DAY ONE in FLORIDA.

Well, apparently Hayley only needs 5 1/2 hours of sleep. Tom & Joy left for work/meetings around 7:30 or 8am & Hayley came bouncing into our room! Gotta Love Orlando's Sun!

Many of you know that I am actively involved in a website group of mommies that all have babies Hannah's age. One of my mommy-friends lives outside of Orlando, so we HAD to meet up!

That was the mission for Friday.

We met Jada & Ainsley at Walt Disney World's Down-Town Disney's Boardwalk. A nice little area full of Disney-shopping. It is really nice to have "Real" Disney products, at "Real" Disney Prices (think $25 for a 2T Minnie Mouse t-shirt) ~ without having to go into the Disney Parks (think $60 for a 3 Year Old's admission!).

(Jada, Sara & a few Princesses.)




















Ainsley & Hannah "Chillin" in the stroller line-up.
Don't they look SO thrilled to meet each other?? :)


















There were a few temptations, but our current financial plans have made me a TOTAL money-conscious freeeeek! Like, for example, I saw a Disney-Princess Towel. The kind with a hood... the hood had a Princess crown on it & looked like a big, pink Princess dress. I was IN LOVE. Until I saw it was $25. & I KNEW I would need one for each girl... No Thank You!

Jada is a super cool mommy-friend who is expecting #2 this fall! We walked around, shopped, talked, ate, talked, shopped & then let the girls play at Lego-Land!

Hayley built a "Big Red Tower" & the two little ones chased each other up the steps & down the slide a bazillion times. It was 95*. At one point, Jada looked at Tim and said "Wow, look at the Minnesotans Sweat!" She grew up in Central Florida, so she's used to the "Heat".

WHEEEE!









































Hannah fell asleep approximately 35 seconds after we buckled her into her carseat!

It was so fun to meet one of my "Cyber-Mommy-Friends". Right before we left, Jada said her husband had spent the day in the "Man-Room" playing Play Station 3. Tim looked at me & said... "So, you could have dropped me off to play PS3 for the past 3 hours, but... you drag me HERE instead?"

Well... the only thing more strange than meeting a cyber-friend is dropping my husband off at her house to 'play' with her husband!

More Harrigers Take Orlando...

So, we went to Orlando. It was awesome, like usual.

The first thing people do is get all wide-eyed & say "OOOOO What Disney Resort did you stay at?"

I smile & say "Casa de Abuela". Which, of course, means "Grandma's House".

So, the most 'eventful' thing of our whole trip was the attempt to leave Minneapolis. Let me tell you... my home town did NOT want us to leave! it took an hour and a half to get to the airport.

First, I forgot my sandwich laying on the couch & we HAD to turn around and take care of that piece of potential nastiness (Jenn... stop twitching)...

Then I had to stop at my work & print our boarding passes, because earlier in the day I stared at the NorthWest Airlines website for 20 minutes wondering... Duh... what am I doing here??

Then the blizzard hit ~ DURING Rush Hour. COME ON! It usually takes about 35 minutes TOPS... during rush hour MAYBE 45... but we got to the airport relatively 'on-time'. We breezed through security & I met the greatest security agent EVER. I apologized that it was taking SO long for us to gather our things & move on... He said "No problem... unless you have a weapon in that bag..." CAN YOU SAY THAT IN THE SECURITY LINE? He did! So, I lifted Tim's shoe up & said... "Only if you consider THIS a weapon!" (I am mean.)

So, we get a bite to eat @ Le Cafe McD thanks to a generous donation from a friend, Kathy, who is a NWA flight attendant. (She gave us the equivalent to $40 in Air-Port food!!). Then we hustle to the gate since it was about 6:45.
#1. Tim was wrong. He said "There won't be ANY food at our gate." There was a Starbucks, A small McDonalds, a Bar and a little sandwich/fruit shop thing. (Did I mention Tim was wrong?)

#2. I see no airplane. and A LOT of people.

#3. The airplane we were waiting for hasn't even landed yet (our take-off was 7:10pm). So, the plane had to land, be de-iced, get to the gate, get unloaded, get cleaned out, board 1st class...
At 7:45, the plane finally gets to the gate. (And Hayley goes to the bathroom 3 times to 'check-things-out'...)

They board 1st Class.

Then instead of the "rows 45 - 50" routine... they just say "Everyone, get on the dang plane."

We get on, sit down (the fastest I think I've ever seen a plane board). Then we sit. And wait. And Wait. Finally we get to go de-ice. Twice.

Around 8:45/9:00, we get cleared for takeoff. My girls must have inhaled a HUGE dose of Hyper because they bounced off the airplane ceiling for the next 2 hours & 50 minutes. We turned on the DVD player, only for it to die about 3 minutes later. Tim didn't read my note that said "Please plug in the DVD Player all day". Darn. Hannah & Hayley got SUPER lucky because we sat behind 2 women and a man who were all 'elementary-age' educators & the man (who bore the brunt of their 'seat-pushing') was the father of an 18 month old & a 3 year old! THANK YOU JESUS!

We had the WORST turbulance I've ever been in. They started the drink service, only to suspend it 3 rows before us. My girls were SO not okay with this. They were whiney and I needed to shove something in their mouths!!! The flight-attendant wouldn't even give us the 3 ounces of water left in the bottle on her way by. Creep-ola!

So, we land in Orlando around 12:45amEST, Local time. For those of you concerned for the passengers of flight 586, Hannah fell asleep as the wheels of the plane touched down in Orlando.

Well, of course we were in row 4,236 and had to wait for everyone else to get off. So, we get our luggage & head to the Harriger's. We get there around 2AM. Why can't we just go to sleep? Oh, just because. So around 2:30, I am seriously about to pass out...

Well. Isn't that enough? Nope! We have SIX whole days left! WHEEEEEEeeee!

I'll start a new post for the other days.

Turning the Page of My Blog...

WOW has it ever been a long time!

So, I have decided to do a daily... or weekly... blog. What should I write about?
The "Tim Harriger" family is SO Stinking boring, that I don't think the "Harriger Family Blog" will EVERY be updated with anything besides "Hannah put on my sandals & walked around the living room today..." and "Hayley is 99% potty trained" (which is AWESOME, but how much do you want me to talk about pee & poo??)

So, here are some options I have considered for my future blog:

My view of politics
My view of 'living green'
My struggle with my/our diet & weight loss
My view on OTHER people that I deal with daily
My view on how cranky a 3 year old can be after a nap
or
My view on recent TV programs... (Warning... HUGE reality TV junky)

Okay- since I am currently blogging once every 4 months, maybe we can all look forward to a "Weekly" blog at best. the Good Lord knows I am on the computer enough, that it shouldn't be too difficult to pop over & update my blog!!!

Well, I'm going to compose a GREAT post about our trip to Florida & maybe sneak in a picture or three while I do that!!!