Recent Posts

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Getting Ready for the Trip

Before I tell you about this trip, I have to give you a little background information on how all of our trips have worked in the past.

Rainman tells us what time we need to leave, whether it is a road trip, or we are heading to the airport.  He will say a time....or really.....a time slot....."by 8:00 or 8:30"....or "let's plan to hit the road no later than 6:30".  We all pass the message that Rainman/Dad said so and so time.....and we would all know that he would be the one NOT ready at whatever time he said.

 We would all sit around tapping our foot annoyed that he wasn't ready when he said.  So, we would start the trip all crabby and snappy and he would stroll in (having only gotten himself ready and packed) when he was good and ready laughing at our crankiness.

So, we all started revising our estimated hit the road time based on what he said.  Like, if he said 8:30, we would know that the earliest we would actually leave would be 9:00.

So, this time around, we discussed what time we were going to hit the road to Florida.  Originally, we were going to hit a local fall fair on our way out of town, but, it had been raining for about a week straight, so it was cancelled.  Rainman said we were going to leave by 10:00.  So, I did my usual math and figured we would leave about 10:30, so I didn't rush.  I figured that way I wouldn't start the trip all cranky and annoyed with Rainman.  You know?

Well, let me tell you, Rainman pulled a fast one and actually decided he was ready to go at about 9:45.

What?!?!?  

I was actually planning to fix my hair and wear make-up - and basically "try" to look good. Sometimes, if I know we are going to be in the van and just roll into the hotel, I don't really try.  But, this time, I had plans.....big plans.

Rainman did something that he literally hasn't done in almost 19 years of marriage.  He was actually on time....early even.

Annoying man.

I had lost my list.  The list that V-girl had helped me create the night before.  So, at the last minute, I was frantically trying to remember what we had put on there and to remember.  My hair was wet...which for some reason bothered him.  He rushed me out of the house and I felt annoyed and frantic and just generally, discombobulated.  I knew I was forgetting stuff....but I couldn't remember what it could be.  So, I informed him that he would just have to buy me new.....whatever it was that I forgot.  (I did make him turn around when I realized that I had forgotten the camera battery.)

Off we went.  The road trip part went well, kids got along, we listened to our new Carpenter's CD, ate at Wendy's, I got a Frosty.  All good.  One step closer to.....



We got to the hotel (which is a timeshare condo thing), got settled and went out to Tony Roma's for dinner.

We used to eat at Tony Roma's at the Mall of America in Minnesota.  We used to LOVE their onion loaf.  Well, the ribs too, but we used to get really excited about their onion loaf.  Obviously, since we have moved, we haven't had their food in years.  Rainman kept telling the kids about how awesome their food was, especially the onion loaf.  The bigger kids have a vague memory of our last time eating at Tony Roma's at the Mall of America.  We were sitting along the edge of the restaurant where people walking by in the mall could see you.  What the kids remember is that someone that Rainman worked with walked by and saw him wearing a rib bib.  They remember nothing about the food.  LOL

So, we went in to the Tony Roma's in  Orlando and went ahead and ordered 2 onion loafs.  Then they came out.  They were priced the same or higher than we remember, but they were like half the size.  You should have seen Rainman's sad face when he realized he would have to revise the amount of fried onion strings he would get to eat.  They still tasted good and all, but they were no longer loaf shaped.  They used to be a solid little loaf shape.  Now they are like wrapped around a tin soup can, so it was hollow in the middle and small.  Boo.

But, that sadness aside our meal was good and we headed back to the hotel.  We ended up with what is called a 2 room lock off, or something like that.  There is a door in the hallway, like normal, then you come into a little hallway and you have 2 separate room doors.  They aren't connecting rooms, they are adjoining rooms.  One of them was a one bedroom condo unit and the other was a 2 bedroom unit.  Rainman and I took the king bed and the girls took the other bedroom that had 2 queens.  The boys ended up in the adjoining rooms king bed.  All of the rooms had t.v.s, which is a treat for all of us.  So, since it had been a long day, we got ready for bed, snuggled, talked about how excited we were for the fun "stuff" to start and went to bed about 11:00ish.  Then 2:00 a.m. came and Rainman and I were awoken by our upstairs neighbors.  At first, I thought maybe they had gotten in late and were just checking in.  So, I was annoyed, but was trying to give them grace.

Then, they just got louder and louder.  The music pumped louder.  The sliding deck door opened and closed about a thousand times.  Rainman, at one point said, "Geez, how much furniture can there actually be for them to be moving around?!?!?" He was right though.  It became the game of...what are they doing now?  They weren't even trying to be quiet.  At all.  At 3:00 I finally realized that they were not planning on quieting down and called the front desk to complain.  They sent security out and our rude neighbors quieted down by about 4:00.

I drifted back off to sleep and was awoken at 4:30 by a tentative knock on the door.  I laid there a moment, thinking....Was that in my dream?  Did the upstairs people find out it was me that complained?  Then I thought....about the boys.

So, I grabbed my glasses and stumbled out to the door and looked through the peephole.  Sure enough, A-man was standing there all small and scared looking.  When I opened up he hugged me and started crying.  He had a headache and D-man told him if he was going to cry and all that stuff, he should go see mom.

I know.  He didn't even walk him over to our room.  He even had a key and could have let him in.

Poor guy.  But, I gave him some medicine and got him tucked in on our couch and finally went back to bed.  Man, I was tired.  We were all planning to head to church on Sunday morning.  My alarm went off and I did something I never do.....I hit snooze.  We were supposed to leave for church at 8:10.  Rainman came into our bedroom at 8:00 and said to me, "I take it none of you are going to church?"

Well, uh, I guess not, since you didn't wake any of us up.  Oops.

That whole 24 hour period was not at all how I would have wanted to spend it.  But, it is hard to be bummed when you are in the vicinity of Disney....and when you don't have to cook any meals.

It was a good trip. I will tell you all about it.  Probably more than you want or need to know.  But, I do have lots of pictures that are fun.


Oh and look what I found when I got home!




Right there.....next to the toilet paper and bathtub toys....in the hall bathroom.  Of course!





0 comments: