Disney Day 1 - Getting There

When I left off, anxiety was really getting to me during the final prep for the trip.  Getting up and ready that morning was a challenge.  I woke up easy enough but the process of getting ready was really frustrating.  I tried to be as prepared as possible but a few things went wrong and of course Jacob was as difficult as usual to get moving.  Fitting all the last minute stuff into all of our carry-ons was hard.  I had to try to do stain removal (and drying) on a shirt I was taking (it had a mystery grease stain out of the wash a couple days earlier, I washed it but forgot to check it, and when I did there were more in a different spot).  Then the cherry on top was that I realized the backpack I was taking had a broken buckle I forgot about.  That meant I needed to repack my carefully packed backpack--and actually find a replacement, but Craig came through at the last minute.  As I was scrambling to do that, Jacob finished getting ready and immediately got all over my case, freaking out about us being late (we weren't--this is why I built in extra time).  In the midst of it, of course he brought up how I ruined last year's vacation, which in the midst of this round of stress, instantly made me cry.  Ugh.  That was already such a sensitive subject--both because I hate that he can't see the fun we did have last year just because he hated the hotel and we missed Legoland, and because I knew he would blame me again if anything went wrong.  It's so annoying that he can't just be grateful for the experience.

Despite all that, we made it to the airport with plenty of time.  We hauled in our bags, checked in online, and spent a bunch of time waiting before it was finally time to board.  Unfortunately we were flying Southwest so the best we could do was split into twos.  Carter was excited but a little nervous for his first flight in his memory.  I talked him through a few things and helped him to learn to look for things on the ground as we took off.  

Love catching the Finger Lakes lined up from a plane--did it on our last trip and this one!

He spent most of the flight just looking out the window.  It was only an hour, and very quickly we were landing in Baltimore.  Carter spotted this cool cloud as we landed and said it looked like someone with their arms in the air--he was right!

Our second flight was...less enjoyable.  We had landed on time in Baltimore but by the time we did a bathroom stop and figured out a lunch spot, our flight was already boarding, much earlier than the time on our boarding pass.  But we needed to eat so we pressed on to the food court and got food within about 10-15 minutes.  They were nearly boarding our section when we got there, and as a result there were nearly no seats together.  Carter is older than their family boarding age so we couldn't board early.  Luckily a woman gave up her seat next to an empty single so we had a couple together.  Jacob ended up in the row in front of us and Craig was in the row ahead of that and across the aisle.  That flight was longer so we had to keep ourselves occupied a bit more.  We waited until tray tables could go down to eat, then finally used the in-flight movie app to start watching a movie.  We only got about 45 minutes in before we started our descent and Carter wanted to watch out the window.  I used the flight tracker to watch altitude and distance, which was fun.  We finally landed but then had a long wait to get our shuttle and finally make it to the resort.  The funny thing was our bus was themed with tree frogs, and we were welcomed last time by a giant frog on our balcony!  

I will say the check in was easy online and we could even use a phone to open the door!  Our suite was identical to last time.  This was the view from our balcony!

We had a warm welcome on the TV, too.

Our resort has lizards everywhere!  You constantly have to watch to not step on them.  They're always skittering off the walkway or hanging out on lampposts and trees.  We even have one that likes to hang out above our door, and the one night we came back and it had a giant bug in its mouth!  They also do this weird throat thing (a red flap comes out) and it totally grosses Craig out!

After we settled in we went exploring a bit before heading out to Disney Springs for dinner.  Jacob desperately wanted to check out the basketball court, but we had a very sad sight greeting us when we got there:

Well, that was not so great since that was a huge part of the reason we picked this resort.  We'd have to find a solution another day!  We headed off on the boat to Disney Springs and found out upon arrival that the boats were getting shut down because of thunderstorms in the area.  We were lucky we were more than halfway through the boat ride because otherwise they would have had to turn back!  

We checked out the outside sculptures at the Lego Store before it started raining.    
 

The rain came down pretty good when we were shopping, so we put on the ponchos and water-friendly shoes and headed to dinner at Splitsville.  We ate there last time and I didn't really want to go back, but Jacob insisted.  It wasn't the easiest gluten-free menu to navigate, but we managed.  It poured for a while as we ate but eventually slowed back down.  We shopped a bit after that and got the lay of the land.

We ended up back at the Lego Store and I got this picture...

We did a bunch of exploring and made a couple mental notes for our next visit.  It had been a very long day and we were relieved to make it back to the room via bus.  The boys were obsessed with the jacuzzi tub in our bathroom and took a "swim" in their trunks!  All of our days so far have featured at least one jacuzzi soak for Jacob.

(They're clothed, I promise.)

We made it to bed at a somewhat reasonable time (all things considered) after placing our grocery delivery order for the next morning.  It had been a very full first day, but we were happy to be here even if we had some frustrating moments during the day.  Our first full day in the parks awaited!