for lack of a good description: Aruba: The Finale

And now, to wrap up the infamous first family vacation to Aruba.

We had received a few recommendations for restaurants to try while visiting Aruba, so one night we ended up at the Flying Fishbone where we got to eat sitting in the sand.

They had little metal stands next to each table which you could hang your shoes and purses on. Well, not the diaper bag, but standard smaller purses. Unfortunately, the tide came in during dinner…

No, I’m just kidding. The restaurant had about 5 tables placed in the water for 2 (and only 2, Brielle made us a party of 3). The water is warm, so it looked like a neat experience for those fortunate parties of 2 and no small babies. I’ve been trying to figure out a way to bring the idea to the North West, but I’m thinking having your feet in the snow while you eat just won’t give you the same experience.

Here’s Brielle and I checking out the water lapping the beach. A very relaxing atmosphere really.

And here’s the three of us half way through dinner.

She’s preoccupied with chewing on the awesome headphones she got from United Airlines. Best toy we’ve ever received from United! Hours of entertainment logged so far.

Yet another Ashlyn hand me down bathing suit. Ashlyn rocks!

And here is what happens when you leave the baby and the dad alone to use the restroom.

Good thing I came back, he may have buried her up to her neck if I hadn’t!

This was the second time on this trip that she experienced sand, but the difference here is we got a video of it this time.

Since this was our last day here (or so we thought), we wanted to make sure we got another shot at the lazy river. Here’s mama and Bri as close to the waterfall as she was willing to go.

Here’s Brielle playing with a water spout.

Steve had previously seen a water park in Aruba that he wanted to try out, but being ever the over cautious mom that I am, I had to talk him out of it. It didn’t quite meet my safety standards. What do you guys think?

Um yeah.

But I did see a slide at the other side of the pool at our hotel that he could take Brielle down. Oh boy, did she have fun.

I had to give it a try too.

And here’s a video from the 50’s of Brielle walking out of the pool. (I have not idea why the picture quality is so weird on this video.)

The last night was also Steve and mine’s 7th anniversary, so per my request, we had dinner at Ruth’s Chris Steak House at the casino next door. After the meal, they made us a fancy dessert to share.

Such a great trip, even despite the 2 bad things. At breakfast the day we were leaving, we had to take some final Aruba pictures. This is not a postcard, this is the view from our breakfast table.

Whoops, I meant this one.

Gorgeous.

And here’s one I’m not sure if it’s Steve or Brielle taking the picture. My money’s on Brielle. She’s pretty advanced.

After breakfast, we packed up, turned the car we rented back in and proceeded to check into our 12:15pm flight…

Welcome to BAD THING #3.

Turns out our flight was cancelled due to some hurricane outside of Florida. Bummer. Steve then explained to me that since it was an “Act of God” that cancelled our flight, we would be responsible for paying for our own room and board for the night. Double bummer.

Our whole flight was redirected to another line so they could rebook us (one group at a time) for the flight the next day. As you can imagine this took a looooooonnnnnnnnnnnngggggggg time. But, while we were all patiently ;) waiting, turns out the storm was going to peter out and they were going to be able to get us all out on a flight at 10pm that night. Whew. Crisis averted. Of course, Steve and I had been planning on staying with my High School friend Nick in Washington D.C. after our flight, and that was not going to happen anymore since we’d have to be back at the airport at 6am (after getting in at 2am) the next morning for our new flight to WA. I was kind of bummed about that. But hey, United provided us with $20 vouchers for food in the airport which paid for our lunch and dinner while we waited for the flight.

Hanging out in an airport in Aruba, what could be more exciting than that? Oh wait, this is:

Yep, Brielle learned how to crawl on the dirty airport floor in Aruba. And again I learned a lesson about leaving Brielle and Steve alone. I was gone briefly only to return to Brielle have crawled her way over to something on the dirty airport floor to give it a little taste test. I decided I wasn’t too excited about her eating things off the airport floor and proceeded to remove said item… a toe nail! Ewwwww.

Well, around 8pm that night, the airport was pretty empty, actually, it was completely empty except for our flight. But no worries, our flight would be boarding in a little over an hour. But wait, what is this? An announcement? Yep, the plane coming from Chicago had been diverted to Miami due to a mechanical malfunction? Miami, where the supposed hurricane was?? Turns out there never was a hurricane, so we aren’t really sure why the first flight was delayed. But who cares about that now, because this most recent flight is not officially cancelled and we’ve just spent our last day in Aruba in an airport with the beach a half mile away! Grrrr.

Amazingly, United was able to bus all of us to a hotel in Aruba’s downtown, and luckily it was a hotel that Steve had status at, so we got bumped up to a suite. Sweet! The room was much nicer than the one we had been staying at all week and had a patio that walked out to the pool. But no lazy river, so Brielle wasn’t impressed. Brielle did like the fountain they had out front, and I let her play in it a bit before going to our room.

The lighting isn’t good here, but Steve took a picture of us from the other side of the fountain.

We were also provided with food vouchers for the hotel, but lucky us, we had just eaten hotdogs for the second time that day at the airport. If we had only known…

Well, the next day comes, we all get back on the provided buses, and we again try to get back to the states. Steve and I get checked in, but the lady only checks us through to Dulles (Washington D.C.), which I was fine with because we were back in the states. But Steve being the savvy traveler he is, made her look into it further which caused her to talk to a supervisor who then advised us they could get us to Dulles, but not back to WA until the next day. Wow, we’re on a roll! They worked on our options for a bit, and finally bumped us from their 12:15pm flight and put us on a flight through American Airlines leaving at 3:15pm to Miami. Yet another long day at the airport for the Teodoro clan (and one crawling now!).

We decided to hang out in the outside restaurant since they had comfy seats, it was quiet, and most importantly, had free wifi and we could tell family and friends what was going on. We boarded our flight that afternoon and landed in Miami at 7ish with no problems. We boarded our 9pm flight that night and left that gate, got Brielle to sleep and settled in for our flight home, only to have the captain come over the loudspeaker to inform us that some idiot light was on in the cockpit and we had to return to the gate to have the mechanics check it out! Seriously?!? Oh, and Brielle woke up. Great.

An hour later, everything was fixed and we were truly on our way again. I was miraculously able to get Brielle down again and she and Steve slept the whole flight home.

Here she is sleeping under the cover. And look, I still have a smile on my face!