As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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Sheesh! Stressful is right! Sounds like a good move to cancel school tomorrow. Too dangerous trying to get around town! I agree with you that spanking Cullen would not have been right or helpful. Poor little guy!
I'm getting caught up again. I'm completely exhausted tonight and I don't have the right words, but just know I'm enjoying your real life updates and your TR. Hope everything works out.
I was so exhausted last night, I fell asleep on the couch shortly after getting the kiddos to bed at 8. It's been a long, HOT week here. Thanks for reading
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
Sheesh! Stressful is right! Sounds like a good move to cancel school tomorrow. Too dangerous trying to get around town! I agree with you that spanking Cullen would not have been right or helpful. Poor little guy!
It was a bit hectic but Coach said it was much better last night. He'd gone to watch a football game a few towns south and was able to get back into town via I-75 which was finally re-opened. I promise the next update will be much more upbeat
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The Fun, Old-Fashioned Family Vacation, 3.0 http://www.passporterboards.com/foru...ml#post4472933
Ch-Ch-Changes July 2015
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My goodness, as others have said - stressful is right, although I'm not sure it covers it.
Thank you both! It was MUCH easier getting around town this morning...until Coach managed to get his ATM card sucked into the machine...for the 2nd time, since August 9th When he called to put a block on it and order a new one, the customer service agent remembered talking to him a few weeks back...for the same reason...from the same machine. Anyway, I was able to get to the grocery store, fill up the van and return home. There wasn't much traffic at all at 9:30 this morning - a HUGE difference from yesterday's madness. I-75 has indeed reopened, the schools in our city are closed today, and the city offices are closed as well so a ton less "local" people on the road. Those arriving for the show were greeted by wonderful, working flashing signs and directionals I was on the road and headed up North with the three kiddos by 10 this morning and arrived at my parents' house by 2:45 which really isn't bad considering I ended up having to make four stops during the normally 3 1/2 hour drive...traveling with a freshly potty trained child is an experience
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The Fun, Old-Fashioned Family Vacation, 3.0 http://www.passporterboards.com/foru...ml#post4472933
Ch-Ch-Changes July 2015
[URL="http://www.passporterboards.com/forums/sharing-adventure-disney-world-trip-reports/288847-ch-ch-changes-ptr-july-16-24-a.html"]
That is quite the stressful morning! I'm impressed you still went to the grocery store, but I guess that latte helped.
Pumpkin spice is my favorite I had to go to the grocery store after Coach "lost" his ATM card because the grocery store doesn't accept checks.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
Your day yesterday wore me out must reading about it. So sorry for all the stress! Have a great Labor Day weekend.
It was a tough Thursday, but things are much more relaxed now You have a great Labor Day weekend too!
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The Fun, Old-Fashioned Family Vacation, 3.0 http://www.passporterboards.com/foru...ml#post4472933
Ch-Ch-Changes July 2015
[URL="http://www.passporterboards.com/forums/sharing-adventure-disney-world-trip-reports/288847-ch-ch-changes-ptr-july-16-24-a.html"]
First the trip report since everyone has been so patient with me
We arrived back at my parents house around 5:30 that evening, and part of me was pretty glad that Coach decided to wait to arrive until the next morning. After the almost 12 hours it took us to get back to Ohio, we were pretty tuckered out. After we unpacked the car, Dad and I ran up to Chipotle to grab dinner. I had a bowl with carnitas, 1/2 serving of the white rice, mild salsa, sour cream and cheese. Dad and Mom split a steak burrito. I talked to the boys and Coach after they'd returned from the Rupe's house. Rupe was the best man in our wedding and had actually eloped to Antigua exactly four weeks prior to our wedding. He and his wife have four boys around the same ages as our trio of kiddos. They'd gone swimming at Rupe's and had a picnic. Patrick was really excited to tell me about this awesome "new" food....grilled watermelon.
After talking to the boys, I helped mom make up their beds at her house. The older two have a bunk bed in the computer room, and Cullen gets an air mattress in that room. Next? I looked through pictures from the trip, cleared the memory on my camera and finished typing up my last Reference page for my final Master's course. I turned in early, knowing the boys and Coach would arrive at 10:00 am sharp.
Monday, I woke up with a text from Coach. He'd run out of overnight pullups for Cullen and the Walmart (20 miles from his mom's house) was out, so he'd driven back to Rupe's to borrow a couple to get him through. I made a quick run to Target for a pack of pullups and a couple of snack items for the boys. When I returned home, they'd arrived. Boy was I happy to see my kiddos! They all filled me in on their adventures, including the night Coach "forgot" to feed them dinner and let them have popcorn, apple slices and ice cream instead.
We didn't do a whole lot that day. After Dad arrived home from work at 4:00, we drove over to my Aunt's house and swam with the boys. The next day? Dinosaurs and Zoo animals, Oh My!
Real time update:
We seem to finally be settling into our new routines, though Cullen is now refusing to use the potty. His teacher is really patient though and has told us to keep him in underwear, clean up the messes and really, really praise him on the odd time he decides to use the toilet. She feels putting him back into pullups will play into his "power struggle" and eventually he'll move on to a new power struggle, realizing that he's just expected to use the toiled. Let's hope the car seat, the carpet and her classroom can outlast this struggle.
Patrick has been moved into the FIRST grade for Language Arts and Math I don't remember if I'd written that before, but I feel a proud Mom moment here. Rather than intimidating the Kindergartners (he's with 3 other kids) by putting them in with the 1st graders, another teacher simply pulls them out during those skills and works with them without them really knowing that they're getting different curriculum.
Nolan seems to be doing really well with his gifted Language Arts program, though homework is still a hurdle for him. He just doesn't want to do it, but then again it is tough to sit down and do homework when the weather is so nice outside
We had a lovely, really busy Labor Day weekend. I'll save that for a different post. First, pictures of the boys' room. It's finally almost finished.
The new loft bed and dresser set up.
They even have an "under the bed reading nook"
The OSU logo and Cullen's treasure shelf
Patrick's shelf (boy what a difference between his over-crowded shelf and Cullen's sparse shelf
Nolan's shelf and his animals
We even added a small logo over their side window
Eventually, I will get the curtains switched out with the OSU themed ones, and Coach has promised to go back and paint each boy's name on the wall near their bed.
The room definitely has a more "grown up" feel that the sun/moon/stars Eddie Bauer nursery theme wall paper that was in there. Despite the fact that we have three beds crammed in there, it feels like there is more room. Probably because we've moved the desk to our room so Nolan has a quiet place for homework, and we have Patrick and Cullen sharing my larger dresser, rather than cramming two separate ones into their room. Nolan still has his own dresser. I am very pleased that their quilts turned out so nice and look similar, but aren't exactly matchy-matchy. My mother-in-law did a great job on those!
__________________
The Fun, Old-Fashioned Family Vacation, 3.0 http://www.passporterboards.com/foru...ml#post4472933
Ch-Ch-Changes July 2015
[URL="http://www.passporterboards.com/forums/sharing-adventure-disney-world-trip-reports/288847-ch-ch-changes-ptr-july-16-24-a.html"]
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Must have been so great to see your boys again! Their room is looking really good. Those loft beds are great space-savers. for Patrick and Nolan with their schoolwork! Hoping that I can say the same for Cullen soon with progress on the potty-training!
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