We just returned from a two week vacation to Florida where it was sunny and 80 most of the days. Nap time involved reading a book near a pool and I was always working on at least a 3:2 adult to kid ratio. Needless to say, the vacation really helped to solidify how much I enjoy "staying home" with the kids.
Despite months of intense anxiety over the plane ride, we all arrived in Florida unharmed. Considering what I was up against- connecting flights, a near two year old who doesn't like to sit still and knows how to throw an mean temper tantrum, four hours of air time, potential weather delays, and overlap with nap time-I was floored that nobody lost their arm or their mind somewhere over the mid-west.
Our first full day was spent at the beach where Mila repeatedly said, "I not like sand!" and refused to move from her beach chair. I had no complaints with her tactics. Watching a near two year old who refuses to move from her chair at the beach is a complete picnic.
Tyson and Daddy spent their day playing Frisbee and building sand castles and going swimming and going to look at fish and going to look at birds and burying themselves in the sand and going body surfing and going swimming again. 4 is a magical age where Tyson only wants to do stuff with Daddy. At first this crushed me, but I quickly realized watching Tyson and Daddy do all of the above is also a complete picnic compared to actually doing all of the above.
Plus, this left me with the really difficult task of tending to Mila in her beach chair.
We spent two days in Lake Wales, FL with Grandpa Tom and Grandma LaNea. The kids adjusted to life in the 55+ community quite well taking over the shuffleboard courts and bowling alleys within minutes.
On our coldest day back in Fort Myers, we visited Manatee Park where we watched hundreds of manatees warm themselves in the river.
To be honest, I mainly documented this outing so I could post a picture showing that our coldest day there still allowed us to wear shorts. Suck it, winter.
We spent another day at the beach with Daddy before he headed home. Mila ventured out of her beach chair to help Tyson and I build a sandman. Unfortunately for me, this marked the end of her hatred of sand. Unfortunately for Nanny and Papa, no longer hating the sand meant carting half of the beach home in her swimsuit for them to sweep up later.
The kids and I stayed 4 extra nights after Dan headed home. 4. Extra. Nights. (in 80+ degree weather!) Did I mention that no longer working has it's perks?
We crammed quite a bit into the 4 extra days we had with Nanny and Papa-biking, water parks, dancing at happy hour, another trip to the beach, starfish, long walks outside, cartoons by the pool, breakfast outside, and swimming.
Lots and lots of swimming. It' possible I'm raising two fish and not two humans. On a side note, if you combine up the amount of sand and water they paraded into Nanny and Papa's house over the two weeks we were there it might be possible to build a man-made beach.
For the record, our return flight home wasn't quite as smooth. I nearly lost my mind somewhere near Atlanta. The temperature when we landed was -9. The laundry pile was astronomical. And, just yesterday-when I sat down to write this blog- our dog walked through wet cement and then tracked said cement through most of the rest of the house.
Reality bites, but I still don't think I'm heading back to work any time soon.
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