Today’s post is part 2 of highlights from my family’s 8-day maximum-experience Disney vacation. I can’t believe we’ve been home almost a month already!
Seriously, Jim.
In front of Cinderella’s castle at the Magic Kingdom. That’s not a fake smile!
Today’s is part 1 of a 2-part post covering highlights from my family’s 8-day maximum-experience Disney vacation. And what a long, strange, WONDERFUL trip it was!
I thought I would be ‘Already Gone’ by the first day of this trip. But instead, for eight straight days, I had TONS of fun!
For “The Definitive Disney 10,” I will be covering 10 talking points from the 8-day Disney vacation my family took last August 20-27, in 2 separate posts. My overall goal? I don’t know, actually. Amusement? Sure. To inform? Perhaps!
Our Disney Vacation started today. How exciting!
Except for the dreaded day-before packing preparation. That’s usually the roughest part of the trip, right?
One suitcase small enough to avoid checks, plus one carry-on bag. L-R: S4, me, S12. Mike hadn’t packed at this point yet, but he will use one duffel carry-on bag and whatever room is left in our big suitcase that contains all the evil “liquids” not allowed on the plane. I prepaid $25 to check that bag today via Jetblue.com. I also printed all of our boarding passes already! You can do so up to 24 hours in advance with Jetblue.
Wrong! At 11 pm last night, I was sitting in bed, done with all my travel tasks, already relaxing and writing. This was on the day before we left for an 8-day vacation some 1,000 miles from home, with my entire nuclear family in tow. I must have been in quite a good place, preparation-wise, amirite?
I want to shout it from the rooftops. YES!
Let’s not go there, shall we?
For my big 4-0, Mike and I had tossed around the idea of doing something different than our usual go-to weekend activities. Something special. Just the two of us. ALONE.
First and foremost, thank heavens for grandparents. Big shout out to Grandpa H and Grandma B for their willingness to take our little ladies for an overnight.
And we’re off!
Obviously, Mike and I jumped (for joy) at the opportunity to have one whole day and night just to ourselves. But where to go? Our discussions frequently referenced the idea of celebrating in a novel, preferably non-home-esque setting. Maybe even with a pre-arrangement of evening activities that diverged from our standard “out to dinner, then home and Netflix and chill.”
And no, I’m not being saucy. Really, Mike and I watch Netflix, chill, and finally pass out in bed shortly after the movie or comedy show commences. We’re forty, remember? Continue reading
Time to get up off that couch and GO SOMEWHERE.
Last July, I was scrolling through Facebook, looking at my friends’ vacation photos that were popping up in my news feed. As I ‘liked’ various photos of my friends’ families out and about having fun, I realized that it had been a long while since my family last went on vacation together.
It was time to take a trip! Continue reading
Hmm… she kinda does look like me. My ‘teacher look,’ immortalized in clipart. chrystalizabeth / Pixabay
This week marks week three of the 2017-2018 school year. So much for my proclamation that I would have all three of my Summer in Review posts up my first week back to work.
Yeah, right. I can’t even get three posts up in one week during summer break! Props for me for thinking that I could, however.
So, how’s ‘back to work’ going?
Pretty decently thus far! But I will miss summer 2017, as it was truly a wonderful time. Continue reading
S2 thinks that sleep is for suckers, apparently.
Morning, day 2 of our mid-October mini family getaway started…. early. Though with Saturday our only full day here, we wanted to take advantage and try to see as much as possible. Even on just 2.5 hours of sleep (me) and zero-ish hours of sleep (Mike), we were Mystic Aquarium-bound. The Aquarium was the one attraction in the area we’d all been looking forward to visiting for months, and no lack of sleep was going to stop us from going!
Even though I technically had more sleep than my husband did, Mike still woke up and took the girls to breakfast so I could shower and get ready for the day in peace. I appreciated that a lot. There was a little diner nearby that they went to eat at, in walking distance. After the three of them dined out, Mike brought me back a breakfast plate of eggs, bacon, and hash browns to have as well. My husband is a good, good man. Continue reading
I know I said before that I’m done introducing new segments on this blog, but I lied. Why? After our family trip last weekend to Mystic, CT, I took time to figure out a way to blog about it without sounding like a fourth grader writing about “How I Spent My Summer Vacation.” Instead of a bunch of pictures with a list of everything we did, I came to the conclusion that writing a destination review (of the area as a whole, rather than specific attractions or hotels) would be the best way to approach the subject matter. This way, perhaps you folks can use some of the travel tips and info I share here when planning your own family vacation! See? I want my writing to serve YOU. Sharing is caring!
This will be a 2-part post, BTW. Enjoy! Continue reading