13 days until vacation

We only have 13 days remaining until we leave :) This will be short and sweet. Today we each got a pack of gum. We are BIG gum chewers in my family (but only sugar free) and I always buy gum to pack to take with me so I don't pay Disney's high prices for a pack of gum. It is also good for the popping of the ears on flights. 

All 3 packs of  Trident gum came from Dollar Tree and were $1 each. The Extra is also from Dollar Tree for $1. My Orbit gum was on sale at Target for $2 for the 3 pack.

Total for this gift is $6

Plane/car entertainment for trips

My best advice to people going on either long car rides or airplane rides is to pack enough to keep your kids occupied, because a bored kid is like a bored puppy....they get themselves into tons of trouble. We are approximately a 1.5 hour car ride from our closest airport and 2+ hour plane ride to Florida, add in the time spent at the airport waiting for our flight and it adds up to A LOT OF TIME that I need to keep 3 children entertained. Now, please understand that my kids are older and the two 12 year olds (Xander and my niece) will probably spend most of their time listening to music but there is still some time that they will want to do something else. I have already purchased my kids some activities, like coloring books and paper, but they were in need of something else. 

Today's Disney countdown gift is another activity for all of us. The kids get MadLibs (I LOVE MADLIBS!!!) and the adults get word searches. I cannot resist to add in something educational to their fun and MadLibs is it. 

The MadLibs were purchased at barnesandnoble.com for $3.59 each. The word searches came from Dollar Tree for $1 each. This gift total is $12.77. 

We only have 14 days left!! 

Candy, Candy, Candy

We only have 15 days left. Today's gift is some candy. We usually get a bag of candy to eat at the airport, on the plane, or in the hotel room. It is much easier/cheaper to buy candy at home than it is to buy it at the airport or Disney's gift shops. 

From left to right: Catelyn gets Reese Cups from Dollar Tree for $1 and gummy worms from CVS for $.88, Eve gets sour gummy worms from CVS for $.88 and Now & Later's from Dollar Tree for $1, Xanders candy is Life Saver Gummi's that were $1.87 at Walmart and sour gummy worms from CVS for $.88, Mammie gets 2 bags of chocolate covered raisins for $1 each at Dollar Tree, and I get chocolate covered peanuts from CVS for $1 and gummy bears for $.88 from CVS.

All of the gummy candy from CVS was the bigger, 2 for $3 bags of candy but I got them all on sale for $.88 each. Sometimes CVS puts candy onsale and its not in their ad's so you just have to keep an eye on products when you go in. 

Total for today's gift is: $10.39

Anti-bacterial hand gel for yucky bathrooms

Today marks 16 days until we go to Florida. The gift for today is anti-bacterial hand gel. All bathrooms are yucky, even Disney bathrooms. I encourage my children to use hand gel after they wash their hands and leave the bathroom, this helps with the germs that people leave on door handles. They usually use mine but I thought it would be easier if everyone had their own, especially if we split up to go on different rides.

Ok, for the descriptions: starting at the 12 o'clock spot and going clockwise. First is Xanders hand gel and glow in the dark holder from Bath and Body Works for $1.50, then is Mammie's gel and holder from B&BW for $1.25, Catelyn's is from Kohl's for $1.52, my gel and glow in the dark holder is also from B&BW for $1.50, and finally Eve's is from Justice and was $2.10. 

The total for this gift is $7.87.

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I am officially out of Mickey head paint chips from Home Depot. I explained how I made this Mickey to use for the remainder of my countdown here. I realize it is very basic and simple but it is going to work for what we need. 

Free time

I had some free time today without husband and kids so I decided to make my blog look prettier. This might be easy to some but I am new to blogging so I had to do some research. 

First off I found this website http://blissfullydomestic.com/life-bliss/geek-life-bliss/how-to-make-a-blog-header-for-free/66333/ which helped me make the cute new header for the blog. I already had Picasa on my computer so I just followed the rest of the steps and I think it turned out good for my first try. Now that I know what I am doing, I can work on it some more later.

Then I wanted to put pictures of my family, along with description, along the side of my blog. Well, just by playing around I added them. I'm sure there is a different/better way but for now this works. 

Pens to go with paper

First off, I do apologize for the amount of Disney posts. I created this blog for the purpose of blogging my upcoming vacation and then I can use it as a personal blog afterward. Most of what I do right now is planning this trip, besides working, cleaning, cooking, and other motherly things. I am happy to help someone with planning a trip, or even answer questions, just send me a message or leave it in comments and I will try to help you the best I can. 

Todays countdown gift is pens to go with the paper that we got yesterday. Pretty self-explanatory and pretty inexpensive for a 17 day gift. The Phineas and Ferb pens came in a 3 pack from the dollar rack at Walmart for $1. The pretty pens for Mammie and I came as a 2 pack from Target's dollar rack for $1. So, the total for this gift is $2.  With this gift and some of the others (coloring books, crayons, paper, etc.) I'm sure their are Disney/Mickey versions out there if thats what someones child wants but I am dealing with two 12 year olds and a 9 year old. Even if they love Walt Disney World, they still feel a little too old for Mickey items. In the past I have gotten Mickey halloween coloring books at our local Dollar Tree. 

I guess I should have gotten a close up pic of the pens but I didn't think about it until it was too late :( Oh well, you get the idea!

Today was also the last of my Home Depot Mickey head paint chips.The closest Home Depot is approximately 60 miles from my home so we will not be getting any more of those. Instead, I have taken the Mickey Mouse clip art, like that on the "Xander" bag, and just typed the word "Days" on it in Waltograph font in my Picasa software. I have then typed some numbers that I will stick on it daily. You can see how it turns out starting tomorrow. 

18 days...the suitcases are out

The suitcases are out and more than half packed. With only 18 days left to go and Indiana seeing cooler weather, we are able to get our shorts and tank tops packed. 

Todays gift is a small notepad/journal. These are small enough to fit in your hand. My kids like to draw and write notes so I thought these were perfect. We have taken larger notepads in the past but they are heavier. With these they can use them on the plane and they can also take them in the parks without worrying about a heavy backpack. 

The Angry Birds notebooks are sold as a 2 pack for $1 on the Walmart dollar rack, I bought 2 of the packs.  Mammie's paper is cuter with polka-dots and it came from Target for $1 on the dollar rack. So, the total for this gift is $3.