Vacation Journal

Wow! What an interesting, yet fun, mini-vacation we had. Even though James had an injured hand, Eliana was fighting bronchitis, and I was battling a sinus infection, getting away for some rest was very much desired. There is so much we could tell about our trip, but we'll spare you most of the details.

This year we knew it would not be feasible to travel to Tennessee or North Carolina, so we visited Orlando for several days. We have not been to Sea World or Disney for sixteen or seventeen years, and since Eliana loves animals and enjoys dressing up (She is familiar with Cinderella, Belle, etc.), we thought it would be fun to go as a family. When you take a little one, you see things (and experience things) on a whole new level! Here's a brief summary and several pictures:

Sunday, Oct. 19: After Eliana's afternoon nap we made our way to Orlando. We found great gas prices ($2.71/gal.) on our way and the trip to Orlando was uneventful. Once we got to the hotel, Eliana "set up shop" and acted like she owned the place, putting her toys in particular places and investigating everything.

Monday, Oct. 20: We headed over to Sea World. Eliana enjoyed seeing the wide variety of sea creatures and we took in several shows, rides, and activities. Of course with everything so new and interesting, a nap was hard to come by. The most humorous part of the day took place on a ride. Eliana saw a crab ride and asked if she could ride on it. It looked fun, but once she got on it, Eliana didn't enjoy it so much. Look at her face!
It was a fun, yet exhausting day. Eliana's lack of a nap and altered routine began to show up late in the day, but overall she seemed to enjoy everything.
Tuesday, Oct. 21: At 4:00 in the morning, Eliana woke up and said she needed to go to the bathroom. (We are right in the thick of toilet training so I was thrilled for this glimmer of pro-activeness on her part.) Eliana went back to bed but from 4:30 on all she did was cry and moan. We knew something wasn't right. As soon as we were ready, we traveled back to Tampa and took Eliana and took her to the doctor when they opened at 9:00. Well, it was determined that she had bronchiolitis, needed a breathing treatment, and a bunch of medicine. Thankfully I had almost $45 in CVS gift cards, but still had to pay about $35 out of pocket for her medication. (Eliana's doctor gave us a coupon for a free inhaler, but our insurance did not cover the AeroChamber needed to dispense it. That alone was $65. It's a plastic tube!)
Anyway, we didn't really have anything planned for Tuesday since we knew Monday and Wednesday would be exhausting. Eliana ended up getting her very first chest x-ray, which came back normal, and spent much of the day sleeping. By early evening, Eliana was almost back to her normal self and we walked around through Downtown Disney (before the night crowd invaded).
Wednesday, Oct. 23: This was the big day! We knew Eliana would enjoy Disney and her favorite rides seemed to be the carousel and "It's a Small World." Her face just lit up when she saw everything. Watching Eliana at the 3-D show was hilarious. She tried to reach out and touch things and ducked when she thought something was about to hit her! And, for some strange reason, maybe it was the crowds of people, but Eliana did not want to be put down, so I carried her quite a bit during the day. Boy are my arms sore! And, like Monday, Eliana nodded off several times during the day, but she never did get a substantial nap, which led to some issues along the way and falling asleep about thirty minutes before the night parade. We missed the fireworks and left Disney completely wiped out, but it was so fun to be together.