I had to be up at four thirty this morning so that I could drive Joe, Brittany and Bennie to Hobby for their flight to Orlando. That got me moving quite early today. I came home and did not bother to go back to bed. I kind of wanted to but there was too much to do and if I did go back to bed I would not likely get very much sleep anyway.
Dominica was up early this morning. Well really, she was up all night. But early this morning she got out of bed, went down to the kitchen and set up shop trying to reach any rental housing firms as they opened their offices this morning. She did nothing else all morning.
Eventually it was clear that Dominica had no means of reaching anyone and getting a house. She was having a truly terrible morning. But I got her to reach out to AirBnB and tell them that she could not do anything and that she really, really needed help. Once she did that, things got better very quickly. AirBnB really came through and fixed everywhere. They found an awesome house that was way better than what the family had been planning on getting and one that was closer to the parks for them. The house was like 50% more expensive than the original house that they were going to stay in and AirBnB paid for the entire difference! They were amazing.
It was really impressive to see AirBnB come through and fix things even when none of it was their fault. We were really worried because we are using AirBnB in Dublin the day after we are done in Florida, and we are using them in Oslo in June and again in Austin in September and that is just what is booked already. We were thinking about using them in Panama City in August as well.
We were so impressed with AirBnB. We are going to use them a lot after today. They worked so hard to make things right. Customer service really rocked it on this. As a first time user of their service this was really something.
So by early afternoon Dominica was feeling much better. Which was good because there was so much left to do. She was running around doing all that she could with what little time remained. I had to run over to the Grices and do a pick up of Madeline’s stuff there because Dominica did not have time.
It was around two thirty when everyone met at the Tocco house to get Francesca’s car loaded up and ready to go. It was actually after three when they pulled out to leave. The three youngest, except for Luciana, were in the third row with Liesl in the middle. Luciana and Emily had the second row. They have a long drive to Florida ahead of them.
I finished up work at the house alone. Then, when I was done, I had to drive down to Dee’s house and pick up Madeline who had been at a school party this evening.
On the way back to the house, Madeline and I stopped at Sonic and picked up food and milkshakes. She was pretty excited to get taken out for milkshakes, she doesn’t normally get to do that.
Back at the house, Madeline and I ate dinner and watched several episodes of Monarch of the Glen which, of course, she has never seen. She kind of liked it. More than most things I would have tried having her watch. So I am counting that as a win.
We did not stay up very late. Quite tired here and tomorrow there are errands to run and not much sleep for either of us tomorrow night. So trying to get some rest tonight.