Florida Family Vacation Day 2

Journal Entry: Monday, October 4, 2010

After a very restless/sleepless night our day officially began at 3:45am. I had set the alarm for 4am but I didn't see the point in trying to sleep for a mere 15 minutes. Cory and I showered and got dressed before we bothered to wake Cameron. We are quite fortunate that Cameron is in fact a morning person and is always happy when he first wakes up. I should note that he definitely does not get this from me. We were checked out of the hotel and en route to the airport before 5am.

The process of checking our bags went very quickly and we headed for security. We got a little side tracked on the way and stopped to purchase Cameron a new had, as we had forgot his at home. He got a SK Roughriders hat which I am sure will please all of our SK friends. We got through security without any issues and Cory got us breakfast at Tim Horton's while we waited to board our flight.

Our flight from Regina to Denver was on time, actually we arrived a few minutes early. Even though we arrived early, we then had to wait approximately 10-15 minutes because Customs was not open yet. We found this frustrating because we knew we had a lot of ground to cover in the Denver airport in a very short period of time. It seemed to take forever and a day to get to Customs from the gate but thankfully it went very quickly getting through Customs. We then had to collect our checked baggage, which also seemed to take forever, and then we had to re-check our baggage. We then proceeded to a very long line to go through security again. This also seemed to take a very long time and time was a ticking for us. We then booted it to the tram/shuttle that took us to the B concourse and we eventually got to our gate.

Once we got the gate, we discovered that they had started to the board our flight. However, we had to go to the desk to try to get our seats re-arranged. We had never had this happen to us before but all three of us were sitting separately. This wouldn't be a big deal if Cameron wasn't 4! At least of us had to be able to sit with Cameron. The lady at the gate was able to change our seats but still couldn't get all three of us together. I find it very strange that an airline would have a small child sitting all alone. However, we are used to flying with Air Canada but this trip we are flying with United. In the past, we have been separated on a flight but never all three of us apart. One of us has always had a seat with Cameron without having to have anything changed. I am aware that this could be avoided by paying to select our seats in advance but I think we already pay enough to begin with.

I am currently sitting on our flight from Denver to Orlando and Cameron is sound asleep beside me. As soon as we were settled in our seats he told me that he was thirsty and hungry but then he was out like a light long before they started offering food and beverages. I did get him an apple juice and a snack for when he wakes up.

To my disappointment, this aircraft does not have TV's in the headrests. It does have the old school TV's in the aisle about every 4-5 rows. There is a movie playing but I have no interest in it. I tried to watch it but I was bored within 5 minutes. I have done a little people watching from my seat though, which obviously isn't too exciting. There is a lady knitting what looks to a blanket, a quite bright and ugly pink blanket with other colors throughout. With the security so tight in the USA, I'm actually surprised that they allow knitting needles on the plane. I also watched a man in the row across from us order his double vodka on ice at 11am. I suppose it's noon somewhere but it was funny to watch his technique. First he poured both little bottles of booze into his glass full of ice. Then he unscrewed the caps on each empty bottle and proceeded to shake out the last drop. Oh, but that's not all, then he did this for a second time with each bottle. Maybe he just really wanted to get his money's worth.

I believe we are now almost half way to Orlando. We are experiencing a little bit of turbulence, which means the seat belt sign is on. The flight attendants seem a little frustrated with the passengers who are still getting out of their seats to go the rest room. I'm now going to read my new Jodi Picoult book and hope that the time goes by quickly. I'm anxious to get to our destination.

We arrived in Orlando on time and made our way to the baggage claim area with ease. This process was much more simple and required a lot less walking than in Denver. Pernell and Chantel arrived in Orlando a few hours before us so they were able to get the rental car and take their stuff to the house we are renting. We chose to rent a house rather than stay in a hotel because we can all be together, a house is more spacious, we will have our own pool, a kitchen, laundry, and it is much cheaper than a hotel. We are all settled in an ready for Stephanie and Matt to join us on Wednesday.

The five of us went out for supper at TGI Fridays and it was quite good. We then went to Super Target to a little shopping. The main purpose of this shopping excursion was to get a few groceries and necessities. We wanted to have stuff for breakfast and snacks. Cameron really wanted to go to Walmart but he relaxed when he discovered that Target is very much like Walmart. He insisted on looking at the toys but we made it clear that we were not buying toys on this trip.

When we got back to the house, Cameron really wanted to go swimming but we just didn't have the energy to take him. He was a little upset but we will definitely take him swimming tomorrow. We have decided that we'll go to Sea World tomorrow as Stephanie and Matt aren't going to that park. I'm sure it will be a fun day.