Holiday Rooooooooooad ‘09

I am now drowning in laundry and new toys and excess body weight, but it was SO worth it.  We had an amazing holiday road trip. 

I think it was because the kiddies are now at the ages where everything is just a LITTLE BIT easier.  Daniel no longer requires diapers (Hooray!) or a travel booster seat or a special cup or spoon or fork or bowl or, and this is the BEST part, a Pack ‘n Play to sleep in!  He slept on his “floor bed” - a super cute Lightning McQueen inflatable sleeping bag.  Annabel still requires all the above items, but I wasn’t gasping every single time she walked along Pop Pop’s marble tile or cruised past the hotel room’s glass coffee table. 

We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at home with GG and then we were up and down the East Coast stopping off in North Carolina and Maryland to see the rest of the family.  There was one common factor at every leg of the tour: IT WAS COLD.  That was a special treat for Daniel and Annabel since they have never seen snow nor have they felt that bone chilling wind.  I was bummed that they didn’t actually get to see snow FALL to the ground, but Daniel did toss icy snow balls at my face and Annabel touched a patch of snow with her pink mitten and then screamed for me to pick her up. 

The BEST part of the trip was all the “quality time” (or rather the “running around, dancing, jumping, toy playing, junk food eating, beer and wine drinking, TV watching, comfy clothes wearing time”) with Pop Pop, Queen, Grandma, Grandpa, Miss Aunt Marsha, My Uncle Kevin, Maddie, Kate and Baby Luke.

Now we are back home in Florida and a little sad and a little sick (Bean woke up with a nasty cold and now must postpone his very first day of preschool - UGH), but I’m ready for a brand new year.  Hello 2010!  It is very weird to write that when I’m still staring at a December calendar above my desk. 

Well, we’ll miss you Christmas.  See you next year.

Life’s A Beach

I just got back from an awesome week long summer vacation with the family.  We all survived another long road trip.  The kiddies were great in the car.  I really think they are little pros at this point.  They completely get it.  Bean even shouts out “Cracker Barrel!” when he needs a break.  He knows that is where we stop to change the diapers and stretch our legs (and rock on those old fashioned rocking chairs for a few minutes).  The car DVD player is still very important to our sanity, as are all the books and the giant tote bag of snacks.

Our first stop was Maryland for my niece Kate’s 3^rd Birthday Princess Party Extravaganza.  My sister and brother-in-law really did it up right.  There was a sandbox scavenger hunt, water balloons, pool fun, and a piñata.  Plus lots of juice boxes and a big gorgeous, yummy cake. Oh, and the key ingredient: beer for the adults. 

Daniel and Annabel were in heaven.  They love their cousins and we don’t see them very often.  It was a blast to watch them all run around and play.  The following day was Baby Luke’s Baptism.  My husband and I are his Godparents.  Annabel spent most of the ceremony outside with Grandpa, but Bean was just amazing.  He stood on the church pew kneeler and watched, completely mesmerized with the entire thing.

Then we were off to Myrtle Beach for FOUR WHOLE NIGHTS.  I say that really LOUDLY because it was SO NICE to just stay in one place and not have to pack up everything up and move it into a car again for FOUR WHOLE NIGHTS.

Our days were spent at the beach and the resort’s “indoor water park” which was a lazy river pool that had some water slides.  It also had a really cool baby pool with sprinklers.  Daniel LOVED the beach and the sand.  He played in the waves with his Daddy and built sandcastles.  Annabel would hang out with me and lounge in the chair.   She really is a “Mini Mama.”  

We would try a new restaurant each night.  Annabel is still in the “picky eater” stage mixed with the “sudden urge to scream at the top of her lungs for no apparent reason” stage.  So going out to dinner is sometimes a little…challenging.  But we found the perfect place: Joe’s Crab Shack.  My kiddies love crab, and corn on the cob is their favorite vegetable.  We ordered sides of corn on the cob as appetizers for the two of them. Plus with the crabs and some Mac & Cheese and the waiters singing and dancing around, both kiddies were happy…and quiet.  That meant Mama and Daddy could enjoy our meal and have a conversation too!  (So we went there two nights in a row, of course.)

The final night we strolled around Broadway at the Beach and bought some souvenirs.  We also took Daniel and Annabel on their very first Carousel ride.  Bean also went on this really (kinda) scary looking car ride, but he loved it. 

I was also able to enjoy some quiet moments with a book on the beach when the kiddies were napping and Daddy was relaxing with them in the room. As a mom, I completely understand the rejuvenation power of just an HOUR of alone time.  Add in the smell of the ocean and the sound of the waves and it was perfect. 

Hats and Comfy Blankies

It was a ”hat”-themed day on Sesame Street this morning.  My kiddies really got into it.  They love hats. And we have a lot of hats in our house:

I always say you can never have too many hats or comfy blankies.  We are a very fair and pale family, so I love to have tons of hats ready to shield us from the sun.  And since we leave tomorrow morning for our beach vacation, I have just finished stuffing one of my cute straw beach bags with nothing but sun hats.

I am excited for a week away with my family.  We have done this road trip many times before.  We are driving north to visit my sister’s family and my parents.  Then we are off to the beach for FOUR WHOLE NIGHTS.  I really hope it feels like a vacation with two kiddies under the age of three in tow.  I’m sure we will have a blast because we are leaving the house (and the laundry and the bills and the cleaning and the “to do” lists) behind.  Woohoo!

Family Road Trip

We spent Memorial Weekend visiting my parents and my sister’s family in Maryland and my father-in-law in North Carolina.  We also spent A LOT of time on I-95 North and South. I did not know I could be so exhausted from sitting in the car (and twisting and turning to entertain and refuel two kids under the age of three!)  The main goal of this trip was to finally meet my new nephew and godson Luke (my sister’s third child).  He was just as sweet and cute as I had imagined:

Daniel and Annabel had a blast playing with their cousins:

We enjoyed the super cool Winston-Salem Children’s Museum:

Daniel LOVES school buses so we had to stop for this photo op in NC:

  

Both of my kiddies were awesome in the car.  We have done this trip a couple times before so I’m beginning to learn what to bring.  Here is my “Must Have” item list for the car:

• Lots of snacks.  My favorite thing to do is to put Cheerios in these fun snack cups.  This is especially entertaining for Annabel.  I just refill the cups over and over and I don’t worry because the kids are downing handfuls of healthy whole grain.
• Magazines. I used to give Daniel a bunch of new books but, unless I want to constantly turn around to read to him, they lost their entertainment value pretty quickly.  So I started bringing toy, sport, and kid furniture catalogs.  We call them Daniel’s “magazines.”  He will spend 30 minutes gazing at all the pictures and picking out what he wants.  (I now have to buy him a sprinkler pool and swing set, but we’ll deal with that later.)  Also, Grandma and Grandpa gave Daniel a subscription to Highlights.  I stock pile them and bring them on the car trip too.
• Mini Photo Albums.  Annabel slept a lot but when she was awake she loved to look through mini photo albums like this one.  I filled the album with pictures of everyone she would see on the trip.
• DVD Player.  If you read my previous blog, you saw that we broke down and bought our very first car DVD player.  I was against it at first because I did not want my two kids to be completely zoned out while their brains filled with mush.  But it was fine.  We just turned the DVD player on for 30 minute intervals twice a day.  They watched Blue’s Clues, Little Bear, or Sesame Street and then we would turn it off.  They thought it was so cool and it was a nice car break for Mama and Daddy.  It was a win/win and I’m sure we will use it again. 
• Car Seat Trays.  I don’t think I have found the perfect one yet, but we used these.  Daniel would use his to play cars and color.  I also used them for lunch.  We packed sandwiches, Go-Gurt, applesauce and milk in a travel cooler.  When we did stop at McDonald’s, it was easier to park and feed them in the car than waste a lot of time in the restaurant.  When they are older I’m sure this will not work, but it’s great for toddlers.

Also, Cracker Barrel restaurants are wonderful for changing diapers in a clean environment.  And they have a cute gift shop you just HAVE to walk through to get to the restrooms.  Of course I could not resist buying Annabel a dress for the Fourth of July:

Now we are home and the kiddies both have yucky trip colds.  I’m just so glad the snots and drips waited until we got back to Florida. 

I was excited to put the kids to bed, throw in a load of laundry, grab a glass of wine and watch the season premiere of Jon & Kate Plus 8. It was SO SAD.  I loved Jon & Kate Plus 8 back in the day when it showed Kate grocery shopping, potty training, and planning fun Valentine’s Day activities for her kids.  I told my husband that I loved to watch the show because it was so relaxing.  If Kate could be a stay-at-home mom with EIGHT kids surely I could do it with two kids.  She inspired me.  I loved that she was scheduled and organized because I parent the same way. Then the show just began to document all their free vacations and outings. And NOW it’s turned into marriage counseling.  I hope they can work it out.  I really do.  I was always a Kate fan and I am still on her side.  I can’t judge her because I’m not in her shoes.  I can’t imagine the pressure she is under to support her family.  I hope that the “fame” did not go to her head.  I hope she realizes that she married her husband FIRST and they decided to have children TOGETHER.  I hope they do what’s best for the kids and WORK IT OUT.  Of course, I’ll be watching all the drama unfold….