It's official!

We are going to Disney!!!! December 18th-26th I will be in sunny Florida! What a project it is to plan a trip to Disney! YIKES! We thought most of our trip would be free, and it is, but this so called "free" trip is still costing us $2,000!
Our plane tickets were essentially free. Phil had 3 round trip flight rewards since he flies so much for work. BUT...they had black out dates. Hence the time frame we picked! If we did not come home on the 26th then we would have to stay until the 31st. I have no problem with this, but paying for dog care, airport parking fees etc can add up in a hurry! So home on the 26th it is. We also have to fly into Orlando (which is fine) but the original plan was to fly to and from Tampa because that is where my grandma lives. The total cost of the plane tickets $15.00. We had to pay for the taxes!

Next the hotel! Since the only flight we could get on departure day was arriving in Orlando at 5 ish we needed an extra hotel day. Hotel costs for a Disney resort $285. Which honestly is not bad at all seeing as it IS a resort hotel. One of the lower class ones, but really who cares.

Next a minivan. Phil has 11 free days saved up. We called to redeem them, and much to our surprise we can only use 7 at a time. Therefore we have to pay for one day on our own, plus taxes, plus car seat rentals! Total cost $250.

We are spending 2 days in the Magic Kingdom. Praise God that Ethan is free....because for the 3 of use for 2 days it is going to cost us....are you ready for this? Are you sure your ready.......$423! Yikes! But hey, it's where the Magic Happens right?

After our 3 days in Orlando we are driving to Tampa to my grandmothers condo. Only thing is her and my grandfather will not be arriving until the 23rd. This is not a big deal as we will have the place to ourselves, but on the other hand it stinks because we were hoping to be able to spend more time with them. They are leaving VT on the 19th and driving to Mass to see my dad and uncle and have Christmas with them before heading to Florida. I told them to ditch them and come straight to Florida ;) We'll see what happens. I know my grandpa would..not that he doesn't love the boys, but he LOVES warm weather even more! haha! So lets hope and pray they come a day early so we can visit longer.

Then the 26th it is back to Orlando to fly out that night! And when we get home we will still have 2 weeks off from school. LOL! Too funny. But we will be broke so we won't be doing a darn thing! haha!

I can't believe we are actually doing this. I am so excited to see my kids there. I have experienced it with my brother and sister when they were young and it was great. There is nothing like going to Disney with kids. And my step mom is having Ariel call Emma, and give her an autographed picture! What little girl wouldn't love that. I am also trying to arrange a character breakfast, so that she can eat in Cinderella's castle. I am so excited about this....I cannot wait.

Now I am feverishly praying that God will provide all the money we need. From what I can see we can come up with about $1200. Realisticly we only need $1369 to make this trip happen, but we want to have a buffer so we are not worried about buying an ice cream, or souvenier. Who knows when we will be able to go again so we really want to live it up down there.

Oh yah, and I told all of my family to purchase Disney dollars for the kids for Christmas so they will each have their own spending money. So we won't have to worry about that too much. I am so excited. And because I am going to Florida 2 months early, means that we can start trying in December for a baby! I had to wait a few months (doctor's orders) but I was extending it a bit so that I would not be pregnant in February when we originally wanted to go. Now I get to start trying 2 months earlier which is good news. I could still deliver a baby next year. If it's God's will of course.

That's all from me today. I am exhausted cause the baby was up literally all night. I was up with him from 1 am - well now 8:45 am. He slept here and there for maybe 20 minutes at a time. Just as I would doze off the crying began again. I think he is getting sick. I am hoping for a good nap time...for both our sakes.