Remember this box?
And this face?
Well. Today, I woke that little girl up at 6 am. We ate a quick breakfast and left the house. We dragged huge bags through the airport. We strained our eyes to see planes take off and land. Then, we got on our first plane. A short hop to Newark. Complete success. Popping ears and all, that little girl did great. Even with a little bit of turbulence. Then we got on our second plane, where we took this picture...
... please excuse my mess of a ponytail, and the fact that I always squint with one eye when I smile.
... the plane was a hit.
Then, we took a shuttle to our hotel. Where we checked into this room:
Out our huge, floor length window, is this view:
We swam twice. The water is refreshing, but warm... so that you don't shudder to get in. It's perfect. The whirlpools seem to be strategically placed so you can watch your kid in the shallow ends of the grotto pool. (what's a grotto? I don't know, but it has a nice pool.)
We needed groceries. We don't have a car here. We wound our way through this maze of a hotel back to the lobby in search of someone to ask where to find them. We were informed by the concierge that we could take a town car to... Wal-Mart. Something in that sentence doesn't sound quite right with a snooty accent, and it's not 'concierge' or 'town car' (both of which are my new vocab words for the day. Grotto hasn't made it yet, since I'm still not really sure what it means.)
The town car has a TV. The driver plays Tom and Jerry. Someone is transfixed. Unfortunately, the one thing neither the town car or the shuttle have, is a booster seat. Oh well, there's a Wal-Mart for a reason.
That facial expression has nothing to do with the booster, which incidentally makes me feel bunches better about her in the town car. No, let me translate that look for you. It says "Dude, I'm trying to watch animals beat each other up. Would you please stop taking pictures of me doing mundane things like sitting in a car?" Muahahaha. Nope. Photograph ALL the things!
Checked out the stuff I got at the registration desk for my conference. Seriously cool.
...go on, try and guess who's going to that session for sure...
This... is... a... T-SHIRT! SHAPED EXACTLY LIKE FLORIDA!!!!! PROPS to whoever made that happen. I don't even want to unpack it, it's so cool!
For 'dinner', we utilized our groceries, meaning it was.... peanut butter jelly time!!
But uh. The room didn't come with silverware. In fact, it came with all the coffee mixings, cable TV, a mini fridge, and the COZIEST beds... but no knives, spoons, or forks to be found.
What was I to do?
Well... Step 1: Remove Starbucks liner from cup. Step 2: Tear in half. Fold longways. Step 3: Use as though it were a spoon and/or knife.
Yeah. That's right. I made a PBJ using a cardboard starbucks coffee cup liner. Take that, MacGyver!
At the end of the day, after all that swimming, travelling, and excitement... not to mention a hilarious dive away from the floor length window after realizing the curtains were open when she stripped off her swimsuit (resulting in uproarious laughter from me)... that little ball of energy I love so much turned into this creature, not six feet from me right now...
And that's what I call a perfect end to a perfect day. A HUGE thank you goes out to Safe Kids Central Ohio, the Lifesavers Conference, our wonderful family and friends who helped fund the remainder of this trip, Disney, and the wonderful state of Florida for making this day happen. She'll never forget. And neither will I.
...and this is just day 1.
It makes me so happy to read this post! Looks like both you and the kiddo are having the time of your lives. Have a wonderful trip, enjoy every moment!
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