Spring Break 2009 - Days 1 and 2

I didn’t fall off the face of the earth…just relocated down a few states for a week :) We are in Florida for spring break!

Our plane took off at 7:00 AM Tuesday morning, which meant that we had to leave our house at 5:30 AM, which meant I had to be up at 4:00 AM. And to make matters worse, I didn’t go to bed until 12:30 AM, so I didn’t end up with much sleep.

The funny thing, that we didn’t really think about until we were on the way to the airport, is that we packed 5 suitcases, a diaper bag, each of us had carry-ons, a stroller, the baby carrier, and a boosters seat…how on earth were two adults and two kids going to carry all that???

Luckily we had a lot of help along the way…the bus guy helped us with our bags from the car to the airport drop-off, and then once we were in, two very nice ladies (who happened to be our flight attendants on our flight) helped us with our bags because poor Kylie was having a hard time pulling one of the suitcases.

Security wasn’t too bad to get through, but there was a line that we waited in for about 20 minutes (and because you have to put everything on the belt, at one point Ryan did end up being laid down on the floor).

Once on the plane Ryan decided he was hungry, which was perfect because he had not eaten since midnight, and had he been on his normal schedule (every 4-5 hours) we would have been in trouble as we really did get on the plane just in time. He then slept for an hour of the two-hour flight, which was very nice. Kylie and Josh did great on the flight as well.

We got into Florida around 9:10 AM and headed to get our rental car. It was so warm and sunny! We drove the hour from Orlando up to the condo we’re staying in by Daytona Beach. The condo is my uncle’s and it’s amazing! We are on the first floor and about 10 feet away from the pool. So the kids can run back in by themselves to go potty, and I can still sit at the pool when Ryan’s sleeping. And it’s a very close walk to the beach!

Once we got here, we all took naps! After that we got our suits on and got into the pool. Ryan was a bit of a pistol, but once I sat him on the edge of the pool with me with his feet in th water he was happy. Joshie started off playing hockey on the shuffle board thing (complete with winter gloves because "real hockey players wear gloves") and then wanted to go in the pool.

After pool time we headed out to get some dinner and groceries. We decided to drive down Daytona Beach and were extremely surprised to see how dead it was. I always figured it was a big, happening place, but there were so many businesses closed, and even some hotels for sale. Needless to say, we didn’t find any restaurants that looked good and the kids were really starting to whine. Joshie’s nose was really stuffed up and he refused to breathe through his mouth, so he kept crying and saying his nose hurt. Kylie was whining about being hungry and Ryan started getting fussy.

We finally found a Chinese restaurant and got dinner (the food was so good!). But right away Joshie was whining about being cold and wouldn’t eat, and then Ryan started losing it. We finished up, stopped at the grocery store for some breakfast foods and lunch meat and then went back to the condo.

I got the kids to bed and then climbed into bed myself. Ryan was up a few times to eat and I just generally didn’t sleep well. The kids came in to wake us up at 7:15, which was way too early considering they didn’t get into bed until 10:30. So John let me go back to sleep while he kept the kids. Turns out Ryan fell back asleep and John sent Josh back to bed since he was back to whining. Kylie came in to be with me and started complaining about a headache. This went on for a while, and after Ryan fell asleep again in my arms, Kylie actually fell asleep again.

After Joshie woke up, he and John played while I watched TV in bed between two sleeping kids. When Kylie woke up she said her head really hurt, so John and Josh went to get her some Tylanol. She was really in bad shape…she asked for soup and took a nap – she never does those things on her own :) After we gave her the Tylonal, she was so much better! We finally headed out to the pool and had a fantastic afternoon!

So while the first part of this trip was a little shacky, the second half of today has been wonderful. Tomorrow we plan on being outside (pool and maybe beach) and then Saturday we head to Disney!