Florida Vacation Day 1

We flew out of MSP on Saturday. Our flight was on time, and although I was nervous about how the kids would do (ears, sitting still, etc) I put on a brave face for the kids. This was John and Ella's first plane ride, and Adia was only 20 months her last plane trip, so who knew how she would do? Pat was Super Dad helping me get us and 3 kids, 2 suitcases, 3 backpacks, a stroller, 2 booster seats, and a car seat through security and all checked and ready to go. I popped my dramamine pill and our gate started boarding!

Waiting at the Gate

This is how we fly. Adia and John played DSi's and Ella slept the whole way! There were no ear troubles to speak of. Everyone had gum, drinks, and snacks. It was a fast and easy flight. I will say we looked pretty funny walking through the airport with all our bags, kids, and car/booster seats! The stroller was the catch all, and we got to the car rental desk with all family members and "stuff" accounted for.

This is what Daddy rented us for the week. We dubbed it "The Toaster"

Although it isn't really my style, I would have to say it was really nice. Zippy to drive, and TONS of room with those deep floors.

The drive from the airport to our first hotel was a little nerve racking. We got loaded into the Toaster fine, and we were driving out of the airport when our GPS stalled! It was just loading, loading, loading from switching from WI to FL maps. Pat had a fork in the road and guessed right! The GPS came to life a bit later, and we were on the right track. Traffic the last mile before the hotel was insane. We moved 1 car length every five minutes. We were 1/2 mile from our turn to get into the hotel, but it took like 20 minutes. Yikes. We finally made it, checked in and found our room with no problems. The room was really nice and clean. It was a welcome sight. The humid air even in the night felt great.

This was our view at our first hotel

We got in around supper time, so we order a pizza and got jammies on. We actually lost 2 hours that night. One hour for the time zone change and another hour for daylight saving time Spring Ahead! The kids were excited for Disney in the morning, but after the exciting travel day, went right to sleep.