Traveling to Orlando with Munchkins - Not for the Faint of Heart

Thursday was crazy. It was the kind of crazy day one expects when going for a week's vacation with two munchkins after being sick for almost a week. Crazy.

I'm usually very 'together' for trips. I have lists that I create and update for each trip. I have a mighty green plastic indexed folder that has all our travel information and important trip stuff. I'm organized almost to the point of being a little OCD.

I begin packing a week before a trip. Nathan and I have an unspoken line of trip prep responsibility. I am responsible for all things munchkin, pets with legs, my stuff, and household stuff gets done along the way (we over 100 plants for example that winter indoors so that takes a while to get them all watered before a trip). Nathan's trip prep is done on the morning that we leave. We're different people. That's the way we roll.

I will admit that this trip was different. I was sick (and am still hacking) all the way up to our departure. I had pulled some of my and the kids clothes but hadn't gone through my days of refinement and re-checking. I started putting stuff in suitcases the day before we left which is very late for me. Ugh .. we're missing stuff of course. It just wasn't the way that I would've wanted to go on vacation. Blake was dropped off to his doggy hotel mid' morning so that I could return just in time to pile into the car for the airport. Too rushed for my taste.

Our flight was scheduled to depart at 3:45 p.m. Unfortunately, the wind and rain caused our airplane to be delayed and thus our departure to be delayed. Waiting with munchkins is never fun. They have a sense of urgency and time that doesn't include 'waiting'. We scarfed down a fast meal only to stand in front of our gate 'waiting'. Sasha proceeded to throw his happy meal toy (which resembled a GPSr btw) onto the floor repeatedly potentially stress testing it for future versions. Mia, strapped into her pink chariot, was an easier customer to keep under control. Sasha would drop his toy 100 times, then bark out an order to Mia (we think he's going to be upper management one day). I noticed a group of older travelers eyeing Mia, smiling and talking about her in the seating area. The girl has this effect on people. She is a pretty girl but it's beyond just being pretty. She captivates onlookers. It's quite a phenomena.

After traveling with both munchkins from Russia, you might imagine how excited I was to travel with them again. Nathan had somehow managed to avoid sitting with our children on any flight. Typically, he sits in front of us casting a glance over his shoulder occasionally like "who is that ill behaved child and what is his mother doing to control him". Surely it was his turn to take both children and allow me the opportunity to sleep all the way to Orlando. Or perhaps I could catch up on a good book (do I still know how to read???) OR I could watch the next couple of episodes of The Starter Wife on my IPhone. Oh, the possibilities were endless! But no such luck. We were seated together. Sasha was incredibly surly the entire trip. Not fun. Mia lounged on Nathan the whole journey. She was in her element.

We arrived in Orlando late Thursday night. The blast of balmy air as we exited the airplane and the overall stickiness of the airport gave us a sense that we weren't in Chicago in winter anymore. Sasha's surliness continued - had to go potty, wouldn't because it flushed automatically, lost his shoe, threw himself down on the floor and pitched a fit, collapsed into tortured sobs when we started walking away from his 25th tantrum - ah the joys of traveling with munchkins. We arrived at baggage claim along with full loads of folks from five other cities and waited. In between checking for our luggage (which we already now know didn't contain all the things we needed for our trip), we played 'Keep Sasha from surfing the luggage conveyor" or, my personal fav, "Keep Sasha from losing a finger in the luggage conveyor". We finally retrieved all our luggage, found National and located a car that had enough of the 'cool factor' to satisfy Tamara (hey, we're in Florida on vacation .. the car needs to have a sun roof and not look like something people much my senior would choose for their next automobile). She chose a Chrysler HHR. Sasha kept proclaiming how cool this car is. I think he's now hoping that the Commander has been replaced. No such luck Sasha. Mama loves her Jeep!

As we tried to find our south bound exit and the various exits, Sasha kept barking orders from the back seat. At four, he's an expert on driving and lets us know when he thinks we haven't stopped and when we should go. He fits right in with other back seat drivers that are in our family :) Eventually, after several pleas for him to be quiet (eight hours of non-stop chatter is eslightly beyond my limit), the back seat fell quiet and we knew sleep had finally taken over.

We arrived at the Condo place amidst panic that it was already closed. Fortunately, we found the slip of paper that contained the magic code that allowed us access to our check-in packet and keys. We arrived at the condo - a nice three bedroom accomodation with a private heated pool in the backyard. We opened a bottle of a celebratory beverage and toasted our arrival. We made it to Orlando and we were going on our first family vacation now that our family is complete. Yippee! Disney World, here we come!