If you have any input on doing Disney with little kids, please comment and share with me. I have been reading Disboards and All Ears as well. That helped me a lot with our last trip but it was two years ago.

Getting Ready

Reception

(Clapping as the bride and groom are introduced)

Can you tell she was getting really tired?

Here she was about two minutes into the car ride home and already falling asleep!

We enjoyed a Wendy’s stop on the way home. I miss Wendy’s since all of them around here closed

Congratulations and Best Wishes to Faith and Bryan. It was so good to see you guys. And Bailey has been playing “wedding” since we got home, with my bouquet and her flower basket. It usually starts out, “Mom, let’s play wedding! You’re Uncle Bryan and I’m Aunt Faith!”

The car ride was fairly uneventful. There was a light rain for about the first two hours of the drive which always sets me on edge. Thank goodness Jonathon loves to drive because I hate it. About the last hour of the six hour drive, Bailey started yelling, “Help! I’m trapped in this chair! Somebody let me out!” we were trying so hard not to laugh!

She was beyond excited about staying in a hotel room. It was the first time that she was really old enough to enjoy it, and there was an indoor pool so we got to swim several times. We had a suite with a separate area where we put her bed (we brought her toddler mattress from home). It worked out really well and she was much more comfortable sleeping in her own bed/mattress on the floor. She ran around the room like a crazy girl for about the first half hour after we arrived.

The first night we were in town, I went to the bachelorette party/lingerie shower. It was a fun and relaxing girls night at her house. I was glad to be able to just put my (extremely swollen) feet up and hang out and catch up. Faith is the type of person who blushes and gets embarrassed easily so it was fun to watch her open the gifts.

She got a really cool set of products from her sister in law. There were all different bars of soap and bath oils and fizzies and stuff. Apparently everything was natural and preservative free. Her sister in law was telling us all about the company and I might have to go check them out. They even have something with top fat burners in it.

On Friday morning, we got up and went to the church to help decorate and set up. Bailey met the other little flower girl who was NOT friendly at all. There were a few other kids there for her to play with, though and she stayed pretty busy with the toys she got from the nursery.

Bailey also got to see Faith for the first time in about two months. She was so excited. On the drive there, she told us, “I can’t wait to see Aunt Faith! And Uncle Bryan! He’s her cousin!” More like fiance, but anyway…

Friday night we had the rehearsal at the church. We all sat and introduced ourselves. I was getting ready to introduce Bailey when it was her turn but she spoke up and said, “Hi, my name is Bailey. I’m a flower girl!” She always surprises me- I mean she’s really outgoing, but I didn’t know she was capable of making an introduction like that to a group of people!

Bailey cooperated for the most part. She took her job of walking down the aisle very seriously and practiced twice. The other little girl started crying, so Bailey walked down by herself. At first her flower basket just contained some Little People…

She was given a Dora house for her flower girl gift. She carried it around with her all weekend and then ended up losing Dora. So we are currently looking for a small (like two inch tall) replacement Dora figurine, if anyone has one or knows where to get one. She’s about the height of Little People, but thinner. You know, to fit through the narrow doorway in her house…

I’ll try to get the pictures from the actual wedding posted soon! Need to go make some Avon phone calls now.

We were flown into Miami and had a welcome dinner. There were over 950 Avon reps on this trip. We stayed at the Downtown Hilton and it was really nice. I spent that first afternoon at the pool until I had to get ready for dinner.

The view from my hotel room… I love cities where all the buildings downtown are white- it just looks so much cleaner! My city has kind of a crummy downtown area in a lot of spots.

Me with one of the “Avon Celebrities” at the dinner. There were a few president/ceo/important type people there and we got our pictures taken. I am just leaving her name out for goo.gle reasons.

One of the pools on the top deck of our ship. It was 12 stories high and my room was on the 9th floor- which had the biggest staterooms except for the suites. It was still only something like 160 square feet! Rooms on ships are tiny!

On the island of Nassau

Straw market

Snorkeling- the snorkeling here was the best snorkeling expedition I have ever been on. The water is SO clear and beautiful. It was 15-20 feet deep where we were and you could see straight to the bottom and see every detail on the coral. There were thousands of fish- all different kinds. It probably helped that our guide was throwing Cheetos off the boat to make the fish come!

I know I am so behind on posting and I have millions of pictures to wade through but at least I got started…

Finally Jonathon got tired of playing it too. Bailey kept walking around the house asking us both… “Match? Please? Beelay’s Match!” Then if I said, “Do you want to play your new game?” She’d nod really enthusiastically and smile and say “Yaaaaahhhh.” Really, how can you say no to that? She also convinced Teddy and Pinky (her stuffed guys) to play “Beelay’s Match” with her when a sub was needed. Honestly, I am glad she loves it so much. She was in need of something new and fun. And it’s even educational. Check out the look of concentration-

Anyway, each vacation we’ve gone on, we said we would get new stuff. I finally put it on a garage sale we had a while back and got like $15 for it. I was glad to be rid of it… then we realized that once again we were about to go on vacation and we didn’t have luggage. And I refuse to use Jonathon’s big green monster suitcase. So I shopped for luggage online and figured out Kohl’s had the best prices. I waited until it was on sale and we got a nice charcoal gray set for a good price. It’s not super quality or brand name, but we only take vacation like once a year anyway.

Here is our new set:

I didn’t want to get black because EVERYONE has black luggage. I also got some new luggage tags from Avon because I thought they’d make our stuff easier to spot… and cuz they’re cute…

So then they decided that they would come here over Christmas. I told them they could not come actually ON Christmas Eve or Christmas day because we were spending those with my family this year (we alternate years). They said they were going to stay at our house and Jonathon’s brother was coming too. Well we live in a split level and there isn’t really a “guest bedroom” since we made the fourth bedroom into Jonathon’s office, and the third bedroom is my office/Avon sorting area. I told them that was too many people to sleep out in our living room and would just not work well with Bailey playing in the living room and with her sleep schedule and whatnot. So they pouted and decided they weren’t coming.

Then Jonathon’s brother was trying to convince them to look at priceline.com or one of those other travel sites. There are only like a million websites to compare hotel costs and seriously if you want to go cheap, there’s a Days Inn and a Motel 6 about twenty minutes from here. They leave the light on. The only thing I told them was, if they use one of these services to make sure to use one where you know what hotel you will be staying in before you make the final reservation. I would be nervous just choosing a category of hotels and then letting them decide based on the price I submitted. Anyway, apparently that was not a good solution for them either.

The latest? They are going to buy a pop up camper so that they can save money when they travel. You know, because it’s always best to spend over $10,000 in order to save money on hotels. When you travel twice a year. And have already purchased a timeshare that was NEVER used. Stay tuned to find out what will actually happen if or when they visit.

Bailey will stay with my parents, at our house and she will love the time with them. Plus, toting a 17 month old around a theme park is not my idea of fun. We’d have to go back to the room every day for her nap, and she couldn’t do any rides yet. And lines? She’d lose it in line for a ride!

I am not going to disclose the details like our hotel name until we get back- but I will say that we did an “all-inclusive” vacation package. Airfare, transportation to/from airport and also from our resort to all the Disney parks, a six day Magic Kingdom (and Epcot and Universal) pass, and a Disney dining plan where we get two meals (one table service and one quick serve) and a snack each day, for each of us! The meal plan was free with the current special package. And we are in a Disney resort, so even though I have never been to this particular one, I know it will be well done and an enjoyable stay. Also, we got this all for an amazing price. I love finding vacation deals!

Problem is, mid summer is not ideal for Mexico. Fall is even worse. And Caribbean in the fall? Forget it. I think we might just look ahead and book something for LATE fall, later on. If we could leave, you know, on Friday we could get an amazing deal. I’m ready to pack us up and go. I wonder if Jonathon could abandon his job at short notice. If not, I could go alone. Right? Right? Tell me I’m not crazy to want to pack my bags and go to Mexico alone. Who would I hang out with? The fat hairy guy at the swim up bar? It’s not like I can chat up the bartender, he won’t speak much English.

Yeah, I might need a companion. That sucks. Anyone want to go on a last minute vacation with me? Or have me come visit you in another city? Or meet me somewhere in another city for a weekend? I think I just need out of here, I need a break from mamamamamamama all the time. Did I mention Bailey bit my toe today? Really hard. And she has decided not to listen to me, at all. We need a little break from each other. I love her, but I will love her more after I don’t see her for a few days. Absence making the heart grow fonder, and all that.

When we got into Nashville we went straight to the rehearsal dinner, which was at Buca di Beppo (which I guess is a chain of Italian restaurants but I hadn’t heard of it before). The food was all served family style so that was kind of fun. We sat at a table with Jonathon’s parents and his Aunt Grace and Uncle Marvin. We had a nice time at the dinner and then afterwards we went to the church for the rehearsal. I had never been to a rehearsal where the dinner was before the church part. But Bailey had a great time running up and down the aisles as fast as possible. They slanted downward toward the front of the church so she would get going faster and faster and then crash. She also liked chasing after the two flower girls, who were amused by her at first and then I think they got annoyed.

Saturday morning, Jonathon drove me around Nashville to show me where he used to work and live and stuff like that. We let Bailey take her morning nap in the car since we weren’t sure how it would work at the hotel. Also we found Cadbury eggs on clearance for 12 cents each at Walgreens! Then we went back and got ready for the wedding (and I had to iron all our clothes!) and headed to the church. It was raining and the parking lot was so full by the time we got there, so Jonathon dropped us off and then met us inside later. Bailey made it through the wedding long enough to see the bride come in and then for about three minutes after that. I spent the rest of the time wandering the church with her and then I found the nursery and took her in there to play.

The reception was at the church right after the ceremony. It was really the first “cake and punch” reception I had ever been to. They had all kinds of hors d’oeuvres and desserts and stuff too. Here are some pictures of the bride and groom, and then everyone at our table (Jonathon’s parents, aunt, uncle, cousins).

Once again, Bailey had a great time running around. She helped rearrange some chairs and also tried to get everyone’s attention. She got lots of compliments. She was a very good baby all day and I was so impressed. Especially since she completely missed her afternoon nap!

That night met up in the groom’s parents hotel room for leftovers (from the rehearsal dinner) and to visit with Jonathon’s family. They are all so normal, except for his parents. They really sat there and didn’t say much the whole time. I wonder if they feel like they don’t fit in, or if they just don’t have anything to say. Sunday morning we were going to spend more time at Opryland but we were just kind of anxious to get on the road and get home. Plus we thought that way Bailey would take her morning nap in the car instead of at The Grand Ole Opry!

Today and tonight I have been running around trying to get things ready for our “real” Christmas celebration at my parents’ house tomorrow. I had a few things left to wrap, and I have been trying to unpack and get the endless loads of laundry done from our trip. Our downstairs is still a mess and I feel like I haven’t gotten a whole lot done. I took Bailey to my parents house to play for a little bit because they couldn’t wait to see her. I listed a bunch of stuff on eBay tonight.

Jonathon has been talking about what he is going to do with the Best Buy giftcard from his brother. He really wants to get some sort of flat panel tv for downstairs. He also wants a plasma mount thing to put it on the wall. I told him we should at least get it carpeted before we worry about stuff like that.

Big news: WE ARE GETTING CARPET FOR THE DOWNSTAIRS ON TUESDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I will have to tell you all the comical and miserable details of this trip later. I will just leave you with a few kickers. First, MIL got Bailey a USED tube of diaper cream for while we were here. Second, they keep trying to drive off before her carseat is buckled. The other day we had to take her coat off to fit the straps, and FIL was like, she doesn’t need them, just hold her in. He was dead serious. Third, MIL walked in on me while I was peeing and just kept talking to me. Remember how last summer she walked in on me pumping? They have a serious knocking on doors before opening problem here.

There are a lot of romantic weekend type packages and activities in Raleigh, NC. I was surprised when I started checking to see what was available. Lots of cool dining stuff, Broadway shows, spas, a ballet… as well as some fun shopping places, Diwali festival, and amusement parks and that kind of stuff too.

You can enter to win a free Raleigh getaway which includes:
-One night accommodations for two at the Courtyard by Marriott Raleigh Crabtree Valley
-$25 gift certificate to Bloomsbury Bistro
-Free VIP admission for two to Rum Runners
-2 tickets to the North Carolina Theatre
-2 tickets to the N.C. Museum of Art’s Landscapes from the Age of Impressionism
-2 tickets to Dinosaurs: Ancient Fossils, New Discoveries at the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences

Anyway I have entered the contest, and it would be nice if Jonathon and actually won one of the trips and could use this as our fall getaway! There are nine trips available to win- so you should enter, too

Anyone been there lately? Tell me your stories and make me jealous!

I have even kind of been playing around looking at tickets for Disney. There seem to be some pretty good deals out there. We would definitely want to stay at a Disney hotel (last time I was there we stayed at the Caribbean Beach Resort) and go to The Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and Universal Studios. I know there are tickets called Magic My Way where you can get deals on all the theme parks together. I have also found some cheap Universal Studios tickets.

I know Bailey is too little to do it yet, but here is my question- if you have taken your kids to Disney, how old were they and was it a good age for your trip?