The day of traveling :)

We started our adventure this morning at 7:45 am and I can happily say, 13 hours later, the trip exhausted everyone. Because EVERYONE in the hotel room is snoring. Except mommy. You see I am too amped up and excited. So instead I will update the blog and see why my twitter account that I have never used has been hacked into.
But back to subject.

 

The trip down to Florida: one car drive, 2 shuttle drives, 2 planes, one layover and one tram stop and we made it safely with about 300 pounds of luggage in tow. I never got a good picture of us with our luggage because it was quite stressful but maybe you can sense that in this picture:

No that picture fails to show the 2 suitcases weighing in at 49.5 and 52.5 (which I had to scurry and put 3 pounds in our carry on last minute), a double umbrella stroller, a single umbrella stroller, two booster seats, 3 kids rolling suitcases, 3 backpacks and my large, very large carry on. Oh and my camera bag :)

The girls insisted (Abby especially and I guess Ashley would have preferred not to) on rolling their luggage through the airports. While it did help us carry the load, it did slow us down (not that we were in any hurry (:)

  

  

But all in all we managed to get to the gate in time to family pre-board amd find 5 seats in a row. The stewardess was super nice and let Abby have the "last" seat on the place. It was a "sold out" flight and if needed she would sit on our laps since we didn't pay for her. Lucky us, both plane rides we lucked out on "sold out" flights and Abby got her own seat. Which was a good thing because this child is wild!

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

Yes. Abby. Wild. Only so much food, stickers, lollipops, hide n go seek, coloring, bouncing up and down, climbing all over mommy and daddy could contain this beast. Yes she did great on the flights but I never knew she was as loud as she was. Daddy got her for the first 2 hour flight and I got her during the 2nd 1 1/2 hr flight which was also during her nap time. And there was no napping on this plane.... but there were no tears, no poopies, no horrible screaming or stares from other people so I shouldn't be complaining. But wow can she be wild. She loved watching the plane take off and descend and would even say "WOW" and giggle a huge belly laugh when it would speed up and slow down. That was pretty cute :)

And as for the older two, they did awesome. Put projects in front of these girls and they are good to go. They had their ear phones and MP3 players (and were singing probably a little too loudly :), the Disney packet I made them, Frozen coloring poster, paper doll kits, crayons and lunchable. Yes, lunchables saved the day. It took them almost 45 min to eat them and they couldn't have been happier with anything else :) It made me laugh during the first take off. Ashley looks at me as we are driving down the run way and says, "Are we flying?!?!?!!" And then we were are actually flying she looks at me and says, "Are we on the cruise now?" It was pretty funny. And then all serious she asks if God is huger then us. I love you Ash Ash. Then we flew through a cloud and the girls thought that was AWESOME! And Anna was obsessed with watching everything through the window. As for Ashley, she could case less. Abby was pretty into it too!

 

 

 Dr. Pepper!

 Lunchables!

    

 Mommy and Anna barely fit in the potty :)

   

We made the flight change in time to family board and got 5 seats in a row again. Overall the girls loved flying but Anna said at the end of the last flight when we were descending she had 2 burps that hurt. Wow, we lucked out on not having to use the puke bag :)

Daddy had lots of helper at the baggage claim and then we caught our shuttle to Cocoa Beach (right by the cruise port) and will board the ship in the morning. Anna and Ashley thought it was awesome to be in a car with no seat belt or car seat. Mommy and Daddy were a bit nervous but we made it all in one piece :) Let's just say we are glad to be in the hotel.