Who Wants to Learn the Bacon Dance? – A May 2012 TR - 6/30 - 3 Updates

[Grumpy's Wife]

I like bacon! I'm in.

 

[laura74]

Looks like a fun trip.

Ok. I give. What's a bacon dance?

 

[precious pixie]

I can't wait to hear more about this bacon dance

 

[cinderella crazy]

Got my dancing shoes on and a plate of eggs..... Ready for the trip report!!

That's the best way to do the Bacon Dance!

I am here - and ready for some dancing bacon!

Thanks for joining in! Can't wait to teach everyone the Bacon Dance!

I like bacon! I'm in.

Who doesn't like bacon? Especially when there's a dance involved.

Looks like a fun trip.

Ok. I give. What's a bacon dance?

The Bacon Dance will be revealed soon...

I can't wait to hear more about this bacon dance

It's simple and everyone can do it. It makes eating bacon more enjoyable!

 

[PixieMama]

Yay! Shannon's here! Glad you made it over!

I wouldn't miss your TR... it's sure to be an entertaining one!

Although, if the "overflowing" part means what I think it does, then !

 

[cinderella crazy]

I wouldn't miss your TR... it's sure to be an entertaining one!

Although, if the "overflowing" part means what I think it does, then !

It might get a little scary but it all works out in the end!

 

[cinderella crazy]

Let’s Get the Party Started!

Thursday, May 24th –

The 24th started early for the crew. Mike and I both woke up at 5:15 am. This is a big deal y’all. I don’t wake up that early for just any old thing. I do it for church functions (which it’s pretty rare that I have to wake up that early for church, but it has happened before), for day after Thanksgiving sales, and…well I guess the only other thing I do it for is Disney. I expected to be really tired (the days leading up to our departure were filled with end of school year and church activities), but was pleasantly surprised when I was able to function pretty easily. The fact that Mike made and brought me some coffee while I applied my make-up helped some too. I feel like this when I don’t have any coffee.

Coffee is my special friend.

Once I had finished using the toiletries and hair beautifying appliances, I packed them in our overnight bag. The plan was to drive from East Tennessee through the never-ending state of Georgia and continue down to Oakahlah for an overnight stay. I only wanted to take one bag in with us so Mike didn’t have to tote everything out of the van for a one night stay. After double-checking the packing list for the overnight bag items I moved to the beach bag to make sure we had those items. In case our room wasn’t ready when we checked in the next morning, I wanted to make sure all swimsuits and swim gear was in the bag so we could enjoy the pool. Once that was done, I headed downstairs to check on Mike and the kiddos. I can tell you one thing they did while I was upstairs: they took a picture in front of the countdown calendar.

Mike and the kids had already had their breakfast so I got me some cereal and a little more coffee. Mom showed up about 7:00 and looked tired. I guess she was really excited about the trip and it caused her to wake up at 2:00 am and 4:00 am. Thank goodness we were in for a long drive so she could catch up on her sleep! While Mom and I conversed, Mike packed up Mom’s bags and the remainder of our bags. There wasn’t much else that was going to fit into the back:

We said goodbye to our little kitties, which I have to admit was tough. I was actually glad that our doggie was already at her doggie hotel because I don’t think I could have said goodbye to her too. We really were very fortunate with her situation. Our neighbor owns a place where you can board your dog and they also can attend a doggie day care during the day. Since we’re neighbors, he gave us a great deal where we only paid for boarding and they gave us the doggie day care for free. The only catch was that this place is close to Chattanooga. She went to work with him on Tuesday morning which ended up being a good thing since there’s no way she would have fit into the back of the van on our way through Chattanooga.

We were just about to leave and Lauren decided she needed to go to the restroom again. She went 3 times before we could get out the door. The child loves to go to the restroom.

We left the house at 7:40. Not bad since the goal was 7:30. Before we left I made the kids some dry erase boards using baking sheets and dry erase contact paper. They immediately broke them out and the activity books I made them. Lauren is a very fidgety girl so she spent the first couple of minutes adjusting her seatbelt, skirt, shirt, dry erase board, and basically whatever else she could get her hands on. Eventually she settled down and both her and Alex started coloring. Mike drove while Mom and I relaxed while listening to our Disney World CD.

At about 8:30 Pirates of the Caribbean song started playing and it hit me! “Tomorrow I will be riding this ride!” Awesome! Mike and I got a good chuckle remembering that Alex used to sing “Yo ho pirate, pirate me” when he was little. So cute!

Soon Mike was complaining about other drivers and the fact that I 75 only has two lanes in Tennessee. A very common complaint of his when we drive to Disney.

It was at 9:00 that we reached Hixson, TN which is the exit that Daisy’s doggie hotel is at. So our neighbor drives an hour and twenty minutes to work, everyday. Why? I don’t know. Why they live in Knoxville and not Chattanooga is beyond me.

About 10 minutes later we entered the never-ending state of Georgia. And Mike declared that we had “three lanes of glory!” That’s one nice thing about Georgia. You get another lane on the interstate. My declaration: “Woohoo! We’re going to be in Georgia forever!!” It was at this point that the kids started trying to pronounce Chattanooga.

Here’s some of the more funny versions:
Chattakuga
Chattanuyah
Chattabuyah

We saw the “Georgia on your mind” sign and I thought “Yeah, Georgia is 353 miles on my mind.”


What would happen in those 353 miles? Would the kids ever learn to pronounce Chattanooga? Would Atlanta traffic prolong our stay in Georgia? Stay tuned! The Bacon Dance Crew will be making their way through Georgia when we return.

 

[PixieMama]

Yay, it's begun!

My oldest DD went through a stage where she loved going to restrooms, too! Lawsy, especially public ones... we probably hit every one in this town at some point or another.

I-75 traffic is the worst. And GA really isn't that big of a state... but geez, it does feel like it takes FOR-EVAH to drive the length of it.

Hixson?! That's my town!

(Sort of. It was when I first moved here in 1987, and up until 8 years ago when we moved to our current house. Now I live in Soddy Daisy, which is right next to Hixson. Literally, just down the road from us the addresses are "Hixson".)

 

[cinderella crazy]

Yay, it's begun!

My oldest DD went through a stage where she loved going to restrooms, too! Lawsy, especially public ones... we probably hit every one in this town at some point or another.

I-75 traffic is the worst. And GA really isn't that big of a state... but geez, it does feel like it takes FOR-EVAH to drive the length of it.

Hixson?! That's my town!

(Sort of. It was when I first moved here in 1987, and up until 8 years ago when we moved to our current house. Now I live in Soddy Daisy, which is right next to Hixson. Literally, just down the road from us the addresses are "Hixson".)

Really!? I didn't know you lived near Hixson! Can you imagine driving from there to Knoxville five days a week? I still don't know why our neighbor does it. I need to ask him someday.

I use Lauren as my excuse to go to the restroom. I can always rely on the fact that if I need to use the facilities, Lauren does too. So instead of telling Mike that I need to go, I ask Lauren if she needs to go. Never fails. She always says yes. Then Mom chimes in that she needs to go too. Then I say I do too. At that point, the boys are outnumbered and Mike has no option but to pull over.

 

[PixieMama]

Really!? I didn't know you lived near Hixson! Can you imagine driving from there to Knoxville five days a week? I still don't know why our neighbor does it. I need to ask him someday.

Yeah, I typically just tell people I'm in Chattanooga... guess I'm too lazy to first say "Soddy Daisy" and then explain it's a commuter town of Chattanooga.

And, no, I can't imagine driving from Chatt to Knox every. single. weekday. Oy!

 

[Dugette]

Yay, you're on the road! And nearly on-time. Glad things are off to a good start, even though you've got all that Georgia in front of you. Those dry erase boards sound like a cool idea!

 

[cinderella crazy]

Yeah, I typically just tell people I'm in Chattanooga... guess I'm too lazy to first say "Soddy Daisy" and then explain it's a commuter town of Chattanooga.

And, no, I can't imagine driving from Chatt to Knox every. single. weekday. Oy!

That's like when people ask me where I lived before I moved here and I say Chicago but it was really a burb of Chicago. But most people don't know where Elk Grove Village is so I just say Chicago.

I like the name Soddy Daisy. Very southern sounding.

 

[cinderella crazy]

Yay, you're on the road! And nearly on-time. Glad things are off to a good start, even though you've got all that Georgia in front of you. Those dry erase boards sound like a cool idea!

We strive to be on time. If we get within 15 minutes, Mike stays happy.

I got the idea for the dry erase boards from of course the DISboards. They are still playing with those. One of the best things I've discovered for the kids to use for trips. It doubled as a dry erase board and as a lap desk. That's one reason Lauren fidgeted with it so much. She had to get everything placed on it "just so." I swear she has a slight case of OCD.

 

[mentul77]

I started reading this without paying attention to where you are from and scrolled down to see a Lotts shirt and a lightbulb went off. I then looked over to see you are most definitely from K-town. I am in Alcoa, grew up in W. Knox and I actually have a friend that taught at Lotts, not sure if she still does. It is great to read a trip report from someone local and it is off to a great start!

 

[cinderella crazy]

I started reading this without paying attention to where you are from and scrolled down to see a Lotts shirt and a lightbulb went off. I then looked over to see you are most definitely from K-town. I am in Alcoa, grew up in W. Knox and I actually have a friend that taught at Lotts, not sure if she still does. It is great to read a trip report from someone local and it is off to a great start!

Small World! Yup, we are K-towners. Where did you go to high school? DH went to Farragut and I went to Karns.

 

[MHTeacher]

YAY for starting your TR! Can't wait to hear how your trip went, and how you handled the rain we got! Can't believe we never ran into each other! Oh well! We'll just need to plan another trip!

 

[MissLiz]

Great start to your report!!!

We got started at about 1pm on Thursday. I was shocked we did that well since I didn't get home from work until about 12:20 and we still had to pack the car. My plan was to have the girls pass out for the first 2-3 hours (getting us through to the bottom of GA), but my little one decided that she wasn't interested in napping. Boo hiss!

The good thing is that we made great time and we got to Gainesville for dinner at the funny-smelling Perkins. We almost always stop there on our trips down. They have a big plastic Gator in the lobby and I keep wanting to bring a UT shirt to put in front of it for a picture. This trip, they had two Gators! Yuck!

By the way, my oldest daughter was born in Elk Grove Village when we lived in Arlington Heights.

 

[StitchIsOurHero]

I'm in!! We just got back this morning, so I have TONS of unpacking and laundry to do. . .and what am I doing?? DIS'ing, of course!

Can't wait to read! And will you please pm me and tell me how to do the Chapter Links? I need them when I do my trip report and I can't figure it out!

 

[cinderella crazy]

YAY for starting your TR! Can't wait to hear how your trip went, and how you handled the rain we got! Can't believe we never ran into each other! Oh well! We'll just need to plan another trip!

Hi Michelle! We definitely got some use out of our ponchos. Mike and I are in the process of trying to determine when we're going next year. Maybe we'll be going back at the same time.

Great start to your report!!!

We got started at about 1pm on Thursday. I was shocked we did that well since I didn't get home from work until about 12:20 and we still had to pack the car. My plan was to have the girls pass out for the first 2-3 hours (getting us through to the bottom of GA), but my little one decided that she wasn't interested in napping. Boo hiss!

The good thing is that we made great time and we got to Gainesville for dinner at the funny-smelling Perkins. We almost always stop there on our trips down. They have a big plastic Gator in the lobby and I keep wanting to bring a UT shirt to put in front of it for a picture. This trip, they had two Gators! Yuck!

By the way, my oldest daughter was born in Elk Grove Village when we lived in Arlington Heights.

Big plastic gators need UT shirts.

How funny! Was she born at Alexian Brothers Hospital?

I'm in!! We just got back this morning, so I have TONS of unpacking and laundry to do. . .and what am I doing?? DIS'ing, of course!

Can't wait to read! And will you please pm me and tell me how to do the Chapter Links? I need them when I do my trip report and I can't figure it out!

Yay! Glad you made it back! I'll pm you here in a little bit about the links.

 

[amazingact21]

Whew, I thought driving across and down the state was long, I couldn't imagine having to cross an entire state, knowing WDW was waiting for you at the end of a very long carride. (Plus an overnight stay, but that's beside the point.)

Everyone sounds happy and excited to be beginning the trip! Plus, it's always fun when that realization hits you that in a day's time, you'll be back on beloved rides and seeing the castle again.