Mother & Son do it again May 9-15, 2010 - Complete

[JamesMom]

Mother & Son Do it Again, Part 1: Introduction

Reason for Going: As if someone needed a reason to go to Disney other than the standard, “because it is there.” I love Disney. I even talked my husband into getting married there. So, when my Mom passed away from Alzheimer’s this past February, I decided I needed to go to my “happy place” for my first Mother’s Day without her. I had been her primary caretaker for the last year of her life. I booked the package 3 weeks before we left.

Dates: Sunday May 9, 2010 to Saturday May 15, 2010

Cast: Me and DS7. This is my 9th trip to the world and my son’s second. My husband was kind enough to stay home with our DS4 who has Sensory Integration Disorder for the week. My younger son could not tolerate a plane ride, much less rides at Disney. We hope the next time we go, I can take him.

Resort: Port Orleans Riverside – standard room

Package: 6 nights room, Free Quick Service Dinning, MYW 7 day Park Hopper with Water Parks & More

Cost: Package w/ Disney Travel Air and Insurance $2,250
Transport RT to DFW airport $ 140
Incidentals and ‘stuff’ at Disney $ 450
[Rentals, Chef Mickey, photos, candy]
Incidentals and ‘stuff’ before Trip $ 50
[Sunscreen, toiletries, DS game] --------
Total for trip $2,890

Agenda in brief:
Sun – Arrival Day: Disney Quest & MK
Flight, Lunch @ POR, Pool, DTD for Disney Quest, MK EMH night, Casey’s dinner
Mon - Chef Mickey, MK and a Final Exam?
Chef Mickey Breakfast, MK rope drop,, Accounting Final (!), Pool & Laundry
Tues - DS Gets a Job or Rope Drop at DS
DS rope drop, Pool, Mini Golf
Wed- A very busy 'rest' day
Fishing, Bike to POFQ, Typhoon Lagoon, DS late night
Thu - Hopper Day: EP & MK
Epcot rope drop for Future World, Pool & laundry, MK late night
Fri - Toenail Trouble & Isn't that our Balloon?
Fish, DTD for Disney Quest and Shop, Pool & pack, Epcot EMH night World Showcase
Sat - Departure Day: AK
Animal Kingdom, flight home
Reflections Post
What we did right and what we would change

Thanks for reading and hope you enjoy it.

 

[JamesMom]

Mother & Son Do it Again, Part 2 – Arrival Day: Disney Quest and Magic Kingdom

The alarm rang at 4:20 am which meant I had 10 minutes to double check everything before waking my son. My husband helped bring out the luggage to the car service I had reserved at 5:00am. DS and I said our goodbyes and we were on our way. The flight left uneventfully and we arrived at MCO a half hour early at 10:00.
MCO has the most horribly signage and eventually made our way to the Magical Express Desk. After a few minutes wait we were loaded onto a bus. We got to Port Orleans Riverside by 11:00 and our room was ready!
We were in room 3840 in building 38 of Alligator Bayou. To get there we crossed the center island, walked by the fishing area, crossed the bridge and we were the first building on the right. The pleasant walk took about 7 minutes from the food court to the room. We were on the second floor and overlooked a small swampy/tree area. There were hardly any bugs which is surprising consider the vast number of trees which provided much needed shade. I loved this area of the resort for just that reason. The mansion rooms were too sunny so my tastes.

The rooms were functional, but I would not want four people in there. The bathroom design was brilliant with the privacy curtain giving you enough space to dress without prying eyes. We didn’t use the provided coffee maker but loved having the fridge to store extra drinks & snacks. The standard TV needs upgrading. I am spoiled by my HD at home. My son slept in the regular bed but he would have fit fine on the trundle.

We dropped off our carry-on bags and headed for lunch, swimming and the playground. DS son loved that they had spaghetti (had it 3 times during the trip). I enjoyed the roast beef & blue cheese sandwich and the potato chips. The sugar cookies with Mickey head sprinkles became a quick desert favorite. The pool was cold and the hot tub was blissfully HOT.

When we returned to the room at about 1:30pm, changed and caught the boat launch to Downtown Disney. We headed to DisneyQuest and stayed for a couple of hours. It was pretty empty and we rode most of the rides with no waiting. We stopped by the Lego store and bought quart sized tubs of loose Legos for $15 each for each of my boys. We got rice crispy treats and boarded the bus back to POR.

After a bite or two of our trips we got on the bus to the Magic Kingdom which had extra Magic Hours until 1am tonight. DS headed straight for Space Mountain which had a *gasp* 15 minute wait at a little past 7:00pm! Once we got to the cars, he realized this wasn’t Spaceship Earth and headed for the chicken exit. Being our first ride of the trip, I couldn’t push onto the ride so I reluctantly left with him. We never did ride it or many other ‘scary’ rides this trip. In Dec ’08 I dropped him off at Neverland club so I could ride the ‘big’ rides, but chose not to do that this trip. Instead we rode Buzz Lightyear with very short lines. The park was almost empty as the night progressed. We rode:
-Buzz Lightyear 3 times
-Tommorowland Transit Authority
-Raceway Cars
-Watched the fireworks from Tomorrowland
-Tea Cups
-PhilharMagic
-Small World
And then we ate hot dog meals at Casey’s before calling it a night at 11:30.

 

[JamesMom]

Mother & Son Do it Again, Part 3 – Chef Mickey’s, Magic Kingdom and a Final Exam?

Stitch and Mickey woke us up at 6:15am. We hastily dressed and ran to the North Bus Depot with as the Character Breakfast Bus pulled up at 6:40am. I had asked the front desk the night before what time the bus would be there and she answered 6:45. I guess that was at the South Depot. Glad I prodded my son to leave early (I hate to be late…). The bus went to the Magic Kingdom first and then to the Contemporary in plenty of time for our 7:30 reservation. I dropped off my study notes with the luggage crew at the Contemporary before heading up to Chef Mickey’s.
We arrived at 7:15 and they seated us right then. We got our picture taken and as I had on my birthday button I got a cupcake with a lit candle. The characters came out in short order and sang the birthday song to me and the other birthday princesses in the room. DS ate his first of many of his beloved Mikey Waffles.

After our meal we headed for the Magic Kingdom to wait for the opening ceremony. My son was insistent on being ‘first’ and raced through the castle to the fantasyland rope once the train rope dropped. Soon, he was first in line at Dumbo with me a dozen people behind excusing myself to reach him. He was so proud to be first in that line.
We rode:
-Dumbo
-Pooh
-Peter Pan
-Splash Mountain
-Big thunder Mountain
-Alladin
- Jungle Cruise
-Pirates
All before heading to Tom Sawyer Island at 11:00 am. By now the line for Big Thunder is 50 minutes stand-by. Crazy since we walked on it about an hour ago…

We caught the Noon Celebration Party on the way out and got a little Photopass magic

We walked to the Contemporary and retrieved my books from the luggage hold. Then we had lunch at Contempo Café. I had the turkey sandwich and DS had the pizza. He lived on pizza & spaghetti this trip. The kids meals did get a little boring with the only 4 sides being carrots, applesauce, grapes and cookies (pick 2). Fortunately, my son loves applesauce and grapes.
I had taken a couple of internet based college courses for the spring semester and needed to take my managerial accounting final by Monday 5pm (opened on Sunday while I was on the plane). I originally planned to take it in the room on Sunday afternoon using the internet functionality on my Kindle, but was unable to connect so we went to the business services and rented a computer for the hour and a half it took for my timed (2 hour limit) exam. It cost $20 an hour. DS brought his Nintendo DS and headphones and played quietly while I took the test. Because I had good grades going into the final I only needed a 60 to get an AI hadn’t studied for the open book exam as I was too busy planning the trip. . I later learned I got a 72 on the test and got my A, just barely!

After the test we walked back to the Magic Kingdom and caught the bus to POR. We swam and I did the first load of laundry. The pool water in the quiet pools (where the laundry facilities were) was nice and warm. Afterwards we rested in the room for the rest of the night.

 

[JamesMom]

Mother & Son Do it Again, Part 4 – DS gets a job or Rope Drop at Disney Studios

I had gotten up early and got us breakfast to eat in the room. I got DS a kids waffle plate (2 mini mickey and 2 slices of bacon w/ the ever present applesauce and juice) I just got a Danish and refilled my mug so paid cash ($10) for today’s breakfast. Those mugs were worth every penny I didn’t spend. DS woke up raring to go and we caught the 8:00 bus to Disney studios.
DS was excited again about being first at the turnstyles. There were two sections of turnstyles, one on the left for breakfast entry of which only 2 were on and those on the right where a bunch of people were waiting. We plopped down at one on the empty ones by the breakfast and sat alone for several minutes until the castmembers convinced new arrivals that these turnstyles would open at park opening, too.
Once they opened, DS raced to the rope in front of the hat and declared himself the winner. His reward? He got to be a security guard to keep the hordes back until the opening ceremony show ended. He got to wear the equipment of a cast member and took his job very seriously.

Soon the Toy Story Mania cast members arrived and we were escorted to the attraction

The army men let us pass and the fast pass race began. We got our first set of fast passes and hopped in line. Within minutes we were on board. We got in line again since the wait was still only 15 minutes. But once we hit the incline right before boarding, the announcement went over the speakers that they needed to restart the ride – an hour and half delay! Everyone got fast passes for their trouble. These were special fast passes, though as they would good until Saturday, instead of just today like other passes. I saved those for Wednesday night and got regular fast passes so we could ride another 2 times today, Tuesday.

So we rode:
-Toy Story Mania x 1
- Back stage tour
- Indy Jones show at 11:30p
- One Man’s Dream
- Honey, Shrunk playground
We ate at Pizza Planet. [Pepperoni personal pan pizza and iceberg salad w/drink & rice crispy treat for me, cheese pizza, apple sauce, and cookie and apple juice box for him. We switch pizzas because he wanted pepperoni. Can get kids pepperoni, but takes 15 minutes to prepare…]
- Star Tours x 2 (DS by himself, this ride makes me ill)
- Jedi show (DS wasn’t picked)
- Lights Motor Action show at 1:20 pm
-Toy Story Mania x 2 using today’s Fast Passes
- Great Movie ride
We left the park for the hotel right before the parade.

We swam and had dinner [spaghetti for DS, create your own salad for me with Caesar, bacon & broccoli, and another round of those sugar cookies – yummy] Next we headed out that evening for the Winterland/Summerland golf course.
I had asked directions at the POR front desk (a manager no less…) how to get there. Since it was after 5 I couldn’t take the Animal Kingdom or Blizzard Beach busses because the parks were closed. So he recommended taking a bus/boat to Downtown Disney and going to Coronado Springs and walking to the golf course.
So, we take his advice. We arrive at Coronado Springs at dusk and I ask the concierge how do get to the golf course. We were told it was walking distance. Turns out that is not the case. Have to walk and cross a four lane highway. Not happening with a seven year old. Was told to take a taxi. They called me a cab and $5 later we finally arrived at Winterland/Summerland.
I told my tale to the woman working the register and she refused our discount coupon and gave us the first round on the house. I was very appreciative and we played the summer course. DS loved it and I surprised myself by making par on most holes. After we finished that course we paid to play the Winter course. It was very imaginative and well worth the trouble.

We then waited for the bus with two other people. The driver asked what resort and dropped us off at POR! The bus usually just goes to Downtown Disney for the connecting bus to the resorts. A lot of Disney magic to make up for the outgoing Snafu.

 

[JamesMom]

Mother & Son Do it Again, Part 5 – A very busy ‘rest’ day

DS decided to sleep in today until the late hour of 8:00. By 8:30 we dressed and headed to the fishing hole. Armed with cane poles and squirming worms we cast our lines and caught….nothing. A family beside us caught 4 fish within minutes. After 45 minutes we resigned and left vowing to fight another day.
We then rented bikes and rode over to PO French Quarter for beniets [snack credits] and breakfast [bountiful platter for me: eggs, potatos, waffle, 4 slices of bacon & biscuit. DS had waffles, too]. It was a very pleasant ride. I hadn’t been on a bike in a decade and it is true that you never forget how. I packed swimsuits and DS tried out the serpent slide. Soon, we changed back on got on the bikes for a quick tour of POR and returned the bikes after 2.5 hours. I paid the daily rate of $38 for both.

We weren’t done with water, yet. We got on the bus for Typhoon Lagoon and by around 1:00 made our way to our umbrella chair. I had read on the Disboards that you could rent an umbrella and chairs for $40 and it was well worth it. Nearly every ‘free’ chair had been claimed, but we were alone in the reserved area just off the lazy river by the ice cream shack. 2 levels of cabana are available, the wood & cushioned chairs of the $300 ones ($200 after 1pm) or the umbrella and plastic chairs of the $40 ones. There were 2 (1 was rented) of the expensive ones and about 20 of the cheaper ones of which only about 6 were rented. Well worth the expense for our 4 hour visit to Typhoon lagoon.

DS wasn’t interested in slides and was content to play in the sand, the wave pool (in the picture, my son is the one with his hands up) and a trip around the lazy river. He visited the shark reef but didn’t want to go in. I was content to read my Kindle at our chair. It was a good way to spend and afternoon.

Disney Studios was open till 10 that night so we showered and headed right back on a bus. We made it in time for the American Idol finale at 7:00. It was a great show and had 3 talented people (of the 6) competing. Two of which I had a hard time deciding between so I wasn't too disappointed when my #2 pick actually won. Glad I made the effort to attend.
We rode:
-American Idol
-Toy Story with special fast pass
- Star Tours x 2
- Sound Dangerous (was my first time seeing this and wasn’t worth the 5 minute wait, but DS liked it)
- Toy Story again with a 20 minute wait at 9:00. DS got his highest score to date.
We left at about 9:30 after deciding not to stay for the 10:30 Fantasmic.

 

[JamesMom]

Mother & Son Do it Again, Part 6 - Hopper Day at Epcot and Magic Kingdom

Today is Epcot day. I get breakfast and find a reluctant DS who doesn’t want to get up. I play on his need to be first at the park and up he goes. We dress and wait for the Epcot bus. We make it to the park well before opening which makes DS happy. We are first at our turnstile and wait. Soon we are let in and we all head in mass towards to the area between the Communicores… er, Innoventions on the highly desirable right hand side.
Cast members from Living with Land bemoan their second class status compared to Soarin’ who march up in their spiffy uniforms to escort us to their privileged ride. But not before a colorful cast of characters great us. The fab-five came out and visited the three groups waiting. Our section got a visit from Goofy. The head in the lower left corner of the pic is my son.

After the countdown the crew from the Land attractions walked us to Soarin’

We got fast passes and rode Soarin’, then hopped on it again. I had planned to go Test Track but DS insisted on seeing Nemo so off we went. Nemo was a walk on and Crush was a 15 minute wait. We saw this performance last trip and I wasn’t willing to wait, so we saw the fish and made it over to Test Track.

By now the standby for Test Track was already 30 minutes so we grabbed fast passes and did Universe of Energy after DS cooled off in the fountain.

As the morning progressed we bounced back and forth in future world and covered it all except the Innoventions booths and Circle of Life film. By the time we left at 2:30 we had done
- Soarin x2
- Nemo
- Universe of Energy
- Test Track
- Mission Space (DS did green solo, again, I don’t like motion rides)
- Journey into Imagination
- Living with the Land
- Spaceship Earth
- Club Cool (DS loved this place – we hit it twice)

We passed by several of the topiaries they made for the Flower and Garden Festival and we managed to stop and admire a few of them.

We relaxed at the Resort for a few hours. I did another load of laundry hoping that was enough clean clothes to last the rest of the trip. Then it was off to the Magic Kingdom that was open till 10pm that night.
DS loved Tomorrowland so we didn’t leave. We rode:
- Buzz Lightyear x 5 (I rode 2x and let him go solo the rest. It was pretty much a walk-on all night)
- Laugh Factory
- Carousel of Progress
- TTA
- Astro Orbitor. The longest line of the night, 20 minutes. DS loved it. Me, not so much with the spinning. It was our first time riding it.
We skipped the Spectro parade (saw it last trip) and left the park in time to see the fireworks from the bus stop.

 

[JamesMom]

Mother & Son Do it Again, Part 7 – Toenail Trouble and Isn’t that our Balloon?

We slept in until 8:30 and then decided on the way to breakfast to give fishing another try. This time with success! DS caught 2. I got a pic of the second one (it’s the tiny thing close to the floor of the dock). He was so proud to have baited the hook and caught the fish all by himself.

After breakfast we caught the first boat launch to Downtown Disney (10:00am). Waiting for the boat we used our package coupon for 100 arcade points which my DS used 40 of to play an ancient Simpsons game. The arcade seemed small with out of date machines. Prices ranged from 10 points to 100 points depending on the game.
At Downtown Disney we visited Once Upon a Toy where we filled another Potato Head box full of parts with Castmember Michaels help. He was the same guy who helped us overstuff our box from last trip. I got both Star Wars outfits (Darth & Trooper) and the pirate collection with a few odds and ends thrown in.
Next we visited World of Disney where I finally gave in to temptation and bought a Stitch. A few other trinkets caught my eye but I refrained. Trying to keep the budget down knowing I was going to spend some cash tonight. DS had fun with Stitch who kept spitting at him.

DS wanted to hit Disney Quest again so we did. After he did a couple of things while I played on the internet at the café, we left. It was crowded with school groups, unlike the empty building we visited on Sunday.
We finished up at DTD at Goofy’s Candy Co. for another round of rice crispy treats – an order of 4 for the family at home.

We boarded the bus and arrived in time to spend about an hour at the pool before heading out Epcot EMH tonight. I also spent a few minutes packing up our stuff. I knew I wasn’Epcot was to close at midnight.

Several months ago I damaged my big toenails on both feet. My left one took the bigger hit. Before we left about a quarter of the nail separated from the nail bed – the outer left. I couldn’t remove it because I knew I needed the protection from wearing tennis shoes during the trip so I keep it on and trimmed it as best I could and kept it wrapped in tape. So far so good. It was still hanging on by the live nail to the right of it.
Well, the sand at Typhoon Lagoon did a number on it. It was sore. I cleaned it out as best as I could, but by Fri morning I was limping. So I swallowed my pride and pressed on with our touring…and rented an ECV at Epcot. Yes, I know some police squad of some kind are wagging fingers at me right now, but it was the best decision for me. There was no way I was able to walk the 2+ miles around world showcase without serious pain and it was fair to my son or myself to not go. The nail is still on and the day off of it really helped.
We got to Epcot by 6:30 and headed straight for Mexico. We rode the ride and I passed by the tequila bar. Was tempted to get a flight but the line was too long and we had 10 more countries to visit.

We rode:
- Mexico ride
- Norway ride
- China film
- American Adventure film
- Illuminations [DS ate Nachos from Mexico during the show. He had been begging for them the whole trip – he loved them]
- Kid Kot in Italy, Mexico, Norway, Germany and China

Interesting story about a Balloon…

I bought my DS a balloon on Thursday night (last night) – one of those Mickey heads that lights up, a red one. Instead of it hiding in the room while we were gone all night, I brought it with us to Epcot. I tied it low on the back of the EVC and people admired it as we passed. Someone admired it too much.
I parked the EVC by the lagoon railing after Illuminations so we could ride Malestrom after Illuminations. Not more than 15 minutes later we emerged to find our EVC, but no balloon.
DS was almost in tears. I had planned to deflate the balloon and take it home.
We set off for China and what do I find floating across a bridge there…a red Mickey head balloon that lights up.
I sped up to catch the family of three with a stroller and innocently asked “Can I ask where you got that balloon?”
The man stuttered and you could see his brain trying to come up with a lie. Finally he shook his head and demurely asked, “Is this your cart?”
I answered, “Yes, I had a balloon on this cart.”
He turned to his wife and said to return the balloon. He lamely offered as an excuse that he had passed by the EVC 3 times and thought it was abandoned so he took the balloon.
What type of person steals a balloon at Walt Disney World?
We counted our blessings that the balloon was recovered and shook our head over the whole incident for the rest of the night.

I was disappointed with Epcot EMH. I wanted to tour World showcase but found that most of the kidcot stations, stores & food was closed by 10-10:30. I couldn’t watch the France film or order a Grand Mariner Slushie. I was able to get a Sultan Coloda in Morocco, but the stores were closed as was the department store in Japan. No fish and chips in the UK either. By the time we made it to Canada, whose film was still available, we were tired and ready to head out. It was 11:40 as we passed Spaceship Earth.

 

[JamesMom]

Mother & Son Do it Again, Part 8 –Departure Day & Animal Kingdom

I got up early to finish packing up the luggage and putting our dirty clothes from yesterday away. I woke up DS who wanted room service again this morning. I said, no as I didn’t want to walk back here again. Today was check out day. He got up and we got all our stuff and said goodbye to the room.
I checked the luggage in with Airline check-in (who already had our boarding passes hanging on our door that morning, the ME stuff was the day before) and stored our carry-on with luggage services.
Now, unencumbered, we had breakfast. Only 1 Counter service meal remained and 9 snack credits. We had our work cut out for us today.
We got on the bus for Animal Kingdom by 9:00. The park was open now. This was the first rope drop we didn’t make. I thought it would be okay since we weren’t Everest. I was wrong.
We made it to the park by 9:30 and slowly made our way to the Safari in Africa. We were sidetracked by stores and Lilo and Stitch who we waited for. Stitch is my fav character of the moment.

When we finally made it over to the Safari the wait was 40 minutes already and people were everywhere. We grabbed fast passes and boarded the train to Rafiki’s. There we did the Kid Cot bug hunt, petted the animals and viewed the Vet’s sections where bugs and snakes prevailed.
We got on the train and headed over to the Safari. We saw lots of animals and DS loved it.

Time was passing so quickly. I wanted to get as much done as possible before the 2:00 Nemo show. We hustled over to see Tough to be a bug (which was only a 10 minute wait) and then to the Dinoland for the ride. Unfortunately it was a 30 minute wait and we had only 30 minutes before we needed to head to Nemo. So DS played in the boneyard. He didn’t want to leave.

There were drummers everywhere: In Africa and dinoland:

We entered the Nemo theatre at 20 minutes before show time to a crowded theatre. Maybe another 50 people entered after us and it was sold out. This was DS first visit to AK and my first time to see Nemo. DS picked this over Lion King after I told him we could only see one. He picked the right one. It was a fantastic show and well worth the admission to AK by itself.
After the show, DS asked to go back to the park, but we couldn’t. We needed to get back to the hotel.
We ate a hasty late lunch using our last meal and a few snack credits. (We burned some snacks on ice cream & drinks in AK). And we still had 4 snack credits left after packing fruit and Doritos in my backpack. I let DS pick out candy in the store for the rest.
We gathered all our stuff and boarded the 4:30 ME bus. The Bus also stopped at French Quarter and Saratoga before finally heading to the airport.
We wait for our 20 minute delayed flight and DS slept most of the way. I pushed him hard this trip.

We made it home by 10:00 Texas time.

 

[JamesMom]

Mother & Son Do it Again, Part 9 - Reflections

What we did right:
- Going Quick Service Dinning. Since I booked so late all of the ADRs were already taken. We nabbed and went to Chef Mickey and that was it. The rest of the trip was serendipity which was needed. Didn’t have to worry about being at certain place at certain time, especially since our plans changed once we got out there. AK was originally planned for Wed, not Sat…
- Port Orleans Riverside. Beautiful resort that offered the amenities we needed. We stayed Contemporary before for its walking path to MK since DS was only 5 at the time. I loved the lush grounds and quiet. Food court was great offering enough variety that I didn’t have a single burger or DS a chicken nugget the whole trip.
- Rope Drop mornings. The afternoons were mobbed but we were able to get so much done in the mornings. A few late evenings were great too. Lines for the big attractions easily reached an hour by 11:00 or noon so getting there early was key. We learned our lesson at AK – we probably could have squeezed in Kali River and Dino if we made it to rope drop and didn’t dilly dally once we got there.
- Got outside of the parks. Sometimes you are too focused on just the parks that you missed the ‘other’ stuff. There are so many things to do at Disney and we took advantage of some: bike rental, boat transport to DTD, DisneyQuest twice, Typhoon Lagoon and Mini Golf.

What we would change:
- Stay Longer. I tried to work in some rest and relaxation, but probably not enough. I keep thinking we had to go to EMH or late night or whatever. We got tons dones with the limited time we had but it would have been nice to be there a few days longer so we could hang out at the pool or hit another water park without guilt.
- Don’t underestimate Animal Kingdom. Many think it is a half day park so that is why we went on Saturday thinking 5 hours was plenty—wrong. I was disappointed that we didn’t have time to walk the trails and just take our time. We were too rushed.
- Missed Events. This relates to the time thing again. I wished we had time to go to the Campfire at Fort Wilderness or eat at Beaches and Cream or Flame Tree BBQ like I originally planned. Just not enough time…
- Don’t get Photopass Preorder. I ordered the package before leaving and will get my payment refunded. We didn’t get that many pics and of the 23 we did get, not many were keepers. The few I posted in this trip report were the worthy ones. I will keep my copy/pasted tiny versions and keep my $100.

My son slept for 13 hours on Sunday night and now he is back to school. My younger son LOVED his Lego and Potato head gifts as well as the yummy rice crispy treat I brought home.
Hubby was ready to go back to work this morning and now I gotta get back to the daily grind myself.

Hope you enjoyed the trip report as much as I had living it and reliving it. Well, probably not as much as I had, but you get the point.

Thanks for reading.

 

[JamesMom]

Bumping my own trip report in hopes someone reads it...

 

[LauraC]

Sounds like a very busy trip! Very cute picture of your son on the ride home! Loved the photo with the giant Rice Krispy treats! Wonder how much one of those cost. They could make a nice gift!