3/31/2011 Day One

Everyone was up early and ready to go!

Everything went smoothly all the way up until after security. Elliot started having some tummy issues which resulted in me running him to the bathroom seven times before we even got on the plane! Our first flight was overbooked but great otherwise... Elliot sat between Trevor and I, with Addison and Craig across from us.

The kids were so excited and Elliot just talked and carried on saying stuff like “We're Flying!!” The flight was quick and smooth. After we landed in St. Louis, someone a couple rows up said that they needed to meet Elliot because he sounded so adorable. I raised him in the air and a bunch of people said hi and how good he was. We got off the plane and a lady walked up to him (one of the ones wanting to meet him) and handed him a $5 bill, telling him to get something great like Ice Cream since he deserved a treat for being so good! He was so excited and was instantly sticking it into a pocket! She started to walk away and then realized Addison was with us too and told her she was so quiet she didn't even know she was there so she gave her money too!! She started talking to us and apologized about Addison, then realized by our awesome shirts that we were on Elliot's Make A Wish trip! We talked a little more and then made our way to Chili's Too. The food took forever, but it turned out that it didn't matter because our flight was delayed. We finally got on the plane about 30 minutes late and this time Elliot sat with daddy. 

Just as the Fasten Seatbelt light came on, Elliot's tummy troubles resurfaced and I had to run him to the back of the plane. When we walked out of the restroom, the stewardess kindly let us know that everyone was “patiently waiting on us, including the pilot” How nice, right?!? Only a few minutes later, just after the seatbelt light went off, Elliot informs Craig that he didn't make it to the bathroom and we now had major issues to deal with!! I was the lucky one once again and had to squeeze him onto a tiny changing table in the bathroom. Needless to say, this was not the highlight of the flight!!! Got him all cleaned up, back in his seat and all of us situated again. He and Craig both managed to fall asleep after that.

The rest of the flight went okay but once we got closer to Orlando we hit a lot of turbulence from the thunderstorm. We ended up getting stuck sitting on the runway for around 40 minutes waiting for lightening to clear. Then our luggage took at least 45 minutes to come around and when it did it was soaking wet! By this time we were over two hours later than we were supposed to be so we decided to skip Walmart and head to the Village. It was pouring down rain the whole way.

tram after flight

This is what we saw when we pulled up to Give Kids the World (stock photos because of the rain)

We got checked in quickly and headed over to our villa to drop off our luggage.

these were taken the next day because it was too yucky out!

  

Now it was around 7pm and everyone was starving so we made our way (in the pouring rain) over to the Gingerbread house for Christmas dinner! 

stock photo

 Mrs. Claus was there to great us at the door and the kids were instantly in love.

We had a great Christmas dinner. Mayor Clayton and Mrs. Mary stopped by our table. Mrs. Mary made us all eat a carrot and she even fed me mine off my fork!!

I had to leave in the middle of dinner to run to orientation, back through the pouring rain. While I was in orientation, Craig and the kids went over to Julie's Safari Theater to see Santa!

stock photo

  I got out of orientation just as the kids finished seeing Santa. They picked out a present and then we HAD to get ice cream! (pictures of the Ice Cream shop later)  When we got back to our villa I immediately threw Addison and Elliot in the whirlpool tub. Trevor brought me their suitcase, only for me to discover that all of their clothes were wet, Trevor's too!! I had to start throwing them in the dryer in shifts. Elliot didn't love the jets so I washed them both off then got him out so Addison could play in the jets for a few minutes. I walk into the next room, just long enough to dress Elliot and then return to the bathroom to discover that the rinsed off shampoo turned into the worlds largest bubble bath ever!!!!

Got that all cleaned up and got the kids ready for bed to discover that the pullups we were told would be here weren't and the bed rail was missing too. A quick call to the front desk had a rail here in minutes and Craig was told to come up front to get some diapers. Finally got everyone to bed (Craig was the first one asleep!!) and Elliot couldn't sleep until he got in my bed. I stayed up, finished laundry, packed a park bag, laid out Sea World clothes and then sat up to write this!

Tomorrow will be a beautiful, sunny day at Sea World!!!