Pre-Departure and Departure Day 11/18/-11/19
The night before our trip was pretty uneventful. Hannah did homework. I was working on getting the laundry caught up and mopped the kitchen floor. I think Clay even got home at a decent time! After Hannah went to bed, I took inventory of what Id already packed for the girls and only had to add a few more items. I did the same for my and Clays suitcase. Since I hadnt packed as much for us there was a lot more to add in our suitcase. I even went through the girls travel bags, park bags and just general travel stuff. I was determined not to forget anything for this trip! On our first trip I forgot Hannahs tennis shoes and she had to wear sandals the whole time. It worked out and she had no problems with her feet but I wasnt taking any chances this time! Im happy to report that I didnt forget a thing
but I certainly packed more than we needed! LOL
Finally! The day Id been waiting for arrived
.WERE GOING TO WALT DISNEY WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!
I got Hannah up for school (she got up and got ready for school with no complaints or lollygagging. Go figure!
) and to the bus stop. As soon as she was on the bus I headed to Wal-Mart to get some snacks and water for the ride down. There was practically nobody in Wal-Mart so I got in and out of there quickly. I even had time to buy myself just one more t-shirt for the trip! LOL After Wal-Mart I stopped to put gas in the van and then back home. It only took me an hour to do my final errands. Clay left to get a haircut and I did a final check of the suitcases, zipped them up and got them ready for Clay to bring downstairs. I brought the smaller stuff downstairs and piled them up near the front door. Clay helped me change the sheets on our bed then I changed the sheets on Hannahs bed. I had a load of clothes in the dryer and another load in the washer. The dishwasher was going with the last load of dirty dishes. And then
.the longgggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg tortuous wait before I could leave to pick Hannah up from school. ARRGGGGGGGGHHHHH I was chomping at the bit to just go NOW! Clay was calmly watching TV.
He was watching a pretty funny movie though
.Waynes World!
Finally it was time to go get Hannah and Alison!!!
The original plan was wed pick Hannah up, then pick Alison up and then be on our way. I decided it might be better to divide and conquer then meet back at the house and go from there so thats what we did. To back up just a bit: at the beginning of the school year, the road that runs in front of Hannahs school was closed due to bridge work. It finally opened up the week we were leaving. I was happy it was finally opened because its a much more direct route from our house to the school. So, as Im driving down this road I see a sign One lane road ahead. What the
????!!! GRRRRRR I just drove down this road the night before and it was open. But no
.as I get to the bridge Ill be if they dont have one lane closed because theyre doing something to the bridge. And of course the guy has his sign turned to Stop for my lane of travel.
Come on people! Dont yall know Im trying to get to Walt Disney World??!!!! LOL It felt like I had to wait forever but it was really only a short wait and I was on my way again!
I pull into a parking space and walk in to the office
.where I see a sign that says you have to present a photo i.d. if youre checking your child out. Back to the van I go to get my driver license. *sigh* After all the formalities are taken care of, I wait
and I wait
.and I wait. The Secretary ended up trying to track the teacher down to get Hannah. FINALLY Hannah walks in to the office:
Shes not happy at all is she???!!! (And yes....she picked that outfit out herself! LOL)
We got to the house just before 1:00 and Clay wasnt there yet. UGHHHHH Hannah was already engrossed in a game on her DS so I took the opportunity to run back in for one last potty break and check of the house. Clay and Alison arrived right after I got in the house. Alison had left the book shes reading for school at her Moms so they had to go by there and pick it up. In hindsight Im not sure why because as far as I know she didnt read it the entire trip.
And were off!!!!!!!!!!
(PSSSTTT Jackie: notice what's peeking over the back seat? Remember that...it will come back later...but not in a good way.)
Doesn't Clay look thrilled to death??!!! LOL
As Im backing out of the driveway Clay says Are we there yet? HAHAHA very funny! (I swear the man has a death wish.) And, of course, Hannah and Alison had to chime in Are we there yet? too. ARRRRGGGHH Clay thought that was pretty funny and they said it a few more times. I looked at him and told him if he didnt stop I was going to kick him out of the van.
An hour in to our drive Clays cell phone rings. Its his sister. His Dad is on the way to the hospital with chest pains. OK
true confession time...when Clay got off the phone and told me what was going on I was silently (selfishly) praying over and over Please God I need this vacation. Please dont make me have to cancel. I was also saying to Clay (in my head) Please dont tell me weve got to turn around and go back. Please dont tell me weve got to turn around and go back. I know
not one of my better moments. I also know that Clay was probably struggling with what to do. I know he probably wanted to be there with his family just in case, but I also know that he didnt want to disappoint me and the girls by saying we were going to have to either delay or cancel our trip. He was in a pretty tough spot. And he probably was afraid Id get mad if he said we either needed to postpone for a day or cancel the trip. I wouldnt have liked it but I wouldnt have been mad. I mean, its family, right? I think the one thing that saved the trip is the fact that his Dad had been having chest pains for quite a while and had been ignoring them. That day just happened to be the day he could no longer ignore them. His Dad has a history of heart problems
hes had bypass surgery
is diabetic
overweight
and yet he continues to not take care of himself and ignores his bodys warning signs that something isnt right. It turned out there were a couple of blockages and they had to put in a couple of stints. There were some bumps along the way but he was back home in time for Thanksgiving.
A couple of hours in to the drive, somewhere in South Carolina along I-26, we stopped for a potty/smoke break. It was a very quick break and we were back on the road in no time. I was booking right along when I ran into traffic. There was an accident on the other side of the interstate so, of course, that meant that everyone on my side of the interstate had to slow down and look at it. GRRRRRRRRRRR Finally get past the accident and traffic is moving like its supposed to and from the back seat I hear Hannah say Mommy I need to go potty. For petes sake child we just stopped an hour ago and youve got to go AGAIN???!!!!! *sigh* Thank goodness it wasnt Mommy I need to go potty NOW! LOL We werent too far from an exit (thank you Emily
aka Clays GPS!) so we made our second stop of the trip an hour after the first stop. Can we please go now and not have to stop again for a few more hours???
I made up the lost time pretty quickly and before I knew it we were leaving South Carolina and saying Hello Georgia! We hit Savannah just in time for rush hour
and a left lane closing. ARRRGGGHHHH It was getting close to time for dinner anyway and I wanted to stop at a Cracker Barrel. Saw a billboard advertising two Cracker Barrels a few miles apart from each other. I opted for Cracker Barrel number two because that put us closer to Florida. Had no wait at Cracker Barrel and had the fastest service Ive ever had. We were in and out of there within an hour or so. I no sooner got back on the road and Clay was hounding me to stop for gas so within minutes of getting back on the road I was getting off the interstate and filling up the tank. I think we may have had the girls go to the restroom while we were stopped even though we went before leaving Cracker Barrel. So, here it is almost 7 hours in to the trip and were on our 4th stop. The irony of all this is that by the time the girls are old enough to go longer without stopping it will be me and Clay that have to stop every two hours for potty breaks. LOL We made one more stop once we hit Florida for a grand total of 5 stops on the ride down. We ran in to some stop and go traffic on I-4 so it was about 11:30 before we made it to Pop Century.
It's dark, I know, but trust me...the "Welcome to Walt Disney World" sign is there!
Several park buses pulled up as we were walking up so there was a bit of a crowd as we walked in. The line for check-in was pretty non-existent.
There was nobody waiting at online check-in. As were waiting for the CM to come back with our gift card, Im taking pictures of the lobby, etc. Clay looks at me and says Were you a Japanese tourist in a previous life?
We were given 60s Building 4, second floor, Room
.
After we were all checked-in, I had Clay and the girls go ahead to the room and I pulled the van around to the 60s parking lot, grabbed the overnight bag and walked to our room. When I made our reservation I requested the 60s building (which we got) with a lakeview. I get to Building 4 and start heading in the direction of our room. As Im walking to the room, Im looking to my left to see whats on that side but its so dark I cant really tell whats over there. Oh well
Ill see it in the morning.
The girls and Clay had already made themselves comfortable. The girls already had the TV on. The room was refurbed and it was nice.
UGH...flash!
Love the privacy curtain!
The only complaint (if you can call it that) was there was a bit of a musty smell in the sink area. It wasnt a strong smell and I couldnt smell it all the time, but it was there. And Id like to go on the record as saying I DO NOT like the new entertainment center. There just is not enough storage space in those things. The girls had two drawers and Clay and I had one, so Clay and I ended up living out of our suitcase during our stay. I got the overnight bag unpacked, everybody got on their pjs and we were in bed around 12:00.
We were ready for a good night sleep because in the morning were headed to Epcot!!!
This is is expensive. 
so it didn't charge. We left Epcot around 6:30 last night and didn't get home until 4:30 this morning. 
Thankfully there's not much laundry to do and all that's left is to unpack the suitcase that the girls used.
) in a few weeks! 
