Fleeing to Florida

It is inadvisable to stay in Toledo the entire month of February. It is much too grim a place. If an opportunity to flee the gray skies and frigid winds presents itself, TAKE IT!

We had such an opportunity. Rick worked several extra moonlighting shifts so we could take a family trip to Disney World and Universal Studios. We took advantage of the long President's Day weekend so the kids only had to miss 4 school days. Rick's chiefly duties also allowed him to arrange his work schedule in such a way that he could be away for 8 straight days. No one required me to stay behind either-haha.

The vacation sorta snuck up on us. The day before our departure I found myself madly scrubbing the dog, washing laundry, and running errands around town. Em and I got our hair trimmed up and Jake worked on a list of chores around the house. Unfortunately, Rick ended up staying at work 3 hours later than we anticipated so we didn't really get him packed until well past midnight. Fortunately, those extra hours more than covered the extra expenses that came up on our trip (more on the money drain that is Disney later).

On Friday morning, a good HOUR after we should have left the house, we made our way down to Columbus to catch our flight with Southwest. Adding to the stress of our lateness, our GPS, a.k.a. Delores, took us on some wonky route via back roads and Amish country. At one point we nearly       t-boned a horse and buggy. We caught our flight with just moments to spare.

I must interrupt this narrative with a few words about my favorite boredom busters. There were many times I found myself standing in a line, or sitting around waiting to get somewhere. Thank goodness I had my beloved IPhone. I finally joined the scores of folks playing Words With Friends. I was instantly hooked, though I've lost as many games as I've won. I also spent a lot of time stalking blogs and reading Divergent by Veronica Roth (check it out)! Now back to my riveting story:

We arrived in Orlando without incident and I was immediately struck by the warm and humid weather. Shorts and t-shirts in February - say whaaaaa? I never want to find out what Florida is like in the summer. Don't even get me started on their sulphur water and superfluous toll roads...

Our timeshare at the Sheraton Vistana Villages turned out to be a lovely place. We got a big 2-bedroom that slept us all quite comfortably (especially since we remembered to bring our fans). That first evening we dined at this undiscovered place called Olive Garden and then hit the Walmart for supplies. Did you know they have an entire section dedicated to Disney products? You better believe we all got our Mickey shirts for $12 a pop. Take that over-priced park retailers!

To sooth our weary selves after a day of travel, we splurged on mani/pedis at a Vietnamese salon called Decent Nails. And, when I say WE, I mean the guys and the gals. As you can imagine, Decent Nails certainly lived up to its name, PLUS we got to watch Whitney Houston music videos the entire time we were there. BONUS!

Our last stop of the day was at a Ross Dress for Less to pick up some cheap warm weather duds. The kids didn't have much that still fit from the previous summer, and we didn't have time to shop before leaving Ohio. It's kinda embarrassing how excited I was to see my old friend Ross. We don't have that store in Ohio and I've missed the thrill of the hunt, ya know? Everything was just as I remembered: the disorganized racks, the scary fitting rooms, the foreign languages, the long lines, the crying children, and the DEALS - oh, the deals! It was a productive outing to be sure.

NOW THE VACATION COULD TRULY BEGIN!