Sunday, August 1

 Although it was our day to fly home, our flight wasn't until later so we had the entire morning to be able to enjoy the condo! Jean and I took to the splash pad again where Tom and Cooper joined us. Thom worked out and found us too. We then decided to head to the pool. Teddy wanted to go to pool 1 while Cooper wanted to go to pool 2 so we split for a bit. The pools have been absolutely perfect temperature! Thom found $10 by the pool! 

We met up at pool 2 and played for a bit in the pool before Rocky decided he wanted to play on the playground. I went with him while Thom and Teddy stayed in the pool.  

Lunch was leftovers while we rushed around to pack. We were on the road at 12:30 for our 3:30 flight.

On the way we had a little toll trouble before returning the car and heading to the ticketing counter. All we had to do was check the bag because we had checked in online. We quickly met a large, large line of people and were informed that Spirit had canceled about 75% of the flights that were supposed to leave yesterday and today.  There were lines everywhere we looked. Lines were merging with lines and people weren't even sure what line they were in. We were able to find our own self-tag bags spot, but then we had to take the bag to bag drop whose line was merging with the line to talk to customer service. We asked a worker by the self-tag line and he told us to go to "late check in" even though we knew we weren't late check in.  Thom went there with the bag while I waited in the long bag drop line. Thom ended up talking the lady into taking our bag and we were off to another long line--security.  

They were funneling everyone into a really long line which we found out led to walking by the drug dog.  Everyone had to walk with a partner shoulder to shoulder by the dog.  The guy right in front of Thom was the "treat" guy who worked for the airline and had the scent on his briefcase so we got to watch the dog react and get a treat. We then headed to the xray part where I forgot to take out all the technology out of the bags so we were held up there. 

We took the tram to our terminal and found the Bahls at a restaurant near our gate. We enjoyed a drink before we saw they were boarding our plane. They stated they were boarding our plane, but mechanical was on the plane and we couldn't get on.  After about 30 minutes we loaded and our plane actually did take off for us to come home. 

The boys did well on the plane ride. Rocky was tired and restless, but did well.  We enjoyed snacks and drinks on the plane. Rocky was so tired he fell asleep about 10 minutes before we landed. It was a good thing he did, because we ended up sitting on the tarmac for an hour because we were told "a lady in the plane at the gate was having a medical emergency--having a baby". We waited and eventually got to our gate, however, we don't think there was a medical emergency. We think it was because there were no pilots to move the plane because they are all on strike. Luckily, Rocky slept through the entire wait.

Once we got our bag we got on the bus to head to economy parking where we met people who were heading back to their vehicles because after day two of trying to go on vacation, their flights were all cancelled. How heartbreaking.

We got some dinner before hitting the interstate and the boys slept for a bit of the drive. The girls were happy to greet us when we got home. It was a wonderful trip!

Saturday, July 31

 Today was another amazing, relaxing pool day! Jean and I started the morning by taking the boys down to the splash pad. When we were walking there we saw a squirrel eating from a chicken bone! While Jean and I were watching the boys we came up with the idea of "myinfluencerhusband". Jean created an account for Tom and we  started to brainstorm all he could do. 

We all played awhile before meeting everyone at the main pool. They had a pool party from 12-5 so they had music and games. We all played a trivia game and Thom and I won a free drink. Then they had musical hula hoops (like musical chairs) and Teddy, Rocky and Cooper played. Although they didn't win, they had fun! 

We had leftovers for lunch and then the boys took a nap. While the boys napped, Thom, Tom and Cooper went to play another round of mini golf. 

In the evening we headed to Disney Springs for some seafood. We were going to try the Boat House, but it was very busy so we went to the Paddlefish.  It was also booked, but the nice hostess found a table for us! We got an assortment of appetizers including crabcakes, fried green tomatoes, crab poutine and calamari. For dinner Thom got the burger and I got fried shrimp. We then made our way to the World of Disney so Cooper could get some Disney ears.  

By this point, Disney Springs was SO BUSY! I've never seen it so packed! Once we got back the boys went to bed and the Bahls and Thom went to the pool.  It was an enjoyable, relaxing day!

Friday, July 30

 What a relaxing day! Today the Bahls went to Discovery Cove which they said we should go to next time. They swam with sting rays, sharks and enjoyed the fresh water lazy river. 

This morning started at the splash pad for some fun before heading to the pool. The boys loved running around the splash pad. Both boys even got their heads wet! Then we headed back to the room to wake up Thom to go to the pool. Everyone enjoyed the water. We ate lunch by the pool and then headed back for naps.  While we were eating we noticed our little alligator friend was still there. 

While the boys napped I decided I would go read a book under the pergola. The mom and baby ducks kept coming by my chair. They were so cute. My goal was to read, but that lasted about 5 minutes before I fell asleep! 

When I got back to the condo after sleeping for 1.5 hours in the sun I found Thom asleep on the couch. I then headed into the bedroom where the boys were sleeping and continued a nap. 

Once everyone started to wake the Bahls came back to the condo and we headed back to the pool for some swimming, dinner and pina coladas. 

There isn't much to write about because it was uneventful, but boy was it relaxing!

Thursday, July 29

 It's Disney Day!! This was the Bahls first time at Disney. After presenting a presentation to them prior to the trip about the different parks back home, we decided on Magic Kingdom and hopping to Epcot.

We got up early and AIS was 7:00am. My goal was to get into the park before many others to be able to do some rides. I had read that the parking lots always open 2 hours before so I figured if we got there at 7:30 we would be good.  We arrived in the line at 7:26, but had to wait until 8:00am before they would let anybody through.  Once we parked, we went had to walk to the transportation center, where again, we had to wait for 15 minutes before going through security. Then once security the monorail was not functioning so everyone was loaded on the ferry to head to Magic Kingdom.  We were able to get into the park with ease and started to head directly to Splash Mountain which was Cooper's number 1 ride.  We were then stopped before we could enter Liberty Square because they weren't going to let people in until rope drop. I had never seen rope drop before and truly thought it dropped before the actual time they say the park opens.  Once we experienced rope drop we tried to get quickly to Frontierland, however, we were stopped again! I have never experienced anything like it! The workers gave a little talk and told people to remain behind them and then we were guided to Frontierland where we were stopped outside of Splash Mountain.  

We knew we wanted to do child swap so I tried to head over toward the workers at the fast pass area to do rider swap. During that time I noticed a woman who was looking faint. I could hear a man in her party asking for water saying she was about to faint and she needed water. I didn't have the bag with me that had water in it, but just then Thom made his way through the crowd with Rocky and he had the bag. I pointed out the woman and he took her water and stayed with her while Teddy and I caught up with the Bahls. Thom ended up receiving some free water bottles from Disney and the head of Frontierland told Thom to name drop her and he could get our group on any ride in Frontierland without waiting. It has been years since I went on Splash Mountain, but it was fun to go on it again. Teddy was initially scared to go on the ride but quickly realized it was fun and Jean's scream as we went down the big hill gave Thom a clue when to take some pictures. Splash Mountain will be changing themes to Princess and the Frog although it has not been announced when that would be.

After Splash Mountain we headed to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Jean waited with Rocky.  Everyone seemed to enjoy both of the rides.  We decided to head to Pirates of the Caribbean from there. By this point it was getting very hot in the day. We stopped for some Cinderella Castle pics before heading to Space Mountain. Jean and I took the boys on the Peoplemover while Thom, Tom and Cooper waited for Space Mountain.  Lunch and sitting in air condition was quickly in our future and we decided to head to Cosmic Ray's for lunch before swinging back around to re-ride some rides.

The last ride we had rider swap for was Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Thom, Cooper and Teddy went on that ride while Tom, Jean, Rocky and I looked for some shade. We parked ourselves under the Big Country Bears awning and saw a little parade drive by. Right after the parade went by the rain started. It just so happened that the boys were caught in the rainstorm on the rollercoaster. Tom, Jean, Rocky and I hid under the awning until the boys found us and the storm lightened. We then decided to head toward Epcot.

We made our way through the park to get to the monorail. On the monorail the rain really picked up and started to pour. By the time we arrived at the transportation center it was a major downpour.  Luckily, the transfer to the Epcot monorail was directly next to the monorail we just got off and was waiting for us! As we headed to Epcot it really started to pour. When we got off the monorail we poncho-ed up and made our way to the entrance. Many people were starting to empty out at this point because of the rain. I had packed extra shoes for the boys to change into and Teddy LOVED splashing his way through Epcot (although he has a couple blisters from it).

Our first stop was "The Land" to do Soarin' which only had a 25 minute wait. Rocky and I did Living with the Land while everyone else did Soarin'. We got off our rides at the exact same time.  Jean and I then got to do Soarin' for the rider swap.  As a group we then did Living with the Land where Thom got caught touching the sand. 

By the time we were done in "The Land" the rain had stopped! Tom, Cooper, Teddy and I headed to Mission Space while Thom, Jean and Rocky headed toward the countries to search down a mimosa flight. Teddy enjoyed Mission Space and thought he truly went to space. 

Throughout the day we noticed more and more people wearing masks. The crowds were bad at Magic Kingdom but not so bad at Epcot. Tomorrow, July 30th, Disney will be mandating masks for anyone inside buildings. The workers were already modeling that.

We started our country travels in Mexico with some margaritas before making our way around. We didn't spend much time in each country as people were getting tired, but we did stop in Germany for a brat and pretzel for dinner. We also stopped at a few food and drink stops along the way because it is the "Food and Wine Festival". They had so many great choices. The rain continued to sprinkle throughout the evening. We finished off our Epcot evening by going on Finding Nemo and exploring the aquarium. As we were heading out we saw that Spaceship Earth had a low line so we decided to finish by going up in the ball.  Everyone had a great, exhausting day! 

It really worked well to hop between the two parks using the monorail. Teddy had a blast jumping in the puddles and riding all the rides and Rocky was a trooper! Good times were had by all!

Wednesday, July 28

Teddy and Rocky woke up about 8:00am Florida time.  Jean was already up and the boys ate breakfast while we waited for others to wake up.  We enjoyed a bloody mary before Jean and I walked to Dollar Tree and Walgreens to get some forgotten items.  When we got back we got ready for the pool! Thom decided to go work out while the rest of us suited up! 

We decided to go to the second pool because there was no one there. Everyone had such a great time! Rocky kept saying "I want Tom!" He did not want to play with me, he wanted to play with Tom because he would throw him up in the air and catch him. The pool temp was absolutely perfect.  After about an hour we decided to head to the main pool because we saved the table.

When we arrived, Jean spotted a baby gator in the pond! They said it has been years since one has been on the property, but they think he came in through the storm drain when there was a big storm. Thom asked the bartender and he said that Florida Wildlife will only remove the alligator once it is 5 feet long! Growing only a foot a year it would take about 4 more years for him to get big enough to be removed so they are trying to catch him and relocate him on their own. Within minutes of being there the clouds rolled in. We ordered food and quickly the storm came rolling in. Thom and Tom waited for the food while the rest of us walked quickly back in the pouring rain.  After everyone dried off we enjoyed lunch and then it was nap time!

After nap time we decided to go to the Congo River Mini Golf Course. They have live gators there. The boys did really well through the first few holes, but then their patience started to wear out. Jean and I took the boys ahead a hole and they got to hit as many times as they wanted before Tom, Cooper and Thom caught up--then we'd move to the next hole.  It was a very neat golf course with many caves and waterfalls. After mini golf we got to feed the gators. We fed them dried chicken off of fishing poles.

Once we finished feeding the gators we went to Bones, a BBQ restaurant. I got a chicken salad which was very good although our service was very slow. We then headed back to the condo to get ready for Disney tomorrow. 

Tuesday, July 27

We  made it to Florida! We started out this morning early in Osceola. Mom picked up the dogs and we were on the road shortly after 8:00am. After picking up Jean, Cooper and McDonald's, we were on our way. The drive to Kansas City went smoothly- we didn't even have to stop for a bathroom break! Once we arrived at the parking lot we parked with ease and were able to get on a bus within a couple minutes. The bus took us to the terminal and we were able to check our bag quickly.  The TSA line only had 2 people in it so we flew right through that, too!

Once in the terminal we were with a lot of people. I am happy that masks were still required in the airport because there were a lot of people in a very small space.  When we got there Teddy said his belly didn't feel well and that he thought he was going to throw up. Jean got him an apple and I got him a muffin. That seemed to help his belly after we had to rush the dry-heaving boy to the bathroom. They were looking at something mechanical on the plane so we were delayed a short while--flight was supposed to be at noon and we took off at 12:40.

I sat in-between Teddy and Rocky and Thom, Jean and Cooper sat ahead of us.  Tom took a later flight. The boys were AMAZING on the flight. They played their iPad and had a snack.  Thom introduced Jean and Cooper to the game Dig and they enjoyed it. 

When we arrived it was cloudy and looked like it was going to rain. As we got off the plane our stroller wasn't up yet, so Jean, Cooper, the boys and I went up the ramp while Thom waited for the stroller. This stroller we purchased before Teddy was born. We had said that it would probably be ruined within a year, but for only $25 it was going to be our stroller that we could beat up and take wherever we needed--we still have the stroller 4 years later. It has seen Boston, Florida numerous times, fairs, etc. The stroller was scheduled to continue on the plane to Puerto Rico and we thought we would be saying bye to it, but alas, it lives and made it back to us after people went under the plane to get it!

Once we got the stroller we headed toward baggage claim.  Cooper and I waited for the bags while Jean and Thom got in line for vehicles. Due to lightning, there was a delay in getting the bags on the belt.  By the time we got the bags Thom and Jean were next in line for cars. We got our vehicle and headed toward the grocery store. 

We accidentally ran a toll.  I'm not sure how people who are out of town get through the tolls when they are automated. We had cash and were ready to pay, but now they're electronic! 

After grocery shopping we made it to the condo. We are next door to where we stayed in December and March. We ordered some UNOs pizza and enjoyed dinner before putting the boys to bed. I gave Jean a little tour of the property so she could see the pools but it was starting to get dark. We stayed up until Tom arrived at about 11:00pm.  It was fun to have everyone at the condo and everyone is ready to swim tomorrow!