{Last night I dreamt that I took the family on a hairdressing bus. You got your ticket to your destination and while you were travelling got a haircut. You did have to wait in line though so some people only got half a haircut because they got to their stop before the cut was finished. Huffle and boys were getting their hair cuts while I loaded towels into the washing machine which I then had to take off the bus and home!! I was getting worried that the washer was getting heavier and heavier!}
Sunday 26th February (in case it doesn't post in time)
Anyway, back to reality. We woke up early. We got changed, turned everything off that needed to be turned off, packed the car and headed off for the Airport in plenty of time.
For the journey we wore tee shirts, fleece, coat, hat, gloves and trainers. (oh and trousers). When we arrived at the car park we took our coats off and Small couldn't believe we were walking in the freezing -4 without our coats etc. we tried to tell him it would be too warm to carry coats once we got to Tampa.
Thank goodness we gave ourselves plenty of time. It takes ages to go through checks and customs if you are flying from Canada to US because you actually go through customs at the Canada end which then makes it plain sailing the other end.
The check in assistant was very friendly (maybe just a bit too friendly if that is possible), we wanted to get through because we hadn't had breakfast and the boys were getting restless, but she wanted to talk and told us next time to come earlier so she could play with the boys!!
We only had one bag to check in (the others being hand luggage) and it weighed too much so we had to transfer stuff into one of the flight bags. Then we had to traipse around the Airport with the heavy case, four bags and two moaning, hungry kids.
We had to put our own luggage in. Then we went through customs. A woman who looked similar to Whoopi Goldberg checked our passports. "where is Mr Smallest" she said. Smallest looked at her and pursed his lips together, he was not going to speak! She showed him his passport photo (probably taken over a year ago) and asked him if it was him! He nodded. Then she did the same with Small and he did speak to her. Huffle and I had to have our fingerprints scanned and a photo taken. This was a slow process again.
We finally got through there and had to go through the scanner. Smallest was randomly selected to have his hands tested (for drugs?!). They swabbed both of his hands and sent him on his way. I set the bleeper off twice. Once with my sunglasses and once with my hair slide. Everyone else went through okay.
Then we grabbed a quick bite and went to our gate. They called families on first so we went forward in the queue. One man tutted at us and told me they hadn't called anyone yet. Another woman said "oh they make babies big these days" (I asked if that is what they called - people with babies, she said yes). I said Oh we'll we're here now we'll try and they let us on. Yaaaay.
Me and the boys were together and Huffle got to sit with an old lady behind. Not sure who had the worst deal really. I think she kept asking him questions and wanting him to undo packets and organise her table for her. As we landed (which was very bumpy by the way) she was singing a song about moving this left and moving that right - apparently it was her flight exercises!). I just had Small commentating on everything he did whether it was looking out of the windows, playing his DS, drinking his water, eating his sweets. Smallest happily played on his DS for the most part but did want to show me everything he was doing. I tried to watch the new footloose film but only got to watch about twenty minutes. Then I sat and wrote some of this post!
The food wasn't complimentary but we did get one drink. The sweets we bought yesterday were awful. I picked up 50% sugar and they weren't good. The flight was quite bumpy. One of the air hostesses got grumpy because someone called "hey hey hey" and she took umbridge! And told them she didn't like the way they spoke to her. We thought she was a bit over the top!
When we landed we went straight through, picked up bags, picked up the hire car (took a while) but we ended up with a huge automobile that has automatic closing back doors. Ooooooohhhhhh.
We drove to Mr & Mrs Gator's house and were welcomed by Mrs Gator's brother, Perry, who was lovely. He showed us around, told us where to go for shopping, told us about the cats and the alligator. He was very helpful, in fact we have already had to ring him for help with the wi-fi. We met Eric the dog who was very excitable. The boys loved him and I think he liked playing with them. Perry said it was a shame he was going with him and not staying with us.
Eric the dog - very excited which is why the picture is blurred.
We went off for dinner and came back. The boys watched Aladdin on Mr Gator's very very large TV, while Huffle and I found some British blend tea bags and made ourselves a cup of tea.
Small said "I love this house, it's like ours but better". High praise from one so Small. There is a house cat that we have to feed. It doesn't matter that Huffle is allergic to cats and has trouble breathing (he has his inhaler, he'll be fine). The house one doesn't like people so she just hides. The outside cat stays outside with the Gator, I'm hoping they are friends.
We have seen a heron in the garden so far. When the boys went to bed they complained about noises that they didn't like. They thought the gator was going to crawl up to their window (1st floor) and climb into their window. I had to put their pillows at the other end of their beds so they weren't next to the window.
Huffle has found a new TV show he wants to keep watching when we get back called "My Redneck Vacation". Some 'rednecks' move into a top exclusive New York residential area and invite some of their neighbours round for a party. We watched this on the really big TV too.
Tired now so off to bed in the really high bed. It's lovely but I feel like I'm in the Princess and the Pea. I wonder if Mr Gator hid a pea under the mattress to test if I was a princess or not. I hope not because it will end up as a mushy pea!
1 comment:
Good tip on the Hamtons Hillbillies show. Very fun!
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