Our last minute first ever trip without the kids: August 2009

[mouselvrmom]

Well, we did it. We actually took a trip to the world without our four kids. I really felt kind of bad about taking a trip without them, but after our fiascos on the plane I'm really glad we did it. I'm sure on our next trip our kids will be the best behaved young ones ever.

So let's back up a bit. It all started when my dh, Sam, came home from work after hearing about low airfares. He went straight to the computer and started looking at booking a quick trip for the two of us. I rolled my eyes at him and thought that he could look all he wanted, but there was no way we were taking a trip! Then, he started looking into disney...

I started thinking how we really deserved this trip...I had just finished school and got my license to teach, I had had eye surgery in June to correct a detached retina, Sam had been working a lot of overtime...we could use a break. Then we realized that if we used our points, we would only need to pay for air fare and food for this trip. Sold!!!

I booked the next day and the only thing available was Saratoga or Old Key West. We had never stayed at OKW, so we booked a studio. We waitlisted for BWV, but with only a month to be on the waitlist I figured we would never get it. We were happy to try something new anyway. We were very excited to get our vacation info in the mail!


















Here we are all ready to go, when two days before we get off the waitlist it actually comes through!! Now we have to get into the mindset of staying at BWV. I think we can manage!

[HollyBelle]

Yay, Jenn! Woohoo... it's report time!! I'm so glad you're writing it.

[disneygirl1]

Awesome start!!! Congrats of your teaching certification!!! Can't wait for more!!

[lilclerk]

Those pictures made me so happy for you Those ME booklets really give you the butterfly-in-your-stomach feeling!

[mouselvrmom]

Thanks all! I have to make lunch and take a shower and then hopefully I can get our first day up.

[mouselvrmom]

Allright, I'll try to do a little bit more before I take my youngest out to get her ears pierced.

So we got up on August 25th at 4 am to get ready, pack and leave for the airport. We decided to let the kids sleep in and said our goodbyes the night before. I believe I was a bit cranky at this time. I'm not much of an early riser.

We managed to get on the plane easy enough. It is amazing how much easier it is to travel with just two adults. We each could roll our own suitcase. It was a piece of cake.

That ended once we boarded the plane. Somehow we always manage to find the kids bumping the back of your seat the entire flight. I'm always amazed at how oblivious some parents can be to what the children are doing. I guess I don't notice it so much when we're flying with our kids because I spend the entire time making sure that they are not bothering others on the plane. But I could really notice it this time! Sam is a big guy and his legs barely fit in the space before him. So he has to move them around a bit to maintain circulation. Well, it never failed that whenever he would move them behind the armrest in front of him, the kid in that seat would forcefull put the armrest up and knock his knees with it. He was just playing with the armrest up and down, but Sam would always forget and move his knee a bit and get hit with it. I'm sure you could imagine how much he loved it. I had the kid behind me raising and lowering the tray forcefully over and over again. We were happy to land in Orlando! Oh, I forgot to mention the sweet girl next to me who fell asleep and kept resting her feet on my seat and leg. I tried not to think of where her shoes had been. She spilled her drink all over and I had to hurry to flag the flight attendant for napkins before it went on me.

We couldn't wait to get on magical express and really start our vacation! I thought it was weird that they didn't ask us to check in at the desk, we just started through the line and they checked us in that way.

Our room wasn't ready at the Boardwalk, so we decided to head to Epcot for a bit of lunch. Sam had to take my picture right away and some lovely gentlemen offered to take a picture of both of us that somehow didn't turn out at all. But the thought was very nice.



I somehow managed to ignore the heat and snap a few pictures during the walk to Epcot.

[mouselvrmom]

I love entering into Epcot through the International Gateway! We were so thrilled to be using our annual passes again!

So what should you do if you just came from Minnesota that has had absolutely no summer at all so you are completely unused to the humidity and are sweating profusely? Well, you should start drinking alcohol of course! So we did.



Another lovely gentleman saw Sam taking this picture and offered to take one of both of us again. This one turned out better.




I love palm trees, probably because I don't get to see them very often.



Now here is where I got disappointed with myself. I call myself a character hunter, yet when I saw Mulan out in front of China I think the heat got to me. I actually said to Sam, nah we don't have to stop even though we rarely see her out and about. We decided to grab lunch there instead. What was I thinking? I'm not sure I was able to think at all. We were laughing as we sat eating. Everyone around us seemed relatively comfortable. We were completely red faced with sweat pouring down our faces. We must have made quite a sight. Here's Sam trying to make the best of it.

[eagles]

oh cool jenn! come on write more, you know i want more words! of course i like the pictures also, so add lots or words and lots of pix.

great start, but now i will have to sit here refreshing.

[mouselvrmom]

We somehow managed to peel ourselves from our seats and continue on our way.

It wasn't long after that we were coming up on Norway and saw montymon and son- I recognized you from your snazzy orange hats, but you'll have to excuse me for being rude and not stopping. Sam was already halfway to Maelstrom and my one goal was just getting somewhere that was relatively cooler.

After our little break inside, I was ready for more alcohol.



We sat on a bench to drink our margaritas before going inside.



We were feeling like a fiesta so we went and sat in front of some people talking the entire time about how they don't remember the cartoons in the ride.

[mouselvrmom]

Originally Posted by eagles

oh cool jenn! come on write more, you know i want more words! of course i like the pictures also, so add lots or words and lots of pix.

great start, but now i will have to sit here refreshing.

I thought maybe I was using too many words!

[Mukta]

I love your report so far! I am 6 days away from walking throught the International Gateway myself. Seeing your pictures is really exciting for me.
Were your kids ok with you guys being gone? How did they take the news when you told them?

[blackthidot]

Loving this report!

[sueuk]

Those drinks look so good - 23 days to go, International Gateway here we come!

[mouselvrmom]

Originally Posted by Mukta

I love your report so far! I am 6 days away from walking throught the International Gateway myself. Seeing your pictures is really exciting for me.
Were your kids ok with you guys being gone? How did they take the news when you told them?

Thanks! I bet you can't wait to go through those gates!!!

Our kids were ok. It was kind of a last minute trip. Our son tried to bribe us to leave the girls at home and take just him. On our last trip they got kind of whiny at times and Sam told them that if they continued that next time he'd take just me with him. Well, little did we all know that that's exactly what would happen. I know they'll remember that on our next trip!

Originally Posted by blackthidot

Loving this report!

Thanks!

Originally Posted by sueuk

Those drinks look so good - 23 days to go, International Gateway here we come!

Woohoo! Bet you can't wait! And those drinks were really good!

[mouselvrmom]

After our fiesta, we decided to check out the wait for Test Track. It was over an hour, but luckily since it was just the two of us we could ride single rider! This would become a theme for us this trip. It was so great to get on quickly since we really don't care if we ride together.




I rode with an Asian family that was so funny. I think this was their first ride, and the mom was right next to me. She was so cute. She was screaming right from the beginning. Then she turns to me and told me that I need to help her scream because it's no fun being the only one. I felt a bit silly, but I let loose with her and it was kind of fun.

We then checked out Spaceship Earth. It's so not Sam's favorite, but he did it for me.














I know I took a lot of those pictures, but it's the only time that Sam and I get to do it together.