The Magical Mystery Trip - Day 3 Part 5 - Cali Grill **Updated 2/14 by Melissa** About This Page:

[mestitch]

Why do I always start by naming my TR something that starts with "the"? I'm just not creative enough that's why. And this trip, I'm really not creative b/c I can't think of a great title......yet. Trust me, once you see the gang that's going on this trip and you hear our story, you will understand why I think it best to wait and see what unfolds on the trip.

So, with that disclaimer posted, on with the show:
SETTING: The Beach Club (with our first night at POP)
TIME: Dec. 14 - 18th
CAST: First I want to start by asking you to keep Everybody Loves Raymond in mind while reading.

My family is so much like that family.... don't believe me? Just wait......

First, there's me:

Yes, that's me, in all my glory, doing what I do best (and what I plan doing best on the trip When you meet my in-laws you may understand a little better).

Then, there's my wonderfully tolerant and loving husband:

I knew he was a keeper way back when. When planning our honeymoon he was the first to say I really needed to start thinking about planning the trip and planning out meals and such. Now I was never a planner for trips before this, but once I got started, I couldn't stop....and still haven't. I've been successful in creating an obsessive passion for Disney in him over our 4 years of marriage (note the tshirt in the picture - a gift from a cast member you've yet to be introduced to who is also really good at instilling the Disney love in my man)

Now, onto to the newbies....
First there's my DFIL, Tommy (aka Frank Barone).

Now don't get me wrong. Tommy doesn't live across the street, therefore he doesn't barge into my house unannounced, undo his pants, and watch sports. HOWEVER, he does barge into my house, announced, crack open a beer, and watch sports. He loves his Clemson Tigers football and I think somewhere in his mind he really believes they can hear him through the TV when he curses at them. Our wedding day just happened to be on the day of the biggest game of the year: The Clemson/Carolina game. He made many comments that we better be glad our wedding was in the afternoon and the game was at night. That night, at our after reception party (Thrown by my in-laws) we have pictures of the family sitting around, me in my dress, enjoying a drink and each other's company, and then there's my FIL, staring intently at the football game on the big screen.........I'll have to find that picture, I think my MIL has it.

Next up we have my MIL, Karen (aka Marie Barone)

Again, she doesn't live across the street, nor does she barge into the house, but she does like for things to go her way. For example, last summer she gave me a set of plastic cups for outdoor cooking out drinking fun..... they aren't dishwasher safe, thus I don't use them all that much. But EVERYTIME she comes to our house, she goes to make a drink, and grabs one of those cups, leaving it in the sink for me to wash when she leaves.... So when we washed them the last time Andy took them and put them up on the waaay top shelf of our cabinets, waay up like you need a step ladder to get them. He even commented that now she couldn't use them anymore. Well, last weekend they came in to stay the night. She went to make a drink and went looking for those cups. I watched her. She stared at them up for a minute and went to reach for one..... I immediately grabbed my favorite little glass out of the dishwasher and made her take it. She just doesn't give up.

So anyway, that's the immediate family. Which makes us Ray and Debra. My MIL has even jokingly called me Debra before. I guess she sees the resemblance in our family as well. Only Andy's not the perfect son like Ray, that'd be my BIL, Matt.


I mean look at us, don't we look like we're gonna have a blast???

There's one more person that will be with us on this trip. I like to think she's going to be a great buffer to ease any tension that may come up.....

It's Angie!!! (poohsgirl)
We first met Angie back in 2005 when she showed us around her hometown of NYC. Then we met up with her again at WDW that Christmas during Mousefest, and since then we've just gotten closer. She came down last summer and stayed with us and went to Wilimington with us. She also came down last summer for my bday at WDW. I can't wait to spend some more time with her this year!!!

So, what on earth possessed us to plan a trip that involved my in-laws coming along??? That's a very good question.....
First, Andy and I knew for a fact we'd be back in December, we just didn't know exactly when. We've discovered it just doesn't feel like Christmas if we don't go. So before our summer trip we went to lunch with my in-laws (who will from here on out be referred to as T & K when referred to together). Anyway, Tommy started talking about how one day he'd like for them go with us. So I piped up and told him we'd back in December and that's the best time to go b/c the weather's nice, the crowds are low, and the decorations are fabulous. So he started looking at his calendar. He was serious!!! We had been thinking about going around Dec. 7 but his vacation didn't start until the next week. So we said that our dates weren't set in stone and we could change if they really wanted to go. He was all for it, but Karen wasn't quite all there. She said they'd think about it, she couldn't take days off, blah blah. I was like "lady, I'm a teacher, too, and I'm taking days off, I do it every year. They give you those personal days, TAKE 'EM!" Still, she wasn't convinced........So we went on our summer trip saying things "oh if T & K come we have to show them this" and "if T & K come they would really like that" and that got me excited about the fact I could introduce someone I love to something that I love..... And putting family issues aside, I wanted them to come really bad. So we set out to do some really serious convincing...

Coming up: Obviously we were successful or this TR would be going in a totally different direction....but how did we do it???