Day One: Leaving for Vacation

Today was the big day! We were all packed and ready to do, and Mommy was waiting in anticipation to see how Olivia would do on her first plane ride! We left the house about 8:30 in the morning and headed to the Bloomington airport. Even though Derrick and Angie were flying too, they left out of Peoria so we weren't on the same flight. No comments on that, other than we let the boys take care of the travel arrangements. So, we made it through security and after playing on the escalators for several trips, Olivia was thirsty. So, Daddy went to get some drinks. Lemonade for Olivia which ended up all over Mommy. I was kneeling in front of her just having a normal conversation, and she and Daddy somehow ended up fighting over the drink which then proceeded to spray all over me! It was awful, and I won't even share my frustration other than saying I was soaked and Shane couldn't stop laughing! The day couldn't have started out worse for me and better for Shane! Looking back, it was a little funny, but at the time I was not a happy camper!

Once we finally boarded the plane, Olivia was getting so tired and we tried to keep her awake in order to see out the window once we were up in there air, but she couldn't make it. As soon as we picked up speed going down the runway, she was out! She slept nearly the whole way which ended up being a good thing, cause I was worried it would be the opposite and she would scream the entire time. But, she did fantastic! She woke up with about a half hour left, so we put in a movie for her. She loved that, and thought she was pretty special!

We did have a three hour layover in Atlanta, which was the worst part. We did what we could to keep her occupied for that length of time, but there is only so much to do in an airport. She did fine and once we got back on the second plane, she was awake the entire time and did great again. She was not scared at all, and it didn't seem to bother her at all. Whew...Mommy was worried for nothing!

Once we arrived in Florida, we took a shuttle to the rental car place and rented a PT Cruiser. We had about a 45 minute drive to the condo into Alabama and we finally arrived at about 10:00 that evening. We put Olivia to bed right away and took a few moments to check the place out. Mommy and Angie took a trip to Walmart to stock up since they had just arrived earlier that evening as well. The Luczkowiak family had arrived in the afternoon and actually drove down, so they were pretty settled when the rest of us arrived, and were definitely tired from the long trip. In fact, we were all pretty exhausted so didn't make it a late night! At Walmart, we bought Olivia a little princess air mattress bed for the week, which ended up being great. However, the first night, she and Mommy slept in the bed and Daddy was on the couch. For those that have not had the opportunity to sleep in the same bed as a two year old, I wouldn't recommend it...she is not a good sleeping partner! All in all, it was a great day and we couldn't wait to start the vacation!!! The pictures for the first day are listed below (3).