Overdue and Overpacked: POR 9/23-10/1 THE EPILOGUE IS NOW UP ON PAGE 25

[BlueBayou]

Let me preface this by saying that a couple of years ago, we went through a MRSA outbreak at our house.

Yikes, that is scary that both of your kids got it.

My mom picked it up at the hospital when she had hip replacement surgery. When they released her from the hospital and rehab she stayed with us and I had to give her an hour long IV of vancomysin (sp?) daily in a port. I have no medical training, so it was quite scary for me. I also had to clean the wound. She ended up having minor surgery to take out the dead tissue.

We always assumed it was very contagious, but they never told us anything about steps to keep it from spreading to other family members. Maybe because she had been on the antibiotic for days in the hospital before she came home, she was not as contagious to the rest of the family.

Sher

 

[LouisianaDisneyFan]

LaLa, you've brought back a lot of really great memories for DH and me reading your trip report. Our children are both in college now, and were close to the age of yours on our very first trip to Disney. A lot of this is DejaVu, even down to trying on the horns!

Two things from this installment brought a lot back... first the in-park clinic. When we stayed at Fort Wilderness in one of the "Wilderness Homes" I was stung by a scorpion that was somehow trapped in our pull-down bed. OUCH! Luckily, our neighbors saw us leaving for the off-site, overpriced clinic and redirected us in time. Nothing beats free and competent medical care, and the wheelchair to pamper my suddenly-the-size of a watermelon leg wasn't so bad either! I was also very impressed with the medical service provided by Disney.

The second memory was the safari photos. I too had the curse of the bump going on with our photos. The ONLY clear photo we got from our last trip was of two rhinos... in the process of making another rhino, if you catch the drift. Our driver sped up significantly when he realized what was going on... LOL! Yeah, I don't think that one's destined to be framed on the wall!!!

I can't wait for the next installment! Thanks for posting. ~Ev

 

[LaLa]

Just wanted to let you know I am totally enjoying your report!!! It is so entertaining.

I thought what you said about supper was so cute. DH and I argue about that all the time. I call it dinner and he says its supper because dinner is at lunchtime!!!! He was born in Pascagoula, so we have differences in the way we say things. He claims Louisiana does everything backwards (so I'm always wrong ). Just a little rivalry between us.

I also completely agree with playing the CD in the car just to listen to the Soarin' music and imagine you are there. (I thought I was the only genius who did that).

Sorry to hear about your daughters nasty blister. Glad everything turned out fine for you all.


I know what you mean about wanting to get away from everything. I really wish we could have taken a trip anywhere in the last several months, but it just hasn't been possible. You can't very well go off and leave your house half finished. We're so looking forward to gettting away in June. I'm sick of cleaning up and making repairs.

Thanks for the entertaining reading!!!!!

Hey! Dixipixi's in the house!

Hope everything is coming along smoothly with putting your house back together. I'm so glad to see yall are going in June. It will be just what the doctor ordered!

Oh, and by the way, you listen to that Pascagoula boy. He knows what he's talking about!

God Bless!

 

[LaLa]

I really need to figure out how to quote multiple posts


BlueBayou: That is really scary about your Mom. Hope she is fine now though. Yeah, the name of that anitibiotic sounds familiar. I think its the 'mycin' part that I remember. Although I want to say the one we had to give DD started with a C. Thanks for taking the time to read!

LouisianaDisneyFan: Glad to see I'm attractin' some neighbors this morning! Thanks for your post. It really makes me happy to know that I could help take you on a stroll down Memory Lane. It's one of my favorite things to do and my kids are still little! DH can just hang it up because I feel pretty sure I will be a blabbering emotional mess by the time ours are grown and out on their own. Have a great day and thanks again for taking the time to read and post!

 

[dixipixi]

Thanks for the well wishes. Our house is mostly back together now. Just a few minor things here and there.

I have no choice but to listen to my Pascagoula boy, he's the main reason we have everything back together today! I think Mississipppi sprinkles all their newborns with persistence!!!!

 

[J and R's mom]

This is a GREAT report. I'm thoroughly enjoying it. I'm glad ZZUB sent us this way.

Thanks for posting about your DD and DS's battle with that infection. My mom went through something similar and the ER docs tried to tell her it was a spider bite as well. It wasn't and that nearly cost her her foot. Anyway, things are okay for her today (3yrs later) but she still has a limp. Glad all worked out for you kids and I hope your readers have learned a little from your experiences.

I really need to figure out how to quote multiple posts

I'll tell you the way I do it (but there might be an easier way out there). I just manually type in the commands (but without spaces though...if I type this in without spaces here it makes it a quote) " [ QUOTE = ]" and place the person's username after the equal sign but IN FRONT of the closed bracket. I then copy and paste the text I'm wanting the quote. And then end with manually typing the command (again, leave out the spaces) "[ / QUOTE ]" I'm hoping that doesn't sound too confusing. I also hit the "preview post" button to make sure I have the commands entered correctly and that the posts looks the way I want it to before I hit submit.

Anyway, thanks again for such an entertaining trip report.

 

[LaLa]

This is a GREAT report. I'm thoroughly enjoying it. I'm glad ZZUB sent us this way.

Thanks!!! Zzub's the man and I'm tickled pink that he would put a link in his trip report for me. Thanks for checking it out!

I'll tell you the way I do it (but there might be an easier way out there). I just manually type in the commands (but without spaces though...if I type this in without spaces here it makes it a quote) " [ QUOTE = ]" and place the person's username after the equal sign but IN FRONT of the closed bracket. I then copy and paste the text I'm wanting the quote. And then end with manually typing the command (again, leave out the spaces) "[ / QUOTE ]" I'm hoping that doesn't sound too confusing. I also hit the "preview post" button to make sure I have the commands entered correctly and that the posts looks the way I want it to before I hit submit.

Hey Hey Hey.....Mama like

Want me to do it again? I will because I can now.

Thanks for posting about your DD and DS's battle with that infection.

I really didn't know I would get that big of a response when I posted it. Unfortunately it seems too many people have had to deal with it. So glad your mom is doing better.

Thanks soooooo much for your posting tips. I tried quoting multiple posts from different people earlier, just playing around and I am thrilled to announce that now I will be able to quote everybody all at one time!

50 plus pages, here we come!

 

[LaLa]

Okay... does anyone notice anything different about me?

Anyone?

Anyone?

Check out my new Avatar courtesy of Javamom! YEAH BABY!!!!!


Javamom, I can't tell you "thank you" enough for taking the time out of your day to make such a cool avatar for me. I absolutely love it.

YOU ROCK!!!



I also need to give props to MELHAPPYHAUNT who first sang me this little diddy in cyberspace.

Mel, you rock too baby!

Lovin' it!!!

Okay, so does that mean I am officially in the club?

 

[javamom]

Cool, glad you like it. I have way too much fun making these!

 

[LaLa]

Okay, where were we?

Hmmmm……

I seem to remember something about a cliffhanger…

Oh yeah. The stroller. And the backpack. Right.

Well, after scouring the black hole that is the Kilamanjaro stroller parking lot for what seemed like hours with both DH and I going…

“Hey is this it? Hey is this it? Hey how bout this one…it’s blue”, the sad, sordid realization sunk in.

We had a crime to report.

We find out that amongst all the prized possessions in said backpack were a couple of autograph books. Now, if I am being truthful, I would have to tell you that those oh so important Happiest Celebration on Earth autograph books with the places for the photographs that we (I) just had to have, have not been opened since we got back from our trip.

Not opened to be looked at. Not even opened to match the appropriate photo with the corresponding autograph.

A travesty, I know.

In fact, they have currently taken up residence in a drawer in DS’s room. I have no doubt in my mind that they will not be taken out of that drawer until the next planning craze hits.

But we’re okay with that because we are once again residents of the real world. We are sane, rational thinkers once again. Sometimes.

At that particular point in time, not so much.

Because at that moment, something as psychotic as a little notebook with a bunch of four foot tall rodents’ signatures in it was absolutely Golden.

So it was official...we had to find that backpack.

We found a CM who went and found another CM who went and found a CM Manager to report the stroller theft. I use the term ‘theft’ for lack of a better term. Actually, we could only assume that since there were other strollers just like it parked there, someone probably just grabbed their stroller by mistake without even realizing they had the wrong stroller.

But then there was the backpack.

Now, if you had grabbed a stroller by mistake, ( and by the way, did ya? was it you? come on fess up ) dontcha think you would notice a bright red backpack that’s NOT yours hanging out where your child’s hiney should be?

You would think.

Well, all we could do was cross our fingers and hope that someone honest stole it.

The CMs told us to check Lost and Found in about an hour to see if someone had found the backpack and turned it in. They asked what was in it and told DHF that they would replace the autograph books at the AK gift shop and then gave them a free stroller rental.

Okey doke. But we were still on a mission. We would find it. We just knew it.

We make our way aimlessly in circles, bumping into all of humanity, scanning the horizon for red backpacks.

Zilch. Nada. Zippo.

But we were undeterred. We looked everywhere.

Blue stroller. Red Backpack. Blue Stroller. Red Backpack. Red Stroller. Blue Packback.

Let me just say that if you were in the Animal Kingdom that day and just happened to be pushin’ around a blue stroller and sportin’ a red backpack, we were on your tail like white on rice.

We look around for about another 45 minutes or so. By this point, it is almost time for our ADR at Rainforest Café. I glance at my watch and start getting antsy, not wanting to be the one to break up the unproductive stroller search party we had goin’ on.

DHF had gone to take another quick look around towards the back of the park, just lookin’ for an excuse to jackslap anybody pushin’ a blue stroller.

I look at my watch again.

I tell the group that it is getting to the point where we need to either book it over to the Rainforest Café or decide to let the ADR go. DHFW says that she doesn't want anything to eat. She tells us that our family should just go eat at RFC and they will get counter service or something else in the park.

“Absolutely not. We’re in this together” I tell her.

I knew RFC had been one of the ADRs our friends were really looking forward to before the Backpack Incident.

But now she is stressed out and I feel really bad for her.

I try to explain that it is upsetting, but not the end of the world. I tell her that anyone who took the stroller by mistake will certainly see the backpack and turn it in to Lost and Found. Whoever took it obviously has kids and will understand more than anybody the importance of a backpack in the parks. They will do the right thing by turning it in. She will see. It’ll turn up.

Yeah right. But it sounded good so I sold it.

Her hubby shows up right on cue and out of the blue wants to know how much time we have until RFC. The way he sees it, we have fought the good fight. Now there’s nothing more to do but wait. He’s hungry and he informs his honey he’s not eatin’ counter service when he can have RFC. Backpack or no backpack.

Knowing it’s crunch time, I take another glance at my watch.

We have five minutes.

We are in back by the Safari ride.

Rainforest Café is at the entrance.

Oh snap.




Up Next: The Saga Continues

 

[MOMOFMNM]

AHHH!! Lala!! No pics this time??? Your reports are such teasers...can't you do at least a 200,000,000,000 worded paragraph like Mel Happyhaunt?? I can understand the loosing of the autograph book but we are like you, our kids have not looked at them once since we returned in Oct 2005!!! We are making scrapbooks this week of the trip so I am FORCING them to go through the souvies once again...good girls...they all kept the SCIFI DL and the Monorail copilots Liscense too!!


Keep em coming...I do not have to be back at work until a week from Monday so I have plenty time to read on!!!

 

[frankenpooh]

Keep 'em coming, Lala! Your reports will help me get through this week. The autograph books are packed. Do you think my DS13 will use his? Maybe I'll claim it for my own!

 

[disgram]

I feel your friend's pain!!! My DGD lost hers in MK while watching the Show at the Castle. The autograph book was all she cared about. Her mother and I, however, were concerned about the camera and the lanyard with a 100 dollars worth of pins!!!! While we didn't find it,,,,a week after we got home, it came in the mail, sans the lanyard and pins and the camera!!!!!!

 

[1000thhappyhaunt]

Okay... does anyone notice anything different about me?

Anyone?

Anyone?

Check out my new Avatar courtesy of Javamom! YEAH BABY!!!!!


Javamom, I can't tell you "thank you" enough for taking the time out of your day to make such a cool avatar for me. I absolutely love it.

YOU ROCK!!!



I also need to give props to MELHAPPYHAUNT who first sang me this little diddy in cyberspace.

Mel, you rock too baby!

Lovin' it!!!

Okay, so does that mean I am officially in the club?

I LOVE your new avatar!!!!! So much so that if I could bring myself to do it... I would add three dancing bananamen(?) behind that sentence. But I can't. Are the bananas men? Doesn't matter. Except to me. Anywho... LOVE the new avatar. I'm glad to have had a little hand in inspiring the rockin' Javamom! In fact, I'd like to make HER some sort of avatar as a thank you. But... I don't know how to do it. I'll have to try and figure that out. In the meantime, keep going with your wonderfully fun trip report. I love it. You make me giggle like a little girl. Or my DH. I don't know if there is a "club" but... your report definitely ROCKS! Just like Crocs and Steven Tyler. And Maelstrom. Heh, heh. Just kidding. Now I'm heading over to another thread to check out the REAL Maelstrom of trip reports. Guess which one? I'll bet you can't. Peace out Dawg, Mel.

 

[MomofCKJ]

The one square half inch of space in Disneyworld that is designated to forever be ours and ours alone until the end of time.

Or at least until they tear it down and plant more flowers.

And all for the low, low price of a rack rate MYW 7 day package. We really know how to stick it to the Man.




I am rolling at this! Isn't it funny how somethings just crack you up when you read them? I just found your trip report tonight and can't stop reading. I am at the Epicot day and when I read this I just lost it! You are a VERY funny writer! Can't wait to read the rest!

Allyson

 

[BlueBayou]

Can't wait for your next post! You are such a fun read.

Sher

 

[labdogs42]

Now I'm heading over to another thread to check out the REAL Maelstrom of trip reports. Guess which one? I'll bet you can't. Peace out Dawg, Mel.

Hey, Mel! If there is another great trip report out there that we should be reading, you'd better fess up to which one! I've read Zzub's, yours, and Vettechicks, and now I'm reading LaLa's, but I need more! (oh yeah, and Princess Aurora's in progress, too) What report are you reading that I'm missing out on? Tell me, or I'll make you ride Maelstrom in May!!

 

[Csaks]

Next, next! Man these trip reports are going to get me divorced!

Chris.

 

[zachnlucy]

Hey, Mel! If there is another great trip report out there that we should be reading, you'd better fess up to which one! I've read Zzub's, yours, and Vettechicks, and now I'm reading LaLa's, but I need more! (oh yeah, and Princess Aurora's in progress, too) What report are you reading that I'm missing out on? Tell me, or I'll make you ride Maelstrom in May!!

Lil' Grumpy?

 

[zachnlucy]

Hey no more goofin on Maelstrom! I love it when we head out to sea with those oil derricks. That's kinda cool.