bubba's mom
<font color=red>Proud Redhead<br><font color=darko
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2004
Our Very First HHN ...weekend.
Over a YEAR ago, yes in July of 2009, I had the opportunity to plan to attend a meet w/ some fellow DISers (who I've become pretty good buds with) over Columbus weekend. I won't bore you with 'who' or 'what' was planned, as plans change, but knowing the whole darn thing *could* have fallen apart, I decided to still book our room(s) and airfare and go with DH anyway. If nothing else, it was a weekend away alone together without the boy.
Our plan:
Friday, October 8th...put Bubba on the schoolbus, go out to breakfast w/ DH, pack up and drop the dog and Bubba's stuff off at my Mom's on our way to the airport for our 12:10pm flight.
After landing in MCO, grab rental car and head to Dad's for the night. Spend Friday night at Dad's.
Sometime Saturday, October 9th, either late morning/early afternoon, leave Dad's for PBH.
Check out of PBH Sunday, October 10th and check-in at DoubleTree.
Check out of DoubleTree Monday, October 11th and fly home.
Our Trip:
Day 1 - Friday, October 8, 2010
We got up and got Bubba off to school this morning. When he left on the schoolbus at 7:45, we went out to breakfast. After about a 45 minute breakfast, we came home, threw (not literally) our bags, Bubba's stuff, the dog's stuff and the dog in the car and dropped the dog and 'stuff' off at my Mom's on our way to the airport. Everything went smoothly and we were headed to PHL for our 12:10pm flight on time.
We (surprisingly) didn't hit much leftover morning traffic on our way to Philadelphia. When we got near the airport, we went and checked in at Winner Airport Parking and they dropped us off at the airport. Flying SW, we had our printed boarding passes in hand and checked the monitor to see what gate we departed from. Since this was just a weekend for the two of us, we weren't checking any bags...so, we headed for security.
A short wait and we breezed through security. We headed for our gate and were there early enough that the flight before us was still sitting there waiting to leave. We didn't sit and wait too long before it was our turn to board. We were A53 & A54 boarding passes, so we stood in our respectable spots at boarding time and waited to board. I believe DH picked row 6 and I sat next to the window and he next to me in the middle seat. As soon as we sat down, buckled and settled in, it seemed very weird not to have Bubba with us.....I missed him already. But, I knew I'd be talking to him soon (he was in school anyway) and we were getting ready to push out.
We were about 10 minutes past departure time when we pushed, but we were up and out of there relatively quickly. On our way, I pulled the shade closed on the window (the reason I took a window seat...so I could control the shade ) and DH got my laptop out and we watched The Karate Kid on the way down. (on a side note about the movie: good movie, but a lot like the original...too many similiarities as a matter of fact) That movie is actually 2:20 minutes long, and we only got to watch to the 1:37 mark. We were already decending into Orlando...
We landed and headed to the rental car counter (no baggage claim, remember? ) and there were a couple of parties ahead of us but there were plenty of agents and we were taken right away. A little background into the car I rented: I always reserve an economy car because they are usually better on gas and smaller..it's usually just the 3 of us and 4 bags...plenty of room. This time there was the 2 of us and 1 bag and 1 backpack. For some odd reason, that I still don't know, a week before we left, I happened to check the rental car prices again. Only this time, the cheapest car that came up was a convertible! It was only $18 more than the economy car I had reserved months ago, so it really was a no brainer. I reserved the convertible and cancelled the ole economy. According to the website, we were supposed to be getting a Ford Mustang or Chrysler Sebring. The agent called for the Mustang and after a short wait, they told her they didn't have any. Ugh...my heart sank as I really wanted that....now I was getting stuck with a Sebring. Oh well. It's STILL a convertible. Imagine my happiness when she said they were getting us a Mitsubishi Spyder/Eclipse. We waited a couple minutes for it and finally got the 'okay' to head to the parking garage to pick up our car and get outta there.
We only waited a minute or two as they brought the car up to us (we didn't have to walk the aisle to get it). The top was up, but being a nice sunny day, I knew it wouldn't be up for long. We pulled out of the parking garage and were on our way....and, yes, put the top down.
Our first stop for the weekend was Dad's in Ocala. Can't go all the way to Florida and not stop by Dad's. Besides, they were having some computer and printer issues that DH had to work on for them while we were there. I believe we rolled into Dad's around 4:30 or so. We said our hello's and shocked Dad by rollin up in a convertible and then DH got to 'work' right away. Dad wanted to network his 2 computers and do some other stuff, so they got busy with that.
Meantime, after settling in, I called my Mom's to talk to Bubba. Mom had picked him up from the bus stop after school and taken him to her house for the weekend. I talked briefly to him (& Mom) and let him go so he could get ready for his karate class that night. I promised we'd call him before his bedtime.
We sat down to dinner with Dad & Joyce about 7pm...a little later than they normally eat, but DH had a break in his business with Dad's computer issues. After a nice steak dinner, DH worked a bit more on his Dad's computer before we all retired to the living room to watch/catch-up on the Phillies game (Game 2 Phillies vs Cin Reds). Dad DVRs all the games and watches them at night. We watched it on the DVR trying to catch up to the end. It was a good game....especially since they won 7-4.
DH had some video of our summer vacation and the cruise we all went on to show Dad. We showed him that and some of Bubba's testing for his 3rd degree black belt in TKD. I think we stayed up visiting till 12:30am...waaaaay past all our bedtimes. But, being there for only 1 night, we wanted to make the most out of our visit.
Over a YEAR ago, yes in July of 2009, I had the opportunity to plan to attend a meet w/ some fellow DISers (who I've become pretty good buds with) over Columbus weekend. I won't bore you with 'who' or 'what' was planned, as plans change, but knowing the whole darn thing *could* have fallen apart, I decided to still book our room(s) and airfare and go with DH anyway. If nothing else, it was a weekend away alone together without the boy.
Our plan:
Friday, October 8th...put Bubba on the schoolbus, go out to breakfast w/ DH, pack up and drop the dog and Bubba's stuff off at my Mom's on our way to the airport for our 12:10pm flight.
After landing in MCO, grab rental car and head to Dad's for the night. Spend Friday night at Dad's.
Sometime Saturday, October 9th, either late morning/early afternoon, leave Dad's for PBH.
Check out of PBH Sunday, October 10th and check-in at DoubleTree.
Check out of DoubleTree Monday, October 11th and fly home.
Our Trip:
Day 1 - Friday, October 8, 2010
We got up and got Bubba off to school this morning. When he left on the schoolbus at 7:45, we went out to breakfast. After about a 45 minute breakfast, we came home, threw (not literally) our bags, Bubba's stuff, the dog's stuff and the dog in the car and dropped the dog and 'stuff' off at my Mom's on our way to the airport. Everything went smoothly and we were headed to PHL for our 12:10pm flight on time.
We (surprisingly) didn't hit much leftover morning traffic on our way to Philadelphia. When we got near the airport, we went and checked in at Winner Airport Parking and they dropped us off at the airport. Flying SW, we had our printed boarding passes in hand and checked the monitor to see what gate we departed from. Since this was just a weekend for the two of us, we weren't checking any bags...so, we headed for security.
A short wait and we breezed through security. We headed for our gate and were there early enough that the flight before us was still sitting there waiting to leave. We didn't sit and wait too long before it was our turn to board. We were A53 & A54 boarding passes, so we stood in our respectable spots at boarding time and waited to board. I believe DH picked row 6 and I sat next to the window and he next to me in the middle seat. As soon as we sat down, buckled and settled in, it seemed very weird not to have Bubba with us.....I missed him already. But, I knew I'd be talking to him soon (he was in school anyway) and we were getting ready to push out.
We were about 10 minutes past departure time when we pushed, but we were up and out of there relatively quickly. On our way, I pulled the shade closed on the window (the reason I took a window seat...so I could control the shade ) and DH got my laptop out and we watched The Karate Kid on the way down. (on a side note about the movie: good movie, but a lot like the original...too many similiarities as a matter of fact) That movie is actually 2:20 minutes long, and we only got to watch to the 1:37 mark. We were already decending into Orlando...
We landed and headed to the rental car counter (no baggage claim, remember? ) and there were a couple of parties ahead of us but there were plenty of agents and we were taken right away. A little background into the car I rented: I always reserve an economy car because they are usually better on gas and smaller..it's usually just the 3 of us and 4 bags...plenty of room. This time there was the 2 of us and 1 bag and 1 backpack. For some odd reason, that I still don't know, a week before we left, I happened to check the rental car prices again. Only this time, the cheapest car that came up was a convertible! It was only $18 more than the economy car I had reserved months ago, so it really was a no brainer. I reserved the convertible and cancelled the ole economy. According to the website, we were supposed to be getting a Ford Mustang or Chrysler Sebring. The agent called for the Mustang and after a short wait, they told her they didn't have any. Ugh...my heart sank as I really wanted that....now I was getting stuck with a Sebring. Oh well. It's STILL a convertible. Imagine my happiness when she said they were getting us a Mitsubishi Spyder/Eclipse. We waited a couple minutes for it and finally got the 'okay' to head to the parking garage to pick up our car and get outta there.
We only waited a minute or two as they brought the car up to us (we didn't have to walk the aisle to get it). The top was up, but being a nice sunny day, I knew it wouldn't be up for long. We pulled out of the parking garage and were on our way....and, yes, put the top down.
Our first stop for the weekend was Dad's in Ocala. Can't go all the way to Florida and not stop by Dad's. Besides, they were having some computer and printer issues that DH had to work on for them while we were there. I believe we rolled into Dad's around 4:30 or so. We said our hello's and shocked Dad by rollin up in a convertible and then DH got to 'work' right away. Dad wanted to network his 2 computers and do some other stuff, so they got busy with that.
Meantime, after settling in, I called my Mom's to talk to Bubba. Mom had picked him up from the bus stop after school and taken him to her house for the weekend. I talked briefly to him (& Mom) and let him go so he could get ready for his karate class that night. I promised we'd call him before his bedtime.
We sat down to dinner with Dad & Joyce about 7pm...a little later than they normally eat, but DH had a break in his business with Dad's computer issues. After a nice steak dinner, DH worked a bit more on his Dad's computer before we all retired to the living room to watch/catch-up on the Phillies game (Game 2 Phillies vs Cin Reds). Dad DVRs all the games and watches them at night. We watched it on the DVR trying to catch up to the end. It was a good game....especially since they won 7-4.
DH had some video of our summer vacation and the cruise we all went on to show Dad. We showed him that and some of Bubba's testing for his 3rd degree black belt in TKD. I think we stayed up visiting till 12:30am...waaaaay past all our bedtimes. But, being there for only 1 night, we wanted to make the most out of our visit.