Our Dream Trip To Disney World Nov/Dec '08 - Pre-trip Report

Part 10 - 17th September 2008 Some of the things i have made!

Well guys its been way too long and I really need to get into the planning mode again as you can see by my countdown there are only 67 sleeps left!!!!!!! Whoohoo!!

Life has just taken over recently. A week past Sat my Dad had a heart attack and so things for the few days after that were all over the place. Thankfully he is home and on the mend after having angeoplasty and a stent placed. Just hope that he is resting as he lives 60miles away from me its really hard just to "pop by". But I am informed that his wife is not letting him lift a finger !

What else has been happening? Well Paddy and his brother then went off last week to Brussels for a few nights and had a ball - well what they can remember of it really! :beer2: So glad they had a great time!

This weekend is the Cancer Research Relay for Life in which our family have entered two teams so preparations for that have been really hectic. We've been fundraising like mad and now we just need to get the costumes sorted out!

Our teams are called "The Steamie Bairns" and "The Steamie Bairns Too" . I know the Scots on the board will understand the team name! The Steamie is a well known Scottish Play which was televised and always shown at Hogmany on the TV and set in a 1950's wash house ( which the Scots referred to as a "Steamie"). Well the street that my Mum, Uncles and myself and my brother and sisters were all brought up in had a "Steamie" at the top of it so we thought it would be a bit of a laugh to dress up in this theme and well "Bairns" is a reference to being from Falkirk - "The Falkirk Bairns" - football fans will get it!!!! :D

So we will all be dressed in Aprons, Headscarves and rollers pushing our High Prams with oor washing round the track and those who aren't able to walk will be sat with the old tin bath and washboard doing oor smalls for us!!! :pgig: :pgig:

It should be a great 24hrs and we will be truly knackered by the end of it but if I manage to get any photos I will be sure and post them here - I don't mind folk seeing me as a numpty!!! :D

Anyway on with the Florida planning! Thought I would share some pictures of some things I have printed off. The lady who designed these is just a fabulous woman and has done lots of things for me and I can't thank her enough really. She has so many requests that I managed to figure out Photoshop and personalised most things myself after she told me what fonts she used - so I was pretty pleased with myself!

So there are quite a few pictures here but thought I may as well share what I have managed to do so far!
Tip Envelopes:
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...00824Small.jpg
Welcome to the four Disney Parks:
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...00828Small.jpg
Aaron's Welcome letter:
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...00842Small.jpg
Kieran's Welcome Letter:
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...00843Small.jpg
Aidan's Welcome Letter:
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...00845Small.jpg
Mum's Welcome Letter:
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...00853Small.jpg
All the letters:
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...00864Small.jpg

Continued.........

Chef Mickey Invite:
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...00844Small.jpg
MVMCP Invite:
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...00846Small.jpg
Crystal Palace Breakfast Invite:
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...00847Small.jpg
Fantasmic Hollywood and Vine Dinner Invite:
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...00849Small.jpg
O'Hana Best Friend Breakfast Invite:
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...00856Small.jpg
Planet Hollywood for Thanksgiving dinner Invite:
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...00857Small.jpg
All the ADR invites:
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...00860Small.jpg
These are envelopes another lady designed that I am going to put a few dollars in each for the goody bags I am making for mum and the kids but obviously I liked them that much I made one for me and Paddy as well!!!LOL
So here is the photos of all the steps of making them!
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...00868Small.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...00869Small.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...00874Small.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...00877Small.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...00879Small.jpg
So thats what I have done so far. I have all my t-shirts bought and the transfer paper and images ready to go but I am going to start them next week once this weekend is over. The lady that did the invites is also going to make me a special invite for Aaron's 3rd birthday dinner at Crystal Palace so just waiting on that and I am also have all her journal pages saved ready to make them for the kids but they are at least 150 pages each so leaving them until last at the minute!
Anyway I will post when I have any more updates and hopefully that won't be too long away!
Carreen
xxx

Well I know its not planning related.....

but I did mention it in my update yesterday - the Relay for Life event!
You know how I told you about a lovely lady on another well known Disney board! ;) that designed all the lovely invitations for me? Well the same lovely kind lady also designed me a team logo for our Relay on Sat and tonight I had the task of trying out Iron on Transfers for the very first time ( kind of like a trial run for my t-shirt project! :tounge: ). So thought I would share with you my efforts!
Mum made a few tabards for the individual team members to wear while on the track so I have ironed the design onto them so that we are easy identifiable(sp?), so here they are!
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...00887Small.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...00888Small.jpg

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...00889Small.jpg

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...00890Small.jpg

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...00892Small.jpg

So the red from the material bled through slightly onto the white of the transfer but I still thought it wasn't a bad effort - not sure if the iron was too hot or what but hey we live and learn don't we! :grin:
Anyway not sure if anyone would be interested or not but just wanted to share!

Carreen
xxx

Part 11 -29th September 2008- Relay and some of my t-shirts

Well guys thanks for sticking with me sorry its taking me so long to post an update things have just been hectic with the Cancer Research Relay for Life amongst other things!
Just thought before I get started with the update I would share a few photos from the relay! :grin:
First of all here is me:
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...001/8Small.jpg

Left to right - My Mum, My Auntie Celia and My Auntie Rosie:
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...001/6Small.jpg

Ready for the off:
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...001/1Small.jpg
My Aunt Celia, My sister Joanne, My Mum and Me:
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...001/3Small.jpg
The Nightshift team : My Cousin Matthew, My Uncle Manus and My Uncle Joe:
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...001/5Small.jpg
It was a great day with lots of money raised and lots of laughs and a few tears as well. I think the Relay in Falkirk raised over £67,000 alone which was just absolutely brilliant! :wiggle:

continued.........

So on with the update!
I have been busy getting all the things together for the t-shirts I wanted to make and was very nervous about doing them to be honest as I had never done it before. I had a trial run on an old t-shirt along with the tabards made for the relay so was pretty confident on getting started.
I did alot of research on how to go about it and found that Dark transfer paper was the best although for the names I printed them seperately on light transfer paper as I am a bit of a perfectionist and if you print on Dark transfer paper where ever there is white it would show white on the t-shirt and I didn't want to have white around the names so the light transfer paper prints the white areas out clear.
Being the perfectionist I am I used a craft knife to cut all the transfers and names out.
Here is one of the transfers printed and ready to be cut out:

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...00895Small.jpg
Here is it cut out:
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...00896Small.jpg
I am very impressed with how they have turned out. The lady who designed these is just lovely and because she is so much in demand to make designs and personalisations I decided to have a go at doing the names myself and was pretty impressed with how they turned out. I'm not a photoshop expert yet but at least I know how to work it now!
So here they all are - there is alot of pictures!!!! :D
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...00935Small.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...00936Small.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...00937Small.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...00945Small.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...00943Small.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...00944Small.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...00951Small.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...00949Small.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...00950Small.jpg

Continued.........

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...00975Small.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...00953Small.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...00954Small.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...00976Small.jpg

I still have Paddy's, Mum's and my own to do plus I have a design for all of us to wear to MVMCP as well. I have got red t-shirts for Paddy and the boys for this fine but finding the right colour of plain red t-shirt for Me and Mum is proving more difficult!
So as soon as they are all done I will surely post those pictures as well!
Well thats all for now folks!
Carreen
xxx

Part 12 - 30th September- New tumble dryer!

Well although it doesn't seem very Florida related it kinda is....
I have just had to shell out £200 of our holiday fund buying a new tumble dryer!
The motor totally burnt out of our old one and was very lucky that a fire didn't start with it!
I am soo annoyed to be honest as it has took me long enough to save what money we do have for Florida spends that £200 is quite a big dent out of it!
But as most Mum's of very messy boys will know keeping up with the washing of 3 boys and 2 adults is hard enough, I just couldn't do it without the aid of my tumble dryer especially coming into the colder months - not that we had much of a summer!! :confused2
Anyway just thought I would share that little bit of very useless information with my fellow dibbers!
xxx

Part 13 - 30th September 2008- More T-shirts, Gift Baskets and a Camcorder!
A few months back I wrote about how I had ordered gift baskets from Betsy at "Memories by Betsy" for the boys. Well they are now complete and she sent me the photo of them today so thought I would share with you all! I'm really excited to see their faces when they get them!
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...asketphoto.jpg
Each basket contains a Mickey Plush ( Jedi Mickey for Kieran, Pirate Mickey for Aidan and normal Mickey for Aaron), Epcot Passport, Autograph book, pen and Disney racer car!
So they will be delivered to the resort on the morning of our arrival.
I have also worked on a few more t-shirts.
Paddy's:
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...00984Small.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...00979Small.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...00983Small.jpg
Mum's:
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...00992Small.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...00988Small.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...00990Small.jpg
Mine:
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...00996Small.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...00999Small.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...10002Small.jpg
Now I had intentions of personalising the star designs as well, infact I had the names printed off on Light transfer paper like the other names were printed. Then I realised that I had bought the pink and blue t-shirts for Mum and I and I realised that the light transfer paper wouldn't work so well on the darker t-shirts. I tried it out on the inside of Mum's pink t-shirt and although the colour showed up OK the transfer paper went that kinda shiny way and I just didn't like the look of it really...just being picky. And I didn't want the white around the name with dark transfer so have decided to leave the names off the star t-shirts for us.
I am pretty pleased with the results but the perfectionist in me still thinks they could have been better.....silly really!
Anyway and last but not least last week Paddy decided that we needed to get a new camcorder for the holiday. Now the one we own hasn't really been used as much as what it should have been to be honest but Paddy insists that is because it couldn't be hooked up to the PC and it used the Mini DV tapes. So he went and bought a Hard drive Camcorder and to be honest its pretty nifty and nice and small and lightweight compared to our old brick!
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...10011Small.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...10012Small.jpg
To be honest we could have done without this expensive toy what with the tumble dryer packing in but he did buy it before that happened so got to let him off with it really!
Carreen
xxx

1st October 2008

Well today is the first day that whenever anyone asks "when is it you go on holiday?" I can finally say............

"NEXT MONTH!!!!!!!!!"
How cool is that!
I think that deserves a wee boogie - what you all think?

xxx

Part 14 - 13th October 2008
Well People six weeks today at this moment in time we should have arrived in Orlando and hopefully be on our way to our accomodation! Whoohoo!
SIX WEEKS TO GO, SIX WEEKS TO GO!!!!!!!!! :mickeybou :mickeybou :mickeybou :mickeybou
Anyhow whats been happening? Well I have ordered Mum's Ultimate ticket and that came in the next day - again big thumbs up to Floridatix! So thats all the Disney Tickets bought both the Ultimate and MVMCP.
We're still swithering whether or not to pre-order our Seaworld tickets or just pay at the gate?
Mum and I are most definately going to do Cirque but we are going to just get tickets at the box office I think.
I am also trying to organise the Richard Petty Drive along for Paddy as a surprise. I know he would love to to the actual driving experience but that is just way out of our budget and he did say that he would love to just experience being driven around a track in a Nascar so think he would still love this. Was hoping to book Daytona and make a day of it but unfortunately it isn't on down there while we are in Orlando so it will have to be at the WDW speedway. Just swithering whether or not to pre-book or not? I did do a post and someone said it would be better to just turn up on the day but not sure about that as being control freak like to know things are organised so still working the details of that one out!
I still have our t-shirts to finish but it has taken me an age to find Red t-shirts for mum and I for our MVMCP designs. I still couldn't find t-shirts so have settled for 3/4 length sleeve tops. Not happy how much they were as all the other t-shirts have been out of Primark or Woolworths and no more than £1.50 each whereas I had to get ours from Newlook at a £5 each! I'l tell you there better not be any mess ups with the transfers on these ones! :D
We loved the little Mickey mouse MP3 player I had got for Aidan so much that couldn't help ourselves and ordered one for each of the other boys! :d:
I got some Disney readalong CD's and Paddy is going to convert them to MP3 so that will do Aidan and Aaron - hopefully! Kieran on the other hand thinks that is for babies and has a few novels to read! He wants his usual Motorhead and Guns and Roses added to his MP3 player before we leave! ( although he thinks it will be on his old one! :D ) He gets his musical taste from his father I have no control over this I hope you understand! :pgig:
Oh and the kids were well excited as we got a very lovely surprise on Friday morning with the postman!
The most wonderful Dibber Jodie, sent a fabulous Mickey Mouse Postcard to the boys from the main man himself. Kieran was a bit dubious about it all but Aidan really bought into it and was really excited! Aaron was just happy to see "Mickey!" and wanted to eat the postcard - but honestly thats a good response! :pgig:
So here a few pictures of the wonderful Pixiedust postcard. Thank-you, Thank-you, Thank-you so much Jodie - it made the kids day and definately made mine!!! :pgig:
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...10023Small.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...10026Small.jpg
Well thats it for now folks!
xxx