Becoming A Family Of Five: Vacation Day #5

It is now approximately 2:00am. Maddie has been screaming uncontrollably since she woke up around 9:30pm last night – and not the “oh, something could possibly be wrong with me” kind of cry. It is the kind of cry that makes you want to call a Catholic priest for a STAT exorcism. I thought I would never say this statement again after the many horrible trips we took when Jackson was Maddie’s age and numerous phone calls to my mom with me crying my eyes out not knowing what to do with Jackson’s screaming – but tonight, truly and honestly, is the worst night I’ve ever had in my life. Amongst the neighbors from all sides of us banging on the walls to quiet her up, Mike has resorted to sleeping on the "bathroom" floor next to Maddie’s crib while I sit here sobbing into the sheets. At least this is the lowest point we can be at, it can only get better from here. Boy was I wrong….

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3:45am, and the phone rings. All I can think is “shush, I’m going to have to hurt anyone that wakes up Maddie!” It was Mike’s work asking a question about something going on, until he finally said he was on vacation. Wshew! At least the kids are still asleep.

We wake up at 6:00am to get ready for our “no pressure” Resort Tour and to claim our two free Disney World tickets. When I checked earlier, they said there was daycare for kids two and over but since Maddie was close enough to two she would be able to go too. What a relief for us! When we get there, we’re asked to sign in and drop Jackson off at the daycare before we go on our tour. Umm, just Jackson? Oh yah, of course a change in plans, they now only accept children than are 3 and over and potty trained. So Jackson goes straight for their video games, and Maddie screamed to stay and play with all the cool toys but according to their rules we had to drag her kicking and screaming with us. Apparently they think adults are more likely to pay attention and buy things when they have a kicking and screaming 2 year old in tow!

The guy that did our tour, Jorge, was super nice. He told us how he and his wife had earlier had a premature baby that died when it was a couple months old, how they were getting ready to start a family again, and thinking about the possibility of adopting. He also said he used to be a youth pastor. Although he knew we were probably not going to buy a time share, he was still very nice and pleasant to talk with – even with Maddie screaming the entire time. And no, I don’t mean the typical almost-two-year-old whines and fusses. I’m talking about full-out kicking, screaming, and monster-like behavior. A few minutes into our conversation with Jorge, we were asked to leave by his supervisor Mike (Not to be confused with my wonderful Mikey) and go outside onto a porch area to “be more comfortable” with Maddie and to finish our presentation there. She was still way more than a handful and I was counting the seconds until we could leave and just get out of there. Yet there was more. I know Jorge was just doing his job, but the moment he brought his supervisor Mike over to our table for the end of his presentation is the moment fire began rolling out of my ears in fury.

Mike: So which time share am I going to be selling you today?
Mikey: I don’t think we are interested in purchasing one (and gave reasons)
Mike: But if you vacation, you’re wasting money if you don’t get one.
Mikey: We don’t vacation often.
Mike: What do you call this? A vacation?! If you don’t vacation, why are you here? You don't make any sense.
*Fury and anger rising in my blood*
Mikey: We purchased this vacation package very cheaply online, and paid for it before we had some other financial situations come up (Is that REALLY any of his business in the first place?), we don’t do a lot of traveling, and it’s extremely stressful to travel with small children.
Mike: Do you plan on going on a vacation in the next 20 years? You're telling me you don't plan on taking a vacation in 20 years??
Mikey: Yah, we probably will.
Mike: So you’re just waiting until the price goes up? Good planning!! Way to make good financial decisions!
*Maddie’s still screaming her head off, and I’m literally fighting back tears. I just want to go home!*
Jill: I don’t even want to finish THIS vacation, muchless start planning our NEXT vacation!!

I don’t even remember the rest of the conversation, it was a mix of fury and tears. We said goodbye to Jorge, and Mike just grabbed his little notebook and walked away in a huff. So now we’re done, we can get our Disney tickets and get out of there! Wrong! We need to sit at the table and wait for yet another person to come over and talk to us about how we felt the presentation went. We tell him that we thought Jorge was a great guy, but the guy Mike was the absolute biggest jerk I have ever met in my life. “I don’t know why, but this is the third complaint I’ve had about him today…” Third complaint today? It’s only 8:30am! So he finally gives us our paper to take to the desk to pick up our tickets, we get Jackson, and get out of there as fast as we can!

After a little bit of cooling down, we head over to Gatorland. It was awesome!! Alligators everywhere. Both Maddie and Jackson had an awesome time, and I highly recommend it to anyone that’s visiting. They also had a little splash park that the kids could run in, which was fantastic after they were all sweaty from the heat. A great way to cool down! The kids picked out their toy from the gift shop – Jackson got 2 stuffed alligators and Maddie got one. Jackson named his Alligator and Chompy. He then named Maddie’s Swingy Taylor because (Swingy) its tail is all swingy, and (Taylor) it has a long tail. After the gift shop, it was off to Target to pick up a few more groceries and pick up Jackson’s birthday cake for tomorrow.

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We were supposed to go to the mini-golf tournament at the resort tonight, but it’s too rainy outside so we decided to go for a drive instead and then watch a movie in the room. So far we haven’t gotten any calls from the desk telling us that Maddie’s too loud, so hopefully it will stay that way. We just said a prayer that she’ll finally be able to sleep tonight!! I don’t know why she has such a horrible attitude 24/7, and how she can survive on 2 hours of sleep a night while screaming the remainder of the time. God help us!!

After 45 minutes of Maddie screaming, the words 'uckie poopoo' are voiced and I go change the biggest gooiest diaper ever. Back to bed! Mike turns on “The Bee Movie” on the floor, making her lay down to watch it. But it’s too loud and she keeps waking up during the loud parts. So Mike goes on a covert mission to turn off the movie without her seeing, otherwise she'll start screaming again!!