It is Tuesday evening and we are home from our whirlwind tour of Orlando, FL. Back in the cold and snow. It's a school night. I'm bummed about it ending so quickly, but it does feel nice to be home. I missed AJ, my bed, and the relative calm that comes from the daily grind. There are many details to share about our little trip, but I'm going to break it up into days to avoid a mile-long post you will surely stop reading half-way through (if you haven't already!)...
***********************************************
Our day on Friday began very early. We got to the airport and had NO trouble getting through security at all. Thank goodness - that always worries me! Ethan was pretty content to carry his new Thomas carry-on throughout the airport. He even rolled it along the side of his stroller as we pushed him.
Ready to go on the plane!
We had a quick breakfast and boarded the plane. All 10 of us. I really didn't know what to expect with Ethan on the plane, but I was pleasantly surprised. He sat pretty well throughout 3/4 of the trip. He had a bunch of new toys in that Thomas bag, so he was entertained for a bit.
He loved the window seat!
Entertaining himself
He didn't like once the plane started the descent - he told us his ears hurt. Poor baby! Then, he just got annoyed with having to be seat-belted in and cried. Loudly. But only for a few minutes. Not too bad at all! The best part of the meltdown was Ethan yelling "I gotta get out of here NOW!" Drama King.
Cainan guides him...
Then, the rental car fiasco happened. Our rental company was off site - something it did not say on the site I used to book this car. We had to call a shuttle, which came pretty quickly. We got there and were greeted by a very rude lady. She rang us up for $80 more than I was quoted and had a billion other fees we weren't sure about. Long story short, they had really bad customer service but we handled it and got the price back down a bit. After 45 minutes of trading snippy remarks...
By this point, it was 85 degrees and we were in pants. Ethan was tired and hungry. He fell asleep as soon as I started driving and we were so glad. That feeling of calm lasted for a whole 5 minutes. Then Ethan threw up. A LOT. Twice. In traffic. Ahhh....lovely. I cried while my mom comforted and cleaned Ethan. I think he was just hot and exhausted from the business of the morning. He was so out of it that he referred to our hotel room as the hospital.
Our hotel was about 10 minutes away. It was super cheap, but it had a separate little room, bed, and tv for Ethan, so it worked out. It wasn't beautiful, but we knew we'd really only be sleeping in there, it served the purpose just fine. And, the location was amazing - 5-8 minutes from every park. Anyway, we got into the room quickly and got Ethan changed. I was worried about him eating, but he perked up really fast once we were settled. We spent a few hours at the pool - Mom and Ethan swam while I soaked up some rays.
How wonderful it was to be in shorts and a tank top in February! Ethan took turns between splashing my mom and eating crackers.
After relaxing pool side, we headed to Downtown Disney for food and shopping. My mom, Ethan, and I ate at Rainforest Cafe. The food was fabulous and Ethan LOVED the atmosphere.
We were sitting right by some 'monkeys' that would move and make noise from time to time. When they would stop, Ethan would yell "Hey, wake up monkeys!" He especially enjoyed drinking out of his new GIANT froggy cup.
Grammy and Papa met us after dinner. We had some ice cream, watched a show, and shopped. Ethan, of course, wanted to touch everything. And buy everything. We made it out of there without damaging the account too badly, though. It's a good thing, too, because we were feeling a bit taken advantage of by the rental car company. Grammy and Papa also helped us to find our car. It was a long experience. But we never forgot where we parked the rest of the trip!
Meeting 'Buzz' at DD
We were all pooped and fell asleep by 9. One of the downfalls of a cheap hotel is the noise level. We weren't even very close to the pool area, and we could hear kids playing loudly until 11 p.m. Plus, every time anyone walked by or pulled in the parking lot from one of the parks, we could hear it. Ethan wasn't bothered at all. My mom was snoring pretty quickly, too. I, on the other hand, am a VERY light sleeper and heard everything (from my bed with one pillow even though I sleep with 8 at home - another downfall of a cheap hotel).
The lesson of day one is - You get what you pay for.
Don't worry - the rest of the days got better.
No comments:
Post a Comment