Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a fun New Year's Eve! Ours, as you can imagine with three children, was rockin'. We were all in bed well before midnight.

Yesterday we went to Cocoa Beach so we could go to the ocean. We packed our lunch and went to a really nice park. I was amazed at how clean the public restroom was! We ate lunch and the boys played on the playground for a while, then we ventured to the beach. What kind of moron doesn't bring bathing suits for small children to the beach? This one. It was only like 70 degrees out, so I didn't really think they would go into the water. WRONG. If you were at Cocoa Beach yesterday, my children were the white trash looking children splashing in the water. In their underpants. The water was frigid, but they didn't care.

After the beach, we went to the Kennedy Space Center. It was really cool, but completely reaffirmed our decision to not go to any of the parks. David and Henry enjoyed it, but were FAR too spastic to allow us to enjoy anything. They were also exhausted by the time we left, and there's no way we would get anything close to our money's worth at one of the Disney parks.

By far, the boys' favorite things to do so far while we've been here have been the beach (whether the real beach or the pretend beach at our resort), riding in the boat shuttle at our resort, and going to the playground. All FREE! I am enjoying that, because I know the next time we're here on vacation that will not be the case. Henry keeps asking, several times a day, when we're "going to our home". I do not think he'll be the world traveller in our family!

Today I think we'll hit the pool and the "beach" at our hotel. Have a great day, and Happy New Year! (A post on my resolutions is to come once our vacation is complete!)

The Happiest Place on Earth

For the Happiest Place on Earth, I sure have seen a lot of crying children!! And some fine examples of parenting. Not that I'm the pillar of parenting expertise or perfection, but I'm pretty sure that smoking a cigarette in my child's face while screaming at her telling her to stop her "pissing and bitching because we're here to HAVE FUN, DAMNIT!" isn't the best choice. At 8:30 at night. And the child was probably two years old and obviously exhausted. And this was in the parking lot as they were about to enter Downtown Disney. Enter, not leave. Let's just say there are LOTS of people watching opportunities in Orlando.

We didn't even leave our resort yesterday, until it was time for dinner! We asked the boys yesterday morning what they wanted to do, and they both said go to the playground. So we did!

After playing at the playground, we took a boat across the lake and did some exploring. We played at the activities center for a bit, had an ice cream, walked around, then decided to rent a bicycle built for four! Jack was too little for a ride, so Chris started, rode back to our condo where I met them, then I rode around for a bit with the boys. I seriously want one of these bikes! It was SO fun.

After our bike ride, we all took a nap. That is so rare! Then we went to dinner, where Jack played several rounds of Peek-A-Boo.

We then went to Downtown Disney. David and Henry are obsessed. We rode the carousel - it was Jack's first time! We may head to the beach today. . . we have no plans!

Tuesday Twelve - The Photo Edition

1. We've been having a great time so far. Well, most of us. Henry keeps asking, "When are we going to just go home?

2. Jack is sleeping in the Pack & Play. In the closet in our room. He can't be where he can see someone else, so the closet was the best (read: better than the laundry room) option.

3. Henry had his hand on the elevator door today when it opened. He didn't take it off. His fingers got wedged in between the door of the elevator and the door frame. I hope to never hear the scream that came from his body again. He's fine -- swollen fingers, bruised pride. I hope this doesn't effect his future career of choice, which is "elevator man".

4. Jack is probably the happiest baby on the planet.5. David, playing with the Legos at Downtown Disney. "Disney Town" as Henry calls it.
6. D&H riding the train at Downtown Disney. This was their activity of choice two years ago when I was here with Julie, and it's no different this year.

7. Aargh! Pirate David at The Pirates House for dinner.

8. Pirate Henry!

9. Watching a big ship go by in Savannah.

10. Mobile potty break. Note he is still wearing his headphones so he doesn't miss a minute of his movie!

11. Happy Jack on the ride from Savannah to Orlando.

12. Clearly my children. Reading their magazines in the van.

Southern Tour, Days 1 and 2

vacation:

1va·ca·tion
Pronunciation: \vā-ˈkā-shən, və-\
Function: noun
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English vacacioun, from Anglo-French vacacion, from Latin vacation-, vacatio freedom, exemption, from vacare
Date: 14th century
1: a respite or a time of respite from something : intermission

2 a: a scheduled period during which activity (as of a court or school) is suspended b: a period of exemption from work granted to an employee

3: a period spent away from home or business in travel or recreation

4: an act or an instance of vacating

Let me tell you, in case you were unaware, there's very little about travel with three children under the age of 5 that could be considered "a respite or time of respite from something"!

We decided to leave a day early on Saturday and went to Savannah, GA. Chris and I had never been there, and both have wanted to. The boys did really well on the drive. Hallelujah for the DVD player! Jack is getting two teeth, which I discovered on the drive. He was a bit cranky, but was for the most part great. We got to Savannah and checked into the Savannah Marriott Riverfront. As you may gather from the name, it's right on the river. The boys LOVED seeing the huge ships going right by our hotel. Shortly after checking in, we ate dinner at The Pirates' House. It was cute, has a great history, and the food was OK. Not the best we've had, but far from the worst. The boys were exhausted by that point, so it was a pretty quick dinner. After dinner, we quickly changed our clothes and I brought the boys swimming in the hotel pool. David said several times, "I just love an indoor swimming pool!" David did a great job swimming immediately, and Henry took a couple of minutes to remember he knew how. Jack, as always, loved to splash, splash, splash. Chris took that opportunity to nap in the chair as I wrangled all three slippery children in the pool. Not really what I had in mind when I asked him to "help me bring the boys swimming"! Going to bed was interesting, as we were all sleeping in a room the size of our living room. We started with Jack in the crib, David and Henry in one bed, and Chris and I in the other. It was quickly apparent that wasn't going to work! I had to rock Jack to sleep in the desk chair while David and Henry played Quiet Mouse. That meant I had approximately 43 seconds to get Jack to sleep, and thankfully he cooperated! Then David slept with Chris and I slept with Henry. Surprisingly, we all slept until almost 7. That NEVER happens with our family!

Yesterday morning we all got dressed and checked out of our hotel, then went on a trolley tour of Savannah. The boys were thrilled to ride on the trolley, and Chris and I enjoyed the history of Savannah. What should then have been a quick ride to Orlando was slowed significantly by a two hour traffic backup. Yes, two. Hours. That's like 10 hours with three small children. David was unbelievably whiny, upset about everything, and almost got thrown out to hitchhike to Orlando. Henry was amazing - never complaining, crying, whining, or anything. He was perfect. Jack was very close to perfect. Two out of three is pretty good! We got to our resort, and the mood in the car quickly changed. It's amazing. David asked if we're going to live here forever. (Henry wouldn't like that, since he keeps saying, "I just want to go home to be with Gigi." WTH?) David was exhausted and, after exploring our condo, quickly changed back to his sour self. Henry and I ran to get some dinner and an ice cream for him, because he was such a good boy. Getting everyone to bed was a bit of a chore, but I was SO glad that David and Henry are not sleeping in the same room as us!!!

Today we're going to check out the rest of our resort and head to Downtown Disney. We have no plans for the week and are just going to play things by ear. The boys are already up and playing Pictureka (Thanks Briana for recommending that!) in their room.

Have a great day!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! We had a fabulous day. I was scared at 1:30 AM when David came screaming into our room excited because Santa had left a present underneath his tree in his bedroom. If he had seen the living room, it would have been a loooong day. Thankfully I was able to get him back to sleep. I have tons of photos, but am too lazy to post them right now. My children are snuggled in their beds with visions of Christmas overload dancing in their heads. We all got very spoiled and got much more than we need. And probably more than we deserved! One great gift my mom gave me was a printed, bound copy of my blog. Such a surprise, and so fun to go back to read it in a book form. Since we're leaving for vacation very, very early Sunday morning, we've already taken our tree and all of our decorations down, put everything away in the attic, washed the clothes we got for Christmas, and put all of the Christmas gifts away. It sort of makes me feel Grinch-ish, but I'm not coming home from vacation to a bunch of Christmas stuff to put away!

I'm going to hang out with Christopher and relax. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas!

Not Kidding

David's not kidding, that is. About the "waundwy". He opened a couple of gifts he got in the mail yesterday. One was clothes. He. Was. Pissed. He also asked me today how Santa's elves make laundry. He said, "I fink they use that white stuff. You know, the stuff that grows in the fiewd near our neighborhood.". Um, that would be cotton. I'm pretty sure he's probably a genius.

Say What?

"I just want Santa to bring me toys for Christmas. That's my faborite. I don't want Santa to bring me laundry. Last year Santa brought me laundry for Christmas, and that fwustwated me." -David

He'll be thrilled when he opens his five boxes of clothes!