Day 27: This was it…
This is way to early was my first thought today, the alarm went of at 5:00am and we planned to leave the Villa by 6:15am. First we took the sheets from our bed before we took a shower and woke up Emily a bit earlier as usual. This actually felt like payback because of yesterday…
But she was already waiting for us with her eyes wide open and with the biggest smile on her face. If she could jump I think she would have jumped right in to our arms. As soon as Emily was out of her crib I dismantled it and put it back where we found it. The last things were taken care of and at 6:10am we left our home from the last 4 weeks behind.
In only 35 minutes we arrived at SIXT to return the car and within 15 minutes we walked towards the Air Canada check-inn desks. Just because you can’t check-in online when you travel with a child. And off course we were too early because the check-in desk didn’t open until 25 minutes later. But at least we were second in line and that’s a good thing when you travel with Air Canada and depart from MCO. At 8:15 we made it to the gate and we found a place to sit.
While I went for coffee Mama and Emily waited with our carry-on luggage and the royal stroller.
When I came back the little princess was asleep. But not for long because it was much more interesting to try to communicate with everyone around her all at once by making loud happy noises.
The flight was delayed by an hour but it still felt like only a short wait before the boarding started and we got in the plane quick. Instead of 10:35 we took off at 11:45. The flight was nothing special, although Emily made it interesting. She was bored of the sitting around so I decided to walk around and she found it most interesting to smile at the flight attendants. Just before we started our decent we went back to our seat and found Mama with her eyes closed. But Emily knew how to wake up Mama, just giggle a little bit.
After we landed at 2:10pm everything went fast. We got out ofthe plane at 2:30pm. Mama and Emily went inside because it was to cold in the air bridge (outside it was -4 Celcius). The royal stroller came upstairs as No. 5 which isn’t bad out of about 15 people waiting. From there we needed to take one elevator upstairs and one downstairs to get to customs. Here it was really busy with Canadians and US Citizens but there was no line, I repeat no line at the international customs. We got our paperwork done and took another elevator to the bagage claim area. Within 2 minutes the first from our 4 suitcases rolled on the belt. And within a another 2 minutes we had them all together.
The only thing which was missing was the car seat but it was already waiting for us in the oversized bagage area. After we grabbed it our pre-arranged SUV was waiting for us to bring us home over a surprisingly empty road. While riding home Emily listened to the limousine driver and she fell a sleep two blocks before we arrived at home. At 3:30 we were waiting for the last elevator of this trip to our home on the 38th floor.
When we opened the door Emily woke up and had really surprised look on her face, I think somehow she recognized it but it also came unexpected. But pretty quick she was playing with her toys and it was like nothing had happened!
Normally the first thing you do is drop your stuff and sit at the couch, or maybe change a diaper when you have a baby but our house was a total mess! We finally got a new floor after we had water damage in June last year…
So my first priority was get all our electronics hooked up again because Mama missed the Hue lights, I missed the SONOS and we both missed to lightning fast internet from at home at the end of the trip.
But now everything is on it’s place again and we’ve started unpacking our suitcases.
Day 26: Last day of sunshine…
Good Morning, Papa and Mama at 6:30’was not what we expected on the last full day in Sunset Lakes. But who cares the sun was shining and we had some fun things ahead of us. After playing and eating we left towards Disney Springs, but not before we got our shot of Starbucks!
At 10:00am (opening time) of Disney Springs (outdoor Disney mall) Mama parked the car. Emily woke up immediately and we wandered through some shops. But nothing which could really interest us.
Next stop SeaWorld, we still had a child swap pass for Manta and wanted to watch the One Ocean show, a show with Killer Whales. At 11:00 we parked our car almost in front of the entrance.
First stop a bench near Shamu Stadium for Emily her fruit. And 30 minutes before the show started we entered the stadium and found some perfect spots, a little bit behind the splash zone. I guess you understand that the park was everything but crowded. Emily had a lot of fun watching and interacting with the people around us. This shows is still really spectacular but not as special as we remembered from a couple years ago. Emily thought is was boring as she slept in half way in the show.
After the show was done I wanted to take a look at the Antartica area where a new ride was build a couple years ago. The ride Antartica: Empire of the Penguin. First it started with the choice between Wild and Mild, we then learned that Emily wasn’t allowed in the ride and we needed to do a Child Swap. So we had out hopes up high and thought this would be a spectacular ride but it’s not. The coolest thing I saw where the 3 SCALANCE W788 on the ceiling… The child swap was ridiculous because they told us to wait in a cold area (just above zero) with Emily and we should swap there… At the end I felt really sorry for Emily because the Wild ride is milder as sitting in a car seat while driving through Toronto. But at least we brought a nice warm blanket. The second coolest thing was the exhibit at the end, and there it was -1 Celcius.
After this somewhat disappointing experience we went to the Manta so Mama could ride it. And she was so smart to get another Child Swap card while exiting so I could take another dive before we left the park.
We went to the International Premium Outlets to get a new carry-on suitcase for Emily her books, she got 9 books with bed time stories and others and we need to get them home. And since we needed a new carry-on this was the easiest thing to do.
After the shopping we went back to the Villa but stopped at the Publix first. We got beer and meat for a last barbecue. After the barbecue we packed last items and prepared everything for the moment we leave tomorrow morning…