Monsters Are Eating My Brain

In the past 3 or 4 years, we have neglected to go on any big vacations. We have 3 wonderful little reasons to blame for this. The first year, we spent all of our vacation time (and money) on 2 trips to the Far East – our mission to bring home our Russian Princess. While this was a unique and once (twice?) in a lifetime opportunity (with a fabulous reward at the end), it wasn’t exactly vacation. This little excursion also ate into 2 weeks of the following year’s vacation time. Then, the year after that—well, let’s just say I didn’t feel like going anywhere with a belly full of squirmy boys.

This year, however, we conspired with the Wisconsin Grents and came up with the plan to spend a week in the Orlando area. Papa found a good deal on some time shares which made the whole thing much more affordable and plans were locked in place. While we weren’t too keen on trying such an adventure with just the 5 of us, 2 extra sets of hands would make it all much more enjoyable and relaxing.

Thus, Saturday the 15th of September, we packed the 7 of us and our load of luggage into the van and headed off to the airport. We received a few looks as we marched through the airport with 2 infants, a preschooler and 3 car seats. Boy, they should have seen us before we dropped off our luggage. On that note, Adam and I did manage to keep our luggage down to 2 large suitcases and one small one. That’s decent for 5 people, right? We did have some extra baby stuff that had to come with.

Anyhow, the flight was not bad at all. I really feel that having the kids strapped into their car seats made it much more familiar and comfortable for them. I nursed each of the boys once during the flight, Lidia was well behaved and we had minimal squawking and screaming. At one point, Liam was asleep and we began descending. He did some half asleep fussing on and off for about 5 minutes and then was out again. I have a feeling his ears were paining him, as mine were popping at about that time.

The hardest part came when it was time to un-buckle Lidia’s seat from the plane seat. The buckle was positioned such that it was in the middle of seat with the latch plate up against the back of her seat. I could not get the thing to let me lift it and release the buckle because there wasn’t space to lift it. I looked like a total dope. Even the pilot was like, “How’d you get it in there?” Well, you don’t have to LIFT the buckle release to buckle it, you just put it in. Finally, Adam suggested we try reclining the seat and that gave me enough room to unlatch the thing. I had bruised up/sore hand to show for it, though.

At any rate, we eventually made it here to the resort. Our “room” was essentially a small apartment with plenty of room for our family. Next door we the Grents in a identical (but mirror image) suite. Adam’s aunt joined us on Monday and it proved to be a lovely vacation.

Sunday and Monday we spent getting settled and just doing some pool lounging. Even the boys were digging the swimming. It was pretty hot, so I can’t blame them! We may have another fish on our hands in Gavin. Liam is a bit more timid, especially about water touching his face, but he still enjoyed himself.

Tuesday was spent at Magic Kingdom. Having grown up with Disney, I can’t help but have a special place in my heart for many of their stories and characters. Lidia had a fabulous time. She was in princess heaven and loved all the little rides. Even the boys enjoyed some rides. The Small World ride was like baby eye candy. They were both totally amazed, watching everything and looking everywhere. Occasionally you’d hear an amazed “Ohhh” come out of their mouths. It was quite funny. While the song was crammed into my head for the rest of the day, seeing the looks on their faces made it well worth the ride. For Lidia, I think the biggest highlight was meeting one of her favorite princesses.

Wednesday was to be spent at a water park, however, it rained for most of that day, therefore we chose not to go. Instead we bummed around the apartment for the day and went to Arabian Nights for dinner. My review on that? The food was alright–edible, but nothing fantastic. The show was a bit cheesy at times, however I still enjoyed myself and it kept me entertained. Lidia, however, had a blast! Watching how excited she was made my night. Every time there was a break in the store she would shout excitedly “What’s gonna happen next, Mama??” It was quite cute. So was so into it that she showed not the least bit of sleepiness during the show, even though we had the girl out a good 2 hours past her usual bed time. Gavin fell asleep early in the show, Liam stayed awake for most of it. He, too, seemed quite interested in watching. Over all, a good time was had by all and it was worth the trip (especially as we had discounted tickets into the show).

Thursday was another day at Magic Kingdom. We chose to do 1 park in 2 days, so as not to feel rushed or overwhelmed and I must say that turned out to be a great decision. We were able to see everything we wanted to see, and it didn’t even matter that we had to leave a tiny bit early due to a storm on Thursday. Lidia was even able to go on Splash Mountain, which my little thrill seeker loved. I would have taken her on it again had the line not been so long. I think we are going to have a roller coaster girl in her.

Friday we went to Typhoon Lagoon, one of Disney’s water parks. It was a nice, hot day for it. Lidia thoroughly enjoyed the kiddie area and even the boys did some splashing before they passed out for their afternoon nap. Adam and I were able to break off for a little while and spend some time together in the wave pool and on a few slides. They had quite the wave pool! This is the first of this type I have encountered. All the sudden there is a loud “BOOM” and a huge wall of water is coming at you. It knocked me back a good 20+ feet and that was even while holding on to Adam’s hand! We had fun, though. It’s been a long time since just he and I played together. Eventually we went back for Lidia and took her with us on one of those family raft slides. It was a pretty tame slide that 3 or 4 people could fit in one raft. There were water falls and such that pummel you on the way down. Lidia loved it so much that we took her on it 5 or 6 times. She would have went again if it weren’t almost time for the park to close.

Alas, Saturday came and we did a little bit of souvenir shopping before it was time to head off to the airport. The evening flight was slightly delayed due to a bit of a storm front that arrived in the area, but we eventually settled in for the trip home. Gavin fell asleep before we even boarded the plane. He stayed asleep most of the flight, but woke for a while toward the end. He was fussing a bit, just as our own ears started popping so we assume he was probably having a bit of ear pain. Liam fell asleep after take off and slept until we took him out of the seat after landing. Lidia fell asleep after the much anticipated warm chocolate chip cookie were handed out (supposedly something Midwest is “famous” for now?) I won’t complain, they were yummy cookies. After loading everyone back into the van, and making the drive back to Madison (we had flown out of Milwaukee), we arrived home just before Midnight.

So that’s vacation in a nutshell. We enjoyed ourselves and are glad we went. However, Adam could have done without the cold virus he brought home as a souvenir…and then shared with me. Liam is sleeping horribly again (while Gavin is only getting up once a night, yay!) so the combination of my being up much of the night and the cold is making vacation recovery a bit slow.

Seeing as how we had our hands full of kids or were directly involved in activities much of the time, we came home with very few pictures to show for our vacation. However, we are going to nab the Grents pictures so as soon as I get those, I will be posting some pictures in the gallery.

Posted: Friday, September 28th, 2007 @ 10:54 am
Categories: Adventures, Incoherant Rambling, What's New With Us.
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