It's now been a couple of weeks since we have returned from our 2 week Florida stay and I'm just now able to sit and gather my thoughts, look through the pictures, and put my fingers to the keyboard. The whole trip was kind of a whirlwind, honestly. Our 3 day beach stay turned into 7 days when I found out that Atlanta would be getting a second snow storm. I couldn't stand the thought of being snowed in one more minute, so in the matter of 12 hours I had cleared my schedule, threw some clothes in bags and hit the road with my mom and the kids before everything iced over.
I paid for this decision. In many ways. I always seem to "pay" for my trips to Florida, one way or another...it's like a penance for being able to go as often as I've been able to. Broken camera lenses, rocks in windshields, speeding tickets, $809 fines and this trip was no different. About 5 minutes from our final destination and Lucy got car sick and puked...everywhere. She then developed an ear infection, which landed us in urgent care, and subsequently, spread her "ickies" all across the beach house, leaving me with 2 sick kids, and worst of all...a sick husband. Can I get a witness from all the wives out there? Ain't nothin' worse than a sick husband.
The trip wasn't all bad. And frankly, I'd rather be sick in sunny Florida than stuck at home, sick, in icy, cold Georgia. Amen? Amen.
We thawed out, enjoyed family time and sunshine. We spent a good long week in Longboat Key, which is just the most wonderful little island about and hour south of Tampa.
We then headed out for a week at Disney....
We paid for this too. Sometimes, it's not all magic wrapped up in Pixie Dust. And sometimes it's anything BUT the Happiest Place on Earth. Especially when your typically sweet 3 year old turned into a minion of the underworld for a good portion of the trip. Disney can have that effect on children. It's the strangest thing. Lack of sleep, I suppose, but anyone who says it's the "terrible two's" hasn't reached 3.
Again, it wasn't all bad, we had a lot of fun and we made some wonderful memories and started planning our next trip before we left. Disney just has that effect on us. But I'd be lying if I said it was the best trip ever...because it really wasn't. I learned some lessons about expectations. I busted my hiney and saved all my nickles and dimes to go on this trip, so when my 3 year old has a melt down in the middle of Fantasyland or my one year old was running a 104.7 fever in the middle of Epcot, I got a little bummed out. The truth is, they are only ages 3 and 1...crap happens...even in Disney World. My grandma wisely reminded me of this while I was there. Once the pressure to meet every expectation was lifted, I was able to enjoy my trip.
And my son got his first kiss, for Peter's sake! Which was the highlight of our trip. This is what we call "Pixie Dust" and I wouldn't trade this moment for anything in the world!
As for Lucy? Well, she gets the "best trooper" award. Despite an ear infection, and what turned out to be Roseola after 5 days of the highest fever I have ever experienced, she loved every moment!
She had just learned to walk with confidence, and this is all she wanted to do. Walk. Walk. Walk.
She took everything in and just enjoyed it all. Yeah, she won't remember, but my goodness, we will...and how sweet it will be when we do.
I know that all of this is SO extremely trivial in the grand scheme of things and I am fortunate to even have such a silly problem as a rotten kid on a 2 week vacation, but when I look back on this post, I want to remember the highs and lows of our "not-quite-perfect" trip.
Oh, and let's not forget the most magical moment of all!!!
My sister completed her first half marathon!
Thanks for stopping by, y'all! Have a great weekend.
