Florida Bound

I don't know if I've ever been this unprepared for a trip. (I know, I know, I say that every time, but really.) Adding the girls to the mix really ups the stress level. It's one thing if Sam and I just want to wing it with last minute travel plans, or go to multiple countries without the slightest game plan. But, my goodness, throw in two little humans who depend on us, and even a direct flight and a straightforward Caribbean cruise feel like a massive undertaking.

To get our party of four ready for this trip, I basically just had to highjack the dining room table to lay everything out. The girls' things were packed first, with each outfit, undergarment, and coordinating hairbow packaged together neatly in individual ziplock bags. By the time I finally got to packing my things, it was 1:30 a.m., and I was totally over it. So, stay tuned to me wearing the same outfit every day because I only managed to pack half a suitcase for 10 days. Oh well. At least my kids will be cute.

Sam and I had both planned to work on the day of our departure since we weren't flying out until early evening, but we hadn't necessarily planned for him to get called in to work at 3 a.m. So, he had already worked 10 hours by the time he came home in the afternoon to get changed to leave.

Kasey was super sweet to help us get the girls changed while we loaded the Yukon, and then she drove us over to the airport to drop us off. It felt kind of weird having the girls unload with us this time. 

 I had printed off everything online (since cheapo Allegiant charges you $5 per boarding pass to print them at the airport), so we checked in quickly, but then got reminded (again) why our flights only cost us $332 when they quickly told us our checked bag was overweight. Now, I have a pretty good sense at this point what 50 lbs feels like in our suitcase, and I had felt pretty confident that ours wasn't over 50 lbs. And it wasn't. It was 48 lbs. But, ol' Allegiant sets their weight limit at 40 lbs, so it was 8 lbs over. Gah. They offered for us to move some things around, so we were stuffing Sam's heavy jeans into about any bag we could. We were still 4 lbs over, so we asked if we could just pay for the overage. She happily said, "sure, for an additional $50 each way," to which Sam laughed and said, "I'll throw the jeans away before I'll pay that." haha. We somehow managed to get it down to 42, and since our other bag was only 38 lbs, she allowed the cumulative to be 80 and called it fair.

The girls played in the terminal until our plane arrived. Allegiant's 737 is actually the largest plane to fly out of Roanoke, and it looked huge compared to the AA's turbo prop plane at the next gate. The girls enjoyed learning about the difference between jets and propellers, and one of the sweet American Airlines gate attendants talked with Harper about different plane protocols.

Allegiant says the can fly so inexpensively in part because of their efficiency, and I will say that boarding was pretty quick. It could also be because they charge $30 for any carry on placed in the overhead compartment, so only a fraction of the customers have them, which cuts down on all those folks standing the aisle trying to find a place for their bag.

It was so cute watching their reaction to take off. Here's a little glimpse (and by "glimpse" I mean a six minute long video that only grandparents will want to watch, though it is cute!):

Harper literally talked the E N T I R E hour and thirty-nine minutes of that flight. So, despite the fact that I desperately wanted her to be quiet for just. five minutes. it was pretty entertaining to hear some of her comments and insights. As we were ascending, I told her we were starting to clear the clouds. A few minutes later, she randomly says, "Are we going to meet Jesus?" Ummm. That's not exactly what this not-in-love-with-flying person wants to hear. Hahaha. But, I said, "no, I don't think so. Why?" And she responded with, "Oh. Well, just that He lives in Heaven and that's up above the clouds where we are." She is so literal, that sweet girl. She thought we'd be crashing into pearly gates any minute after we passed those few clouds.

After the pilot announced our "initial descent" into the St. Petersburg area, Wills got so excited and was yelling, "we're landing! we're landing!" I am so thankful for the patient ladies that were seated together with our family. The lady beside Willa interacted with her, asked her questions, helped her do things. And the lady beside me ended up being our friend Megan's mom! Small world.

We were able to find our luggage easily and then waited for the rental car shuttle. Within about an hour, we were off in our Kia Optima, and headed to our hotel. It was only an hour, but it must've been an hour in dog years. Because with two tired, hungry kiddos, it felt like it took foooorrrrrreeeevvvvveeeerrrr. By about 9:30, we had managed to grab some to-go Chick-fil-A and get settled into our hotel room. Shew. I think we were more tired than the girls.

Altogether, our first big travel together went pretty smoothly. It was taxing, definitely, with the constant policing and correcting of the kids. But, it really wasn't terrible. Now it's time to rest up to be able to enjoy Tampa tomorrow!

Well. Unless you're Willa.