Yesterday afternoon we all arrived in Orlando. We were supposed to arrive at 12:30, but our flight was late because we sat on the runway for 45 minutes before taking off in Baltimore. Oliver had a very hard time with the concept of sitting for almost 3 hours on an airplane. He wanted to get out of my lap and walk up and down the aisle. Last year it was much easier to fly with him, and next year it should go back to being much easier. I remember that this age was when it was the hardest with his two siblings also. This was his third time on an airplane, and his fourth time next week will be the last time he is able to fly for free. Both round trip flights were to Florida. Last year we flew to Jacksonville instead of Orlando. We had to wait in line awhile to get our boarding passes, and then we breezed through security (didn't have to remove shoes or take laptops out of bags or anything!). The only slow part of the security process for us was they had to do a bunch of stuff to the stroller because it couldn't fit on the conveyor belt. I'm so grateful that we went through the screening so quickly because by the time we got to our gate, they were almost totally done boarding our plane. Next time we fly from BWI we need to leave my parent's house earlier than we did yesterday. We brought toys, coloring books, a dvd player, iPad, and food to entertain the boys. Ian did fine the entire trip. Oliver did fine for part of the trip, but it lasted a bit too long for him.
To pass the time while waiting to be picked up at the airport, Oliver and I made many trips up and down two escalators. Who needs rides at Disney when you have an escalator? Oliver finally fell asleep in the van on the way to the resort. We arrived at 3pm, which was one hour before the official check- in time, but they gave us our parking pass for our van and we (not including Paul's parents) changed into our swimsuits and spent about 90 minutes in the pool. After we changed back into dry clothes in our units, we drove to Denny's (less than 2 miles from the resort) for dinner. Since kids' meals are free there after 4pm, I actually ordered three kids' meals! I never order a meal for Oliver, but since it was free, I got him his own meal. On our way back to the resort after dinner we stopped at a grocery store to pick up some milk, bread, fruit, etc. for our week here in Florida. I had packed some food in the van from home (cereal, pretzels, oatmeal, crackers, etc.). I also brought along some homemade banana bread and homemade chocolate peanut butter chip cookies. Paul's parents are staying in an efficiency a couple of doors down from us, and we are staying in a two bedroom unit. Nadia and Ian each have their own queen size bed in the 2nd bedroom. We put Oliver's pack and play in the second bathroom (where it's nice and dark for him), and Paul and I are in the master bedroom.
Oliver and Nadia were the first two up this morning (6:30) and Ian slept until a little after 7:00. We were at the pool at 9:00 and stayed for two hours before coming back to our unit for lunch. After lunch we attempted to head to the pool party, but we missed the first half of it, and the second half got rained out. We waited under shelter until the eating contest. I was thinking it would be a pie or hot dog eating contest, but it was a contest to see who could eat a popsicle the fastest. Nadia entered the children's contest, and she was awarded a "sand dollar" (one of the tokens they give here that can be redeemed for a prize) for participating, but she definitely was not any where close to winning that contest. By then the rain had stopped and so we swam until the 2pm show put on by an employee from Gatorland. It was very well done. We learned about scorpions, tarantulas, alligators, and boa constrictors. Some children and adults held each of the animals, and everyone was invited to have a turn to hold an alligator at the end. Nadia was the only one from our group who held the alligator. Pop Pop and Oliver had been in the unit since lunch so that Oliver could have his nap. After Oliver woke up, they came down and joined us in the pool for a little over an hour before we headed back to get dressed and go out to dinner. If the kids were older, we would have gone to see fire works last night, but in light of the two nights we will probably be up past their bed time at Disney (and can see fireworks there), we opted to put them to bed at 8pm last night. If we had been at home, I would have taken them to fireworks. We are very thankful to live in the USA and pray that as our children grow up they will continue to be able to enjoy the freedoms our founding fathers fought for many years ago.
No comments:
Post a Comment