Orlando or bust....

Most people know that babies under two years old fly for free.  It's enticing.  Almost a dare.   It's like a little devil on my shoulder antagonizing me, "FREE.  Its FREE.  You can easily take Gabriel on a trip to Orlando and Sanibel...especially for FREE."  You see, I am a sucker for a bargain.  I have been known to buy things I don't need because of an amazing deal.  You know, like diapers when you don't have a baby or golf balls without even the slightest interest in the game. Since Gabriel was born, I have cut back dramatically, but the instinct is still there.  So back to the situation at hand - I have a conference in Sanibel starting Thursday (courtesy of my employer), and a "free" three night stay at a resort in Orlando for Monday-Wednesday ("all" we have to do is sit through one of those ridiculous 2 hour sales schpiels in which they force you to get mean just to get out of there without spending your life savings).  So a family vacation is staring me down, with the sun and all it's glory.  The one "hiccup" is getting there - turns out, its more like the guillotine.  Dodging obstacles, trying to get to the other side with your head still attached to your body.  We did all of the prep work, its just the execution of the day and the intangibles that you really can't predict such as:

~Gabriel's mood.....not such a small detail.  He was Mr. Cranky pants when we were on the plane sitting on the runway for 45 minutes (because there was a light out on one of the buttons in the cockpit).  The entire plane got a not-so-sweet serenade of Gabriel's now-amazing lung capacity.  I turned red and sunk down.  Trent just bounced him until finally he fell asleep.  Thankfully, Gabriel was quite the charmer when he woke up and he won all the ladies over, who would eventually say what a "nice baby" he was.  How short the memory when faced with a good-looking smile.

~The TSA agents - luckily, I think these people saved our sanity.  Usually they annoy me - looking through my baggage, messing up my perfectly folded and organized clothes, feeling you up in the name of "safety", etc.  Today was a completely different story.  The Southwest people didn't even look at the weight of our bags (they have a strict 50lb rule).  Lines opened up like we were VIPs.  They didn't inspect a single article in any of our 5 carry on bags (even though there were numerous liquids).  They did everything they could for us.  It was great.  Saved the day for sure, and we got to the gate in a record 10 minutes.

~The ineptness of the car rental company - I will take full credit/blame for this one.  My cheapness and love for bargains got the better of me once again.  I knew we needed a rental car, but I had checked all the websites for MONTHS and the cheapest I could find was $300 a week for a Toyota Corolla. I don't think so...Gabriel and all of his stuff wouldn't even fit in that!  Thankfully, one day last week I was checking Orbitz at work and found a standard size car for $70/week.  WHAT?  This had to be a typo...or I entered the wrong dates...or the car was off-terminal...scattered with bullets, or something....but I just couldn't find the catch.  After reading it over what seemed like a million times, I booked it, took it home and asked Trent to read it.  I just couldn't get over the feeling that it was too good to be true.  He searched as well and we decided to accept the fact that we might pay for this "deal of the day" later.  Today, we found the catch.  Not only is Advantage the worst-run company in the world, they have the most ghetto, non-English speaking employees.  When we first came up to the line, there were only two people in front of me and two people working the desk....so Trent stayed with the bags while Gabriel (in the Baby Bjorn) and I waited in line FOR TWO HOURS.  I'm sure you are thinking that I am exaggerating, but I can honestly say 2 hours went by and I still was standing there - because they had given out all of their cars to "walk-ins" and they refused to upgrade their customers with reservations.  We were literally waiting for someone to return a car in the size that we had signed up for.  It was absolute torture, and at this point Gabriel hadn't eaten in five hours....he was a trouper and just as smiley as he could be.  We eventually got a car that (amazingly) fit all of our stuff and is kind of a zippy little mini-van looking thing - a mazda 5 sport.  I am pretty sure I paid the price for my cheapness up front, and hope there aren't any more issues with that on the back end.  (But, i still got a car for $70 a week.....nana bo boo.)

By that time, it was nearing 1pm and none of us had eaten, we were stressed and had headaches....But we had forgotten our GPS (my one packing misstep).  So we took the only road out of the airport that wasn't a toll road (I'm not paying to drive on a road if I don't know where I'm going) and found a TGI Fridays in less than two minutes.  Usually pretty low on our to-eat-at list, today it was like a mirage in the desert.  We sat down and had a great meal, happy baby, caffeine for us.....and we mapquested on our phones and found we were only 15 minutes from the hotel.  Score.

 After lunch, we approach the hotel and immediately know we are WAY out of our league.  It is gated, and when we pulled up, they checked us in with a smile, and Welcome, Mr and Mrs Spangler, enjoy the resort.  Beautiful grounds.  Three pools.  Four hot tubs.  Fountains.  Basketball courts, tennis courts, a giant slide, two restaurants, everything in tip top condition.  Top of the line decor and furnishings.  I expected there to be another catch (like we would have to pay more than the $100 total that we were originally told).  But there was nothing.  They checked us in, said everything was taken care of and we had a nice 2 bedroom suite facing the fireworks.  The room is unlike any I have ever stayed in (and I grew up with Vicki MacIntyre, the dealing-ist hotel-staying mother EVER).    It is honestly nicer than my house.  Full kitchen with stainless steel stove, frig, dishwasher and microwave, granite and wood floors.  Sitting room with a walk out porch with table and chairs and a recliner (for laying out). WATER VIEWS.  The bathroom is a dream.  Free standing clawfoot tub.  It fills FROM THE CEILING.  Coolest thing I ever saw.  Seperate room for the toilet.  Say no more.



Notice the tub filling FROM THE CEILING on the left!

 Probably the best part of the trip so far is seeing first hand what fresh, warm air and sunshine can do for Gabriel.  He freakin' loves the weather here.  We walked around the .5 mile "jogging trail" and he laughed, smiled and cooed the whole time.  He smiled more in the two hours he has been outside here than he usually does in a week.  I guess seasonal depression and being cooped up in the house all the time affects him more than we realized.  I love seeing him (really all of us) come out of his shell and enjoy his day as opposed to surviving  the day....Something to think about. 

Tomorrow we are off to my old stomping grounds - TAMPA!  We are meeting Alicia, Luci and Levi and going to the aquarium, but first I get to show Trent around UT - something I have been waiting years to do.  I am practically giddy.  This trip so far = winning.