September already??!!!

So here we are a month later. School has started and we've been busy. Taylor is having a hard time keeping up with 4th grade requirements. She is now working on her organizational skills. During the last month she discovered the internet..mostly webkins and club penguin. Which is great as she is much more familiar with the computer. She has also started the braces process. She currently has a "space maintainer" which looks very similiar to a retainer but it's on the inside of the teeth and it's not removeable.
We are both happy that school has started as it gets us that much closer to our next vacation. Which I am ready for!
We'll post pics later!

Hi again

So it's been a while since my last post. Things are very quiet out here in california. It's hot so we've been staying around the house. Trying to save some cash for the may trip.
I had a beef with disney. They raised the rate of the cruise under the guise of government taxes. I don't feel that they raised it fairly, seems they'll be getting an additional 200K out of us passengers..but my TA, Dreams Unlimited, also thought it was unfair of disney and handed out an additional 200 OBC (on board credit) so thats cool. It wasn't enough of an increase to make me cancel, but it put a bad taste in my mouth.
I don't want to say never, but I think I am done with disney after this cruise and going to head back to RCCL. Their prices are less, they have more itineraries available and they also have a kids club. The only drawback is their kids club is not open on port days, but oh well...it's no biggie.
My sister and I are planning an Alaska trip for summer 2009 and I think I want to do a cruise for my 40th. Since it's right around the corner..well a year away but still.
We'll see how the finances go.
Taylor is ready to start 4th grade. She has her last week of regular summer camp this week and then we'll see what we do with her for the next 2 weeks. I will take a week off and we'll hang around. I'm hoping to get some housekeeping done. I need to paint and finish my kitchen. Otherwise, she'll probably end up at tennis camp or horse camp. Tennis is less, so I like that one better.
Hope all of you are having a fabulous summer. I'm ready for the school year to start, the faster it starts the faster our next vacation arrives.

Cya

Lazy kid free day!

So I spent my first kid free weekend...planning our next disney vacation. I have now secured our hotel for may 2008. I have also booked my sister and her family in another room, hoping that they'll bring my nephew out for a 2 day trip to WDW. It'll be his first time and taylors first time. I think it would be really cool for them to experience it together. Even thought david will only be 1 1/2 years old...still. I have asked my brother to join us, but it's too far away for him to consider. So many things can change. Although, after planning the med cruise..time seemed to fly by from planning to travelling.
Now I'm getting ready to go to a friends for a bbq and tomorrow..ugh! housework. My least favorite part of the weekend. So signing off for now.

So Sad, but true

So I am so sad! I mean a sad, pathetic planner. I have already booked our hotel for the panama cruise. I have also checked out shore excursions on castaway cay. I am waiting for the cheapee airlines to open their flights, but it looks like we'll do RT oak/lax and then fly one way from lax to orlando. We can take a flight that will get us in at 6am.. So now the question...how much school can one kid miss? I am at 10 days right now, but thinking about 12...I asked and they said ..whats 2 more...and really what is 2 more. BUT still...once you purchase the airline tix you're locked in! AND....tays never been to WDW...so I just talked myself into it...
hahahaha

Happy Summer all!

Home, home on the range

So we've been home for a week. I miss the mouse! Now I am planning our next vacation thru the panama canal on disney. I am looking forward to the many sea days we have. Finally, I'll get to relax and do nothing. Take advantage of all of the ships activities. I missed alot on the med cruise.
I was reading other trip reports and apparently there was a night buffet, the mickey dreams show, the sailaway show and more.
I also wanted to participate in more activities, like trivia etc. I didn't try any restaurants for breakfast or lunch. Ok enought complaining. I'll try it out on the next one. I think we might add some time at WDW in the beginning. I have checked again and it looks like taylor won't get into too much trouble missing another 2 days of school. Lucky for us!

Cya later....

We're Home..and the laundry begins again!

So we're home. YEA!
After some stressful and chaotic beginning at Heathrow this morning, we got to our house around 4:30pm california time. I am glad to be home. I was glad to see my kitty, who is very loving right now. In fact her voice is so hoarse from all the meowing she did when she saw us!
That'll change and she'll go back to her old ways of ignoring us soon enough!

I have started to unpack, but it's tedious and I'm super tired. I want to thank all of you that commented on this blog. It's been fun to write and fun to hear about how much you enjoyed it.

My final thoughts are this....

If disney were to offer this cruise again identical..I wouldn't do it. They need to make it a 2 week cruise and go all the way around to greece or venice. It needs to be spread out more too. To much stuff going on all the time. I blame that as to why I got sick...not the fact that I drank my WHOLE bottle of limoncello before I got home ;).
Also, I would have skipped london all together. I didn't really like the one day we spent there, but I would give it a second chance.
I would pack better! Definately. I didn't take too many clothes or shoes, but I would pare down next time and try to do more laundry.
And finally, I would do everything ON MY OWN...no more disney tours. While they were helpful and convenient, they were costly. I should have been more adventurous.
BUT....There's always next time.....

So thats it. I don't plan on blogging again, but you can always check for updates. I named this page wrong, should have called it something else, but I will blog our Panama Canal Cruise next may so look for that.
For all you disboarders..see you online!

Steph and Tay

London...

Well guess what...it rained in london...not just a sprinkle, but a full blooded downpour!
We still tried to make the most of it. After getting to our hotel (if you can call it that!) we went back to victoria station and boarded one of the big red busses. We did the "yellow line" which was supposed to take us around to all kinds of famous places, however there were lots of road closures, so we went around alot of them. I didn't even realize we'd missed some until we were back at our starting point!

This is Big Ben

Tower Bridge or London Bridge..can't remember which

Apparently whenever anything happens in London, they close roads. Well it would be just our luck that...
1. Di's anniversary memorial was this weekend.
2. Wimbledon is in town
3. The big Gay pride parade was saturday

and 4. Two car bombs were discovered!

So basically, we got the short tour in the rain. We still sat in the top of the bus with our "free" raincoats. Clear plastic garbage bags with hoods in them. We had fun and then we got off the yellow line and switched to the blue to end up at the famous "Harrods" department store. Again, with road closures we got stuck in a huge traffic jam. 45 minutes of sitting and going maybe 100 feet forward, taylor and I along with a mom and her 2 daughters from Orange County, got off and walked to harrods.
Harrods was interesting, but VERY expensive. We did buy some trinkets there, but nothing extravagent. No designer anything, however I did see the new Dior purses..jenn if your reading this...they're beautiful! I couldn't find the Diana memorial, but we got there late and they were closing. So off we went in the rain to head back to our "hotel". Once at the place, we turned on the "tele" as they call it, to discover that glasgow airport had been hit with a car bomb and all united kingdom airports were in CRITICAL alert.
I went down and asked the desk clerk what time we should leave and he said at least 4 hours early...ugh!
So this morning taylor and I headed out to Heathrow at 7am! Our flight was at 11am and we BARELY made it. BUT we did and now we're home!