Travels With Teens: Take Two “I Can Organize This Trip in My Sleep!”BC Dee in DC Roti & Fini p. 40

[pas130]

If you ever make it to Jersey we will definitely have to meet up. You will pass our house on the way to Asbury Park. We will live about 40 minutes north of there. Let ne look on my phone, I am sure I have a picture from last summer when we were in Asbury Park.

I will TOTALLY make that meet as well. I'm not that far north from Asbury

 

[hill6]

I will TOTALLY make that meet as well. I'm not that far north from Asbury

Where do you live? We live in Sayreville?

 

[pas130]

Where do you live? We live in Sayreville?

South Plainfield, I grew up in Woodbridge/Edison

 

[hill6]

South Plainfield, I grew up in Woodbridge/Edison

Really close.

I work in Woodbridge. Small world.

 

[natebenma]

If you ever make it to Jersey we will definitely have to meet up. You will pass our house on the way to Asbury Park. We will live about 40 minutes north of there. Let ne look on my phone, I am sure I have a picture from last summer when we were in Asbury Park.

Thank you so much for sharing the picture of the Stone Pony. I really do need to make a trip there.

I will TOTALLY make that meet as well. I'm not that far north from Asbury

Yay!

More Jersey friends.

In addition to all of my great Disney friends from the Garden State, one of my best friends moved to Jackson and that would be another reason for me to plan a visit.

 

[natebenma]

Friday June 12: Departing is Such Sweet Sorrow


It was a new day when we arrived back at the resort from the MK. We checked the lists of instructions for our morning departure.

A number of tables and refrigerators had been borrowed from other rooms to use in the “breakfast room” and we had to make sure they were put back in the correct places before we left.

We checked our students into their rooms and retired for a little sleep.

As usual, I was awake a few hours later and roamed the resort.

There go the girls

We had a little time before we needed to catch the bus, so we went to the food court for breakfast.

Even though I didn’t pay for everyone’s meals, they let me take pictures.

The croissant sandwich was mine. I’m not sure what Ben ordered, although I’m sure I have the receipt somewhere. It was probably the breakfast platter, and he shared some sausage and home fries with me.

The arch is definitely a lot prettier from the front.

We arrived at the airport and got onto the faux-no-rail

I grabbed a salad for lunch

At the airport, the boys in our group were playing Apples to Apples. Ben had brought along stacks of cards, and this is a really fun game for any size group.

There may have been one more minor skirmish with another chaperone about whether the boys needed to be accompanied from the gate to the food court area. For the record, I will admit to being “too chaperoney” but parents had put the care of their kids in our trust and I take that responsibility seriously. I made sure an adult was with them when they went to get something to eat.


Although my DH was with me in spirit (or cola), I was excited to get back home to Mark and Nate.

Back at Boston, we boarded buses that would take us back to the school. I was sitting towards the front. At least for some of the ride… Some of the boys were misbehaving (throwing hats, standing up, punching each other) and the bus driver asked an adult to go back and sit with them.

Guess who got to go?!?

I had to put something else to a stop and this time it involved my son. Ben had saved some “Bertie Botts” jelly beans from our Universal trip to bring on the class trip. If you are not familiar with these, they come in tradition flavors like cherry and popcorn, and there are some other flavors like grass, dirt and vomit.

Ben was handing these out to some of his friends, but when one of them started gagging, I put an end to that game. I did not need to end the trip with a student throwing up!

We arrived back at the school, my friend gave me a ride home since Mark was still at work and as soon as I walked in the door, I knew I was missed.

The trashcan was overflowing, I found some rotten strawberries on the counter and the dishes needed to be done.

There’s no place like home!

The End

But there is also no place like Florida, so in less than 3 months I would be returning for a trip to Universal with my family and the Beach Club with my friends.

Antics of the Orange Banded Monkeys -in progress, and almost finished

 

[natebenma]

Tips for a Group Trip to Disney

I promised to compile the tips I have shared and the things that I have learned as a chaperone on two class trips in a single post.

This will be the place.

 

[rteetz]

Aw the end already!

Leaving is never fun but we must got back to reality I guess.

It sounds like departure day was rather easy and uneventful which was good.

It was a pleasure as always reading one of your reports.

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

Can't believe it's all over
Wasn't it kind of the boys to allow you free photos of their breakfasts
Glad your return home went without a hitch. Don't you just love being the lucky parent who gets to sit at the back of the bus!!! At least you made its home without tears, puking or injury
Glad you were missed even if it was the trash bin and rotten strawberries that told you so lol

 

[hill6]

Thank you so much for sharing the picture of the Stone Pony. I really do need to make a trip there.






Yay!

More Jersey friends.

In addition to all of my great Disney friends from the Garden State, one of my best friends moved to Jackson and that would be another reason for me to plan a visit.

It's A Small World after all.

 

[hill6]

Another great trip report Dee.

Now I need to go back and scour your Dark Side reports and get more info. I particularly need the short cut from the hotel to the parks.

 

[Wood Nymph]

I grabbed a salad for lunch

That looks good. Do you remember where you bought it? We usually eat lunch at the airport before flying home.

At the airport, the boys in our group were playing Apples to Apples. Ben had brought along stacks of cards, and this is a really fun game for any size group.

I'll have the check that game out. I've started playing card games with our grandsons.

Although my DH was with me in spirit (or cola), I was excited to get back home to Mark and Nate.

Where did you get a bottle with Mark's name on it?

The trashcan was overflowing, I found some rotten strawberries on the counter and the dishes needed to be done.

The first time I left DH home with the kids so that I could go to a three day conference, the dishwasher was completely empty and the dirty dishes were piled in the sink. And the trash was full of fast food containers and bags.

It must be a guy thing.

 

[SarahDisney]

The end of a trip is always sad ... but at least you got to be on the later plane!
I have to say ... if my mom went away without my dad, my house would not look like that when she got home. Mostly because me and Beth would take care of that stuff. My dad would just complain about it. Men.
It seems like you had a pretty good trip overall (despite a few bumps in the road), and I hope the boys enjoyed the trip as well! Thank you for sharing this report with us - I enjoyed reading along.

Also ... how did I not know that you had another TR going on? I'm going to have to go read through that entire report soon!

 

[natebenma]

Aw the end already!

Leaving is never fun but we must got back to reality I guess.

It sounds like departure day was rather easy and uneventful which was good.

It was a pleasure as always reading one of your reports.

Not too bad for a departure day. I have enjoyed going on both class trips with my boys, but those two trips were always the easiest to see coming to an end. Chaperoning a trip like this is exhausting and stressful. But so worth it!

Thank you so much for reading along and for your kind words and thoughtful comments!

 

[natebenma]

Can't believe it's all over
Wasn't it kind of the boys to allow you free photos of their breakfasts
Glad your return home went without a hitch. Don't you just love being the lucky parent who gets to sit at the back of the bus!!! At least you made its home without tears, puking or injury
Glad you were missed even if it was the trash bin and rotten strawberries that told you so lol

I know!

And of course it is now approaching the time for the planning on this year's class trip. I will probably be helping out with the Fast Passes and informational meetings soon.

I just hope I have instilled in the next generation the joys of photographing their meals!

I was annoyed since it was the kids of one of the other chaperones who was causing some of the trouble. But like you point out, I didn't have to deal with the issues I had on Nate's trip. With that one, I shed tears, had two pukers during the trip and although not in my group, we had one group that started out with one girl in crutches and ended up with another in crutches and one in a wheelchair. Class trips are not for the weak.

The mess didn't bother me as much as the smell when I walked through the door. I just wanted to sit down and relax, instead I had some things that needed immediate attention!

 

[natebenma]

It's A Small World after all.

Indeed!

Another great trip report Dee.

Now I need to go back and scour your Dark Side reports and get more info. I particularly need the short cut from the hotel to the parks.

Thank you!

Here is the link to the photo post about the shortcut from the Hard Rock to Citywalk through the Hard Rock parking lot. The main thing to remember is parking space #627

From the lobby, go out by the Palm Restaurant. Go down the stairs. Turn left towards the parking lot. Proceed to the back of the parking lot. Find the opening to the path near space #627. Follow the path to City Walk. I timed it. I think it was 5 minutes.


Shortcut from Hard Rock to City Walk


There is also a pleasant walk along the river where the boats run. You can cut the time of that walk by cutting through the pool area

Walk This Way

 

[natebenma]

That looks good. Do you remember where you bought it? We usually eat lunch at the airport before flying home.

So, I didn't remember where I got it, but I knew it was someplace unusual for a salad. So I found my receipt. Go back and look at the picture of the salad dressing.

Burger King! $6.29. Not bad for an airport salad!

I'll have the check that game out. I've started playing card games with our grandsons.

This is a group game, 4 or more players (I think you can have as many as you want). Everyone has a deck of red subject cards. You take turns being the judge and drawing one of the Green description (adjective) cards. Everyone else picks the card from their deck that most closely relates to the description card, or the one that you know will crack the judge up. The judge makes a selection and the person who put down the selected card gets the green card for that round. Person with the most green cards at the end of the game wins.

I think there is a Junior version of the game, which is important because there are a lot of cultural references. Although all the cards have a description if the persons doesn't know who or what something is.

The game is really fun, more so than I have described.

Where did you get a bottle with Mark's name on it?

The Coca Cola company had a promotion "Have a Coke with..." and they have different names on the labels of bottles. One of the chaperones had a diet Coke with Mark's name so I borrowed it for a photo op.

The first time I left DH home with the kids so that I could go to a three day conference, the dishwasher was completely empty and the dirty dishes were piled in the sink. And the trash was full of fast food containers and bags.

It must be a guy thing.

 

[natebenma]

The end of a trip is always sad ... but at least you got to be on the later plane!
I have to say ... if my mom went away without my dad, my house would not look like that when she got home. Mostly because me and Beth would take care of that stuff. My dad would just complain about it. Men.
It seems like you had a pretty good trip overall (despite a few bumps in the road), and I hope the boys enjoyed the trip as well! Thank you for sharing this report with us - I enjoyed reading along.

Also ... how did I not know that you had another TR going on? I'm going to have to go read through that entire report soon!

The girls still got the better deal. They had Monday afternoon at the resort to swim and settle in and only had to leave a couple of hours before us on Friday. Of course, the early morning wake up was not a problem for me, but may have been an issue with some of the boys. We did have a chance to eat something at the resort, though. The girls were gone before the food court opened. So there's that.

Right! Men/boys!

Definitely a good trip. I really appreciate you coming along to read about it.

PS- Oh, gosh, the Antics report! Let's just say there was a lot more immaturity on that trip than on one with 120 teenagers.

Also, heartbreak.

 

[afwdwfan]

We checked the lists of instructions for our morning departure.

Boo! I don't like these lists!

A number of tables and refrigerators had been borrowed from other rooms to use in the “breakfast room” and we had to make sure they were put back in the correct places before we left.

Wow, when you guys move in, you just do whatever the heck you want with the place, huh?

The croissant sandwich was mine. I’m not sure what Ben ordered, although I’m sure I have the receipt somewhere. It was probably the breakfast platter, and he shared some sausage and home fries with me.

Gotta be the platter. Because why would you get anything else.

The arch is definitely a lot prettier from the front.

There may have been one more minor skirmish with another chaperone about whether the boys needed to be accompanied from the gate to the food court area. For the record, I will admit to being “too chaperoney” but parents had put the care of their kids in our trust and I take that responsibility seriously. I made sure an adult was with them when they went to get something to eat.

I can see both sides. Maybe if they're in the line of sight it would be ok. But yeah, you're responsible for these kids. You know, kids that are old enough to walk to the food court, grab a bite to eat and return to you.

But they're also old enough to unleash hell or find trouble in the blink of an eye.

I had to put something else to a stop and this time it involved my son. Ben had saved some “Bertie Botts” jelly beans from our Universal trip to bring on the class trip. If you are not familiar with these, they come in tradition flavors like cherry and popcorn, and there are some other flavors like grass, dirt and vomit.

OH MY GOSH!!! WHY??? VOMIT??? Somebody should be slapped for inventing these!

 

[hill6]

Indeed!




Thank you!

Here is the link to the photo post about the shortcut from the Hard Rock to Citywalk through the Hard Rock parking lot. The main thing to remember is parking space #627

From the lobby, go out by the Palm Restaurant. Go down the stairs. Turn left towards the parking lot. Proceed to the back of the parking lot. Find the opening to the path near space #627. Follow the path to City Walk. I timed it. I think it was 5 minutes.


Shortcut from Hard Rock to City Walk


There is also a pleasant walk along the river where the boats run. You can cut the time of that walk by cutting through the pool area

Walk This Way

Thanks Dee. I will print this out to take with us.