September 6, 2018

We did a mini-trip to Disney this year.  We actually only had 1 park day, but don't worry.  This trip was packed full of things we had never done before and I have so much to share! 

Since our trip last September was disrupted due to Hurricane Irma, we kept this September trip on the extreme down-low.  We told the kids we were packing to tag along with Rob on a layover.  Yes, they asked if it was Paris, but I said it was someplace in Florida.  I have no idea how I managed to sneak all the Disney stuff into the suitcase without them noticing!

We woke up on Thursday morning early and told them where we were going.  They were so happy, there was much squealing and telling us we were the best ever.  It was a great moment.  Then we loaded into the van, dropped Griffey off at Pet Suites (seriously, we should own that place by now), Rob dropped the kids and I off at the front of the airport and he went to park the van.  

This trip was the Thursday after Labor Day, which is a great time to non-rev down to Orlando.  We got four seats in two pairs, so each kid had a parent with them.  In fact, Ryan and Rob were right in front of Anne and me.  It was an easy flight.  In preparation for the trip, I purchased cheap activity books from the Dollar Tree.  Both kids spent the entire flight doing a Disney math book.  

This trip was another stay at Shades of Green, so we had a car service pick us up at the airport and drive us into the magic.  When we arrived, our room wasn't ready yet and it was lunch time, so we went to Evergreens Sports Bar for food and the first adult beverage of the trip.

While we were eating lunch, Rob got a text that the room was ready.  Now that's service!  He swung by the front desk for the keys and the kids and I met him at the room.  By 1:30 we had our luggage unpacked and we were at the pool.  Yes!

One of the ways this trip was different is that I planned very little.  We had tickets to to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party for one evening, we had one character breakfast scheduled, and that was it for 4 days of Disney! I was pretty proud of myself.  Ok, maybe that isn't totally true.  I knew there would be times when Rob would say "what are we doing for dinner" or "what else can we do today" so I had a few rough ideas for blocks of times, things I could throw out there, just to keep us from getting bored. 

On this first day, while hanging at the pool, Rob asked what the plan was for dinner.  I pulled up the My Disney Experience app on my phone and searched for dinner reservations.  There was one available at Trail's End buffet over in Ft. Wilderness campground, so that was the plan!  I booked the reservation for dinner, we changed and were off to the campground!

From Shades of Green, we walked to the Polynesian and hopped on the monorail.  We got off at the Magic Kingdom and took a boat over to the campground.  It was a beautiful night, not too hot, no rain.  Plus, we were in the Disney magic without paying for anything!

When the boat landed at Ft. Wilderness, we easily found Trail's End.  Part of our motivation for trekking over here was to check out the campground.  We have always wanted to bring the camper down to Disney and this was our chance to see how it looked.  For me, it was love at first sight.  Ft. Wilderness is the cleanest campground I have ever seen, with so much cool theming and little Disney touches everywhere.  That's all I will say for now, I'm sure we will be back... hint, hint.

Trail's End was great.  It is a bbq buffet, lots of great home cooking and some really good desserts.  While we were eating, some Disney Magic happened.  The table next to us was an older couple and their adult daughter.  The chef came out and brought her this elaborate dish with a glass dome over it and the dome was filled with smoke.  When she lifted the dome, the smoke smelled so good!  So of course we had to strike up a conversation with them.

Turns out the girl is vegan and the chef was preparing her a special 4 course meal.  She said the chef at Trail's End is well known in the Orlando area for being a great vegan chef (there's a tip for all. my vegan readers).  As she ate, we chatted with her parents.  They were camping at the campground and they have been visiting Ft. Wilderness since they were stationed in Florida with the Air Force many years ago.  So an Air Force conversation started, to be honest, I was only halfway listening because I've heard enough of these conversations over the last 12 years.

Then, the man (who had been a pilot) said he was stationed at McCord Air Force Base in Seattle in the mid-70s.  Really?  Like 1974 when Rob was born in Seattle because that's where his dad was stationed.  Yep.  Turns out, this man was a squadron mate of Rob's dad's from 40 years ago!  It IS a small world after all!

At this point I realized the conversation could go on for hours, so I took the well fed and thoroughly sugared kids outside to the playground.  It was magic hour at WDW.  There is something about this time of day, right before the sunsets, when families are preparing for dinner and the evening.  The light changes, the air is electric.  This is my favorite time of day.

When Rob was done chatting with his new friend, we went for a walk to see some of the camp sites and sights.  

Satisfied that we would love to camp here, we took the boat back to the Magic Kingdom, the monorail back to the Polynesian, and the walkway back to Shades of Green.  Day One was in the books!

July 25, 2018

We woke up very refreshed from our nap at about 2:30 and it was time to go see the city.

From our hotel, we took a shuttle back to the airport and then took the train from the airport into the heart of the city.  One thing I think most people don't realize about Paris (and Europe in general) is their public transportation is easier to use than ours.  In a lot of places you can easily explore without a car.

Our first stop was Notre Dame.  It was here that I realized children are universal.  When presented with arguably the most famous church in the world, they spend their time chasing pigeons.  

Of course we had to have lunch at our favorite spot, Cafe Panis.  Rob and I each had a croque monsieur and the kids split ham and cheese eggs.   Oh, and of course they had to have Orangina.  And I had a coke, which I hadn't had since the last time I was in Paris.  

As we were sitting in the cafe eating, we noticed there was a hop on/hop off bus stop right outside the cafe.  We checked out the route online and decided to buy tickets.  We figured with just one day in the city it would be a good way to see a lot of the sights.  And it was! 

We hopped off near the Eiffel Tower and it was time for a light dinner.  

Then I had one of those moments.  Do you ever have something happen and you are experiencing it but also somehow you are above, observing yourself in the moment?  I don't know how to explain it.  But this was one of those things I will never forget.  Anne and Ryan, riding a carousel in Paris, next to the Eiffel Tower.  It was the accumulation of years of hard work, teaching the kids, sacrificing with Rob being gone.  It all seemed to have lead up to this moment when the air was electric and full of the sound of giggling kids.  And this moment was full of the potential for many more adventures to come.

After the carousel ride, we went to the park and the kids played.  Sounds so mundane, right? Except it was a park in PARIS and the other kids were French.  We again saw the universality of kids.  They all play the same.  A few kids tried to speak to Anne or Ryan and then both parties realized they couldn't communicate with words, but the game didn't stop.  Childhood has no language barrier.  

At this point it was 8:30pm, Paris time, and we knew it was time to head back to the hotel.  Luckily, we had to walk by the Eiffel Tower to get there.

And this is when we had our only snag of the trip.  We walked to the nearest Metro station, but the station was closed for repairs.  So we got creative, ended up switching trains once, and our total travel time back to the hotel was about an hour and a half.  But the kids were total troopers.  I don't remember a single whine the whole trip!

The next morning we woke up and headed to the airport.  Luckily we were only a short van ride away. We had to part ways with Rob at the airport, so I got the kids through security and Passport Control by myself, easy-peasy.   We were flying back to Cincinnati with Rob as our pilot, awesome!  

We were not originally given seats together.  The kids are aware that this might happen, and in fact we have done flights sitting apart before. But I think the jet lag got to Ryan when we boarded. I showed him his seat and went to sit in mine and he burst into tears.  The rule is, you cannot ask a paying customer to switch seats with you.  But, the non-rev gods smiled on us and a mom and her teen-aged daughter offered to switch so I could sit with Ryan.  It turns out the woman was a flight attendant and they were also non-revs. I was sitting next to Ryan and the seats just happened to be across the aisle from Anne!  So we were pretty much together and it was a smooth flight home.

And that, my friends, is how we spent 24 hours in Paris with twin five year olds.  We told the kids this was a test to see how they handled traveling abroad.  When we landed Anne said, "I want to live in Paris when I grow up."  Ryan said, "can we go to Amsterdam next?" Success!

We had been throwing around the idea of accompanying Rob on an international layover for awhile.  The kids did great on short domestic trips, why not see how they do with 24 hours in Paris? Well, there are actually a lot of reasons why not.  But it seems Rob and I don't listen to reason when it comes to packing up our kids and heading out to see the world.

So, this past July we took them to Paris on a layover.  The plan was for Rob to fly from Detroit to Paris while we flew from Cincinnati to Paris.  We would meet up in the airport, stay together for his layover, then the kids and I would fly home on his flight from Paris to Cincinnati.  We did it this was because there were not enough empty seats on his flight from Detroit to Paris, it was better for the three of us to take the Cincinnati flight.  

But before we get to the airport, I gotta pack.  This was our first trip since I got my new carryon bag from Rob for our anniversary.  Since I am so completely in love with this suitcase, I decided to give you a tour of how I used it to pack for 1 day with 3 three people.

Seriously though, I love this suitcase!  I received no compensation from eBags, but if they want to send me anything free to try out, I would be ok with that.  Alright, enough about my suitcase.

The kids and I dropped Griffey off at the pet hotel and headed to the airport.  The kids know we don't have confirmed seats when we fly and they aren't supposed to talk about getting seats at the gate, out of respect for paying customers.   Well, they were so excited they broke the rule and kept asking.  Luckily we got on and got three seats together.  Woohoo!  Off to Paris! 

After dinner, the kids went to sleep.  Well, Ryan passed out and Anne slept on and off.  Poor girl seems to have inherited my inability to sleep on planes.  It was a looooong 7 hours.  But soon enough, they brought the yogurt for breakfast.  Hooray! We are landing!

I brought the kids through customs and they let me go through a super short line because I had the kids with me.  Rob's flight arrived after ours by about about 30 minutes.  He caught up to me as the kids and I were waiting for a shuttle to the hotel.  Reunited in Paris!  

I should tell you, on this trip we were not staying at the layover hotel.  We cashed in some Marriott points to stay close to the airport.  The Delta layover hotel is in the middle of the city, so I would have navigated our way there without Rob.  Plus, we have to get up super early to leave for the airport on departure day.  Staying closer to the airport earned us an extra hour of sleep!

Once we checked into the hotel, we crashed for a few hours.  Actually, close to 6.  This is normally longer than we sleep on arrival day, but it was a good idea to let the kids rest.  I was ok with them staying up late and being totally off our schedule.  Anything goes in Paris!

June 26, 2018

We left the Cedar Rapids area and had two days of driving ahead of us.  This was kind of a bad idea on our part.  At the beginning of our trip, we had fun stops along the way, like Kansas.  On the back end of our trip, it was just a long slog of driving through Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, and finally home to Kentucky.  If you've ever driven this part of the country, you know it is just a whole lot of corn!  

We tried to break up the drive with a fun stop at The World's Largest Truck Stop.  It was just a large truck stop, but hey, we can say we've been there!

Our final layover was a night at the Galesburg East Campground in Knoxville, Illinois.  There is a whole lot of nothing in Knoxville, Illinois, but this campground was a gem.  Very clean, well maintained, lots of trees.  Since there was nothing in the area to draw people, it appeared that most of our fellow campers were just passing through.  

The campground offered a pool, which was clean, a fishing pond, and a playground.  That's Perry much all we needed, especially after a day of driving.  If you ever find yourself in the area and in need of a campground, the Schneiders recommend Galesburg East!

June 27, 2018

We woke up, broke camp, and drove east for our final day.  Luckily we were able to break up the 6 hour drive with a stop in Indianapolis to have lunch with Rob's sister Jenni.  When we got home, the house was just as we left it and we were all a little bummed to be done with our Grand Adventure.

You see, at no point on this trip did any of us say we just wanted to go home.  I'm not saying every day was perfect (tow truck out of the mud, ahem), but Rob and I maintained a sense of adventure for the kids.  Plus, there is so much to see in our great country, that everyday held something new, even if it was just a playground with a cool slide from the 1980s.  

During the stretch from lunch with Jenni to our house I got down the road atlas and studied it.  "You know, Rob," I said.  "Next year if we head south..."