Coffee on the Verandah -The Last Slide, Recap & Souvies 5/29 - Link to Aulani TR 5/31

[NoOrdinaryPrincess]

Just joining in. Excellent start so far!

 

[natebenma]

What a really great summary (and pictures) of your past family trips and your planning for this one! I was around for the PTR, and it was nice reliving some of the highs and lows you experienced on the way to making this happen.

Our first real family trip to Disney in 2008 was our "lessons learned" trip- we learned:

The Deluxe Dining Plan is WAY too much food, even for enthusiastic eaters like us, especially when one kid is having stomach issues.

Embrace EMHs rather than shun them

August- we came to the same conclusions as you did- too hot, too crowded, too many threats of storms wave2: TS Faye)

OMG- those bonus pictures of Eric with the characters are TOO cute!

 

[natebenma]

Holy Moley! That was a lot of zigs and zags as you got ready for takeoff.

Love, love, love the cat wrangling story (they are very cute kitties). Did you mom ever, ahem, discover that Melvin had been hurling before the visit?

So sorry to hear about your fellow annoying passengers on the flight. Regular flights are hard enough, but everything is unfortunately magnified on the Red Eye. Sights, sounds, and worst of all, smells.

I can't imagine how very glad you were to see the magical arch!

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Holy cow, I'm exhausted just reading this!

Ah, there is nothing like the last few days before a trip. They drag on and on and on!

Thought I’d share a couple of pics from that one as in many ways I felt like I was on vacation already. A pre-vacation vacation.

That's not a bad way to while away the hours.

I’d resisted texting to confirm that Eric had on sunscreen. The kid burns if you look at him. He knows better, Jeff knows better.

Ha! What kind of person would screw up applying sunscreen?

1. I had developed a rather alarming skin rash. [/B] I’d been to the dermatologist on Tuesday, gotten one Rx but was awaiting results of a culture and didn’t know if I’d have to pick up yet another Rx for it. I hadn’t heard from them yet and we were getting down to the wire. While I had an alternative anything that kept me from looking like something out of contagion, was good.

Spray tan!

2. On Wednesday one of my cats had started throwing up.[/B] Multiple times in the morning.

At 4:15 I’m rushing home, in my dress and heels, slamming cats into carriers as Eric couldn’t corral the cat on his own.

This is an awesome mental picture.

That's before he got fat. Picture a cat about 3 times that size.

I like the evil green eye. Looks like the villain from Bolt.

We have a rule at my house. Do NOT ask mom anything when she gets home from work until the following occurs:

1. She unloads whatever she is carrying up (laptop, purse, keys, old coffee cup etc).
2. She changes out of work clothes.

Seems reasonable to me. Basically to NOT attack mom in the garage as she is getting out of the car.

Immediate family learns that more quickly. If momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.

By now it’s 8:40 and I’m getting twitchy.

How does that usually manifest itself? I do the eye thing, myself.

Which Jeff always says, out loud with a big old grin and little kid look on his face, anytime a plane (or rollercoaster lol) is taking off.

Me too!

We try to sleep. The kids all seem to manage some.

Good for them! I can never sleep on planes.

The crackler sat next to K. Not only was he watching a movie on a digi player of some sort the entire red eye, he ate the entire red eye. Or at least it seemed like it. Crackle crackle went the bags as he opened them. Crackle crackle went his mouth as he munched away. At ONE in the morning. At TWO. At THREE.

At the least he could have offered you something.

The tapper was your classic tap away on the computer kind of traveler. Another bright screen and loud tapping. At ONE in the morning. At TWO. At THREE. Which happens. But he presented a false front. This guy literally had a sleep mask on the top of his head ready to pull down at any minute as if his plan had been to actually sleep. Liar.

That's just not cool.

The fouler well…he clearly ate something he shouldn’t have before boarding. My stars! The first hour of the flight was well…stinky. Silent but deadly.

Taco Bell.

He assures me that the reason we don't have to wait in line is due to my surpreme awesomeness and seems to think the vouchers are magically different than everyone elses.

I would totally have agreed and taken credit.

 

[Poolrat]

Just woke up rom the nap I needed after being exhausted from the frenzy.



The Hurling cat, the work blow up and trying to squeeze a number of extra random things in before you leave.

Sound similar to my last tip.


Funny about the voucher comment. My DD has called me magic before when I can get things done easily or really just follow directions.

The DME line always amazes me. I am always to walk on by and say to myself - see ya suckers.


You are on Property, You are on Property, You are on Property.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Have mercy woman! I'm tired just reading all you went through on departure day. I laughed outloud at the "baggage clam". Something like that sticks in your mind forever and you can never ever let the person who said it live it down.

 

[SoonerGirl]

So I love how you open your update with a beautiful, calm, tranquil photo before you hit us with the craziness of your departure day! Seriously, I think I would have hit a point where I was in the fetal position on the floor begging to be left alone

Sorry you had so many annoying people on your flight. You would think everyone would be trying to sleep on a red eye! Of course that wouldn't have helped with the guy with the flatulence problem.......

 

[KatMark]

Cynthia, I will admit I read your update last night when I got in bed before I went to sleep. I was exhausted after I read of your travel day.

I'm glad you finally arrived safely, and I can't wait to read where you ended up at OKW and what you thought (and we can't wait to be there in 29 days).

 

[nodnol]

Hi Cynthia, it seems I'm back from vacation just in time!

The passengers on your plane reminded me of our return flight: I was sitting for 11 hours (take-off was delayed after boarding for an hour) between my husband and an Italian American who was traveling to Italy via Frankfurt. After about two hours on board he asked me whether I was was allergic to cats, which I am, but it's a mild allergy. He then revealed that he was traveling with his cat, the poor thing had so far been sitting in a kind of bag under the seat in front of him. I told him as long as the cat stays on his lap, I should be okay, and it was okay. What I didn't think of, was cat food. I love cats, but I hate the smell of tinned cat or dog food. Of course the cat had to be fed, twice...
Magdalene will hava a laugh (I haven't told her this yet), because the last time I flew home from SFO was 20 years ago with her, and I ended up sitting next to an funny smelling Italian couple who manicured their nails for several hours. I guess, I will avoid SFO in the future...

 

[eandesmom]

Did you breathe while you were doing all that? Wowsers! It's tough to get so much done on the day you leave.

LOL! This is why evening flights are MUCH better for me. Had I not been packed and ready to go it would have been a nightmare but it probably sounds worse than it was. The real stress & craziness didn't hit until about 3:30 and only lasted till about 6:15 so in the big picture, not all that bad. At least for one of our trips.

I think I am a 'first time poster' for your trip reports.
Your title drew me in-I love my coffee time. I have it once in the morning and once in the afternoon.

Hi! thrilled to have you here.

My goodness I am exhausted reading your travel day. And yet am surprised that everything worked out and moved relatively smoothly. You travel with really good kids!

They are good kids, most of the time I'd like to keep them. It wasn't their first red eye so that helped a lot and in many ways, the 2 shorter flights worked a little better than one long, at least you get a 2nd chance to try and sleep.

I'm exhausted just reading this! Your kitties are cuties!

Jill in CO

They are cuties, I have to admit, thanks!

Wait just a minute - I need to wipe the sweat from my, I mean your, brow!! Whew!! What a hubbub of activity leading up to the flight!!

I felt like something out of a movie with the cat wrangling, at nuts as it was at the time it was actually pretty darn funny, even I could see that. I'm just happy my dress didn't get snagged!

I'm so glad you got all that stuff done and everything went okay. And I hope the people at the Mpls airport were nice to you! I'd hate to have people representing MY state be mean. We're supposed to be known for that MN Nice.

Well we had luggage at the MN airport so despite the delay I think it was pretty darn great!

Sorry your flight mates were less than pleasant and so sleep-preventing!

I was pretty surprised. On the 10:30 red eye I could see it for a couple of hours but a flight that leaves at 1am? That really surprised me.

You are superbly awesome with the DME!!! Love that!!

That boy has brown eyes for a reason let me tell you. "Mom, it was because of your supreme awesomeness! " Oh brother! Still, it was pretty cool and I admit, I've waited for the counter before, though probably only the first time and there wasn't a line so it didn't matter.

Baggage CLAM - sounds like how I would see it. Of course, I like to think I'd figure it out despite my poor vision!
Yay - you are home!!!

Baggage clam will forever crack me up.

You leave too much for the last minute for me! I was stressed out reading it

Well it sure wasn't for lack of trying to have it all done lol! Thankfully we were all packed and that removed a LOT of stress for me. Did I have to pack in the Chiro/PT and a workout? No but I am glad I did, it helped de-stress me as well! the funny part was that until the last 2 hours of my work day, the week had been slow as folks weren't getting back to me. So I knew the blow up would happen, expected it and as a result wasn't all that upset about it.

It must have felt so good to take off on your first leg and know that you got everything to work out after months of planning

it did! The only thing that could have made it better was no work hanging over my head but since I'd expected it I didn't let it get to me much. At least not at that moment in the trip.

 

[eandesmom]

par for the course dontcha think?

haha - kidding - But I do think I have to read it again before I can make an intelligible comment.

It's 8pm here. I am going to try to get a quick run in. See ya!

Hope it was a good one! Thought of you running while I was on the eliptical at about the same time, listening to the Special Mouse Podcast. I started making a "top 10" list for our Oct trip.

Wow! I'm exhausted just reading all that! But yay, you made it to Disney!

Yay is right! Nothing better than when DME pulls out of MCO and then you see the sign. I didn't get a great shot though but at least I got one!

Wow, what a whirlwind! But you've made it to vacation-land.

vacation land, I like that!

Eric wouldn't get any mercy at our house -- we'd jump all over that "baggage clam" too.

Eric won the "most random sayings out of nowhere" title this trip, I really should have written them down. At least baggage clam makes sense. What was funny was Jeff texting me to tell Eric that he was going to baggage clam after landing as he didn't know we'd been teasing him for a good 30 minutes on the subject already. Still not sure why Jeff didn't want to use the DME tag on his bag but it was one less delivery to wait for.

And yes, chocolate does apparently make a great pillow. Who knew?!

Better than my lap which is what he tried the first leg. And might have been part of what kept me from getting much sleep. MAN that kid wriggles!

I'm with Mary Ellen....

I just don't know how you do it, woman!!

Sounds like everything came together, even if it was all at the last minute.

Well, outside of the ID, most of it was normal last minute trip stuff I think and at least by the time the day of the trip arrived I knew that was handled so could just deal with the normal stuff.

I sure hope everything calms down for you on your trip.

I'm not sure "calm" is a word I typically associate with my family....

 

[SoNotAPrincess]

Wowza!

What a day you had! I'm exhausted just reading about it...good thing you were at Disney at the end of all the insanity!

 

[FauntleroyFAN07]

can you repeat what you did from the 3:32 to the 5:38 time frame please i was a little hazy on that leg of the pre trip plans.


the fouler reminded me of our trip to hawaii...not an actuall stinker, but when i was in the great state of Oregon and at there airport on the way out...before i boarded we were grabbing lunch

well i saw a great stand fo mountain brats or something like that.

so venture over and get a brat.

sir do you want sour kraute well of course what is a brat without kraute.

so about 30 minutes laters when we are on the plan and i unwrap that bad boy...a huge waft comes out and travels down the plan with sour kraute.smell.

the wife wasnt too happy with me on that one.

ohh well, i loved it.

 

[MEK]

2 Month Dance

 

[emma212010]

WHAT a day!!! That must have been the longest flight!! So glad you arrived safely with everything in order! I can't wait to see your villa!

 

[Moira222]

I feel like I just drank a gallon of coffee after reading your frenetic pace that afternoon.

BTW I am going to steal your "moms home " rules -- adding only "let mom pee" to it.

I so know that those two minutes of walking in, emptying my hands and using the bathroom are the difference between a good evening and a bad one.

but i digress

You ARE INDEED a super mom.

 

[eandesmom]

What a manic last day but you got there in the end which is all that matters.

Exactly! And that was all I cared about

Hope Taylor is enjoying London, we've got nice weather at the moment.

As best we can tell with the limited updates, he is!

So I knew of most of your crazyness, but those last few hours sounds extra insane.

Yeah, the cat wrangling didn't quite make it into the PTR did it

Love you work retreat pictures. Cool air shot. Great pictures of the kids.

Well I wouldn't go so far as to call it a retreat. It was an annual conference for a group of clients. I had one before the trip and one after. Both 4 days long and they are a combo of tradeshow where sponsors like me are there to talk about our business, give away swag and sell our services. Then there are a number of social events. The good news is that both have a golf tournament and I don't golf so at a minimum I get some downtime. At this one my sister and 2 wives of other sponsors and I went on the hike. Pretty fun actually as one of the wives is a big Disney buddy. They aren't on the boards but her DH and I chat Disney all the time...they are looking to buy resale sometime this year and are just cool folks. Comando to the bitter end those 2, and their kids too. To the point where they sent her parents back to the car at DL to wait it out when they complained. However apparently my idea of a walk was a bit more strenuous than she and the other wife were used to (which was pretty obvious at the time). My sponsor buddy told me this weekend (at the other conference) that the hike inspired them to join a gym. LOL! So that was kind of cool actually. So they have some nice downtime, this weekend my co worker and I drove to a cute bavarian town that she'd never been to (sponsor buddy calls it a Disney Town and there is some truth to that) and I hadn't been in years. It was fun. However, when you are on, you are ON and it's exhausting. The nice thing about the one htis past weekend (well also bad I guess lol) is that it's a new one for me. So I don't know the potential clients nearly as well. Which meant some nice unexpected solo time in the evenings that I wouldn't normally get. That's the only reason I was able to start this TR so quickly! It was lovely.

Your cats are so cute. Glad Hank? stopped puking.

Yep, Hank. He's the older one, that had the radiocat.

Ugh to the people on your flight - so annoying. Love how the kids all crashed on the last leg of the flight.

Yeah for Starbucks and arrival!

Well they crashed on the first leg too but I didn't take pictures. Unlike SOME people I was trying to respect those around me. Plus Eric was trying to use my lap as a pillow (which didn't work well as he kept kicking Evan in the process) and my phone was off. LOL! Not to mention trying to doze myself.

Just joining in. Excellent start so far!

Hi and

What a really great summary (and pictures) of your past family trips and your planning for this one! I was around for the PTR, and it was nice reliving some of the highs and lows you experienced on the way to making this happen.

Thanks Dee!

Our first real family trip to Disney in 2008 was our "lessons learned" trip- we learned:

The Deluxe Dining Plan is WAY too much food, even for enthusiastic eaters like us, especially when one kid is having stomach issues.

Embrace EMHs rather than shun them

August- we came to the same conclusions as you did- too hot, too crowded, too many threats of storms wave2: TS Faye)

OMG- those bonus pictures of Eric with the characters are TOO cute!

I can't imagine the DxDP unless you are able to do it for one night b/c you are swapping resorts. Then it can really pay off, 3 TS spread over 2 days!

I am ALL over EMH. I get shunning the parks maybe before and after them, but during? NO way!

That's actually Evan. Eric is the baby in my arms turing away from Buzz. They were only 1 and 2 at the time.

Holy Moley! That was a lot of zigs and zags as you got ready for takeoff.

Well it made it go by faster!

Love, love, love the cat wrangling story (they are very cute kitties). Did you mom ever, ahem, discover that Melvin had been hurling before the visit?

I may or may not have mentioned it during the frenzied drop off or on the drive to the airport. If I did, I definitely downplayed it.

So sorry to hear about your fellow annoying passengers on the flight. Regular flights are hard enough, but everything is unfortunately magnified on the Red Eye. Sights, sounds, and worst of all, smells.

So true. I just can't understand that kind of disrespect at that hour, or not wanting to at least tri and sleep. For all the kids saying they couldn't sleep, not a one of them noticed any of it.

I can't imagine how very glad you were to see the magical arch!

Oh I bet you can!

 

[marciemouse]

I love love love reading your trip reports. Even though I am detail oriented and actually a decent writer, I am certain that I will NEVER compose a trip report of this magnitude. Sheesh, after that departure day, you deserve a vacation. I'm glad you included your cats. Pets are always good for a laugh. Can't wait to hear more!

 

[pooksma]

Wheew! And I thought this morning's run was draining! WOW!


Glad you managed to get everything done, kids ready and made it to ME!

 

[princess_momma]

Coffee on the verandah sounds so lovely! I am definitely in. I am really enjoying the way you write, so fun and detailed! Thank you for sharing! Can't wait for more.