On The First Day of Disney...

Day ONE:

We were packed & ready to go. We thought it would be a swell idea to rent a hotel near the airport prior to our actual departure. We snagged a fab deal (89.99) for one night PLUS 8 days of parking. Couldn't pass it up... so we spontaneously booked the room MONDAY morning :) This meant I no longer had Monday night to pack and prepare. I rushed around town tying up loose ends and gathering up everything needed to take a 6 month old and a 2 year old to Disney World for a week.

Basically, we had one suitcase devoted to all things KIDS. Diapers, formula, bottles, nipples, liners, wipes, meds, baby food, snacks, juice boxes, water, etc. If you're guessing that this suitcase was over 50 lbs. you would be correct.

Ryan and Maeve shared another suitcase and the little man and I got the other one. We got to our HOTEL, which was actually pretty nice for being an $90.00/night airport hotel and unloaded. I'm sure you're wondering why I'm starting off blogging about our vacation on the night we spent in Detroit- why not just start at Disney, right? WELL... let me tell you... we started this vacay off with a BANG a BIG BANG and whining, and crying, and fussing, and screaming, and more crying, and yelling, etc. etc. etc. As much as I want to forget this night ever existed, I must include it... for memories sake, after all :)

I don't know what was in the air that night, but there was something. We got to our hotel around 8:30 or so- a half hour PAST the kids bedtime. SURELY, we thought the kids would snooze off, we could enjoy a hotel movie and all would be peaceful. HAHAHAHAHA.

I gave the kids a bath. Ryan set up one pack & play, with the assumption Henry would sleep in that, Maeve in the extra bed. Into their p.j's they went- I tucked Maeve into bed and Henry was in the pack & play. It was about this time that all hell broke loose.

Henry started to fuss. This must have started Maeve off, because shortly after, she began BOUNCING off the walls (and beds). We literally couldn't contain her. The decision was made to swap the kids sleeping arrangements. Maeve went into the pack & play (screaming and crying of course) and Henry went into the double with me. Ryan was in the other bed at this point. We totally had to tag team these kids...

For the next couple (YES- I said COUPLE) of hours or so there was intermittent whining, crying, fussing, screaming, etc. from both kids. FINALLY Ryan took Henry on a walk down the hotel hallways and I focused on getting Maeve to bed. She shut her eyes and actually went to sleep around midnight I'm guessing. Ryan brought back a very sleeping, cranky Henry and he fell asleep as soon as he hit the bed. BUT- not for long. He was up and fussing on average, every hour or so throughout the entire night. And of course, every time he'd wake up, Maeve would wake up and join in on the crying. I thought we were going to be booted out of the hotel room for sure.

Morning came (thank the HOLY LORD JESUS) and we had two incredibly crabby children on our hands. Ryan and I weren't so pleasant ourselves either. At one point I told him "I am tired of having to treat you like my four year old son." He said something back and I recanted with something probably not suited for blogworld... at least not MY blogworld :) WOOOOOO! Nothing like airing our dirty laundry on the ol' blog! :) hahaha! :)

Early morning, (around 6 or so?) we got breakfast. I focused on feeding Henry & getting the kids dressed & ready. Ryan then took Maeve on a walk through the hotel while I got ready. Apparently Maeve was screaming and whooping through the hallways and this young girl (Ryan thought maybe 21 or so?) stuck her head out the door and said "REALLY??? It's 6 in the freaking morning!" To which Maeve replied, "Hi! Good morning!" HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! I laughed hysterically when I heard that story :)

After gathering up all our luggage and CRAP (we hauled a LOT of crap with us) we jumped in our airport cab and were ready to fly! Or so we thought... Ryan forgot our luggage tags that were required to check our luggage in for Disney. Nice. Back to the car we went. All four of us. At this point, I felt like there was no way we were going to make it. And thus, tears soon followed- not from my kids, but from me. Yes- I will document it here- I cried. I cried and whined to Ryan "Why are we doing this???? I can't take it anymore!!! I'm too tired and the kids are driving me insane!" I'm a tad ashamed but hey, I had just endured probably one of the worst nights in the history of me being a mom. STRESS STRESS STRESS was looming over me. And you all know I don't handle stress well :)

Fortunately we DID make our flight. And by the grace of God, both kids were relatively well behaved. Obviously, I don't expect anything out of Henry- he's 6 months old and if he's going to scream, he's going to scream. But he didn't and I was thankful :) I DO however, expect Maeve to behave. And she did- for the most part. Until we ran out of Easter eggs full of m&ms. Luckily we were twenty minutes to touch down by that point and she settled for looking out the window for "gigi's" house, alligators, Mickey & Ariel :)

Okay, I really cannot express to you HOW tired I was by the time we reached Orlando. It was to the point that if given the option, I would've chosen to park my booty on a dirty airport bench and take a nap. I was drained, jet-lagged, a tad loopy from having to take an extra dose of anxiety meds before flying... you get the picture.

I have been in the Orlando International Airport probably 50 times- maybe more- no joke. But I was so foggy and out of it that I wasn't really paying attention when Ryan steered us towards concord A to board the magical express. It wasn't until walking UP and DOWN and UP and DOWN and UP and DOWN that we realized Disney's Magical Express was located on concord B! B! B! I really started to doubt that my sanity would hold out for the rest of the week... or even the rest of that day.

By the time we made it to the Magical Express I was as rotten as a 2 week old banana. All I wanted was a bed- or a chair- something that I could sit down on and shut my eyes annnnnd NOT be interrupted by screaming/whining children. Unfortunately, I didn't get my wish until about 4 hours later. Yes, we arrived IN Orlando at 11:20 AM, but we didn't get to our room until well after 3. NIGHTMARE I TELL YOU.

The rush of relief, joy and pure bliss that came over me when we opened the door to the hotel room was beyond words! HAHA- really! And I'm sure as you're reading this (unless you have kids) you think I'm being super dramatic- but let me tell you- it is HARD WORK traveling with babies.... REALLY HARD. AND TIRING. Of course there were no pack & plays but I was to the point where I was fine with locking the door and letting Maeve have free roam of the room. I really didn't care. Although the thought of how in the world could it be that Maeve wasn't tired was kind of freaking me out- ADD??? Hyperactivity???? I gave birth to an energizer bunny??? Well, lo & behold, she passed right out. And so did Mr. Man. This gave Ryan and I PRIME NAP TIME OPPORTUNITY.

I think we all woke up around 7 or so? I can't really remember... but I believe it was somewhere around there. We had 7 days of park tickets and knew we wouldn't be visiting a park on the day we left, so we figured we might as well go to the Magic Kingdom- even if only for a few hours. Heaven forbid we waste a park ticket! :)

After a quick shower and dinner I was ready to go- I felt like a million bucks! We boarded the first of many, many, many Disney transportation buses that we would be taking that week, and just like that, we were off to the Magic Kingdom.

That first night we rode "It's A Small World", "The Jungle Cruise", "Snow White", "Tea Cups", "Pirates of the Carrib." and the carousel. It was actually a pretty productive few hours! We also got to catch the electrical parade. FANTASTIC. Maeve was in awe! (so was I :) We left MK around 10 (right before the fireworks show so we could avoid the exiting madness) and got back to our hotel just in time for our luggage and pack & plays to be delivered :)

I have to tell you- I was really, REALLY nervous about how the week was going to go. I mean, after the first night in CRYING/FUSSING/WHINING HELL I thought Ryan and I had thrown ourselves into a week of torture. BUT... what I wasn't taking into account was that Disney has this hmmm... shall I throw out the word "magical?" Yes, MAGICAL way of wearing your kids down to nothing. I mean- they are swamped, beat, dead to the world when you leave those parks.

Our first night in our DISNEY hotel was fab. Both kids slept like angels. Ryan and I ordered a late night "Lady & the Tramp" pizza (SO SO SO GOOD) and we ALL felt rested and prepared for the rest of our CRAZY, FUN, EXCITING, MAGICAL week at Disney :)

stay tuned for "On the Second Day of Disney!" :)