MAGICX2
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 17, 2004
- Messages
- 1,549
Yes, I did it. I committed a sin against the DIS. I took a vacation outside of WDW! But let me just state here and now that it will NEVER happen again! 
When I asked my DS4 what he wanted to do for vacation this summer naturally his first response was Walt Disney World! I told him that maybe we should try something different this time. But mom, Disney is my favoritist place in the wide world!
I told him it was mine too, but daddy wanted to do something else this time. Okay, I want to go camping and I want to go to the ocean. So, my always-vacationing mind kicked into high gear. We could combine the two. We will camp at Myrtle Beach! Now let me just pause here to say that I have not been camping for more than 15 years. I was about 12 the last time we went and I did nothing but swim and ride my bike. My mom took care of everything else. However, I considered myself an experienced camper. How hard can it be? You pack everything into the motorhome, you drive, you get there, and you go home. HA, HA! This is where it gets interesting.
I had made ressies for 5 nights/4 days at Pirateland Camping Resort just south of the main strip in Myrtle Beach, SC. The plan was to leave a few hours before our 6pm dinnertime on Tuesday 7/26. We had borrowed my grandparents 1987 motorhome for the trip. We went to pick it up on Saturday 7/24 and my grandpa says there is something wrong with the AC up front and he is going to get it fixed before we leave. Okay, no biggie. We will come back and pick it up on Tuesday. So, we return on Tuesday and they were not able to fix the AC so my DH will be sweating buckets as he drives us 12 hours to SC. Let me just say that I was afraid to leave the maps on the floor in between the seats because the floorboards got so hot while driving I was afraid they would catch fire.
The overhead AC still worked so we cranked up the generator and had it full blast to try and compensate. I pack up the camper and off we go!
We arrive in Nitro, WV, which is just outside of Charleston, approx. 8:30pm. We park the RV in the designated spots behind the Cracker Barrel and go in for dinner. After dinner I start looking for our digital camera. I wanted to take a pic of the kids in their jammies. Its not where I left it. I start searching the RV and my husband, DS4, and DD18mo join in the search. It is not to be found anywhere. Okay, maybe I left it on the dryer at home on the way out the door. I have an odd, sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. I put a call into MIL back home and ask them to run over to the house to see if it is there. She says will do. Meanwhile we go across street to Wal-Mart to buy a few things (and a cheapie digital camera, 19.95). We then head back across street to fill up. While DH is inside paying, I am frantically searching RV for camera. DH comes out and says, Just how much did you spend in Wal-Mart? I said like $30. Well, we had to get authorization for the fill-up and Discover says they just had an attempted transaction for $1850.76 at Wal-Mart! I grab my purse off the counter and sure enough all my credit cards and all my cash are gone! I now realize that my $600 digital camera, which was a Christmas gift from MIL, is now stolen property.
I immediately call Discover and MC. Discover says that a purchase for $1850.76 was attempted 6 times. WHAT? Thats right, the cashier let this person swipe my card 6 times and it was denied six times. So they try my MC 4 times for the same amount, still a no go. So, evidently they put some stuff back and MC let a purchase go through for $792.88. What happened to asking for ID? I am asked for ID at least every other time that I use those cards. How could this happen?! I spent the next 3 hours in the parking lot on the phone with the credit card co., our local police station and my mom. I cried for about 2 hours and then I got extremely angry. Stealing is just petty, plain and simple. We thought this incident had occurred at home when we made our only other stop on the way out of town. The kids and I had gotten out of the RV to run inside and DH was pumping gas. The door is on the opposite side. Since we knew we had locked the door at Cracker Barrel and had to unlock it to get back in, we thought it happened at home. My mom is a sergeant at our local PD. I call her and she is very upset for us. She thinks we should come home. I tell her we will call back. Meanwhile she gets the ball rolling. The credit card co cannot yet tell us the physical address of where the charges were made. They close our accounts and Discover tells us a new account will be opened in 2 business days. We can use the card, but it will come up lost/stolen every time and we will need to call and get verbal authorization. Great no CC, no cash. What to do? Since DH can not get any more time off we decide to forge on. Yes this was a bad blow but we are determined to make the best of it. I call my mom back to let her know we are going on. She says they checked at the local Wal-Mart and they had no transactions post for those exact amounts in the last 24 hours. Okay, now what. We decide to wait until first thing in the am, and maybe CC co. will have more info. We had a very limited budget for this trip, all our cash was gone and we wont get paid until Fri. My mom helps us out and says she will deposit some $ in our account in the am to get us through until Fri. Thanks Mom. Meanwhile MIL calls back and says camera is not at home. I fill her in and she also thinks we should high tail it back home. At this point it is midnight, kids are to the point of exhaustion, I am at my wits end, and DH cant think straight. We bunk up for the night right there in the parking lot. We will leave at dawn. Boy do I wish we had listened to our mothers.
We leave around 6am the next morning. The kids are still sleeping in their beds and we make it about 2.5 hours before they wake up. We stop and get them ready for the day, have breakfast, and get ready to head out again. I call Discover to see if they have any more info. Why yes, they do. Seems that the attempted Wal-Mart charge was made in Nitro, WV! To top it all off, this thief was going through the checkout the exact same time as I was! That just burnt me to the core. So I called the sheriffs station and filed a report. They said they would look into it and call me. Yeah right. The rest of the day is uneventful. I do however, figure out that Sis (18mo) is not a good road traveler. She is what you would call my high-class child. She doesnt like to get dirty and she wants to get where she is going as quickly as possible. She is wonderful on plane rides and horrible on car rides. With about two hours to go Bub (4yrs) starts in with his How much longer? This is taking forever! chant. We arrive in Myrtle Beach and head to the airport to pick up our rental car. Driving the motorhome everywhere just didnt seem like such a good idea. We have a pleasant evening and cant wait to go to the beach the next day.
We wake up to the joyous noises of a campground community. Golf carts buzzing by, doors slamming, pots clanging. OH, What fun! Did I mention I would much rather have stayed in a hotel? Oh well. We get ready to go and pack up all our beach paraphernalia. Picture this: Two small children, me, DH (who will from now on be referred to as Beaver), a pop-up 8x8 shade, sand buckets, shovels, a cooler, towels, camera, sunblock, etc. all packed into our little Hyundai Elantra rental car
. We looked like the circus clown car! And trying to carry it all from the car to the beach in one trip, what a hoot! We make our way down the plank to the beach and Sis stops dead in her tracks. I can see the look on her face: You expect me to walk in this? Uh,Uh, no way! She cries while lifting one foot and then the other until Beaver picks her up and carries her to our spot. We set up camp. It is now 10 am. Current temp, 118 degrees. It is more than hot. We can barely breath! Bub says, This sand is NOT like my sandbox. I dont like it. I try to explain why the sand is different and to warn him the water is not like the pool water either. I think I get the point across. Sis plops down and starts digging in the sand. Actually its more like throwing sand in the air. I try to get her and Bub to go in the water. She gets one foot in and as the tide rolls out she starts crying hysterically. She cant figure it out and it scares her. I take her back to the beach and let her play under the shade. Beaver is helping Bub use his new boogie board. He sits on his knees close to shore and waits for a wave to carry him 3 inches. Bub then sees some other guys using sand skimmers. He tries this, but instead of running parallel with the water he runs up the sand and when he hits dry sand he tumbles head first, feet in the air, over the end of the boogie board. He comes up sputtering sand and screaming like he has been shot. My husband tries to tell him what happened as he rinses him off in the waves. Bub proceeds to do it 4 more times. I eventually get Sis out in the water with me. She is still timid but intrigued by the waves. At 11:45 the temp has climbed to 125 degrees and we are all exhausted. We pack it up, make our way back to the car (funny site I am sure) and head to the shower house to get cleaned up.
Sis hates showers. We cant even get her to take one at home let alone in a community shower house. You would think being a family campground they would have at least one family shower. Nope, mens and womens. I absolutely can not give Sis a shower by myself. So, we all go in the womens. Me, Beaver, Bub and Sis all in one stall trying to shower the children as quick as possible before anyone comes in. We get this accomplished without dropping Sis on her head and head back to the RV. While I get the kids some lunch Beaver heads to the shower house. When he comes back I head over while he gets them down for a nap. When they wake up, 3 hours later, Bub proceeds to tell me he does not want to return to the beach. He will be happy just to go to the pool. Wonderful. We head down the road to a shopping area known as Broadway at the Beach. There is a lot to do there, including one of Bubs favorite things: Build-A-Bear-Workshop. We spend the next hour at BAB and the children are thrilled. I had to spend 25 min. on the phone with three different people from Discover to be able to check out. We decide to only use the Discover if it is an absolute necessity. On the way back to the campground I notice the car is acting funny. The rpms rev up to 500/600 and stay there. The car will not shift into another gear. I think its stuck in second. We are about a mile away from the airport exit when the check engine light comes on. So, in second gear, I drive on the interstate and then to the airport to switch out the car.
I had Beaver wait with the kids while I went in to get another car. I get up to the desk and explain my situation. The clerk looks straight into my eyes and very snottily says The car is an automatic, you dont shift gears. At this point I couldnt stop myself. I said, No kidding (only I used a different word here). The car is stuck in second and wont down shift itself. Well there is no reason to get obstinate mam. I couldnt believe this! Look, I just need to get the car traded out, preferably something that runs properly. My children are waiting on me. To that she replies I hope you did not leave them unattended in the vehicle. No I most certainly did not! My husband is with them. Now please just exchange my car so I can get on with this dreadful vacation. There is no reason to be rude. I am not responsible for your vacation woes, she says. I did not dare open my mouth. I thought I was going to come over the counter at this chick! She gave me the keys and out I went. We started to switch things over when Beaver says, This thing reeks of cigarettes. Wonderful. Bub has a very bad allergy to cig smoke. I flag down the attendant and he tells me that is the only vehicle they have left on the lot. We take it reluctantly. Another day gone.
On Friday we decide to hang at the pool for the morning. We are also going out to breakfast since overnight we had an ant infestation and all the food is ruined. We went to IHOP and the kids scarffed down their waffles. We head back and go to the pool. Much better experience than the beach. We spent the better part of the morning there. When Sis decided she had had enough of the pool Beaver took her back to the camper to get her dressed. Bub and I stayed another half an hour and then returned ourselves. Bub wanted to play put-put golf. He had seen a gazillion put-put places up and down the strip and really thought he would be good at it like Tiger. So we climbed in the cig mobile and headed out. Sis was asleep before we hit the strip. I dropped off Beaver and Bub at the Dinosaur Adventure put-put and decided to drive around with Sis as she slept. While I was driving on the strip I had a great idea. I was going on a Moms only trip with my best friend to WDW in December. I would have airbrush tees made for our trip! I stopped and found a booth with a great rendition of Tink and had two shirts made. I will try to post pics here later, but on the front they say Moms Only Magical Sabbatical. On the back is Tink with Best on one and Friends on the other and WDW 05. They turned out great! I headed back and picked up Beaver and Bub. Bub got a hole in one! We had an early dinner at a calabash and headed back for a swim before bed.
Unfortunately the swim never happened. As Beaver and I were changing into our swim gear, the kids were entertaining themselves by chasing each other from one end of the RV to the other. No sooner did the words please stop, someone is going to get hurt come out of my mouth did it happen. Sis went flying forward and landed her head smack on a drawer knob. She had gashed her head open.
Now, I work at a hospital so I have medical training and I know when things are bad. At first I didnt think it was too bad. It was close to the temple but it did miss it. Then it kept getting bigger. Then Sis vomited. I freaked out. I was thinking concussion. Sis was calm but I was not. Her brother felt horrible and kept trying to make her better. I told Beaver we needed to load up and find an ER. The campground lodge told us where to go. We waited no more than five min. to be seen. Sis needed a CAT scan. It was negative, but she may have a mild concussion. Insurance wont cover the visit, but you cant put a price tag on piece of mind. Back to the camper we go. One day left.
Saturday dawned much cooler. We dressed and headed to the beach for a morning stroll and shell hunt. The kids had a much better time on the beach this day. They picked up several shells, watched some men ocean fish, talked with an ocean kayaker, and had a generally pleasant time. We could see a storm rolling its way down the cost. It was beautiful, but we also knew we had to get moving. We left and repeated the same shower fiasco as two days before. After showers we went to Nascar Café for lunch, then it was back to Build-A-Bear for more clothes for Buddy and Fluffy. We spent several hours walking around and going to the Aquarium. I ended up asking for a refund at the Aquarium. It was a big disappointment. There were only three exhibits in the whole place! There were three other ladies doing the same as I walked up. After that we went to the Dixie Stampede dinner show. Bub had seen a billboard for this upon arrival and said it was a must do for this vacation. We paid $96 for two adults and 1 child (no fee for Sis). When we got in we were ushered to a preshow area that consisted of a juggler/comedian. You could also get drinks in a collector mug (a plastic boot mug.) We order two drinks, one a red slushy for Bub. That will be $8.00, he says. Excuse me? Eight dollars for the drinks mam. You mean to tell me that I just paid $96 for this dinner and now you are going to charge me $8 for a plastic cup with 4 oz in it? Yes mam. I hand the man $8.00. We sit down and the kids watch the juggler in awe. Bub is sitting on my lap and I keep reminding him to be careful with his drink. I might as well have been telling a thief not to steal. He raised himself up to see a particularly good part of the show and when he came back down his chest caught the boot and the red slushy came down all over me in my white shirt and khakis and all over him as well. I lost it. I was clenching my teeth so hard my head was shaking and I was talking through my teeth. I was soooo upset. I started to cry. It was the last straw. I thought I would have some kind of breakdown right there and then. Come to think of it, I think I did. I grabbed Bub by the wrist and drug him to the back of the room with his eyes wide with fear and saying, Im sorry mommy, Im sorry. I said several things to him that I immediately regretted. I told him I was sorry that I was acting that way and it wasnt his fault. I apologized over and over with several hugs and kisses thrown in. He said if the police ever caught the bad man who stole our stuff he was going to let him know what a bad week we had and that would make the man feel really bad. I love the innocence of children. We were ushered into the arena area and Bub and Sis were in awe. We were sitting on the North side and buy a $2 flag for the kids to share and wave around during the show. The food left much to be desired and Bub did not eat one bite of his, but the show was great. Bub and Sis love horses and we ride whenever we can, but they had never seen trick riders before. Forget Batman, Bub has a new hero. He now wants to be a trick rider when he grows up. Just what a mother always dreamed. There were also pig races and ostrich races and some comedy. All in all we had a good time. Of course your exit is through a gift shop. I think I have seen this tactic used somewhere else. So, me still feeling guilty, Bub got a souvenir horse, as did Sis. We headed back to the campground.
I had been told when I reserved the rental car that the pick-up location was 24 hours. For some reason I thought of this on the way back and realized the airport was not open 24 hours. I called to check. Sure enough, they close at 11pm and will reopen at 8am. This will not work. We had planned on rolling out at 4am to get some road under us before the kids wake up. We decide to return the car tonight. I decided that Beaver would take the kids to the pool while I take the car back and then catch a taxi back. Good plan. I drop them off, get 2 min. down the road and my cell rings. They have closed the pool due to lightening. Okay, plan B. Go back to the camper, get them ready for bed, get them a snack and put on a movie. I will be back soon. It takes me two hours at the airport to get the rental car fiasco figured out. They try to charge me for a tank of gas for the junker car I had to bring back because I did not fill it up before switching it out. Then they tried to charge me for insurance that I declined when I picked up the car to begin with. After all is said and done I get charged for none of that and I get a $50 credit for my trouble. Good deal. I catch a cab and head back. Time to pack up.
I got back, got the kids to sleep and started to pack up. By the time Beaver and I hit the sack it was 11:45pm. Wake up time is 3:15am. It storms so bad through the night I begin to wonder if we arent in the middle of a hurricane (since I havent seen or heard any news for 4 days). We roll out at 4am. I lay down with the children as Beaver begins the long drive home. It is 9am when the kids and I wake up and we are more than half way home. Yipee! We stop for breakfast and get ready for the day. We are rolling again by 10:30. At 11:00 the generator gives out. We try 3 times in a span of 5 miles to get it going again, no go. So we drive on in the heat with all the windows open and every shred of paper that was in the RV swirling around us like a paper tornado. The kids are so hot they nap twice on the way home and dont even want to think about lunch. We do stop in Nitro,WV again. Cracker Barrel makes an incident report, but they have no security cameras. Wal-Mart manager wont even think about helping me out. Thats a touchy subject and you will just have to take it up with the sheriffs dept. she says. Okay fine. I leave it at that and head home. The kids and I took our last nap on the last 2 hours home. When we wake up we are in our own driveway. It brought tears to my eyes. It was the best part of this trip, coming home. That night as Beaver and I sat down to eat a frozen pizza for dinner he says If you ever even think about booking a trip that is not Disney related, I will kick your hind end. Can I get an Amen to that?!
When I asked my DS4 what he wanted to do for vacation this summer naturally his first response was Walt Disney World! I told him that maybe we should try something different this time. But mom, Disney is my favoritist place in the wide world!
I told him it was mine too, but daddy wanted to do something else this time. Okay, I want to go camping and I want to go to the ocean. So, my always-vacationing mind kicked into high gear. We could combine the two. We will camp at Myrtle Beach! Now let me just pause here to say that I have not been camping for more than 15 years. I was about 12 the last time we went and I did nothing but swim and ride my bike. My mom took care of everything else. However, I considered myself an experienced camper. How hard can it be? You pack everything into the motorhome, you drive, you get there, and you go home. HA, HA! This is where it gets interesting. I had made ressies for 5 nights/4 days at Pirateland Camping Resort just south of the main strip in Myrtle Beach, SC. The plan was to leave a few hours before our 6pm dinnertime on Tuesday 7/26. We had borrowed my grandparents 1987 motorhome for the trip. We went to pick it up on Saturday 7/24 and my grandpa says there is something wrong with the AC up front and he is going to get it fixed before we leave. Okay, no biggie. We will come back and pick it up on Tuesday. So, we return on Tuesday and they were not able to fix the AC so my DH will be sweating buckets as he drives us 12 hours to SC. Let me just say that I was afraid to leave the maps on the floor in between the seats because the floorboards got so hot while driving I was afraid they would catch fire.
The overhead AC still worked so we cranked up the generator and had it full blast to try and compensate. I pack up the camper and off we go!We arrive in Nitro, WV, which is just outside of Charleston, approx. 8:30pm. We park the RV in the designated spots behind the Cracker Barrel and go in for dinner. After dinner I start looking for our digital camera. I wanted to take a pic of the kids in their jammies. Its not where I left it. I start searching the RV and my husband, DS4, and DD18mo join in the search. It is not to be found anywhere. Okay, maybe I left it on the dryer at home on the way out the door. I have an odd, sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. I put a call into MIL back home and ask them to run over to the house to see if it is there. She says will do. Meanwhile we go across street to Wal-Mart to buy a few things (and a cheapie digital camera, 19.95). We then head back across street to fill up. While DH is inside paying, I am frantically searching RV for camera. DH comes out and says, Just how much did you spend in Wal-Mart? I said like $30. Well, we had to get authorization for the fill-up and Discover says they just had an attempted transaction for $1850.76 at Wal-Mart!
I grab my purse off the counter and sure enough all my credit cards and all my cash are gone! I now realize that my $600 digital camera, which was a Christmas gift from MIL, is now stolen property. I immediately call Discover and MC. Discover says that a purchase for $1850.76 was attempted 6 times. WHAT? Thats right, the cashier let this person swipe my card 6 times and it was denied six times. So they try my MC 4 times for the same amount, still a no go. So, evidently they put some stuff back and MC let a purchase go through for $792.88. What happened to asking for ID? I am asked for ID at least every other time that I use those cards. How could this happen?! I spent the next 3 hours in the parking lot on the phone with the credit card co., our local police station and my mom. I cried for about 2 hours and then I got extremely angry. Stealing is just petty, plain and simple. We thought this incident had occurred at home when we made our only other stop on the way out of town. The kids and I had gotten out of the RV to run inside and DH was pumping gas. The door is on the opposite side. Since we knew we had locked the door at Cracker Barrel and had to unlock it to get back in, we thought it happened at home. My mom is a sergeant at our local PD. I call her and she is very upset for us. She thinks we should come home. I tell her we will call back. Meanwhile she gets the ball rolling. The credit card co cannot yet tell us the physical address of where the charges were made. They close our accounts and Discover tells us a new account will be opened in 2 business days. We can use the card, but it will come up lost/stolen every time and we will need to call and get verbal authorization. Great no CC, no cash. What to do? Since DH can not get any more time off we decide to forge on. Yes this was a bad blow but we are determined to make the best of it. I call my mom back to let her know we are going on. She says they checked at the local Wal-Mart and they had no transactions post for those exact amounts in the last 24 hours. Okay, now what. We decide to wait until first thing in the am, and maybe CC co. will have more info. We had a very limited budget for this trip, all our cash was gone and we wont get paid until Fri. My mom helps us out and says she will deposit some $ in our account in the am to get us through until Fri. Thanks Mom. Meanwhile MIL calls back and says camera is not at home. I fill her in and she also thinks we should high tail it back home. At this point it is midnight, kids are to the point of exhaustion, I am at my wits end, and DH cant think straight. We bunk up for the night right there in the parking lot. We will leave at dawn. Boy do I wish we had listened to our mothers.
We leave around 6am the next morning. The kids are still sleeping in their beds and we make it about 2.5 hours before they wake up. We stop and get them ready for the day, have breakfast, and get ready to head out again. I call Discover to see if they have any more info. Why yes, they do. Seems that the attempted Wal-Mart charge was made in Nitro, WV! To top it all off, this thief was going through the checkout the exact same time as I was! That just burnt me to the core. So I called the sheriffs station and filed a report. They said they would look into it and call me. Yeah right. The rest of the day is uneventful. I do however, figure out that Sis (18mo) is not a good road traveler. She is what you would call my high-class child. She doesnt like to get dirty and she wants to get where she is going as quickly as possible. She is wonderful on plane rides and horrible on car rides. With about two hours to go Bub (4yrs) starts in with his How much longer? This is taking forever! chant. We arrive in Myrtle Beach and head to the airport to pick up our rental car. Driving the motorhome everywhere just didnt seem like such a good idea. We have a pleasant evening and cant wait to go to the beach the next day.
We wake up to the joyous noises of a campground community. Golf carts buzzing by, doors slamming, pots clanging. OH, What fun! Did I mention I would much rather have stayed in a hotel? Oh well. We get ready to go and pack up all our beach paraphernalia. Picture this: Two small children, me, DH (who will from now on be referred to as Beaver), a pop-up 8x8 shade, sand buckets, shovels, a cooler, towels, camera, sunblock, etc. all packed into our little Hyundai Elantra rental car
. We looked like the circus clown car! And trying to carry it all from the car to the beach in one trip, what a hoot! We make our way down the plank to the beach and Sis stops dead in her tracks. I can see the look on her face: You expect me to walk in this? Uh,Uh, no way! She cries while lifting one foot and then the other until Beaver picks her up and carries her to our spot. We set up camp. It is now 10 am. Current temp, 118 degrees. It is more than hot. We can barely breath! Bub says, This sand is NOT like my sandbox. I dont like it. I try to explain why the sand is different and to warn him the water is not like the pool water either. I think I get the point across. Sis plops down and starts digging in the sand. Actually its more like throwing sand in the air. I try to get her and Bub to go in the water. She gets one foot in and as the tide rolls out she starts crying hysterically. She cant figure it out and it scares her. I take her back to the beach and let her play under the shade. Beaver is helping Bub use his new boogie board. He sits on his knees close to shore and waits for a wave to carry him 3 inches. Bub then sees some other guys using sand skimmers. He tries this, but instead of running parallel with the water he runs up the sand and when he hits dry sand he tumbles head first, feet in the air, over the end of the boogie board. He comes up sputtering sand and screaming like he has been shot. My husband tries to tell him what happened as he rinses him off in the waves. Bub proceeds to do it 4 more times. I eventually get Sis out in the water with me. She is still timid but intrigued by the waves. At 11:45 the temp has climbed to 125 degrees and we are all exhausted. We pack it up, make our way back to the car (funny site I am sure) and head to the shower house to get cleaned up. Sis hates showers. We cant even get her to take one at home let alone in a community shower house. You would think being a family campground they would have at least one family shower. Nope, mens and womens. I absolutely can not give Sis a shower by myself. So, we all go in the womens. Me, Beaver, Bub and Sis all in one stall trying to shower the children as quick as possible before anyone comes in. We get this accomplished without dropping Sis on her head and head back to the RV. While I get the kids some lunch Beaver heads to the shower house. When he comes back I head over while he gets them down for a nap. When they wake up, 3 hours later, Bub proceeds to tell me he does not want to return to the beach. He will be happy just to go to the pool. Wonderful. We head down the road to a shopping area known as Broadway at the Beach. There is a lot to do there, including one of Bubs favorite things: Build-A-Bear-Workshop. We spend the next hour at BAB and the children are thrilled. I had to spend 25 min. on the phone with three different people from Discover to be able to check out. We decide to only use the Discover if it is an absolute necessity. On the way back to the campground I notice the car is acting funny. The rpms rev up to 500/600 and stay there. The car will not shift into another gear. I think its stuck in second. We are about a mile away from the airport exit when the check engine light comes on. So, in second gear, I drive on the interstate and then to the airport to switch out the car.
I had Beaver wait with the kids while I went in to get another car. I get up to the desk and explain my situation. The clerk looks straight into my eyes and very snottily says The car is an automatic, you dont shift gears. At this point I couldnt stop myself. I said, No kidding (only I used a different word here). The car is stuck in second and wont down shift itself. Well there is no reason to get obstinate mam. I couldnt believe this! Look, I just need to get the car traded out, preferably something that runs properly. My children are waiting on me. To that she replies I hope you did not leave them unattended in the vehicle. No I most certainly did not! My husband is with them. Now please just exchange my car so I can get on with this dreadful vacation. There is no reason to be rude. I am not responsible for your vacation woes, she says. I did not dare open my mouth. I thought I was going to come over the counter at this chick! She gave me the keys and out I went. We started to switch things over when Beaver says, This thing reeks of cigarettes. Wonderful. Bub has a very bad allergy to cig smoke. I flag down the attendant and he tells me that is the only vehicle they have left on the lot. We take it reluctantly. Another day gone.
On Friday we decide to hang at the pool for the morning. We are also going out to breakfast since overnight we had an ant infestation and all the food is ruined. We went to IHOP and the kids scarffed down their waffles. We head back and go to the pool. Much better experience than the beach. We spent the better part of the morning there. When Sis decided she had had enough of the pool Beaver took her back to the camper to get her dressed. Bub and I stayed another half an hour and then returned ourselves. Bub wanted to play put-put golf. He had seen a gazillion put-put places up and down the strip and really thought he would be good at it like Tiger. So we climbed in the cig mobile and headed out. Sis was asleep before we hit the strip. I dropped off Beaver and Bub at the Dinosaur Adventure put-put and decided to drive around with Sis as she slept. While I was driving on the strip I had a great idea. I was going on a Moms only trip with my best friend to WDW in December. I would have airbrush tees made for our trip! I stopped and found a booth with a great rendition of Tink and had two shirts made. I will try to post pics here later, but on the front they say Moms Only Magical Sabbatical. On the back is Tink with Best on one and Friends on the other and WDW 05. They turned out great! I headed back and picked up Beaver and Bub. Bub got a hole in one! We had an early dinner at a calabash and headed back for a swim before bed.
Unfortunately the swim never happened. As Beaver and I were changing into our swim gear, the kids were entertaining themselves by chasing each other from one end of the RV to the other. No sooner did the words please stop, someone is going to get hurt come out of my mouth did it happen. Sis went flying forward and landed her head smack on a drawer knob. She had gashed her head open.
Now, I work at a hospital so I have medical training and I know when things are bad. At first I didnt think it was too bad. It was close to the temple but it did miss it. Then it kept getting bigger. Then Sis vomited. I freaked out. I was thinking concussion. Sis was calm but I was not. Her brother felt horrible and kept trying to make her better. I told Beaver we needed to load up and find an ER. The campground lodge told us where to go. We waited no more than five min. to be seen. Sis needed a CAT scan. It was negative, but she may have a mild concussion. Insurance wont cover the visit, but you cant put a price tag on piece of mind. Back to the camper we go. One day left.Saturday dawned much cooler. We dressed and headed to the beach for a morning stroll and shell hunt. The kids had a much better time on the beach this day. They picked up several shells, watched some men ocean fish, talked with an ocean kayaker, and had a generally pleasant time. We could see a storm rolling its way down the cost. It was beautiful, but we also knew we had to get moving. We left and repeated the same shower fiasco as two days before. After showers we went to Nascar Café for lunch, then it was back to Build-A-Bear for more clothes for Buddy and Fluffy. We spent several hours walking around and going to the Aquarium. I ended up asking for a refund at the Aquarium. It was a big disappointment. There were only three exhibits in the whole place! There were three other ladies doing the same as I walked up. After that we went to the Dixie Stampede dinner show. Bub had seen a billboard for this upon arrival and said it was a must do for this vacation. We paid $96 for two adults and 1 child (no fee for Sis). When we got in we were ushered to a preshow area that consisted of a juggler/comedian. You could also get drinks in a collector mug (a plastic boot mug.) We order two drinks, one a red slushy for Bub. That will be $8.00, he says. Excuse me? Eight dollars for the drinks mam. You mean to tell me that I just paid $96 for this dinner and now you are going to charge me $8 for a plastic cup with 4 oz in it? Yes mam. I hand the man $8.00. We sit down and the kids watch the juggler in awe. Bub is sitting on my lap and I keep reminding him to be careful with his drink. I might as well have been telling a thief not to steal. He raised himself up to see a particularly good part of the show and when he came back down his chest caught the boot and the red slushy came down all over me in my white shirt and khakis and all over him as well. I lost it. I was clenching my teeth so hard my head was shaking and I was talking through my teeth. I was soooo upset. I started to cry. It was the last straw. I thought I would have some kind of breakdown right there and then. Come to think of it, I think I did. I grabbed Bub by the wrist and drug him to the back of the room with his eyes wide with fear and saying, Im sorry mommy, Im sorry. I said several things to him that I immediately regretted. I told him I was sorry that I was acting that way and it wasnt his fault. I apologized over and over with several hugs and kisses thrown in. He said if the police ever caught the bad man who stole our stuff he was going to let him know what a bad week we had and that would make the man feel really bad. I love the innocence of children. We were ushered into the arena area and Bub and Sis were in awe. We were sitting on the North side and buy a $2 flag for the kids to share and wave around during the show. The food left much to be desired and Bub did not eat one bite of his, but the show was great. Bub and Sis love horses and we ride whenever we can, but they had never seen trick riders before. Forget Batman, Bub has a new hero. He now wants to be a trick rider when he grows up. Just what a mother always dreamed. There were also pig races and ostrich races and some comedy. All in all we had a good time. Of course your exit is through a gift shop. I think I have seen this tactic used somewhere else. So, me still feeling guilty, Bub got a souvenir horse, as did Sis. We headed back to the campground.
I had been told when I reserved the rental car that the pick-up location was 24 hours. For some reason I thought of this on the way back and realized the airport was not open 24 hours. I called to check. Sure enough, they close at 11pm and will reopen at 8am. This will not work. We had planned on rolling out at 4am to get some road under us before the kids wake up. We decide to return the car tonight. I decided that Beaver would take the kids to the pool while I take the car back and then catch a taxi back. Good plan. I drop them off, get 2 min. down the road and my cell rings. They have closed the pool due to lightening. Okay, plan B. Go back to the camper, get them ready for bed, get them a snack and put on a movie. I will be back soon. It takes me two hours at the airport to get the rental car fiasco figured out. They try to charge me for a tank of gas for the junker car I had to bring back because I did not fill it up before switching it out. Then they tried to charge me for insurance that I declined when I picked up the car to begin with. After all is said and done I get charged for none of that and I get a $50 credit for my trouble. Good deal. I catch a cab and head back. Time to pack up.
I got back, got the kids to sleep and started to pack up. By the time Beaver and I hit the sack it was 11:45pm. Wake up time is 3:15am. It storms so bad through the night I begin to wonder if we arent in the middle of a hurricane (since I havent seen or heard any news for 4 days). We roll out at 4am. I lay down with the children as Beaver begins the long drive home. It is 9am when the kids and I wake up and we are more than half way home. Yipee! We stop for breakfast and get ready for the day. We are rolling again by 10:30. At 11:00 the generator gives out. We try 3 times in a span of 5 miles to get it going again, no go. So we drive on in the heat with all the windows open and every shred of paper that was in the RV swirling around us like a paper tornado. The kids are so hot they nap twice on the way home and dont even want to think about lunch. We do stop in Nitro,WV again. Cracker Barrel makes an incident report, but they have no security cameras. Wal-Mart manager wont even think about helping me out. Thats a touchy subject and you will just have to take it up with the sheriffs dept. she says. Okay fine. I leave it at that and head home. The kids and I took our last nap on the last 2 hours home. When we wake up we are in our own driveway. It brought tears to my eyes. It was the best part of this trip, coming home. That night as Beaver and I sat down to eat a frozen pizza for dinner he says If you ever even think about booking a trip that is not Disney related, I will kick your hind end. Can I get an Amen to that?!
