Pre-Trip A moment of weakness…

Hello all!

You might’ve come here thinking “oh a PTR for her December 2024 trip, how lovely”

Not yet

If you don’t know me from previous TRs, I’m Annie. My Disney crew typically consists of me, my husband Ian and usually our 2.5 year old Nora.

We booked our December 3-11 trip almost a year and a half ago (and have had two trips we snuck in since booking that one LOL). I feel like I’ve been counting down forever.

In short, that trip is STILL happening.

But…

Tomorrow morning Ian is leaving our home in Maine to work in San Diego for 5 long weeks

And our 5 year wedding anniversary falls during that time period.

And I’m going to be solo parenting while working full time with a 2 hour round trip commute to the office every day.

It’s fine, I’m fine.

But tonight I had a full breakdown.

There was only one way to fix it…

We worked with my parents on Nora coverage, and booked an anniversary Disneyland trip just for me and Ian

So.. consider this the official 30 day countdown! When I’m crying daily from stress and missing Ian, I have this to look forward to.

Here we go!

 

[BrerWayne]

Hello all!

You might’ve come here thinking “oh a PTR for her December 2024 trip, how lovely”

Not yet

If you don’t know me from previous TRs, I’m Annie. My Disney crew typically consists of me, my husband Ian and usually our 2.5 year old Nora.

View attachment 814581

We booked our December 3-11 trip almost a year and a half ago (and have had two trips we snuck in since booking that one LOL). I feel like I’ve been counting down forever.

In short, that trip is STILL happening.

But…

Tomorrow morning Ian is leaving our home in Maine to work in San Diego for 5 long weeks

And our 5 year wedding anniversary falls during that time period.

And I’m going to be solo parenting while working full time with a 2 hour round trip commute to the office every day.

It’s fine, I’m fine.

But tonight I had a full breakdown.

There was only one way to fix it…


View attachment 814582

View attachment 814583


We worked with my parents on Nora coverage, and booked an anniversary Disneyland trip just for me and Ian

So.. consider this the official 30 day countdown! When I’m crying daily from stress and missing Ian, I have this to look forward to.

Here we go!

First! Congratulations!!!!!

 

[littleroo]

Second Congratulations!! I hope you have an amazing time!

 

[Swissmiss]

Third Congratulations!

 

[Katiekitten]

Congratulations I can't wait to hear all about it!

 

[cassidy]

Congratulations and hopefully you post a trip report for Disneyland. I love reading your reports.

 

[RememberWhen]

Yay! What an excellent idea. Great choices!

 

[MinnieM123]

Congrats on an excellent solution!

 

[erstwo]

Love it!
What makes it so bad is, he’s not only traveling for 5 weeks - but he’ll be in San Diego for those 5 weeks! At my job, we practically battle over the projects that require travel to San Diego. . If he’s going to be gone, he could at least go somewhere with rotten weather, etc. lol
Looking forward to this report and the next one!

 

[k8einwdw]

Congratulations on five years!!

I hope you guys have a fantastic time in Disneyland! And enjoy San Diego as well!

 

[cgersic]

Oh my goodness!!!! Sorry about Ian being gone for so long, but you sure figured out a fabulous way to spend your anniversary together

 

[Disstevefan1]

Hello all!

You might’ve come here thinking “oh a PTR for her December 2024 trip, how lovely”

Not yet

If you don’t know me from previous TRs, I’m Annie. My Disney crew typically consists of me, my husband Ian and usually our 2.5 year old Nora.

View attachment 814581

Great Pic! Your baby is so cute with the sun glasses!!

 

[mpaulam]

Yay!!

 

[annienevells]

First! Congratulations!!!!!

Second Congratulations!! I hope you have an amazing time!

Third Congratulations!

Congratulations I can't wait to hear all about it!

Thank you! We are so excited!

Congratulations and hopefully you post a trip report for Disneyland. I love reading your reports.

yes! I'm going to be full of TR content over the next few months!

Yay! What an excellent idea. Great choices!

Congrats on an excellent solution!

Thank you!!

Love it!
What makes it so bad is, he’s not only traveling for 5 weeks - but he’ll be in San Diego for those 5 weeks! At my job, we practically battle over the projects that require travel to San Diego. . If he’s going to be gone, he could at least go somewhere with rotten weather, etc. lol
Looking forward to this report and the next one!

I KNOW! He has worked out there MANY times and the jealousy never gets easier haha

Congratulations on five years!!

I hope you guys have a fantastic time in Disneyland! And enjoy San Diego as well!

Oh my goodness!!!! Sorry about Ian being gone for so long, but you sure figured out a fabulous way to spend your anniversary together

Great Pic! Your baby is so cute with the sun glasses!!

Thank you!!


....

Today was leaving day. This morning was really rough. Nora, my 2-year-old, was asking why I was sad and crying and I told her I was just sad that daddy was leaving. She got teary and said, "but mama, he's right here"



Ian works as a civilian engineer for the US Navy. For the entire 12 years we have been together, he has been required to take these trips ranging anywhere from 2 weeks to 6 months. Last year, he went to Guam for 3 weeks and THAT felt rough with the time difference, but now that Nora gets what is going on it feels much harder. Ian is also hard on himself and feeling heartbroken to miss the day to day with our daughter. It is just tough all around.

We have spent quite a bit of time in San Diego over the years! But, the last trip we took to DL was May of 2018! Some pictures from that trip:

SO much has changed. I feel like I need to get to researching!!

Ending with a cute photo of Nora because I DO feel a teeny tiny bit of mom guilt about not taking her. But don't worry, she gets 8 days at WDW in December!

 

[k8einwdw]

Today was leaving day. This morning was really rough. Nora, my 2-year-old, was asking why I was sad and crying and I told her I was just sad that daddy was leaving. She got teary and said, "but mama, he's right here"

I hope the next five weeks go as smoothly and quickly as possible! I know solo-parenting a toddler for that long is tough.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Congrats on the anniversary! And a trip to Disneyland, what fun!

 

[Minnie1986]

Hello all!

You might’ve come here thinking “oh a PTR for her December 2024 trip, how lovely”

Not yet

If you don’t know me from previous TRs, I’m Annie. My Disney crew typically consists of me, my husband Ian and usually our 2.5 year old Nora.

View attachment 814581

We booked our December 3-11 trip almost a year and a half ago (and have had two trips we snuck in since booking that one LOL). I feel like I’ve been counting down forever.

In short, that trip is STILL happening.

But…

Tomorrow morning Ian is leaving our home in Maine to work in San Diego for 5 long weeks

And our 5 year wedding anniversary falls during that time period.

And I’m going to be solo parenting while working full time with a 2 hour round trip commute to the office every day.

It’s fine, I’m fine.

But tonight I had a full breakdown.

There was only one way to fix it…


View attachment 814582

View attachment 814583


We worked with my parents on Nora coverage, and booked an anniversary Disneyland trip just for me and Ian

So.. consider this the official 30 day countdown! When I’m crying daily from stress and missing Ian, I have this to look forward to.

Here we go!

When I saw that he was going to San Diego, I sat here thinking "please go to Disneyland; please go to Disneyland!" So excited for you; it's only an ~1:22 drive from the center of SD, depending on how early you leave (can you tell I've done it numerous times?). There's a McDonald's literally right before you get to there, if you wanna grab something for breakfast before going into the park. Have SO much fun, and I can't wait to follow along!

PS- If you need planning/research help, feel free to ask; I was just there about 2 weeks ago.

 

[annienevells]

3 days until I head to California and 55 days until WDW!

Our plan for CA:
- I am on a 6 AM flight out of Boston this Friday

But it is non-stop, so I am hoping to get some good childfree sleep on the flight

- I will land just before noon and will Uber to Ian's hotel which is conveniently very close to the airport in San Diego
- He will be at work until 5, so I will probably just relax, sit by the pool and I'll say it once again... enjoy being temporarily childfree LOL
- Once he gets out of work we plan to grab dinner locally to wait out the worst of traffic before heading to Anaheim!!

We are going to do:
Saturday: Morning at DL, mid day break, evening at DCA
Sunday: Morning at DCA, mid day break, evening at DL (there is an Oogie Boogie Bash at DCA this evening)
Monday: who knows! We will start at DL because that is where our park reservation is for, but we will go with the flow and plan to drive back to San Diego that evening.

We are VERY much just going to enjoy our time at a slow pace because it is a holiday weekend. We did pre purchase LLMP for all 3 days but the process is different than WDW (one LL at a time, only can book once in the park)

I am SO excited. It's been so hard solo parenting, working full time in a NEW demanding job, currently in a doctorate program, etc. etc. I am READY for a fun break. Plus, our actual anniversary is Saturday! I told Ian I require a celebration button!

I think that's it for now. Friday can't come soon enough!

Picture of Nora to prove I love her endlessly, I'm just tired

 

[mpaulam]

Oh my goodness! She’s getting so big!!
Have a wonderful time.

 

[Tuvalu]