leavin' on a jet plane

to maximize our long weekend in florida for my princess half marathon extravaganza, we'd chosen to book a red-eye flight leaving from LAX, arriving in orlando around 5:30 or so.  i was pretty curious as to how this would go, considering the time difference.  we each packed a small carry-on sized suitcase with just enough gear to last for four days, threw on some comfortable clothes for the flight, and got our phones and iPads all charged up and ready to go.

the bean was really excited for the plane ride, and drew this picture to give to the pilot.  i think it's funny that to the bean, all airplanes are "AA."  i posted this picture, tagging the official american airlines twitter feed.

i thought it was pretty cool when they tweeted me back within minutes:

too bad she forgot to grab it in our haste to get out the door on time.  boo.

with mollydog safely checked into her "doggy hotel," we were off.  since my folks live mere minutes from the airport, we'd arranged to have my stepdad drop us off at the terminal and then take the car home to park for the weekend.  at 8:30 on a thursday night, traffic was minimal and getting through security was easy breezy.  since this is the bean's regular bedtime and she'd had a full day of school plus gymnastics class, she was pretty tuckered out.

as for me, i was running high on excitement and adrenaline.

do you love my luggage?  i do.

when i checked in online, i noticed that we'd all been assigned seats in different rows.  luckily, the gate attendant noticed this and called the hub to the desk to let him know that she'd managed to shift things around and got at least three of us seated together, with the hub right in front of us.  although i'm pretty sure that whoever was placed in the seat next to the bean would've been willing to trade anyway.  heh.

i managed to sleep through almost the entire flight, as did the bean.

landed.  groggy.

despite the fact that it was really only about 2:30 our time, the bean perked up as soon as she realized that we'd reached our destination.  as we waited for the hub to check in with the rental car company, she kicked back and took advantage of the free wifi.

once we were finally packed up and belted into our sexy dodge avenger, i pulled up directions to our hotel and the girls drifted back off into dreamland.

thanks to priceline, we'd gotten a hotel on disney property for a pretty decent price.

since it was about 6 in the morning, i wasn't at all sure that we'd be able to get into our room just yet.  i was already scoping out the controls to get my seat into a comfy-ish position for a snooze when the hub returned with room keys in hand.  thank goodness.

and when we got inside, the lack of sleep finally hit me and i was asleep almost as soon as my head hit the pillow.  i have no pictures of the room to share, but it's okay - just picture a room along the lines of a marriott or something with bright, caribbean-inspired colors and "finding nemo"-themed decor.

pretty exciting kickoff to the weekend, yes?