Our Family of Five Goes to Florida

Almost two years ago at this point, but I'm going to try and remember as much of this trip as possible: 

The husband's parents planned an excellent family vacation for all of the siblings and their families. First we flew with three small children aged 6 months, 3 years, and 5 years. I don't even remember the flight, so it was either SO awful that I have blocked it out, or it wasn't terrible - it could have gone either way.

When we first got there we were at a condo off Disney property. And there were ants everywhere. The girls got to swim in the pool for a bit and we tried to have an early night. The baby didn't sleep much, so we didn't sleep much either. 

The next day we packed up and moved to the Grand Floridian which is a Disney property. This was my first time at this particular hotel. It was really nice and and has great access to Magic Kingdom. 

Our first day I think we went to Magic Kingdom. It was REALLY hot and we probably overdid it. I know for sure we overdid it because that night the middle daughter had a headache/migraine from overheating and vomited before she went to bed. 

The next day was long and hot as well and that night the middle daughter vomited before going to bed again. She also fell out of the bed at about 2:00am in the morning as well. I am a very light sleeper, but I heard her head hit the floor - it pulled me out of sleep. I screamed because I knew what had happened and was so freaked out about the whole situation. She was fine, but I worried about her the rest of the night. 

The Grand Floridian has a sandy beach area that backs up to a little lake/lagoon area. It is right next to the splash pad and pool area. My two oldest and their cousin were playing on the sandy beach and wading ankle deep in the water. The very next week, after we were back home, an alligator dragged a young boy under at this exact same beach area where my children and niece were playing. He did not survive. And all I could think about was how easily that could have been one of my own. Terrifying. 

After we had been at Disney for three days and visited all of the parks we drove south to a resort called LeHigh. the baby basically screamed and cried the entire drive to the condos. I don't recommend driving with an angry baby in the Florida heat. It turns out she needed to poop and she has never liked pooping. 

The resort was a very old school resort with daily activities and games. Lots of grandparent-aged guests playing lots of shuffleboard. It was fun though. And also next to a lake that was most likely alligator infested. We didn't go near the water. 

We drove about an hour to Fort Myers beach one of the days we were at LeHigh and went out to Sanibel Island another day. We got plenty of beach time with sand, water, and sun. The kids loved it. 

Beach days are hard with three so young. They always had to have someone in the water with them and they got hot and cranky easily, but we still managed to build some sandcastles and eat some sandy snacks in between the tears about water stinging their eyes. 

There was a really shallow sandbar out a ways at the beach on Sanibel Island - which our older girls really had fun with. There were also tons of sand-dollars - I found a couple as big as my hand, but most of them were quarter sized. I had never seen a living one that hadn't been bleached and dried out, so that was super fascinating to me. You could see the cilia covering their outside moving when you looked closely enough. 

One of the last days we were in LeHigh there was a torrential rainstorm. Everything was wet and flooding because of how flat the land is down there. We played some games and watched some movies to try and pass the time. And we all met at the inlaws condo to have a nice dinner together.

I think we spent four days at LeHigh and then trekked back to Orlando to the first condo we had checked into. There were still ants everywhere. We packed up that night though because we were heading to a different hotel the next day. 

We got to spend a day at Universal. It was long and hot and fun. We saw The Wizarding world of Harry Potter. Or "Harry Poppins" according to our five year old. We watched some animals do fun tricks and played in Feivel's play land. All of the cousins got to meet Dora, Boots, and Diego.

At our hotel the morning we were checking out there was a guy showing off a baby alligator. Our two oldest girls got to pet and hold it. That was pretty exciting. We don't see a lot of alligators where we live.

Travelling with three small children is never easy or simple, but I also never regret any of it. I wouldn't trade the family time and life experiences for anything. 

My Third Pregnancy

I am 36 weeks pregnant with daughter number 3. My pregnancy app tells me that I have been pregnant for 250+ days - which seems like a really long time to me - even though in the grand scheme of things it is not that long.

This pregnancy has definitely been the most difficult. Because of my experience, I assume that subsequent pregnancies would just be progressively worse. Also I am getting older - now I am experiencing pregnancy in my thirties. Agh! Here are some examples of how it has been more difficult: I had all day nausea for two trimesters (instead of one), I have vomited a lot more frequently, and I have had some other weird aches and pains that I did not experience in previous pregnancies. For example: my Braxton Hicks contractions now have a more crampy feeling than just tightening pressure and I have pregnancy carpal tunnel in my hands/wrists -- SUPER FUN! :-/. Plus, I still get to experience all of the usual things that I have dealt with in past pregnancies: back pain, trouble sleeping, major heartburn (my girls are born with lots of hair in case you were wondering), and general discomfort due to carrying a tiny human inside my ever-expanding uterus for many months.

I know, I know...pregnancy sounds super fun and at the end of it you get a newborn who spits up, poops, and cries about a lot of stuff. Why do people do this? I can't really explain it because there is certainly a lot one could complain about, but there are also these feelings and experiences that you get to partake in that are amazingly wonderful. This tiny human who can be really sweet and cuddly and depends on you for its survival. Also, if you have more than one you get to watch them bond and love each other as siblings which has become one of my very most favorite things. It can be really heart melting - when they aren't screaming at each other. :-)

Anyway, I am pretty positive that this will be my last pregnancy, so I am trying to document it and "enjoy" it as much as I can. Both of these tasks are difficult because a) I have two small children who need things from me and b) I kind of think being pregnant sucks - not being able to be pregnant or getting a baby through pregnancy - I know what an amazing gift both of those things are and that there are many women who would deal with much worse than I have in order to experience it. However, being sick for nine months takes a toll.

So I am nearing the finish line and I am exhausted. I am tired of being sick. I am tired from lack of sleep. I am tired mentally, physically, and spiritually, but somehow God is managing to get me through each day, one day at a time. Thank you Jesus! So, there is my recap of this pregnancy so far. Four more weeks to go. And now I have to go shake my hands out because they are numb and tingling.

Five Nights in Honolulu

Finally getting around to posting some more about our recent trip to Hawaii.

Monday, August 31st:

This day of our vacation was probably the most relaxing. We didn't have to be anywhere, we didn't have anything specific we needed to do and we had all gotten a good night's sleep. Early in the morning a few members of our travel group went to the beach and saved some beach chairs, so once the girls had gotten up and we had eaten breakfast we put on our bathing suits and headed out for a day at the beach and in the pools.

The picture on the left is how the girls started off sleeping and the picture on the right is how I found them the next morning. Coincidentally (or not), this is the night Amelia slept the best/latest during our entire stay in Hawaii.

View from our balcony at the Aulani Resort. It was beautiful.

 

C had some great balance on the boogie board.

Tuesday, September 1st:

This was an earlier morning to get through Honolulu traffic and make it in time for our special tour of the USS Missouri. Papa wanted to try and get back to the spot on the battleship where he had been standing during the signing of the surrender documents. The battleship is not in the same configuration as it was during WWII and several areas of the ship were closed and without electricity, so it wasn't possibly for him to be in the exact location, but he got pretty close.

View of the Arizona Memorial from the USS Missouri

We were a large group to accommodate, but they handled us well.

Too much excitement for AJ.

Our tour guide also took us anywhere and everywhere that Papa wanted to go. Even if it wasn't on the official tour loop. We got the royal treatment. I was able to take Claire to get a snack and take a break for a while and then rejoin the group when we finished.

Papa standing near where he would have been during the signing.

You can see the seal where the actual signing occurred on the deck below.

Our amazing tour guide Bob (in dark blue).

Everybody wanted to say hello to Papa, shake his hand, and thank him for his service. There were also several people who sat with him to ask questions. It was a pretty exciting day. We even met one of the men responsible for helping to design the props that help make the ship look more authentic (pictured above next to our tour guide).

Had to talk to Papa about his experiences/memories.

Ready for action.

 

We all ate lunch and souvenir shopped for a bit and then we headed over to the USS Arizona memorial. The memorial holds special importance to me because my grandfather was in Pearl Harbor the day it was bombed. I spent a lot of time thinking about what a powerful legacy Jared and I have to live up to. My grandfather was there to witness the beginning of WWII  for the US and his grandfather was there to witness the end of the war. The whole experience made this pregnant lady a little emotional - wishing my own grandfather was around to experience these kind of history milestones with.

Tuesday was a really long and hot day, but full of special memories and moments with the family. So glad that we got to be there, participate, and spend some time with Papa and family.

Wednesday, September 2nd: 

This was the big day. The reason we got to come to Hawaii with the family. The 70th anniversary of the signing of the peace treaty and the day of the ceremony.

There were ten men in attendance that were on the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay for the signing. One of them was even in his original navy uniform. There were a slew of other WWII veterans and special attendees. Also, some dignitaries from China - who brought one of the pens that Col. Nimitz had used to sign the documents of surrender.

 

They had special singers, a navy band, a 21 gun salute, many fantastic speakers, and lots of special attention for the crew members of the battleship who were able to attend. The ceremony was really uplifting and positive. It was also super hot (and being 6 months pregnant didn't help). The girls did reasonably well (Amelia slept through the entire ceremony and Claire colored and rotated laps) and I am so glad we didn't let them keep us from attending because it really was a special thing to get to be a part of.

  

Thursday, September 3rd:

Jared's mom had scheduled a character breakfast at the resort this morning, so we all got up and went to that. I never mind going to those because the food is always amazing and the girls are always entertained. I wasn't feeling great this particular morning, but still managed to get some cute pics of the girls with Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, and Auntie.

 
We got in a nice nap, had some pool time, the girls tried out the rooms bathrobes, and we ended the night with a walk and some ice cream. It was a pretty nice day with some much needed down time.

 

Friday, September 4th - Saturday, September 5th:

This was our last day in Hawaii and we had to check out of the hotel (and I have zero pictures). We still managed to get some pool time in during the morning, played in the lounge during a light rain, the grandparents took the girls on an electronic scavenger hunt offered by the resort, and then headed out to return our rental cars and get to the airport. We had a really late flight, so the girls wore their pj's and fell asleep for most of the flight.

When we landed it was the next morning and JuJu's birthday! However, no one had slept well (including the girls) and we were all a little cranky. Happy birthday JuJu. :-) Don't feel too bad for her - she is the one who scheduled our flights. And we had other times of celebrating during our vacation.


The girls were basically like two little zombies for the remaining flight and drive back home. They would wake up and play for a while and then fall back to sleep. It was kind of nice - except they had to be carried a lot more often. We got back home pretty late and tried to get the girls to bed as soon as possible (without much luck - it was only four pm Hawaii time). It took us a good week before they were back on a semi-normal sleeping schedule, but the trip was really great and full of much needed family time. I am so thankful we were able to go.