The day after we arrived in Florida we had Sea World scheduled. Granny and Papaw really went all out. We started off our adventure with breakfast with Elmo and Friends!!
(get comfy, this is a long post)
Logan wants Ernie to stay far away
Caden with Ernie
It's Bert
And Zoe
Elmo blowing kisses
Big Bird
Caden (my cookie monster) with Cookie Monster
Caden hugging Elmo. Caden sure is starting to come out of his shell. Not long ago he would have never gotten this close.
The family with Elmo and Big Bird
Plus GrannyNow let me rewind a little so you will have a better understanding of our day. We arrived in Orlando the night before our big day at Sea World....to be exact 8 hours before we had to be up and off to Sea World. Do you see where I'm going with this?
Days leading up to our departure I stressed about flying stand-by with the boys. Remember, James works for the airline so we have to fly stand-by. We ended up leaving two days earlier because the flights looked better Saturday verses Sunday or Monday. We were planning on taking an 11:00 flight but the airline called early that morning and told us that the flight was cancelled and they moved us to the 9:30 flight. So that meant getting the kids up almost two hours earlier and rushing to get last minute things packed. I was starting to feel a little stress....
So we arrived at the airport at 8:15 AM with 2 kids, 4 bags, 2 car seats, one stroller, and 4 carry on bags. Our flight was delayed by about 30 minutes so the boys happily sat at the window and watched the planes. We finally boarded the plane and were waiting for it to push back when they announced that HOU (Houston) was closed due to heavy rains. So 45 minutes later we were told HOU was open but before we left they needed to refuel since they would have to fly around the storm. Waiting, waiting, waiting. Guess what HOU is closed again! At this point I de-board with Caden and go get us some breakfast, I mean lunch, at McDonald's. Back on the plane we wait some more. Finally HOU is open and we push back. As we taxi out James says "Oh no, we're on the hold taxi way". Whatever, that didn't mean anything to me. Then the pilot comes on the PA and says "HOU is closed again and all the gates are full so we have to wait here" Fun stuff!! At this point I have already broke out the toys, snacks, and candy and we haven't even left Dallas.
So we finally park it at an open gate. They said you could de-board but it was strongly discouraged because once they got the green light the plane was leaving with or without you. Well after about 2 hours everyone had de-boarded including us. All we heard over and over was HOU was still closed and there would be another update in an hour. It's about 3 PM at this point. The boys are doing good considering. We got several comments on how well they were doing. I, on the other hand, just wanted to cry. This was exactly what I didn't want to happen. I told James that if we didn't get to go on the next update we should head home and try again tomorrow. A little after 4 PM we were told that they were allowing 2 planes to leave and one was us!! We loaded up again and we were finally in the air.....more than 7 hours later!!
We arrived in HOU around 5:30. We were told the flight from HOU to MCO (Orlando) was full and we may not make it. Just great, I thought to myself, just great! But luckily we made the flight. We arrived in Orlando around 10:00 PM. The boys only napped about 20 minutes each during the flight to HOU so they we beyond tired. Once we got off the plane in Orlando it was MELTDOWN CITY!!!!!!!!!! We went to get the car rental and had to wait in line for a hour for the rental car. We received numerous looks of disapproval that we could not control our kids. I was so irritate, I just wanted to go off on these people!! They had no idea what these poor boys had been through!
We finally arrive at our hotel at midnight. We got the boys to bed and had to wake them up 8 hours later to go to Sea World. Logan was a trooper and handled his sleep deprivation in stride with the occasional (and expected) meltdown throughout the day. Caden, however, was very unhappy the entire day!! I have never seen him behave so badly. I know he enjoyed Sea World but it was very difficult for him....and us!
Wow! That was a long story. Is anyone still reading?? More Sea World to come.
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