We’re in Orlando! It’s been SO long since we’ve been on a proper vacation, and now we’re here.

The day started with a 3 am alarm, a 3:25 Uber ride, and a 5:15 flight. It was raining a lot in Indianapolis, but it didn’t delay us much. We pulled away from the gate about 15 minutes late and got into MCO a little more late than that. One of the nice things about early morning flights is that they’re usually quiet, and this one was no different. I slept about two minutes, but I had my eyes closed most of the flight.

The Orlando airport was crazy town! I’ve never seen it so crowded. Southwest decided to put three incoming planes on one luggage carousel, so the wait was a bit tight at first. Eventually they moved the other two to different carousels, so by the (long) time our flight’s luggage started coming, we had plenty of room. All of our luggage made the trip with us, thankfully. Andy got the rental car, and after a seriously impressive game of Jenga making the luggage fit in the (small) trunk, we were off. It was a little more than 20 minutes from the airport to our hotel, the Hard Rock Orlando.

Everyone at this hotel is extremely friendly, and not in a fake way. I think they’re sincerely happy to have guests again. Diana at registration stood out, even in an impressive group. We took advantage of the bell service, and they really went beyond just moving our luggage, to make us feel welcome.

Our room is pretty small — last time we came to Universal we stayed at the Portofino, and it seems like this room is smaller. I’m sure the bathroom is. Unfortunately, it has some signs of wear. The outlet holes are stretched, so your plug wiggles a bit even when fully pushed in. The desk has many chips in the veneer. And I think the mirror may have been cleaned one too many times. As a matter of fact, the whole resort feels like it‘s ready for a makeover. (Outside, the pool umbrellas had mold on the bottom, and the decorative molding was falling off one part of the outside of the hotel). Still, the room is nice, and with a rollaway bed it‘s big enough for all five of us (Ellie‘s friend Francesca, who joined us on Ellie‘s birthday trip to DisneyWorld, came along on this trip with us too).

By the time we checked in we‘d been awake for about six hours, and none of us had eaten except for a bag of snack mix on the plane. The girls actually decided to go search for food while I went to the room with the bellman (and Andrew simultaneously parked the rental car). Andy and I were not far behind them, and we grabbed croissant sandwiches and coffee at Emack & Bolio‘s Marketplace, a little grill/convenience store in the hotel. We took our breakfast out to the pool deck. The girls were ahead of us again and went to the room to get into swimsuits while we ate.

The pool area is really nice. There‘s a large pool, although at its deepest it‘s not much more than four and a half feet. At one end there‘s a water slide, which we each rode at some point in the day, Madeline many times. Hundreds of large comfortable beach recliners surround the pool. Most of the poolside area was concrete, although one portion was sand, and that‘s where we claimed several seats. We used the hotel‘s nice towels to hold the chairs under a big umbrella while the girls got in the pool, and Andy and I went back to the room to change into our swimsuits.

We stayed at the pool for four hours or so. It was just a perfect day to be poolside. At first it was overcast, and then it got really sunny. We had some drinks delivered to the chairs, and when the girls got hungry we went to the poolside restaurant and had lunch. By early afternoon it didn‘t take long sitting in the chairs to get overheated, even in the shade from the umbrella. By about 2:30 or 3 we were all ready to leave the pool. Andy and I headed back to the room first, and the girls were not far behind.

The girls decided to walk over to Universal CityWalk, and Andy and I ended up doing the same thing but separately. It was a HOT walk, and we didn‘t spend long there. The girls returned to the room not long after we did. Eventually each of us took a nap, and before we knew it, it was time to head down to The Kitchen restaurant for our dinner reservations. The heat had relented so we sat outside, and dinner was really tasty.

After dinner Madeline headed back to the room to shower, the teens got their books and went back to the pool deck to read, and Andy and I took a walk. Now we‘re settling in for the night, because we have an early morning tomorrow at Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios. Hogwarts, here we come!