Aaahhh, vacation...

On Friday, August 28th we set out on an adventure - a vacation. Twelve hours away by car. But we are getting smarter with experience. We did not try to drive straight through this year. We would've quickly changed our minds anyway! We arrived Saturday evening at Fort Walton Beach, Okaloosa Island, Florida. Basically Destin for those familiar with the area. After a quick dinner mom and I headed to the grocery store and the older boys went home to put the little boys to bed. So, Sunday started out refreshed, with stocked cupboards, and a trip to the beach. Here's what I learned on our trip (in no particular order!):

1. Packing for an 18 month old is much simpler than packing for a 7 month old (skip the formula, baby food, bottles, bottle brush, bathtub and go straight for sippy cup and snacks). Not that that means there's not a lot of stuff still.

2. If Luke (my excellent car sleeper) should be exhausted but has napped for only 1 1/2 hours AND it's past his bedtime, he is exhausted. He's also freezing cold. Give the child his blanket and watch him snuggle to sleep (okay, so I didn't figure it out until the next morning - bad mommy!). Duh! I was freezing with the A/C on, why wouldn't he be? Snug as a bug in a rug he slept like a log - and covered himself back up when he got cold!

3. Local attractions are overpriced but amusing for the children. Example: $50 for a family of 4 was way too much to pay to see a dolphin eat a fish out of the trainer's mouth. But the kids thought it was good fun. [Okay, there was more to see than just that, but with my love of fish - ewww - it kinda stuck with me!]Engrossed in the "multi-species show." One sea lion, two dolphins, a little kissing amongst the 3 animals and whammo - multi-species show.

(touch tank, aka ewww - one touched, one did not. See #5)

Ewwww, ewwww, ewwww, ewwwww.

4. The peace and quiet of the condo wasn't because it was a greatly constructed sound proof structure. The place was apparently empty, as in no neighbors most of the week! But on the Friday before Labor Day people started pouring in and I realized how fortunate we had been all week to have such a quiet, and deserted, vacation retreat!

5. My children are polar opposites. We first took Seth to the beach at 13 months. He hated the sand touching his feet. Luke, at 19 months, couldn't get enough of it. (Thankfully Seth has progressed, but only with the sand).

6. (See beginning of number 5.) Luke had to be watched constantly so he didn't wander into the water. He didn't even mind (too much) a large wave that smacked him in the face. Seth went into the ocean twice. Because I staged a sneak attack, grabbed him, and assured him the whole way to the water (while he was screaming to be put down) that 'Mommy loves you and wouldn't do anything to hurt you.'

7. (See beginning of number 5.) My children's skin reacts completely differently to Florida sun and SPF 50 sunscreen. Luke looks like he's been to the beach. Seth looks like he's just stumbling out of his igloo after a long winter's hibernation. Although, in Seth's defense, he does have a nice tan line. But, unless you are looking at that tan line, you don't notice the tan.

8. Luke decided this was the week to start the "I will not eat calmly in a restaurant phase." NOT a good time. I think my mom took the brunt of it. I think she was generally on the side that the food went flying toward when he decided to just send it flying. Usually, he just looked like I had ordered the completely wrong thing off the menu. Then about Wednesday we figured out that he thought he needed to dip his food into something. We went for Mexican and he looked like he'd been swimming in sour cream by the end. But he was full and so was I. Yeah!! The next morning we went to breakfast and he ate pancakes and butter. But mostly just butter.

9. My need for a semi-clean (is there such a thing?) gas station bathroom is second to the need to have some safe, preferably grassy area where the boys can stretch their legs and eat goldfish crackers and grapes. I'm still trying to block out the incident on the way home where I walked into the clearly labeled 'Women's' restroom to find it being used by a man, who I believe had converted the sink into a urinal. Let's just say that I calmly closed the door, walked briskly but unsuspiciously through the gas station convenience store, got into my van and said to my waiting hubby, 'please take me somewhere else NOW.'

10. A king sized bed is not enough room for 3 of us (this was only at the hotel on the way to Florida and on the way home from Florida. The boys each had their own rooms at the condo and slept great!). Especially when one of us is boney Seth jabbing elbows and knees into my back. OR sleeping on top of the covers (like Daddy) and pulling all the covers off of me. OR snuggling down into the middle of the bed so I have to move my pillow down to the middle of the bed so I don't cover his head once he decides blankets are acceptable. Luke's little pack and play all to himself was making me jealous!

11. DVD players in the car are great. Headphones for the DVD players are even better. I know all I need to know about the pirates who don't do anything! And my little guys look kinda cute in headphones. But really, Seth - looking like you're "over" the pictures an hour into the trip? We took 583 after this one. Get used to it Lovey!

12. On days when the purple beach flag flies (purple flag means "pesky marine life present"), the pool is a splended option! Throw in a splash area for the little guys and all is well!

13. Seth talks with his hands. On the phone. It's genetic.

14. Seth, alone with Daddy, does things that Mommy might not always approve of. Okay, it was actually the Air Force Armament Museum and I am sure Seth loved every minute of it. This picture was a just a little frightening to me!

15. Staying very near an Air Force base provides some awesome fly overs. It was really neat to see so many people stop what they were doing to watch, I hoped respectfully, as the planes and helicopters flew overheard. Sorry, I missed the planes but the expressions of these two were too much!

16. Dates are wonderful, but throw in a little local ambience and they are even better! Well, unless the local ambience is the little white, blend in with the sand crabs that ruined my moonlit walk on the beach! Those things are just creepy.

17. A little afternoon storm doesn't ruin the day. It's actually nice to watch from the porch.

18. My kids cannot get enough of Grammy and Grampy! Every morning began nearly the same, "Are G & G up? Where are G & G?" And while constantly hearing "I don't want YOU to do it" gets a little old, there were times when not cleaning up another mess or doling out another goldfish cracker was a welcome break for me! (sorry Mom)

19. Once Luke bloodies his nose in a full on flailing on the floor tantrum 15 minutes after arrival at the condo, expect many many more nosebleeds throughout the week. Of course, most likely as soon as you dress them both in their little matchy-matchy outfits that you bought specifically to take precious vacation photos. So that Luke, currently wearing 18 or 24 month apparel, then ends up in his brother's (not really matching) size 3T shirt. But kudos to Angel at the Greenwood Penney's Portrait Studio and the awesome job she did with the boys' photos in the matchy-matchy clothes (after the yellow shirt was peroxided and laundered) once we got home.

20. And finally, leaving stinks!

I asked Seth on Friday what he wanted to do for his last day in Florida. He said, "nuffin!" I knew then that Saturday morning would not be fun. And I was right. After about 4 hours of driving on Saturday Seth announced he did not want to go home, but rather "back to the condo!" I feel your pain babe. I feel your pain.

Catching up...

Warning, warning – long post. Grab a beverage and a snack if you plan to read the whole thing…

So, I’m a little odd. I like to do things ‘in order.’ I used to tape television shows if I couldn’t watch them when they were on. Then when I hadn’t managed to watch them and the show and it was on the next week, I would tape next week too rather than watch it as I hadn’t seen the last one yet. Make sense to anyone else?? All that to say, we went on a great vacation and I took a few hundred pictures (most of which I will not make you all endure), but first I have to catch up on the few weeks before vacation…

There was a quick trip to the State Fair, after a longer trip to the Johnson County Fair. We went to the Johnson County Fair with Aunt G, Laney and Car. David was making lemon shake-ups – a work thing, not that that’s his job but that his employer was staffing a booth. Sidenote – he makes a mean lemon shake-up. Yumm! Anyway, I thought the boys would love all the animals. However, we walked into the first barn and there was a goat (?) that was standing on his back legs with his front legs on the fence. He took one look at Luke, leaned in and went “BAAAAAAAA” - rather aggressively if I do say so myself. Luke was done. His lack of animal enthusiasm carried right on into the State Fair as well. But he did love the State Fair’s tractor parade and all the waving in which he was able to participate!

Nevermind the opportunity to look stylish in sunglasses.

And consume 'fair food.'

Then on Sunday, August 23rd close friends and family surprised Grampy with a party to celebrate his 60th birthday. When given grief about his age he responds that he’s worked hard to get here. And he has. And I love that attitude! The party even included an Elvis impersonator. Good times for a great guy!

Arriving at the gathering - not sure why mom looks so surprised? Don't try to look innocent!

Elvince

Trouble - but of the best kind!

So, a group shot of 10 people is a little rough.

On Tuesday, August 25th we went for Luke’s first appointment with an allergist. His peanut allergy was diagnosed via his hives and a blood test ordered by our pediatrician the month before. But I thought I wanted to ‘make sure he wasn’t allergic to anything else.’ The info from the allergist’s office said to allow 3 hours for this visit. That alone was enough for me to dread the appointment [thankfully, it actually took just over an hour]. First it was a nurse for vitals; then some chatting with the allergist; then the nurse to poke and prick all over Luke’s back, while I held him in my arms and he cried; then 15 minutes of holding him while he screamed and tried to flip out of my arms [holding as you don’t want him to scratch and contaminate the little pricks with the contents of the prick above or below it]; then a different nurse came in, took one look at his back, and said, “whoa, we’ve got some allergies” [this I could tell as nearly every poke on his back was hiving up nicely - I just didn't know which pokes were which foods as they were just numbers]; then she handed me a paper and circled everything he was allergic to – peanuts, milk, egg, soy, 2 tree nuts; then the doctor came back to discuss the results (that’s a generous description of the 5 minutes we spent); then the doctor took my sheet and circled all of the tree nuts on the page, maybe indicating I wasn’t smart enough to figure out not to feed him any tree nuts if he’s allergic to some of them, handed me a two page information sheet about how to read a label to avoid everything he shouldn’t eat and then we were done. Basically. Actually, we did discuss that he eats eggs (although only cooked in things as he doesn’t prefer scrambled, etc.), drinks milk multiple times a day, and nearly every packaged anything contains soy! As such, "we" decided to try eliminating eggs and soy from his diet, each one for a week, then reintroducing it to see if there is any noticeable difference that could be a reaction. However, that is not the plan for peanuts or tree nuts as those reactions are generally much more severe and he's already reacted to peanut. We will continue to give him milk as he doesn’t seem to react to it at all. Then we go back in two months. I have read enough since then to know that I also want a blood test at the next appointment. My understanding is that a blood test is a more accurate measure of ‘how allergic’ and is also a good baseline to see if numbers go up or down in the future (rather than measuring the size of the hive with a ruler). Anyway, enough about that. It is what it is. But it is strange that after hearing all the things he seems (?) to be allergic to how "just peanuts and tree nuts" seems like a piece of cake (a piece of homemade, nut free, well-labeled on the package, "safe" cake, but a piece of cake nonetheless!!).

His poor little prickly back - middle and left side.

And that should take us to vacation photos for the next post. Do hold your breath with anticipation! Okay, not really because I'm walking away from the computer for the night, but you know what I mean.