The Last Thing to Stress Over: Updated!

The first I heard about her was on Tuesday, just a small storm somewhere in the islands off the coast.  There was potential, some said, that she could hit Florida and then a few days later loop back west as it moved northward up the coast.  One scenario, at that point, had her headed straight for the NY metropolitan area, potentially affecting my travel plans and those of my family.  Just one.

Today, they're all fairly certain Sandy is headed back east, that combined with a full moon and a low pressure system coming from the northwest, this *itch has the potential to be a historic storm causing mass destruction and knocking out power for millions of people.  They just don't know where exactly she's going to loop back east and hit land.  It's a one-in-a-million combination of atmospheric circumstances that has never been seen before!

Just my luck.  Just FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC!

Our flight is scheduled to leave at 6:50 on Monday morning, out of Philadelphia.  It looks like our flight should be okay, depending on how the storm moves over the weekend.

My family, on the other hand, my parents, my sister, her husband and kids, all of them are scheduled to leave on a flight early Tuesday morning.

So we're all talking about heading out earlier than planned in cars and just driving down.  My sister has already reserved a minivan from a rental company.  I own a minivan but it's got like 110,000 miles on it.  I don't know if it would make it.  Plus there's the expense of the plane tickets.  Will the airlines refund the cost?

It would take, at least, seventeen hours to get to Florida in the car, not counting numerous potty breaks and food.  I don't know that either Wayne or myself has the stamina to do this drive straight through but it could be an incredible family adventure, right?  According to Google Maps, we're skirt around DC and potentially see some monuments and stuff.  We'd pass close to Raleigh, where we have a good friend.  We'd drive through Savannah, somewhere I've always wanted to go.

It could be a good thing, right?  Right?  RIGHT?!?!??!?!?

Okay, so USAirways is now allowing people to change their flights without a fee so I was able to switch our flight to Sunday night instead of Monday morning.  Now I just need to sort out a hotel room.

By this time in two weeks...

... we will be in Orlando, probably standing in line waiting for our Disney's Magical Express bus to take us to the Art of Animation Resort.

It's coming down to the wire here!

This is not us.  :) 

I made the tutu for Munchkin #2's Halloween costume and was covered in glitter in the process.  We're all dressing as the cast of Up.  She's going to be Kevin the Snipe.  So I bought six different colors of tulle and made a poufy tutu that's longer in the back than in the front to give her a birdy shape.  It's adorable.  I need to make ears and tails for #3 and #4 to be dogs.  Dug and Alpha.  Hee hee.  Their costumes will be fairly minimalist-- tee shirts and shorts in the appropriate colors with ears, tails and a little face paint.  I have almost all of my Ellie gear together and I need suspenders for Prince Charming.  Where does one even buy suspenders?  I need to make the sash and badges for #1 to be Russell.

Oh, I also canceled the expensive bouquet through Disney for Munchkin #2.  I bought a red silk rose ball for her at Hobby Lobby and I added ivory roses and little yellow flowers to it, making it really full and she can keep it forever if she wants.  My flower ball was about $30 versus $50 from Disney and mine is sturdier and will last.

I spent yesterday at the mall with three little boys trying to find their outfits for the wedding.  I think I deserve a medal for surviving the experience.  If you happen to be looking for dress clothes for little boys in navy blue or black, you will have no trouble at all. I was looking for tan/taupe and we went to three different department stores.

I bought these shoes times six. 

In the first, I found red, clip-on, dotted ties for kids, so I snapped those up.  In the second, they had pants that would fit two of the three boys and all of their dress shirts looked dirty to me.  In the third I found flat-fronted tan pants that I guess are intended as uniforms.  They were dressy enough.  I'm glad though, that I went through the hassle of having them try the pants on because they each ended up in pants a couple of sizes bigger than what they ordinarily wear.  That said, I have three small pairs of pants that all need several inches cut off and hemmed.  So I guess I know what I'll be doing this week!

I also bought the last two pairs of the red Chuck Taylor sneakers we needed.

My to do list still has far too many things on it. I still haven't painted to cake toppers.  I need to hem the boys' pants.  I need to start packing.  Finish the costumes.  Finish the welcome bags.

Two weeks!  Two weeks until we're in Florida!!!!  I can't wait!!!!

Tips for Disney Wedding Guests

Disney Wedding celebrity (author of the most awesome Disney wedding planning guide available)  Carrie Hayward did a podcast this week for guests of Disney weddings, both Florida and California   with tons of info on planning a Disney vacation and being a guest at a DFTW.  Because Carrie is another Disney fan and not an employee of DFTW or the Disney company, she can share her real thoughts and opinions.

Her guest on this podcast is Hope.  You know Hope!  Hope is the one person who consistently comments on this blog!  She's positive and upbeat and awesome.

Here it is for you guys, one click away:  Tips for Disney Wedding Guests, part 1

and released later Tips for Disney Wedding Guests, part 2

You should click on that link and listen!  I will come back and add part 2 when Carrie posts it!

Kids bags: Complete

Here 's the completed and stuffed kid bags: 

Here's the inspiration bags from Pinterest:

One more check mark off the list!

Feelings...nothing more than feelings

Today is 24 days to until the wedding.  There are still a lot of loose ends for me to tie up but as we get closer and closer I find that I'm not worried about the wedding at all.  We have an amazing wedding planner who has held our hands throughout this whole crazy process.  We're getting married in the beautiful place that we dreamed about and our kids and family will be with us.

 And the marriage itself?  Not a doubt in my mind.  These feet are toasty.  We've been living together for five years, including seven months of double unemployment and rather than wanting to kill each other, we came out the other side closer than ever.

For the wedding and the week of vacation itself, our family will be with us.  I think that's the source of most of my stress and tension.  We've never gone on vacation with all four of the kids before.  We've taken them to Disney two at a time and both of those trips had their issues.  Now we're taking them where they outnumber us and there's more pressure for the trip to be magical and happy.  The logistics of trying to work out spending our wedding night alone has been difficult but I think we have it all worked out except how we're getting the kids back to us from the family members we have watching them that night.

I am a little worried that despite shelling out for a DJ that it will be me and my sister dancing and no one else.  I want people to dance.  Can I force them?  Is that legit?  ;)  I worry that people won't like the food.  I'm fairly sure my dad will complain.  At this point though, all of that is out of my hands.

And there's the blog.  I had intended to use it to monitor my weight loss but that didn't really happen.  So what if I didn't lose 50 pounds leading up to this event?  You know what? This is who I am and while I'm not giving up, I am okay.  Happy even.  No matter how much I weigh, I get to marry my Prince Charming and live happily ever after.

I still have outstanding crafts to complete- including our cake topper.  I don't know why I am so nervous about it but I keep putting it off.  Now time is running out.  I have to finish our welcome bags and the kids goodie bags.  I have to pack all of our wedding stuff into a box to be dropped off at Franck's 3 days before the wedding.  I have to figure out how I'm getting the welcome bags to the various resorts.