There are certain things in life that always bring me comfort.
Gods love. My moms macaroni and cheese. My husband turning on the burglar alarm before we go to sleep. Watching my kids get out of the car and walk into the school that they love. Signing onto the DIS and finding a funny PM from a sweet friend.
Oh yeah. And pulling through the Dunkin Donuts drive-thru at 5:00 AM for coffee to sip on the way to Disney World. That brings me comfort AND joy. Because its a vacation ritual.
And because its the last good coffee Ill have for the entire trip.
Anyway, the NMs always leave for the World at 5:00 AM. DH and I are both early risers. And what better way to welcome a new day than heading down I-75 to Orlando with a cup of Hazelnut? Cream and light sugar.
Ironically, I have a picture. Because I was playing with the settings on my camera one morning after I picked some up.
Back to the story.
But sometimes you gotta buck tradition. So when DH decided the Friday before our trip that he was definitely blowing off work on Wednesday, instead of going in until noon, my wheels started turning. There was no way I was wasting Wednesday in the car. I was willing to forego my happy departure routine of waking up super-early in the morning and driving through that Dunkin Donuts for my happiness to-go on the way to the World.
So I decided the NMs were gonna mix it up a little bit. We were leaving at suppertime Tuesday night. A new departure strategy. Its wild and crazy, I know, but thats how we roll.
Conservatives from the Bible Belt will surprise you sometimes.
The plan was to leave after work on Tuesday and head halfway down, and then go the rest of the way Wednesday morning.
But there were conditions. Mr. NM had decreed that there would be no last minute packing of the bags. There would be no stressful scrambling around in the eleventh hour to cross things off the to-do list. If we were to leave on Tuesday afternoon, it was not gonna be in a flurry of chaos.
Quick aside. If youve ever questioned the opposites attract theory, spend a few hours with me and my man. We couldnt be more night and day. He can accomplish more in two hours than I can in two days. Hes driven, organized, and an efficient time-manager.
Im happy-go-lucky, laid back, and constantly wondering why I get to the end of the day without having done everything I intended. And that was before the DIS. Now, I kind of know.
But in the true spirit of marriage, we complement one another well and he helps me get it together and I help him relax. Its working for us, so we dont question it.
Anywho back to leaving on Tuesday. DH had declared that he would not leave for the World with me running around like an idiot trying to do four hours worth of stuff in 30 minutes. Wed just leave Wednesday morning if things werent ready to roll in time.
See? You think that manipulation thing doesnt go both ways? Thats
him manipulating
me, in case you havent figured it out. He knows there is NO WAY Im gonna blow my chances for early departure to the Happiest Place on Earth. Or is it the place Where Dreams Come True? Either way, he knows Ill do whatever it takes to get there as soon as I can.
The man has gotten his wife into high gear. Im gonna be driven, organized and an efficient time-manager, too.
I was checking my list off with fury. I simplified our packing like never before. Which meant I just threw in a bunch of everything. The weather was gonna be all over the board anyway, so who knew what we'd actually wear. I had no list, no zip-loc bags. Not that I've ever done the zip-loc bags, but this certainly wasn't the trip to start them. Packing is pretty simple when you just open the drawers and take stacks of clothes and put 'em in the suitcase.
I had my car serviced and detailed, cleaned the house, attended the kids Thanksgiving programs, made sure the camera batteries were charged, and stocked up on snacks at Walmart. All on Monday.
By the time I took my kids to school on Tuesday, I was ready. And quite proud of myself. I called my husband to crow. He paid me lip service, but I could tell hed need to see it to believe it.
School was out at noon Tuesday, and when I picked up the kids, they were out of control with excitement.
When are we going to Disney? Is it time to leave for Disney? Will we go to Magic Kingdom tonight? When is Daddy getting home? Can Expedition Everest be my first ride?
I explained that I wasnt sure exactly when Daddy would be home, but when he was, it was time to leave.
That comment horribly backfired on me as Daddy came home about 1:30 to pick up something hed left that morning. To make matters worse, he was unaware that I had told the kids we were leaving when he came home.
And he walks in the door yelling WHO'S READY TO GO TO DISNEY WORLD!!??
The kids come screaming down the stairs jumping up and down and fired up because we are leaving earlier than they thought.
DH quickly realizes they think he means whos ready to go to Disney World RIGHT NOW and tries to backtrack.
Its too late.
My passionate and emotional son literally falls down on the floor crying. Hysterically. Because hes just been given the worst pump fake of all time.
DH scoops him up and tries to make it right, but its no use.
The boy is heartbroken.
I try to seize the opportunity by telling DH just to blow off the office. Lets head out. Hes already messed with his poor boys head enough. Just make it good and lets go.
Thats a no-go, but he says hell be home as soon as he can, and all hell need to do is pack his clothes.
Which will SUPPOSEDLY take 10 minutes.
Im leaving that alone. But suffice it to say, it took longer than 10 minutes.
Finally DH was home and we were ready to go.
And in a surprising move, he asked me to drive, which NEVER happens, and said hed brought some reading material. Reading material from the DIS in the form of a Trip Report.
Turns out, a family much like ours had taken a trip to the AKL in September and my husband wanted to get the skinny. Hed brought LaLas report and was gonna get caught up.
We laughed out loud a lot, nodded our heads in agreement often, and my husband asked me to explain the meaning of several inside jokes. He also got a huge case of the willies from her description of the Dateline special on bedbugs. And forced me to check and triple check the beds when we arrived at our halfway point to sleep.
Then he questioned why she kept going on about winning the Waterslide Olympic Gold.
I told him I could explain it, but hed think I was even bigger dork than he already does, so he said he didnt really need to know.
We got to the part about the LaLas playing Disney music as they arrived, and DH asked if I brought the Spectromagic CD. I said I did not. And that I hadnt even thought of it.
He said my planning was already slipping.
So I quickly said I had done something even better. Wed be WATCHING the Lion King when we arrived. Not just listening to it.
Take that, LaLa.
The first part of the trip was pretty uneventful. Thankfully, we didnt hit any bad traffic, and we crossed the Florida line a little before 9:00.
And heres where another part of the NM tradition was broken. We stopped at the Florida Welcome Center for our free cup of OJ. Its something we always do. Cause were all about free.
And this is what we saw.
Denied. No juice for you.
A little further down the road and we arrived at the Country Inns and Suites in Lake City, Florida. We had agreed that this was halfway, and from a little internet research, it seemed to be a good stop off for some zzzzs.
The kids had already fallen asleep in the car, so we went from this:
To this.
There were lots of folks checking in that night because traffic was HORRIBLE going North on I-75. We were thankful to be heading South. There was also a prediction of snow and bad weather on the Southeast coast, which had gotten everyone in a tizzy. That happens here in Dixie. The slightest mention of the white stuff, or even ice, will clear the grocery shelves of bread and canned soup in a New York minute.
The Country Inns and Suites was nothing to write home about. Or really even to write in a trip report about.
But it was clean for the most part and for $99 we had a suite with a king bed in the bedroom, a pull out couch for the kids, and a free breakfast that was actually pretty good.
Better than that, we were 3 hours closer to the World than we would have been in our own beds. Tomorrow morning we would get up and travel only 2 ½ hours to our favorite vacation destination.
So this night would definitely bring some sweet dreams.
If we werent too excited to sleep.
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I knew someone had pulled a good one on me but I didn't 100% know it was you! Good one NM! 
