Memory Mayhem

For Christmas the kids received a trip to Florida from us and my mother.  The trip included two days at Universal so the kids could fulfill their dream to actually become wizards at Universal Studios-and then two days at Disney.  When the kids received T-shirts with accompanying reservation documents, they were baffled and it required enough explanation that Bob assured them that no one was recruiting them for the FBI.

We packed the car Christmas night.  It was all set.

The next morning, we got in the car.  It wouldn’t start.  At all.  We charged the battery for a while.  Nope.  It won’t start.

No problem.  Let’s move everything to the truck.  Because driving the new F150 is what I wanted to do.

But the trunk won’t open because the battery is dead.  It was really fun moving all the luggage out of the back of the Highlander through the back seat, out of the car, and into the bed of the truck.  That was a unique way to start the roadtrip.  Might have been some 4 letter words.

So, the day after Christmas, we hit the road with about a million other people also on 195.  As such, it took about three hours longer than it should have to pull up to Cabana Bay hotel in Universal Studios.  After a quick check in and dinner, the kids found the pool and enjoyed making some new friends while Bob and I took in a few minutes of quiet.

For those staying on property this week, Harry Potter world opened an hour early-meaning at 7am.  We were informed that the buses to Universal get packed by 6:30 am-so we were up at 5:30, eating breakfast and hitting the bus.  It was on the verge of inhumane.

Hit the parks, we did, while the moon was still shining.  Bob could not stop discussing how ridiculous this was-except there were thousands of other people doing exactly what we were doing.  It was almost like the fear of not experiencing something had driven all of us to behave like fools.  But then again, this was not inexpensive by any stretch, so were we right to fall into step with the masses?  The sense of urgency was alive and well in me—and the dopamine release that I felt once we were on and off that first Harry Potter ride in 20 minutes was a high I can’t deny.  Off to get wands so that my little wizards could fully experience all the park had to offer.  Good news, the wand boutique opened at 7 as well-so after the careful selection (the wand chooses the wizard, you know), we were full of magic and headed for more rides.

It might be mentioned that I don’t like thrill rides.  Understatement.  Completely am horrified.  No problem.   It’s amazing what this muggle would do for the little wizards who were high on electric energy and wand spells.

Around 2pm, we headed back to our room.  Always thrifty even in the most expensive place on the planet, I made PBJs for the gang and we all took a nap, because, well, we had been up since 5:30 and achieved about 6 miles of walking-and the adrenaline was comprising our ability to see straight. 

We headed back to the parks with the masses hitting the night shifts.  We went from ride to ride, and were lucky enough not to stand in too many lines….frankly because we refused to.  We just jumped from ride to ride, working the wait times from our phones.  At the end of the night around 9:30, we were weary.  A quick stop to grab Moe’s tacos to go took too long only for us to end up waiting in the dreaded line to get the bus back to the hotel---a fatal mistake.

Kid were eating their burritos in line.  Isaiah looked like he might pass out.  Parenting fail all day long.  Back at the hotel, we quickly cleaned up and hit the bed.  Peace.

At 2am, Isaiah yells “I’m gonna throw up!”.  Shit.

It was everywhere.  Bed, floor, clothes. 

After getting him cleaned up, asking for mercy from the cleaning lady, and exchanging many looks of shock, Bob and I got back in bed.  For 3 minutes.  No joke.

“It’s coming again!” Screamed Isaiah.

Was this part of the experience?  Is this a unique parenting challenge?  I am sure with all the things I opted out of, this was one of them.

Cleaning lady returns because clearly Isaiah has not mastered aim. Work on that another day.  Ciera won’t sleep and spends the next 20 minutes conferring with the cleaning lady about her job, how long she’s been living in Orlando and working at the resort, and how she felt cleaning up the mess her brother made.  Ciera commented later “She said she was disgusted, but she said it was part of her job, so what’s she to do?”.  We tipped her well.

Meanwhile, Isaiah is behaving as if an alien has taken over his body.  Bob and I realize that this is his first food poisoning experience and while we understand he’s not feeling well, he’s also lost his God forsaken mind.

“Dear God, someone please help me, “ Isaiah yelled while sitting on the edge of the tub. 

“Dude, take it down a level”, Bob said. “People are going to wake up. “

“I need antibiotics to make it go away” Isaiah demanded like a lunatic.

“That won’t help, Isaiah.  It’s food poisoning, I think.  It has to run its course”. I responded.

“No! Call Mom-Mom (my mother).  She’ll know what to do.” Isaiah said, with all seriousness.

Bob and I laughed out loud.  “What’s she going to do Isaiah?” Bob asked. 

“She will know what to do.”  Isaiah said with angry eyes.

“We got this, Isaiah, we know what to do.  It won’t last forever”.  Bob replied.

Around 4am, we headed back to bed.  Ciera summarized her 1:1 with the cleaning lady for us.  Bob adamantly alerted the gang that we would not be doing the 5:30 start the following morning because, well, it was about 90 minutes from that moment.  And I sat up, watching to be sure Isaiah fell to sleep without becoming ill again-which he did not-Thank you Jesus.

We rose around 8.  Mercifully, Isaiah was fine but insisted on rehashing the events of the night a few times during the day.  Apparently his memory found his behavior rather heroic.  Bob and I laughed all day about his demand for his grandmother and his prayerful outburst. 

We moved hotels that afternoon, and checked in to the Disney Caribbean Beach resort which, bless, was lovely and an oasis of calm in the lobby.  From the decorations to the woman who checked us in, it was a great experience. Funny enough, they made a few mistakes upon check that resulted in a significant credit to our bill.   Bob’s convinced that’s why the place is so expensive-they give money away (that is, after they print it, which he swears they are doing as well).
Cabana bar.  Boom.  Happy Disney Daddy and Mommy.

Hit Epcot the next morning. Opened at 9.  Now this park gets us.  Did some great rides, ate our PBJs (yes, I packed those each day too).  We were eager to take the kids through the various countries…had beers at the UK and hit up France for a while since we honeymooned there.  We were so excited to discover the wine sampling was from the wine cave we toured in the french wine country so we enjoyed that a ton.

For dinner we did Chinese food and called it a night.  For the second night in a row I refused to go down the water slide at the hotel, because again, I hate thrill rides.  But in this case, I told the kids I was too cold.

Turns out Magic Kingdom also has the inhumane early opening for resort stayers.  So I was on that damn 7 Dwarfs roller coaster at 7:30 am.  Yes, that was me screaming on the coaster.  And the Teacups that I went on two times and I was convinced that my head would explode.   Bob opted out-turns out he hates spinning?  The kids liked it, but surprisingly it was lower on the list than the other parks.  I realized, in some ways, they were a little older for Disney-and in other ways, some of the beloved stories of my childhood….well, they were less aware of them.  I had to remind them of some of the fairy tales which made me consider that it would be fun for us to watch some of them again.  So, tonight, I got Beauty and Beast out of the library.  We'll watch them together.

Don’t get me wrong-the day was really fun-almost more for me than anyone else.  Since I knew the kids were going to be ours through adoption, I wanted to indulge them with this trip.  In fact, the summer after they moved in, I had an entire trip planned and then canceled it.  I was dying to do it, but parenting seemed so overwhelming at the time that the thought of tackling a trip of this significance was so daunting I ended up in tears over it.  Bob was right-we needed something familiar….so we went to Hilton Head that first summer.  Having been married there after many visits as a child and adult, HHI was home and safe.

So, the fact that we could do Disney and the rest of this first world rite of passage is something I recognize as a success in a way.  Bob and I were confident enough to figure this out, all sleep in the same room, manage emotion, illness and our days.  We made some mistakes, but it went just fine.  Minus Isaiah screaming in prayer.

The last night in Disney, we hung at the pool and I went down the slide.  Screaming.  One little girl informed me that 2 and 3 year old kids do it.  I could do it.

When we were all getting ready for bed, Bob asked if in 2018 there was anything we hadn’t done this year that we would have liked to do.

I happened to comment that it was the first year since living in Charlotte I’ve not been to Hilton Head.  Imagine my surprise when Bob stopped the car on the way home and informed all of us that we had one more night of adventure for New Year’s Eve at Hilton Head.  We all we a bit overwhelmed-it had been a long trip and I frankly was uncertain if I had clean clothes for anyone including myself.  But, borrowing Bob’s spirit of adventure, I got excited.  It was a great afternoon walking on the beach, decompressing, and remembering that on that beach we built our family when we married about seven years ago.  It was the perfect ending to 2018, and the best place to wake up in 2019.  Turns out grownups can have moments of magic too.

Cheers to 2019, adventures ahead, fewer crowds, sleep, and great memories.