Move over Clark W. Griswald . . .

 . . . the Dugdales stepped it up a notch with Christmas AND European Vacation all rolled into one. 

Yes, that isn't an illusion created by Disney Magic, that's the real Matterhorn.  In our infinite Runamuk wisdom we decided it would be a good idea to take our three psychoanalytic theories to Switzerland, Germany and Austria over the holiday break, and just because we like to make our lives extra difficult, we did it with an injured Superego!

Thankfully the Id doesn’t yet have a boyfriend, so we didn’t have any $1,000 phone calls to home!

And those Europeans sure know how to make life much easier for Mommy and Daddy with free flowing Bier and Kirschwasser (Cherry Vodka).  We had a magical holiday with few hiccups, but of course, there is no way to go halfway across the world with the trifecta and not learn a few things. 

So, here’s The Swiss Family Dugdale Top 10:

Holy Humidity . . .

. . . It was 1am and we had just landed in the home swamps and alligators, oh, and the second Happiest Place on Earth.  (Can't ever replace the original!)  I thought we had stepped into a sauna!  The girls’ photo yesterday was at the Orlando airport at 1am.  We had 15 suitcases, 5 Dugdales, 3 nights and 2 days to conquer Disneyworld!

On day one we didn’t get to bed until 2:30am and had to be up at 6:30am so that we could be ready to go into the Magic Kingdom park at 8am.  Really, we thought it was a good idea to fly in at midnight and follow it with a full day in Disney’s Magic Kingdom?!  We’re delusional.

Here’s what we learned about our two days in Disney World:

Traveling psychoanalytic theories . . .

I know, you all are wondering how I know how to spell "psychoanalytic", aren't you?!  Wikipedia!!!!

First, I'll apologize that I've been so sporadic at posting.  Between last week's "working mommy" rock that I was under and now spotty internet service, it's been a challenge.

Several months ago I posted about the nicknames for our kids – Superego, Ego and Id, so if you missed that post and are wondering why I use those names, check out their origin.  The kids have actually come to love their nicknames and this week we took it up a notch.  For our vacation I decided it would be fun to have various posts with the girls in the different destinations.  So I came up with the idea to make t-shirts they could wear on the first leg of our trip.  Not only were the shirts not going to survive more than one day of trifecta messes, but putting them in these shirts could minimize the likelihood they would get lost in the airport – we’d be able to tell the lady on the overhead announcement exactly what they were wearing and those looking for them would know when they had found the children. 

Here’s what we learned about day 1 of our family fun vacation with traveling psychoanalytic theories:

1)      Always test the material on which you are trying to iron letters.  I spent a good hour trying to get the Id’s letters on her t-shirt to stick and finally I lost my patience, removed the protective backing and decided I’d try to get them to stick by just using a cotton cloth, rather than the protective backing.  Well, rather than get them to stick on the Id’s t-shirt, I actually ironed “I am ID” on one of our cotton napkins.  SH*T!  Still haven’t figured out how they could stick to the napkin and not the t-shirt.  I tried to iron those letters every which way.  Well, now we have a story to tell the lucky guest that gets that napkin.  Of course, after this debacle that left me with no more iron on letters, I couldn’t leave the Id without a shirt; so I had to improvise and I made hers with glow in the dark puffy paint!  Thankfully she was none the wiser and loved it!

You can see how I tried to peel them off and re-use them.
I'm an idiot!


 

Whew, saved my own @$& on this one.



2)      If you nickname your children, you may not want to send them to school in their Superego, Ego and Id t-shirts.  Though I have not yet gotten the “Dear Mrs. Dugdale” note about this one, HFH (Husband From Heaven) is concerned about the message we may have sent to their teachers and friends who may not read the blog and fully appreciate our shenanigans.  Well, after learning of the pain in the @$& homework punishment WE received for having taken them out of school for 5 days, I think we’re even!  I actually had to put the girls' carry-on items into different bags because we had to take so much crap - especially for fourth grade.  D@mnit!

Not sure what's going on with Id's smile, but I think it's fitting!

 3)      Always carry an extra set of clothes for the children (and maybe yourself too) in your carry-on bag.  With five people there’s bound to be an accident with the drinks on the plane.  The real b*tch of today’s accident – it was MOMMY’S fault.  Daddy didn’t actually know this happened until much later, but I dumped an entire cup of extremely cold soda water on the Ego’s pants and anyone who knows the Ego also knows the trauma that this caused!  The accident was 2 hours into the 4 hour flight and we had a LOOOOOOONG way to go!  The only thing I could think of was to wrap the bottom half of her naked body (this was of course in the bathroom that was clearly not meant for more than one person) in the only warm jacket I had.  I wrapped her in it and then just prayed she didn’t pee in it for the next two hours.  SH*T!

Quote for the day “Oh my gosh, it moved”.  The Id’s observation of the wings of the plane as it was descending.  The look of joy was priceless.  Of course, this was right before she closed the windows and got into a knock down drag out fight with her sister about keeping the window open! 

I’m going to need a vacation from my vacation, aren’t I?

Day 1 of Where's the Trifecta

 If you know where they are, post a comment and
tomorrow I'll let you know if you're right!

Gives new meaning to the phrase "Hell's Angels"