess club. I'm not really sure how it exactly works, but that he says he is winning more games than he is losing and when he wins a certain amount he gets to move up to a higher group. He has learned notation, but I know he doesn't care much for it. I think he likes when games move pretty quickly.
So, in discussions on facebook, and reading some friends' blogs, it has become very apparent that I have become the parent of two kids...no longer toddlers or babies but kids. Gwen rarely, but does still have a crying tantrum side that can be easy to remind me that she is a littler kid. Trevor has not done the tantrum thing in a very long while but has graduated to the arguing. And the bating. And does not give up. He's too smart for his own good. If' I've had my rest, I can walk away and explain it is not up for argument, but when I'm not well rested enough....he gets me pretty good. And another side to him growing up is his consciousness of being looked upon as "baby-ish". He will still talk about Bubba, but is not a natural word for him to use anymore. He won't use it when he's talking with his friends, and similar to Lightning McQueen and Buzz Lightyear discussions.
Although I do notice that I can still pull out the little kid Trevor when he isn't influenced by peer pressure. For example, we got a disney on ice coming up, and I expected that I could convince Trevor to not go based on the fact that it was very princess oriented. But nope....he wants to come with. I am so glad that I decided to book a hair spray event for Trevor at the same time Gwen is getting her princess makeover at Disney World. He may be my young man, but he still is my baby boy.
We had his parent/teacher conference the second week in February. That was a nice meeting where we came out if it with a few things to work on, but overall, having a kid with a 6th grade reading level, having completed all of the 2nd grade math requirements by mid-year is a definite proud moment for us parents;-) Thanks Trevor!
He's quickly moving up in the ranks of chess club. I'm not really sure how it exactly works, but that he says he is winning more games than he is losing and when he wins a certain amount he gets to move up to a higher group. He has learned notation, but I know he doesn't care much for it. I think he likes when games move pretty quickly.
So, in discussions on facebook, and reading some friends' blogs, it has become very apparent that I have become the parent of two kids...no longer toddlers or babies but kids. Gwen rarely, but does still have a crying tantrum side that can be easy to remind me that she is a littler kid. Trevor has not done the tantrum thing in a very long while but has graduated to the arguing. And the bating. And does not give up. He's too smart for his own good. If' I've had my rest, I can walk away and explain it is not up for argument, but when I'm not well rested enough....he gets me pretty good. And another side to him growing up is his consciousness of being looked upon as "baby-ish". He will still talk about Bubba, but is not a natural word for him to use anymore. He won't use it when he's talking with his friends, and similar to Lightning McQueen and Buzz Lightyear discussions.
Although I do notice that I can still pull out the little kid Trevor when he isn't influenced by peer pressure. For example, we got a disney on ice coming up, and I expected that I could convince Trevor to not go based on the fact that it was very princess oriented. But nope....he wants to come with. I am so glad that I decided to book a hair spray event for Trevor at the same time Gwen is getting her princess makeover at Disney World. He may be my young man, but he still is my baby boy.
Holiday Dance Recital
I'm a bit late in writing this as we have had a lot going on. I also wish I could figure out how to get my video camera to download videos on this computer without having to install archaic software. Dumb thing is, I'm pretty sure my computer could find something on its own, but I just don't ever get that far in having the camera, cords, time and energy to even try it out.
So last Saturday was Gwen's Holiday dance recital. She had her first spring recital last June, and because we started so late last year, I didn't want to jump right in to a recital last year. Luckily, she got to be Rudolph with the rest of the kids her age this year, and if she is in Kindergarten next year, she will move up to dance to "I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas". That group practiced with them for a little bit so she got to watch them dance their dance.
They had two shows which they were asked to perform in; an afternoon and an evening show. In order to avoid paying for a ticket to both shows, I figured I would volunteer to help with the afternoon one as a chaperon since none of our family could make it to that show and would be attending the evening show. Also, because we were staying for the whole first show, she could go on to do a bow as part of the finale and then we could leave at intermission during the evening show.
The afternoon show seemed to go smooth, although the rehearsal was very bumpy. We couldn't leave until the group got to practice their song, and they started with the bow. Four times....three times with music. I got why they needed to practice that, but I heard that it caused the group to not finish the entire rehearsal until after 10pm. We started at 6.
It was nice to be able to sit in the audience for the evening one, although when she came onto stage, she didn't have her costume gloves on. The chaperons were responsible for making sure the kids costumes were complete. Then, when I went to get Gwen at the end of the first act, one of her friends had drawn all over her arm with a marker. I know Gwen did some of it herself, but I was surprised and we were very lucky that this didn't happen before she went on stage because you would have been able to see it.
Throughout the past week, we have all now had to battle a cold running around the family. It makes just about everyone either cranky, irritable, or just plain different than normal, and not usually in a good way. I'm really wondering if Gwen has developed some ear issues when it comes to hearing. When I brought her in for her preschool screening, she was 3 days off of being diagnosed with an ear infection. I told the screeners, and she did fail her hearing in that ear, but I wonder if through her different ear issues she has developed some hearing difficulties. I have been noticing her asking "what" A LOT...and I know some of it could be related to her being sick and congested, but overall, she also talks very loudly, and has to play music and other things loud as well. Perhaps it could be something as minor as getting something to clean out her ears from time to time, but I don't want her to be missing things at school and such.
***ETA this is much later than I hoped to add to the blog. I had high hopes of adding pictures into this. Maybe I will go back and edit to add pictures. But in the mean time, I need to get a few of these posts going because I have a lot of topics, and not a lot of time!
So last Saturday was Gwen's Holiday dance recital. She had her first spring recital last June, and because we started so late last year, I didn't want to jump right in to a recital last year. Luckily, she got to be Rudolph with the rest of the kids her age this year, and if she is in Kindergarten next year, she will move up to dance to "I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas". That group practiced with them for a little bit so she got to watch them dance their dance.
They had two shows which they were asked to perform in; an afternoon and an evening show. In order to avoid paying for a ticket to both shows, I figured I would volunteer to help with the afternoon one as a chaperon since none of our family could make it to that show and would be attending the evening show. Also, because we were staying for the whole first show, she could go on to do a bow as part of the finale and then we could leave at intermission during the evening show.
The afternoon show seemed to go smooth, although the rehearsal was very bumpy. We couldn't leave until the group got to practice their song, and they started with the bow. Four times....three times with music. I got why they needed to practice that, but I heard that it caused the group to not finish the entire rehearsal until after 10pm. We started at 6.
It was nice to be able to sit in the audience for the evening one, although when she came onto stage, she didn't have her costume gloves on. The chaperons were responsible for making sure the kids costumes were complete. Then, when I went to get Gwen at the end of the first act, one of her friends had drawn all over her arm with a marker. I know Gwen did some of it herself, but I was surprised and we were very lucky that this didn't happen before she went on stage because you would have been able to see it.
Throughout the past week, we have all now had to battle a cold running around the family. It makes just about everyone either cranky, irritable, or just plain different than normal, and not usually in a good way. I'm really wondering if Gwen has developed some ear issues when it comes to hearing. When I brought her in for her preschool screening, she was 3 days off of being diagnosed with an ear infection. I told the screeners, and she did fail her hearing in that ear, but I wonder if through her different ear issues she has developed some hearing difficulties. I have been noticing her asking "what" A LOT...and I know some of it could be related to her being sick and congested, but overall, she also talks very loudly, and has to play music and other things loud as well. Perhaps it could be something as minor as getting something to clean out her ears from time to time, but I don't want her to be missing things at school and such.
***ETA this is much later than I hoped to add to the blog. I had high hopes of adding pictures into this. Maybe I will go back and edit to add pictures. But in the mean time, I need to get a few of these posts going because I have a lot of topics, and not a lot of time!
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