Skamarakas Family - April 2006

Cast of Characters - Jim (dad, age 29 - well, at least that's all he'll admit to); Anna (mom, age 41); Brighid (DD age 14); Eilis (DD age 5); Granuaile (DD who turns 1 on our trip!)

Days 1 - 4

So, we are supposed to leave immediately after school on Wednesday. Then we will leave at 6, after rush hour. Then we will leave at 2 AM Thursday. At 8 AM Thursday morning, we finally all roll out of bed and get on the road. You would think we would be excited and wanting to leave as early as we can, but there has been a glitch. Brighid, DD14, seems to be failing Algebra, and Dad wants her to stay home and spend Easter break working on the subject. After much back and forth, he relents and allows her to go, but now I have to phone the grandmother who is expecting her, pack her things, get more snacks, etc.

We stay overnight about an hour from the Georgia border, and that puts us at the Orlando Marriott World Center about 3 on Friday. When we check in, we were supposed to be in a deluxe pool view room, but the clerk tells us they will have a room overlooking Disney in about half an hour if we want to wait. We decide to wait.

When we get to the room, I am a little disappointed. The room is smaller in bedspace than the room I booked - one with two double beds We have a king bed and a fold out sofa that will only barely hold the two kids. The view of Disney is actually of Pleasure Island, so I'm a bit disappointed in that, but only until that evening. We had a great view of fireworks from EPCOT and the Magic Kingdom, and the kids love sitting on the balcony watching them, so it helps make the room more tolerable.

On Saturday, we have already committed to spending the day with my in-laws. They live in Poinciana at a place called Solavita, which is a community for 55 and older. They are having an Easter egg hunt for the kids, and it turns out to be really nice. There is a bounce house, all kinds of games, a dunk tank, face painting - it's a nice event for the kids. We have Easter dinner on Saturday, since Sunday is Grace's first birthday, and I want her to have the day for herself. Bonus - the grandparents keep the two older kids overnight!

Sunday, Jim wakes up sick. He has a sore throat, a fever, and his head is so stuffed, he can't breathe. Flashes of our last visit here, when all three kids got sick, go through my mind. I run down to the shop in the lobby and get him some DayQuil, which he takes, and we decide to hang out in the room until it's time to go to dinner. We have an ADR at 1900 Park Fare. The in-laws are calling, and my MIL is being a royal pain in the butt. With Jim already not feeling well, we decide to change dinner to lunch so we can just get the other kids back and be done with my MIL. We agree to meet at 1:30 at the Portobello Yacht Club for lunch, but my MIL for some reason doesn't get there until 2 o'clock. We decide to head over to Raglan Road at that point, just because it's where we originally wanted to go, but didn't think it would be her kind of place. Now we don't care.

Most of us have a great meal, and then we decide to wander Downtown Disney. By the time we walk from Ragland Road to the Lego playground, Jim is feeling ill again, and my MIL is complaining about the walk (she wears braces on her legs, but has decided to do today without a cane - go figure). I figure we'll go back to the hotel and the kids can go in the pool. My MIL decides she wants to keep Brighid to continue walking around DTD (Brighid is - BY FAR - her favorite). To save an argument, we let Brighid stay, and she promises to bring something back for the other girls so they don't feel badly about not getting to spend the day with Grandmom and PopPop.

Back at the hotel, the baby falls asleep, Eilis is hot and tired and wants to watch TV, and Jim lays down with new medicine in him. Brighid doesn't get back until late in the evening, after a movie and dinner with the grandparents. I hope tomorrow is better :-(

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