8 Days until vacation and you want a puppy?? A PTR in progress...

[kristenrice]

Ok, I have the computer out now so I can do a little catch up.

First, we arrived at HHI on Saturday evening around 5:30pm. We headed to the Piggly Wiggly where I picked up our Click and Shop order. (THANK YOU to whomever posted that little tip) The store was packed but I merely walked to the customer service desk, handed them my coupons, paid for the food (only about $30) and they rolled out our cart. There were some errors, but nothing major. For one, they forgot a box of chicken fries. That was easily fixed. Then, there was no yogurt that I'd ordered. They had called me that morning to tell me that they were out of the vanilla and blueberry but they had plenty of strawberry so I changed it. Well, that information never got relayed because I didn't get ANY yogurt. I wasn't charged for it so I let it go. I had also ordered (5) 5oz packages of sliced turkey, but I only received one. I was only charged for one so, again, we'll deal with it. The store was so busy but we were only there for about 15 minutes total. The kids wanted Piggly Wiggly t-shirts (we don't have "The Pig" in Michigan) so we let them each pick one.

Then, it was off to the resort. We checked in without a problem and they were able to use my dad's gift cards. Our room met all our requests...upper floor, near pool. We are in room 2621 which is right next to the pool, mercantile and community hall. The room was spotless and aside from a dead lightbulb over mom's bed, there are no other issues. We were starving so we made 2 "make-your-own" pizzas with some refrigerated pizza crusts and toppings we'd brought from home.

Sunday morning started with DD9 doing the Easter egg hunt at the resort. We also got to meet Shadow for the first time. Dad, DH and DD7 stood on the balcony and watched. Dad said that DD7 looked at the group of people and proclaimed it to be "BORING!".

After that, we all took our bikes down to the Beach House for Easter Brunch. Mom's rental bike had some issues! The pedals were on crooked and her seat was lopsided. She was having a difficult time with it so when we got to the beach house, I mentioned it to a CM. They were all over it! We had THREE different CM's taking care of it. They brought a new bike for her and checked with us repeatedly to make sure it was better. Great service! The brunch was delicious. They had tons of breakfast foods (but no Mickey waffles) including an omelet station and an oatmeal bar. They also had ham, turkey, steamed veggies, mac n cheese and chicken fingers. For dessert, they had apple pie. It was great! B'Lou entertained with songs and there was a craft and game area for the kids. This was our first time at the brunch but I did overhear a guest mentioning that this was "much better than the one last year".

After brunch, we rode back to the resort and changed for our next activity...the tour of Pinckney Island. I seem to recall that this was a paid activity in the past so when I saw that it was free, I talked the family into it. We loved it! We rode in a 15-passenger van out to the island and then had a short (about 1.5 miles) walk around one area of the island. Our guide was a CM named TJ and he was very personable. DD9 (the big nature buff) never left his side and talked his ear off! She even correctly identified the scat that we found as being from a coyote! (Yes, that's my daughter...knowing about wildlife poop). As we were walking back towards the van, I mentioned to DH that this was a nice little tour for being free. His eyes got huge and he said, "This was FREE!? I thought we paid for it?" After that, he seemed really impressed.

The next item on the agenda was dinner. DH took the girls to the pool while dad and mom cooked the burgers on the grill. I set up the picnic table up on the balcony and watched the girls at the pool. We had burgers, chips, grapes, apples and cantaloupe. For dessert, I made some Pillsbury Easter sugar cookies. We got cleaned up from dinner and headed down to the pool for the 7pm "Night slide and Spring Jam". What a hoot! The CM's were leading the dance party and even got DH to do the "YMCA". I learned that my husband not only has no rhythm, but he cannot spell either. After the dad's got dragged into dancing, it was the moms' turn. I got to do the Macarena...but I know how! I didn't look nearly as bad as DH. DD9 eventually came out of the pool and onto the deck to dance, but DD7 preferred to dance in the water. Three of the CM's even jumped into the pool to splash around with the kids. It was like summer camp. The CM's here are the BEST! Words cannot express how fantastic it is to see the interaction between the kids and CM's. The CM's truly love their jobs and it shows.

After the pool party, we got changed into warmer clothes and headed out to see the movie, "Tangled". DH needed a workout so he hit the exercise room while mom, me and the kids went to the movie. Dad? Not sure where he disappeared to. I think he went to the room and did a little work on the computer.

OK, speaking of Dad...funny story...my kids love the foosball game and so they have been playing it with dad. Well, DH and dad were walking back from the pool when dad split off into the game room. DH assumed that the girls were in there playing foosball so he continued back to the room. When he got to the room, the girls were there. So...who was dad playing foosball with? Yup, he found some new friends! Dad was happily playing foosball with three boys, probably between 10-12 years old.

This morning, I tried to run to the beach house. Ok, they say that it is "about a mile". Well, I have a very accurate GPS watch and from the bottom of the steps to building 26 to the steps of the beach house is 1.8 miles. That's not "about a mile", but it was a decent run. I'd hoped to run back, but when I got there (at 7:45am), a thunderstorm had moved in! I did not want to run in lightning so I called dad (I knew he'd be up) and had him come pick me up. We got back to the room and I made breakfast for me, mom and dad. DD9 had to have Mickey waffles so I picked up an order for her at Tide Me Over. DH and DD7 are still sleeping.

Dad rescheduled his tee time from Thursday to today. They planned on golfing Thursday, but there is like an 80% chance of rain so they went out today. The rest of us are just going to hang out at the resort until they get back. Then, we're hoping to go to the lighthouse at Sea Pines.

My only disappointment thus far is the lack of a "Kids Night In". They do it only on Saturday nights now. On our previous trip, they offered it twice a week. So, now we don't have a night to do "Parents Night Out" which saves us about $200!

I have a lot of pictures on my iPhone (with no iCloud on this computer) so once I figure out how to get them on to the computer, I will have a lot to post.

Thanks for reading! I'd be happy to try and answer any questions.

 

[kristenrice]

Good morning! It's 8:30am and I am waiting for the blueberry muffins to finish baking so I thought I'd add to my report.

Yesterday, dad and mom played golf at Cypress Pointe. The highlight was when mom hit an errant shot (I'm sure he had more than one because she shot 115!) that landed near a gator! She took a bunch of pictures of it which pleased the kids immensely.

While mom and dad were golfing, we took advantage of the beautiful afternoon and hung out by the pool. DD9 and I got a bit sunburned but DD7 and DH were spared.

When mom and dad got back, we'd planned on going to Sea Pines, but the kids really didn't want to go. Because the weather was so nice, we opted to take a bike ride down to the beach instead. GREAT choice! The ocean was calm, there was almost no wind, and the tide was out. We rode about 2 miles down and back, checking tide pools. The girls found 2 starfish and a sand dollar. There were no jellyfish or horseshoe crabs like the last time we were here. Mom and dad really enjoyed riding along the ocean and if it weren't for the fact that the sun was going down and the bugs were biting, we would have stayed out a lot longer.

We returned to the room, ate leftover burgers and hot dogs for dinner and watched some TV. Dad, DH and the girls watched the new Parent Trap while mom and I watched Dancing With the Stars.

Today, mom and dad went to Fripp Island to visit some friends and play more golf. Kamryn and I are going kayaking at 10:30 and Kevin and Kaedyn are making Mickey tie-dye shirts at noon. This afternoon is supposed to be gorgeous so we will hit the pool, either at the beach house or here at the resort.

I will update more later....

 

[ABE4DISNEY]

Most of the construction we encountered was near Cincinnati but there was a little around Sevierville/Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg too. Honestly, I don't think it was so much of a construction issue, but more the bad driving. People just didn't understand the concept of using the left lane to pass. There were several fender benders where someone got cut off by a lane dodger and others that were simply tailgating and couldn't stop when traffic slowed.

Yes, the roads are full of bad drivers. Thanks for the information!

Your trip sounds fantastic! We can't wait to take the kids to HH one day.

Have fun!!

 

[loveswdw]

OMG! I just jumped over here to look at TRs and I see yours. We were also supposed to be at HHI this week but our WL didn't come through. So, we opted to take the boys to Gatlinburg instead since its just a 4-5 hour drive from us. Funny that we stayed at the Fairfield Inn & Suites Gatlinburg North this weekend? We checked in Sat and checked out yesterday though.

Probably didn't run into you, depends on what time you checked out on Sat. We were in the room right across from the pool.

Hope you guys are really enjoying HHI. I'm so sad that we aren't there this week.

 

[kristenrice]

We are FINALLY home!

I have a lot of updating to do, and I will get to it so bear with me.

Our trip home was NOT what we had planned. We left right on time (8am) but around 9:30am, we had a highway mishap. I was driving in the left lane behind a dump truck when DH and I looked at each other and almost simultaneously said, "Do you smell burning metal?" Within seconds, one of the rear tires on the truck in front of us EXPLODED, sending debris everywhere. I hit a large chunk of something with our passenger side and then we saw a piece of the truck's brake rotor bouncing right at us. With nowhere to swerve, we prayed that it wouldn't bounce UP and it didn't, but I ran over it. I drove into the right lane an onto what little shoulder there was so that DH and I could inspect for any damage. Sure enough, our right front tire was flat.

Fortunately, we have OnStar, AAA and roadside assistance through our auto policy (State Farm) so we knew we wouldn't be looking at a huge wrecker bill. I called AAA for a wrecker while DH called my parents who were a few miles behind us. Thank goodness they weren't right behind us or they would have probably been damaged too. I was amazed at how many cars/trucks didn't even slow down! One U-Haul truck nearly took our mirror off! I am used to working on roadways in traffic (I am a paramedic) but the U-Haul actually made me flinch. After about 45 minutes on the side of the road, a state trooper pulled in behind us. Those flashing lights were warmly-welcomed! They did a better job of slowing traffic than our hazard lights. We told the trooper that we'd already called for a wrecker (almost an hour ago!) and he said that AAA is notorious for sending assistance from "three counties away". He called his dispatch to see if he could get a closer one to respond. He told us that they were sending a wrecker that was about 15 minutes away and also AAA. Well, that wrecker was NOT 15 minutes away either.

After waiting nearly 2 hours total, the "wrecker" I'd originally called for showed up. It was a wonderful man in a pickup truck who unloaded our spare (from under the truck), jacked it up, changed it and was done in less than 15 minutes! The service was great, but I wish it hadn't taken 2 hours to get there! The funny thing is, when I called, the agent said that my request would be listed as "priority" and I would be immediately placed at the top because we are out on the interstate. Yikes! I'm glad we weren't on a side road or we could still be waiting.

Our "spare" is actually a full-size tire so we were not concerned about driving on it for the remaining 400+ miles. Our main concern was NOT having another spare. In the two hours that we waited, we did not have any air leakage from any of the other tires (thank God for tire pressure monitors!) but we were still concerned about another "accident". So, we went to Wal Mart (2 exits down) and asked about a new tire. Nope! They don't carry our size, but they suggested the Sam's Club about 15 miles down the road. Since it was the direction we were headed anyways, we stopped there. Ok, remember, it is a Saturday around noon and we are looking to have a tire installed....along with about 30 other people. DH went to the tire desk while the rest of us grabbed some lunch at the cafe. DH returned to tell us the bad news...it was a 2 hour wait! The good news? They don't have our tire either so we don't have to wait. We decided to tempt fate and drive the rest of the way home without a spare.

Our original ETA to home was between 4pm and 5pm, depending on how long we took for meal and potty stops. We ended up pulling in our driveway at 9:30pm. Even though we were dead tired, we were reminded of the fact that we made it home safely. Our car is repairable, the tire is replaceable, and nobody was injured. I shudder to think what could have happened...the debris could have gone through our windshield...I could have swerved and rolled the truck...we could have hit another vehicle...all things that are much worse than a four-hour delay. While we were waiting on the side of the road, my dad said, "It could be worse...we could be in a hospital, waiting right now, instead of on the side of the road." God was with us.

I will get to the rest of the report later...I have a lot of things to do yet to get back into the real world.

 

[ABE4DISNEY]

Wow! What a nightmare and a blessing that only your car was injured! So glad you are all okay!!