Lizzie-in-Texas
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jun 16, 2005
- Messages
- 110
So on Sunday, May 22nd, my Prince Charming arrived in his Ford pick-up truck (hey, this is Texas, Princes drive pick-up trucks) accompanied by Alyssa to spend the night instead of fighting Houston morning traffic. Basically it would be easier for him to just slay me a dragon than to drive in on I-45 North from League City. We quickly discovered that sleeping arrangements were going to provide the first bit of vacation humor. You see, I have one queen size bed and a couch, not a fold out couch, just a couch. Paul, being the gentleman that he is, opted for the couch with Alyssa and I taking the bed. But Alyssa wanted to sleep with the both of us, ok, not a problem, shes a very small 5 year-old this can be accomplished. Until, my beloved Bone A. Part, a 100 pound English Lab (hey, hes on a diet, he was a whopping 127 pounds) decided that since everyone else was in the bed, he too would join the slumber party (he normally does not sleep in my bed, but Alyssa insisted). And to make matters worse, Alyssa sleeps diagonally in bed. Picture this, Paul is hanging onto the edge of one side of the bed, Im hanging off the other side, Bone A. Part is taking up the foot of the bed and Alyssa, the smallest member of this now dysfunctional group, is lying sideways taking up the entire middle of the bed. Paul lovingly patted me on my back, said good-night and stated this was what life is all about, a man, his woman and a dog Im not even mentioning his granddaughter, youll start to wonder about the vicinity of the lifeguard at our gene pool.
About 20 minutes into the slumber party, Bone A. Part gave up and moved to his bed on the floor, at about 2:30 am, I gave up and moved to the couch and 5:30 am came far too quickly. I got up, showered and gathered Bone A. Parts things for his stay at the vet. Normally, my dog travels with me on vacation, but since this was a short trip, we needed to fly, so hes off to camp. I dropped Bones off and was reassured several times that he would be fine oh a mothers worry. Stopped at McDonalds for hotcakes hey, Im on vacation, no cooking on vacation. Returned home to find that Paul had already dressed Alyssa and made sandwiches since they would only serve a snack on the flight you gotta love this man.
After breakfast, he quickly showered and we waited for Mason from Courtesy Limousine to pick us up. On the ride to the airport, I discovered many things that I did not know about Mason, even though, I had been using his service for years, but then again, I had never ridden with Alyssa before. She can sweetly bat her eyelashes at you and ask you the most personal of questions, but shes so cute that you feel compelled to answer. You start spilling family secrets that you once swore you would take to the grave.
With sweat dripping from his brow and confessing to once taking a pen from the office, Mason dropped us off at the Continental curbside check-in and handed Alyssa off to the unsuspecting baggage handler without revealing the torture he was about to endure. Hey, why is that guy taking our luggage, do you like your job, are you going somewhere, were going to Disney World? Yea, were going to be stripped searched with a cavity check. All in all, the wait at the airport was not bad, especially with a child that had not flown since she was 6 months old. Then again, we sat far away from innocent unsuspecting travelers. I was very proud of Alyssa; the flight was uneventful, which was all we could ask for. She did get somewhat upset at the woman sleeping in the row in front of us because she did not lower the window and the glare was reflecting off the movie screen. The princess kept insisting that I poke the sleeping woman and inform her to lower the window or it would be off with her head. Oh, a princess can be quite vindictive when their view of Are We There Yet? is obscured.
Off the plane and Monica, from Tiffany Town Car, was waiting for us at baggage claim. Im sure Mason phoned ahead and prepared her for the Alyssa torture test of embarrassing questions. And too think, people think Jeopardy is tough. The ride to the resort was quick and pleasant.
Arrived at the Polynesian resort and were escorted to the Hawaiian building and Alyssa was referred to as princess. If the shoe fits, wear it and believe me, she did. In fact, she came up with her own curtsey each and every time we walked through the doors of the resort. The doors would magically open as she curtseyed to her adoring public. We were shown to our room and I returned to check us in. Alyssa liked the plush Baloo and she and Paul sampled the strawberries while I was gone.
We had some time before our reservations at Chef Mickey, so we boarded a bus to Downtown Disney and shopped at the Marketplace at Once Upon a Toy and the World of Disney. It was time to head to the Contemporary Resort so Alyssa could meet some characters, with an autograph book in hand and a fat sharpie marker we boarded yet another bus.
Its so exciting to see the face of a child the first time they experience a character meeting. For the first time on the trip, Alyssa was speechless when Minnie Mouse approached our table. She politely asked for Minnie to sign her book, and then she regained her composure as she posed diva-like next to her for the photo.
But then things changed, Minnie noticed something on my finger, my ring. Well, Minnie apparently liked my ring, so much so, that she insisted that I show it to Mickey. Look honey, its not my fault you havent gotten a ring out of him after all of these years.
It did not take Alyssa long to catch on to how things worked at a character meal. She patiently waited for each and every character to join us at our table. She enthusiastically waived her napkin above her head at the appropriate time during the character dance and actually ate some food. We stopped by to see Donald Duck in the lobby, and he too was a victim of her charm.
Back to the resort only to find out that a small child, after experiencing characters for the first time, has absolutely no desire to go to bed. We might as well have fed her an entire 5-pound bag of sugar. Being a woman, I suggested a warm bubble bath, ok, fine, she soaked in a tube filled with bubbles and came out giggling more than she was when she went in. How about warm milk, nope, not going to drink it, apparently the princess is a picky eater. Wonder how child protection services would feel about a shot of Baileys probably would not go for it?
So I did what any respectable person would do, claimed she was his granddaughter, shes his responsibility and went to bed. As I was dozing off, she was giggling at absolutely everything and he was pleading and begging with her to go to sleep. Nothing like a man that is not too proud to beg.
About 20 minutes into the slumber party, Bone A. Part gave up and moved to his bed on the floor, at about 2:30 am, I gave up and moved to the couch and 5:30 am came far too quickly. I got up, showered and gathered Bone A. Parts things for his stay at the vet. Normally, my dog travels with me on vacation, but since this was a short trip, we needed to fly, so hes off to camp. I dropped Bones off and was reassured several times that he would be fine oh a mothers worry. Stopped at McDonalds for hotcakes hey, Im on vacation, no cooking on vacation. Returned home to find that Paul had already dressed Alyssa and made sandwiches since they would only serve a snack on the flight you gotta love this man.
After breakfast, he quickly showered and we waited for Mason from Courtesy Limousine to pick us up. On the ride to the airport, I discovered many things that I did not know about Mason, even though, I had been using his service for years, but then again, I had never ridden with Alyssa before. She can sweetly bat her eyelashes at you and ask you the most personal of questions, but shes so cute that you feel compelled to answer. You start spilling family secrets that you once swore you would take to the grave.
With sweat dripping from his brow and confessing to once taking a pen from the office, Mason dropped us off at the Continental curbside check-in and handed Alyssa off to the unsuspecting baggage handler without revealing the torture he was about to endure. Hey, why is that guy taking our luggage, do you like your job, are you going somewhere, were going to Disney World? Yea, were going to be stripped searched with a cavity check. All in all, the wait at the airport was not bad, especially with a child that had not flown since she was 6 months old. Then again, we sat far away from innocent unsuspecting travelers. I was very proud of Alyssa; the flight was uneventful, which was all we could ask for. She did get somewhat upset at the woman sleeping in the row in front of us because she did not lower the window and the glare was reflecting off the movie screen. The princess kept insisting that I poke the sleeping woman and inform her to lower the window or it would be off with her head. Oh, a princess can be quite vindictive when their view of Are We There Yet? is obscured.
Off the plane and Monica, from Tiffany Town Car, was waiting for us at baggage claim. Im sure Mason phoned ahead and prepared her for the Alyssa torture test of embarrassing questions. And too think, people think Jeopardy is tough. The ride to the resort was quick and pleasant.
Arrived at the Polynesian resort and were escorted to the Hawaiian building and Alyssa was referred to as princess. If the shoe fits, wear it and believe me, she did. In fact, she came up with her own curtsey each and every time we walked through the doors of the resort. The doors would magically open as she curtseyed to her adoring public. We were shown to our room and I returned to check us in. Alyssa liked the plush Baloo and she and Paul sampled the strawberries while I was gone.
We had some time before our reservations at Chef Mickey, so we boarded a bus to Downtown Disney and shopped at the Marketplace at Once Upon a Toy and the World of Disney. It was time to head to the Contemporary Resort so Alyssa could meet some characters, with an autograph book in hand and a fat sharpie marker we boarded yet another bus.
Its so exciting to see the face of a child the first time they experience a character meeting. For the first time on the trip, Alyssa was speechless when Minnie Mouse approached our table. She politely asked for Minnie to sign her book, and then she regained her composure as she posed diva-like next to her for the photo.
But then things changed, Minnie noticed something on my finger, my ring. Well, Minnie apparently liked my ring, so much so, that she insisted that I show it to Mickey. Look honey, its not my fault you havent gotten a ring out of him after all of these years.
It did not take Alyssa long to catch on to how things worked at a character meal. She patiently waited for each and every character to join us at our table. She enthusiastically waived her napkin above her head at the appropriate time during the character dance and actually ate some food. We stopped by to see Donald Duck in the lobby, and he too was a victim of her charm.
Back to the resort only to find out that a small child, after experiencing characters for the first time, has absolutely no desire to go to bed. We might as well have fed her an entire 5-pound bag of sugar. Being a woman, I suggested a warm bubble bath, ok, fine, she soaked in a tube filled with bubbles and came out giggling more than she was when she went in. How about warm milk, nope, not going to drink it, apparently the princess is a picky eater. Wonder how child protection services would feel about a shot of Baileys probably would not go for it?
So I did what any respectable person would do, claimed she was his granddaughter, shes his responsibility and went to bed. As I was dozing off, she was giggling at absolutely everything and he was pleading and begging with her to go to sleep. Nothing like a man that is not too proud to beg.
