Trip Report Now THIS is podracing!

When: January 19-25

Where: AoA Family Suites

Who: Me, DH, and lil BES (our 2.5 yo firecracker of a daughter)

Why: 1) To get a break from MI winter. (Our high next Tuesday is 9*F )

2) To recharge a bit in between some extremely busy and challenging times* at work. (*More on that later.)

3) To get more of a vacation-y vacation than my previous WDW trip.

In addition to being an overall fantastic kid, lil BES is a great traveler. That combined with my long history of WDW trips means I don’t need to prep a whole lot before the trip.

That’s great because it feels like I am 5% ready and we have 7 days before our trip and I work 4 of them.

Our travel style is go with the flow and only have things loosely planned. With park reservations gone and all day park hopping back that should be a lot easier this trip.

Like anything involving a toddler this trip will be a little intense at times but overall I think we’re set up for a fun and wild ride.

Spoiler: Track#1:

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Friday January 19th (Day 1)

I got up at 530am- which is my normal wake up time for work.

Overnight it snowed a couple of inches. It was still actively snowing and 16*F. (A welcomed increase from earlier in the week )

I should have just went and got gas in my pajamas but since it was still snowing I was too lazy to clean off the car twice. Instead I showered and got myself ready.

Next I woke up DH and declared it was time to wake lil BES up.

Lil BES was in a great mood. Props to grandma “with red hair” (my mom) for the suggestion of dressing lil BES in airport clothes instead of pjs the previous night.

Sometimes past BES sets future BES up for success. The night before I had made DH and I some overnight oats to eat for breakfast. Good work past BES.

We packed up all of the last minute items and went through our pre-trip checklist (doors locked, oven off etc). I went out to clean off the car, warm it up and started to load luggage.

Soon it was time to load our most precious cargo, lil BES.

We were ready to leave but had to go back inside to grab coats. #puremichigan

All of you Southern readers might be wondering why we weren’t already wearing coats in 16*F. There becomes a certain point in the winter when Michiganders base their decision to wear a coat on how long they’ll be outside- not the temperature.

Lil BES had her light jacket on but DH and I were just in hoodies. So at the last minute I ran back inside our house to grab our real winter coats to have in the car in case anything happened during our transit to or from the airport.

Past BES both giveth and taketh away. Google suggested we leave at 645. We ended up leaving at 7am and then still had to get gas. Thanks a lot past BES.

It’s typically an hour drive to airport for us. Now it was 80 minutes and increasing. The drive was slow but uneventful. It wasn’t even worst drive I’d had that week.

We arrived at the airport 90 minutes before our flight instead of our standard 2 hours. No big deal.

This is exactly why I like to plan for 2 hours before and spring for parking in the airport garage.

Spoiler: Track #4:

 

[Swissmiss]

I totally get the coat thing - I often do the same (my car is parked in a garage in my building and my office has a parking garage). And even when I do bring one along, I usually leave it in the car while I am at work. Oddly, a week or so ago I actually brought it up to my office, and I don’t know why because it wasn’t more cold than the day before or anything like that - but I was happy to have it when we had a surprise fire drill and I had to spend a half hour outside.

 

[Minnie1986]

Lil BES “helped” me pack tonight.

View attachment 763677

In addition to literally every piece of clothing she owns, here are *some* of the items she thinks we should take:

• A can of black beans
• Bandaids
• A hammer
• Jump rope
• Harmonica

Doesn't everyone keep a can of black beans on them at all times?

 

[Tuvalu]

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

I feel like I’ve lived about 5 months in the 1 month since our trip.

Although I can’t say anything (officially) about my job situation yet…

And because I don’t have enough going in my life we are evaluating a potential move.

My intention is to get back to this soon. Especially since I want to remember all of lil BES’s trip comments while they are fresh.

Just know in the interim:

Spoiler: Track #5:

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Previously on BES’s crazy life…

I left for this trip having just submitted my application for an ill-defined job promotion that I wasn’t crazy about.

Within the 2 months after the trip I:

• Got said promotion
• Sold house
• Bought different house
• Moved

This summer:

• Dealt with a “once in a career” thing at work
• Had 4 separate in-law visits to new house
• Replaced the following in the new house (all issues we knew prior to buying):
  • roof
  • siding
  • electrical panel
  • AC

This fall: (errr actually all in November)

• I broke my wrist (no surgery luckily but a cast for 6 weeks)
• Lil BES had eye surgery (it went well)
• Had another “once in a career” thing at work

Oh then the holidays happened.

Suffice to say this TR has fallen off quite a bit. I’m really hoping the pictures jog my memories because my notes are less than helpful. (Like when drunk you leave a note for sober morning you helpful… )

Welp here it goes. Again.

Spoiler: Track 6: