Guess what? Nap Over.

Well, Mickey Mouse invited us back to his place, and what could we say but, “Sure!” We just love this place, and? We LoVE all the tiny Mickey rhinestone and silver jewelry (sterling!).

Last night, we’d decided to go on to Branson, stay the night (do a tiny bit of outlet shopping!), spend the night, and not have to get up too early to drive to the airport (in Springfield, MO). Well, after all the storms and all the last minute things (kids’ toothbrushes, everyone’s vitamins and Zyrtec, sippy cups, shorts, one more set of clothes for everyone….), we didn’t leave till 7pm! So, we weren’t going to make it to Branson till 9-after the kids’ bedtime, and no time to outlet shop! : ( So, we cancelled the reservation (another story altogether), and went home. Bathed the kids, got them to bed, I did last minute cleaning up, and went to bed about 12:30.

Cancelling: When you call (AFTER *key word here* making the reservation), and report that you no longer need the room. Our reservation for our hotel in Branson, made at 4:30pm on Tuesday (ok, a little last minute) said our card would be charged unless we cancelled the reservation by Monday, May 11 at 9pm. Umm..okay. So, I’ll cancel before I make it next time, and in some alternate universe (with a time warp!) it’ll work itself out just fine. On Earth, where I live, we do things in OrDeR! So, I explained, and she promised not to charge us (for being freaks canceling 2.5 hours after the reservation was made). Bonus? The kids heard us on the phone, thought we weren’t going at all, and totally Yes Ma’am’ed us all the way home, and straightened themselves right up! Cha-ching! : ) (and now feeling $110 on the positive side of the trip!)

We (I ) got up at 5, showered, got everything ready (AND made my bed!!), then got the kids up, ate and hit the road.

Let’s skip the plane ride since there was lots of wanting to get up, snacks, cheese-y fingers (Ches brought Cheetos for Ethan. How sweet.), ordering of the snack packs (which included color-on cookies), and general loud talking.

Here, got rental car/SUV, managed to wrangle the kids inside, and off on a hunt for food! By the time we’d pulled into Chili’s parking lot, Ethan had just fallen asleep! Clay jumped out, started his Loud Talking, and SlaMMeD the door! Guess what? Nap over.

We ate with the usual: Ethan standing (no, really.) at the booth, not eating much, climbing over the booth seat (we didn’t know anyone there, so it didn’t go on our record officially) and therefore getting a naughty chair timeout, Clay “not hungry”, Mary Claire needing to go to the bathroom, Clay needing to go to the bathroom, Ches shoveling his food in an effort to finish to take Ethan to the car so I could eat, finishing alone, getting to-go cups, paying, Ches texting to get in the car very quietly since Ethan was already asleep (poor baby, missing his nap!), the kids kinda listening to me, me losing a straw for my drink, finding it in the parking lot (and using it-hey! It had the wrapper on it!), and driving on. If we paid for it, it counts as a meal, or I’d swear I didn’t eat.

We made it to the hotel, and got her insulin pump (guess you missed out on that one!).
*Ok, I was so panicked, freaked out, and crazed, I didn’t have time to blog/catch up yesterday. We had a big scare-Mary Claire’s pump got a #21 Error which is bad: it cleared all of our data off: her bolus ratios for eating, her basal (the constant infusion of insulin she gets), her correction ratios (for when she’s high), everything!!!
So, panicked, I checked her out, took Ethan up to nap, got all her info and started to reprogram the pump by hand. I called back in to the helpline, and they got a loaner pump in the mail to us. Bad news: we were leaving for Florida at 6am! So, I gave them our resort address, and they shipped it there (hindsight: 20/20-it worked out fine, and it was here before we were). But, they said once you get this error, it’ll continue to happen, and it had to be destroyed. Umm, okay, so I’ll wear it another whole DAY till the other one gets here. Aarrgh.

So, THEN, we find out that the warranty is up (knew this was coming),and that our insurance pays for one every five years (this coming August), so we have to petition the insurance company, and when the agree, we meet our deductible ($750) and pay 80% of the pump. But (tiny Good News!), they now have PINK! So, when she gets it in a couple weeks or so, she’ll be on cloud nine! : ) It couldn’t cost that much more to make pink plastic, but it’ll be priceless on all the little girls I know! : )

Ok, tired, there’s more, but later.
Wal-Mart for groceries, loads of police cars, ambulances, sheriff’s cars. Downtown Disney: shopping, Lego store, princess stuff, bracelets and charms, Ches-no cell phone on his body, and the AweSoMe T-Rex store/restaurant!!

I’ll post a few pictures, but obviously, I’ll have a billion, so I’ll try to limit it…
From WDW, Holly (ok, that sounds very reporterly. and official.)

*added later:
Ok, I guess I should comment on the strange photos in the slide show below.
Kids eagerly watching the plane being cleaned before we board.
Ethan calm
Ethan sticking tic-tacs up his nose
(then getting one stuck, screaming, me digging it out-sorry, no photo)
More plane photos
Our AMaZiNG hotel (resort?) room!! Three floors of entry, living, kitchen, dining, our room and big bath, kids' room and big bath, full laundry (I should say full-size washer and dryer!), and another flight of stairs to another living area/game room with foozball (can't spell this one) and air hockey! Suh-weet! : )
Pictures at TRex restaurant/store
Pix with red Lego T-Rex (again-we'll see how much he's grown?)
France (if it were made of Legos)
and Ethan, "PLaY!"
and I've been trying out a new Bath & Body Clean Well product: No Alcohol-All Natural Germ Killer. It uses plant extracts and I chose Spearmint Lime scent (just smells cleaner), and the kids don't scream when it burns their boo-boos. It's a spray and it's tiny, but has about 250 sprays inside (hiding and compacted, of course).