I woke up the morning following LOEMH/Biergarten with an altogether new emotion.
Regret.
Major regret that we’d only had two nights to enjoy SSR.
No matter how fantastic the trip, I’m ALWAYS happy to get out of a hotel and back to my own home. But not this time. SSR really did feel like
Home and I was not ready to leave.
Sadly, the Envelope of Doom hanging on the door said otherwise.
So I got up and started making coffee. I’d enjoyed a wonderful night’s sleep – the SSR bed felt even better than mine at home!
Gramma was another story. She’d piled up the sofa-bed cushions like a fortress wall between her and the bed containing Leo and me. Did we smell bad?
When she got up, she explained that “ice cold air” had been blowing on her “all night”. She’d rigged up the cushions as some kind of barrier, but it didn’t work. She hadn’t slept at all, and she was G R U M P Y.
I asked why she didn’t adjust the AC temp?
“I didn’t know how.” Uh-huh, there’s two buttons – one goes up and the other goes down. It’s not rocket science.
“Well, why didn’t you ask me, then?” I asked next.
“I didn’t want to wake you guys up.”
Oh carp. There goes that passive-aggressive thing again.
“There was an extra blanket sitting at the end of the bed. Would that have helped?”
“I just SAID, I didn’t want to wake YOU guys up.”
THIS is what makes living with my mother so flippin’ challenging. But I have learned the best approach is to just ignore her and go about my business, so I did. But I also got to hear throughout the day how exhausted she was because she didn’t get any sleep.
Our plan for the day, if you’ll recall, was Typhoon Lagoon. It had an EMH beginning at 8am, but that was not happening for us. We did manage to pack up, bid our awesome room farewell, and get there around 9, though. And, despite our lateish arrival, we found plenty of open chairs in various areas. We selected a few and then got right to business.
Leo wanted to ride the “creek”. Not the lazy river, but the little tube ride in Ketchakiddie Creek. The same tube ride he’d absolutely refused to even consider in May. This really
was his trip for conquering fears!
Not only did Leo try the tube ride… Leo LOOOVED the tube ride! We logged many miles there that day.
Next, he chose the body slides in Ketchakiddie Creek. Another first! If you haven’t witnessed these, let me explain something: they have an approximate grade of 1.26% and are covered with a somewhat-sticky rubber coating. They aren’t so much “slides” and “scoots”. It takes some serious effort to get down them on one’s bum. Leo tired of that effort pretty quickly, but, again, another new experience achieved!
I think at this point Gramma and Leo took a dip in the wave pool while I took a little break in the shade. When I found them, they were in water up to Gramma’s thighs and Leo was floating next to her. Face down. Not moving.
“Uh – is he okay?” I asked.
“Yep. He keeps coming back up for air.”
“WHAT is he doing??”
“Watching people’s legs underwater. He said it’s ‘cool’.”
Okaaaaaay…..
Sure enough, Leo did surface every so often, only to go back to his “dead man’s float” position for another round of leg-watching. I looked up at some point and realized the lifeguard nearest us was keeping a
very close eye on this little scene. Heh heh.
The neatest part of this was that Leo could SWIM!!!! My child has sunk like a rock for most of his life, but a month or so before this trip, he’d finally mustered the courage to really give swimming a go and has been swimming without assistance ever since. He’s not a very strong swimmer yet, but I’m beyond thrilled to see how much more fun he has in the water now that he feels confident in his ability to not drown. The wave pool at TL was testimony to this, for sure!
Eventually I called a halt to the lifeguard-torture and rallied the troops for lunch at Leaning Palms.
Along with approximately 2/3 of the US population. Give or take a state. It was CROWDED. Apparently the fact that is was a Monday and FL schools were back in session had no effect on TL at all.
We waited in the searing sun a good 25 minutes before ordering. Fortunately, Leo already knew what he wanted.
Fish pizza.
On our May trip, Leo had requested a Fish Pizza at TL, too. I had no idea what he was talking about, but my friend Char had walked him up to the picture menus and had him point to what he wanted – a cheese pizza. So I was prepared this time. And endured his scowl boring into my back as I ordered a “cheese pizza”.
“Mommy! I want a
Fish pizza!”
If it weren’t so god-awful hot, it would have been funny. But I was not amused and told him to chill or I’d chuck his Fish Pizza in the shark tank.
Anyway, lunch was good and we had a decision to make. If we left then for home, we’d miss rush hour traffic. If we stayed a while longer, we’d be in the thick of it. We chose to chance it and enjoy the water some more.
We took a little walk after eating and snapped some pics…
That’s when Leo started his “surfer dude” posing. You’ll see more of this novelty later.
I took Leo to the wave pool for some more leg-watching and he got the idea he’d like to try some “real” slides. If you didn’t know, there are two slides on the far left side of the wave pool, as you’re facing it, that empty into a calm area of the pool. They’re exclusively for the use of persons 60” and under and make a nice transition slide for the little ones who’ve mastered Ketchakiddie Creek, but aren’t quite ready for the big slides. I especially like that there’s only one entrance and one exit and both can be seen at the same time.
I led Leo over to the stairs, then positioned myself near the bottom of the slides to await his descent. But I had serious doubts about this. I figured it would be like POFQ 2006 all over again, and he’d wind up walking back down the stairs in defeat.
So I wasn’t really watching the slides. My attention was on the stairs when… Leo splashed down at the bottom of the slides! He did it!!!
And I was hit at that moment by how incredibly fast they grow and mature. This was no longer my baby – this was a rough-and-tumble boy ready for some adventure and excitement! It was a bittersweet moment.
Not that I had more than a moment to think on it. Leo went scrambling back to the stairs for another round. And another. And another. And another. Until I really had to call it quits or we’d never get home in time for bed.
I promised a trip around the lazy river – one last experience Leo wanted to try out – before leaving, so we gathered Gramma and set off to find us some rafts.
Castaway Creek was INSANE! It was every-man-for-himself out there and it took a looong time to find a raft each for Gramma and me. We gave up on finding a little one for Leo and Gramma hefted him up onto me in my raft. OOOFF!! He’s getting mighty heavy. It wasn’t the leisurely, relaxing journey we’d imagined – crammed in between the creek walls like sardines as we were – but it was one more thing Leo had skipped previously and could now say he’d done, so it was all good.
Leo enjoyed a little snack as Gramma and I packed up…
…pulling out some more of his “surfer dude” moves. He looked pretty darned impressed with himself. And rightfully so! In three days, Leo had taken a chance on six new experiences and enjoyed them all. Quite a coup for a guy who’s generally slow to warm up to anything new.
It was a great way to end the first leg of the Trip Interrupted.
On the drive home, Gramma kept complaining of being “scorched.” I couldn’t help myself…
“Well, not wearing sunscreen
may have contributed to that.”
“It has nothing to do with sunscreen. The sun’s just really intense today.”
Really?? In Florida? In August? With a hole in the ozone the size of Donald Trump’s ego?
You don’t say.
I chose, once again, to ignore Gramma and instead concentrated on re-living all the magical moments of the long weekend.
True, we
still hadn’t been blessed with a YOAMD prize beyond the stupid certificate in Dec. – despite a whopping 20 days at WDW since the beginning of the promotion, but who’s counting? – but we’d made some truly magical moments of our own.
I’ll never forget the amazing experience of watching a group of kids, all of various ages and residencies, find tremendous joy in a hotel swimming pool. I’ll never forget the same joy we Lapu Ladies found in a pile of pineapples. And I’ll always remember the trip in which my sweet boy found his courage and tackled more than I ever thought he could handle.
Yep. It really has been a Year of a Million Dreams. For me.
Coming soon – the party continues as Leo and V return to The World for the second half of Trip Interrupted!
Fastpasses with NO EXPIRATION ??? Alright! 
Great update V!
Sure did! 
Glad this one worked better! 
Glad it was well-received!
But what a brave little man he became that day.
YOu know about my thing with meat in casings. 
Hurry, I've got zero homework tonight and I know you're leaving this weekend. AGAIN! 
