A Whirlwind of 24 Hours

 Our first 24 hours of vacation was a bit of a whirlwind.  My Mom came up to watch our house and dog around 1. Emily was home from school a few minutes later. The boys a an hour after that.  David a few hours after that. We made pasta dinner and headed down to Phoenix. The main highway sometimes has back ups for hours, so I never want to risk leaving 90 minutes before we need to be the airport.  So, we got a hotel near the airport.  The kids were all exhausted, which is funny since all the did was relax on their tablets the whole way there.  Maybe it was just a long week.

 

 

We love this hotel. We've stayed there before.  They have coffee, tea, cookies and hot cocoa when you get there.  The kids love that. 

 

 

The shuttle to the airport was so quick and easy.  The check-in was fast and there was zero wait at security. It was fabulous.   So, we were at our gate with about 90 minutes to spare.

 

I got to see the sunrise, which let's face it. I don't see many of those. 

 

We went in one of the gift shops and Ben liked the worm and cricket suckers.  Do people really think that's what we snack on in the desert?  We don't. 

 

 

We flew Frontier which was our first time flying a "budget" airlines. We couldn't beat the price.  $600 to get all of us here (one way) and that includes baggage and "upgraded" seats.  They were basically like a padded folding chair, but whatever.  They charge for any snacks, so we brought our own.  Noah ate his first apple. I usually cut it for him.  But, then he kept eating it on the side of his mouth. I told him to use his front teeth. I thought he just didn't know what he was doing. To which he told me, "Mom, I don't have front teeth."  OH!! Oops.  :) 

 

4.5 hours is a long flight. We were all getting a little squirrely at the end. 

 

The boys liked the shuttle to pick up bags. I think they thought it was a subway. It lasted about 35 seconds.

 

And of course, everyone was hungry.  We got the kids Papa John's on the way to Grammie and Grampie's house.   

 

Then, Gwynne, David and I went out to a brazillian steakhouse for dinner. It one of those yummy place that walk around and serve you meat at your table. It's literally like $53 a person.  That's why we don't bring the kids. Grampie wanted to stay back with them.  So, we enjoyed our dinner.  So, we signed up for their email club as we knew they'd send out a special for dinner.  David put in that it was my birthday coming up. We got a coupon for $25 off a meal!  Then, in the fine print, it said we could use two birthday vouchers per table. You know what that means?  It was Gwynne's birthday too!  HA!  Then, they brought each of us a free dessert.  I had molten chocolate lava cake like we have on the Carnival cruises and Gywnne got key lime pie.  I didn't feel too bad for milking the system. With tip, we were still at $143.  And trust me, I usually eat a kids meal when we go out.  It was nice to have $70 in coupons and free dessert!

 

Then, we got the kids Dairy Queen.  See how we roll.  Nice stuff for us. Take out pizza and DQ for them.  They weren't complaining. 

 

Then, we made it to our hotel near Disney that we are staying at for the next 5 nights.  Gwynne's friends daughter works for this hotel chain, so she let us use her friends & family rate.  We got a great deal and it's a super nice hotel with free breakfast every morning.   

 

Now, we all need a good nights sleep. Unfortunately, we have daylight savings time, so we lose an hour. Urgh, I hate DST. We don't do that in Arizona and it's just an old idea that no one is letting go of. Anyway, on the agenda first is Animal Kingdom. The kids can't wait to do go to Pandora and the Avatar ride!