Takin' The In-Laws -- Day 1 - Blankie & Buddy... MIA

[bdrex95]

Takin’ The In-Laws - 4/2/2005 – Day 1 – Blankie & Buddy… MIA

Cast of Characters
Me – DH32, love Disney and now a planner extraordinaire
Min – DW34, loves Disney too, but left the planning to me
Buddy – DS6, 3rd trip to Disney, 1st one he’ll really appreciate
Doodle – DD3, my princess and a DCL souvenir
BuckleBoy – DS21months, 1st time to WDW, obsessed with buckles
Meme – MIL65, Fun, nice, extremely quiet
Papa – FIL67, Big heart, Bigger talker with occasional bad timing
BIL – 37, Just a big kid

(Imagine this in your best Disney ride announcer voice) “For your safety, please remain seated and keep your hands and arms away from the monitor at all times.”

Saturday morning came early, IT’S VACATION DAY!!!!!!!!!

Can you tell we were a little excited? None of us slept very well last night. By 6:30 this morning we were all awake. I talked Min into giving me a quick trim of my hair – I was beginning to get the shaggy dog look around my ears.

I had to go into work for a little while this morning. I know, I know. It’s Saturday, plus IT’S VACATION DAY! But I’m in car sales, so Saturday is a workday. Also, I don’t have any real vacation time right now. I have already used up my allotted time, and my vacation time doesn’t reset until May 1. So, if I go in for a couple hours this morning, then I’m only taking a half-day off. It’s going to be a long hour and a half, but I’ll find a way to make it.

While I was at work, Min finished packing. She did very well. We only have 2 suitcases to check. Of course we will still have 3 car seats to check, and a stroller and 4 bags to carry on, but it’s better than I thought.

My morning goes quicker than I had figured. Before I knew it, 10:00 was here and I was out the door. Off to the bank for some traveler’s checks then home to pack the minivan.

Oops, I almost forgot. I’ve got to get a few bills paid first so we don’t find any nasty messages on our voice mail when we get back. Ok, so I got those in the mail, changed clothes, packed the van, hugged the dogs, took one last look around, and by 11:30 we were out the door!

Plenty of time to make our 3:30 flight. So far so good!

We were meeting the in-laws for lunch in Schaumburg, which is a northwest suburb of Chicago, about 10 minutes from O’Hare. One thing we were all a little worried about was how Papa was going to behave in the airport. See, he has a penchant for making stupid jokes at the most inopportune moment. He’s the guy who makes a wisecrack about terrorists as he is passing through the metal detectors. I made Min promise she would say something to her dad to keep his mouth glued shut in the airport. “Ain’t no way I’m missing our flight to bail his butt out of jail,” I said. She agreed. At least we were both on the same page.

We met up with the in-laws at Portillo’s. For those of you from Chicago, you know what this is. For those of you underprivileged folks who have never had a Portillo’s hot dog or Italian beef, you have to come visit and try it. The minute I saw Papa I knew we had nothing to worry about in the airport. He was more tense than I have ever seen him. He didn’t say hardly one word all through lunch. We had some great dogs, then off to the airport.

Wait. We need to make a quick stop at Toy’s R Us down the street. No, not for my kids, but for BIL. He wants to check for Hot Wheels. Quick time check. We’re ok. “You got 10 minutes. I’ll wait in the van with the kids.”

Oh No. Doodle lost her blankie. “You’re probably just sitting on it.” Min digs around in Doodle’s car seat. Then looks all over inside the van. It’s nowhere in the van. Did we leave it at the restaurant? Please don’t tell me we left it in the restaurant. Ok. Let’s go check. “Please be there. A little pixie dust, PLEASE!”

I raced back to the restaurant. Of course traffic was horrible going those 3 blocks. So much for those 10 minutes! I pull in and very slowly cruise by our parking space that now has some cruddy Honda parked there. Can’t see blankie. Now what? I guess I have to go inside and see if she left it in the booth. In Illinois it is against the law to leave kids in the car unattended. But I don’t want to unbuckle them, drag them inside, only to not find it and have Doodle have a meltdown right there.

“Ok, you guys stay buckled in your seats, and be vewy, vewy quiet, I’m hunting bwankie,” I said in my best Elmer Fudd voice. The kids didn’t understand the humor. They just thought I was weird. Welcome to the club, kids!

I dashed inside real quick. With my luck, I’ll be the one who winds up in jail on child abandonment charges, while they all spend a nice week in Florida.

A dad and 3 nice boys are in my booth. “Excuse me. Did you guys find a little pink blankie laying in the booth when you sat down?” They looked at me like I had 3 heads.

Nope, they didn’t see one. Great, thanks. Love ya, mean it! (sorry Delswife, it just fit so nicely!)

Ok, now what?

I checked the sidewalk while I was walking out. Nothing. I walked over to the cruddy Honda that took my parking spot to look around it. Still nothing. For some reason I bent down to look under the car. There it was! Right smack dab under the middle of the car. “I found it! I found it!” I screamed as I jumped up. Oh man, I hope nobody saw that.

Back to Toys R Us, picked the rest of them up. No luck on the Hot Wheels, by the way. Oh, they found hundreds of them, just none that he needed for his collection. Ok, off we go!

We got to the airport very smoothly with little to no traffic. The offsite discount parking lots were full. It figures. So, we had to park onsite, for $13 per day, almost twice as much as I was planning. Hey, it’s a Disney trip. Might as well start spending early, right?

We hopped the tram, got to the American Airlines terminal, checked in, and headed to the gate. We boarded about 20 minutes later. Everything was back moving smoothly. We are all on the plane and nobody’s in jail. So far, the trip is going better than I expected.

We touched down in Orlando at about 7:00 – right on time. We got off the plane, and picked up the stroller. Hey, it’s still in one piece! The pixie dust seems to be working. After a quick potty break we headed downstairs for our bags. Again, no problems.

Now over to the Budget counter for our rental cars. We had a little line, but nowhere near as huge as Alamo. Boy am I glad I didn’t go through them. I don’t remember exactly what they did to tick me off, but after our Disneymoon I swore to Min that I would never use them again.

Standing in line I got a call from my brother. Illinois won!!!! We’re going to the Championship game! I announce it to all who could hear, and a small cheer goes up. Must be our friends from O’Hare. Anyway, we got to the counter and got my $16 per day Chevy Cavalier (thanks Mousesavers!) Meme goes next and she gets upgraded. $16 per day for a Chevy Impala. Wow!

Ok, outside to get the cars and off to the hotel. Warm and humid – this is great! Boy did I miss palm trees.

We check in at the Hampton Inn by the airport. 2 rooms, right across the hall from each other – perfect. I’m hungry, let’s eat! But where? Do we go to DTD, or just have something around here. There’s a Bennigans across the parking lot, Tony Roma’s next door, Friday’s across the street, and look, Denny’s! We decide to try Bennigans.

We get everyone out of the car and head in. It’s about 9:00 now, and being from suburban Chicago, we figure we should be able to get right in. “Table for 8 please,” I say in my best “happy to be on vacation” voice. “Ok, that will be about 40 minutes.” Did she not realize it’s like 9:00 at night, and I have 3 tired, crabby, hungry kids? “Ok, everyone stay here and I’ll go check Tony Roma’s. I’ll be right back.”

I head across the parking lot, only to find out that it’s about a 45 minute wait over there. I try calling Min on her cell phone, but I see them walking across the parking lot. We are all hungry and don’t want to wait so we just decide to bite the bullet and go to Denny’s. That’s got to be quick. Ok, we load everyone back into the cars. Wait, we seem to have an empty car seat. Omygod!!!!!! We’re one kid short! BUUUUDDDDYYYYY!!!!!! “Was he with you guys?” “No, wasn’t he with you?”

I take off on a dead sprint across the parking lot towards Bennigans. Every horrible thought possible ran through my mind in the course of those 30 seconds. Was he still there? Or even worse, was he not there? No, don’t think about that. Is he hysterical? Will the Bennigans hostess detain me for the police to arrest me for abandoning my child? Oh, this could get bad. Why do I keep finding myself on the verge of jail?

I blast through the doors, and there he is, sitting on the bench, right where I left him, with his nose buried in his Gameboy. “Hi Dad. Is our table ready?” “No son, we’re going to Denny’s.”

(Imagine again in your best Disney ride announcer voice), “Please remain seated until the story has come to a full and complete stop. Please exit to Day 2. Thank you.”


Takin' The In-Laws -- Pretrip
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=793737
Takin' The In-Laws -- Day 1 - Blankie & Buddy... MIA
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=8324050#post8324050
Takin' The In-Laws -- Day 2 - Kennedy, Dixie and Will
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=8342639#post8342639
Takin' The In-Laws -- Day 3 - Fire Alarms, Fighting, and Fantasmic! (Part 1)
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=8364237#post8364237
Takin' The In-Laws -- Day 3 - Fire Alarms, Fighting, and Fantasmic! (Part 2)
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=8379122#post8379122
Takin’ The In-Laws -- Day 4 (Part 1) – Commando Crazy
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=8391188#post8391188
Takin’ The In-Laws -- Day 4 (Part 2) – The Magic Kingdom Really Is Magic
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=803835
Takin' The In-Laws -- Halftime Update - Wishes Come True
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=8517400#post8517400

 

[sanilacjack]

Boy.....Do I feel for you. I have had a couple of those 'Am I missing one?' and I'm in Child Abuse Prevention LOL. Although I forgot to pick my child up from day camp one time. (I lost track of time) I havent actually left one behind!

Awaiting the next installment.

Kim

 

[Dooda]

Great report!!!

 

[Tink0513]

Takin’ The In-Laws - 4/2/2005 – Day 1 – Blankie & Buddy… MIA

Cast of Characters
Me – DH32, love Disney and now a planner extraordinaire
Min – DW34, loves Disney too, but left the planning to me
Buddy – DS6, 3rd trip to Disney, 1st one he’ll really appreciate
Doodle – DD3, my princess and a DCL souvenir
BuckleBoy – DS21months, 1st time to WDW, obsessed with buckles
Meme – MIL65, Fun, nice, extremely quiet
Papa – FIL67, Big heart, Bigger talker with occasional bad timing
BIL – 37, Just a big kid

(Imagine this in your best Disney ride announcer voice) “For your safety, please remain seated and keep your hands and arms away from the monitor at all times.”

Saturday morning came early, IT’S VACATION DAY!!!!!!!!!

Can you tell we were a little excited? None of us slept very well last night. By 6:30 this morning we were all awake. I talked Min into giving me a quick trim of my hair – I was beginning to get the shaggy dog look around my ears.

I had to go into work for a little while this morning. I know, I know. It’s Saturday, plus IT’S VACATION DAY! But I’m in car sales, so Saturday is a workday. Also, I don’t have any real vacation time right now. I have already used up my allotted time, and my vacation time doesn’t reset until May 1. So, if I go in for a couple hours this morning, then I’m only taking a half-day off. It’s going to be a long hour and a half, but I’ll find a way to make it.

While I was at work, Min finished packing. She did very well. We only have 2 suitcases to check. Of course we will still have 3 car seats to check, and a stroller and 4 bags to carry on, but it’s better than I thought.

My morning goes quicker than I had figured. Before I knew it, 10:00 was here and I was out the door. Off to the bank for some traveler’s checks then home to pack the minivan.

Oops, I almost forgot. I’ve got to get a few bills paid first so we don’t find any nasty messages on our voice mail when we get back. Ok, so I got those in the mail, changed clothes, packed the van, hugged the dogs, took one last look around, and by 11:30 we were out the door!

Plenty of time to make our 3:30 flight. So far so good!

We were meeting the in-laws for lunch in Schaumburg, which is a northwest suburb of Chicago, about 10 minutes from O’Hare. One thing we were all a little worried about was how Papa was going to behave in the airport. See, he has a penchant for making stupid jokes at the most inopportune moment. He’s the guy who makes a wisecrack about terrorists as he is passing through the metal detectors. I made Min promise she would say something to her dad to keep his mouth glued shut in the airport. “Ain’t no way I’m missing our flight to bail his butt out of jail,” I said. She agreed. At least we were both on the same page.

We met up with the in-laws at Portillo’s. For those of you from Chicago, you know what this is. For those of you underprivileged folks who have never had a Portillo’s hot dog or Italian beef, you have to come visit and try it. The minute I saw Papa I knew we had nothing to worry about in the airport. He was more tense than I have ever seen him. He didn’t say hardly one word all through lunch. We had some great dogs, then off to the airport.

Wait. We need to make a quick stop at Toy’s R Us down the street. No, not for my kids, but for BIL. He wants to check for Hot Wheels. Quick time check. We’re ok. “You got 10 minutes. I’ll wait in the van with the kids.”

Oh No. Doodle lost her blankie. “You’re probably just sitting on it.” Min digs around in Doodle’s car seat. Then looks all over inside the van. It’s nowhere in the van. Did we leave it at the restaurant? Please don’t tell me we left it in the restaurant. Ok. Let’s go check. “Please be there. A little pixie dust, PLEASE!”

I raced back to the restaurant. Of course traffic was horrible going those 3 blocks. So much for those 10 minutes! I pull in and very slowly cruise by our parking space that now has some cruddy Honda parked there. Can’t see blankie. Now what? I guess I have to go inside and see if she left it in the booth. In Illinois it is against the law to leave kids in the car unattended. But I don’t want to unbuckle them, drag them inside, only to not find it and have Doodle have a meltdown right there.

“Ok, you guys stay buckled in your seats, and be vewy, vewy quiet, I’m hunting bwankie,” I said in my best Elmer Fudd voice. The kids didn’t understand the humor. They just thought I was weird. Welcome to the club, kids!

I dashed inside real quick. With my luck, I’ll be the one who winds up in jail on child abandonment charges, while they all spend a nice week in Florida.

A dad and 3 nice boys are in my booth. “Excuse me. Did you guys find a little pink blankie laying in the booth when you sat down?” They looked at me like I had 3 heads.

Nope, they didn’t see one. Great, thanks. Love ya, mean it! (sorry Delswife, it just fit so nicely!)

Ok, now what?

I checked the sidewalk while I was walking out. Nothing. I walked over to the cruddy Honda that took my parking spot to look around it. Still nothing. For some reason I bent down to look under the car. There it was! Right smack dab under the middle of the car. “I found it! I found it!” I screamed as I jumped up. Oh man, I hope nobody saw that.

Back to Toys R Us, picked the rest of them up. No luck on the Hot Wheels, by the way. Oh, they found hundreds of them, just none that he needed for his collection. Ok, off we go!

We got to the airport very smoothly with little to no traffic. The offsite discount parking lots were full. It figures. So, we had to park onsite, for $13 per day, almost twice as much as I was planning. Hey, it’s a Disney trip. Might as well start spending early, right?

We hopped the tram, got to the American Airlines terminal, checked in, and headed to the gate. We boarded about 20 minutes later. Everything was back moving smoothly. We are all on the plane and nobody’s in jail. So far, the trip is going better than I expected.

We touched down in Orlando at about 7:00 – right on time. We got off the plane, and picked up the stroller. Hey, it’s still in one piece! The pixie dust seems to be working. After a quick potty break we headed downstairs for our bags. Again, no problems.

Now over to the Budget counter for our rental cars. We had a little line, but nowhere near as huge as Alamo. Boy am I glad I didn’t go through them. I don’t remember exactly what they did to tick me off, but after our Disneymoon I swore to Min that I would never use them again.

Standing in line I got a call from my brother. Illinois won!!!! We’re going to the Championship game! I announce it to all who could hear, and a small cheer goes up. Must be our friends from O’Hare. Anyway, we got to the counter and got my $16 per day Chevy Cavalier (thanks Mousesavers!) Meme goes next and she gets upgraded. $16 per day for a Chevy Impala. Wow!

Ok, outside to get the cars and off to the hotel. Warm and humid – this is great! Boy did I miss palm trees.

We check in at the Hampton Inn by the airport. 2 rooms, right across the hall from each other – perfect. I’m hungry, let’s eat! But where? Do we go to DTD, or just have something around here. There’s a Bennigans across the parking lot, Tony Roma’s next door, Friday’s across the street, and look, Denny’s! We decide to try Bennigans.

We get everyone out of the car and head in. It’s about 9:00 now, and being from suburban Chicago, we figure we should be able to get right in. “Table for 8 please,” I say in my best “happy to be on vacation” voice. “Ok, that will be about 40 minutes.” Did she not realize it’s like 9:00 at night, and I have 3 tired, crabby, hungry kids? “Ok, everyone stay here and I’ll go check Tony Roma’s. I’ll be right back.”

I head across the parking lot, only to find out that it’s about a 45 minute wait over there. I try calling Min on her cell phone, but I see them walking across the parking lot. We are all hungry and don’t want to wait so we just decide to bite the bullet and go to Denny’s. That’s got to be quick. Ok, we load everyone back into the cars. Wait, we seem to have an empty car seat. Omygod!!!!!! We’re one kid short! BUUUUDDDDYYYYY!!!!!! “Was he with you guys?” “No, wasn’t he with you?”

I take off on a dead sprint across the parking lot towards Bennigans. Every horrible thought possible ran through my mind in the course of those 30 seconds. Was he still there? Or even worse, was he not there? No, don’t think about that. Is he hysterical? Will the Bennigans hostess detain me for the police to arrest me for abandoning my child? Oh, this could get bad. Why do I keep finding myself on the verge of jail?

I blast through the doors, and there he is, sitting on the bench, right where I left him, with his nose buried in his Gameboy. “Hi Dad. Is our table ready?” “No son, we’re going to Denny’s.”

(Imagine again in your best Disney ride announcer voice), “Please remain seated until the story has come to a full and complete stop. Please exit to Day 2. Thank you.”


Takin' The In-Laws -- Pretrip
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=793737
Takin' The In-Laws -- Day 1 - Blankie & Buddy... MIA
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=8324050#post8324050

Hey I'm from Huntley, IL!!! Just wanted to point that out!! Can't wait to hear more about your trip!!

Kim

 

[bdrex95]

Hey I'm from Huntley, IL!!! Just wanted to point that out!! Can't wait to hear more about your trip!!

Kim

It's a small world after all, it's a small world after all...

 

[wicket2005]

Great report, loved the hunt for the blankie. Us parents will do anything for their kids.

 

[Coll0610]

I could just see my DS with his gameboy, not noticing we had all left...

The mention of Portillos is making my mouth water. If only they would expand to Central Illinois!

 

[pooksma]

Well for someone who was worried abou style you are off to a great start.

 

[Cinerama]

Looking forward to more....great start!

 

[lynn71092]

Great report!
Keep em' coming!!!

 

[minmate]

Good job so far! Though I see you shared no details about your flight with three little ones... what, pray tell, did you bring along to make them so well behaved that the actual airplane ride itself was so smooth that it was unnoteworthy?! I'd love to know!

Whenever we're somewhere busy, we always do the 1-2-3-4... they're all here... like every two minutes...at parks, pools, playgrounds, etc. I'm always scanning for my four little matching moptops!

I have never actually gotten in a car and driven away w/o a kid, but I have panic attacks about it, especially if the car is too quiet! I have to keep looking in my rear view mirror to be sure they're still there!

 

[Yardbird]

Patiently waiting for more

 

[bdrex95]

Good job so far! Though I see you shared no details about your flight with three little ones... what, pray tell, did you bring along to make them so well behaved that the actual airplane ride itself was so smooth that it was unnoteworthy?! I'd love to know!

Whenever we're somewhere busy, we always do the 1-2-3-4... they're all here... like every two minutes...at parks, pools, playgrounds, etc. I'm always scanning for my four little matching moptops!

I have never actually gotten in a car and driven away w/o a kid, but I have panic attacks about it, especially if the car is too quiet! I have to keep looking in my rear view mirror to be sure they're still there!

There really wasn't any real magic to keeping them occupied during the flight. Buddy had his gameboy (go figure), and Doodle and Buckleboy had some other little toys and a surprise new magnadoodle! We had lots of snacks (suckers, goldfish, pretzels, etc). The 2 little ones took a nap for about an hour also.

I guess we were just lucky! It must have been the pixie dust!

 

[froggieos1]

Love the story so far. I do a head count often also. We have four. My neighbors think I am hilarious, I have been known to say, "where is so and so (as my heart is skipping beats)" And guess what that child is in my arms. Neighbors think I have lost it.

Ondy

Glad you found blankie, that could have been a disaster

 

[minmate]

There really wasn't any real magic to keeping them occupied during the flight. Buddy had his gameboy (go figure), and Doodle and Buckleboy had some other little toys and a surprise new magnadoodle! We had lots of snacks (suckers, goldfish, pretzels, etc). The 2 little ones took a nap for about an hour also.

I guess we were just lucky! It must have been the pixie dust!

That's great!

Froggie - I have to laugh at how similar our lives must be at times!

 

[bdrex95]

Oops, sorry. Didn't mean to do that.

 

[bdrex95]

Glad you found blankie, that could have been a disaster

So was I. Luckily, we always bring a spare on vacation, just in case this disaster did occur.

 

[rmontgo892]

So was I. Luckily, we always bring a spare on vacation, just in case this disaster did occur.

Great job! Looking forward to the rest! I am always glad to hear other parents are as crazy...I mean as caring as we are with their childrens "blankies!"

I received the worst Mother of the year award when I forgot to bring my then 3-4 yr olds comfort "rag" (blanket) on one of our WDW trips!

When I did remember to bring it, we always had to remember to put it in a drawer in the hotel room for fear mousekeeping would throw it away. It was scary looking (I mean loved)!

The worst part is my little guy was just so understanding as quiet tears rolled down his checks. He told me, it's ok Mama, let's just not EVER forget it again.:::thud:::::

 

[froggieos1]

Minmate, you are right. I think you are just a year or two ahead of me. Hehehe

 

[ckret01]

I usually just glance through the trip report thread but when I started reading your report I couldn't stop! Love the way you tell your story. your funny....Can't wait to read more.