Finally....a free minute

It is now Friday night - about 7:15pm Orlando time. This is the first time I have had a relatively quiet moment since we left Wednesday afternoon! We couldn't figure out how to make the wireless work in the room last night anyway. That was ok, b/c at that point, all I cared about was taking a shower. I really did want to get on here, though, and leave a post - for my memory's sake. Since this is our new "baby book" as one friend put it, I'm sure there were things I wanted to record that I have now forgotten. Oh well, if I remember that I've forgotten them, I can always edit later.

Wednesday March 27 - We boarded the buses (that were actually 10 minutes ahead of schedule - always a great sign!) and pulled out of BHS about 2:15. A few minutes late, but all things considered - I mean, 104 people trying to load luggage and instruments etc... - it was a madhouse! Just our little family had more bags than probably necessary. The 3 of us each had a suitcase, a carry on a piece, plus Eli's booster (in case we took a cab back to the hotel), umbrella stroller and a snack bag. Oh, and pillows! We didn't use most of it, but it's better to have too much than not enough - especially when travelling with a four year old on a charter bus for 18 hours!

We weren't too far down the road - White River bridge, I think, before Eli wanted a trip surprise. I had bought tons of little dollar toys and a few more expensive thrown in and put them in separate paper bags so each one would be a surprise. We did a few of those and then he got out his portable DVD player and spent the next little while watching DVDs. I am so thankful that we have DVR and a recorder b/c we made lots of recordings of all his shows. They kept him so entertained. He did really well all the way down!

Much to Eli's approval, we were on Bus 1 - and he was so concerned that at some point, we would no longer be in the lead. We have to get there first, you know! Each time we boarded the bus, he would ask the driver if we would be leading. (There was one time today - for a very short while that we weren't in the lead - he was NOT very happy). I can't remember our first driver's name right now - but he will come back to us on Monday early morning, so I'll find out then.

We stopped for dinner at New Albany, MS - KFC, by Eli's decision. Which was fine, b/c he ate quite a bit of his popcorn chicken. Around 11:15 or so, we stopped at a rest stop to use the restroom. There is one on the bus, of course, but most people have refrained from using it. We actually have one student who is so tall, that he couldn't fit in there if he tried! Anyway, we get there and the doors are LOCKED! Bathrooms closed at 11pm? You can only "rest" at certain times in GA apparently. We found somewhere else, thankfully, but no one had ever heard of that. Maybe it's a Georgia thing. I don't know. Anyway, from there we went on to Douglasville, GA, where we picked up our new drivers. Usually, I've been awakened in the middle of the night, on trips like this, as we are pulling into some random hotel where the drivers switch. This time, we pulled into a Sam's Club parking lot, right beside a white Tahoe (or Yukon - who knows - it was after midnight). Two men get out, two men get in. Our new driver is Lewis and he's been very good. Very personable and interested in keeping Eli in the very first bus! He's from Miama, so he can drive this traffic. We've needed that a few times!

Oh, about the 15 minutes that we lost by leaving a few minutes late. There was also about 7 or 8 minutes that we were waiting for students after the dinner stop. Well, God was watching out for us possibly, b/c not far down the road from New Albany, we came upon a 5 or 6 car pile up. I'm not sure how long before it had happened but there were already ambulances and police cars there. We'll never know for sure but it could have definitely been divine intervention that we were running about 25 minutes behind what we had planned! You never know!

I had a very hard time falling asleep on that bus. This isn't the first time that I've travelled on a trip like this overnight, but I sure couldn't get comfortable. Our bus was very quiet and I finally went to sleep around 1 or so? Eli had his own seat and we stretched him out with his pillow and blanket and he fell asleep around 10:30 or 11. I can't say how proud we are of him! He has been fabulous. Just taking everything in stride. He brushed his teeth and put on his pj pants in a moving bathroom and then covered up and went to sleep. I was very worried about what movies the kids would want to watch that he would have to see, but that has worked out fairly well. The first 2 that we watched were OK and then there was one I was all that crazy about, but he was super engrossed in his Curious George movie and barely noticed that another movie was on.

We arrived in Orlando Thursday morning and had made good time. We stopped at, what is apparently, the World's Largest McDonald's. Eli LOVED it! He called it McDonaldsChuckECheese. It had lots of different stuff to order besides the regular McD's menu. You could get Belgian Waffles, French Toast, Omelettes - all kinds of stuff. We stuck with traditional McD's fare, for Eli's sake. I knew he'd want to play. This Playland was crazy! A huge play place and arcade style games everywhere. He was so excited and actually didn't want to leave - even to go to Disney World! Of course, my camera was buried somewhere on the bus, so I didn't get a picture of it, but it was amazing. From there we headed to Hollywood Studios.