For the week leading up to departure day, neither Shawn nor I was able to get a good nights sleep. So it came as no surprise to either one of us when we were wide awake at 4:15 a.m. even though the plan was to wake up at 6:15 a.m. After an hour of talking and tossing and turning, I surrendered and hopped out of bed to get ready for the day. Shawn fell back asleep, and before too long, it was time to wake him up.
Because of our having two reservations, a room-only and then a package, we received two sets of Magic Bands. The kids of course didnt know this, and thought that Disney had wanted our first and second choices for MB colors. We used their first choice for the package, saving the second choice colors for the one day room-only reservation.
Shawn got the MB box down from its hiding place and went to the kitchen. In the meantime, I woke the boys up by telling them Shawn was going to run to Burger King for breakfast and they needed to go tell him what they wanted. We never do fast food for breakfast, so the boys hopped out of bed and rushed into the kitchen. Who knew some greasy grossness could make them so excited?
They started telling us what they wanted, but I interrupted them. Hey, before we do this, do you guys want to wear your Magic Bands today?
Pierson and Kyle thought this was a great idea, but Cody wasnt so excited about it. He was more worried about losing his. We told him not to worry, that it wouldnt come off until he took it off. He agreed. We took the lid off the box, and all three of the boys said, Hey!
Shawn and I played dumb. What? Is something wrong?
Those arent the colors they were when they came in the mail. Oh, cool! They change colors!
I laughed. Nope, they dont change colors. Those Magic Bands are packed away in Dads carryon. These are a new set. See, those Magic Bands arent good until tomorrow. These set are good for today.
Kyle and Pierson, goofballs that they are, just nodded and smiled. They didnt get it. But Cody, oh, his reaction was priceless. His jaw dropped, his eyes grew wide, and he yelled, What?! Are you kidding? Kyle and Pierson just kind of stared. We laughed and said no, we werent kidding. No school today. Instead, we were leaving for Disney today, and our flight would be leaving around 11:30.
They were screaming, jumping up and down and hugging us. It was a great reaction, especially for just a surprise of leaving one day early. Im so glad we did it, though, because it meant that theyd gotten a good nights sleep the night before since their excitement didnt interfere. Also, it was going to be the kids first time flying, and Pierson was terrified. Sneaking it up on him like that gave him less time to worry about it.
By this time, it was only around 6:25. We had the kids get dressed and brush their teeth and Shawn got ready as I got Gigi up and ready. We finished packing the last minute stuff and were ready to head out of the house at 6:55. Oops. Wed figured it would take the kids an hour or longer to get moving, but we hadnt figured in their excitement. Oh, well. We were ready to get this vacation started, so we headed out anyway. As we walked to the van, Pierson grabbed my hand and told me it was the best day of his life. I couldnt stop smiling.
We ate breakfast at IHOP (Burger King was just a way to get them out of bed), and there was no one else there so we were finished by 8:15. Hmmm. We were 15 minutes from the airport and the flight wasnt set to leave until 8:32. We decided just to head on over. We parked in long-term parking, and the shuttle followed us to our parking spot. Five minutes later, we were at the Airtran desk!
When Shawn had checked us in the day before, our seat were scattered all throughout the jet. He asked at the desk if there was any way for us to sit together, not necessarily all together but so that the kids didnt have to sit alone. The very kind employee assured us she had a whole row we could sit in, changed our seats, and sent us on our way. Sweet! Or not.
We went through security and were the first passengers at the gate. Within the next two hours, more and more people arrived. Suddenly I was grinning like a mad fool. It was as though the Disney bubble had already surrounded us. All around us, sitting in Canton, Ohio in the freezing cold, people were wearing Mickey ears and sweatshirts. Quite a few people had Disney luggage. A few families showed up in matching homemade Disney shirts. We even had a sweet little girl dressed as Tiana. I seriously couldnt stop smiling.
When it was finally time to board the jet, we checked the stroller and went looking for our seats. Back, back, back. Oh. The very last row. Oh, no.
Shawn and I exchanged a look. There were no windows at all. We both felt terrible. Here it was the kids first flight, and they couldnt see anything. We worried for nothing, though, as once the boys turned on their DSs, they barely looked up again until we landed in Florida. Still, I was glad it was only a 2 hr 15 min flight.
Have you ever flown with an infant or toddler? Looking at the faces of the other passengers as they saw us heading to our seats was hilarious. We could just see everyone thinking, Dont sit here. Dont sit here. Please dont sit here.
I totally understood, though. Gianna did wonderfully, though, and barely made a peep. In fact, when we landed, the family in front of us told us they hadn't heard a sound from our children the whole flight. Yay!
Piersons fears quickly dissipated once we got in the air. However, about an hour into the flight, he started complaining of ear pain. A couple weeks before we left hed come down with a sinus infection, and his doctor gave him extra treatment so that the flight would not re-aggravate him. It didnt work. By the time we landed, he couldnt hear anything. He wasnt hurting anymore, but he couldnt hear. At all.