GeorgiaAristocat
<font color=purple> Côôl DIS Veteran <img src=htt
- Joined
- Feb 23, 2005
- Messages
- 2,083
Whos involved (you notice I do not say who went!)
Me (GeorgiaAristocat), 35, obsessive planner who hasnt been to WDW since 1976 its a whole new world!
DH (what shall we call him?), 33, personality traits to be revealed later, hasnt been to WDW since @ 1988 and then for only a few hours
DD (FearlessOne), 3, rocks between being a fairy princess, drama queen, and tomboy, not afraid of anything (unless she feels like screaming).
DS (SnuggleBuddy), 15 mos old, umbilical cord is about 1 mm long total mamas boy, also likes to scream and doesnt require fright to do so.
Nana keeper of FearlessOne and SnuggleBuddy while Mom and Dad play at the world!
Sunday morning, September 25, 2005
It was a lovely morning. I had packed all of my stuff after careful planning, and was set to go. Nana had called the day before to see what time she should be there. Eight oclock! I scream at DH as he is talking to her. Eight oclock he calmly passed on to his mother. Hmmm, who is more excited about getting away? DH decided that he should really pack some stuff for himself, too. (I am not allowed to do this for him, as I would wrinkle his clothes. My point is, its going in a suitcase and we have an iron at the other end, and does it really matter if your t-shirts and jean shorts are wrinkled?) I made sure that we had everything else, including our own pillows, tickets, maps, sunscreen, aloe for my husband for after he refused to wear/forgot to wear sunscreen, etc. He is only responsible for his own stuff.
Needless to say, the Slowpoke (aka DH) got that tendency naturally and biologically from his mother. She called at 8:30 to say that she was running a little late. Dont worry about it! says I, your son still hasnt packed, take your time. I should really choose my words more carefully. She arrived at 10 a.m. It takes 10 minutes to get from her house to ours. You do the math.
I have, by this point, gotten over any panic I felt, since I knew that the only thing we had planned in concrete for that day was dinner reservations at the California Grill at 7:30. We are only 4 ½ hours from Orlando. We had plenty of time. Come hades or high water I was making it to Cali Grill for dinner. Free Dining. Fireworks. Atmosphere. A week alone with my husband. **Relaxing** in bed without fear of interruption. It was all good, we were going on vacation.
We finally left the house around 10:30, giving the kiddos lots of hugs and kisses before we left. It was decided that I should drive, since DH had homework that needed to be done, and he didnt want it hanging over his head the whole time we were on vacation, so he intended to do it in the car. This greatly relieved some of my drive-related stress, since I wouldnt have to be monitoring and cautioning my husband about his speed.
An aside about my husbands driving: Anyone else out there have a spouse that drives a vehicle that has flashing lights and a siren for a living? You know, EMTs, Police, Fire, some other kind of emergency worker? I dont know if anyone else has experienced this, but it appears to me that those who drive such vehicles are VERY accustomed to driving very fast and having everyone on the road move out of their way upon their approach. In my humble opinion, this leads to disaster. Apparently they feel that no matter what vehicle theyre driving, they should continue to be able to drive very fast and have everyone move out of their way. I dont know why, I have tried repeatedly to tell the hubby that a silver minivan is REALLY not intimidating when approaching quickly from the rear on the interstate, but he keeps attempting to muscle other cars out of the way. Come on people, dont you know whos behind the wheel of the mommy-mobile? Go figure, cars simply dont move out of the way like they do for the vehicle with sirens! End of aside . . .
Well, ten minutes down the road he pulls out his laptop and schoolbook to do his homework. He sat there with both items on his lap for about two minutes looking puzzled. I, the astute and intuitive person that I am, realized that there was something wrong. Naturally, this prompted me to ask Whats wrong honey? This is never a good question to have to ask ten minutes into a trip. Well, short answer was that he couldnt remember what his homework assignment was, hadnt written it down, and could only access it via the internet. As high-tech as he is, he is still not able to access the internet as we are driving south on I-75. My solution: lets stop at one of the towns with lots of motels and cruise parking lots until we find one w/ wireless internet (which he is high-tech enough to tap into.) Theft? I dont think so, it doesnt cost the motel anything extra. The trick is finding the right motel. Hmmm, we had Cordele, Tifton, and Valdosta coming up (in that order). Cordele and Tifton are possibilities, Valdosta a certainty, but might require some driving around. Valdosta was at least 1 ½ hours away, the others would be sooner. Hubby decided to skip the possibilities, think hard about his assignment (maybe it would come to him) and shoot for Valdosta. Plus, this plays into his penchant for procrastination.
We hit the jackpot in Valdosta, finding internet access at the first motel we tried. He logged into the University system, discovered that he DOESNT have ANY homework due this week after all, and we both felt ever-so-much better about relaxing on vacation. (Since, if he did have homework due, then we were going to either have to pay for internet access to upload his project or drive around Orlando finding a hotel with wireless internet. This negated that need.)
Continuing our voyage . . .we had no issues driving until we got into Florida. Somewhere south of the state line, Florida is apparently upgrading their road. The stage that they are currently at is that they have scraped and scored the two right lanes, and repaved the left lane (the fast lane, the passing lane). It was unpleasant driving on the two right lanes (noisy, noisy, noisy), so naturally, everyone wanted to drive in the left lane. Especially grampa going 55 mph. Fortunately for us, I was still driving at this point, so no coronaries were experienced due to the decrease in speed, and necessity for drifting into the unpleasant, noisy lanes. This was to change.
As much as I watch to see how fast my husband drives, I believe he watches to see how much faster I could be driving. Im not a slowpoke, I dont hold up traffic, but I have my limits. My limit is generally 10 mph over the speed limit. Fast enough to be going faster, not so fast that I am in any danger of getting stopped, except in speed traps, which I can be aware of by a few simple internet searches (which I had, of course, done prior to the trip.) Hubby decided that we needed to eat lunch and that since he didnt have homework, that he needed to drive. We were through the speed traps, so I consented without a murmur of protest. After all, I was getting my way about almost everything else this week.
He took over driving, and we got there at least a few minutes earlier than we would have if I had been driving.
The only other driving issue was the lovebugs that adhered like cement to every part of the silver bullet minivan. Do they stick worse the faster you go? I think the first time I cleaned them off (while I was still driving) was easier than when I had to try to scrape them off after husband driving. Hmmmm. . .
We paid our $3.00 toll to drive on the turnpike and arrived at WDW without further incident. SO EXCITING!!! I took pictures. Someday I might figure out how to post them here!
Next up: Checking in and dinner at California Grill
Here are the links to the other portions of this report:
A Whole New World Dining Report
A Whole New World Trip Report (Short Version)
A Whole New World Trip Report, Long Version, Day 1 Part 1, Getting There . . .
A Whole New World Trip Report, Day 1 Part 2, Checking in and California Grill
Day 2, Part 1, Soarin' into our Trip!
Day 2, Part 2, Bathrooms Around the World
Me (GeorgiaAristocat), 35, obsessive planner who hasnt been to WDW since 1976 its a whole new world!
DH (what shall we call him?), 33, personality traits to be revealed later, hasnt been to WDW since @ 1988 and then for only a few hours
DD (FearlessOne), 3, rocks between being a fairy princess, drama queen, and tomboy, not afraid of anything (unless she feels like screaming).
DS (SnuggleBuddy), 15 mos old, umbilical cord is about 1 mm long total mamas boy, also likes to scream and doesnt require fright to do so.
Nana keeper of FearlessOne and SnuggleBuddy while Mom and Dad play at the world!
Sunday morning, September 25, 2005
It was a lovely morning. I had packed all of my stuff after careful planning, and was set to go. Nana had called the day before to see what time she should be there. Eight oclock! I scream at DH as he is talking to her. Eight oclock he calmly passed on to his mother. Hmmm, who is more excited about getting away? DH decided that he should really pack some stuff for himself, too. (I am not allowed to do this for him, as I would wrinkle his clothes. My point is, its going in a suitcase and we have an iron at the other end, and does it really matter if your t-shirts and jean shorts are wrinkled?) I made sure that we had everything else, including our own pillows, tickets, maps, sunscreen, aloe for my husband for after he refused to wear/forgot to wear sunscreen, etc. He is only responsible for his own stuff.
Needless to say, the Slowpoke (aka DH) got that tendency naturally and biologically from his mother. She called at 8:30 to say that she was running a little late. Dont worry about it! says I, your son still hasnt packed, take your time. I should really choose my words more carefully. She arrived at 10 a.m. It takes 10 minutes to get from her house to ours. You do the math.
I have, by this point, gotten over any panic I felt, since I knew that the only thing we had planned in concrete for that day was dinner reservations at the California Grill at 7:30. We are only 4 ½ hours from Orlando. We had plenty of time. Come hades or high water I was making it to Cali Grill for dinner. Free Dining. Fireworks. Atmosphere. A week alone with my husband. **Relaxing** in bed without fear of interruption. It was all good, we were going on vacation.
We finally left the house around 10:30, giving the kiddos lots of hugs and kisses before we left. It was decided that I should drive, since DH had homework that needed to be done, and he didnt want it hanging over his head the whole time we were on vacation, so he intended to do it in the car. This greatly relieved some of my drive-related stress, since I wouldnt have to be monitoring and cautioning my husband about his speed.
An aside about my husbands driving: Anyone else out there have a spouse that drives a vehicle that has flashing lights and a siren for a living? You know, EMTs, Police, Fire, some other kind of emergency worker? I dont know if anyone else has experienced this, but it appears to me that those who drive such vehicles are VERY accustomed to driving very fast and having everyone on the road move out of their way upon their approach. In my humble opinion, this leads to disaster. Apparently they feel that no matter what vehicle theyre driving, they should continue to be able to drive very fast and have everyone move out of their way. I dont know why, I have tried repeatedly to tell the hubby that a silver minivan is REALLY not intimidating when approaching quickly from the rear on the interstate, but he keeps attempting to muscle other cars out of the way. Come on people, dont you know whos behind the wheel of the mommy-mobile? Go figure, cars simply dont move out of the way like they do for the vehicle with sirens! End of aside . . .
Well, ten minutes down the road he pulls out his laptop and schoolbook to do his homework. He sat there with both items on his lap for about two minutes looking puzzled. I, the astute and intuitive person that I am, realized that there was something wrong. Naturally, this prompted me to ask Whats wrong honey? This is never a good question to have to ask ten minutes into a trip. Well, short answer was that he couldnt remember what his homework assignment was, hadnt written it down, and could only access it via the internet. As high-tech as he is, he is still not able to access the internet as we are driving south on I-75. My solution: lets stop at one of the towns with lots of motels and cruise parking lots until we find one w/ wireless internet (which he is high-tech enough to tap into.) Theft? I dont think so, it doesnt cost the motel anything extra. The trick is finding the right motel. Hmmm, we had Cordele, Tifton, and Valdosta coming up (in that order). Cordele and Tifton are possibilities, Valdosta a certainty, but might require some driving around. Valdosta was at least 1 ½ hours away, the others would be sooner. Hubby decided to skip the possibilities, think hard about his assignment (maybe it would come to him) and shoot for Valdosta. Plus, this plays into his penchant for procrastination.
We hit the jackpot in Valdosta, finding internet access at the first motel we tried. He logged into the University system, discovered that he DOESNT have ANY homework due this week after all, and we both felt ever-so-much better about relaxing on vacation. (Since, if he did have homework due, then we were going to either have to pay for internet access to upload his project or drive around Orlando finding a hotel with wireless internet. This negated that need.)
Continuing our voyage . . .we had no issues driving until we got into Florida. Somewhere south of the state line, Florida is apparently upgrading their road. The stage that they are currently at is that they have scraped and scored the two right lanes, and repaved the left lane (the fast lane, the passing lane). It was unpleasant driving on the two right lanes (noisy, noisy, noisy), so naturally, everyone wanted to drive in the left lane. Especially grampa going 55 mph. Fortunately for us, I was still driving at this point, so no coronaries were experienced due to the decrease in speed, and necessity for drifting into the unpleasant, noisy lanes. This was to change.
As much as I watch to see how fast my husband drives, I believe he watches to see how much faster I could be driving. Im not a slowpoke, I dont hold up traffic, but I have my limits. My limit is generally 10 mph over the speed limit. Fast enough to be going faster, not so fast that I am in any danger of getting stopped, except in speed traps, which I can be aware of by a few simple internet searches (which I had, of course, done prior to the trip.) Hubby decided that we needed to eat lunch and that since he didnt have homework, that he needed to drive. We were through the speed traps, so I consented without a murmur of protest. After all, I was getting my way about almost everything else this week.
He took over driving, and we got there at least a few minutes earlier than we would have if I had been driving.
The only other driving issue was the lovebugs that adhered like cement to every part of the silver bullet minivan. Do they stick worse the faster you go? I think the first time I cleaned them off (while I was still driving) was easier than when I had to try to scrape them off after husband driving. Hmmmm. . .
We paid our $3.00 toll to drive on the turnpike and arrived at WDW without further incident. SO EXCITING!!! I took pictures. Someday I might figure out how to post them here!
Next up: Checking in and dinner at California Grill
Here are the links to the other portions of this report:
A Whole New World Dining Report
A Whole New World Trip Report (Short Version)
A Whole New World Trip Report, Long Version, Day 1 Part 1, Getting There . . .
A Whole New World Trip Report, Day 1 Part 2, Checking in and California Grill
Day 2, Part 1, Soarin' into our Trip!
Day 2, Part 2, Bathrooms Around the World
