Florida Day 1
December 3rd, 2022
I haven’t written a post in a long while. The last you heard from me our little Lola joined us and gave us quite a ride and scare on her way here. Now we are more than a year later with Lola celebrating her 15th month last week, so much has transpired and I’ve neglected my duty to capture this beautiful and intricate journey. There is so much that I want to unpack and share and I will I promise, but for now it is more important that I Pulp Fiction my story telling so that I may share the here and now… well here and now.
I truly hope this kind of content, posts about our travels, appeals to you as much as my more personal posts. Feel free to ignore them if they don’t, I won’t mind :P
Florida has been on our travel hitlist for quite a while and for the very simple reason that family lives there. Lola has a great-grandmother who lives down here, she has never met her and we hadn’t seen her for a few years sadly because of the pandemic. Originally this trip was suppose to happen last holiday season but those plans had to be cancelled due to an increase in infection rates.
After a few more attempts including a last minute cancellation 12 hours prior to our departure, never fly Flair, December 2nd, 2022 was finally the day we made it happen. Of course this required some logistical gymnastics as we had to book a completely different last minute flight out from Montreal instead of Ottawa. So with the help of Sophie’s mother and step-father we packed up 1 car to the brim till it was ready to pop and we made our way to Montreal.
Thankfully the change meant rather than leaving at 6am we’d be leaving at 6pm, this new time felt like a better approach for Lola if I’m being honest. This is around her bedtime so the hope was that she’d sleep through all or most of the flight. I’m happy to report that Lola killed her third time in a plane by following her sleep schedule. This is her third trip in her lifetime and all this year, clearly she is gearing up to follow in her mother and father’s footsteps as a globetrotter.
She spent most of the flight in my arms completely passed out, it was only when my arms started giving out with 1 hour to go that I asked if Sophie would take her for the rest. I would have gladly kept her on me the whole way if it weren’t for that as having her sleep on me is one of the things I completely fell in love with over her first 15 months in my life. It didn’t take me long to realize that this was a trend that won’t last long so every chance I get I make sure to take advantage of it. It reminds me of when she was still in Sophie’s belly and a simple thought overcame me, Lola will never be close to her as much as she was in those precious 9 months. The two were one and this was an experience that I would never be able to truly feel, but when she slept on me for the first time I discovered the second best thing.
And even with her soft little cheeks pressed up against my chest, my chin pressing lightly down on her blonde balding head, and my arms wrapped around her petite frame I still felt like I couldn’t get close enough. These moments seem to come less and less often with each passing day so every time it happens I cherish it, and it definitely happens more often during vacation so an added bonus to travel more.
Once we touched down in Orlando, Florida we made our way out into the warm night only to discover that Lola’s cheeks were quite red. She’s been teething a lot lately and her mood and temperament were good indicators of the goings on inside her little mouth. Despite the chicklet invasion overtaking her mouth she really did handle the flight and all the interruptions to her sleep incredibly well.
Originally we were supposed to land at the SFB airport which is a good 30 minutes away, this was where we booked our rental passenger van. It was already passed 10pm and we had to pick this rental up before midnight. So we hoofed it out to SFB from the MCO airport in two separate ubers as we couldn’t fit everything and everyone in just one. By the time we had our rental and we were on the road to Tampa bay; where Jay’s mother lives, Lola’s great-grandmother; it was past midnight and we still had a good 2 hours to go.
Sophie’s mother volunteered to do most of the driving down here and we were all quite thankful for that as everyone else drifted in and out of sleep along the journey. When 3am hit us in the face we pulled up to our destination. By the time we unpacked, said our hello’s and got setup for the night it was 4am when our heads landed in a pillow for the night. Lola transitioning from each interruption relatively well.
If there is one thing that parents will tell you about kids its that they don’t really adjust their schedule depending on how well they slept or didn’t sleep the night before. It’s like they have a built-in internal clock that rings true at 5 or 6am every morning. Florida was no different. Lola wakes up every morning bright and early regardless of how late she went to bed or how good her sleep was. We divide and conquer in these moments with Sophie taking the first hit for the team the next day.
On our first day we kept it simple, we got the lay of the land, got some necessary supplies like food, junk food, drinks, and a smattering of other things and then we ended our day by the pool. Grandmother lives in an area that feels very much like a resort. They have anything and everything your little heart could desire all within walking distance or better yet golf cart distance!
I don’t know how any of this affects our little gem Lola but she seems to love discovering new places. Her mind is on overdrive processing and dissecting every tiny detail around her. Whether it be interacting with the locals, or her environment she is just blossoming before our very eyes. Even her vocabulary is dramatically increasing with each passing day.
She is also hitting that particular age where fits start to become more common place. In those moments she does one of two possible things: either she does the bacon and flops around all over or she does the plank and locks herself straight as she can. Both options are accompanied by the shrieks and cries of ten thousand demons fighting an exorcism. It is 1 decibel short of shattering glass. Distraction sometimes works but other times we are left trying to calm her as absolute pandemonium takes over her entire world.
Lucky for us the positives far outweigh the difficult, and not to mention very loving grandparents who are always around to give us a helping hand. Certainly a tip for any family looking for travel advice, bring the grandparents. So our adventure in Florida has just begun, I can’t wait to see how Lola adapts and takes it all in, and I can’t wait to craft new exciting memories all together! Join us on our adventure if you dare :)
