WDW Family Trip, December 2008, Day 1, Part I: Will There Be a Trip?

Cast of Characters:

Mush…turning 36 on this trip. Perfect husband, excellent Father, epitome of awesomeness.

Sheri…puts up with Mush and calls him out on all the embellishments he puts in.

Aaron…DS6 – or will be during this trip

Eric…DS3.9 – unfortunately will probably never celebrate his birthday at Disney World as it's on December 28^th.

Fred…DSV0…more on him later.


 
We get to bed at around 12:01, with fingers crossed that Aaron makes it through the night without hurling.

I think I fell asleep around 12:08.

"Daddy?"

I know I was woken up at 12:38.

It was Aaron.


 
Uh oh.

"Can you tuck me back in?"

"Okay bud…you feeling okay?"

I immediately regretted asking that question, fully expecting something like "I just threw up in bed. I missed the bowl and got it all over my sheets. Eric heard me, came to check on me, caught a whiff of what happened, and ran back to his bed blowing chunks too."

His answer? "I'm feeling okay. My tummy doesn't hurt anymore!"

"You didn't throw up?"

"Nope…just had to go to the bathroom."

I checked the pink bowl, and it was dry!!! WHEW!

I tucked Aaron in, headed back to bed, and told wifey the good news.


 
ssnnnooorrrreeeee


 
Back to bed.


 
Aaron's back in our room at 5:45. He must have the Disney travel day schedule memorized because we're usually up and just about to board a plane around this time. He's excited, which is a very good sign. The pink bowl is still dry, and we're good to go!

We all shower and get dressed, and Sheri and I throw the final things into the bags. For what seems like the 40^th time, I load the car with the bags. We have a quick breakfast, and…


 
…we twiddle our thumbs.


 
I wanna be in the air now, dang it!!!

Sheri and the boys play a little Hungry Hungry Hippos to pass the time.


 



 
Sheri and I hop on the computers and wreak a little havoc on Facebook before succumbing to playing a few minutes of Civilization IV. While we're playing, I'm texting her jokes about seeing a 40-foot Woody later on (I'll always act like I'm 15). We quit playing and do our first ceremonial end-of-countdown picture:


 


Aaron's face tells us two things:

1. He's feeling a LOT better
   
2. We're in trouble this trip
   

 
Finally, around 9 am (we'd only be 40 minutes from landing at MCO had we taken the early flight), we decide to start making our way to the airport, which takes a whole 8 minutes. O.C.D. boy (a.k.a. me) kicks in and starts going through 8 different checklists at the same time. I made sure the furnace had food and water, locked the cats, and turned the front door down to about 65.


 
WE'RE ONNNNNN OOOUUUURRRRR WWWAAAAAAAAwhat? Hold the vacation…Aaron can't find his flippin mouse ears. No prob…he needs bigger ones anyways, so it's probably better that he can't find…what? He found them?


 
Can……we……just…..get…..in…..the…..car……and……go…..pl……ee…..a….s..s……e…eeee..?


 
We get to the airport, and I drop off everyone with the bags at the door. As I park the car, the shuttle pulls up and whisks me away to the terminal (good sign on the timing). It's foggy, but the visibility was definitely good enough, and the wind was from the south, which meant we'd be in the air basically as soon as we left the gate. As I do the self-check-in, Sheri talks to a younger couple, and she lights up as they talk. I get the boarding passes and head over to the gaggle only to find out that the guy was one of my students in a class 3 years ago. They're also heading to Disney…second trip, staying at one of the Port Orleans resorts.

We disrobe, fly through security in about 3 minutes, and re-clothe ourselves. From front door to gate…around 10 minutes.

MAN I love the Bloomington airport! I think my friends Squid and Coleen will back me up on this one.

We let the boys run a bit (believe me…there was room. BMI is nothing like a larger airport as AirTran is the only airline at the south end, and they usually only have one plane in at a time. All the kids run around a little). A Mesaba Saab 340 comes in, and Aaron, proving that I am his father, starts asking questions about what all is going on. The plane leaves, and the boys get bored until a family with a girl Eric's age sit next to us. The kids talk a little, while we talk to the mother. They're staying at AS-Music for something like 10 days. They're more fanatical than us as this is something like their third trip already this year.

AirTran lands, and we plead with/force the boys to hit the bathroom. Before we know it, we're on the plane and screaming down the runway.

It's a non-stop, so we have a couple of hours before we land. It's a straight shot with no real turns (booooo---rrriiinnngg). Both boys do really well. Aaron's starting to get his appetite back, so we're trying to find somewhat nutritious food that we brought with us to give him. The boys both played with their new Leapsters (early birthday presents). I hoped they both would sleep a little. Two of them did sleep…Eric and Sheri.

Eric has to go to the bathroom, so we head back, and both of us squeeze into the bathroom to play with the blue water. He doesn't know how to flush, so I press the button. Eric nearly ran through me and through the door when the toilet flushed. Perhaps I should have warned him about that.

Aaron apparently is jealous and wants to go too, so I head on back again. Some of the parents give a knowing-smile and head-nod as we go back. I decided to give Aaron his space and not go in there. I show him how to do the door.

5 minutes elapse, and I hear the flush.

Then the jiggling of the door.


 
"Daddy?"


 
Uh oh.


 
"Yeah?"


 
"I can't open the door."


 
I try jiggling it from the outside, to no avail. I then tell him to keep trying.


 
Another minute passes.


 
"DADDY!!"


 
"stay calm, bud, just keep trying. You'll get out." I'm about to get the flight attendant.


 
Another minute passes. I'm keeping up the reassurances that he can do it and hope he doesn't start getting claustrophobic. The timing is perfect, of course, as I feel the engines spooling down for our initial descent.


 
Click


 
Whew. He was about at the freaking out stage when he got it.


 
We sit back down, and the plane starts down, and the flaps go down, and the landing gear goes down, and we are down landing south…about 20 minutes early! The plane taxies to the gate, and WE'RE HERE!!!!!

Part II can be viewed HERE.