We Go To Florida--Day 1 We Get There

Some months ago, I talked to Kent about taking Brandt on a trip for his twelfth birthday.  I know several families that have a tradition of taking a child on a trip to the destination of their choice, just the child and the parents.  Nice concentrated time with the child.  I told Kent how much I liked this idea and how great I thought it would be if we took Brandt to Universal Studios Florida to visit Harry Potter World.  I knew that would be where Brandt would choose to go.  He talks about it all the time.  I must have caught Kent at a weak moment, because he agreed to a trip, but he felt like we needed to include Blythe, too.  I agreed with him, because while time alone with Brandt would be great, we only have two children, and we would be sad to not have Blythe with us.  So I bought four plane tickets, and we didn't tell the children.  I didn't want to have to answer, "How many more days until we go to Florida," 846 times, and I do love a surprise.

Today was the day we left.  I haven't been making too many preparations, but yesterday we made a big push to get everything we needed into bags and ready to fly.  Dying of excitement, Blythe woke at 4:45, eager to get on the road.  Our flight today wasn't until 2:45, we didn't leave until noon, so an early wake up was unnecessary, but I understand how excitement can create havoc with one's sleeping.  I used the morning to finish up last minute details.  The children have been asking if we could take their Kindles, but I have been very reluctant to include them.  Brandt and Blythe spend far too much time glued to their screens, and all that time fritzes their brains and makes them fairly unpleasant to be with.  I had said no and Kent had agreed.  I did charge them, but I didn't get the Amazon service that provides them with games and books and videos, so there were only a few games downloaded.  Blythe begged and begged and even filled out and signed a contract saying they would only play on them for two hours while we were flying.  I gave in and said okay, but then Brandt's wouldn't work.  It wouldn't turn on, even though it was charged.  Blythe said she would share, and I was going to download some additional games for both of them.

Then crisis ensued.  Kent needed to transfer money from his 401K to the bank, and he was trying to figure out a wire transfer, but he left it until the last possible moment.  He worked this morning, came home at 11:00, and then tried to figure it all out.  It was not going well, and he asked me to help.  While I was able to get it done, it greatly curtailed the time I had to put our last minute airplane snacks together, and gave me no time to download any additional games.  Because Brandt's wasn't working and there were only four games that worked, I said, "Let's just leave the Kindle home."  Blythe freaked out, began to have a fit, and stomped upstairs screaming, "If we don't take the Kindle, I'm not going!"  I didn't exactly scream back at her, but I did make it very clear that her attitude was exactly the reason why I didn't want to take the Kindles in the first place.  If she carried on like that, I was going to get rid of the Kindles that very moment and she would never play on it again.

Calmness returned, we got our last minute things finished, and we headed to the airport on time.  Sharon agreed to take us to the airport and pick us up again, in exchange for the use of our car during our absence, which worked out well for everyone.  We didn't have to pay for parking and they had an extra car.

Our flights were both very smooth.  We flew into Houston and from there to Orlando.  Brandt didn't throw up, the kids shared the Kindle and played the four games over and over again, and we did some other things, too.  I had brought cards, markers and coloring books, and books.  Brandt and I played the shortest game of War ever.  I think I lost in three turns of the cards.  We played Go Fish and Trash, and read.  We had  short layover in Houston, with just enough time to get dinner at Wendy's, ride the tram between concourses, and get on the next flight.

I had thought we were going to get into Orlando shortly after 9:00pm, which, by the time we got to our hotel, would put us in good shape to get to bed at a decent hour.  I was mistaken, however.  I was apparently thinking it would be shortly after nine Utah time, meaning it was shortly after 11:00 in Florida.  We weren't renting a car until Friday, so we took an Uber to the hotel.  It was the first time we were using Uber, and I was a bit nervous about making it all work, but it was very smooth.  We requested a ride as we picked up our luggage, our car and driver arrived about 15 minutes later, and he took us right to our hotel.  We paid through Uber directly, so we didn't even have to give him money.  It was brilliant!  It was also very late when we got to our hotel; just after midnight.

We crept quietly into our hotel room so as not to disturb other guests, but didn't really turn out the lights to go to sleep until 12:45pm.  So late, but we aren't really on a schedule, so it was okay.  For all the stress that can sometimes accompany a travel day, we were very pleased with how smoothly it all went.

Me in the middle hump suck seat between Brandt and Blythe.

It's the arrangement we always have when we fly.

This is a really bad picture I took while we waited for our Uber driver.

I sent it to him so he would know who he was looking for. 

We're tired and very out of focus.