Today's post is a little anti-climatic which is exactly how we felt at the time! It was really hard to get up to go home Saturday morning knowing that our wonderful Champion adventure was coming to a close. We pulled everything together, Jason ran downstairs to make a last minute Christmas purchase, and we headed to the bus depot to go to the airport. We were lugging all our luggage with us and were reminded of how wonderful it was when we arrived and our luggage just showed up in our room! That being said, Disney very nicely allows you to check your luggage all the way through to home at the hotel. We got in that line and waited to check the luggage. The line was slow moving and the guy there tried to get us to get out of line to get on the bus and to check our luggage at the airport. NO way! We stayed put as the line to get on the bus was at least as long and were able to quickly check our luggage. Unfortunately, the gentleman there was unable to print Dylan's boarding pass, so we knew we'd have to do that when we got to the airport.
We boarded the bus and snuggled in for a zombie-like, open-eyed slumber to the airport. Once there, we stopped at a ticket counter to find out about Dylan's seat. Coming out, he'd had his own seat but we knew that might not be the case upon our return. The woman at the ticket counter quickly took my ticket and reprinted it to indicate that I would be holding a child. I kept trying to explain to her that while that was fine, I felt certain Dylan had his own seat. She insisted that children under two did not have their own seat unless I had chosen to buy one. I tried to explain the whole Champion program and how I hadn't purchased any of the seats. She was not impressed. Yes, the special treatment seemed to have come to an end. Low and behold, she found his ticket and had to reprint both our tickets as a result.
From there, we made our way to the gate and were invited to board almost immediately. We settled in, excited to see so many of our fellow Champion families on board. The pilot very kindly introduced all the kids during the flight, and it was otherwise an uneventful flight. Upon arrival to Atlanta, I was in a tizzy as we had 40 minutes to catch our next flight and the Atlanta airport is a big place! Apparently, the special treatment wasn't quite over for us. When we stepped off the plane, there was once again a crowd of Delta employees to cheer for us. They also had a complete list of connecting flights and a very nice concierge who personally escorted us to the next plane. By the time we got there, the plane was already boarding and he escorted all the way to the plane. Now that's the way to travel! Once again, we settled in and enjoyed an uneventful flight.
It was great to arrive back in St. Louis, but it was also a bit of a letdown. We were home with our adventure behind us. There was no welcoming committee, just the regular old hustle and bustle. We reclaimed all our luggage and hiked out in search of the hotel shuttle. We ended up doing a fair amount of hiking as the sign said to go to "Entry 6". Where we actually needed to be was "Exit 6". To some, that may be the same thing, but I'm going to argue that it is in fact the EXACT opposite! We caught the shuttle and were back to our car in no time. Once on our way, we all agreed that we were hungry. Big surprise, Jayla wanted McDonalds so we drove through to get her something and then headed to Joe's Crab Shack for the rest of us! It was a wonderful end to an amazing week.
It was late by the time we got home, and we were all exhausted. We did therapy and quickly climbed into bed. The next day was a lazy one as we got caught up on our sleep and put everything away. Family came by to hear all about the trip, and we prepared for our return to work and school.
Since our return, we've gotten back into the swing of our ordinary lives. We continue to remember fondly our wonderful adventure and all our new friends. Jayla caught up with her friend, Emma, on Skype. They discovered that they own several of the same books and spent their time reading to each other. Jayla excitedly took souvenirs of her trip to school and told the kids all about it. I'm so proud of how quickly she was able to catch up and get back into the swing of things. We've done several CMNH events since our return which I'll blog about soon. Jayla is currently struggling with what I call the "chest gunk" and will be visiting the doctor tomorrow. Hopefully, they will be able to treat it outpatient, but we know this is always a difficult time of year. And so, life continues but with the memories of a very special week in which Jayla was allowed to shine as the special little girl she is. For that, I am eternally grateful to CMNH.
No comments:
Post a Comment