2Princes2Princesses
Heavily medicated for your safety!<br><font color=
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2006
- Messages
- 2,250
The cast for this trip:
Me- 34, Mom of 4. I have OCD with severe anxiety and tend to be worried about everyone else 98% of the time. This makes for fun times.
DH-35. Grumpy pants most of the time, but he lightens up alot at Disney. Former military and acts it. Still has the haircut. Between you and I, he has OCD too.
DD-3-1/2. Thinks she is queen of the universe. Very small for her age. She just made it to 35 inches. My sister calls her Midge. We call her Gainey. Or Princess PITA. And yes, that does stand for what you think it stands for. Pain in the <fill in the blank>.
DS-2. Johnnie. My mom calls him Tank. He is also 35 inches tall, but about 15 pounds heavier than his older sister. Built like a Mack truck and moves as gracefully. Bad temper alternating with sickening sweetness.
Mom-70. Very timid in public and a little....out there at times. Also losing her hearing, we discovered on this trip.
DSis- 42. No kids, but loves them. Is a Pediatric Emergency nurse and thinks Gainey is the best thing ever. Also loves Johnnie, but he is a Mom and Dad kind of kid and gives her a hard time. Stays up late and sleeps late....exactly the opposite of DH and the kids. Makes for an interesting vacation.
DD14 and DS12 sat this trip out with their Dad, my ex. I have to brag about them now, so bear with me. Both were selected to be on the All County Chorus this year, with mandatory rehearsals during the trip. Asked them if they wanted to go or stay home and they voted home. We go 3 times a year, so we were lucky enough to have this option. So both my kids are in All County!!! Woohooo!!!!
Ok, back to the subject at hand:
Day 1 or How Fast Skin Freezes at -23 degrees F.
We flew out on a Monday. The previous weekend, our town was blessed with 42 inches of snow. I was FREAKING. Called Mom Sunday night and was relieved to hear that the city of Buffalo had about 2 inches. Airport was clear. All was well. We had a 7:25 am flight, so I had told Mom we would pick her up about 5-ish. Normally we would leave about 4:40. One look outside told us we should make it earlier. My older kids had school cancelled. It was about 7 degrees with a wind chill of -23. Loading the truck was big big fun.
We get the stuff loaded, then torture our small children by getting them out of their warm beds, thrusting them into the bitter cold, then back into a warm truck. Before we leave, I dole out doses of Robitussin, since everyone has been stuffy from the dry air in the house and I have visions of ear pain and screaming. We start creeping through the snow to Grandma's.
A half hour later, we have made it to the closest suburb to my mom. Instantly, the streets are bare. We get there, get Mom loaded in the truck, my butt wedged into the back seat between the car seats, and we are off!
When we get to the airport, DH unloads the strollers and the kids. We race them into the airport out of the cold. He and I then unload the mountain of luggage. My mom stands inside near the SW desks as I run back and forth bringing in suitcases and silently hoping my fingers don't chip off. By the time I have it all inside with her and DH has gone to long term parking with the truck, I cannot feel anything below the elbow. Mom decides to choose now to say, "You should have worn my gloves!" Fortunately for her, my hands are too frozen to get a good grip around a throat.
We wait for DH to come back and I get Mom's ID from her. Once he comes in, frozen, I take him, all the luggage and Mom's ID over to the counter. The nice lady checks the IDs and then we start checking bags. "How many?" I answer "6....no, wait...7" As we are loading them onto the counter, we get to bag 7......there is another one, so we have 8. I apologize, mumbling about lack of sleep and too many kids. She gives me the pity look and talks to me from that second on like I am 2 years old. I am too tired to care.
Once I relearned how to count to 8, we head for security. Happy happy...the line is so long that on a warmer day, it would have been out the door, but instead wraps around the escalator. We get in line, bitter because we probably won't have time to get coffee. That is when the angel came to us. She had on an official tag and pulled us out of line and said, "wait right here, please" We waited. She returned with a gentleman in a wheelchair and his wife. "Will you all please follow me?" We did. To an empty security line. For wheelchairs and strollers. Hooray. We follow the man and his wife through. It takes us forever to do shoes and bags and coats......no worries, though. Apparently, the people behind us had 1 kid in a stroller and about 27 adults in the party, and the security guy checking boarding passes has a BIG issue with this. Good, 27 less people to give us dirty looks as we gather up all our junk.
DH takes Johnnie, their shoes, and.....that's it and goes to a bench. Terrific. I now have Gainey, my mother, 4 carry on bags, the camera, our coats, shoes, and 2 folded strollers. Thanks honey. Your help carrying those size 7 Stitch sneakers is greatly appreciated by all.
He tells me the first thing we are getting is some coffee for me. We do this and head over to the gate. Johnnie entertains our fellow passengers by knocking the stroller over and repeatedly saying, "Oh dear." Gainey decides to unpack her carry on and gets all bent when I tell her to stop it.
Finally, we get on the plane. Johnnie and DH are in front of us. Gainey is between me and my mom. I decide to take an Ativan. I realize too late that DH has that bag under the seat in front of him. We are moving. Terrific. We take off and I manage to keep from screaming. Then Gainey manages to talk nonstop from Buffalo to Orlando. 2-1/2 hours. Is that a record? It should be. I consider taking the entire bottle of Ativan.
After we get off the plane, we take the first of many bathroom breaks on this trip. We then head to the Magical Express desk. It takes us a bit to find it, but we eventually do and they put us on the bus. Within minutes, it leaves. Saratoga is the first stop.
We go to the desk and are Welcomed Home and fork over the credit card. We pay for our dining plan, get our room cards, transfer Mom's ticket to her room card, and head for our room, which is ready. I am starting to think I fell asleep on the plane and am dreaming, but Johnnie thoughtfully headbutts me in the groin and lets me know I am awake. We strap the rugrats into the strollers and head to DTD for our APs and lunch. The AP process is simple and quick. I have been in the World for less than an hour and have already spent over 2500 bucks. Ah...home sweet home.
We decide on Earl of Sandwich for lunch until we see the line. Captain Jack's, anyone?? Lunch was pretty good. Except for our son demonstrating his neanderthal eating habits. The thing about Johnnie is, he has zero patience. I know he is a baby and they do not usually have patience. But he has NONE. When he says, "all done" at the table, you have about 4 seconds to take his plate before he tosses it on the floor. When he is done, he means DONE. NOW. MOVE IT. Unfortunately, lack of sleep dulls my reflexes. I catch the plate. I do not catch all the food. The rest of us finish. I pay. They all start outside. I apologize to the unlucky couple behind us, the waitress, and clean up the floor. I then leave a huge tip for her. The wait staff at Disney restaurants makes out like bandits on tips from us. Because we bring Johnnie and they deserve every penny.
Now we head to World of Disney, because we get an AP discount and DH is upset because he has been here about 2 hours and has not bought anything. So we spend some more money and go back to the room to find our suitcases there.
We start the unpacking frenzy and get ready to go to Cape May to torture another server. We love the Cape May buffet. Johnnie does not love the paper on the table. We have to tear off the section near him. This is turning out to be a fantastic trip already. We decide to walk through Epcot to go back to SSR.
Since it is early enough, we head over to check out Nemo. We are greeted by the flying rats. "Mine, Mine, Mine!" I start cracking up. So does Gainey. Johnnie does a dance to the voices in his head. We love the Seas with Nemo before we ever go inside. All it took was some seagulls. We head in, and DH continues with "mine, mine" Gainey joins him. I apologize silently in my head to the 5 or 6 people who followed us in. We ride. Johnnie and DH in one Clam, I take Gainey and Mom in mine. The ride is fun. The kids LOVE it. Gainey cracks up at Mr. Ray. She has a Leap Pad with the Nemo book. We sing his song from that. For a minute, I feel guilty my sister missed this part of the trip.
On the way out, I get to watch the fountain. Life is good. We evacuate before Illuminations since I forgot the ear plugs for the kids.
Our son literally passes out on the bus. One second he was sitting up next to DH, the next he is face down in his lap, out cold. Gainey is still talking. When she runs out of things to talk about, she sings. About nothing. She makes me smile even though I feel like going face down right along with Johnnie. We get them back and in bed and finish unpacking. Tomorrow is a big day...my sister will be arriving, we get to eat breakfast with Pooh (the good kind for a change), and DH and I get to go to V&A's CT and eat dinner. ALONE. In nice clothes without snot on them.
It really is the Year of a Million Dreams, people.
We all fall asleep. I estimate it is at about 9:30. Party animals, all of us.
Next: Day 2. Pooh, the Brazilians, and Duck Liver is alot like snot.
Me- 34, Mom of 4. I have OCD with severe anxiety and tend to be worried about everyone else 98% of the time. This makes for fun times.
DH-35. Grumpy pants most of the time, but he lightens up alot at Disney. Former military and acts it. Still has the haircut. Between you and I, he has OCD too.
DD-3-1/2. Thinks she is queen of the universe. Very small for her age. She just made it to 35 inches. My sister calls her Midge. We call her Gainey. Or Princess PITA. And yes, that does stand for what you think it stands for. Pain in the <fill in the blank>.
DS-2. Johnnie. My mom calls him Tank. He is also 35 inches tall, but about 15 pounds heavier than his older sister. Built like a Mack truck and moves as gracefully. Bad temper alternating with sickening sweetness.
Mom-70. Very timid in public and a little....out there at times. Also losing her hearing, we discovered on this trip.
DSis- 42. No kids, but loves them. Is a Pediatric Emergency nurse and thinks Gainey is the best thing ever. Also loves Johnnie, but he is a Mom and Dad kind of kid and gives her a hard time. Stays up late and sleeps late....exactly the opposite of DH and the kids. Makes for an interesting vacation.
DD14 and DS12 sat this trip out with their Dad, my ex. I have to brag about them now, so bear with me. Both were selected to be on the All County Chorus this year, with mandatory rehearsals during the trip. Asked them if they wanted to go or stay home and they voted home. We go 3 times a year, so we were lucky enough to have this option. So both my kids are in All County!!! Woohooo!!!!
Ok, back to the subject at hand:
Day 1 or How Fast Skin Freezes at -23 degrees F.
We flew out on a Monday. The previous weekend, our town was blessed with 42 inches of snow. I was FREAKING. Called Mom Sunday night and was relieved to hear that the city of Buffalo had about 2 inches. Airport was clear. All was well. We had a 7:25 am flight, so I had told Mom we would pick her up about 5-ish. Normally we would leave about 4:40. One look outside told us we should make it earlier. My older kids had school cancelled. It was about 7 degrees with a wind chill of -23. Loading the truck was big big fun.
We get the stuff loaded, then torture our small children by getting them out of their warm beds, thrusting them into the bitter cold, then back into a warm truck. Before we leave, I dole out doses of Robitussin, since everyone has been stuffy from the dry air in the house and I have visions of ear pain and screaming. We start creeping through the snow to Grandma's.
A half hour later, we have made it to the closest suburb to my mom. Instantly, the streets are bare. We get there, get Mom loaded in the truck, my butt wedged into the back seat between the car seats, and we are off!
When we get to the airport, DH unloads the strollers and the kids. We race them into the airport out of the cold. He and I then unload the mountain of luggage. My mom stands inside near the SW desks as I run back and forth bringing in suitcases and silently hoping my fingers don't chip off. By the time I have it all inside with her and DH has gone to long term parking with the truck, I cannot feel anything below the elbow. Mom decides to choose now to say, "You should have worn my gloves!" Fortunately for her, my hands are too frozen to get a good grip around a throat.
We wait for DH to come back and I get Mom's ID from her. Once he comes in, frozen, I take him, all the luggage and Mom's ID over to the counter. The nice lady checks the IDs and then we start checking bags. "How many?" I answer "6....no, wait...7" As we are loading them onto the counter, we get to bag 7......there is another one, so we have 8. I apologize, mumbling about lack of sleep and too many kids. She gives me the pity look and talks to me from that second on like I am 2 years old. I am too tired to care.
Once I relearned how to count to 8, we head for security. Happy happy...the line is so long that on a warmer day, it would have been out the door, but instead wraps around the escalator. We get in line, bitter because we probably won't have time to get coffee. That is when the angel came to us. She had on an official tag and pulled us out of line and said, "wait right here, please" We waited. She returned with a gentleman in a wheelchair and his wife. "Will you all please follow me?" We did. To an empty security line. For wheelchairs and strollers. Hooray. We follow the man and his wife through. It takes us forever to do shoes and bags and coats......no worries, though. Apparently, the people behind us had 1 kid in a stroller and about 27 adults in the party, and the security guy checking boarding passes has a BIG issue with this. Good, 27 less people to give us dirty looks as we gather up all our junk.
DH takes Johnnie, their shoes, and.....that's it and goes to a bench. Terrific. I now have Gainey, my mother, 4 carry on bags, the camera, our coats, shoes, and 2 folded strollers. Thanks honey. Your help carrying those size 7 Stitch sneakers is greatly appreciated by all.
He tells me the first thing we are getting is some coffee for me. We do this and head over to the gate. Johnnie entertains our fellow passengers by knocking the stroller over and repeatedly saying, "Oh dear." Gainey decides to unpack her carry on and gets all bent when I tell her to stop it.
Finally, we get on the plane. Johnnie and DH are in front of us. Gainey is between me and my mom. I decide to take an Ativan. I realize too late that DH has that bag under the seat in front of him. We are moving. Terrific. We take off and I manage to keep from screaming. Then Gainey manages to talk nonstop from Buffalo to Orlando. 2-1/2 hours. Is that a record? It should be. I consider taking the entire bottle of Ativan.
After we get off the plane, we take the first of many bathroom breaks on this trip. We then head to the Magical Express desk. It takes us a bit to find it, but we eventually do and they put us on the bus. Within minutes, it leaves. Saratoga is the first stop.
We go to the desk and are Welcomed Home and fork over the credit card. We pay for our dining plan, get our room cards, transfer Mom's ticket to her room card, and head for our room, which is ready. I am starting to think I fell asleep on the plane and am dreaming, but Johnnie thoughtfully headbutts me in the groin and lets me know I am awake. We strap the rugrats into the strollers and head to DTD for our APs and lunch. The AP process is simple and quick. I have been in the World for less than an hour and have already spent over 2500 bucks. Ah...home sweet home.
We decide on Earl of Sandwich for lunch until we see the line. Captain Jack's, anyone?? Lunch was pretty good. Except for our son demonstrating his neanderthal eating habits. The thing about Johnnie is, he has zero patience. I know he is a baby and they do not usually have patience. But he has NONE. When he says, "all done" at the table, you have about 4 seconds to take his plate before he tosses it on the floor. When he is done, he means DONE. NOW. MOVE IT. Unfortunately, lack of sleep dulls my reflexes. I catch the plate. I do not catch all the food. The rest of us finish. I pay. They all start outside. I apologize to the unlucky couple behind us, the waitress, and clean up the floor. I then leave a huge tip for her. The wait staff at Disney restaurants makes out like bandits on tips from us. Because we bring Johnnie and they deserve every penny.
Now we head to World of Disney, because we get an AP discount and DH is upset because he has been here about 2 hours and has not bought anything. So we spend some more money and go back to the room to find our suitcases there.
We start the unpacking frenzy and get ready to go to Cape May to torture another server. We love the Cape May buffet. Johnnie does not love the paper on the table. We have to tear off the section near him. This is turning out to be a fantastic trip already. We decide to walk through Epcot to go back to SSR.
Since it is early enough, we head over to check out Nemo. We are greeted by the flying rats. "Mine, Mine, Mine!" I start cracking up. So does Gainey. Johnnie does a dance to the voices in his head. We love the Seas with Nemo before we ever go inside. All it took was some seagulls. We head in, and DH continues with "mine, mine" Gainey joins him. I apologize silently in my head to the 5 or 6 people who followed us in. We ride. Johnnie and DH in one Clam, I take Gainey and Mom in mine. The ride is fun. The kids LOVE it. Gainey cracks up at Mr. Ray. She has a Leap Pad with the Nemo book. We sing his song from that. For a minute, I feel guilty my sister missed this part of the trip.
On the way out, I get to watch the fountain. Life is good. We evacuate before Illuminations since I forgot the ear plugs for the kids.
Our son literally passes out on the bus. One second he was sitting up next to DH, the next he is face down in his lap, out cold. Gainey is still talking. When she runs out of things to talk about, she sings. About nothing. She makes me smile even though I feel like going face down right along with Johnnie. We get them back and in bed and finish unpacking. Tomorrow is a big day...my sister will be arriving, we get to eat breakfast with Pooh (the good kind for a change), and DH and I get to go to V&A's CT and eat dinner. ALONE. In nice clothes without snot on them.
It really is the Year of a Million Dreams, people.
We all fall asleep. I estimate it is at about 9:30. Party animals, all of us.
Next: Day 2. Pooh, the Brazilians, and Duck Liver is alot like snot.
