S.O.C.K. and Stitch Return to the World with a Dog **New 6/14** Day 8/9 The End p. 19

[carissanboys]

Glad you made it home safely. Hope you feel better soon

Oh Car, RELAX!!! We can wait!!! Feel better!!! You are one very busy Car!!!

Thanks ladies! I tried posting day 1 yesterday, but photobucket was giving me problems. Hoping today it works better.

 

[carissanboys]

I'm sick and therefore no witty titles! Day 1 it is. This trip report will probably be much shorter than my usual ones.

~ Monday, March 11th ~

The alarm was set for 4:30 and I jumped out of bed when it went off. I quickly showered and went downstairs to finish getting everything together. I'd made a pumpkin bread the night before to eat on the road along with fruit. I packed a healthy amount of fresh fruit and veggies for the drive:

I woke the boys up and we were ready to go!

The drive was pretty uneventful. We had very little traffic and the weather was fantastic. I'd packed a picnic lunch so we ate at a rest stop and stretched our legs.

Baxter did great.

I've always heard about the free OJ at the Florida Welcome Center, but I don't believe we've ever stopped. We did this time! The juice was delicious.

We did start to have heavier traffic in Florida and on I4 had a driver almost run us off the road. But look at the temperature!

Originally we were going to make the trip in two days. But trying to find a hotel that would allow 5 people AND a dog proved to be difficult. When I realized the drive was only 12 hours now that we lived south of D.C., we decided to drive straight to Orlando. I found the Sheraton Lake Buena Vista Resort. They allowed 5 people (although only 2 beds--we brought an air mattress but they do have roll away beds) and no pet fee! We were very happy with the room and the hotel. The service was wonderful.

After we were settled in our room, Chuck took the boys to the outdoor pool while I relaxed and ordered dinner delivered to our room. Everyone came back, took showers, and settled in for the night. We were all tired after being up so early.

My only complaint about the hotel is our room faced the very busy street and so it was noisy until the early morning hours. I heard loud motorcycles and sirens. If I were to stay there again, I would ask for a room on the back side.

And that brings us to the end of day 1. Coming up in day 2 we bring Baxter to Best Friends Pet Care and check in to Fort Wilderness.

Up Next -- Day 2 - Part 1

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

Great start Carissa. Cant believe how much the boys have grown! Wish is was 82'here-I'm watching a blizzard out the window But hey it's friday and I've cleaned all morning so I am ready to laze about all weekend now
Hope you start to feel better soon

 

[DisMomAmy]

Yay!! You've started!! Glad the drive down wasn't too bad. I'm jealous of your 12 hour ride! We're about double that... which is probably why we have never driven!

 

[wiigirl]

In for this....great pics!

 

[momrek06]

Feel better, Carissa!!!

NICE start!!!

 

[DrMomof3]

I need to catch up but I was just thinking about you today and decided to hunt you down here on the DIS. So here I am!

Amanda

 

[carissanboys]

Great start Carissa. Cant believe how much the boys have grown! Wish is was 82'here-I'm watching a blizzard out the window But hey it's friday and I've cleaned all morning so I am ready to laze about all weekend now
Hope you start to feel better soon

It was in the 60s here in Virginia the day after we arrived home. And then yesterday it was cold and it snowed! This is not typical for this time of year here. Thankfully none of the snow stuck.

I am feeling better today, thanks. And yay for a lazy weekend!

Yay!! You've started!! Glad the drive down wasn't too bad. I'm jealous of your 12 hour ride! We're about double that... which is probably why we have never driven!

I don't think I could ever drive if we lived as far as you do. Driving up to Maine is far enough for me and it's to the point that I need to do it in two days now.

In for this....great pics!

Thanks!

Feel better, Carissa!!!

NICE start!!!

Thanks Karen! I'm definitely starting to improve. No Nyquil was consumed last night.

I need to catch up but I was just thinking about you today and decided to hunt you down here on the DIS. So here I am!

Amanda

Amanda! Hey girl! How've you been?? I need to check out your signature and catch up.

 

[DrMomof3]

We stayed in a Cabin at Fort Wilderness last June after our cruise. It was really a great experience. I'm curious to hear what you thought.
You're planning to do the half in January, 2014???? I don't know yet if I'm running that weekend because of a work conference in January. Still waiting to get details. It would be awesome to finally meet the person who started my running journey!

Amanda

 

[carissanboys]

We stayed in a Cabin at Fort Wilderness last June after our cruise. It was really a great experience. I'm curious to hear what you thought.
You're planning to do the half in January, 2014???? I don't know yet if I'm running that weekend because of a work conference in January. Still waiting to get details. It would be awesome to finally meet the person who started my running journey!

Amanda

Well, there is a rumor that a 10k will be added to marathon weekend. If that is the case, I will do that instead of the half. But either way, I will be there! It would be great if we could meet up.

 

[DrMomof3]

Well, there is a rumor that a 10k will be added to marathon weekend. If that is the case, I will do that instead of the half. But either way, I will be there! It would be great if we could meet up.

I'm trying to get my husband to do the 10k. I'll probably either do "just" the 10k with him and the full or maybe just maybe I'll go for the whole thing and be Dopey.... Or I might not be able to go at all which would make me sad.

Amanda

 

[Goofster57]

Looks like you were off to a Great start!!

Maybe off to a too healthy start.
You need donuts and fast food when you're on vacation!!!

Hope you're feeling better soon.

 

[mrsksomeday]

Great start!! Baxter is so cute!! We are about a 14 hour drive but with Bill's disability we would definitely have to break it up into 2 days. I look forward to your thoughts on the kennel and Ft. Wilderness.

 

[liznboys]

Yippee! You're in sunny Florida! Yummy fruit, yummy oj and happy family. Great start!

 

[carissanboys]

I'm trying to get my husband to do the 10k. I'll probably either do "just" the 10k with him and the full or maybe just maybe I'll go for the whole thing and be Dopey.... Or I might not be able to go at all which would make me sad.

Amanda

I hope you get to go and we get to meet up!

Looks like you were off to a Great start!!

Maybe off to a too healthy start.
You need donuts and fast food when you're on vacation!!!

Hope you're feeling better soon.

There was plenty of unhealthy food consumed. I can't go to WDW and not have a Mickey ice cream sandwich.

Thanks! I've coughed up a lung, but I think maybe I'm getting better.

Great start!! Baxter is so cute!! We are about a 14 hour drive but with Bill's disability we would definitely have to break it up into 2 days. I look forward to your thoughts on the kennel and Ft. Wilderness.

If it was a 14 hour drive for us, we'd probably have broken it up. It was about a 16 hour drive when we lived in Maryland. 12 was about the boys limit.

Thoughts on the kennel and Fort Wilderness coming up!

Yippee! You're in sunny Florida! Yummy fruit, yummy oj and happy family. Great start!

There were no tornadoes on the way so I was happy!

 

[mommytothreeboys]

Yay, you started! I hope our road trip is as uneventful as yours!

Looking forward to more. But you feel better...no rush!

 

[15isto2]

Its amazing to see how much your kids have grown up.

 

[KathyRN137]

Hi Carissa!

I haven't been on the DIS much lately so I haven't seen any recent pix of your boys. Wow! Are they getting big!

Looking forward to all your pix and stories,

Kathy

 

[carissanboys]

Yay, you started! I hope our road trip is as uneventful as yours!

Looking forward to more. But you feel better...no rush!

I hope so too, although I imagine you'll have more traffic than we did.

I think maybe the cough is getting better.

Its amazing to see how much your kids have grown up.

I know! Looking back at pictures from our last trip--they look so little.

Hi Carissa!

I haven't been on the DIS much lately so I haven't seen any recent pix of your boys. Wow! Are they getting big!

Looking forward to all your pix and stories,

Kathy

Hey Kathy! Well, until I started this TR, I really hadn't been on the Dis either so you hadn't missed any pictures of my boys.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

[carissanboys]

~ Tuesday, March 12 ~

The next morning we awoke to a rainy day. I knew Tuesday was the one day in the forecast for possible rain. We planned to bring Baxter to Best Friends Pet Care and then head to Downtown Disney. Here is the view from our room:

We ate breakfast in the room. I'd brought along our electric tea kettle for hot water, and some instant oatmeal. So along with the coffee provided in the room and some fruit, we had a good breakfast.

We weren't in a rush to get out of the room, but I think it was around 10 a.m. when we headed out. I plugged Best Friends Pet Care into my google maps app on my phone and it wasn't far away. We found it easily. The great thing is that Fort Wilderness is about a 3 minute drive from the kennel! This would be a big help as we planned to visit Baxter every day.

This is the front of the building:

We got Baxter all checked in. The girl who took care of us was a little lacking in the friendliness department. I felt she needed a bit of pixie dust. She wasn't rude and everyone else we encountered the rest of the week was really nice. We left Baxter's food with them (they provide food but Baxter tends to have tummy issues when we switch his food) and two toys (they provide a dog bed). It was really difficult to leave him as we've never done that except with family. But we felt he'd be well taken care of. I'll have more pictures and info on day 3.

We decided to brave the rain and head over to Downtown Disney. Thankfully, it never poured and the rain wasn't a big issue. Our first stop was the Disney Store.

(This picture was taken for Sully's girlfriend, who was celebrating a birthday that day.)

This picture cracks me up.

Then we headed over to the Lego Store.

View of a wet DTD:

We visited Team Mickey. I couldn’t find any Patriots gear.

The boys were all told they could get one souvenir on the trip (not counting pins). The younger two considered getting one of these cars that you can put together yourself. We convinced them to wait.

Our tummies began to rumble so we headed to Wolfgang Puck Express—one of our favorites. We basically had the place to ourselves. Using a Disney gift card and sharing a couple of pizzas, our lunch only cost $15 oop.

The younger two ordered kids meals and we ordered two pizzas to share—a Traditional Margherita and a fennel and sausage. Sooooo delicious!

With lunch finished, we headed out to look around some more.

Sully wanted to check out pins so we headed to Pin Traders. All three boys ended up buying a new lanyard with pins. And that led to our first trading of the trip.

More looking around…

At this point, it was 12:30. We decided to head over to Fort Wilderness and see if our cabin was ready. Fingers crossed!

Up Next -- Day 2 - Part 2