Disney Adventure Day 6, December 26, 2012 (Cozumel, Mexico)

Click "Read More" for the good stuff!

Disney Adventure Day 5, December 25, 2012 (Costa Maya, Mexico)

Pictures and blah, blah, blah after the jump. ;)

Disney Adventure Day 4, December 24, 2012 (Grand Cayman Island)

Same deal as yesterday, everything is behind the jump!

Disney Adventure Day 3, December 23, 2012 (Day at sea)

Today's post has the pictures mixed in with the text, and since there are lots of pictures, everything is after the jump.

Disney Adventure Day 2, December 22, 2012 (Cape Canaveral, Florida)

I woke up early, but sadly, did not remember to credit The Doctor with the continuing existence of the world—all I wanted was coffee.  Fortunately, it was available in the hotel’s gathering area well before the breakfast buffet was set up.  When I went to Mom and Dad’s room and knocked very quietly on the door, Mom let me in and after we’d talked for a bit, she told me that the Crossword-Mathgeek family was planning to have breakfast at 8:30, so I said I’d come back and join them.  However, when I went to get another cup of coffee, Jeeves and Superdoughnut were already having breakfast, so I joined them instead.

Breakfast was decent—the pineapple was good, the toaster was slooooow and the yogurt was Dannon, but I got plenty to eat and either the meds or the previous night’s salad solved one of my problems.  J  Jeeves made a Publix run and bought out the pharmacy aisle because Lady Margo woke up with a sore throat, and Mom had to get her bathing suit out of the car, but we all managed to get our stuff together and get on the bus for the Disney terminal on time.  Just as Dad was grumping that bus was supposed to leave at 11:15, it started up and we pulled out at 11:20.

Getting to the terminal was very quick, but since Mom and I did our online check-in late, we were not in the same boarding group as the rest of the family.  They all got to board at noon, while we had to hang around in the terminal until 1.  When they did call group 25, Mom and Dad and I managed to sneak on board behind another family and not be announced.   Dad kept saying he wanted to put his bag down and Mom and I kept telling him the rooms wouldn’t open until 1:30.  Rather than try to find the rest of the family, the three of us went to lunch at the Enchanted Garden, which is an extremely lovely restaurant.

After lunch, Dad and I both went to take naps.  We did get some family time, because all four rooms are in a line, and our verandas all line up.  There was a lot of talking back and forth, and that stayed true for the rest of the trip.

For some reason, I hadn’t turned off my cell, so what woke me was that ringing, followed by the message tone when I didn’t find the phone fast enough.  I looked at the caller ID, expecting that someone from the family was trying to wake me up, but instead it was the woman with whom I’d interviewed for a court job a week ago.  I GOT THE JOB!  I start on January 2^nd, which gives me the 1st for getting Mom’s office set up for her return.

I knocked on the connecting door between my room and my parents', and Dad was still napping, but Mom came to the door and I told her, then I went down to Jeeves and Lady Margo’s room and told them.  We all went out on the balcony and when I saw that Dad was on his balcony, I said, “Hey, Dad, who are you looking at?”  He said he didn’t know, and I said, “The newest probate court employee, that’s who!”

This time, we had the early dinner, so we all met in the hallway and headed for the Royal Court.  I’m not sure what happened, but I ate a really yummy bowl of French onion soup, had a Lemon Drop martini, took about four bites of my salad with goat cheese and knew I was going to be sick.  I excused myself from dinner, took the elevator up and made it back to my room before tossing my cookies.  I brushed my teeth, sat down and rested for a bit, then went back downstairs to see the tree lighting.  Mom was in her room reading when I got back upstairs, so we talked a little bit, then she fell asleep around 9.   I wasn’t going to buy internet service on this trip, but I had to go online and tell everyone about the job, so I bought 250 minutes. I managed to stay up until almost 10, and after a last smoke on the veranda, where I saw a lighted ship traveling away from us, I snuggled under my big poofy coverlet on my big poofy mattress and fell asleep.

Pictures of my room and the Towel Animal du Jour (a swan) after the jump!

Disney Adventure Day 1, December 21, 2012 (Akron and points south)

Like a good little traveler, I was up and moving early.  I had my two cups of coffee, brushed my hair & teeth, put my toothbrush and meds in my carryon, put the coffeepot in the dishwasher and started it, and headed out the door. 

Because it was so cold that morning, I wore black cargo pants, fuzzy socks, fuzzy black & white leg warmers from Sock Dreams, a black t-shirt, a white cotton shirt, a black jersey cardigan and my navy “spring” windbreaker.  It was very cold and very dark when I left at 6:15, and the roads were icy.  I was lucky in the first half of my trip, because I was right behind a salt truck, but once I got on 77 South, I was on my own.  Thankfully, traffic was light, so I did a steady 60 mph, and only had one scary moment.  Somebody thought I wasn’t going fast enough, so he or she passed me on the right and then zipped back into the middle lane, cutting me off.  My only thought as I tapped the brakes was “If I die, I hope my family goes on the cruise.”

Clearly, I didn’t die, and I made it to the airport in time to park and take a shuttle in and go through security and get to my gate just as they were boarding. J We took off a little late after de-icing, and arrived in Charlotte at 9:30 instead of 8:40, but the flight to Orlando wasn’t leaving until 11:25, so I had time to walk the entire length of the airport, buy a yogurt on the verge of sentience and what I thought was a bottle of water but which turned out to be Sprite. 

The woman Mom had hired to cover the phones had tried to call both of us,  but since I was the one who turned my phone back on first, I was the one who got to tell her that if she was sick, she should go home.  Eventually, Mom called me, and I told her that, then asked if the Jeeves-Margo family were in fact flying from Charlotte to Orlando with me.  She said yes, but their plane was landing around 11.  :o

Thus I spent the next 90 minutes both worrying and wondering why my carryon bag was so darned heavy.  I finished one book and started another, and was in the last group to board the plane.  I was chatting with my seatmate and worrying, and they were just about to close the door when I saw my family heading down the aisle.  Yaaaaay!  They were all flushed and a little breathless, because they had run from the same terminal at which my flight had arrived (reserved for “small airports” like Columbus) after being late owing to de-icing.

After that, the 90 minute flight to Orlando was a piece of cake, and we arrived only about 30 minutes late.  The Crossword-Mathgeek family was at baggage claim 5, and the shuttle was going to pick up their party and then come to baggage claim 20 and get us.  There was a joyful reunion and then a 1 hour trip to our hotel in Cape Canaveral.   During the trip, there were several different conversations going on.  At one of those natural pauses when everyone was quiet at once, the driver drifted over some rumble strips, and little Princess Minnie yelled “Road farts!”  This is one of the many lovely sayings passed on to the next generation from Grampa Scary Bear.

Mom met us in the lobby, we all got check in and dumped our bags in our rooms and then gathered in Mom & Dad’s room for snacks.  After some discussion, we decided on an early dinner, which we had at a decent tourist trap called Fishlips.  At dinner, Captain Crossword announced that Bookworm Mathgeek had gotten the highest possible grades in her two MBA courses for that semester, so we all raised our glasses to her. Then we went back to the hotel and celebrated Super Doughnut’s birthday in Mom and Dad’s room.  Mom had gotten vanilla ice cream and a personalized cake, and because we were in a residence hotel, there were plates and forks in the room.  Captain Crossword did a killer dance to “Ice Cream and Cake” and then was begged to repeat it 3 times until he was captured on video.  Even though it’s been 20 years since show choir, my little brother still has the moves.

After ice cream and cake, Mom took me on a drugstore run, as I was constipated and painfully bloated.  She came to my room to pick up some bills I'd brought for her, and that was when I discovered that my carry-on was so heavy because I'd brought the two pounds of mixed nuts that arrived at the house after Mom and Dad left!  I happily handed over the nuts and took some OTC meds and read in my room for a while, then just happened to visit the fire pit for a cigarette at the same time Annabel, Captain Crossword and all four kids were visiting.  It was a gas fire in a huge stone surround, and while pretty, it wasn’t really something that encouraged sitting around it.  Plus, we’d apparently brought some chilly Ohio weather with us, as it was 57º F when we landed and kept dropping.  I went to bed early, after taking a long hot shower and watching 2 episodes of Say Yes To The Bridesmaid’s Dress. *blush*  

Hi honeys, I'm home!

There will be a ton of pictures and stories from our Disney adventure, but I'm home safe and sound.  Mouse has Vestibular Disease, so my poor old man has to be helped outside to go potty and then back inside and he's not interested in eating, but his tail still wags for me and he's still sweet as pie.  Today was a whirlwind of stopping by Mom's house to check the voice messages and print some bank statements and tomorrow I start a new job, as an auditor for the Summit County Probate Courts Accounting Department.

Despite the snow and the mess in my house left by moving 20 houseplants into the kitchen, it's good to be home!