Vacation Day #2 (Friday 3/17/06)

Our towncar picked us up, as planned, at 5:40 AM. We boarded our 7 AM flight (American Airlines #306) at 6:45 AM and took off 15 minutes late. We sat in row 24 - seats A, B and C for the kids and me and seat D (across the aisle) for Daddy. The flight was completely full and the flight attendants and ticketing agents were very strict about carry-on baggage policies (to the dismay of a few passengers trying to carry larger-than-average bags onboard). The children kept busy with activities I'd planted in their little backpacks and, of course, our Mintek portable DVD player. (I could just kiss the person who invented that thing.) We watched Elizabethtown with Kirsten Dunst and Orlando Bloom while the kids enjoyed watching Kim Possible and Chicken Run. My husband was excited to find Steve Landesberg (from Barney Miller) seated behind me. We arrived at FLL at 2:22 PM (early!), gathered our luggage and rode a shuttle to our hotel.

Check-in at the Sheraton Yankee Clipper was smooth although when we opened the door to the room they assigned us, we found only one bed for the four of us. We called the front desk and a new room was given to us within minutes. It was in the north tower of the hotel (across the street from the main building) and had a beautiful view from a floor-to-ceiling window of the beach. At 4 PM, we walked up the street to visit an online friend of mine and two of her adorable children at the Oasis Cafe. We've known each other via the computer for about 7 years but had never met in person. We had a great dinner and enjoyed a little time on the beach before saying our goodbyes and heading back for our hotel. We put the kids in the bath tub (sand everywhere!) and were in bed and asleep by 9 PM - eagerly anticipating the next day...

Our itinerary:
Saturday - depart Port Everglades
Sunday-Monday - at sea
Tuesday - St. Thomas
Wednesday - St. Maarten
Thursday - at sea
Friday - Princess Cays (Bahamas)
Saturday - arrive Port Everglades