we love Florida

Most say it's not about the destination, it's about the journey, and normally I'd agree...but this years journey to Florida was so ridiculous it became laughable.

We decided to fly out a day early to avoid the Chicago storm of the century, so we packed up and headed out at 630am. Made it to Chicago without delay, and got to our gate an hour early. "We're going to board you early" the nice man from AirTran announces over the loud speaker. Wonderful, what a nice little present they've given us. Well, that early boarding lead to a 45 min sit in your seat while we de-ice the plane, followed by an "I'm sorry you've been delayed, please de-board the plane now." 1 hour later we boarded the place for the second time to find out that someone on the cancelled flight behind our flight was now on our plane, but not on the manifest. We were carrying an unknown passenger. Ummmm how does this happen? So we sit. 30 more minutes go by and now some one's seat has busted and we've been informed it will now take an hour to get the mechanic to the plane. What? Frustrated, we de-board the plane a second time. As we enter the terminal we hear that out flight has now been cancelled due to weather. Saying a little prayer and trying not to lose my mind in front of my 17 month old I tell Jason to go to the ticket counter to try and rebook if possible. He leaves, I go back on the plane to get our carry ons and as I'm exiting the plane and heading to meet Jason I hear the now not nice man from the AirTran counter say "Passengers from AirTran flight 1629 please report back to your gate, your flight has been reinstated."

I drop everything I'm holding, may or may not have yelled an obscenity, and the just laughed to myself. This is ridiculous.

I call Jason to tell him that we're boarding again for the 3rd time starting in 15 minutes. We board. Ryleigh watches Bubble Guppies, and 2 hours and 45 minutes later we land in Fort Myers, FL. I love my parents. They took us to Chick-fil-a and had ice cold alcoholic beverages waiting. Our vacation had finally started.

With our journey down to Florida behind us, we could focus on the fun we were sure to have. We went to the beach, the pool, the outlets, the park, the zoo, and Ryleigh was in love with the warmer weather. I swear she'd live outside if we let her. She was happy as a clam walking around the house, picking up and throwing rocks, and digging in the sand at the beach. She was obsessed with this owl statue the neighbors had in the backyard. It was the first thing she wanted to see in the morning, and the last thing she wanted to see at night. Bizarre, and hilarious.

We had such a wonderful time, but like always the days pass too quickly and soon we were back at the airport praying that getting home would be cinch. Luckily the travel day was in our favor. We made it home with time to get organized for the week and get to bed on time.

We can't wait to go back next year:) We love you Nana & Papa and are so thankful for the QT we had with you!