"First rule of leadership, Princess...." ~Overdosing on Ice Cream

[BrittBritt]

Ok---You are too funny for several reasons:
*Love, love, love the training your kids have been doing. (Don't forget the very imperative holding your nose training for the inevitable standing in line behind a stinky person.)
*I miss Choose Your Adventure! I used to read those books constantly. (I would cheat though and peek at the outcomes before I would choose. See, I was indecisive even then.)
*You are taking a RED EYE from Seattle. Yes, I am including that in my list of funny things because when my DH and I took a red eye from Seattle to Miami last summer we were so happy to be OFF THE PLANE that we giddily laughed all the way to our car. (Clearly we were glad to be back on land , near actual beds where sleeping could take place, and away from the man on the plan with very stinky breath. See above post on stinky person nose training.)


Definitely subscribing...

 

[stagemomx3]

Ok---You are too funny for several reasons:
*Love, love, love the training your kids have been doing. (Don't forget the very imperative holding your nose training for the inevitable standing in line behind a stinky person.)
*I miss Choose Your Adventure! I used to read those books constantly. (I would cheat though and peek at the outcomes before I would choose. See, I was indecisive even then.)
*You are taking a RED EYE from Seattle. Yes, I am including that in my list of funny things because when my DH and I took a red eye from Seattle to Miami last summer we were so happy to be OFF THE PLANE that we giddily laughed all the way to our car. (Clearly we were glad to be back on land , near actual beds where sleeping could take place, and away from the man on the plane with very stinky breath. See above post on stinky person nose training.)

I have tears running down my face I'm laughing so hard! I will have to tell the kids to begin nose training.

I also use to peak at the ending of Choose Your Own Adventure books. Actually I still tend to peak at the ending of all books, and I like to watch the end of movies first. I just really don't like surprises!

Hopefully our red eye flight will not have stinky breath man on it!

I figure I have a better chance of sleeping on a red eye after working all day, than I do on an early am flight after not sleeping from pre trip excitement. We'll find out.

 

[MomofCKJ]

Loved the Choose Your Own Adventure Books. I found some before Christmas and gave one to my oldest. What a fun way to do your itinerary!

Allyson

 

[stagemomx3]

Loved the Choose Your Own Adventure Books. I found some before Christmas and gave one to my oldest. What a fun way to do your itinerary!

Allyson

I'll have to look for those for Joey, I think he would really like them.

 

[CruisingCamper]

Wow!! You have put a lot of work into your pre-trip report. I thought that what I had out together was time consuming. It's nothing compared to what you have done. I love the idea.

I just emailed DH a copy of our plans for the week, so we'll know soon what he thinks. I am sure he'll be concerned about the fact that we have really no downtime and we will have our one year son. He does sleep well in his stroller, so I wasn't going to make a big deal of having "rest/nap" time. He usually gets up at 7AM and has about a two hour nap around noon, then he goes down for the night around 9:30PM. Most nights we will not get back to our condo until around 10:30 PM, but to me this still isn't a problem, b/c here in LA, we are on central time, so 10:30, will be 9:30 to the little one.

 

[stagemomx3]

Wow!! You have put a lot of work into your pre-trip report.

Thank you. I have put a lot of work into it, but I've enjoyed it enormously! I love planning, and planning for Disney is the best.

I am sure he'll be concerned about the fact that we have really no downtime and we will have our one year son.

After our two trips to Disneyland I know that one of the highlights for my kids is swimming in the hotel pool, so I need to be sure to schedule that in as well. Plus my DH will be less likely to get crabby if he has plenty of downtime.

 

[stagemomx3]

Coming Soon: My Son Went on Strike

 

[brookelizabeth]

Great report! I was cracking up at the Training your kids did too! Love the Choose Your Own Adventure idea. I'm looking forward to all the decisions that are made!

 

[BrittBritt]

Coming Soon: My Son Went on Strike

Oh no! It wasn't too much "training" was it?

 

[stagemomx3]

Great report! I was cracking up at the Training your kids did too! Love the Choose Your Own Adventure idea. I'm looking forward to all the decisions that are made!

Thank you. They've been slacking on the training the last few days. I need to break out the Disney movies again. Can't tonight though, gotta watch American Idol.

 

[stagemomx3]

Oh no! It wasn't too much "training" was it?

No it's not a training issue. It's a clothing crisis.

 

[retiredkid]

What a great TR, Chel. Enjoying it very much. Loooooooove the training. Hmmmm...wonder how we'd train for a cruise.
Looks like you all know how to have a lot of fun. This will be one entertaining report, I can tell.

 

[Charleston Princess]

Awesome TR, Chel! Loved the training the kids did -- those pics are priceless and your kids are beautiful! You will all have a blast, I am sure.

Can't wait to hear about your son striking! Did you tell him that you are not a union-sanctioned home?

Your title totally grabbed me, because that is my all-time favorite Disney line -- I even say it to my students when they have those blank looks that middle schoolers get -- those moments when I know I sound like Charlie Brown's teacher .

 

[stagemomx3]

What a great TR, Chel. Enjoying it very much. Loooooooove the training. Hmmmm...wonder how we'd train for a cruise.
Looks like you all know how to have a lot of fun. This will be one entertaining report, I can tell.

Thanks Cathy. Joey says training for a cruise needs to involve avoiding getting sea sick.

Awesome TR, Chel! Loved the training the kids did -- those pics are priceless and your kids are beautiful! You will all have a blast, I am sure.

Can't wait to hear about your son striking! Did you tell him that you are not a union-sanctioned home?

Your title totally grabbed me, because that is my all-time favorite Disney line -- I even say it to my students when they have those blank looks that middle schoolers get -- those moments when I know I sound like Charlie Brown's teacher .

Thanks! Actually I told him it was a dictatorship not a democracy.

The title comes from the the fact that we say that line all the time in our house. Well that one and any quote from Blades of Glory.

I totally know what you mean about those Charlie Brown Teacher moments. Those glazed over eyes and furrowed brows. Then invariably 6 of them will ask the same question you just answered.

 

[stagemomx3]

"I give myself very good advice
But I very seldom follow it" -Alice in Wonderland

Because I don't like surprises I tend to want to prepare my children for things in advance. Especially if I am unsure of their reactions. I'm not sure if this more for their benefit or mine? So I began introducing the idea that I intended to pick out their clothes for our trip. When I purchased the clothes I knew as long as it was cute and trendy Daisy would wear it. She is quite fashion conscious but I generally have good taste so she was on board. I also knew that Adam likes shorts and will wear polo shirts, so as long as I picked the right colors he would be fine. See how I took what I knew about those two and worked with it? Keep those good parenting points in mind. I'm going to need them later!

Why? You might ask. Well because I didn't do that for Joey. Joey is the least picky and most easy going of all my children. I figured that I could persuade him to wear what I wanted him to. So even though I knew he didn't like polo shirts that is almost exclusively what I bought him for the trip. I wanted that casual dressy look for pictures. Now obviously I can see how entirely crazy this makes me look! I also underestimated how much Joey hates polo shirts!

After I showed him a few of the shirts I bought him for the trip he left the room. When he came back he had gone on strike. First he started with a petition. He whipped out his laptop and typed up a petition to overrule my directive that as trip dictator I got to choose what he wore. He figured if he could get three of the six of us to sign the petition that would be enough to overthrow me.

His next step was to post signs of protest around the house. He taped them up in prominent places, such as the microwave, and on the bathroom door. Then he turned to picketing, complete with picket sign.

(Sorry these are so blurry, he wasn't the most cooperative subject.)

After marching by me on the couch for awhile he staged a sit in and sat in front of the tv with his picket sign.

Time for negotiations, not something I do well. Compromise does not come easy to me. I figured I'd offered up a bribe, in the form of Disney Dollars. Unfortunately my son had to much wealth, having just received birthday money the week before, and my bribe was ineffective.

So with negotiations not going my way I got mad. Here comes the part where I need you to remember my good parenting points I earned earlier. I declared "Fine don't go." and shut down negotiations for the evening.

Not my most shining parent moment.

Now I'm left with the task of trying to fix it. You see I do still really want the kids to look nice and coordinated for pictures. I know I have issues! However I also do not want my son to be unhappy every single day at Disney World because his mom is making him wear something he doesn't want to wear.

What is an OCDTP mom to do?

Up Next: Crisis Averted or Aunt Pat to the Rescue

 

[CruisingCamper]

This is why that I am glad that my son is only ONE!!!! He gets no choice of his clothing chioces, however, the kid hates clothes with collars and overalls!! He tries to take them off the entire time he has them on.

DH is another problem. He always wants to help me pack, and to tell you the truth, I know that I should be grateful for his help, but I just wish he'd let me do it. This way, I pack him what I want and he has no choice when we get there and that's all he has.

I did order us some t-shirt form the disney website to wear a couple of the days, when I told DH he just laughed and said that I was crazy.

They were 2 for $20!!

What is the weather like during March? I hope short weather, but I have read that it gets cold at night.. is this true?

 

[stagemomx3]

I did order us some t-shirt form the disney website to wear a couple of the days, when I told DH he just laughed and said that I was crazy.

They were 2 for $20!!

What is the weather like during March? I hope short weather, but I have read that it gets cold at night.. is this true?

Don't tell your DH I pointed you in this direction, but have you checked out all the Disney designs offered up on the Creative Disign board below. Those ladies ROCK! Watch out you may get addicted to making tshirts for your trip though.

From what I've read about the usual weather in March, it should be shorts weather during the day and cooler at night.

 

[irene_dsc]

OMG - your son is just cracking me up! That is a pretty elaborate strike he is putting on!!!

Ironically, my picky-clothes son loves polo shirts. Especially actual Ralph Lauren ones - thank goodness we live near an outlet!

I can't help on the dictator issue, tho - not my parenting style. I tend to find that I need win-win options, aka a way for ds to save face, or he'll just dig in his heels...

 

[dddisrunner]

I had no idea boys have opinions about clothes! That does not bode well for my future Can't wait to hear how Aunt Pat comes to the rescue.

 

[Tress1975]

you are so funny! I wish my family had this much excitment about going to Disney. They have never been, so I hope when they get there it will be different!