Dead Crow in my backyard ~ West Nile Virus is here.

[SandraC]

Hi all! I took my kids for a walk this morning and as soon as we started I spotted a dead crow. I checked for trauma and blood to see if an animal got it, but nope, no trauma, just a new dead crow. I had my cell phone and called Animal Control right away. They have had several calls about this bird and it will take a couple days for them to pick it up. That's sad, so now I can't walk that way anymore. When chatting with the Animal Control lady, she said that West Nile is in Mississauga ALL OVER so where bug repellent with deet. I am not concerned with dh and I because we are healthy adults, but ds is only 2 and dd is 8 with complex congenital heart defects ~ if she gets the virus, it could be dangerous. SO EVERYONE WEAR YOUR DEET! We use Off Skintastic with sunscreen and deet, low levels for the kids. S

 

[PoohBWV]

We had two dead crows found down the road from us last week. This is scary.

 

[SandraC]

The gal I chatted with today at the city said they are swamped with calls of dead crows. dd was playing outside this afternoon and I smelled something odd. It dawned on me that it might me insecticide so I called her in. dd's been going thru a hypocondriac thing so this isn't helping! YIKES! S

 

[SandraC]

Hi all! I'm been playing with the idea of March 2003 WDW vacation. We can get the time off and so far the financial part is okay. BUT ~ we went in 1998 and 2001 and 2002. I found the 1998 and 2001 trips to be a good space, maybe a little much, but we waited until ds was 15 months in 2001. We had such fun I said, "LET'S GO EVER YEAR!" So we did! April 2002 was a great trip, but I found myself thinking a year apart wasn't enough time. HOWEVER, now I'm wanting to go back March 2003 when really March 2004 would be a better time because ds would be out of diapers, stroller and car seats. What do you think? How far apart are your WDW vacations? Do you repeat the same vacation? How long do you go for? THX S

 

[abbyndrewmom]

I say go as often as you can especially when your children are young. yes it is a pain to lug the strollers diapers etc. But this is the age they still believe in the magic. Can you really imagine anything more wonderful then seeing your sons face light up when he sees Mickey again. My son (3) loves the "golf ball" in Epcot as soon as he sees that his whole face lights up, I guess he takes after his dad and grandpa. There is always so much going on that I don't think it is possible for anyone to become bored with disney.

Allison

 

[Bea]

I am in the same situation as you are. We usually go every two years but this last time (July) we decided to go every year. I am now questioning that decision. It is just so special every two years and always new things to see at WDW, I am afraid that some of the "magic" may be lost if we go every year. My children are young as well, and if we go every 2 years, we only have 5 family vacations left until my oldest is in college! LOL! See the lengths I go threw to justify these vacations. haha.

 

[maryliz]

When we had 1 1/2 years between visits, I found it to be a long time, but not too long. It was exciting because in that time, they had added Test Track, WTP, RocknRollerCoaster, etc. However, we recently got 3 trips in 12 months with our last AP's and I have to say we enjoyed each trip very much. We will have AP's for our upcoming trip and I had to promise dh that we would only do 2 trips on these passes. Of course he wants to do the 2nd trip while ds is still under 3 (ie before end of March) so that means there would still be 6 months left on our passes after that 2nd trip ! After they expire, I am thinking about waiting at least 2 years before we do it again ... but time will certainly tell.

Mary Liz

 

[Gdoody]

We try to go every year, except when I am really busy at work. We have not found that 1 year apart is too much. There is so much to do that we keep finding new things, plus Disney has expanded so much that we are constantly kept busy.

The one problem with going every year is that the costs are too high, but we have offset this somewhat with our DVC purchase. This means that we only have to pay our way down, park tickets, and meals, making every year much more affordable. The funny thing is, we sometimes try to find a way to book a second trip within the same year, and still do not find this too much. Maybe we are just a little Disney crazy!

 

[SandraC]

Thank you all for your wonderful advice. I love the anticipation with planning the trip, but when I think my dd won't see WDW again until she's 10.5, I think that's too old. Next March, she'll be 9.5 years old, ds will be 3.5 years old ~ he'll be out of diapers and an umbrella stroller will do him fine. Still in the car seat (I think, he's only 30 pounds now and I think it's 40 lbs out of the car seat) and might not be tall enough for Space Mtn LOL, right now ds is 37 inches tall and dd is about 55 inches (I think) so she's okay. We have decided to rent a car in March and drive, but we don't know which March??? 2003 or 2004? Right now we are in a good situation with time off and money ~ but that might change. I still would love to hear more advice! THANKS A BUNCH! PS: HOT ENOUGH FOR YA! S

 

[abbyndrewmom]

Sandra,

make sure to check your car rental policies it is not uncommon for you not to be able to take a car out of the country. DH and I visited Seatlle a few years ago and wanted go over to Canada (we were living in the US at the time) but couldn't take the rental car across the border.

Allison

 

[Gdoody]

According to Avis Car rentals and crossing borders is a legal issue applicable to all rental car companies. I am not sure which countries legal system causes the problem here. The issue is - as Canadians, we are not allowed to rent a car in the USA and drive it back to Canada. Canadians have no problem renting cars in Canada, driving them into the states, and even returning with the same car.

I had this same issue several years ago, when I inquired if I could bring a car rented in the USA back into Canada, and was informed of the laws. This rental was also through AVIS. The interesting point that was made to me was that even if I rented a car in Canada, broke down, and had to have the car replaced with a different one in the US, I still would not be allowed to bring the replacement into Canada. I was told I would have to arrange to have another replacement ready at a convenient border crossing, which the rental company would happily do, or return the car at a convenient US location before returning to Canada.

 

[SandraC]

I'm getting confused LOL! I actually booked AVIS and NATIONAL for March 2003 ~ IN CASE WE GO ~ LOL! I hope there isn't a problem! S