Thursday, Day 1

Thursday was our travel day. The reason we were even doing this trip is because Charlie and another pilot from the squadron were tasked to take two Raptors over to Lakeland, FL for the demonstration team to use for the airshow. (Lakeland is about an hour outside of Orlando.) Because it was technically a TDY, the Air Force paid for the hotel room and for Charlie's meals. What a great and (Less) inexpensive way for us to take Addison to WDW!

Originally the plan was for Addison and I to drive over Thursday and meet Charlie, who we thought would get there a few hours before us. We were than going to head to Epcot for some dinner and the evening festivities. However, this is not the way Thursday worked out. (Again key to being a military wife - FLEXIBILITY!) I got Addie and I up early to leave by 7 - our original plan. Charlie left at about an hour before we did, having to go get ready for his flight. However, it was hazy and rainy out - not good flying conditions. True to the plan, I got Addison up and in the car by 6:45 as a little morning trip to Starbucks was also in the plans on the way out of town. As I was sitting in the drive through at Starbucks gearing up for the long drive ahead of me, Charlie called and told me to go home. "We might not get out of here today!" Orlando was under tornado warnings - even worse flying conditions! So, I went home and Charlie kept calling every few minutes with updates. Mainly they were "ok, go ahead get on the road!" Followed by "no, hold on - we aren't going." When it was finally determined that I would be able to stay in Charlie's room whether he was there or not, Addison and I got on the road.

The weather here was not great, but being a native Washington girl, it wasn't anything I couldn't handle. Finally we got a break in the weather around Tallahassee, two hours into the trip. And while the sun didn't come out, the rain stopped! However, from the phone calls I was still getting from Charlie, the weather in the Lakeland/Orlando weather was NOT getting any better. In fact, the airfield where they airshow was being held was actually forced to close as a very strong wind gust came through completely knocking over airplanes/jets and collapsing a tent that people were actually in. (No injuries, luckily!) However, with this new news - there was no way Chuck was going to be able to fly into Lakeland that day. So there went day number one!

And true to what I had been hearing, the weather continued to get worse the closer we got to Orlando. I mean, REALLY bad! To the point that even with the windshield wipers on full speed it still wasn't enough and I was unable - at times - to see five feet in front of me. Talk about stress! My hands hurt from gripping the stearing wheel so hard. Luckily Addison had fallen asleep during the worst of it so I didn't have her distracting me, which would have made the situation worse for my stress level. The weather was so bad in fact, I was actually watching for tornados and wondering what in the world I would do with us if I came across one - we weren't exactly in a metropolitan area - we were in the sticks!

It was a long trip, about 7 hours total, but we finally made it and found that there was a Target across from out hotel. While waiting to meet up with Shadow Schantz - the demo pilot - who had our room key, I took Addison into Target loaded up on some snacks and a new toy. I figured if we were going to be cooped up in our room for the night with no daddy and not being able to at least go to the (outdoor) pool, the least I could do was get her a new toy - she did so great on the way there too, I thought it would be a nice reward for her.

In the end, the night ended up being pretty fun - without Charlie. Shadow's wife and kids - whom I have known for a long time were also there. As well as Kristin Arkema and her boys. (Kristin's husband was the other pilot from Tyndall brining in the other jet for the airshow and they were doing Disney just like us.) Since we were all alone with the kids, we piled them all into Kristin's room with toys and movies, etc. They had fun playing while we got to sit and have some girl talk. It was nice since Jennie and her kids live up at Langley again, so we got to catch up. We let the kids play, ordered dinner in the rooms. Overall the only thing that would have made it better was a bottle of wine - but since Kristin and I are both pregnant, that wasn't really an option. (But next time for sure, ladies!)

And to be honest, with the weather being what it was, it was ok they didn't get there on Thursday night - we wouldn't have wanted to go to any of the parks in the pouring rain! It would have been miserable!

During the evening, the boys kept calling with updates as to what time they would land the next morning. We were all hoping early so we could have as close to a full day at one of the parks as possible, but again, that kept changing. Addie and I went back to our room, watched some tv and hit the hay. That night I had dreams of Mickey Mouse - I was pretty darn excited too. I just hoped we could get there on Friday.......