Joshua's First Trip COMPLETE *** Conclusion added 1-16-06 *** About This Page:

[christiejay]

Cast:

Me, Christie, 34, stay-at-home mom and the trip organizer.
My husband, Jay, 35, production line worker at Nissan, the funding source of the trip!
Our son, Joshua, 3
Jay's sister, Melanie, 34, casino money counter and sometime cashier

Experience:
Very experienced (me)
Pretty experienced (Jay)
Might-as-well-be newbie, only 1 trip in 1991 (Melanie)
First trip (Joshua)

Dates: July 1-9, 2005

Lodging:
EconoLodge North, Lake City, Florida (1 night)
Pop Century Resort (7 nights)

Transportation: Titan crewcab truck, 12 hours from Clinton, Mississippi



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


PLANNING - THE FINAL STRETCH


Now that all the decisions and plans had been made, it was time to kick my brain into high gear and see if there was anything I had forgotten. Every time I read the message boards, I had my PassPorter open - just in case there was something I found that needed to go on one of my passpockets. And many times there was at least one thing.

Two weekends before our trip my mom decided to have a garage sale. We always take things from our house to try to get rid of, but this time we didn't really find that much new stuff to add to the sale, it seemed to be mainly things that were left over from the last garage sale. So I didn't think we'd make too much money. But this was definitely one of those times when your trash is another person's treasure - we sold stuff that had been in garage sales for years and nobody ever wanted! You just never know ... We only made about $75, but that was enough to fill our Mousekeeping tip envelopes, put some quarters aside for laundry and pressed coin machines, pay our tolls during our drive and still have a little cash to have on hand when we might need it.

Ten days out from our trip we started the countdown in the Birnbaum's kids book. Of course Joshua is still too young to grasp the concept of time but he enjoyed coloring in the number each day and looking at the maps of the parks one last time before we left. With two days left they suggested we have a Disney dinner party and wear homemade mouse ears. That was pretty fun, we cooked out hamburgers and fried some french fries and onion rings. Nothing fancy, just something fun and silly (with the mouse ears on) as a last-minute thing to do.

Finally!

The weekend before we left, Melanie came over to spend the night. She went ahead and brought down her food and drinks for the trip and the tote bag she was going to use every day instead of a backpack. She also brought her digital camera and camcorder down. She never did find the right kind of battery for her digital camera so she was stuck using the one it came with (which was not rechargeable ). But she had plenty of rolls of "regular" film for her other camera so she wasn't too worried about it.

Melanie had been trying to come over for a weekend Disney planning session for several weeks, if not for a couple of months. Every time she said she was going to come over, something happened and either she couldn't come, or we weren't home or something. It was getting to the point where I thought I wouldn't see her until we actually left on the trip! So finally, the weekend before the trip, she got to come over. She had ordered her own PassPorter once she saw mine (funny how that happens!), so she was wanting to copy some of the information from my passpockets onto hers. Once we had all that taken care of she was pretty much set to go. I had been sending her emails every couple of days so she basically knew what the trip had in store, and she was really looking forward to getting down there and checking out everything.

Now, It's Time to Get Serious!

Once Melanie left and I had the guest bed available again, I pulled out our suitcases and started putting some clothes in them. I knew we'd take our brown suitcase, but I wasn't sure which size of the gray set of luggage would work best. As it turned out, we were able to take the smallest one.

Another day that week, I went through both of our bathrooms and started pulling out anything I could find in a travel-sized bottle, as well as any and all medicines, first-aid items and sunscreens. I put all this stuff on the dining table and boy was it a mess - at least we also have a kitchen table we can use for eating! Now that I'm the "Mom" on trips, I'm the one who has to pack everything "just in case". So I started trying to figure out what things would go in our fanny packs, and what would just stay in our hotel room until such time as we might need it. I consolidated some items, then started cramming everything else into our miscellaneous box that goes with us any time we hit the road. Somehow I managed to get everything in place, I'm still not sure how that happened!

I also had to make sure that all the food and drinks we would need were either set aside already, or listed on our last-day shopping list. (I only wanted to make one more trip to the store, not two or three.) I went ahead and started putting Joshua's snacks in the snack-sized ziploc bags I had bought, so that I wouldn't have too much to do the day before we left. Then I put one of each snack into a separate Wal-Mart bag for each day. The idea was to grab one bag each morning before heading out so that all his snacks for the day would be taken care of. Jay was grilled several times that last week to see if he had anything else to add to the shopping list, but each time he couldn't think of anything.

What? Another Project?

So let's see, I had a travel bag packed full of fun (and mostly new) things for Joshua to do on the drive down. I had another bag of guidebooks to take along in case we needed the answer to a question - you just never know! We had several cases of drinks and a few bags of food - both for breakfast and snacks. Where was all this stuff going to go? After all, we were going in a truck and we couldn't just leave things in the back end - they would get rained on, and people might take our stuff when we stopped on the road.

Well, the weekend of the garage sale, my dad came to our rescue. Jay had mentioned that he was probably going to build a truck bed cover. The inside of the bed liner has notches to support 2x4's, and Jay was just going to get a sheet of plywood to cover the bed and coat it with bed liner spray. He had seen some in the store and thought he would try it out. Now my dad, who has worked in construction for many years, I guess he thought that was going to be too cheap (which it was ) so Saturday afternoon, once we packed up all the tables from the garage sale, my dad pulled out some scrap wood and his tools and starts going to work. I didn't know what he was up to at first. But he got his tape measure and measured the truck bed and he and Jay worked for quite a few hours sawing, nailing and sanding.

My dad quits work at 9:00, so the project continued after lunch that Sunday. They braced the cover in five different places, and also arched the top so water wouldn't pool and warp the wood, or leak through. Somehow they managed to stand it up in the back end of the truck for the trip back to our house, even though Jay also had his lawn mower in there from cutting his Dad's yard (it was Father's Day weekend, after all). So now, right before the trip, we had another big project to work on. One evening after work that week, Jay puttied all the nail holes and resanded the whole thing. Of course this interesting-looking contraption drew one of our neighbors over to ask "what is that?" Naturally it was the neighbor who hasn't a clue how to do anything so he just stood around looking and talking! Another day Jay went to the store to buy some black paint and a paint roller that would leave a little bit of texture to the paint. Then we had to clean out the garage so he could paint it without rain or dust or bugs messing up the finish. He ended up putting three heavy coats of paint on, and it looked really good! After the paint dried (one day for each coat) he stapled weather stripping all the way around to help keep our things dry. I was beginning to wonder if this project would be finished in time to actually use it on the trip, but after a week and a half, there it was!

Are We Ready Yet?

Melanie had asked me to call her around lunchtime on the 30th to make sure she was awake and getting her things together to come to our house, but that Monday she started calling me at lunchtime every day. She works the late shift and usually stays up all night, then sleeps during the day. She thought it would be a good idea to start going to bed when she gets home from work and waking up the next morning, to start getting herself on more of a normal schedule for our trip. So I got a daily update from her that last week, and tried to help remind her of things to do before she left her house. But she pretty much had everything taken care of on her end. Her last day of work was Wednesday night (the 29th), then she was coming to our house the next day to spend the night so that she would be ready to leave the next morning and we wouldn't be having to wait on her.

So it looked like I had everything under control, and we just had one more day of waiting. Next up: Day 0, a day of last-minute chores and no sleep!

[Colexis Mom]

You're so close More please

[TroianRae]

Cool, Christie!! Glad to have the report continuing!!!

[RobDVC]

...Great start!

[lauren-roxy]

Sounds like you are all ready for your trip Christie!! Can't wait to read more!!!

[christiejay]

Cast:

Me, Christie, 34, stay-at-home mom and the trip organizer.
My husband, Jay, 35, production line worker at Nissan, the funding source of the trip!
Our son, Joshua, 3
Jay's sister, Melanie, 34, casino money counter and sometime cashier

Experience:
Very experienced (me)
Pretty experienced (Jay)
Might-as-well-be newbie, only 1 trip in 1991 (Melanie)
First trip (Joshua)

Dates: July 1-9, 2005

Lodging:
EconoLodge North, Lake City, Florida (1 night)
Pop Century Resort (7 nights)

Transportation: Titan crewcab truck, 12 hours from Clinton, Mississippi



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


DAY 0 - THURSDAY, JUNE 30


Today was Jay's last day of work this week. The plant was shutting down for the whole week of July 4, and they had given the workers Friday off as well. Last night was Melanie's last day of work and she would be arriving sometime this afternoon. I never get a day off as a stay-at-home-mom, but that's a whole other story. Preparations actually began last night, as that's when I made Jay pick out his clothes for the trip. I also tried on my shorts last night, which turned out to be a good thing as I found I had gained too much weight in the past year to wear some of the shorts I took on our last family trip. It's a good thing my mom gave me some of hers that she couldn't wear anymore. Of course most of our clothes were in the laundry room still needing to be washed, but that's what this day was all about!

I had planned today to be a regular schedule for me and Joshua. So once we were up and ate our breakfast, I started washing clothes. While the washer was running, I got on the internet and started gathering information. I wanted to make sure nothing had changed on things such as toll charges, road construction and weather forecasts. I also wanted to check on some fun things for myself: pressed penny and quarter lists, outlet mall Disney store locations, Disney pins being released during our visit, and updates to our guidebooks and Hidden Mickey and WDW Trivia books. I also put a few things inside the truck, such as our travel goodies and music.

After lunch, I finished washing clothes and started packing what was already clean. The large suitcase filled up pretty quickly, and I was wondering whether we'd be able to manage with just the small suitcase from my old set, or if we'd need to take the medium-sized one. Well, considering I was packing pull-ups and wipes and swim diapers, which would be reduced in number for the return trip, I decided just to stick with the small suitcase. Everything ended up fitting, although I did have to really do some cramming to make it work!

Aren't You on the Road Yet?

Melanie called a little later than I thought she would to say she was leaving her house. She had been at her neighbor's giving some last-minute instructions regarding her cats and her house. So about 3:00 she called to say she was leaving town, all packed up.

Melanie couldn't find a camera battery at her Wal-Mart, so she wanted to try our store once she arrived. I told her that would be fine, I would go with her and look for a child-sized rain poncho to cover our umbrella stroller in case of rain at WDW. It is about a two-hour drive from her house to ours, so I knew I needed to hurry up and finish as much as I could before she arrived and things started getting crazy! At least Jay had Rain-X'd the truck windshield when he washed it the other day, so that was one chore I didn't have to worry about this afternoon.

When Melanie arrived, I helped her unload her truck and bring everything inside. Jay pulled up shortly afterwards, as did my sister, who was coming by to pick up our house key so she could look after our cat while we were gone. So everything seemed to be happening at once. Unfortunately, Melanie and my sister started talking, and I didn't want to be rude, but we had stuff to do! So I found other things to keep myself occupied in the meantime. I also logged onto the message boards to see what was going on, but it was kind of quiet as so many people seemed to be out of town for their own trips. I logged off fairly early that evening so I wouldn't have any distractions while trying to get everything packed up.

Okay, Let's Get Packing!

Once my sister left to go to her house, I got Melanie to help me finish packing our bags. We all pulled out the clothes we were going to wear tomorrow and put them aside. Next, we pulled out a set of clothes for each of us to wear the next day (Saturday) and anything else we would need at the hotel tomorrow night. We only wanted to unpack one bag at the hotel, instead of 3 or 4 suitcases. So we packed our overnight bag and started looking at everything else.

As soon as we made sure all our other bags were ready to go, we took them outside for Jay to load up. Melanie had helped Jay put the truck bed cover on, so he was ready to begin putting things in! We had decided to take our dolly so that we wouldn't have to make as many trips while unloading the truck at Pop Century. So that went in first, along with Joshua's stroller. Then our luggage, extra drinks to restock our cooler with, and then all the other junk I thought we would need. Of course half of it wasn't used, but if we hadn't taken it, we would have had to buy it, right?

What Have I Forgotten?

Joshua's bedtime rolled around and then there was one less person to be running around the house. Jay had gassed up the truck last night before he went to bed so we didn't have to worry about that. I was still trying to figure out how I was going to fit all the other odds and ends in the truck without them being loose. Finally I just decided to put things in Wal-Mart bags and tie them up. I figured we'd be eating and drinking throughout the week and I could pack better for the trip home when we didn't have as much stuff left over.

Next up, we had to stock the cooler and plug it in before bed so it could start cooling off before we got on the road. So we pulled out plenty of juice boxes and soda for all of us to have a variety to choose from. I had already decided not to take milk for Joshua on this trip. I figured we could buy him milk at the restaurants and also let him drink Coke for a special treat - I don't allow it too often, and this was vacation after all. Plus, gallons of milk take up too much room in the cooler.

Finally, our last chore was to make sure we had everything else we would need on the trip, but that for whatever reasons, couldn't be loaded in the truck yet. All this stuff was either piled up by the front door or sitting on our bathroom counters, ready for us to grab and go in the morning. It seemed like everything was in order.

Of course I was the last person to go to bed that night. How does it always turn out that way? I tossed and turned for some time, trying to remember if we had forgotten to pack anything. I knew I should have bought some Tylenol PM to have for tonight, but at the time it just seemed like an extra expense that wasn't really necessary. I did think of one thing: me and Melanie never made it to Wal-Mart tonight. She would be OK, since she had a regular camera to use in addition to her digital camera which needed the extra battery. But I still really wanted to get that poncho for Joshua's stroller. I decided that we could just stop at the dollar store on our way out of town in the morning - it would be on our way, it wouldn't be crowded (so I could get in and out quickly), and I knew we had some extra time built into our morning driving schedule anyway. Sounded like a plan to me!


Next up: Day 1 - are we there yet?

[TroianRae]

[ QUOTE ]
I logged off fairly early that evening so I wouldn't have any distractions while trying to get everything packed up.



[/ QUOTE ]

[b] <font color="blue"> Am I a distraction?? Moi??
More, please!!

[FanOfMickey]

Another great update!! Can't wait to read about your drive there!

[lauren-roxy]

Great update!! Can't wait to read more Christie!!!

[mac]

Great update Christie, I can't wait to hear more! I'm impressed that your DH built his own bed cover !

[BelmontBelle]

Great report, sounds like everything is going smoothly! Can't wait for more.

[kimdisneynut]

Great start. More please


Kim

[Grammy Grumpy]

Just getting caught up! This is great!

[Colexis Mom]

Another great update Christie

[christiejay]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm impressed that your DH built his own bed cover

[/ QUOTE ]

Desperate times call for desperate measures!

I'm just glad my dad stepped in on this project, it turned out so much nicer that way.