Curing my BAD TICKER JUJU!!!!...Hey! Where's da Monkey king? New 2/11!

[Lauralee131]

Just checkin' in....

You know, in case YOU were wondering where I was....

 

[PrincessV]

 

[sharkB8HooHaHa]

Come and listen to a story about a man named Jed
A poor mountaineer, barely kept his family fed,
Then one day he was shootin at some food,
And up through the ground came a bubblin crude.

Oil that is, black gold, Texas tea.


Once the boys opened their calendars and read the news, they proceeded with much doubt. Well, except #3 who was filling his suitcase with countless stuffed animals that apparently needed a vacation. Numbers 1 and 2 cautiously gathered sweatshirts and autograph books, as if waiting for the big "PSYCH!" from their parents. I guess they think we're awful

As I was doing my pre-trip chicken with my head chopped off imitation, DH was changing the oil in the car. We had a goal, and that was to be in the car by 11. I had bags stashed in every closet in the house. I had piles and piles of clothes to be shoved into bags. I had plants to water, windows to lock, and lights to turn on. Fortunately, I also had a list.

I love lists.

I issued orders like a pro.

And they listened.

Coolers were sought and packed.

Bags with breakfast items were stacked by the door.

Our mini-tree for our room was stuffed in a bag.

Everyone showered, dressed, and were present and accounted for. We were ready to go. AND, it was nearing 11 o'clock. Bad juju, see you later!

We locked the doors, climbed into the van, "seat belts everyone!" and were on our way!



We made it to the bottom of the driveway when DH noticed the oil slick. Hello bad juju.

Fill in your expletive of choice here.

We pulled in front of the house to find oil gushing from beneath the car. Yes, GUSHING.

Engine off.

DH pops the hood and starts to look.

I head to the garage for towels to clean up the Exxon-like disaster in my driveway. And the boys are still belted in and ready to go. As I am futilely mopping up oil, DH starts to look, dare I say, panicked. He mutters something about a cracked oil line and keeps moving. He asked me to turn the car on again so he can try to find the source, and as I did, I hear "SHUT IT OFF!"

This was rapidly becoming an environmental nightmare.

So, I got out the bucket of Simple Green de-greaser and started spraying the driveway. One quart of oil vs. one gallon of Simple Green a squirt at a time...it was going to be a long clean up.

About this time #3 started to cry. He had determined that we were never going to Disney World again. #1 and #2 tried to calm him. He was nearing a point of being inconsolable. Just as he made his declaration of independence (he was going to unbuckle himself and wait on the porch), DH discovered that the seal on the old oil filter had never come off when the filter was removed. Add to that seal a new seal on a new filter. Two filters apparently don't filter at all.

Turns out it was an easy fix. Once the old seal popped off and the new filter was put back on, we were good to go. Well, once we put in another quart of oil.

So, #3 rapidly calmed himself as he was assured that we were, in fact, leaving soon and he was going to go to Disney World.

We were delayed by only 30 minutes.

Turns out it was just the first in what turned out to be quite an adventure down to Florida.

 

[jcc0621]

Come and listen to a story about a man named Jed
A poor mountaineer, barely kept his family fed,
Then one day he was shootin at some food,
And up through the ground came a bubblin crude.

Oil that is, black gold, Texas tea.

Well the first thing you know old Jed's a millionarie........

Once the boys opened their calendars and read the news, they proceeded with much doubt. Well, except #3 who was filling his suitcase with countless stuffed animals that apparently needed a vacation. Numbers 1 and 2 cautiously gathered sweatshirts and autograph books, as if waiting for the big "PSYCH!" from their parents. I guess they think we're awful

Psych them out often do ya

We made it to the bottom of the driveway when DH noticed the oil slick. Hello bad juju.

Fill in your expletive of choice here.

We pulled in front of the house to find oil gushing from beneath the car. Yes, GUSHING. [/QUOTE[

Oh No!

Engine off.

About this time #3 started to cry. He had determined that we were never going to Disney World again.

Awww, poor little guy

We were delayed by only 30 minutes.

Not Bad

Turns out it was just the first in what turned out to be quite an adventure down to Florida.

Uh oh

 

[cmp1111]

Numbers 1 and 2 cautiously gathered sweatshirts and autograph books, as if waiting for the big "PSYCH!" from their parents. I guess they think we're awful

I love lists.

Me, too!

Everyone showered, dressed, and were present and accounted for. We were ready to go. AND, it was nearing 11 o'clock. Bad juju, see you later!

Hooray!

We made it to the bottom of the driveway when DH noticed the oil slick. Hello bad juju.

NO!!!

This was rapidly becoming an environmental nightmare.

At least no baby seals were harmed, I assume.

About this time #3 started to cry. He had determined that we were never going to Disney World again. #1 and #2 tried to calm him. He was nearing a point of being inconsolable.

Oh, poor thing.

We were delayed by only 30 minutes.

Pshew!

Such adventures, and we're not out of the driveway yet! Great installment!

 

[DisneyJo]

Oh Kate you're hilarious, I'm so glad the major oil leak turned out to be a minor easily fixed problem and you were on your way again before DS #3 started a protest

 

[PrincessV]

Numbers 1 and 2 cautiously gathered sweatshirts and autograph books, as if waiting for the big "PSYCH!" from their parents. I guess they think we're awful

Okay, what's up with that? You know mine is equally suspicious... remember that he was convinced I was ready to feed him to the Country Bears? What have we done to merit such distrust?!

Bad juju, see you later!

Hooray!

Hello bad juju.

Oh carp.

Fill in your expletive of choice here.

Done. And it wasn't "carp."

So, I got out the bucket of Simple Green de-greaser and started spraying the driveway.

Color me impressed! I'd have had NO idea where to start.

Turns out it was just the first in what turned out to be quite an adventure down to Florida.

Oh No!!!!

 

[sharkB8HooHaHa]

Psych them out often do ya

That's the thing that is so funny...we don't. Ever. Why they thought I'd yank this one away from them is beyond me.

 

[sharkB8HooHaHa]

At least no baby seals were harmed, I assume.

Nope, no seals. No water fowl. Not even a fish.

But maybe a fire ant or two... (and I think that's okay with me )

 

[sharkB8HooHaHa]

Oh Kate you're hilarious, I'm so glad the major oil leak turned out to be a minor easily fixed problem and you were on your way again before DS #3 started a protest

Thanks, Jo. It was minor, but had potential, you know what I mean?

 

[sharkB8HooHaHa]

Okay, what's up with that? You know mine is equally suspicious... remember that he was convinced I was ready to feed him to the Country Bears? What have we done to merit such distrust?!

I do remember the Country Bears! To the point where I thought about going to see if they were doing the Christmas show last month but then thought twice. The last thing I need is #3 announcing to all of the grocery store that I tried to feed him to the bears! (And he would make such an announcement. This is a child who quotes Jim Gaffagan in Costco )

 

[puggymom]

HI Kate, just found your trippie and I'm on board!

at the oil leak, glad it was minor.

DS#3 is cracking me up , I hope I get to meet him in August!

 

[sharkB8HooHaHa]

HI Kate, just found your trippie and I'm on board!

at the oil leak, glad it was minor.

DS#3 is cracking me up , I hope I get to meet him in August!

Hey Mo! Welcome

Yep, #3 is a piece of work. Some of the things that come out of his mouth

 

[sharkB8HooHaHa]

With the oil crisis averted, we were on our way.


Picture this. We're about half way through Georgia. The boys were in the back playing their game boys. Well, numbers one and two were playing their game boys. Number three was planning our trip.

"First we'll go to Magic Kingdom and ride Buzz. Twice. Then we'll walk in front of the castle and go to Pirates. Then we'll go on Big Thunder. And if it's not too cold, we'll go to Splash. And then I'll be hungry so we'll get ice cream. And then we'll go on the Goofy rollercoaster. I love that ride. It's short. But fast. And then...."

Seriously.

As we were moving along down 95, DH and I started talking about the fact that we needed to go to SOG to get our new APs before checking in to the hotel. We knew we could check in with the vouchers and we were trying to decide where we should exchange the voucher for the actual pass when it hit me.

"Do you have your ID to get into SOG?"

"I knew I should have grabbed that bag!"

See, DH had spent the week prior to our leaving applying to graduate school and was a bit distracted. As we were leaving the house, he looked at the bag he brings to work, the one with his ID in it, and got that little voice in his head that said "bring the bag". He countered the voice with a "no, I'm going on vacation, I don't need the bag." The voice lost. The bag stayed home, along with his ID.

SO, now to figure out just HOW we were going to get beyond the gate at SOG so we could buy our passes.

We didn't even have the phone number for SOG to ask.

So I call Disney.

If you would like to continue in English, press one.

If you are calling about Walt Disney Resort in Florida, press one.

If you are calling about an existing reservation, press two.

If you have visited Walt Disney World Resort before, press one.

If you have visited since 2002, press two.

If you have visited more than five times, press one.


All I needed was a phone number.

Then they asked me to stay on the line when I was finished with my conversation so I could take a brief survey.

Finally! A human.

Then I got disconnected and sent directly to the survey.



Insert expletive here.

DH saw my frustration and took the phone. In what seemed like 30 seconds he was talking to Charles, who gladly gave him the number to SOG.

SOG said that we could use a pay stub to get onto property. Okay. Easy. We can print one of those off the computer. We decided we could do that at the Marriott when we got there.

Then I asked if it was the same hotel we stayed in last time.

No.

Where is it?

"The paperwork is in the bag."



So, here's what we knew. We had a room reservation for a Marriott property somewhere in Jacksonville.

Back on the phone.

"Hello, Marriott. I've been separated from my bag with my reservation information, could you please tell me where I'm staying tonight?"

Marriott was happy to provide us with the information.

All the while we are progressing down 95 with a child in the backseat who was now on day five of our trip and we were going on Test Track first.

So we make it to Jacksonville and think we know where the hotel was. But we didn't. Back on the phone. This time directly to the hotel who gave us directions.

We got there. Checked in. Grabbed some dinner and headed to St. Augustine to hit the Disney Outlet store. We managed to find some Christmas gifts for the boys, and a sweatshirt for me. Up to the counter and DH's AmEx was declined. They tried mine, saying that his strip might have been damaged. Mine was declined, too.

Allow me to insert here that we only have the AmEx. It's not a revolving account, so we have to pay it in full every month. It was not a maxed out issue. We were thinking ID theft.

Back on the phone.

A human answers when you call American Express.

That's a nice thing.

Turns out, they were suspicious because we had ventured outside of a 100 mile radius of our home. So they froze the account.

After assuring them that we were on vacation and that they could, in fact, allow us to apply charges to the card, they took care of it on the spot and we were able to leave the outlet store with our AmEx AND my sweatshirt

We returned to the hotel hoping that tomorrow would be full of pixie dust.

 

[jcc0621]

"First we'll go to Magic Kingdom and ride Buzz. Twice. Then we'll walk in front of the castle and go to Pirates. Then we'll go on Big Thunder. And if it's not too cold, we'll go to Splash. And then I'll be hungry so we'll get ice cream. And then we'll go on the Goofy rollercoaster. I love that ride. It's short. But fast. And then...."

Seriously.

HOW cute!

Then I got disconnected and sent directly to the survey.



Insert expletive here.

Oh No, I would have had choice words to insert too

So, here's what we knew. We had a room reservation for a Marriott property somewhere in Jacksonville.

We got there. Checked in. Grabbed some dinner and headed to St. Augustine to hit the Disney Outlet store. We managed to find some Christmas gifts for the boys, and a sweatshirt for me. Up to the counter and DH's AmEx was declined. They tried mine, saying that his strip might have been damaged. Mine was declined, too.

Bad, bad juju...GO AWAY

A human answers when you call American Express.

What is this thing you call a human that answers phones

Turns out, they were suspicious because we had ventured outside of a 100 mile radius of our home. So they froze the account.

NIce to know they are on top of things, but NOT at a time like this

After assuring them that we were on vacation and that they could, in fact, allow us to apply charges to the card, they took care of it on the spot and we were able to leave the outlet store with our AmEx AND my sweatshirt

We returned to the hotel hoping that tomorrow would be full of pixie dust.

Here's hoping

 

[PrincessV]

"First we'll go to Magic Kingdom and ride Buzz. Twice. Then we'll walk in front of the castle and go to Pirates. Then we'll go on Big Thunder. And if it's not too cold, we'll go to Splash. And then I'll be hungry so we'll get ice cream. And then we'll go on the Goofy rollercoaster. I love that ride. It's short. But fast. And then...."

He is so cute!

As we were leaving the house, he looked at the bag he brings to work, the one with his ID in it, and got that little voice in his head that said "bring the bag". He countered the voice with a "no, I'm going on vacation, I don't need the bag." The voice lost.

Say it with V: ALWAYS LISTEN TO THE VOICE.

So I call Disney.

I see where this is going.

Turns out, they were suspicious because we had ventured outside of a 100 mile radius of our home. So they froze the account.

OMG, thye did that to me, too! Twice! (I know - you'd think I'd have learned form the first time.) They really want you to use that card all ove rthe world, but they sure do make it difficult.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Yikes, here's hoping that everything starts to go smoothly once you arrive at WDW.

 

[TEminnie]

Sorry Kate--just noticed this too!
I'll catch up and then invite the Hoff over too!

...and I have a PTR too!

 

[DisneyJo]

Wow Kate you don't like things to be easy do you Glad it all got sorted out and your DS is sooooooo cute

 

[Disneyland_Mama]

All I have to say is WOW!

WOW....

.. to the oil clean up.

.. to the not going postal on DH for forgetting the bag.

.. to your mad phone skillz!!

Are you always this calm? I'd be freaking out and probably unable to dial I'd be shaking with anger.

I love how the boys are completely oblivious to the drama unfolding upfront! To funny!