This life is just a test .... Now pass me a beer.

[lklasing 16]

Do all those kids, in particular the siblings, always get along so swimingly or are there moments that make you want to strangle them drink heavily? They always look happy in the pics.

I've gotta reply to this one. The non-sibling cousins almost always get along great. The sibling pairs are a completely different story. But, that's what I love about WDW - I have so many fewer times of threatening to ground, kill, strangle etc. any kids than I do at home as everyone is always either in a great mood or completely exhausted.

(Not to say that there wasn't some heavy drinking strangling that happened along the way anyway...)

[lklasing 16]

Thanks for reading, y'all! :wave1: More tomorrow.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

As I often tell INC, if our kids are annoying or angering us, it's not their fault. It just means we aren't drinking enough.

[stefa70 205]

The shower debacle must be a man thing. My husband always seems to forget something if he uses the comfort stations!

The sausage things sound delicious and easy. I will have to try them one of these days.

I have a feeling that TCD will be chiming in on all those hammock shots.

I'm looking forward to hearing about drinking around the world! :hah:

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

The shower debacle must be a man thing. My husband always seems to forget something if he uses the comfort stations!

The sausage things sound delicious and easy. I will have to try them one of these days.

I have a feeling that TCD will be chiming in on all those hammock shots.

I'm looking forward to hearing about drinking around the world! :hah:

Yes, of course I love the hammock shots!

Looks like a lot of fun!

And I see some tremendous acting skills there on the part of all the "sleeping" cousins.

But out of all the stories Leslie has shared so far about her trip, my favorite one is about Ray's visit to the shower.

He forgot soap, shampoo a razor and a towel. What did he remember to bring? Thank goodness he went in there with clothes on, or I would hate to think what could have happened. That is a great story. If I ever get the chance to meet Ray, I am going to call him Cosmic Ray (because he is spacey).

I echo what others have already said, Leslie, it is a pleasure to see a big extended family enjoying each other's company so much at WDW.

TCD

[DaveInTN 3,247]

If I ever get the chance to meet Ray, I am going to call him Cosmic Ray (because he is spacey).

:rofl2:

I'm sure he will love that nickname.

[lklasing 16]

Cosmic Ray - I love it! It would appear that the only things he remembered to bring that morning were his magazine and reading glasses. :flush2:

Thanks for reading! More shortly.

[lklasing 16]

(Monday continued:)

After a while, I grabbed biggest 6 kids and headed off to DTD for trip to Goofy’s Candy Co.

I have no idea what someone said right before this picture was taken to get this reaction:

On the way, we had to recreate a few photopass pics we hadn’t had yet on this trip. (I think they took a few creative liberties with some of them…)

Even 17-year old Brad got into the spirit

Right before we arrived at DTD, Danielle noticed that Ryan’s loose tooth was bleeding. It became clear that it was time for Ryan to lose his first tooth! Once we got there, I washed my hands and easily removed the offending tooth. Ryan was very excited and proud of losing his first tooth at WDW.

After the bleeding stopped, we went to Goofy’s Candy Co., where everyone chose their favorite concentration of sugar. We poked around DTD a little, Danielle and I looked in vain for some pixie dust to help out the tooth fairy tonight, and then headed back to the Fort.

When we got back, we found out that the littlest two kids had gone swimming at the cabin pool, so I took next biggest two there too, while 4 biggest hung out, biked, hammocked, watched tv, and relaxed.

Here is a good place to point out that when Ray, Tiger and eventually Daniel split from the group to go drinking around Epcot, they failed to give anyone the golf cart key. So, while we had this awesome 6 (or more) seater GC, it was completely unavailable to us this afternoon. So, here we are, walking back to our sites:

Meanwhile, the 3 dads (Daniel had joined Ray and Tiger by then) were seriously drinking around the world. I kept getting text updates from Tiger, which were quite enlightening. Ray doesn’t have enough guy friends to hang with at home generally, and his best friend has been battling cancer this year so they haven’t been able to do much together, so Ray apparently really enjoyed getting to hang out with a couple of guys for an afternoon. I hear that they got a couple of photopass pictures taken, but apparently no one was, ahem, with it enough to keep up with the card, so we have no evidence of anything that went on. As the afternoon wore on longer and longer and longer, I wondered whether they’d be sober enough to make it back. They were, but just barely. They had some brain fart and decided to take the monorail to the TTC, where they inadvertently got on the express monorail, made a loop or two, got off at the MK and took the boat back to FW. The only problem at that point is that the golf cart was at the outpost and they were at the marina (with the keys to the GC, of course). Luckily, Michael picked them up and got them back to the cart.

Right before that, Michael delivered me to Trail’s End so I could do my contribution to the family dinners: take out! (It’s about all I “cook” at home, so it’s definitely the most I do at the fort.)

Here’s my view from the bar at Crokett’s while I was waiting on the food to get ready and for Ray to show up with the GC to pick me up (and enjoying a glass of cheap wine while I did all that waiting):

Ray finally reunited with the golf cart and came down and met me at CT, helped me get the tons of food to the cart, and then I took away the keys. Earl’s admonitions that Ray was blitzed proved to be true. But, he had had a great time, got to hang with the guys, and where else in real life do you get to go drinking around the world on a Monday afternoon and not get in trouble (at least not too much trouble!).

Dinner consisted of 3 pizzas, plus one GAG and extra sides. It all went over very well, with only about ½ pizza left. I was glad I got the third and not just two.

After dinner, Michael’s family left, still tired from a long drive plus MK time last night and a big day today. I took Tiger, Elise, Marie, Daniel and their boys to the campfire for Alice in Wonderland and eventually made it back to the cabin for an earlier bedtime tonight.

Dinner and bedtime:

It was a great day. I’m so glad that Michael is here as he and I were the ones here with Buddy and Paw Paw on the first one of these trips with just the first 3 grandkids back in 2003. It’s been 9 years, and even though Michael and his family are not sleeping at FW (they had a room offsite somewhere), but it felt right for him to be a part of this.

Next up: 17 matching shirts!

[LORNADUCK 261]

Leslie what a great TR so far. Your pictures of the kids and family are wonderful. It is so nice that Buddy and Paw Paw still fell that way about each other.

[kampfirekim 260]

My head is spinning from all the love and fun!

As a cousin with cousins that were more like bro's and sis' .... I can totally appreciate the Cousin Love! :heart:

CM's who even make bus stops fun! It's the little things that make WDW so great!

Your photos are so great... they absolutely capture the love and the fun that your family was having!

Agreed. Nasty soda tasting is a wasting of time. (but we still do it occasionally) ;D

Thinking I had more comments but due to the head spinning mentioned earlier... Can't remember. Love Love Love this TR!

[DaveInTN 3,247]

that looks like great family fun! Especially the drinking around the world part. :naughtywave:

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

Still following along, I loved the bus photos!!

[DoctorDalek 7]

I love the cousin song... the kids all seem to be getting along swimmingly i cant wait to read more... and thanks for the sausage things they sound good ill have to give them a try

[We4mickey 6]

What a great trip report! I love the big family trips! Everyone looks like they are having such fun. I am working diligently on getting my gang to go on our next trip.

[BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023]

Love the "photopass" pics on the bus!

Congrats to Ryan - very cool to lose your first tooth at WDW. And you were probably relieved that he finally stopped fiddling with it!

We've done the "darn, the golf cart is at the wrong end of the Fort" thing before too.

Usually involves us taking a few extra modes of transportation to get there.

We could walk of course... but what would be the fun of that?

[stefa70 205]

Ha! I love all the bus pictures! What a bunch of hams.

There really ought to be a law against so much cuteness in one family.

[Lou... 3,118]

I love all the bus pictures! What a bunch of hams.

I only wish that they had been on my bus.

And no, I'm not reading this TR.

[Disneyzombie-Brenda 10]

Loving your TR! You have a really special family, love the underwater pics. We love to throw our kids too!

[kampfirekim 260]

I only wish that they had been on my bus. And no, I'm not reading this TR.

Just looking at the pictures? ;D

[lklasing 16]

Hey everyone! Thanks for reading and commenting! We've got a pretty rough week coming up so I may have to slow down a little in posting updates, but I'll try to keep on top of it. But for now, here's a couple of short stories which cracked me up from Monday night. First, right at bedtime, Ray was already asleep when this HUGE bug was flying around the TV scaring me. So, I did what any reasonable person would do – go get Daniel out of the bed to come kill it for me. What I didn’t realize was that he was actually asleep himself. :faceplant2: Here’s evidence of the killer bug:

Second, in the middle of night Monday night, Jody was having a hard time sleeping, due to Daniel snoring. So all 5’9 of Jody slept for rest of night on the tiny couch in the den. This was after I paid her $10 not to sleep in the hammock by herself as it just scared me too much for her to be out there by herself all night. I’m sure she was questioning whether allowing herself to be bought out like that was the right thing after all.

Anyway, thanks again for reading! I'll be back with more as quickly and often as time permits.

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

You did exactly the right thing. With a bug that size nobody gets to sleep.

That was very enterprising of Jody, I hope she spent her $10 wisely!!

[kampfirekim 260]

Jody should've held out for $15 ;D

This update reminds me of an episode of Designing Women.. "The man should have to kill the bug!!!" lol

[Gots2pitt.. Jeff 64]

You know us Fiends we will try to wait patiently for an update but I can't promise anything. :)

[DaveInTN 3,247]

This update reminds me of an episode of Designing Women.. "The man should have to kill the bug!!!" lol

Designing Women....4 Southern ladies with sarcastic senses of humor, obsessing about men and cocktails. Am I the only one picturing the WWW gals?

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

well, sarcastic sense of humor and obsessing about cocktails, yes......

obsessing about men....... I think most of us are waaaaay beyond that :)