Vacation Journal - Day 1

Today we packed up and headed down for a little fun in the sun in Fort Lauderdale.  We left our house at 7:30 (on the dot as planned!) and headed to Grammy and Grampy’s to drop Kipu off and bum a ride into the airport.  We had a 10:50 flight, and arrived at the airport around 9.  We had checked two suit cases and the base to Ry’s car seat free of charge… thank you Jet Blue! Getting through airport security wasn’t bad at all.  We asked one of the TSA agents prior to approaching the checkpoint the best way to get through security with the snap and go and car seat.  Traveling with an infant is so different!!  We ended up folding up the snap and go, turning the car seat upside down on the belt and carrying Ry right through the scanner.

Once through we had about an hour wait before we boarded, it was off to Starbucks for Mom and DD’s for Daddy.  It was at this point that I realized I didn’t have my iPhone and had a mini meltdown!!  Boooo!!  Cranky Mama!!!  After we had our treats I decided I would approach the gate agent with my sweet little girl in my arms and ask her if anyone had checked themselves into the seat between Dan and I.  (Whenever we travel together I always book the window and the aisle under the assumption that middle seats are the last to go, and no one will object an upgrade from a middle seat to a window/aisle.)  She said they hadn’t and that she would keep her eye on it and try and move them if they did.  Thanks so much Jill!!  We were one of the few rows on the plane with an empty seat, and that extra room is so nice, especially with an infant.

We fed Ry during takeoff with the hopes that she would avoid any ear popping.  Unfortunately she was getting cranky and we had to start the bottle earlier than Momma would have liked.  Ry fought sleep like crazy on the plane but ended up getting in a 45 minute nap before we landed.  

After picking up our bags and heading to baggage claim we headed out the rental car bus.  Nothing more fun than a cramped bus with a stroller.  We booked through Enterprise which allows you to pick your vehicle based on size booked.  There were no cars in our class out there and jokingly Dan mentioned wanting a Kia Sorrento (which we own), sure enough, around comes a Sorrento so off we went!

Traffic getting to the hotel was awful.  It took us a good 25 minutes to go 1 mile on A1A.  Parking at the Marriott Beach Place is a bit of a pain.  You are allowed to park on levels 4-5 of the garage, but getting up to the level takes forever, especially with a cranky baby.   Poor Bug had been cooped up for such a long time.  We got to the hotel and check-in was a breeze.   I had called ahead and reserved a pack-n-play for Ry and they offered a high chair as well so we took it.  (Sorry to Dan who I made lug Ry’s portable highchair.)  When we got up to the room I unpacked while we waited for the pack-n-play to be delivered from housekeeping as well as some packages I had shipped down earlier during the week from Amazon.  It took forever for them to arrive and now I didn’t have a cranky baby anymore, but I did have a cranky hungry Daddy. 

We took a quick trip to Wal-Mart to get some food and diapers for Ry, and then stopped on the way back for Easter dinner.  Much to Dan’s dismay, we didn’t have Easter dinner at Hooters (which is attached to the hotel), instead we went much classier, Chili’s.  

Ry was probably the crankiest we have ever seen her at dinner at Chili’s.  I think a combination of overtired, strange location, and residual ear pain contributed to this.  Dinner for Ry primarily consisted of “puffs” and MumMums.  Hopefully this isn’t a trend. 

After dinner a quick stop at Whole Foods , and then back to the hotel to start Ry’s bedtime routine.  Bed time wasn’t until after 9 tonight for Ry, so who knows what time DADDY will be up during the night!!