The Cast:
Youve already been introduced to
Princess J (3) . Shes high-strung and hyperlike her momma. She wont sit still for very long. Too much to do. Her favorite pastime is whining. She might tell you it's something different, but dont be fooled, whining seems to be her favorite hobby. At least to me it does.
Youve also been introduced to
Princess R(18months) . Although I doubt shed appreciate being called a princess. At least not yet. Quite the opposite of her sister, really. Shes VERY laid back and easy goinglike her daddy. BUT OH, can she throw a tantrum. At least they pass quickly.
TEEBEE My sweet, tolerant, patient husband. Most of the time, anyway. He tolerates my Disney obsession but doesnt share it. Im just thrilled he agrees to go with me as many times as he does.
Momma (me)but you can call me mom. Heh. Heh. [Please dont, though. I hear it enough on any given day.] I am addicted to Walt Disney World. Shameful, I know. I have been addicted since my first trip when I was 11 years old. Ive had many trips since then. TEEBEE and I were even married there and had our honeymoon there.
Now, Princess R was a surprise. We had only planned on having one child. But I touched TEEBEEs foot one night and Princess R was on her way. And only 18 months, 5 days after I had given birth to Princess J. Having two kids that close together is
hmmm
welll, challenging. [Heh, heh. Thats like calling Mt. Everest a hill.] Anyway, both sets of grandparents (our parents) live three hours away. They are our only babysitters (at least until my youngest turns two
Im just weird that way
I make no apologies). So TEEBEE and I dont get alot of alone time. Thats alone time together (is that an oxymoron?) or alone time apart. We are typically in the company of our two princesses. Once a month or so we go visit the grandparents and let them babysit while we go see a movie (in a theater
.I had almost forgotten what those were like) or eat a dinner out.
But sometime in March 2006, after my 18 month-old threw yet ANOTHER tantrum and my 3 yr-old was whining, YET AGAIN, I looked at TEEBEE and said
well, you already know what I said if you read the first post. So, lets get a move-on, shall we?
Day One, May 11, 2006
I really have a hard time calling anything DAY when its still dark outside, but technically it was morning, 4:30am to be exact. Id rather be going to bed at 4:30am than waking up at that hour. I am NOT a morning person. But for Disney, Ill make that exception.
Mornings and my husband go together like investments and Enron. Its just not a good mix. Weve learned over the years that minimal talking is best until after lunch. And neither of us drinks coffee. So you can just imagine.
We toss the last few remaining items into our carry-on bags and go kiss the princesses good-bye as they sleep. My mother-in-law gets up to tell us to have a great trip and wish us well. TEEBEE grunts at her (or something similar to a grunt) and I thank her once again for coming up to babysit for us. We jump into the car at 5:00am and pretend to head to the airport. I say pretend because we had to come back to the house since I remembered--a few blocks after leaving-- that I needed to get my hat. It gets sunny in Florida, you know. TEEBEE didnt say a word. He didnt even grunt. He just turned the car around and drove back to the house.
Our flight wasnt scheduled to depart until 7:20pm (since we thought TEEBEE would be working that day) but he had taken the day off so we decided to try and fly stand-by on the 7:45am flight instead. A whole 12 hours early. Woo Hoo. More WDW time for us. We hope. If not, itd be a LONG wait at the airport. But I had called the night before and was told that we should not have a problem getting seats. The flight still had over 30 seats available.
As we neared the exit for the airport I mentioned to TEEBEE that we should try the parking lot that had the yellow shuttles with all of the black dots all over them. He grunted his agreement and we exited for the airport. As we drove right past the Yellow-Spotted parking place, I looked at TEEBEE and said:
Me: So, you didnt want to try it afterall, huh?
TEEBEE: What?
Me: The yellow spotted place.
TEEBEE: Oh. No. I guess not.
He zones a little that early in the morning. I just laughed. We parked in our typical lot. The shuttle pulled up before we could even get out of our vehicle. We only had two carry-ons (we can pack LIGHT when were not traveling with little ones) and the shuttle driver looked at the back of the car and asked us, Is this it? Yes, sir!
And we were off. Headed to the airport.
Up next: So, what are our chances of getting on that early morning flight? Did 30 people end up booking up all of those seats?
Oh yeah, and I will have pictures. But not until we actually MAKE it to WDW. Assuming that we do.