Florida Vacation Part 1

A couple months ago Luther's mom sent him a text message asking us if we would like to go to Florida with them in January. We crunched the numbers and decided we could do it. So we settled on a week where Luther wouldn't have to use vacation time and booked that week using our timeshare points.

Day 1 January 26, 2011
Luther and I wake up at 1:30am to get ready and drive to the airport. We leave our house around 2:30am and drive 3 hours to my parent's home. We drop off the bunny and pick up my dad's GPS and my memory card that I had left there the last time we visited. Oh and since I left my straightener at home I had to borrow one from my mom. (Thank goodness she bought an extra one when she and my dad went to Disneyland last September.) After we say our goodbyes we drive over to Luther's parents house so they could take us to the airport.
Being that we have never flow on our own we decide to get to the airport 3 1/2 hours before our flight. I admit that was a bit zealous. :) After checking our bags and getting our boarding passes we go through security without a hitch. Luther wasn't too happy with having to remove his hat, jacket, shoes, and belt but he complied. Alexis loved looking at the flight crew and their "pretty" uniforms.
While waiting to board Alexis managed to pee so much that her diaper leaked then after I took care of that we went to breakfast and she spat orange juice all over herself. So, we ended up having to buy her a new shirt at the airport. Geez! LOL!
Alexis liked looking out the window watching the crew prep the airplane and staring at the people smoking in the smoke box. The latter was a little embarrassing. I guess it is time to teach Alexis it isn't polite to stare.
The flight was uneventful. Alexis slept a majority of the time and I got a terrible headache. After 4 hours and a bumpy landing we were finally in Florida. YAY!
At the Orlando International airport you get to take a tram to baggage claim. That was pretty fun but Luther worried that we would have to take another 3 before we got out of the airport. Luckily he was wrong and it was just the one. Baggage claim made me stress out, our bags were the last to go around the carousel. Alexis started to cry because her car seat was gone. Finally, all our luggage appeared and we could go get our car.
Our rental car experience wasn't too out of the ordinary. Just paid for the car, got sold insurance for the car, went to the garage, and picked out our car. We chose a Kia Sportage to use for the week.
Florida has toll roads. Well a major toll road that happened to be the way from the airport to the hotel. It was exciting to try and find the change for all the booths and luckily we had just enough to make it to our hotel.
We stayed at Vacation Village at Parkway. We couldn't find the check in office. Vacation Village is a timeshare resort that consists of 17 buildings. I tried calling and there was no answer. I was NOT a happy camper. Finally we found the check in building and got our room assignment and keys. Oh and we got suckered into going to a presentation breakfast. They gave us free breakfast and $80 so I guess it was worth it. I will talk about that a little later.
Our room was nice. It have a full kitchen, a small dining area, a living room with a sofa bed, a master bedroom with a jacuzzi, and a bathroom. The other room had a half kitchen, dining room, living room (with sofa bed), bedroom, and a bathroom. They were spacious and allowed us to eat most of our meals out of the parks and in our rooms. Luther and I went to Publix (a local grocery store) and bought some food items to get us through the first few days. When we got back to our room Alexis fell asleep and I sat in the jacuzzi tub. It felt wonderful after such a long day.
Luther then went to the airport to pick up his family and bring them to the hotel. I made chili cheese dogs for them to eat. Then went to bed so we could start our real vacation.