Since this was such a short trip, we decided to try to make it down to Orlando Thursday night so that we could enjoy a full day in the park on Friday (and not be exhausted from traveling at 4:00AM). The crazy guy who booked our trip seemed to think that the impossible was possible. I get off work at 4:30 and have a 35 minute commute home. That has us leaving the house at 5:05 IF everything is packed and in the car ready to go and the kids are standing by the door and if I don't stop to change my clothes (or put away my gun) (big airport no no).
We would then have to make a one hour drive to the airport, park the car, wait for the bus tot he terminal and make it through security in time for a 6:50 flight. And, of course, there would be nooo other traffic on the road between five and six on a weekday.
So, I took off work a half hour early to make sure that we left he house exactly at 5:00. Well, 5:05 by the time we threw the last couple of things together and raced out the door. I had thought ahead and bought subs at lunchtime so that the kids could eat dinner either at the airport or one the plane without my having to buy food at the airport.. I don't know why I had such a hard time counting to four but I managed to only buy three subs at lunch - one for my lunch and two for the kids - so I did not have any dinner. But, I would figure that one out later.
We were doing OK at first but then... wham! stuck in traffic. And fate was not going to be kind to us. The traffic jam seemed endless. And then it got worse. Lil' Bit announced that she had to go tot eh bathroom...right now! Yes, she is one of those typical kids who doesn't even think about it until it is painfully urgent and then has to whimper, cry, beg, plea and be as pitiful as possible. I offered to pull out of traffic and let her go on the side of the road but she refused. As she got more desperate, she relented and agreed to try. I told her not to make me stop and lose precious time if it wasn't going to happen. Despite the fact that she is from China and was raised on squatty potties (holes in the ground you squat over), she has absolutely never, ever been able to pee outside on the ground. We puled over, raced around tot he more private side of the car and... nothing. She couldn't do it. We jumped back into the car with me grumbling all the way.
Traffic finally opened up and we managed to get on a bus to the terminal...Lil' Bit, still whining about the bathroom all the way.
Amazingly, there was no one at the TSA security checkpoint so I made the executive decision to get through security before finding a bathroom. As soon as Big Boy's bag came through the x-ray machine, I sent him off by himself to dash to the gate and let them know we were there. Lil' Bit and I ran straight to the bathroom, stroller and bags in tow.
The second she popped off the potty, we ran, O.J. Simpson style, through the airport to reach the gate at 6:39 for a 6:50 flight. Flights are typically boarded ten minutes prior to departure so we made in plenty of time. We had a whole 60 seconds left. I could have let Lil' Bit wash her hands.
My husband, who had been calling me every step of the way to tell me that we would never make it, was standing by the gate, tapping his foot nervously. The plane was almost full. There were three empty seats but they were waiting for one paying passenger to show up. Then, they did a recount... it turns out that the paying passenger had already boarded. There were only two seats left. I must admit, I did fantasize about leaving 'pee girl' behind with her father after what she had put us though.
We had back-up reservations on a slightly later flight on Airtran so we went to check in for that flight. This now left us enough time to eat our subs (excuse me, their subs). I bought a slice of pizza and some sodas and we shared all of the food amongst the three of us (budget overage #1).
When we got our boarding passes from the gate agent, she slipped me a note, back robbery style. It read "Don't say anything but I upgraded you to business class". The great thing about business class is the wide comfortable seats and the attention you get from the flight attendants. The bad new is that instead of three seats across, you only have two so we could not all sit together. Let me rethink that. The great thing about business class is that we can't all sit together :-)
We were boarded first and offered drinks while the rest of the passengers boarded. Of course, this gave my kids more time sitting on the plane to get restless.
Anyway, the kids were in the front row, together and were a little cranky because they didn't have trays for their drinks and their carry on bags had to be stowed until we were up in the air. I was about two rows back and on the other side of the plane so I could do noting but watch helplessly while they sat there and got on each other's nerves. But, shortly into the flight, the both laid their precious little heads back and fell asleep.
We arrived in Orlando with no more drama and, after taking Magical Express, we made it to our hotel room by 11:00PM. We fell right into bed.
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