Jake & Crew
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Feb 2, 2006
We are finally off and running on our next Disney Trip of a Lifetime!
Who are we you might be asking? Well we are the Living Large Family. We had our first family trip to Disney four years ago and told the kids this was our trip of a lifetime. Once we started our Disney Experience as a family we realized we loved Living Large and our Trip of a Lifetime quickly turned into our First Trip of a Lifetime. For those of you who missed out on the first Living Large Trip you can experience the ups and downs of our 7 day Land/Sea adventure in May of 2006 by clicking on the link in my signature if you so wish.
Unfortunately Living Large Trips number Two and Three never made it to the Disboards.....maybe if I get real ambitious I will do a Readers Digest TR on each of them at some point. Since that probably will not happen any time soon here they are in a nutshell:
Trip Two was February of 2007 and the cast of characters included the four of us as well as my parents each of my 3 siblings and their better halves and two nieces for a grand total of 14. (Make that 14.5 as my very pregnant at the time SIL trooped along with my 3rd niece in tow so to speak). That is 14 very opinionated family members spending one week in the Wilderness Lodge. As I am writing this I am realizing why that TR was a little overwhelming to tackle. That truly was a Trip of a Lifetime as much as we love each other we could probably never get our better halves to agree to such a week again and as of today another niece and nephew have joined the family and two more are on the way so we all know as zany as 14 was 18 would be even zanier.
In fact things got so crazy that week we visited the DVC showcase just to get away from the family for a few hours ( no one else wanted to go) and as a result we bought our most expensive souvenir ever......a DVC membership.
Well that lead to Trip Three in April of 2008. This one was all my idea. Jim, my DH, is an only child and his parents had never been to Disney. They had no interest really which is probably why it was my idea. I love to drive them crazy. Also I knew Jim would really enjoy experiencing a Disney trip at least once with his parents, my girls would have great memories doing trips with each set of grandparents, and in all fairness
after a week with 10 of my relatives what was a week with 2 of his. So we did our first DVC trip with 4 nights at the Boardwalk and 4 nights at Old Key West with my in-laws.
While we realize how blessed we are to be able to do Trips Three and Four with our families we were determined that trip number Four would just be the four of us. And here we are our lucky Trip Four of fours: 4 of us, 4 days at the Boardwalk, 4 days at Animal Kingdom Lodge, 4 months to go and we arrive at 4pm in the afternoon. I am seeming a theme here.....if it works with the number 4 it is for Trip Four.
So here is the cast for Trip Four:
Jim (40 something) is a great dad and husband who never experienced Disney until we were dating. He had no desire to go to the house of Mouse but once we spent a week at the Wilderness Lodge he was hooked. Oh and he enjoyed Disney World also. Jim is quiet and keeps his emotions in check for the most part. Though his nickname and coffee mug is Grumpy and he is proud of these things. He is happy to have me plan and connive our way into things like reasoning why the direct flight is cheaper than the lay over ($ we would spend in the airport) and buying the DVC ( too many reasoning discussions to post here). He also lets me do the Fast Pass Dash as he calls it and looks forward to our Disney trip as a chance to Live Large ( we do not dine out 8 days in a row at home nor does he get many days off at home without at least a short Honey Do list).
Belle (9) is our first born, anxiety ridden, serious student daughter. She loves to read and takes Disney planning as seriously as her mom does. She tends to hold back and stay on the shy side which is one of the reasons we pulled her from public school and put her in private this year. She is starting to really blossom and blew us away this winter by participating in her school wide spelling bee. We were not surprised that she qualified as much as were that she participated and we were thrilled to watch our 4th grader come in 3rd place behind a 6th grader and an 8th grader. We are hoping this confidence will continue and we can get her on the Haunted Mansion....but one thing at a time. Her favorite character is Tinkerbell though her love of reading and school inspired me to call her Belle, might shorten it to Bell for this TR and you can read it anyway you want.
Ariel ( 7) is our baby girl and yet she is a wise, old soul as the saying goes. To quote Billy Joel she has a way about her, dont know what it is but I cant live without her. She adds the spunk and sass ( sometimes a little too much) into our house that her ultra conservative parents, well dad anyway, and sister hold back on. She is who she is and we love her for it. She is the one who will climb up in your lap and cuddle one minute yet she is also the kind of kid who will make three new friends in 10 minutes at the hotel pool. She was sad to see her sister switch schools this year and I think her sister has no clue how much she looks up to her, yet in many ways she can be the older sister as she has almost no fears. On our last trip at 5 she insisted on doing Tower of Terror and on this trip she is already working on getting her sister to join her. Her favorite princess is/was Ariel so her name sticks after all these years.
Kate ( me) 40 something, though a younger 40 something than Jim. I grew up in a Disney family. My first trip was with my grandmother and great aunt when I was 5 and then took two more trips with my family in my teenage years. Still have not quite forgiven my parents for taking my brother and sisters to the opening of the Grand Floridian without me (I was in college at the time). I love Disney. I love Living Large in a
world where I can just focus on my family and having fun and creating memories. I love the dreaming, the planning and the experiencing all things Disney has to offer and my goal is to take the family many times before the girls are off on their own. I want them to have the same kind of great memories I do. Just this week my parents sold their house which was the family home for 33 years and now more than ever I feel Disney is the place I can connect with past while living in the present and dreaming of the future with my family. My coffee mug and my gal is Tinkerbell.
So here we are. Profile updated. Plane and lodging booked. Dining reservations in process. Pre-Trip report started.
Let the Living Large....(Fourth)Trip of a Lifetime begin!
Who are we you might be asking? Well we are the Living Large Family. We had our first family trip to Disney four years ago and told the kids this was our trip of a lifetime. Once we started our Disney Experience as a family we realized we loved Living Large and our Trip of a Lifetime quickly turned into our First Trip of a Lifetime. For those of you who missed out on the first Living Large Trip you can experience the ups and downs of our 7 day Land/Sea adventure in May of 2006 by clicking on the link in my signature if you so wish.
Unfortunately Living Large Trips number Two and Three never made it to the Disboards.....maybe if I get real ambitious I will do a Readers Digest TR on each of them at some point. Since that probably will not happen any time soon here they are in a nutshell:
Trip Two was February of 2007 and the cast of characters included the four of us as well as my parents each of my 3 siblings and their better halves and two nieces for a grand total of 14. (Make that 14.5 as my very pregnant at the time SIL trooped along with my 3rd niece in tow so to speak). That is 14 very opinionated family members spending one week in the Wilderness Lodge. As I am writing this I am realizing why that TR was a little overwhelming to tackle. That truly was a Trip of a Lifetime as much as we love each other we could probably never get our better halves to agree to such a week again and as of today another niece and nephew have joined the family and two more are on the way so we all know as zany as 14 was 18 would be even zanier.
In fact things got so crazy that week we visited the DVC showcase just to get away from the family for a few hours ( no one else wanted to go) and as a result we bought our most expensive souvenir ever......a DVC membership.
Well that lead to Trip Three in April of 2008. This one was all my idea. Jim, my DH, is an only child and his parents had never been to Disney. They had no interest really which is probably why it was my idea. I love to drive them crazy. Also I knew Jim would really enjoy experiencing a Disney trip at least once with his parents, my girls would have great memories doing trips with each set of grandparents, and in all fairness
after a week with 10 of my relatives what was a week with 2 of his. So we did our first DVC trip with 4 nights at the Boardwalk and 4 nights at Old Key West with my in-laws.
While we realize how blessed we are to be able to do Trips Three and Four with our families we were determined that trip number Four would just be the four of us. And here we are our lucky Trip Four of fours: 4 of us, 4 days at the Boardwalk, 4 days at Animal Kingdom Lodge, 4 months to go and we arrive at 4pm in the afternoon. I am seeming a theme here.....if it works with the number 4 it is for Trip Four.
So here is the cast for Trip Four:
Jim (40 something) is a great dad and husband who never experienced Disney until we were dating. He had no desire to go to the house of Mouse but once we spent a week at the Wilderness Lodge he was hooked. Oh and he enjoyed Disney World also. Jim is quiet and keeps his emotions in check for the most part. Though his nickname and coffee mug is Grumpy and he is proud of these things. He is happy to have me plan and connive our way into things like reasoning why the direct flight is cheaper than the lay over ($ we would spend in the airport) and buying the DVC ( too many reasoning discussions to post here). He also lets me do the Fast Pass Dash as he calls it and looks forward to our Disney trip as a chance to Live Large ( we do not dine out 8 days in a row at home nor does he get many days off at home without at least a short Honey Do list).
Belle (9) is our first born, anxiety ridden, serious student daughter. She loves to read and takes Disney planning as seriously as her mom does. She tends to hold back and stay on the shy side which is one of the reasons we pulled her from public school and put her in private this year. She is starting to really blossom and blew us away this winter by participating in her school wide spelling bee. We were not surprised that she qualified as much as were that she participated and we were thrilled to watch our 4th grader come in 3rd place behind a 6th grader and an 8th grader. We are hoping this confidence will continue and we can get her on the Haunted Mansion....but one thing at a time. Her favorite character is Tinkerbell though her love of reading and school inspired me to call her Belle, might shorten it to Bell for this TR and you can read it anyway you want.
Ariel ( 7) is our baby girl and yet she is a wise, old soul as the saying goes. To quote Billy Joel she has a way about her, dont know what it is but I cant live without her. She adds the spunk and sass ( sometimes a little too much) into our house that her ultra conservative parents, well dad anyway, and sister hold back on. She is who she is and we love her for it. She is the one who will climb up in your lap and cuddle one minute yet she is also the kind of kid who will make three new friends in 10 minutes at the hotel pool. She was sad to see her sister switch schools this year and I think her sister has no clue how much she looks up to her, yet in many ways she can be the older sister as she has almost no fears. On our last trip at 5 she insisted on doing Tower of Terror and on this trip she is already working on getting her sister to join her. Her favorite princess is/was Ariel so her name sticks after all these years.
Kate ( me) 40 something, though a younger 40 something than Jim. I grew up in a Disney family. My first trip was with my grandmother and great aunt when I was 5 and then took two more trips with my family in my teenage years. Still have not quite forgiven my parents for taking my brother and sisters to the opening of the Grand Floridian without me (I was in college at the time). I love Disney. I love Living Large in a
world where I can just focus on my family and having fun and creating memories. I love the dreaming, the planning and the experiencing all things Disney has to offer and my goal is to take the family many times before the girls are off on their own. I want them to have the same kind of great memories I do. Just this week my parents sold their house which was the family home for 33 years and now more than ever I feel Disney is the place I can connect with past while living in the present and dreaming of the future with my family. My coffee mug and my gal is Tinkerbell.
So here we are. Profile updated. Plane and lodging booked. Dining reservations in process. Pre-Trip report started.
Let the Living Large....(Fourth)Trip of a Lifetime begin!