Trip Report Always two there are. No more. No less.

Remember how in the final push for my previous TR when I had to make a bullet point list of the wild events in my last year?

Here comes a list of the things that happened in between writing the end of the last TR and the start of this one.

“How much could have possibly happened in a day and a half BES?!?” you are surely asking yourself.

Well…

• There’s an area rug sized hole in our family room ceiling.
• We have to replace a furnace
• DH decided not to go on the trip (due to above)

There might have been more stuff tbh but I’m too tired to fully process all of this now. More detailed explanations coming later.

So now it’s just me and lil BES on the trip.

I still don’t have full use of my left hand due to my fracture in November. I’ve only gotten a few hours of sleep. And lil BES has thrown some epic tantrums lately.

If I wasn’t sticking with Star Wars themed titles the runner up was:

Special lady time the vacation edition has already commenced.

May the Force be with us all.

Spoiler: Track 1:

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

So I’ve done it again. I’ve abandoned you all on cliffhanger while I’ve just gone on to experience the chaos of what is now apparently my life.

Since February:

• Had to cover for my boss’s maternity leave.
  • During which we had several Grey’s Anatomy level events and a big inspection
• Had my husband’s family visit from out of state 3 times.
  • One of the visits they arrived on the day of my grandma’s funeral (they did offer to arrive in the evening rather than the afternoon)
  • Another visit I found out within an hour of their arrival that we (I) was supposed to host a lunch at our home for my in-laws and another couple less than 24 hours later…
• Lost my favorite grandparent, my maternal grandma.
• Had lil BES’s first real birthday party with friends. (Lilo and Stitch themed!)
• Got a cat.

Life is settling back into more normalcy.

My boss is back so work is better.

Lil BES just seems so much older and chiller since she turned 4.

So now perhaps I can return to this TR. It was such a special and fun trip and lil BES still talks about it often.

Before I get going again I know I have to pay the cat tax. Meet (wait for it…) Cherry Carrots Rhiannon Seashell Tally:

Spoiler: Track #3:

 

[cgersic]

Oh my goodness! So glad you are back, and the newest little is adorable!!

 

[Wicked Sisters]

What an adorable little fluff ball your cat is. So pleased to see you back.

 

[erstwo]

So I’ve done it again. I’ve abandoned you all on cliffhanger while I’ve just gone on to experience the chaos of what is now apparently my life.

Since February:

• Had to cover for my boss’s maternity leave.
  • During which we had several Grey’s Anatomy level events and a big inspection
• Had my husband’s family visit from out of state 3 times.
  • One of the visits they arrived on the day of my grandma’s funeral (they did offer to arrive in the evening rather than the afternoon)
  • Another visit I found out within an hour of their arrival that we (I) was supposed to host a lunch at our home for my in-laws and another couple less than 24 hours later…
• Lost my favorite grandparent, my maternal grandma.
• Had lil BES’s first real birthday party with friends. (Lilo and Stitch themed!)
• Got a cat.

Life is settling back into more normalcy.

My boss is back so work is better.

Lil BES just seems so much older and chiller since she turned 4.

So now perhaps I can return to this TR. It was such a special and fun trip and lil BES still talks about it often.

Before I get going again I know I have to pay the cat tax. Meet (wait for it…) Cherry Carrots Rhiannon Seashell Tally:

View attachment 874204

Spoiler: Track #3:

So sorry about your grandmother- 22 years later and I still miss my maternal grandma. .

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Oh my goodness! So glad you are back, and the newest little is adorable!!

Thanks! Hopefully I can also get caught up on everyone else’s adventures.

What an adorable little fluff ball your cat is. So pleased to see you back.

Aww thanks! It’s nice to be back.

So sorry about your grandmother- 22 years later and I still miss my maternal grandma. .

Thank you. I am grateful she did get to know lil BES but I wish they had had more time together.


Ok. One more Cherry pic:

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Day 0 (Day before trip):

Let’s go back to the day before the trip- where all the unmagic happened…

Thursday morning I was kinda glad to see lil BES’s preschool was again canceled due to icy roads. This would give her an additional day to rest up (and one less opportunity to acquire more germs).

Due to my call-in Tuesday I had a lot of work to cram into my Thursday. My goal was to get out on time.

Everything was going ok until DH cold-called me around 1030am. No hello.

“There’s water leaking from the family room ceiling. What do I do?!? This is bad.”

I calmed him down a bit. And told him to send me a picture and call a plumber.

This was the picture I got:

It didn’t look as bad as DH’s panicked voice made it seem. The location of the spots didn’t line up with our upstairs bathroom which seemed weird.

DH got a hold of a plumber who could come same day.

About an hour later I get a text that the plumber thinks it’s a furnace problem and now DH is waiting for an HVAC guy and a water damage guy.

Then DH wanted to know about our house insurance information.

And then let me know they had to cut a huge chunk of drywall out for the drying process.

Then the news that the furnace needed replacement not repair. (This furnace is weirdly above the family room)

I ended up home later than intended and called my mom during my drive to update her on the events of the day.

My parents were on board for helping in whatever way they could before and during the trip. They assured me it would be no trouble at all to let workers in and out of the house etc while we were gone.

I did use this as an opportunity to ask my dad a question about an issue we were having with a thermostat in the house unaffected by the bad furnace.

He volunteered to come right over and take a look. I figured we should at least have heat in half the house.

This was the family room I came home to:

My dad came over. It took a bit but he got the issue sorted. He again voiced that he could let workers in, check on house temperature etc while we were gone.

Lil BES was in fantastic spirits for her Papa. She danced. She sang. She laughed…

Spoiler: Track #4:

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Day 0 Continued:

By the time my dad left I think lil BES tipped into the dreaded overtired category. So instead of packing. Or eating dinner. Or talking much to DH, I was instead dealing with a very very fiery redhead.

DH was clearly overwhelmed by the day and the epic tantrum. At some point in the tantrum lil BES dismissed me (temporarily) downstairs and DH announced he didn’t think he could go on the trip.

Before we could talk about it I was summoned upstairs by lil BES who also declared she wasn’t going on vacation.

It was rinse and repeat for another hour or two before I got lil BES to calm down and fall asleep.

Then I finally got to actually talk to DH. He again stated he didn’t think he should go on the trip. He was too stressed about the house and knew he would just spend the trip worrying which wouldn’t be helpful or fun.

As tired and stressed as I also was I knew he was right.

In all fairness to DH I see looking back at his texts that at some point he did ask if it would be possible to transfer his ticket to my mom or brother if it came to that and I said I didn’t know.

In all fairness to me I was simultaneously dealing with a bunch of stuff at work while all this was going on.

DH encourage me to still go on the trip with lil BES. Despite what she said during the tantrum she would be devastated not to go.

It was probably around midnight when I started packing and DH got on the phone with Delta.

Eventually DH got his ticket refunded. I finished packing. It was off to bed for a few hours of sleep.

The broken furnace was in the part of the house that heated our bedroom so it was too cold to sleep in there.

I crawled into bed with lil BES and DH was off to our guest twin bed.

Spoiler: Track #5:

 

[cgersic]

Oh my GOODNESS!!! That was a lot! The music tracks you pick for you posts are just phenomenal - so thank you for that

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Oh my GOODNESS!!! That was a lot! The music tracks you pick for you posts are just phenomenal - so thank you for that

Oh thanks! I thought it would be hard to not repeat songs but so far it hasn’t been. DH is a huge music nerd which helps.

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Friday January 24th (Day 1):

Took this pic from lil BES’s bed at 5am so perhaps that’s when I woke up?:

Reminder: I started packing after midnight

I got all the last minute stuff packed and awoke lil BES.

Lil BES was grumpy to be woken up but excited once she remembered where we were going. She was totally unconcerned that DH wasn’t going. She loves what she calls “special lady time.”

We said our goodbyes to DH was left at 720am. Only 20 minutes behind schedule.

On the way I called my mom to update her on the change in plans. Her reaction:

Well. She knew she was on speakerphone so it was PC version.

We had a good drive airport and lil BES loved all of the elevators and moving sidewalks.

This was the amount of luggage I needed to get to the check-in counter. (The small gray suitcase was a non-negotiable from lil BES)

Luckily I had a helper:

The guy at the Delta check in counter was genuinely friendly. There wasn’t anyone behind us so we talked for a bit about kids until next customer arrived.

Lil BES had to go to the bathroom. Annoyingly we had to go down a level. Then back up two levels to pre check. Then told to down to the original level because the upstairs precheck was too full.

Luckily lil BES is a travel champ. And loves elevators.

Got breakfast at Starbucks. I needed coffee. So much.

And lil BES will never turn down a cake pop. (Not the best breakfast but she did great at the airport)

Got another potty break in (I don’t want lil BES to know yet that planes have bathrooms…)

When we arrived at gate they had already started to board. We took our sweet time. (Why make a toddler stand in a line to then sit down for longer?)

We left about an hour late due to the need to de-ice.

Spoiler: Track #6:

 

[Bullseye1967]

Friday January 24th (Day 1):



Took this pic from lil BES’s bed at 5am so perhaps that’s when I woke up?:



Reminder: I started packing after midnight



I got all the last minute stuff packed and awoke lil BES.



Lil BES was grumpy to be woken up but excited once she remembered where we were going. She was totally unconcerned that DH wasn’t going. She loves what she calls “special lady time.”



We said our goodbyes to DH was left at 720am. Only 20 minutes behind schedule.



On the way I called my mom to update her on the change in plans. Her reaction:



Well. She knew she was on speakerphone so it was PC version.



We had a good drive airport and lil BES loved all of the elevators and moving sidewalks.



The guy at the Delta check in counter was genuinely friendly. There wasn’t anyone behind us so we talked for a bit about kids until next customer arrived.



Lil BES had to go to the bathroom. Annoyingly we had to go down a level. Then back up two levels to pre check. Then told to down to the original level because the upstairs precheck was too full.



Luckily lil BES is a travel champ. And loves elevators.



Got breakfast at Starbucks. I needed coffee. So much. And lil BES will never turn down a cake pop. (Not the best breakfast but she did great at the airport)



Got another potty break in (I don’t want lil BES to know yet that planes have bathrooms…)



When we arrived at gate they had already started to board. We took our sweet time. (Why make a toddler stand in a line to then sit down for longer?)



We left about an hour late due to the need to de-ice.

I don't see any pics

 

[Tiggertoo56]

I don't see any pics

Me neither!

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

I don't see any pics

Me neither!

Yeah. That was a post in progress that apparently I actually posted. Pics momentarily!

 

[MinnieM123]

Lil BES was grumpy to be woken up but excited once she remembered where we were going. She was totally unconcerned that DH wasn’t going. She loves what she calls “special lady time.”

"special lady time" -- Lil BES cracks me up!

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

"special lady time" -- Lil BES cracks me up!

She’s a hoot.

This week she wanted DH and I to eat some noodles she helped make and she declared them “public noodles”

 

[radiorae]

Oh gosh, it sounds like you REALLY needed that vacation. I'm glad you and Lil BES had a great time; I'm excited to read about it

P.S. Cherry is adorable -- I love the lil white toe socks!!

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Oh gosh, it sounds like you REALLY needed that vacation. I'm glad you and Lil BES had a great time; I'm excited to read about it

Yeah. I sure did. But then needed a vacation from that vacation.

The slight pause in this TR again is because some more stuff just went down at work. I’m really going to need the next Disney vacation too.

P.S. Cherry is adorable -- I love the lil white toe socks!!

Me too. I love how the front ones are like no-show socks and the back ones are ankle socks.

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Friday January 24th (Day 1) continued:

The person flying in DH’s seat was a lady traveling to FL for some event without her kids. You could tell she was a little nervous about flying and about being away from her kids.

Lil BES living her best plane life:

Flight was uneventful. Our time in MCO? Well… nothing out of the ordinary but we were running on “lil BES time”.

It took 2.5 hours to get from landing to getting on our bus to the hotel.

We had airport pizza for lunch:

Our next goal was to pick up the stroller. At some point on our way there I got talked into expensive airport M&Ms.

At some point this happened:

(I know! So gross! But wait…)

And then this:

She didn’t fall. She was cycling between crawling and walking on her knees.

Finally made it to the stroller.

Now that lil BES was contained I could pick up the pace. Well kinda.

Had to go to other MCO side to get luggage. Found our carousel was empty. Our bags were moved to another holding area.

Got our bags and now I had two suitcases and lil BES’s tiny roller bag and a stroller to get to the Mears area. (Reminder one of my wrists wasn’t back to full strength either)

Got on a bus relatively quickly. Not a lot
of people on it but Lil BES wanted to sit right behind an annoying family.

The husband and wife both constantly kept calling each other “babes”

“Ok babes!” “ Hey babes.”

Their kid looked 2ish. Super cute. Acting pretty well for their age but parents already seemed annoyed that he didn’t want to sit still. I got to listen to the lady give the entire trip itinerary to the guy.

A lot of time doing table service restaurants with a toddler. Oh boy. Best of luck.

Brave was playing on the bus. Lil BES hasn’t watched it entirely but I sure hope she does eventually. A movie about an independent little redhead and her mom? All the feels.

Spoiler: Track #8:

Heard this one in the car today. Also all the feels.

 

[Tiggerish]

A movie about an independent little redhead and her mom? All the feels.

HELL YEAH!!!



I love that movie. I know lots of people don't, but I do. Because the reasons you describe.

 

[ferbtones]

Brave inspired my shy daughter to take up archery as a sport when she was 10. The club she joined was made up of more mature people who all loved building up my daughter’s confidence with their stories and tales.
It will always hold a special place in my heart for that reason.

Plus the relationship between mother and daughter