Spectrum Moms Take on The World! Our Last Day...Multiple Posts!

Sorry no pictures for this segment...

After running around trying to get last minute things taken care of, getting the kids to bed (not easily as Zach sobbed for me not to go), getting a bed set up for my MIL (who slept over to stay with the kids while Tim drove me to the airport), I think I finally got to bed around 11:00. Unfortunately I don’t think I slept for longer than 30 minutes at a time. I’m guessing I slept a total of two hours that night… I was just so excited to meet all of the moms. I finally got up before the alarm clock that was set for 5am. I let Tim sleep until 5:15. I went outside and turned on his car to warm it up before waking him. It has snowed about an inch or so and there was a crusty layer of snow & ice on his car. After making a cup of coffee to go we headed out the door on our way to the airport. The ride in was a little slow due to Mother Nature’s gift but we got to the airport with plenty of time to spare. I think he dropped me off at 6:30 & my flight was at 7:45. I jumped into the very short line at the Southwest counter, got my bag checked and headed to security. The line there was just as short. I did have one bag inspected as my powdered coffee mix was apparently suspicious. The man swabbed the unopened container, stuck the little paper in a machine, then cleared me to move on. I grabbed a bagel & a bathroom break then found a seat near my gate. I sat down next to two women who were talking about their plans for a weekend at Disney! I asked them where they were going & where they were staying. They were also staying at AKL, but at Jambo House. I told them about my weekend & one of the women told me that she’s a speech language pathologist. She looked a little familiar and as we talked, we discovered that we knew each other! She was one of the teachers of a social skills group Alex was part of several years ago! Small world! I ended up saving them seats (they got C boarding passes) and we sat together on the plane. Luckily nobody asked for the seats I was holding because I definitely would have given them up. We had a nice flight into Orlando. As soon as I landed I started texting Julie. She had been in touch with Kathy too. Since my traveling companions were also staying at AKL we figured we knew we’d be on the same ME bus. We walked toward the ME area together. Would Julie, Anne Marie & Kathy be there?
To be continued…
 
It's fun to read everyone's travel day stories with the anticipation of everyone meeting one another!

Julie, aren't you so tired of this dark, cold, gray Chicago weather?! I was just telling my mom today that I can not wait to be in sunny Florida!
 
oh how fun reading about everyone's traveling day! I'm so sorry that some of you are sick and hoping you are on the mend.

I can only imagine how hard it is leaving the kiddo's.... early birds you guys are, wow!
 
Amy were you at the gate with the Dunkin' Donuts RIGHT THERE??? That's the gate I had and it was killing me not get a coffee but I knew it wouldn't be a good thing during the flight!
 

It's fun to read everyone's travel day stories with the anticipation of everyone meeting one another!

Julie, aren't you so tired of this dark, cold, gray Chicago weather?! I was just telling my mom today that I can not wait to be in sunny Florida!

yes Julie....I just wear my sungladdes for an illusion of sun :rotfl: Anne Marie just basked in the sun down at Disney let it beat down warmth on our faces....ah it was so nice :goodvibes
 
:cool1: Yeah for travel day! :cool1: so glad that everyone's flight has been uneventful. Those bright blue skies in Orlando certainly look welcoming!
 
Shameless plug for my PTR for my family trip next month....because I need help! Link is in my siggie -- new stuff on page 18.
 
Like Amy, I don't have pics from travel day. But I remember it well.....

Wednesday had turned into quite a busy day and I didn't get to bed nearly as early as I had hoped. I was shooting for 9:30p but missed by a lot finally crawling into bed around 11:30p. :headache: I woke easily though when the alarm went off at 3:30am :eek: I tried to be as quiet as possible as my house was all still sleeping and I wanted to keep it that way. I was ready when Julie and her Dad arrived and we were off!

Since I was the lucky winner of the TSA extra screening I couldn't do my SWA online check in. I went up to the desk and used the kiosk, checked my bag and got and early B boarding pass. They didn't even ask to see my ID. :confused3 Julie and I breezed through security and were seated at our gate with plenty of time.

I had been feeling pretty good up until then, my "leaving for vacation excitement" was waning and I started feeling my lack of sleep. Thankfully we boarded ontime and Julie saved me a seat. I slept most of the flight.

It was glorious to see the sun when we landed, that is a rare occurance in Chicago during the winter. :sunny:

We we set out to check in with DME, but first we had to make contact with the other Spectrum Moms. Hmmm, I wonder who we'll meet......
 
I never remember to take any pictures of my travel day! Even though I was traveling alone, it still seemed to be a hectic morning...

I was really surprised that, despite finishing my packing unusually early, I didn't get to bed until almost 1am! Well... kind of. Billy goes to bed around 9:30 and our routine is "story and a snuggle." :hug: I had casually mentioned during that week that I would be going away on a "business trip" but deliberately waited until the night before to really focus on my impending absence. If I had drawn too much attention to it earlier, he would have obsessed about it and wanted to talk about it continuously. No need to get him anxious and upset.

(Admittedly, I held off just as much to maintain my own sanity!)

Mom is going away, but she'll be back
Mom is going away, but she'll be back
Mom is going away, but she'll be back


Repeat chorus one hundred times daily. :rolleyes:

We pulled out a large desktop calendar that we use to plot our family schedule and I made a big note in red marker that I would be coming home on Sunday. Billy is very visually oriented... telling him isn't enough... it only seems real to him when he sees it written down.

After he had his shower and was in his comfy pajamas, I said my good-bye to Tricia while he picked out a story. (No surprises there... we've been reading A Visit From St. Nicholas every night for the past five weeks!!) Eventually he will get tired of it... hopefully before Valentine's Day.

Anyway, I think Tricia was trying to be particularly mature about the situation because she appeared to be quite nonchalant about my leaving. "We'll be fine, Mom, it's no big deal." Too bad, big girl, you're getting hugs and kisses from me anyway! Now that she's fourteen I feel comfortable knowing that she will help her Dad with Billy and with stuff around the house.

Billy had his story and, as usual, was all smiley and giggly and snuggly while I read. As soon as the words, "...and to all, a good night" crossed my lips he asked, "Mom, will you snuggle me?" I knew I still had an early flight and there were still things waiting to be crossed off on my to-do list, but really.... what mother can resist "Mom, will you snuggle me?"

So, we snuggled. But every time he seemed to drift off to sleep he grabbed my hand and whispered, "Mom's coming home Sunday!" So, how could I leave him? And so I stayed. And I snuggled him some more. And although I tried not to, I fell asleep!

I woke up about an hour and a half later, feeling a bit groggy and a bit miffed at myself for not staying awake. Carefully... very carefully... I got out of the bed and went downstairs. The weather forecast for Orlando had been fluctuating quite a bit over the past few days, so I had to undo my beautifully packed suitcase and make some wardrobe adjustments.

(So glad I did... as you will read later on, our first day was warm, but the rest of the weekend was frigid!)

Of course, trip or no trip, I still had to take care of a few wifely duties. (No, not that... Ed was working that night.) But, he did need a shirt ironed and I did want to make a lasagna so he didn't have to worry about dinner the next night and... well, you get the idea. By the time I crawled into bed it was one o' clock.

Nevertheless, when the alarm went off at four I only needed to hit the snooze once. (Usually it takes two or three snoozes at least before I get can get up!)

But not that morning. I was going to DISNEY!!!



Kathy
 

Mom is going away, but she'll be back
Mom is going away, but she'll be back
Mom is going away, but she'll be back


Repeat chorus one hundred times daily. :rolleyes:

We pulled out a large desktop calendar that we use to plot our family schedule and I made a big note in red marker that I would be coming home on Sunday. Billy is very visually oriented... telling him isn't enough... it only seems real to him when he sees it written down.



Kathy

This is Gabriel to a T!

A new problem we have now is that everytime it snows even a teeny bit.....he thinks "it snowed so no school". He HATES school:headache:


I am so excited to hear all the Moms reports. Hope you all got toasted on Grey Goose Slushies:thumbsup2
 
Like several of the Moms I also didn't get much sleep the night before departing early Thursday morning.

But first I need to back track just a little, I of course put off purchasing my park tickets until the last minute, so after I got off work and took care of some other last minute errands I headed to the Disneystore to purchase my park tickets. The girl that helped me and I got into a conversation, of course when someone is buying only one ticket, one might wonder why. So I told her about how the Moms have been planning this trip, and how each Mom has at least one child on the Autism Spectrum, and how we really had not met befoere, she got chills, was teary eyed (as was I) and told me to wish everyon the Best trip. She was very sincere and friendly, a great way to begin my Disney vacation.

Well I woke up before my alarm, and laid in bed for a little while, then I got up and took a picture of the clock:
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I quickly got ready and some extra time to turn this:
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into this:
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Then I set all my bags by the door
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Went and kissed my boys good-bye, though they were all sound asleep. And I was on my way to the airport
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The drive was uneventful and so was my arrival to the airport, I quickly checked my bag and made it through security and was on my way. I found my terminal and gate, then set off to find coffee. Here is the time stamp from me sitting and waiting for Starbucks to open.
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My head was already throbbing waiting for my coffee. I finally got my coffee and headed back to my gate. The flight was smooth and uneventful (but my return trip home- now that will be a story).
I arrived and checked my phone and had a msg from Amy, I got lost trying to find ME, but made it to my bus
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Excited to meet everyone and then got teary eyed watching the movie on the bus and missed the pictures I had wanted to get arriving at Disney.


I don't know why some pictures are big and some are small, I went back and resized them all
 
The evening before I left, the kids and I went to Alex’s hockey game and so had a late night coming back. George had thought it’d be best to tell Ariana I was “working” while away and I’d shown her on the calendar when I was coming back. She’d been asking to go to the Niagara Falls Winter Festival of Lights so I told her the day after I came back we’d go and also marked that on the calendar. Like Billy, Ariana does well seeing things illustrated out for her and it would help curb the questions to George and Alex, “Where’s Mother?” while I was gone.


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Last minute emails and Facebook messages with the ladies and then it was time to organize everything at my front door. I was driving myself the next morning and my goal was to be pulling out of my driveway around 6am, hopefully with everyone still asleep.


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With my alarm getting me up at 5:40am I quickly dressed, blew kisses to the kids’ bedroom doors and quietly tiptoed down the stairs. George had fallen asleep on the couch after coming home from work so I woke him briefly to let him know I was heading out. A quick kiss and a mumbled “have fun” and he was right back to sleep. :goodvibes

Van loaded up, heat on and warming up, I looked back at our door before driving away to ensure no little faces were looking back out at me. I wouldn't want to leave with anyone sad they came to say goodbye and I didn't know. Driving off, I was excited yet nervous. I'd woken up with a headache left over from the day before, I had a bit of a tummy ache and my shoulders were sore when I moved, almost like I'd slept on them funny. Was I feeling all of that because I was nervous? :confused3 Not sure.

Grabbing a coffee and a cookie I hit the highway. It was light traffic and listening to news radio it announced it was minus 16 degrees C (3 degrees F). :cold: Heidi had gone down the day before and reported it was 80 degrees so I was super excited to be heading to warmer temperatures! :sunny:

Getting to the border there were no other cars around and it was my turn right away. Telling the guard my destination I received a "By yourself?" response but I explained I was meeting others there and he waved me through. I’d downloaded the directions to the Buffalo Airport directly from their website and though they’d seemed a little odd at first glance I followed them – to an academy for learning how to fly a plane! I could look over to the airport but I certainly couldn’t get there from where I was!


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Ten minutes or so later and I was making my way to the parking when I got a text from Kathy that she was on her way! Woo hoo! I shuttled into the Southwest area. No lines!

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Checking in was a breeze and I easily made my way through security and headed over to the familiar gate.


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Planes were being de-iced from the cold Buffalo weather….


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…. and I settled in to do the crossword puzzle that Julie had made for us, all about the Spectrum Mom’s. I was on a roll and getting all of them except a few that had me stumped. Couldn’t wait to ask them in person what the answers were! I grabbed an ice tea for now and a delicious sounding buffalo chicken sandwich for later and my boarding group was called.


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I had a later boarding group but found a single aisle seat five rows in – woot! I settled in alternating between napping and reading a magazine.


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Heehee… June 24th!!!


We’d left fifteen minutes behind schedule and the pilot made up some of that lost time by making a faster descent to land. Combined with the tummy ache I’d woken up with, my stomach was screaming at me to get off the plane as soon as possible! :sick: Now only a few minutes late, I was quick to get off being so close to the front and I headed to the nearest bathroom. Ugh! …. but I was here!!! A quick text from Amy and it was off to the minnie-monorail….


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…. and a fly-by picture of the airport I love so well….


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….and I quickly made it down to the Magical Express area. I was the last of the Moms to arrive and I was trying to get to AKV as quickly as possible so we could all meet and get off to our first park together.


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I seemed to be keeping good time and it looked like I’d arrive right on schedule until I was waiting and waiting at this sign for a LONG time. Guess I’d just missed a bus.


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Then … finally!


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Oh man, you were ALL up early. I am SO not an early am flight gal.

Ugh on not some of you feeling great :(
 
Amy were you at the gate with the Dunkin' Donuts RIGHT THERE??? That's the gate I had and it was killing me not get a coffee but I knew it wouldn't be a good thing during the flight!

Don't you love the rush of people trying to get one last Dunkies hit pre-departure? They're like that at the one at BOS too.
 
It is so interesting hearing all of the departure stories and picturing you all coming from the different directions to our one most beloved MCO!

That 'snowport' picture makes me cold just to look at it. :cold:
 
Oh man, you were ALL up early. I am SO not an early am flight gal.

Ugh on not some of you feeling great :(

I am SO not an early morning person and I would have NEVER even attempted this with the kids but Julie and I decided we wanted to maximize our time since it was only four days. Have to say it was nice having a whole day after arriving so early. Still don't think I could swing it with the kids though, they're not morning people either. ;)
 
Love hearing how you all "came together". :goodvibes

I can feel the excitement.
 
Love reading all about your different departures! I can't wait to hear about your first meet-up!! :goodvibes

Sara
 











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