Got me a ticket on an AIRPLANE!!!

Call us crazy or call us smart. This family literally left town within an hour of Karly's closing bow for Thumbelina. We jumped into the car and headed to San Francisco to stay the night and catch an early morning flight. When we travel, we do TONS of research and we were able to find a fairly cheap flight to Miami out of SF-direct! A huge plus! To fly direct without connections and the worries of luggage issues, we were stoked! We left our hotel on the 4:30am airport shuttle -had a crazy scary shuttle driver- but arrived safely with our two bags to check and 1 carry-on each. Baggage fees are a big bummer when you are headed cross country for nine days.

Our flight was easy and without issue. Our baggage on the other hand was the greatest snafu of the trip. At the gate in SF, the flight crew offered to check any carry-ons for free to speed boarding. We jumped at the chance thinking that it would be easier than having the kids have to wrestle their bags through the plane. When we arrived in Miami, we had all our checked luggage, but none of the bags that were checked at the gate. After about an hour in line trying to trouble shoot the luggage issue, mind you we hadn't eaten since SF really and were tired from getting up so early, they finally announced that our bags had been found.

The kids were GREAT! They in some ways faired better than us. The only thing that really got to them was the need for food. By the time we got our rental car and headed from Miami to Ft. Lauderdale....we were dreaming of french fries and anything that would remotely be considered food. It didn't matter, we needed to eat. We teased the kids that once we were on the cruise, they could eat any hour as much as they wanted. In the end, all would be good!

Kids, around 5:00am at the SF airport.