Florida Vacation

First off I just want to say thank you.  I really do like being from the Midwest and I find Midwesterners to be very helpful and we had people step up all over the place to help us out.

We had a morning flight out of Kansas City.  Having to get to the airport so early, means you have a lot of time to kill.  For us that meant trying to get Bella to eat breakfast, and getting our very excited son to have patience and wait to board the plane.  Let’s just say we had to attempt a time out in the airport and it didn’t go so well.

Boarding the plane.  Well that’s a story on it’s own.  And since our hands were extremely full, there was no way we got any pictures.  But it would have been priceless to see them now.

So we were able to preboard because we needed to transfer Bella from her stroller to a car seat.  Except we didn’t quite get in line early enough and a bunch of elderly people got in front of us.  I was trying to ask nicely if they minded and we could jump to the front of the line (all of the people in front of us were walking on their own with no assistance devices).  I just got a bunch of glares and so we slowly went to the back of the line.  This did pose a problem because we were the last ones to preboard, which actually meant we had no additional time to get situated.  Jesse and Oliver boarded the plane with the car seat and Bella and I waited with all the bags in the boarding ramp. 

Then all the class A group boarded (we were on Southwest).  I quickly realized Jesse was not going to be able to make it back out to us to help get Bella.  Which meant I was going to have to get Bella out of the stroller myself and somehow get the stroller properly folded up for them to load it underneath.  My options were basically to lay Bella directly on the floor, in which their wasn’t much room, or I first attempted to have her sit in a basic wheelchair that was stored there.  Bella would not sit, and kept sliding down.  People just kept walking by.  I realize no one wanted to stop and help because this was the “A” group and they had probably paid extra to make sure they could get on the plane first and get their chosen seats…..here is where I silently cursed Southwest and their no assigned seating.

But as I was struggling the boarding pass agent from Southwest came down the ramp and offered help.  I asked him to keep Bella propped up in the chair so I could fold up the stroller.  And no sooner was he doing that, Jesse actually started to come out of the plane.  The stewardess and stopped traffic so he could make his way out, and another stewardess had been kind enough to sit with Oliver on the plane.  So Jesse was able to grab Bella and I quickly grabbed our bags and we finally got situated on our seats.

The flight itself went fairly well.  Bella got a little fussy toward the end and probably wanted to get out and lay down.  Oliver got very fidgety and didn’t want to be stuck in his seat anymore.  But all in all both kids did really well.

Once we landed and got to the ramp and picked up our strollers, we began our journey to get all our bags.  I really, really, really wish we had taken a photo of us with all our bags and gear.  It was slightly ridiculous and honestly about one bag more than we could handle.  A nice couple that had been on our flight offered to take a few of our bags to the car rental agency, since they were also headed that direction.

We crammed all our stuff into a slightly too small for us vehicle (let’s just say I picked it out and Jesse was cursing me under his breath as he tried to get everything stuffed into the vehicle to shut the doors).  In my defense the only time we had all the bags was to and from the airport and we saved both money on the rental and gas money by going with the smaller vehicle.

After we arrived at the house we were renting we dropped everything off and headed out to a turtle festival which was held at a sea turtle rescue center.

The next day was Oliver’s first experience at the beach/ocean.  He LOVED IT!  And he squawked like a bird in excitement for the first 30 minutes straight.  Running into and out of the ocean. 

It took him a while to realize the waves could take him down.  There were quite a few instances he fell and/or we had to grab him.  This one is fearless I tell you, because he loved it and kept going back in.

Our rental house was in Juno Beach and we absolutely loved the area.  It was not busy at all and the beaches were lovely.  The fishermen were out there daily.

Bella really enjoyed her first day at the beach.  We dipped her into the ocean water, but for the most part she just enjoyed sitting in the breeze.

The rental house had a pool, so the kids were excited to swim there as well.  And it was great for Jesse and I, as we hung out at the pool each day the kids napped.

The next day we tried a popular beach for children in a nearby community.  The water wasn’t as pretty, but it was a lagoon where the kids could play around and not have to worry about waves knocking them over.

The preferred activity of Oliver’s at the beach, throwing sand.  Trying to tell him you could only throw sand into the water and not at people…very repetitive.

We also went to a small rescue zoo that was located near us.  Oliver informed us that his favorite animal was the snake.

And what’s a Florida trip without seeing an Alligator?

We also hit up some parks and plenty of additional time at the beach.

By the end of the week, Bella was not really enjoying the beach anymore.  But since that is what we were there for, she didn’t really get a choice and had to stick it out.

Bella’s favorite activity, and possibly Oliver’s too, was our sunset cruise boat ride.  This was meant to be a somewhat romantic/relaxing outing for couples and families.  They allowed small children and at the time we booked, it was the only thing available.  So we went.  Our kids were the only ones on the boat, in fact Jesse and myself were some of the youngest members of the cruise.  Luckily our kids loved the boat ride and behaved great.  The crew/workers did a great job entertaining them.

Oliver got to be captain for awhile.

And the captain came out and danced with Bella when he heard she loved to dance.  That takes a very special person in our minds to be able to hold her and try and give her a great time.

This girl was smiles the whole night.

The way home we had a little practice under our belt, so it seemed to go a little better.  Except for the 5 hour plane delay where we camped out at the Fort Lauderdale airport for hours and hours.  Luckily there was a place for Bella to lay down and both kids came through it with minimal issues.

Our biggest hurdle was the fact we were now in the air and landing way past bedtime.  Oliver went to sleep in our laps and Bella went to sleep in her stroller once we landed at the airport…which never happens, that’s how tired she was.

All in all it was good vacation.  The travel was a little stressful and the majority of activities was geared to the kids.  The weather might have been a tad on the cold side (beginning of April), so in the future if we do Florida again, we might wait a month or so if we really want to maximize the beach and pool time.