Disney Day Four

First off, I know you guys have asked a lot of questions in your comments and I'll definitely answer them. I'm just not taking the time to go through and answer them while I'm still here because I really don't want to be attached to my computer. I am going to have one looong Sunday Sound Out when I get to them!

We had a lazy morning and slept in a bit, had some pancakes in our room and went for a swim. We hit Epcot around noon. It wasn't crowded at all which was wonderful! It wasn't as hot today either (especially when the sun was behind clouds) which was nice. We went on Spaceship Earth when we first arrived because you can't go to Epcot and not go in the sphere. They've changed that a little bit from the last time I was there (as a kid).

Then we headed over to the world pavilion. We started at Mexico and made our way to every country. They sell these passports there and kids can take them around and get them stamped in each country they visit. I have to admit that the world showcase can be kinda boring for the little kids because there aren't too many rides or exhibits that young kids would find interesting. The passports gave them something to do - look for the "kidcot" station and get a stamp in their book. They also have a little craft that's free and kids can go from country to country and add an item to their craft at each stop.

Joe and I had fun eating our way through the countries. We could easily have spent a small fortune doing this! Especially if we'd gone with our friends Jenny and Chris, who like to eat as much as we do! We had some yummy thing (forgot what it was called) and churros in Mexico, these delicious waffle-like pastries with jam in Norway, eggrolls, potstickers, and veggie stir fry in China, pretzels in Germany, falafel, couscous, and baklava in Morocco, sushi (California rolls because the kids wanted to try it) in Japan, and spanikopita and melamakarona at a Greek stand. There may have been more, but I can't remember. It was all delicious!

We have to get up early tomorrow because we agreed to listen to a 90 minute time share dealy. That knocked several hundred dollars off the price of our room so we decided it was worth it. After that, I think we'll hit Magic Kingdom again for a couple hours. We want to do a couple things we didn't have time for yesterday and the kids want to do a couple favorite rides again. We plan on calling it an early night and coming back to our room for spaghetti.

Oh, for those of you who were wondering if we have to get 2 rooms - we got a 2 bedroom villa off Disney property. It has a full kitchen and a washer and dryer in the room. Even when I factored in the cost of a rental car, parking, and gas, it was cheaper than staying on site. Actually, scratch that. I think the cheaper Disney hotels (All Star ones) were about the same, but we'd have to get 2 adjoining rooms and there was no kitchen or laundry.

This way, we went down the street to Publix and bought eggs, bagels, pop, water, juice, milk, bread, peanut butter, cereal, fruit, and snacks. We have breakfast in our room every day and take snacks and water into the parks. Some days, we've stopped for dinner on the way to the hotel at a casual restaurant off site. We've gotten some food at the parks too. It gets expensive dining out all the time and you tend to eat more garbage when you eat out constantly, in my opinion. It's been really nice getting to have some meals in our room.

I suppose, if money were no object (or for smaller families) staying on site would be more convenient. There are definitely advantages to it. But for us, this is working out nicely.

Oh, here's a funny story. Or more like a story that highlights my dorkness. While we were at the pool this morning, I overheard two people talking in a foreign language. I was lying in the sun with my eyes closed so I didn't see them, but I could hear their conversation. I thought to myself, that's an interesting language. It sounds a little familiar, but I can't figure out what language it is. What are they speaking? Then I was able to pick out the words, "flew out of Manchester..." Manchester? That's in England, isn't it? Oh my gosh! They're speaking ENGLISH! I swear I've never heard thicker English accents in my life. I seriously didn't understand more than half the words they spoke. And it was ENGLISH for crying out loud. And it's not like you don't hear that accent around here. There are a lot of English people who vacation here. Their pound goes so far here in America. It works out well for them. Honestly, the only word I recognized was "aye" because they said that a lot. It's amazing that the same language can sound so different!

OK, I've got to get some sleep, but I'll leave you with a couple of the 200 or so pictures I took today. By the time this trip is over, I'm going to be able to make a 4 hour video for the kids to watch again and again.


Spaceship Earth


Inside Mexico - it's really gorgeous in here


Brooklyn the Viking


a whole crew of Vikings


China


Clay and Brooklyn giving Mushu a hug. They kept saying, "I love you dragon."


Germany - a whole lotta people were celebrating Oktoberfest!


It's Godzilla! Or a tiny lizard on the roof of a house in a train set.


Italy


This is where Brooklyn played dead on the streets of Morocco.


Savannah making a phone call in England. According to the kids, this leads to the Ministry of Magic.


The giant golf ball

Disney Day Three

Sooo tired. We spent the whole day at the Magic Kingdom. The kids all had a great time and there were no major meltdowns. It was pretty hot today so we tried to find rides that took us out of the sun. It was pretty crowded, in my opinion and we had to wait 30-50 minutes for most rides. I'd hate to see the place in summer!

When we first walked in, a woman came up to me and said, "I read your blog!" Hee hee! I was recognized! I was giddy for like half an hour! Here's a shout-out to Melissa from Arkansas who recognized me! (At least I hope that's her name. I'm horrible with names. If I got it wrong, I apologize. I'm so sorry!)

I think Disney is overpriced and I hate how they route half the rides to exit through a gift shop. I think it's really cost prohibitive for the average family. Until this year, there was no way we could afford such a trip. Still, I have to admit there's something magical about the place. Their attention to detail amazes me. From the employees' costumes, to the music, the design of the buildings, the decor and decorative accents, and the landscaping, everything just flows and blends with the area it's in.

Right now, my legs are hurting so badly I may never walk again. I'm going to hit the shower, take large doses of Advil and drop into bed, but I'll leave you with a couple pictures...


Nice hats, boys!


Ya mon!

Move over Junior!

Oooo pretty pink castle

Clay getting his second wind (aka: Clay spazzes out!)

I a princess mouse, Mama!

I'm not a pirate. I'm a princess pirate!

Clay being Dumbo

Here we are! Magic Kingdom!

Everybody sing with me! "It's a small world after all. It's a small world after all. It's a small world after all. It's a small, small, world......"

Another tiring day for Brooklyn

Disney Day Two

We all slept later than we had planned, but after traveling and staying up a bit too late last night, it didn't surprise us. We had originally planned to go to Magic Kingdom today, but when we realized it was Sunday, we decided it would probably be a bit crowded so we opted to hit Animal Kingdom instead. It wasn't bad - I think the longest we waited for a ride was 30 minutes. We saw the It's Rough to Be a Bug show first. The 3 youngest left in tears. They're traumatized for life. I can just see them telling their therapists 20 years from now, "...and then my parents took me to this evil bug show in Disney World and I haven't been the same since..."

The highlight for the little kids was this flying triceratops ride (like the Dumbo ride). They went on it 5 times and smiled from ear to ear each time. :) Austin, Jackson, Joe and I all braved Expedition Everest. That was one fun roller coaster! Yeti, yeti, yeti, yeti, yeti! (Sorry, I just had a Backyardigans moment.) Austin, Savannah, Lexi and I loved the Dinosaur ride. It freaked me out the first time, but I went a second time and it was pretty cool. You know, if you like whipping around corners in the dark while flesh-eating dinosaurs chase you and meteorites rain down on you.

We also saw Finding Nemo the Musical because, according to Austin, a billboard stated it was a "must see show", therefore we must see it. It was pretty good. Brooklyn fell asleep before the show started and Clay was getting a little bored at that point so he kept playing with Brooklyn's hair and arm while she snoozed. What are big brothers for?



We decided to make it an early day and left the park by 5:30. We let the kids swim for a little bit and now everyone's getting ready for bed. We want to get up early tomorrow so we don't miss one minute of family fun at WallyWorld!

Disney Day One

We left our house at 8:30 this morning and headed to O’Hare airport to begin our adventure. I had checked in online last night, but couldn’t get my printer to work, so we had to stand in line to print out our boarding passes. Unfortunately, dork that I am, I hadn’t written down the confirmation number and I didn’t have my frequent flyer card with me so I couldn’t pull up our flight information. I kept looking at the screen, thinking there had to be an option where I could look up my flight info by name. Nope. The screen kept asking me, “Do you need more time?” I thought to myself that I didn’t need more time; what I needed was psychic ability so I could discern my confirmation number. The screen then flashed, “Are you stupid? Did you not know that you were going to need a boarding pass? Why on earth wouldn’t you have your confirmation number written down?” Then the screen flashed the message, “Do you see the phone to your left? We put that there for idiots like you. Pick it up so a customer service representative can help you.”

I picked up the phone, gave the voice on the other end my name and the poor customer service rep who gets stuck dealing with imbeciles like me all day, helped me with my confirmation number so I could print out our boarding passes. We checked our luggage and moved on to the security check-point.

Upon arrival at security, a gentleman looked at all of us and counted the tickets, then looked at all of us again.

“You have SIX kids???”

“Uh yeah.”

“Really? Six?”

“Still yeah.”

“Wow.”

So he checked off all our tickets and we proceeded through security. Everything went pretty smoothly there with me and the kids. Joe set the alarm off 4 times though. I think he was trying to get strip searched.

The flight was uneventful. Clay had a hard time sitting still and I was constantly reminding him not to kick his feet. The poor woman in front of him probably had an exceptionally enjoyable flight. Not.

We went to pick up our rental van and the guy quoted me a price that was about $200 more than my email confirmation. I argued with him for several minutes and finally gave up. It was hot, the kids were restless, and we were all really hungry. I’ll look at the agreement more closely tonight.

We stopped at Ihop on the way to the hotel for an early dinner. The bathroom was out of order. The credit card machine was out of order and apparently they were completely out of fresh fruit. It’s FLORIDA! How does a restaurant in sunny Florida run out of fresh fruit???

Then it was on to the hotel. We were totally spoiled when we were here last October courtesy of the folks at Discovery Cove. This time our room wasn’t as nice, it wasn’t near a pool, and it smelled like someone had bladder control issues on the carpet. We requested a different room and got one right by a pool. It never hurts to ask!

Right now, Austin has a bad migraine that came on suddenly. I gave him some medicine and he fell asleep so I’m hanging out in the room with him. Meanwhile Joe has taken the other five down to the pool. I can hear them laughing and playing and it’s making me smile. I can also hear the sound of a waterfall in the background and Jimmy Buffet singing Cinco de Mayo in Memphis. The air is warm and (unlike California) very humid, but there’s a nice breeze rustling through the palm fronds out here on the balcony.

Ahhhh, this is going to be a nice family vacation. Although I really wasn’t looking forward to it, I’m anticipating a lot of fun, excitement on the kids’ faces, and some great family time. Yes, you can laugh at me come Wednesday when we’re all sick and tired of being confined together and the kids are all wired on artificial flavors and colors and the “GO GO GO “ factor has set in and everyone is having crab attacks. But for tonight, we’re going to enjoy each other’s company as we head to the grocery store to get some breakfast items and snacks before we call it an early night.

Disney World or Bust

Well, we're off to Orlando in the morning.

Savannah won a trip to Disney World about 7 years ago. I filled out a contest form in a Disney store at a mall by me. I remember my sister was with me at the time. My sister HATES to shop and I recall her standing there, looking bored, saying, "No one ever wins those things, let's get out of here!"

I was at a meeting when the call came in to inform us we'd won the grand prize. My husband answered the phone and almost hung up on them thinking it was some time share scam. He called me at my meeting and asked if I knew anything about a Cinderella Disney trip. LOL!

Anyway, we spent one day in the parks. The next day, we stayed in the Magic Kingdom all day doing stuff/getting pictures taken and such because of the contest. Savannah, my mom, and I spent the whole third day in Celebration Hospital (it was NOT a celebration, by the way). I was dying of pain from a stupid kidney stone and Savannah had a bad ear infection. That was the end of that trip. I only had 4 kids at the time and Lexi was just a baby. Austin and
Savannah are the only ones who remember anything from the trip.

So, this will be the first real vacation we're taking to Disney. I'm honestly kicking myself for setting up this trip because Disney World is just so ridiculously expensive. Thankfully I had already purchased the park tickets about six years ago thinking we'd make it there eventually, so I didn't have that expense. But still...

But the kids keep talking about the trip. I'm sure they're going to love it because they keep saying things like, "Do we have to go?" Can't we go to Discovery Cove instead? Could we go camping?" Yep, makes me feel all warm and fuzzy about spending the money on this trip.

So, I'll be bringing my laptop, but I don't know how much updating I'll do. I'm sure I'll have some pictures to share at least. I'm going to try to just relax and enjoy being with the kids without other distractions this week. Well, as much as I can relax while watching 6 kids in a ginormous park where someone is bound to get separated from us. I've already got the SafetyTats packed!

We just told Austin and Savannah that we're leaving in the morning. We told all the other kids that we're not going until Monday. (We didn't want them staying awake all night, excited about leaving in the morning.)

Hopefully this trip will not include any ambulance rides or trips to hospitals.

2008 Blogger's Choice Awards

The results are in!

I was nominated for 4 Blogger's Choice Awards. This is the outcome....

Best Parenting Blog
1st place

Best Humor Blog
2nd place

Hottest Mommy Blogger
4th place

Best Blog of All Time
6th place

You love me, you really love me! :::sniff sniff:::

I want to thank the academy. And thank you to my wonderful, loyal readers! I couldn't have done it without you. Thank you to everyone who took the time to vote! It means a lot to me!

What are you going to do now, Dawn?

I'm going to Disney World! (Well, after I finish packing for 8 people...)

Welcome Home!

Thank you to Clay and Brooklyn who really know how to welcome a person home. It's almost like I never left.



It's mascara and face cream. This is what they did while I tried to get through 300 emails today.

Go check out my review blog HERE to read about my adventures in L.A. and how I touched Matthew Perry! I've got a really long slide show up there too.

Sunday Sound Out

I'm writing updates on my trip to L.A. over on my review blog HERE. Be sure to check it out.



Hi dawn i have another SSO question: this is hypathetical but what if one of your childern was disabled in some way, like say one of you kids has a sight impairment. How would you balance the time specail treatment, medical bills etc with the cost of having other kids? I have 3 kids and my oldest is blind, I having such are hard time making sure that my other kids are cared for while I care for her. What would yo do?
I don't do hypothetical questions or I would hypothetically hire a wonderful nanny to help me out or I'd come up with a hypothetical cure for his ailment. It's always hard trying to evenly spread your time so that all your children feel loved and cared for. I think we all struggle with that. We can only do our best though.
That said, another reader suggested this:
miriamp said...
For the first commenter -- have you hooked up with National Federation of the Blind (nfb.org) and/or Parents of Blind Children (a division of NFB: http://www.nfb.org/nfb/Parents_and_Teachers.asp )?

OK I have four kids and I'm a little bit of a germophobe. I wash underwear separately in a hot water wash because I fear that poopy germs will get transferred between kids if I wash them with other clothes or a cold water wash with my nursing bras. Yuck!!! Is that over the top??? Do you just throw all the kids underwear in with the rest of the wash? I just need some common sense advice!!!!! I let my kids eat cereal off the floor. Do you think I care about "poopy germs"? Heck, they're lucky I wash their clothes at all especially when they take those nice, clean, folded clothes, and throw them on their floor only to pick them up and put them back in the hamper when I tell them to clean their rooms!

I never realize you have blue eyes!
They're green actually. Did you know that all 6 of my kids have different colored eyes? Weird, huh?

Love the reunion pics! Were you at Emmett's?
Yep, I was!

Is it bad that my DH and I both thought of Monica Lewinski first?
Yes!!!

OMG that is one of the funniest things I've read in quite awhile. And I know exactly the hairball you're talking about although mine is MUCH bigger. That's all the hair you lose in a shower? Now I really am worried!
No, I lose a LOT of hair. The kids used to say stuff like, "Mom, there's a squirrel in the shower drain," if I forgot to clean out the trap. Now they tell me there's a wombat there because it's so much funnier.

This is totally something I can see myself doing, and I only have 3 kids right now. I don't know how you keep everyone's schedules straight with 6 children and a husband to keep track of. Do you have an organizer you'd receommend? Of course my problem would be actually using it once I bought it.
I have one of those huge desk sized calendars. It takes up the whole side of my fridge. I don't personally like organizers that give each person their own column. I have a hard time coordinating all the columns. I have a big square for each day and I write everyone's stuff in the same square. My problem is when I forget to write something on it or when I forget to look at it before I go to bed. Of course, there are also those times that I write things down, I look at them, I know what's going on, and then I still forget! I don't think any organizer in the world can help me with that.

Atleast you got him there! Hope he had fun, where did they go anyway?
A farm. It's a rule. Everyone has to have field trips to pumpkin farms in October.

I have a question for you though (maybe for SSO)... is there a way to access your older posts? I have noticed sometimes you link back to your older ones and they are always hilarious and I would love to read more. Thanks in advance!
Sure, look over to the left, about halfway down, where it says, "History of Hilarity". There you can click on any month and bring up the posts for that month.

What is your reciepe for fondant?

I'll have to get back to you on this one because I don't have it with me here in CA and I don't have it memorized. Next week...

Hello Dawn...I have been following your "life" for about a year now. Thx for the laughter and fun :-) but i must say that this is the first time i have seen a picture of your husband. May I say he is a very HANDSOME man!
He's all yours.

LOVE THE NEW LOOK!!! Can't wait to hear all about your trip. Are you going to try the "routine" like Monica and Ross did on the show? I'll be that would impress her.
Hmmm, I don't think "impress" is quite the right word. I think if I did the routine, I might get escorted out. (But it would sure be fun until then!)

What a fabulous redesign! It's just perfect.How can you now have a great time out there, what with fielding inane questions from the kids?
Eh, I'll just leave my phone off.

And, this is said with only the best intentions, your hubby is a hottie!!
You can fight the other reader for him.

Holy Cow, Dawn! The blog looks AMAZING! Who designed it? I am very impressed and have love your blog forever! God bless, and keep us laughing!
PulsePoint Design! But I have to warn you that they aren't taking on any new clients right now.

I love Love LOVE your new design! Is that really what your fridge looks like (because mine totally does, complete with the messy handprints!).
That IS my fridge!!!

side note: wouldn't it be great to have a fridge that just kept expanding to fit everything we needed to put in/on it? :)
Yes!!!

Did your book change covers today? I thought it was blue but maybe I made that up.
Wow, you guys amaze me with how observant you are! Yes, my book was blue before. My publisher just emailed me and said, "Wow, we love the new site. Just one little thing...we changed the cover of your book." So, Kelli went back to the drawing board and recoded stuff and voila! Now it's orange.

I might be asking this after you have said it before.. But how did you come up with all the kids names...?? I love them all. I really love how you went with Lexington and not alexis.
We got out a copy of Rand McNally

To the tune of the Mickey Mouse "M-I-C K-E-Y" song...Got a couple links on my new site that aren't work-in,P-R-O, P-A-G, A-T-I-O-NPropogation, Propogation,while becauseIsaidso dot com spreads to all of creation,P-R-O... that's right boys and girls,P-A-G... hyuh hyuh!AYTEEEYEOHENNNNNNNNNNN(clap clap clap *WOO!* clap clap)P.S. You forgot to close your [BEGIN WEB DESIGNER CODESPEAK] tag.[/BEGIN]
Did you see me looking at you, straight face, one eyebrow raised, while you sang that? LOL! I'm sure the designers got a kick out of it though. :)

Oh, Dawn! I love the new design! Making it look like a fridge was brilliant (and I assume all your idea). It's so homey and fun.
Not my idea at all! I was so wonderfully helpful to my design team. When asked what I wanted my site to look like, I answered, "I dunno." So Kelli asked me to go through some templates and send her ones that I liked so she could get an idea of my tastes. After sending her a couple dozen sites, she told me, "Umm Dawn? 95% of those sites were beach related. Now I know you love the beach, but your book isn't about beaches. You don't live anywhere near a beach. I don't think that's going to be the best idea for you." Then she asked me to take a picture of my fridge and send it to her. She's a genius! Those are mostly my magnets and my kids' artwork.

Hey...did the little cutout guy on the freezer door change his outfit? I could have sworn he was wearing red the first time he appeared, and now he's decked out in blue...
Yes! Wow! Again, you guys are observant! When Kelli changed the book cover to orange, Flat Stanley clashed so she changed his shirt to blue.

And mostly, I want to thank all you for making me feel so much better. I'm having some serious marital issues. I don't want to get into here because my blog is just not the place for that. But know that your comments help me feel so much better! They make me laugh (go back and read the comments on my Spider post!) and sometimes they make me cry because they're so darn sweet! I just love, love, LOVE reading all your comments. You're the best bunch of cyber friends a girl could have! You guys really do make my day. For that, I thank you!!! :)

Leaving for L.A.

I really wanted the first post I wrote on my newly designed blog to be a good, funny one. But I'm not feeling funny today. Someone close to me has let me down again and I'm feeling stupid, fat and ugly. I'm tired. I'm tired of crying. I'm tired of being mad. I feel like I want to crawl into bed and just stay there. Do you ever have days like that? The past couple weeks, I've felt wonderful! I've felt good about myself, about life, just good. It took feeling really good, to realize just how lousy I had been feeling. I guess all good things must end though.

Anyway, I'm off to California tomorrow morning for Glamour Reel Moments styled by Suave. The timing couldn't be better. I'm really looking forward to getting away and enjoying myself for a couple days. I have 5 pairs of shoes packed and not one of them are Crocs! Impressed? Mom, Dad, if you read this, you might want to have the kids over for dinner one night. You know, to spare them from Kool-Aid fish or baking soda gravy. <---if you're a new reader, click that link and you'll know what I'm talking about.

I'll be back with the funny tomorrow, I promise. What better way is there to cope with life than humor, right? A good laugh can make pretty much anything better. :)

Page Not Found

A couple of you have said that you were getting an error message when you tried to click the links on my website. I asked my designer about it and this is what she had to say,

"On that note, you should know [BEGIN WEB DESIGNER CODESPEAK] that the DNS for becauseIsaidso.com is still propagating across the internet, so some (a very few) people who try to access the links to your site from your blog will receive an error message until the propagation is complete."

In other words, everything is fine and dandy. Just be patient and soon all the links will work for you. :)

Thanks!

Thursday Thirteen

OK, I decided to give this Thursday Thirteen thing a try because I couldn't think of anything to write wanted to give my readers some fun variety tonight.

In no particular order, here are 13 things I need to pack before heading off to Suave's Glamour Reel Moments in L.A.

13. My camera (duh!) so I can get lots of candid pictures of my best friend Monica (that's Courteney Cox to you folks.)

12. Bail money for when I'm thrown in the slammer for stalking my bff Monica.

11. My stupid black dress that probably won't even fit when I pick it up from the seamstress tomorrow.

10. My laptop so I can write electrifyingly riveting updates about my trip.

9. Some high heeled shoes so people won't think I'm only 12 years old.

8. Some BandAids to put on the blisters that the high heels will give me.

7. Airborne. I'm sure it doesn't work, but it makes you feel a little better thinking that just maybe you could ward off the germs that the guy with Ebola spews all over while having a coughing fit on the plane.

6. A book written by someone other than Dr. Seuss.

5. My Epi-pen just in case a bee decides to sting me while I'm at the premiere. Hmmm, I wonder how many problems I'll have taking that on the plane?

4. Earplugs to drown out Joe's snoring...oh wait...that's right! I'm going by myself! I get the whole bed to myself with NO snoring! Woo Hoo!

3. My cell phone so the kids can call me up in California to ask stuff like, "Can Allison come over to play?" and "Mom, can I go to the movies with Max?" and "Mom, I can't find my shoes. Do you know where they are?"

2. Four times the amount of clothes I need so I can try on several outfits each day and stress about what to wear.

1. A bunch of other useless stuff I'll never need while making sure at the same time to forget something essential like underwear.

Remember to check out my review blog for a fun giveaway from (oops) wine! And check back tomorrow to see my brand spankin' new blog design!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

COMING SOON!

My blog is getting a "red carpet" make-over! AND... my new website is launching TOMORROW!!! It is SO awesome if I do say so myself and I can't wait for everyone to see it! And my web design team (who are all amazing, amazing people!) have worked it so that you won't have to do anything differently. My blog will come up the same as it always has for you, only it'll have a brand new look!

So make sure you check back here tomorrow afternoon to see the changes!



Mom2my6pack.blogspot.com same as always!