Orlando, Day 1- Getting There

We just got back from a week in Orlando and had the best time while we were there. We celebrated both Creed and Caleb's birthday, hit a few amusement parks, spent lots of time at our hotel water park, and just relaxed. 

Originally our trip was going to be 3 1/2 days...leave Monday morning on a direct, 2 hour flight, and then return home Friday morning. We thought it would give us plenty of time to do and see all that we wanted...

After arriving at the airport at 10:40 am for our noon flight, we learned that our flight had been delayed FIVE hours due to a mechanical issue. (We later found out a fuse that controlled the brakes blew and a new part had to be flown in from Chicago.) But, the nice Southwest ticket agents encouraged us to stay at the airport in case they fixed the fuse sooner. "Sooner" didn't happen. Our flight didn't leave until 6pm that evening, which meant that we would lose that afternoon and evening that we planned on spending at the water park. SO...when Southwest offered to move our returning flight to Saturday without a fee, we took it.  

We spent over 7 hours doing this...waiting. I was so proud of the boys- I would have never dreamed that they would be so good sitting at the airport for so long!

There was also some of this...

Another passenger made balloon swords for the 20+ kids that were on our flight to Orlando so the terminal turned into a play place. (We were hoping it would encourage Southwest to get our flight off sooner, too!)

Finally...at 6:00 pm, we boarded out flight! Smiles, cheers, and clapping were heard throughout the plane.

Right before landing in Orlando, we saw the most awesome sight...seeing this storm from the sky was incredible!

Getting our luggage and rental car was uneventful and we finally checked into our hotel around 9:30 that evening. It was a loooong day, and we were so excited to be there!