The WDW Vets Head West! A DL May 2012 TR - Complete!

[khertz]

Those pics of Paxton with the dogs agility stuff are so funny and cute!!

Thank you, he certainly kept everyone entertained all weekend!!

 

[danimaroo]

I love all of the photos of Paxton with the agility stuff! SO FUNNY! And I have to admit I laughed at the video of him going down the slide, but only because you said he was fine! Kids are so stinkin' cute, but Paxton is seriously ADORABLE! I usually don't watch every video on people's TRs, but I've had to watch the ones of Paxton because of how darn cute he is and how much he LOVED some of those rides in DL!

May was kind of gloomy here in WA state, so that's a bummer about missing out on the mountains! I just actually posted a photos of our day-trip to Mount Rainier from the past weekend! You should visit in July, that's when it's pretty sunny out everyday here.

Hope you get a chance to come out here again!

 

[khertz]

I love all of the photos of Paxton with the agility stuff! SO FUNNY! And I have to admit I laughed at the video of him going down the slide, but only because you said he was fine! Kids are so stinkin' cute, but Paxton is seriously ADORABLE! I usually don't watch every video on people's TRs, but I've had to watch the ones of Paxton because of how darn cute he is and how much he LOVED some of those rides in DL!

May was kind of gloomy here in WA state, so that's a bummer about missing out on the mountains! I just actually posted a photos of our day-trip to Mount Rainier from the past weekend! You should visit in July, that's when it's pretty sunny out everyday here.

Hope you get a chance to come out here again!

Aww, thanks so much! Of course, I think he's the cutest kid ever, but it's still so nice to read the kind words from others.

Apparently, according to Aunt J, we had just missed a short stretch of nice weather when we arrived. Saturday was beautiful, but that quickly changed to rain and gloom all day Sunday. We will probably plan another trip once Paxton is a little older. I know the family there would love another visit from him!

 

[khertz]

DAY 7: Sunday May 20th

We started off our last day of vacation getting up at 7:30 so that we could go to 8:30 am Mass at nearby St. Cecilia Church in Stanwood.

We decided that the plan would be for Aunt J to drop DH and I off at church and keep DS with her while she went to pick up Grandma and the cake & ice cream for the double birthday celebration we were having that day. It worked out perfectly!

The yucky weather started while we were in church. It was sprinkling when Aunt J returned to pick us up, and only got worse from there. We were all thinking how lucky it was we had decided to do the playground and the beach the day before when the weather was so nice!

Once we got home, we changed out of church clothes and let Paxton run around and play downstairs for awhile until lunch time. We fed him his food, then put him down for his nap around 1. We were still waiting for DH's Uncle M to show up before ordering our own food for lunch.

We ended up ordering from an Italian place called Jimmy's. Grandma and Uncle M got sandwiches, DH and Aunt J split a hamburger pizza, and I got the lasagna. All of the portions were HUGE so there was a lot of food leftover. After we finished eating, DH and I excused ourselves for a little while so we could go downstairs and pack up our suitcases. We had been living out of them while at Aunt J's instead of unpacking, but somehow that always seems to be worse to repack than fully unpacking!

After we finished packing, we went back upstairs to sing Happy Birthday to DH and Grandma and have some cake & ice cream.

The cake was really delicious! It was chocolate (very moist) with a whipped cream chocolate icing. It didn't feel as heavy as eating cake with traditional frosting. Eventually we woke Paxton up and brought him up to join in on the birthday party. I'm not sure where the fireman hats came from, but those were eventually broken out by Aunt J and made for some funny photos.

DS enjoyed helping DH open his cards.

Oooh, money!​

Around that time, Uncle B and the schnauzers came home from the competition, and man did DS have a blast playing with those dogs! Well, one of their dogs, Toby, had fun. Jasper seemed a little hesitant.

They have a small doggy treadmill they use to exercise the dogs, and DS had a LOT of fun playing on there, even with it turned off! But in the video posted below, DH decided to turn it on and see what he'd do. It turned out pretty cute!

After playing with Toby for awhile and visiting, it was about time for us to get going. We stopped for one last group picture in their library (can I just stop here and say if we ever build a house, I'm so dedicating one room to a library space?! I would spend so much time here if I lived in their house!).

First attempt...Paxton is actually smiling but caught Uncle B off guard!

Second attempt, a little better.
L to R: Uncle M, Grandma, Aunt J, us of course, and Uncle B with Toby looking on from the chaise.​

It was an almost a 2 hour drive to the Homewood Suites near the airport where we would be spending the night. Aunt J drove us, and at first I thought she might be kind of annoyed at the idea of going in the evening, but I think it worked out a lot better for all of us than having to do it early the next morning instead!

We got to Homewood Suits and checked in by about 6 pm. Our room was a 1 bedroom king suite with a small kitchenette, which worked perfectly for the one night. We could each have a space to sleep and a place to warm up dinner and breakfast the next morning.

We ate the leftovers of our Jimmy's lunch for dinner and fed Paxton one of his toddler meals we had leftover from the DL part of our trip. After baths, DS was in the pack and play in the front room by 8 pm and we followed not long after by getting in bed for 8:30. A whole week of staying up late, getting up early, and flying on airplanes had caught up with us for sure!

Continued in next post...

 

[khertz]

DAY 8: Monday May 21st

Boy would I just love to say our travel day home was uneventful, but that just never seems to happen with us! This will be a pretty quick post, just to wrap up our adventures getting back to Louisiana.

Our alarms were set for the ungodly hour of 4:15 am so we could get up and finish packing up our toiletries and other last minute items. We got ourselves dressed and ready before going into the living room and waking DS. We got him dressed and warmed up a cup of milk for him, then we were ready to head downstairs. We had carefully chosen a hotel for our last night based off of certain criteria: shuttle to the airport, pack and play for DS to sleep in, and complimentary breakfast. That last one didn't end up working out so well, since they don't start breakfast fully until 5:30 and it was only 4:55. I was able to grab a slice of toast and a yogurt to take with us for Paxton.

We got on our shuttle which took less than 10 minutes to get us to Sea-Tac. There was no wait to check our bags, but the security line was enormous so we were happy we had gotten there early. But then, a TSA came to grab us out of line and directed us to their dedicated family security line. WHAT A BREEZE!! We were through security without feeling rushed, but we were still done in 5 minutes. Every airport should have that!

We had plenty of time to grab DH and I some breakfast from Wendy's and make bathroom runs before it was time to board our flight. We were flying United this time, and they didn't do family boarding, so we were among the last to board, which was frustrating when I am carrying a toddler and pulling a carry on and DH is behind me trying to carry the car seat over the seats because most of them are full of people and he's trying not to hit anyone! In fact, he was carrying it so high he ended up knocking down one of the Exit signs from the ceiling! Whoops!

Our seats were in the very last row of the plane, which ended up being a really great move. I don't think most people even knew DS was back there! He slept for 45 minutes or so of the flight and was content to watch movies on the iPad the rest of the time until we landed in Houston. He was really good for our longest leg of the day.

In Houston, we found our terminal and discovered there was such a lack of food choices that we would be eating Wendy's again for lunch! We had just enough time to get the food, take a potty break, and let DS run around before we boarded our last flight, again in the last row. We fed DS while waiting for takeoff.

All of the seats had their own TV screens and you could pay to have DISH Network TV for the whole flight, but it was free for the first 20 minutes or so. We tried DS out with the headphones and the TV on Phineas and Ferb and he loved it!

By the time the free preview ended, he was passed out sleeping and slept for the whole flight. It was only a 45 minute flight, but it was still nice to have time to read a book on my Nook! In fact the flight was so short, we only cruised for 10 minutes between ascent and descent!

Once we landed, that's where the problems started. My sister came to bring us the key as planned. My dad was supposed to park the car at a lot across the street where we had purchased a Groupon coupon for discounted parking. Instead he had parked it at the airport parking lot! Thankfully he at least parked it in the uncovered parking so DH spotted it while my sister was driving him towards the offsite lot. Otherwise we might never have found the car if we were looking for it in the wrong place! So that was a bit annoying because we spent the money on the coupon then had to pay another $26 to pick up the car from the airport lot. Luckily the coupon doesn't expire until the end of August so we will still be able to use it for our weekend anniversary trip.

So with that settled, we headed to my mom's house to pick up our cat. As we were turning on her street, I looked at DH and said, "I left my mom's house key at home." OMG could this key drama be any worse?! DH said, "You planned everything to get us to DL and they just didn't worry about anything after that." It's funny now, but definitely wasn't at the time!

I tried calling the neighbor, no answer. Tried calling my aunt who lives a few minutes away, but she was at work. She called her husband who said he was at the store but would be home in a few minutes and could see if they had a key to the house. At that point I was willing to say forget it and go home without the cat. The neighbor was going over to my parents house every day to feed their cat while they were on the cruise so I was going to just leave a message on their machine to leave extra food for Callie and we'd figure out how to get her home later. I was so desperate to get home! And when my uncle called me, he said he had a bunch of keys but wasn't even sure if one of them was my mom's. We decided to wait for him to come, so DS had fun pretending he was driving while we waited.

Thank God, when he showed up one of the keys worked!! We grabbed up Callie and her stuff, and hit the road. After a whole day in airports and planes, we now had a 2 hour drive home. We hit a little bit of traffic in Baton Rouge, but made it home by 7 pm. Our travel buddy caught up on some sleep during the drive.

We actually drove past a Wendy's on the way home and I joked with DH asking if he wanted to make it 3 for 3 meals from there today! At 7 pm, we made it home, and our vacation adventures had officially come to an end!!

Thanks so much for following along with our west coast adventures. Only 3 more weeks until DH and I will be back for our anniversary weekend at Disneyland! I definitely didn't think I'd be doing another DL TR so soon, but keep an eye out for it next month!

 

[jenny105]

Sorry about the key drama! Other than that it looks like you had a great trip! I liked following along with your TR. Sad it's over. Now to await the Disney World TR

 

[afwdwfan]

Well, it looks like the last day with family was nice and relaxing. I'm glad that Paxton got to have some fun with the dogs, but I'm disappointed that he didn't get to give them a run for their money in the agility course.

When you leave for your anniversary trip, will your DH have a second set of any and all necessary keys?

 

[DDuck4Life]

Well, it looks like the last day with family was nice and relaxing. I'm glad that Paxton got to have some fun with the dogs, but I'm disappointed that he didn't get to give them a run for their money in the agility course.

When you leave for your anniversary trip, will your DH have a second set of any and all necessary keys?

That's the #2 Schnauzer in the Country, I don't think Paxton would have stood a chance.

Thankfully this trip we will not be relying on other people for getting around. We will drive ourselves to the airport so I'll have the car keys.

 

[khertz]

Sorry about the key drama! Other than that it looks like you had a great trip! I liked following along with your TR. Sad it's over. Now to await the Disney World TR

Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it! I love reliving a trip through the TR, so I can't wait to get to WDW.

Well, it looks like the last day with family was nice and relaxing. I'm glad that Paxton got to have some fun with the dogs, but I'm disappointed that he didn't get to give them a run for their money in the agility course.

When you leave for your anniversary trip, will your DH have a second set of any and all necessary keys?

Haha You're so right. That would have been an epic agility battle! Especially since like DH said above, Toby is the #2 Schnauzer in the country in agility!!

I am officially leaving DH in charge of keys for all of our upcoming trips! It's only fair since I pretty much do all of the other planning. I have proven now that I cannot be trusted to get us from the airport to the house.

That's the #2 Schnauzer in the Country, I don't think Paxton would have stood a chance.

Thankfully this trip we will not be relying on other people for getting around. We will drive ourselves to the airport so I'll have the car keys.

It's all your job for October, though!

 

[afwdwfan]

That's the #2 Schnauzer in the Country, I don't think Paxton would have stood a chance.

Thankfully this trip we will not be relying on other people for getting around. We will drive ourselves to the airport so I'll have the car keys.

A little off topic, but I think we might have a few openings in the 30 team Dis Dads fantasy football league this year. You might want to PM trennr if you want in.

 

[DDuck4Life]

A little off topic, but I think we might have a few openings in the 30 team Dis Dads fantasy football league this year. You might want to PM trennr if you want in.

I posted on the Fantasy football thread about joining. I'll send him a friendly reminder PM that I'm still interested. Thanks.

 

[KTgE]

Hooray for a great trip! And an even bigger hooray that you'll be back in just a few weeks!

Looks like the second half of your trip went well. I am so with you on the need to have a library if you build a house. Andy and I both really want to have one one day. With a really comfy piece of furniture in which to read on.

Glad little man was such a trooper on your trip back. Ahhhhhh, for the keys. As I was reading I was thinking to myself that this would be something that would happen to me. That and my DH would probably have said the same thing that yours did. Ha. But I totally get the whole we'll just leave the cat because I'm tired and ready to be home. On our Honeymoon the morning that we left Sandals there was a water break and so we couldn't shower. Then we got to the airport and our flight was delayed. Then we missed our flight in Orlando because of the original delay and trying to get thru customs. Then they weren't sure if they'd be able to put us on the last flight of the night but thankfully they were able to. Then once we landed in Atlanta we still had an hour and a half drive home. It was not humorous at the time but looking back it was a whole comedy of errors. Glad you all made it home in one piece! (And Callie too. ) Can't wait to hear about DL take two.

 

[khertz]

Hooray for a great trip! And an even bigger hooray that you'll be back in just a few weeks!

Looks like the second half of your trip went well. I am so with you on the need to have a library if you build a house. Andy and I both really want to have one one day. With a really comfy piece of furniture in which to read on.

Glad little man was such a trooper on your trip back. Ahhhhhh, for the keys. As I was reading I was thinking to myself that this would be something that would happen to me. That and my DH would probably have said the same thing that yours did. Ha. But I totally get the whole we'll just leave the cat because I'm tired and ready to be home. On our Honeymoon the morning that we left Sandals there was a water break and so we couldn't shower. Then we got to the airport and our flight was delayed. Then we missed our flight in Orlando because of the original delay and trying to get thru customs. Then they weren't sure if they'd be able to put us on the last flight of the night but thankfully they were able to. Then once we landed in Atlanta we still had an hour and a half drive home. It was not humorous at the time but looking back it was a whole comedy of errors. Glad you all made it home in one piece! (And Callie too. ) Can't wait to hear about DL take two.

That is a crazy series of unfortunate events!! That drive home from the airport is always the killer after a long day of traveling through airports and on planes. We have never flown out of our local regional airport for vacation because it is always cheaper and faster to fly out of New Orleans! Plus we have always had pets (and in the case of our upcoming anniversary trip, DS!) to leave with family in New Orleans, so it just works out easier for dropping them off and picking them up too to fly in and out of New Orleans. I think the worst was having to drive home after flying in on an 8 hour overnight flight from Hawaii. That was the worst two hour drive EVER!

 

[CandleontheWater]

Sorry you guys had so much trouble with keys, but I'm glad that everything worked out and you, Dh, Paxton and the cat all made it home in one piece!

looking forward to reading about your next adventures

 

[MAGICFOR2]

I know you've finished writing, but I just wanted to pop in and say I found your TR this am and I'm really enjoying seeing your take on DLR from an East Coast WDW veteran! Paxton is so cute! I'll be back to read later - we are DLR veterans, so sometimes we don't take in all the details - we have a commando system that works for us, or maybe it doesn't. Thanks for the pics of the popcorn turners and the weathervanes - something I haven't noticed - except I think I've seen one of the popcorn turners and was grossed out that they stuck a toy in the cart!

 

[Imagineer5]

Love the pics of Paxton at hte playground! He's having a blast! And I laughed out loud at the diaper findings! Hilarious!

Love the library pic! On our second floor (we have a colonial) we have a "bedroom" that is also the walk-through room to get to the stairs to the attic. So we turned it into a library as one of our very first projects. It's already full of books though so IDK where to put the rest that keep piling up!

Hilarious about the key drama, I'm SO glad you were able to get it all figured out! Too funny, glad you can laugh about it now. AND that you cna use htat groupon too. Must have been annoying at the time though!

Thanks for the wrap up! Glad you had such a great time!

 

[khertz]

Sorry you guys had so much trouble with keys, but I'm glad that everything worked out and you, Dh, Paxton and the cat all made it home in one piece!

looking forward to reading about your next adventures

Me too! That was super stressful at the time, so hopefully it will keep me from making the same boneheaded mistakes on future trips!

I know you've finished writing, but I just wanted to pop in and say I found your TR this am and I'm really enjoying seeing your take on DLR from an East Coast WDW veteran! Paxton is so cute! I'll be back to read later - we are DLR veterans, so sometimes we don't take in all the details - we have a commando system that works for us, or maybe it doesn't. Thanks for the pics of the popcorn turners and the weathervanes - something I haven't noticed - except I think I've seen one of the popcorn turners and was grossed out that they stuck a toy in the cart!

Thanks so much for the comments! I really really enjoyed my first trip to DL, and I'm definitely excited about visiting again in a couple of weeks. I'm officially hooked!

I was a little disturbed by the popcorn turners when DH was explaining them until I actually saw them and realized they were just for show and not ACTUALLY doing anything to the popcorn people buy.

Love the pics of Paxton at hte playground! He's having a blast! And I laughed out loud at the diaper findings! Hilarious!

Love the library pic! On our second floor (we have a colonial) we have a "bedroom" that is also the walk-through room to get to the stairs to the attic. So we turned it into a library as one of our very first projects. It's already full of books though so IDK where to put the rest that keep piling up!

Hilarious about the key drama, I'm SO glad you were able to get it all figured out! Too funny, glad you can laugh about it now. AND that you cna use htat groupon too. Must have been annoying at the time though!

Thanks for the wrap up! Glad you had such a great time!

He LOVES to play outside, and he has really not had the opportunity to do a lot of that this summer because it is so dang HOT! It was nice to be away from the heat and humidity so we could all enjoy playing outside for a change.

I was dying laughing when I opened his diaper and the rocks fell out. Poor kid, I don't know how he sat through lunch in a highchair with those in there!!

That's so awesome that y'all have a library. I LOVE curling up in a comfy chair/sofa and reading for hours on end. Unfortunately I don't have much time to do that now that DS is around. So I guess by the time we build, our kids will be older so maybe I will have more time for pleasure reading. Theirs is in the front of the house so it has a huge window and gets all the early morning sunlight. Such a great little room!

I was SO annoyed about the groupon! I felt bad about it afterwards, but I sent my mom a text with something along the lines of "Dad parked the car in the wrong place and it cost us almost $30 to get it out." Then I felt like a jerk because even though they messed up, they did take the time to go park it there in the first place and figure out how we were going to get our car key so as soon as they came home from the cruise I apologized. At least we will still be able to use the coupon since we are leaving our car at the airport over the weekend instead of trying to bum rides off of people!

 

[Imagineer5]

He LOVES to play outside, and he has really not had the opportunity to do a lot of that this summer because it is so dang HOT! It was nice to be away from the heat and humidity so we could all enjoy playing outside for a change.

I was dying laughing when I opened his diaper and the rocks fell out. Poor kid, I don't know how he sat through lunch in a highchair with those in there!!

That's so awesome that y'all have a library. I LOVE curling up in a comfy chair/sofa and reading for hours on end. Unfortunately I don't have much time to do that now that DS is around. So I guess by the time we build, our kids will be older so maybe I will have more time for pleasure reading. Theirs is in the front of the house so it has a huge window and gets all the early morning sunlight. Such a great little room!

I was SO annoyed about the groupon! I felt bad about it afterwards, but I sent my mom a text with something along the lines of "Dad parked the car in the wrong place and it cost us almost $30 to get it out." Then I felt like a jerk because even though they messed up, they did take the time to go park it there in the first place and figure out how we were going to get our car key so as soon as they came home from the cruise I apologized. At least we will still be able to use the coupon since we are leaving our car at the airport over the weekend instead of trying to bum rides off of people!

That sounds like something I would do - and then feel super guilty about it afterwards too. I'm surprised it was only $30 more LOL. In Boston parking rates can vary between $11-20/day. For our 11 day trip coming up it's going to be huge. Trying to get someone to bring us and pick us up...

I failed to mention that our library has turned into our cat litter box room (used to be in the bathroom that is now Aria's) and I NEVER have time to curl up with a book, either.

And no, I have NO IDEA how Paxton sat through lunch without being upset, with all that in his diaper! LOL!

 

[Escape2Disney]

Thank you so much for sharing your trip report! It was fun to read! I'm glad you all made it home safely.

 

[khertz]

Thank you so much for sharing your trip report! It was fun to read! I'm glad you all made it home safely.

Thanks for commenting! I really enjoyed reliving my first DL experience through a TR, so I'm glad you also enjoyed reading it.