The Moretons Magical Memories 2012 - The Day Before

[LLKJDisney]

The Entourage
Me – Kerry, 34 yr old Disney nutcase, head driver and Narrator. 9th visit
Lee – 33 yr old Florida Lover, 10th Visit, Reserve driver and map man
Jacob – 3 turning 4(on this trip) yr old going on 40 yr old! 3rd visit (lucky boy) loves collecting autographs
Lucas – 5 month old – smiley in the day – grumpy at night (just like his Daddy)
Dick – 58 yr old – Grandad and Jacob’s best mate – loves the Sun and some rollercoasters
Sue 57 yr old – Grandma – Chief tea maker – loves Sprite no Ice.

The Plan
Arrive 7th May – 4 Nights at Bahama Bay Resort
11th May move to Sunset Lakes – Shamu Sancturary Villa
24th May come home

The weekend before – 5th and 6th May

Saturday

Jacob was very happy today as he got to put his last sticker on his countdown chart that he has been doing everyday since 100 days out. It was lovely to live the excitement with him as he added his sticker each day. Something I will definitely be doing again in the future.

I had managed to complete the majority of the packing in the 2 weeks before today; it was quite stressful trying to think of what to pack for everyone and especially for Lucas. What with sterilisers and milk for the journey etc… I got myself in a right tizz at one point! All that was left to do today was the hand luggage and overnight bag for our stay at Manchester Marriott. This didn’t take long and once done I relaxed a little bit.

Lee and Dick both work for Royal Mail and were both working Saturday morning but both were finished by midday.

Lucas was a little rascal all morning so I did not get as much done as I hoped. (in terms of cleaning the house from top to bottom!)
Jacob was at a birthday party from 2 till 4pm, which was good as he got to burn off some of his energy and excitement! And boy was he excited! I took him to the party and stayed with him until it finished.

Lee managed to get a few bits done while I was at the party but we had to finish most of the other jobs once the boys had gone to bed.

So with all luggage done and house cleaned we were ready for the off on Sunday morning. So with excited tummies we hit the hay ourselves around 11pm.





Sunday

Alarm set for 6.15am but with Lucas hardly sleeping there was no need for an alarm. You are probably thinking ‘why are you leaving so early, if your flight is not till 11am Monday’?

There were 2 reasons for this
1. We wanted to start the holiday as soon as possible
2. our plan was to visit Lee’s auntie who lives in Stoke on Trent on the way, as it was his 2 cousins 18th and 21st birthday next week, so we wanted to give them their presents.

Dick and Sue were getting to our house for 9am, which actually means 8.30am as they are always early.

Lee and Jacob fetched a McDonald’s breakfast while I got Lucas sorted out. Breakfast polished off, plugs switched off and everywhere locked we were ready for 8.30am which is a miracle for us as we are always late!


Jacob ready for the off!

This is a traditional photo that we do each year, he has changed so much since our last visit in 2010;



Just as we were leaving our neighbour came out and asked Jacob to come and see her for a second, she gave Jacob £10 for ice cream on his holiday. A very nice touch which made Jacob very happy. Our next door neighbour has always been really good with my boys, she is a really lovely lady.

Roads were very quiet so we made good time on the M6 north, the only incident to note was that just before J15 there were 5 police cars within a mile of each other and they had all pulled over separate cars for speeding, obviously on some kind of clamp down. For the rest of the journey I made sure I was at speed limit.

We arrived in Mow Kop just before 11am, to spend the day with family before moving ahead to Manchester Marriott. While we were there we checked our email and Mickeysgirls had sent me an email saying that she would leave lots of supplies (beer, water, pool toys & bbq) in the villa for us. I found out via the Dibb that mickeysgirls was in the villa before us and we had exchanged a couple of emails prior to our visit. It was a lovely touch and very much appreciated (thanks Tracey and family). More proof the that Dibb is full of lovely members.

After being fed like kings by Lee’s Auntie and a nice day had with them, we left at around 4.15pm and made the short journey to the hotel.

I work for Marriott so had secured the rooms and parking for £79 each on family rate. A young gentleman called Phil who was excellent, checked us in. He had just come back from Miami so was very interested in our trip. He gave us free breakfast (meant to be £5 per adult, staff rate), free taxi’s to the airport and pick up when we get back and access to the exec lounge at the hotel. A very nice touch, which certainly started off our holiday nicely. I told him if he ever came to stay at the Forest of Arden to give me a shout and I would return the favour.

The rooms were excellent, with 2 double beds in each room. Lucas chilled out


Lucas chilling on the nice big Marriott beds

before we went down to the exec lounge. All food and drink was free in the lounge so Dick had a couple of Stella’s while Sue and I had a cup of tea! Lee had a coke I think and Jacob had juice. Food was light snacks, there was chips, Lamb koftas, cheese and biscuits, chocolate brownies, crisps and nuts.

When we were in the lounge Dick wanted to start up a tradition with his grandson that his dad had done with Lee and his brother when they were little, and this was to teach Jacob how to play domino’s, Jacob loved it instantly and picked it up very quickly considering he is only 3. I know I am biased but I think he is actually really good with his numbers for his age and playing dommies helps with this. So, After Jacob beat everyone at Domino’s! we went back to the room to give the boys a bath before trying to get Jacob to have an early night. Trying was the right word, I mean it was the night before this little 3 year old was heading to Florida for gods sake, I had no hope of getting him to bed early! Jacob was super excited and took a bit of calming down before he eventually went to sleep. We didn’t worry too much, in fact we would have been more worried if he wasn’t excited.

We watched the Voice and Britains Got Talent before turning the TV off at 10pm. Alarm was set for 5am as we wanted to get to the airport no later than 7.30am to ensure we got the bulkhead seats we had requested.

Breakfast was due to start at 6.30am so we would have time to fill our bellies before catching our mini bus at 7.15am..


Sorry not many photos today but this does change, Next Installment is the dreaded Travel Day.

[tink3]

I love the excitement the night before you fly, looking forward to reading more.

[scotsprincess]

Great start, looking forward to reading more

[Tartan Tigger]

Great start.

[Gizmo473]

Our first trip we had a 3 month old with us. She came back with brown legs as they were the only thing that stuck out of the stroller. Nice start and boy don't they grow quick.

[DarrellAS]

Great start, I have been reading Mickeygirls report and loving the pics as we have stayed in that villa last July and it brings back memories, looking forward to reading more and seeing more photos

Darrell

[anniebee65]

Oooh how exciting! A brand spanking new trippie Great start!

[voddygirl]

Great pre-holiday excitement ...you have 2 wee cuties there

[col2501]

nice start, looking forward to reading more!

[Lpf]

Subscribing!

We got married at the forest of Arden in 2006 - a big weekend affair that all the family still rave about and we still wear our personalised towelling robes! FAB FAB FAB hotel!