CampbellScot
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 26, 2006
- Messages
- 2,833
And so it begins
another Disney trip taken by the CampbellScots! This year we got our full ten days in! It was a Disney Safari at Animal Kingdom Lodge and we had a blast!
Of course being that we ARE CampbellScots we had our fair share of rule breakers and SMOKERS and general if not appalling rudeness
But we survived.
I suppose before I go any further, I ought to make the introductions!
But before that the Disclaimer:
This trip report is not meant to instruct, judge, problem solve, annoy, anger, or enrage anyone who is reading it. This is just me, recounting my vacation with my husband and step children. Im not perfect, my family is not perfect, and I would never try to portray us in that light. I am hopelessly flawed. Im controlling and bossy and more often than not a major pain in the rump. I am blessed to be married to a man who can see beyond all that and love me anyway. For some reason my step kids have chosen to accept my flawed ways and love me no matter how bossy I may be. I am human. I make huge mistakes constantly but I do try to learn from those mistakes and do better the next time. Im just one Disney dork, remembering a trip and hoping to share the joy of those memories with others. Nothing more. If a person finds themselves disliking the way I write or the way I live, or speak or parent or wife please feel free to exercise your right to stop reading my report.
Yay free will!
OKAY here we go!
Introductions!!!
First off is Jay the father, the husband, the linchpin of this whole operation! He is level headed, practical to a fault and the most capable and compassionate man Ive ever encountered in my life. Every time I turned around on this trip, Jay was helping someone random strangers people just gravitate to this man. He has an I can fix it vibe coming off him like nobodys business! Hes a bit on the stubborn side a VERY Type A workaholic and a clean freak of the highest order. We work well together! I said it before, Ill say it now I won the boy lottery on this one. Hes a keeper!!
Next up:
Sally, aged 9. Oh our Sally Rally my my how a year changes things! Last year we were all about Minnie Mouse. Minnie was THE star of the trip. To see Minnie was a thrill. Fast forward a year suddenly Zac Efron and High School Musical is the main topic of conversation at all times. Sally is head over heels in LOVE with Zac. She has memorized every single song from both movies shell break into song frequently, out of the blue Were all in this together Sally is still the ultimate rule following little soldier of Justice! Her tolerance level for smokers and rule breakers alike has gone WAY down I didnt think that was possible. How WRONG I was. Sallys patience in general has gone way down. She does NOT understand people choosing to break rules on purpose. We had some tears of frustration over rude people, pushy people, people cutting in line, smoking in non smoking areas, people smoking AT ALL...people choosing not to wear deodorant in her vicinity, her little brother all the things that merely annoyed her last summer nearly sent her over the EDGE this summer. As much as I hate to admit it, Sally is not a little girl anymore. She is forcefully marching towards her tweens and has a little attitude to go with it. Jay and I got an inkling of what her teen years may be like.
Of course this is Sally we are talking about
she had more than her fair share of incredibly sweet moments
kind and nurturing moments with her little brother
cuddly moments with her daddy and with me. She is still Sally
but she packed several pairs of Fussy Britches and wore them often!
Teddy, aged 6. Teddy hasnt changed over much since last summer. Hes still as handsome as ever. Hes taller and all angles. Which means he is even MORE clumsy and unaware of his body and where it is in space. That child stepped on my feet 84,000+ times over ten days. He stepped on everyones feet. Constantly. He had no awareness of it at all. Teddy is still his happy go lucky little self. He is still filled to the brim with mischief and an insatiable curiosity. He wants to know how EVERYTHING works. Why it works the way it works who thought it up? When did they think it up? HOW did they think it up? He has an endless need to KNOW. He still amazes me with the information he retains and spits out at random moments. Teddy is a bright and loving little boy and the ultimate comic relief. He is learning how to annoy his sister in less obvious ways which led to a lot of What? paired with innocent eye blinking. He is such a stinker like his daddy that boy!
Lastly Me CampbellScot aka, MissCammie. For those who dont know this, the kids were introduced to me as MissCammie the very first time I met them. In New Jersey it is not uncommon for children to call adult women Miss whatever their first name is. This is also not uncommon in Texas, where I was born and raised. So I wasnt uncomfortable with it the kids werent and it stuck. Even after we tried to get the kids to drop the Miss once it was clear that I was going to be more than just an acquaintance of theirs. But they wont. So here I am. MissCammie. One word.
I am a misplaced Southern girl living on the East Coast. I love dachshunds and diet coke insanely addicted is a more accurate description of the depth of my diet coke love I am neurotic and bossy and obsessively germ phobic. I am a stickler for manners at all times most importantly when eating, but I also require manners in public places, over the phone, in crowds, and pretty much anywhere in which a person is in the company of another living creature. Im a nut about it. I dont let it slide ever. (see bossy!) One still needs to have manners regardless of being tired, sick, hungry, or any other disagreeable whathaveyou. I have a wicked step mother eyebrow arch that I often employ instead of using words. It is very powerful. It frightens the children .which is my job and I do it well *EVIL LAUGH*
Dont judge. Its my job. Ask Lady Tremaine.
And thats enough about me.
This was the year for our TEN DAY trip! The trip of dreams...the one that got away. Not this year. Nope. We were hanging on for dear life to this one!
As I said before, we chose to stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge this trip. Teddy is a NUT for animals. He was NOT disappointed. The animals were fantastic. Some other things werent so fantastic but well get to that later. Overall we loved Animal Kingdom Lodge. It was home for ten whole days!
Last year, on departure day, we woke up to some pretty heavy rain. I was worried that our flight would be delayed but it wasnt. We arrived safely to sun soaked Orlando.
Not so this year. Nope.
There had to be rain hurricane rain.
I heard a nasty rumor about a hurricane called Fay that was said to be heading towards Florida Orlando DISNEYWORLD!
But it was supposed well into the Carolinas by the time our trip was to start.
I kept an eye on accuweather.com and was satisfied with the weather predictions
But I made the mistake of reading the threads on the Dis about hurricane Fay.
Oh my WORD calamity was predicted. It seemed that every person that commented on Fay was POSITIVE that not only would she still be dumping on Orlando on August 21rst, but she would stick around for ten more days with biblical level rains and wed probably have to BOAT from park to park.
I never should have read those threads.
I was in such a panic over the weather that I was ready to invoke the trip insurance and not go. It was just too much to imagine our trip that I had been painstakingly planned down to the last second was going to be rained out.
I was absolutely panic stricken.
Thankfully the predictions were wrong.
Totally and completely wrong.
Of course I didnt know the threads would be wrong on our departure day. I had gotten into a bit of a funk in my head. I didnt want the kids to be disappointed. I wanted this to be the trip of the CENTURY for them and endless soaking rain was NOT going to aid me in this dream realization.
When the alarm went off at 4am, it was with a fluttery feeling of panic that I pulled myself out of bed. I had not slept much as I had totally procrastinated in packing and was still trying to get things arranged to my liking at 3am! I was tired.
Sally and Teddy were NOT tired at all. They were wide awake in their rooms totally dressed and RARIN to go!
When I opened Sallys bedroom door I saw that she had her bed neatly made, her backpack firmly on her little back and a huge smile on her face.
Ready for Disney MissCammie!! Im ready to go! Bunnys ready to go too! Were all ready to go!!!
Hey Sally are you ready to go?
This child was so excited. I was excited for her. The summer had been long and complicated for Sally. Wed had an unfortunate happening with the art camp that Sally had so DESPERATELY wanted to attend being less than good. The reviews for this camp must have been written by the director herself, b/c the only art being done was some random coloring on construction paper. We had been told that there would be ceramics classes, and painting classes, and all manner of artistic endeavors. Not a one of those things ever materialized. There was bit of coloring on construction paper in the mornings and the rest was either being plunked in front of a DVD all day or being hauled out to a park in the heat of mid day and being told by the counselors to SHUT UP and LEAVE US ALONE. Needless to say Sally and Teddy did not remain at that camp. It was about a week before Sally told us what was really going on. Oh my WORD I was SO mad. We had been getting papers every day talking about the activities the kids didn't do.I got on the phone and made me an angry phone call. Oh my the I cant BELIEVE thats and I will CERTAINLY be looking int this what a LOAD of poo. This lady was ripping people off left and right. GRRR. SO camp was a bust. Sally was angry and disappointed and never quite let it go. She felt betrayed by adults who are supposed to tell the truth at all times. Being nine can be rough. She's beginning to see that people can be jerks...at any age.
But man youd never know she had a moment of strife to look at her on this morning. She was all smiles. The sparkles of joy coming off of her were infectious!
almost.
I hoping that my current dark outlook would improve some so I could join my family in the Disney Bubble of Joy!
Teddy just about did it.
I found him laying on his bed, hanging upside down off it so that his head touched the floor and he was attempting to color from that position.
Ummm, Teddy whatcha doin?
The boy didnt miss a beat.
coloring upside down
Obviously.
Oh cool. Very artistic. Are you ready freddy to go to Disney?
Yep. Im ready. I already went potty
Good Boy Teddy bear!
Jay was up and moving in vacation mode. He had the suitcases ready to go, waiting by the door. He was striding around the house in that in control way he has making sure everything was where it needed to be, tidying the already spotless house for the house sitter. He was ready for vacation too.
It was only me and my Eeyore dark cloud that was having a hard time getting my Disney groove on.
I took my puppy outside to powder his nose once more before we put him in his kennel. The puppy sitter was going to arrive at 7am so he wouldnt be alone too long. I absolutely LOATHE leaving my puppy for any extended amount of time. I feel so badly for him. He thinks well be home after while, but we wont. It will be the puppy sitter whom he loves and adores, but Im sure hell be confused. Poor baby. LAST year we left him at the vet boarding facility. I thought that would be the safest place for him. Turns out I was very wrong. He had a nasty deep scratch on his nose when we picked him up and I found out later that the dogs at the kennel were left from 7pm to 8am every evening. ALONE. In their sad little cement floored kennels. That was NOT in the pictures on their website or on the tour. WHAT is with all this FALSE advertising?! Im also pretty sure that at least one of the guys working for the kennel had been on Americas Most Wanted more than once.
Seriously.
I was just fit to be tied about the scratch and I wasnt going to subject my baby to that treatment again. So he stayed with the house sitter.
Im sorry was this a digression?
Anyhow
It wasnt long before the lookouts (Sally and Teddy) SCREECHED The Limo is here!!!
Sally snapped this with her NEW just for Disney camera!! Next time she remembered to open the flash!
And that was that. It was time go. The long awaited moment had finally arrived.
And here I was worrying about nasty weather in Orlando.
It did NOT help that the forecast for New Jersey was pretty much the most SPECTACULAR weather the state had ever seen in its ENTIRE history as a state ever.
Seriously.
We piled in to the swanky as all get out limo and headed to the airport. It was a white limo this year!
Cause thats how we roll.
(or we have too much luggage and too many people to fit into a regular car and a van costs the same as a limo and the kids so get a kick out of the limo so were not nearly as cool as we might appear to be )
We made it to the airport in no time flat. We got checked in pretty quickly too. Sally didnt even attempt to fight me on the shoes off thing.
It was not out of the goodness of her little heart however. This girl had a plan.
That little poot had packed and extra pair of socks in her backpack to change into so that she didnt have to wear the contaminated ones that had touched the airport floor AND she brought a little ziplock baggie to put the contaminated socks into.
All I could do was shake my head at her.
Points for problem solving.
Sally is no longer the age that she just does what shes told b/c shes told to.
Shes gone and developed a stubborn streak our Sal she is now aware that adults dont HAVE to know every little thing and as long as she can figure it out herself, theres no reason to engage in power struggles with adults about germy airport floors right?
This lovely new personality quirk has incited some head to head battles but mostly Im proud of her for finding her own way.
Stinker.
SO clean socks on, germs safely packed away we headed to the gate and found a seat. It was mostly quiet except for the televisions that were set to news channels talking about Hurricane Fay
EVIL EVIL WEATHER!
The kids sure weren't bugged by anything. They were on their Disney high! Teddy was just thrilled to be able to see airplanes up close!
He is FASCINATED by planes. The child could watch planes all day every day and never get bored. He hopped up onto the chair to look out the window. On reflex I reminded him that he should not be standing on furniture
"Okay MissCammie."
This boy is no dummy.
I had to give myself a talking to about my mood. Jay and the kids were SO excited. The stressful look Jay carries around with him had pretty much melted away. He had even done a cursory check of the area and announced that it didnt look like there were any violent children fixin to board the flight.
There were LOTS of kids of course but everyone appeared to be fairly well behaved or too small to actually hurt me if in fact I was seated next to a flailing, tantrum having one
But I brought my hockey mask just in case.
No bloody noses this year for MissCammie. At least not on the plane!
Before long it was time to begin boarding. I had to laugh at the announcement that there would be no early boarding for families with children! EVERYBODY had children.
The airline isn't stupid either.
Teddy was skip hopping in anticipation. Sally was rolling her eyes at her totally embarrassing little brother.
We were ready to go!
I was actually greeted with a most agreeable surprise once I was seated there was an ADULT man sitting next to the window and I had the aisle. Jay and the kids were in the row right across from me. And guess who was in the middle seat?
NOBODY!!!!!
Well YEE-HAW for me!!!
I was quite happy to be able to sit with more than the usual amount of room and read my book! (I had gotten the book Chalked Up by Jennifer Sey. She was the 1986 National gymnastics champion. The book was a memoir about her life as an elite gymnast. I highly recommend the book. Anyone who is interested in what those little girls are subjected to at an early age would be VERY interested in Jennifer Seys story!)
The flight was fairly smooth and uneventful quiet even. There was a woman behind me who had never flown before though and she kept giving out little shrieks followed by Oh my LORD is that normal?! Are we supposed to do that?! with any sort of a dip or shudder. As we got closer to Florida, and began our descent from the blue sky into the rain and clouds, the air got choppy and we had some bumpity turbulence Teddys response was,
COOL!!! Its like a ROLLER COASTER!!!
The first time flier was not as excited about this particular thrill ride.
She started praying
Loudly.
The praying got louder as we were fixing to land the plane was swaying a bit more than normal.
So we landed to a chorus of
Oh Lord SAVE ME!
People were cracking up all around us.
I guess the praying worked though because we landed safely.
In the rain.
And the wind
The Campbellscots had arrived. No one was bleeding...yet
We were ready to begin our Disney adventure!!!
in our ponchos...
Up Next: PUBLIX!!!! Vacation Grocery Shopping is FUN!
Chapter 2: We MADE IT!!!
Chapter 3: A most unpleasant surprise!
Chapter 4: Exploration, Animals and a frog called Steve!
Chapter 5: Retail Therapy and Pixie Dust!
Chapter 6: The Lay of the Land...and Swimming!!
Chapter 7:A Rainy Bus Ride and an Emotional Reunion!
Chapter 8: Chef Mickey's and Browsing!
Chapter 9: A Wet Night and a Pin Trade!
Chapter 10: Waiting for the Bus!
Chapter 11: A Breezy Start with a Patch of Blue!!
Of course being that we ARE CampbellScots we had our fair share of rule breakers and SMOKERS and general if not appalling rudeness
But we survived.
I suppose before I go any further, I ought to make the introductions!
But before that the Disclaimer:
This trip report is not meant to instruct, judge, problem solve, annoy, anger, or enrage anyone who is reading it. This is just me, recounting my vacation with my husband and step children. Im not perfect, my family is not perfect, and I would never try to portray us in that light. I am hopelessly flawed. Im controlling and bossy and more often than not a major pain in the rump. I am blessed to be married to a man who can see beyond all that and love me anyway. For some reason my step kids have chosen to accept my flawed ways and love me no matter how bossy I may be. I am human. I make huge mistakes constantly but I do try to learn from those mistakes and do better the next time. Im just one Disney dork, remembering a trip and hoping to share the joy of those memories with others. Nothing more. If a person finds themselves disliking the way I write or the way I live, or speak or parent or wife please feel free to exercise your right to stop reading my report.
Yay free will!
OKAY here we go!
Introductions!!!
First off is Jay the father, the husband, the linchpin of this whole operation! He is level headed, practical to a fault and the most capable and compassionate man Ive ever encountered in my life. Every time I turned around on this trip, Jay was helping someone random strangers people just gravitate to this man. He has an I can fix it vibe coming off him like nobodys business! Hes a bit on the stubborn side a VERY Type A workaholic and a clean freak of the highest order. We work well together! I said it before, Ill say it now I won the boy lottery on this one. Hes a keeper!!
Next up:
Sally, aged 9. Oh our Sally Rally my my how a year changes things! Last year we were all about Minnie Mouse. Minnie was THE star of the trip. To see Minnie was a thrill. Fast forward a year suddenly Zac Efron and High School Musical is the main topic of conversation at all times. Sally is head over heels in LOVE with Zac. She has memorized every single song from both movies shell break into song frequently, out of the blue Were all in this together Sally is still the ultimate rule following little soldier of Justice! Her tolerance level for smokers and rule breakers alike has gone WAY down I didnt think that was possible. How WRONG I was. Sallys patience in general has gone way down. She does NOT understand people choosing to break rules on purpose. We had some tears of frustration over rude people, pushy people, people cutting in line, smoking in non smoking areas, people smoking AT ALL...people choosing not to wear deodorant in her vicinity, her little brother all the things that merely annoyed her last summer nearly sent her over the EDGE this summer. As much as I hate to admit it, Sally is not a little girl anymore. She is forcefully marching towards her tweens and has a little attitude to go with it. Jay and I got an inkling of what her teen years may be like.
Of course this is Sally we are talking about
she had more than her fair share of incredibly sweet moments
kind and nurturing moments with her little brother
cuddly moments with her daddy and with me. She is still Sally
but she packed several pairs of Fussy Britches and wore them often!Teddy, aged 6. Teddy hasnt changed over much since last summer. Hes still as handsome as ever. Hes taller and all angles. Which means he is even MORE clumsy and unaware of his body and where it is in space. That child stepped on my feet 84,000+ times over ten days. He stepped on everyones feet. Constantly. He had no awareness of it at all. Teddy is still his happy go lucky little self. He is still filled to the brim with mischief and an insatiable curiosity. He wants to know how EVERYTHING works. Why it works the way it works who thought it up? When did they think it up? HOW did they think it up? He has an endless need to KNOW. He still amazes me with the information he retains and spits out at random moments. Teddy is a bright and loving little boy and the ultimate comic relief. He is learning how to annoy his sister in less obvious ways which led to a lot of What? paired with innocent eye blinking. He is such a stinker like his daddy that boy!
Lastly Me CampbellScot aka, MissCammie. For those who dont know this, the kids were introduced to me as MissCammie the very first time I met them. In New Jersey it is not uncommon for children to call adult women Miss whatever their first name is. This is also not uncommon in Texas, where I was born and raised. So I wasnt uncomfortable with it the kids werent and it stuck. Even after we tried to get the kids to drop the Miss once it was clear that I was going to be more than just an acquaintance of theirs. But they wont. So here I am. MissCammie. One word.
I am a misplaced Southern girl living on the East Coast. I love dachshunds and diet coke insanely addicted is a more accurate description of the depth of my diet coke love I am neurotic and bossy and obsessively germ phobic. I am a stickler for manners at all times most importantly when eating, but I also require manners in public places, over the phone, in crowds, and pretty much anywhere in which a person is in the company of another living creature. Im a nut about it. I dont let it slide ever. (see bossy!) One still needs to have manners regardless of being tired, sick, hungry, or any other disagreeable whathaveyou. I have a wicked step mother eyebrow arch that I often employ instead of using words. It is very powerful. It frightens the children .which is my job and I do it well *EVIL LAUGH*
Dont judge. Its my job. Ask Lady Tremaine.
And thats enough about me.
This was the year for our TEN DAY trip! The trip of dreams...the one that got away. Not this year. Nope. We were hanging on for dear life to this one!
As I said before, we chose to stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge this trip. Teddy is a NUT for animals. He was NOT disappointed. The animals were fantastic. Some other things werent so fantastic but well get to that later. Overall we loved Animal Kingdom Lodge. It was home for ten whole days!
Last year, on departure day, we woke up to some pretty heavy rain. I was worried that our flight would be delayed but it wasnt. We arrived safely to sun soaked Orlando.
Not so this year. Nope.
There had to be rain hurricane rain.
I heard a nasty rumor about a hurricane called Fay that was said to be heading towards Florida Orlando DISNEYWORLD!
But it was supposed well into the Carolinas by the time our trip was to start.
I kept an eye on accuweather.com and was satisfied with the weather predictions
But I made the mistake of reading the threads on the Dis about hurricane Fay.
Oh my WORD calamity was predicted. It seemed that every person that commented on Fay was POSITIVE that not only would she still be dumping on Orlando on August 21rst, but she would stick around for ten more days with biblical level rains and wed probably have to BOAT from park to park.
I never should have read those threads.
I was in such a panic over the weather that I was ready to invoke the trip insurance and not go. It was just too much to imagine our trip that I had been painstakingly planned down to the last second was going to be rained out.
I was absolutely panic stricken.
Thankfully the predictions were wrong.
Totally and completely wrong.
Of course I didnt know the threads would be wrong on our departure day. I had gotten into a bit of a funk in my head. I didnt want the kids to be disappointed. I wanted this to be the trip of the CENTURY for them and endless soaking rain was NOT going to aid me in this dream realization.
When the alarm went off at 4am, it was with a fluttery feeling of panic that I pulled myself out of bed. I had not slept much as I had totally procrastinated in packing and was still trying to get things arranged to my liking at 3am! I was tired.
Sally and Teddy were NOT tired at all. They were wide awake in their rooms totally dressed and RARIN to go!
When I opened Sallys bedroom door I saw that she had her bed neatly made, her backpack firmly on her little back and a huge smile on her face.
Ready for Disney MissCammie!! Im ready to go! Bunnys ready to go too! Were all ready to go!!!
Hey Sally are you ready to go?
This child was so excited. I was excited for her. The summer had been long and complicated for Sally. Wed had an unfortunate happening with the art camp that Sally had so DESPERATELY wanted to attend being less than good. The reviews for this camp must have been written by the director herself, b/c the only art being done was some random coloring on construction paper. We had been told that there would be ceramics classes, and painting classes, and all manner of artistic endeavors. Not a one of those things ever materialized. There was bit of coloring on construction paper in the mornings and the rest was either being plunked in front of a DVD all day or being hauled out to a park in the heat of mid day and being told by the counselors to SHUT UP and LEAVE US ALONE. Needless to say Sally and Teddy did not remain at that camp. It was about a week before Sally told us what was really going on. Oh my WORD I was SO mad. We had been getting papers every day talking about the activities the kids didn't do.I got on the phone and made me an angry phone call. Oh my the I cant BELIEVE thats and I will CERTAINLY be looking int this what a LOAD of poo. This lady was ripping people off left and right. GRRR. SO camp was a bust. Sally was angry and disappointed and never quite let it go. She felt betrayed by adults who are supposed to tell the truth at all times. Being nine can be rough. She's beginning to see that people can be jerks...at any age.
But man youd never know she had a moment of strife to look at her on this morning. She was all smiles. The sparkles of joy coming off of her were infectious!
almost.
I hoping that my current dark outlook would improve some so I could join my family in the Disney Bubble of Joy!
Teddy just about did it.
I found him laying on his bed, hanging upside down off it so that his head touched the floor and he was attempting to color from that position.
Ummm, Teddy whatcha doin?
The boy didnt miss a beat.
coloring upside down
Obviously.
Oh cool. Very artistic. Are you ready freddy to go to Disney?
Yep. Im ready. I already went potty
Good Boy Teddy bear!
Jay was up and moving in vacation mode. He had the suitcases ready to go, waiting by the door. He was striding around the house in that in control way he has making sure everything was where it needed to be, tidying the already spotless house for the house sitter. He was ready for vacation too.
It was only me and my Eeyore dark cloud that was having a hard time getting my Disney groove on.
I took my puppy outside to powder his nose once more before we put him in his kennel. The puppy sitter was going to arrive at 7am so he wouldnt be alone too long. I absolutely LOATHE leaving my puppy for any extended amount of time. I feel so badly for him. He thinks well be home after while, but we wont. It will be the puppy sitter whom he loves and adores, but Im sure hell be confused. Poor baby. LAST year we left him at the vet boarding facility. I thought that would be the safest place for him. Turns out I was very wrong. He had a nasty deep scratch on his nose when we picked him up and I found out later that the dogs at the kennel were left from 7pm to 8am every evening. ALONE. In their sad little cement floored kennels. That was NOT in the pictures on their website or on the tour. WHAT is with all this FALSE advertising?! Im also pretty sure that at least one of the guys working for the kennel had been on Americas Most Wanted more than once.
Seriously.
I was just fit to be tied about the scratch and I wasnt going to subject my baby to that treatment again. So he stayed with the house sitter.
Im sorry was this a digression?
Anyhow
It wasnt long before the lookouts (Sally and Teddy) SCREECHED The Limo is here!!!
Sally snapped this with her NEW just for Disney camera!! Next time she remembered to open the flash!
And that was that. It was time go. The long awaited moment had finally arrived.
And here I was worrying about nasty weather in Orlando.
It did NOT help that the forecast for New Jersey was pretty much the most SPECTACULAR weather the state had ever seen in its ENTIRE history as a state ever.
Seriously.
We piled in to the swanky as all get out limo and headed to the airport. It was a white limo this year!
Cause thats how we roll.
(or we have too much luggage and too many people to fit into a regular car and a van costs the same as a limo and the kids so get a kick out of the limo so were not nearly as cool as we might appear to be )
We made it to the airport in no time flat. We got checked in pretty quickly too. Sally didnt even attempt to fight me on the shoes off thing.
It was not out of the goodness of her little heart however. This girl had a plan.
That little poot had packed and extra pair of socks in her backpack to change into so that she didnt have to wear the contaminated ones that had touched the airport floor AND she brought a little ziplock baggie to put the contaminated socks into.
All I could do was shake my head at her.
Points for problem solving.
Sally is no longer the age that she just does what shes told b/c shes told to.
Shes gone and developed a stubborn streak our Sal she is now aware that adults dont HAVE to know every little thing and as long as she can figure it out herself, theres no reason to engage in power struggles with adults about germy airport floors right?
This lovely new personality quirk has incited some head to head battles but mostly Im proud of her for finding her own way.
Stinker.
SO clean socks on, germs safely packed away we headed to the gate and found a seat. It was mostly quiet except for the televisions that were set to news channels talking about Hurricane Fay
EVIL EVIL WEATHER!
The kids sure weren't bugged by anything. They were on their Disney high! Teddy was just thrilled to be able to see airplanes up close!
He is FASCINATED by planes. The child could watch planes all day every day and never get bored. He hopped up onto the chair to look out the window. On reflex I reminded him that he should not be standing on furniture
"Okay MissCammie."
This boy is no dummy.
I had to give myself a talking to about my mood. Jay and the kids were SO excited. The stressful look Jay carries around with him had pretty much melted away. He had even done a cursory check of the area and announced that it didnt look like there were any violent children fixin to board the flight.
There were LOTS of kids of course but everyone appeared to be fairly well behaved or too small to actually hurt me if in fact I was seated next to a flailing, tantrum having one
But I brought my hockey mask just in case.
No bloody noses this year for MissCammie. At least not on the plane!
Before long it was time to begin boarding. I had to laugh at the announcement that there would be no early boarding for families with children! EVERYBODY had children.
The airline isn't stupid either.
Teddy was skip hopping in anticipation. Sally was rolling her eyes at her totally embarrassing little brother.
We were ready to go!
I was actually greeted with a most agreeable surprise once I was seated there was an ADULT man sitting next to the window and I had the aisle. Jay and the kids were in the row right across from me. And guess who was in the middle seat?
NOBODY!!!!!
Well YEE-HAW for me!!!
I was quite happy to be able to sit with more than the usual amount of room and read my book! (I had gotten the book Chalked Up by Jennifer Sey. She was the 1986 National gymnastics champion. The book was a memoir about her life as an elite gymnast. I highly recommend the book. Anyone who is interested in what those little girls are subjected to at an early age would be VERY interested in Jennifer Seys story!)
The flight was fairly smooth and uneventful quiet even. There was a woman behind me who had never flown before though and she kept giving out little shrieks followed by Oh my LORD is that normal?! Are we supposed to do that?! with any sort of a dip or shudder. As we got closer to Florida, and began our descent from the blue sky into the rain and clouds, the air got choppy and we had some bumpity turbulence Teddys response was,
COOL!!! Its like a ROLLER COASTER!!!
The first time flier was not as excited about this particular thrill ride.
She started praying
Loudly.
The praying got louder as we were fixing to land the plane was swaying a bit more than normal.
So we landed to a chorus of
Oh Lord SAVE ME!
People were cracking up all around us.
I guess the praying worked though because we landed safely.
In the rain.
And the wind
The Campbellscots had arrived. No one was bleeding...yet
We were ready to begin our Disney adventure!!!
in our ponchos...
Up Next: PUBLIX!!!! Vacation Grocery Shopping is FUN!
Chapter 2: We MADE IT!!!
Chapter 3: A most unpleasant surprise!
Chapter 4: Exploration, Animals and a frog called Steve!
Chapter 5: Retail Therapy and Pixie Dust!
Chapter 6: The Lay of the Land...and Swimming!!
Chapter 7:A Rainy Bus Ride and an Emotional Reunion!
Chapter 8: Chef Mickey's and Browsing!
Chapter 9: A Wet Night and a Pin Trade!
Chapter 10: Waiting for the Bus!
Chapter 11: A Breezy Start with a Patch of Blue!!
And they told the group this week that ithis is a weed-out program, and there is a 30% failure rate. If they don't pass, they get some other assignment.
