And They're Off!

Today was the day. Everyone got on their respective planes and headed out.

This morning, Little Miss came flying down the hallway to greet me after Mister Man told her it was ok to wake up.

Little Miss: Mommy, Mommy! Today we go to Florida.
Me: That’s right, Peanut. What do we have to do before we go to Grandma’s house?

Here, I’m thinking that she just woke up, her diaper hasn’t been changed, and she’s still in her pjs.

Little Miss: I need to pack my stuff in my suitcase so that I can take it with me on the plane to Florida.

Well, yes, I suppose she does, but her priorities are obviously different from mine. She flew back down the hallway into her room and reemerged a moment later, rolling her Tinkerbell suitcase behind her.

Little Miss: Look, Mommy. I packed up everything I need and put it in my suitcase, and I’m ready to go to Grandma and Grandpa’s house now. Wordy for a two and a half year old, isn't she? She never stops, either.

She then unzippered to show me the contents of her suitcase. Snuggle blanket? Check. Penguin? Check. Naked Baby Coco? Check. Random hospital blanket? Okay, check. Baby Coco’s shirt? Check.

I then added her warm blanket with her name on it, the rest of Baby Coco’s clothes – sans diaper that appears to be missing – and three books that she chose. Not bad for a two and a half year old packing her own suitcase. And yes, she was then changed and dressed.

While Mister Man got dressed, I packed his suitcase, which made things much easier. His Baby (Thomas pillow), blanket, Douglas Kitty and grey teddy bear went into the suitcase. He later added a Thomas felt play book and three other books.

Ta da! We were done and ready to head over to Grandma and Grandpa’s house in time for me to get back and start working on time. I was hard to say goodbye for so long, but I’ve already gotten the phone call that they’re enjoying Orlando.

Speaking of Orlando, if you’ve been reading this for any length of time you’ll know the story behind this trip. I’m the MOH at a friend’s wedding in Houston this weekend. Even though my husband is a schoolteacher and can’t make it down until Saturday morning, he can’t watch the wee ones because he leaves for school long before the bus comes for Mister Man.

My parents generously volunteered to watch the wee ones for us while we were gone. Then, they asked if they could take the wee ones to Florida. Every year, they’ve taken them to Tampa for four or so days, so I was fine with that. Then I got to call from my mom.

“The hotel we stay at had no rooms available at all for the time we want to go, so we decided to go to Orlando again. The tickets were getting expensive, so we booked them already. We’ll be leaving the morning of May first and will be back the Saturday before Mothers’ Day.”

Uhhh, what? You’re taking the kids for ten days without clearing it with me first? And now you’re going to Orlando, land of Mickey?

I had a little issue with that. Telling my mom that I did not want them to take the wee ones to Disney for the first time without me didn’t go over well.

“They’re young. They won’t remember that it isn’t their first time anyway.”

Considering that they remember the most minor detail from eons ago, I don’t think that’s exactly true. Plus, they’re my children, and if I say don’t take them to Disney, at some point you need to respect my POV. I was mildly irrirated, as you may already know.

My mom finally came down to resignation that she was fine with not taking them to Disney but that I had to convince my dad since she can’t control what he does. I had several conversations with my dad around this, since he also doesn’t really get it.

Then I started hearing Little Miss randomly say: Grandpa is going to take me everywhere, but not to Disney. I suppose that should have been my clue that my dad had finally come around. I confirmed that this past weekend, and there will be no Disney on this vacation.

As for me, I arrived at the Houstonian just fine, although much later than we’d hoped. My friends picked up dinner for us and had it waiting in the groom’s room. Mmmm, Texas barbeque. Anyone who’s from Texas, skip to the next paragraph. I’m not a fan of brisket, so I ended up having barbeque chicken, but it was so yummy! I’ve been told that not eating the brisket is somewhat of a heresy, so shhhh!

The baked beans in Texas are also interesting. They had baked apples in them, which I’d never heard of before. I don’t know if this is a normal thing here or just something this restaurant does, but it was interesting. My first bite of an apple chunk was expectedly tentative.

The hotel is swanky. I’ll be taking pictures and posting them after I get home. For now, I need to get to sleep as I’m going running before my friend picks us up for manicures and pedicures, lunch and mmm bubble tea!