The flawed product of a deranged mind - FINAL CHAPTER - post 100

[JKMJ441724]

Chapter 1 - The Decision

Ten years. Yep, the Styrofoam anniversary. Rather than splurge on a new set of Dixie cups, we decided we needed to take a trip. Just the two us. Rekindle the romance and all that. This has NEVER happened since the children came into our lives. Not even for a long weekend. Life seems to just get in the way. Diapers and doctor appointments; jobs and sports; school and budgets.
Where could we go and have a good time, yet not break the bank? We will still have to take the children on vacation this year, too.

We tossed around the ideas of going to Vegas or taking a cruise on one of the cheap cruise lines; but what could compare after traveling on both the Wonder and the Magic?

In the back of our minds, we had the idea of going to the World, the land of yellow. And the more we thought about it, the more it just made good sense.

A couple of years ago, before we went on the Magic, we made a one day stop at the Magic Kingdom. My husband and I made the command decision to go ahead and buy the seven day Magic-Your-Way ticket with the non-expiration option. Six days left!! Plus, that same year, my sister convinced us that renting DVC points was the way to stay to play. We could stay deluxe for about 1/3 of the rack rate price.

So, to the Dis I went. I was shopping for some points. Just want to give a shout-out to CYBANT - you da man. Thanks for the points. We are staying Sunday through Thursday for only $480 at Saratoga Springs. I've never been there before but the pics on Allearsnet look great. And according to Disney's website, rack rate for that room during our week is around $1,400. So even if we decide to pay for the dining plan - GASP!! - we would be coming out better by renting points. Just one small victory for us in the battle for our wallets.

The world may just be coming to and end, but we had a second victory in the battle for our wallets. We live close enough to the World to drive, albeit a long time, and that is usually what we do. But our airport just got service by a new airline and in an effort to drum up business they are offering $39 flights to and from Orlando. We can fly and get a rental car for less than what it would cost us to drive.

I'm ashamed to admit that we had already booked the trip before we made arrangements to have someone look after our children. But I really did not think it would be a problem. They have three sets of absolutely doting grandparents that would probably fight with each other for the job of keeping them. And while we adore our children, they can be a challenge to those who don't train everyday. Joe Blow would not just sign up for the Boston Marathon without spending quite a bit of time conditioning his body. And even though our parents successfully raised us, they are once again amateurs. We did not believe that any of them could single-handedly go the distance of looking after the children for five days. We decided to split the time between them. My father will take us to the airport Sunday and spend the day with the kids before he drops them off with my in-laws for a couple of days. Then they will take the children to my mom's house for the remainder of the trip and she will pick us up at the airport.

Momma was happy and everybody was happy. I guess that phrase works in reverse. Except the kids weren't happy. We were going to Disney without them. Even now, as I see it in print, it hurts my heart a little bit. I hope we can make it for five days without them. I hope we don't spend all of our time thinking how much our girl liked Stitch's Alien Encounter or how much our son likes to drive the cars at the Speedway. But for once in a long while, I am glad that I will get to hold my husband's hand and not a stroller. That I will get to sit by him on the rides. Yes, sir. An anniversary trip to Disney is much better than forty matching coffee cups.
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Chapter 2 - Post #9

 

[Tea Rose]

Can't wait to read your trip report! DH and I are celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary this year with a trip to Disney World! We are so excited (even if our 3 kids aren't)!

 

[Disfan3]

YEAH~~ can't wait to read all about it...we are taking an anniversary trip too wo kids...so I can feel your heart string-tugging pain....but I can also feel your anticipated Joy!

Happy anniversary

 

[Momof2princess]

Can't wait to hear about your trip. My DH and I are taking an "adults only" WDW vacation in Sept. I am sure you guys had a blast.

 

[OhMari]

Can't wait to find out your conversations you had.

We just came home from Adults only trip. We could go 2 hours without saying a word to each other and I would look at my dh on a ride with me and a big smile on his face. Sometimes talking is over rated-it's the small moments.

Our favorite times were Drinking around the World at Epcot and he about flipped when I suggested the Mono-rail Drink -a-thon. We are not big drinkers, but we still had a blast doing parks in the morning and in the afternoons. Hope your Adults only turned out great.

 

[kellyb2000]

Plus, that same year, my sister convinced us that renting DVC points was the way to stay to play.

Sounds like you've got a pretty smart sister. I hope you don't miss her too much when you go to Disney World without her!!!!!

 

[lamagique]

Oooh, I like the way you write. This sounds good already! *subscribing*

 

[DisneyFan06]

I am excited to read.

*subscribing*

 

[JKMJ441724]

"Panic is not a pretty sight (1)." That's a line from Gone With the Wind - the best work of fiction ever written and the best work of cinematography ever produced. That's a game my sister and I play. We try to work as many movie quotes into our conversations as possible and see if the other one knows which movie they are from. Movies or lines from F*R*I*E*N*D*S. More often than not, they come from F*R*I*E*N*D*S. That show has covered every possible topic of conversation imaginable. Somehow, it always comes back to F*R*I*E*N*D*S. Feel free to play along in this trip report. I'm sure a few will be sprinkled in here and there.

Anywho….

I had my first real pang of guilt about not taking the children a couple of days ago. I imagine the looks on their faces at the airport. I wonder if they will understand that mommy and daddy are coming back for them. I want to make sure they know we still love them. Good night, I don't think there will be enough prizes in Walt Disney World for us to buy and bring back for them. Plus, I will miss my sister terribly. She's my homey, my Disney partner in crime, she completes me (2).

Then, yesterday, a toddler in our area died after his father forgot that he was in the car and went to work for the whole day. When he went to his car after work, he found the child. You can guess the rest. I can only assume that the dad was not the usual one to take the child to day care, that it was out of his routine. That he got in the car and like most of us, turned on the auto-pilot. That scared the stew out of me. What if the people I'm leaving my children in the care of, forget they have our children simply because it is not what they do everyday? Abba Father, watch over our family.

I know we can not live our lives playing the "what if" game. We are not given a spirit of fear.

We have to trust, and call home a lot.

 

[JKMJ441724]

Well, it was finally the day before the day we leave. We had so much to pack into one day. Since we were leaving on Mother’s Day, we decided to honor our mothers on Saturday. Naturally, we waited until the last minute to buy our gifts. So we had to make a mad dash to buy presents, visit three sets of parents AND come home to pack. So when my sister called and asked us to come over play on the slip-n-slide for a while, I said we would have to pass. We simply had too much to do today. She said that we could do it so much faster if she was watching the children for us. Oops, she wasn’t asking all of us to come over; just the short ones in the family.

So, we immediately got the children ready and pushed them out of the car as we sped down my sister’s road. Kidding. We slowed down, some. Kidding again. After we carefully got the children settled in at my sister’s house, we drove over to the local Target to look for some mother’s day presents. You know, we wanted to get them something classy.

While we were walking into the store, there was a young mother holding hands with her daughter that was obviously just learning to walk. I asked Babe if he would miss our kids while we were gone. He said sure.

Oh, didn’t I mention that I call my husband Babe? I’ve called him that a lot longer than the pig has been in the city. A lot of people ask me if he has a real name. He does. I would just have to go dig out my marriage license to remember what it is.

Anywho… We picked out some real nice gifts for the parental units and headed back over to my sister’s house to pick up the children. As we were getting ready to walk out the door, my sister jumped on my back and screamed “TAKE ME!!! TAKE ME!!!!” I promised to call her and fill her in on what was happening at the parks. OK, I was really going to call and rub it in that I was in Disney World and she was stuck at her office working with a bunch of dang criminals. HAHAHA. Love ya, Sis. Mean it.

Once we had visited all the mothers, we came home to begin packing. Now, I'm no LaLa but I can definitely hold my own with most of the rest of the world's over packers. I'll concede that LaLa owns the gold, but I could probably take the Silver, at minimum the bronze when it comes to stuffing a suitcase, or a car, or my purse. We packed enough outfits for our entire stay, bathing suits (that we did not need), something a little bit dressy for Pleasure Island, shoes, socks, deodorant (never leave home without it), ponchos, glow bracelets, snacks for the plane, fire extinguisher, dust buster, and this little beauty….

When everything was in it’s place, we settled down for the night. I could not sleep, I was too excited. Plus, I was totally afraid that we would miss our plane. So I tossed and turned most of the night. Around 2 a.m. our very nearly three year old boy climbed over me to get into the bed with us. Usually I resist this but this night I let him. Big mistake. Within thirty minutes my back was killing me so back to his bed he went. It was then that I decided to check on the girl. She was having a good dream and was laughing out loud.

We got up on time and everyone cooperated while getting ready to leave. We drove over to my dad’s house so they could follow us to the airport. They were going to watch the children for the day and their little grocery getter does not have enough room for car seats. By grocery getter, I mean their 2006 candy apple red convertible corvette. One of them was going to drive our car back to their house so they could use it for the day.

Nebo is right. The best part of the trip is not taking the right turn to go to work; it's taking that left turn to go to the airport and on to the World. The anticipation of the fun to come, the ability to dream about the magic left to happen. We arrived at the airport, checked in and waved bye-bye to our luggage. With all the new rules and regulations, only ticketed passengers could go through the gate. So we sat in the café for a few minutes and watched several planes take off and land.

Finally, we figured we needed to go on through security and head to our gate. While we were saying goodbye our girl said “mommy stay.” Our boy started whimpering and said “I ride in Mommy’s lap on airplane.”

We had finally hugged and kissed everyone when my mom called me to wish me a Happy Mother’s Day. I wished her one too. She told us to be safe and have a good time. I promised that we would.

Then we had to say good bye to the kids again.

While waiting at the gate, a little girl sitting near us told her mommy that she wanted to see Mickey. I said “Me too.”

It was tough knowing that a lot of these families were on their way to a magical vacation in Orlando. I had to tell myself that it was ok that we were not taking our children and choke back some tears. We had just taken the children to Disney back in September and we were going to the beach in just a few weeks. We needed this break.

Before you could say “Jiminy Cricket” it was time to board our plane. We don’t fly a lot but when we do taking off always makes me nervous. I have read the statistics that you have a greater chance of being seriously injured in a car wreck than in a plane crash, but that did nothing to calm me down. I think it has something to do with being in control. I know what you are thinking, “Control is an illusion you infantile egomaniac (3)” and I know that’s true. But still I was holding onto to Babe’s arm for dear life. When the flight attendant came around with the drink cart I said “hold on baby- Mommy needs a cocktail (4).” 10:30 a.m. isn’t too early to drink, is it?

 

[mcarthur205]

Enjoying your report! DH and I are taking an adults only trip to WDW in July -only for a couple of days, but it'll be great. We have family living in Florida and we're leaving the kids with them for a short break. Looking forward to hearing more about your trip.

 

[Davidsmommy]

I'm IN! My husband and I are also celebrating 10 years this year (us in October) and we are taking a solo trip to DW as well. My kids are less upset about it since I decided to take the 7 year old for a quickie trip for Free Dining only a month before, and the 2 year old doesn't quite understand that she is the only one not going again in 2007, but that is ok!

I also booked before securing childcare, but I knew my parents would pull through!

 

[kellyb2000]

Plus, I will miss my sister terribly. She's my homey, my Disney partner in crime, she completes me.

And you had me at, "Get out of my room you stupid brat!"

 

[ncseric]

We're also taking an adults only trip to celebrate our 10th anniversary in December. I'm excited to hear how everything goes. So, how old are your kids? We're not telling ours because they'll be very upset that they don't get to go!

 

[JKMJ441724]

We're also taking an adults only trip to celebrate our 10th anniversary in December. I'm excited to hear how everything goes. So, how old are your kids? We're not telling ours because they'll be very upset that they don't get to go!

Our boy will be three in just a few days. I do a countdown with him daily on just exactly how much longer we will tolerate his TERRIBLE twos.

Our girl is nearly six and going on 17.

As the old saying goes, I wouldn't take a million dollars for either one of them and I would not give a nickle for another one just like them.


We tried pretty hard to keep it a secret from them for as long as we could. My girl is pretty astute. She picked up on some of our subtleties.

 

[I Believe n Fairies]

So, one can actually survive a trip to WDW w/o kids?? Our 10 yr is in August. We're telling our kids that Mommy and Daddy are going to Florida. Not a lie, just not a full truth! Our kids are close in age, my dd is 6 and my son (I call him destruct-a-boy) will be 3 in a couple weeks.

We took dd last year, but left ds at home. Now, I'm leaving them both at home and cannot wait to plan a family trip with everyone! We're looking forward to our trip, and cannot wait to hear more from yours!

 

[tinawv]

Can't wait to read more. I know a little about the guilt you are feeling. My sister and I went to WDW last September, and my kids really placed a guilt trip on me. Almost ruined my trip, but I was able to pull away from the guilt and had a wonderful time (spent a little too much money on soviners).

 

[nicolemarie]

I love this report!

My husband and I took our first "no-kids" trip to Disney this past March. I was happy to realize that I could have a great time in the World without my kids...although knowing we would be back soon with them helped a lot.

we drove over to the local Target to look for some mother’s day presents. You know, we wanted to get them something classy.

Of course Target is classy! It's not like you said you were going to Walmart!!

Now, I'm no LaLa but I can definitely hold my own with most of the rest of the world's over packers. I'll concede that LaLa owns the gold, but I could probably take the Silver, at minimum the bronze when it comes to stuffing a suitcase, or a car, or my purse.

I think LaLa would share her gold in overpacking, just don't try and make her share the gold for the waterslide olympics. She's pretty possessive about that one.

We don’t fly a lot but when we do taking off always makes me nervous. I have read the statistics that you have a greater chance of being seriously injured in a car wreck than in a plane crash, but that did nothing to calm me down. I think it has something to do with being in control.

I could have written these sentences myself. I'm just thankful that flying is not the quickest nor cheapest way for us to travel to the World.

This is a great report. I'm looking forward to hearing all about your adventures!! Thanks for sharing!

NM

 

[roberrl187]

DH and I are going on a solo trip in Sept. But our kids are 18 and 14. They are already giving us the guilt trip.

 

[JKMJ441724]

I'm glad I'm not the only sitting in the guilt corner. Thanks for the company.

Congrats to all of you celebrating anniversaries!!!!

Hope to read all about your travels and experiences SOON!!!

Thanks for reading and posting.