Family Vacation 2015 - Days 10 & 11 - Home at Last

Finally! We're home. Not that I wanted to be home instead of vacation in Florida. It's more like, after 17 hours of being in a car with a 2 year and 2 month old, I'm so happy I'm home. 

Overall it wasn't a terrible experience. I'll start at Friday morning. Early Friday morning. Around 2:00 am to be exact. That's the time when me and Melody woke up to a screaming toddler. Every once in a while Rylynn will start yelling and is completely inconsolable, yet not fully awake. We can only assume that she is having night terrors, and we are told she will grow out of them. Until then, we have to try and calm her while she cries and screams and refuses to listen to us or calm down. Mostly because we didn't want her to wake up Denver, I took her upstairs to watch some TV hoping that would distract her and she would calm down. She fell asleep quickly after that and we just slept there. 

We got up around 8:00, then got our breakfast, and headed out to the beach.

Rylynn had a great time smashing sand castles and finding shells and running away from the waves. Also, Denver made it out to the beach for the first time! You can tell how excited he was... 

This was the only day that we were ALL out at the beach at the same time :)

Melody and I aren't huge beach people, but when you see how much fun your kids are having, it makes it hard to leave. You can't just say "Okay, we have to go back for lunch". That means nothing to them. They could play at the beach for days without eating. It forces you to be more creative. Bribing them with things like "We can go swimming in the pool" seem to be more affective, even though you're already at the ocean. 

We headed back for lunch and naps, but Rylynn decided she didn't want to take a nap. I did though. I was going to  have to drive through the night, so I NEEDED a nap. I slept for about 2 hours, which probably was not enough, but I was happy to get that much. 

For dinner we had mashed potatoes, stuffing and turkey casserole, and AMAZING apple and peach pies! Rylynn decided she would take her nap while we ate and fell asleep in her high chair. After she finally woke up at about 7:45, she played hide and seek with Mollie, Erin, and my mom. While they played that, Matt, Ryan, Dad and I played a game where we try and bounce coins off the counter into a cup... About 8 feet away. It's amazing how a simple game can entertain us for so long. We were playing for a while and none of us had got one in. After a while my dad put a dollar on the counter and said "First one to get it gets the dollar". Now it was serious!( not really) But about 10 minutes later I got it in the cup and won the big prize :) 

It was about 9:00 pm by now and after Melody nursed Denver we were ready to head out on our 13 hour drive home. We got the car packed up, said our goodbyes, fueled up, and we were on or way around 10:00 pm. 

The trip started pretty good. When we fueling up I knew that I would be driving through the night so I would need caffeine, so I got two Monster drinks. Melody sat in the back in between the kiddlings and tried to help Rylynn fall asleep. Finally, at about 1:00 am, Rylynn fell asleep and I had consumed both my Monster Energy drinks. Trying to load up on liquid caffeine may not have been the best idea, since now we had to stop about every 45 minutes so that I could go to the bathroom. But, both kids stayed asleep until about 3 am when we had to stop for gas and Denver woke up. Melody fed Denver while me and Rylynn went inside the travel plaza so I could use the bathroom, of course, and change Rylynns pee-soaked clothes. I grabbed some coffee since the affects of the Monster drinks were wearing off and, once Denver was done, we headed back out. Rylynn and Denver fell right back asleep and Melody got to sleep a little too. At about 7 am we stopped to feed Denver again and I was feeling pretty tired by that time. We decided to switch and Melody would drive so that I could sleep. When we were on the road about a half hour I woke up to rumble strips. I looked at Melody and she said we better stop and both get some sleep. We stopped at the next rest stop to get some shuteye, but the kiddos had other plans. When we stopped both kids woke up. So we ended up feeding Denver again and switching back so that Melody could sit with the kids and entertain Rylynn. 

We were hoping to not have to entertain Rylynn too much. In preparation for our long Journey we had purchased some movies and tv shows on the iPad to keep Rylynn occupied. That was money very well wasted. Her short attention span ended up just causing Melody to have to change the movie or game or show about every 15 minutes. 

Eventually we made it to Virginia and stopped to feed Denver at get breakfast from Chic-fil-A. After breakfast we got stuck in terrible traffic on 95. Once we got through THAT traffic we hit more traffic around the DC area. By this time Rylynn was tired of being in her car seat and Melody was trying to sleep but Rylynn wouldn't let her, and I was just trying to stay awake. It felt like we were never going to get home. After all the traffic we stopped at one last rest stop to use the bathroom and change Rylynn out of more wet clothes. We were only about an hour and a half away from home and the finish was in sight. 

We ALMOST made it home when Denver went from sleeping to screaming in .3 seconds flat. We pulled into a bank parking lot, fed Denver and started back on the road in hopes that we would make it home at last.

And we did. At about 3:00 pm we finally made it home. After a 13 hour trip turned into a 17 hour trip, we were finally home. We unloaded the car and at about 4:00 laid down for some much needed rest. 

Melody woke me up at about 7:00. But, instead of feeling well rested, I felt worse than I had before. My throat was sore, my nose was running, and my head throbbed. It probably had something to do with driving 17 hours and only get 5 hours of sleep in the last 36 hours. But, we got some dinner, relaxed, watched part of a movie, and finally passed out around 9:30 pm in our own beds.

Thoughts on the last two days- It went a lot better than it could have, but I don't think I'll be attempting a drive like that again with a toddler and a newborn. 

Thoughts on the trip- there was a lot of reasons not to go on this trip. It was too far. Our kids are too small. It's too much stress and hassle. But, in the end, it was all totally worth it. Creating countless memories and spending time with family. There were times of extreme stress and exhaustion, but spending time with family highly outweighs all that. Also, it's easier to be inconvenienced a little when you see the joy on your child's face. But, maybe next time we won't have to drive so far to see that joy :) 

Thanks everyone for taking the time to read these posts. I hope you enjoyed taking a peek into our lives, our joys, and our difficulties of parenting. We had a great vacation and I was happy to share that with you :) Thank you to our family and friends for the continued support in raising for and caring for our children :) Most of all, thank you Melody for being an amazing mother and partner in this journey :) 

Love you all,

Ryan

Family Vacation 2015 - Day 9 - Why do we even try?

There's those days, as a parent, that you wonder why you even try. The kind of day where you do all the preparation you can so that it goes well, and it still ends up in the toilet. Today produced an event such as this. 

It started as your typical day. Breakfast, swimming, lunch, afternoon naps, etc. But, little did we know what dinner time had in store for us. We should've learned our lesson a long time ago, two years ago to be exact. On our family vacation 2 years ago we went out to eat one night during the whole vacation. We went to a local eatery and everything was fine until right when we got our food. Rylynn was only 6 weeks old at the time and decided it was the perfect time to get upset. We tried to prepare and had brought a bottle of milk, but she wouldn't take it, of course, and I scarfed down my food and me and Melody ended up in the car the remainder of the time at the restaurant. It was an awful, stressful, and disappointing experience. But, that was then. This was going to be way better. We fed Denver immediately before we left so we had a solid three hours, but we brought milk and a bottle just in case. And we brought snacks and toys for Rylynn to have while we waited for our food. We went to a local place called the Salt Water Cowboy. It was a cool little place with a great view. 

But, again, preparation was pointless. We had realized that we forgot to bring the wipes on our way to the restaurant. Oh well. How likely is it that either will have a dirty diaper in the short time we were going to be there? If you want an actual percentage... 100%. According to a recent study: 2/2 babies will have dirty diapers in a restaurant if wipes are forgotten. Oh, and this happened just before we got our food. We actually didn't even know about Denver's because Rylynn was acting up so bad we were trying to figure out what was wrong with her. Then, after Erin bravely asked another parent at the restaurant for some wipes, Melody went to go change Rylynn's diaper and found that she had a huge, terrible, bright red rash all over her bottom. That's right about the time when Denver started to become inconsolable. So, Melody struggled to change Rylynn's diaper while she screamed bloody murder and then came in and saw Denver and me having a terrible time and decided we just better go, and I imagined the restaurant slaughtering the fattened calf in celebration of our departure. 

I don't think we, as parents, are unique to a situation like this. But, when going through it I think to myself "Why do we even try?". Is it worth it to leave our house and risk a situation like this to pay for food? Eating out is one of my favorite activities, but sometimes you wish you would've just sat out.

We rode home listening to 2 screaming children. When we got back we decided to deal with the older one first because she was truly in pain. That was obvious. You can tell just by the cry if a child is grouchy, in pain, sad, faking, etc. and this was serious pain. The short version is that it took both me and Melody to pin Rylynn down to change her diaper and put cream on her, and we were struggling. Little kids can really get strong when they're in pain and you're making it worse. But we got her new diaper on, got her calmed down, and she was good... For now. The little one was easier... Change him and hook him up to mom. Finally, all was calm again. 

Our family was very supportive and helpful through the ordeal. When they finished eating and came back to the house we were blessed by Erin and Mollie with 2 milkshakes :) While savoring my milkshake I almost completely forgot about the whole thing :) But it wasn't too long until I was reminded again because Rylynn had a dirty diaper :/ Once again it took both me and Melody and a lot of muscle just to change her diaper. We felt so bad for her. I was trying to calm her down while Melody applied to rash cream and I was right up at her face talking to her. She was just screaming and I could see the immense pain and terror in her eyes. She wouldn't look at me. She was just looking up and, even if I was deaf and I only saw her tear soaked little eyeballs, I would be able to tell how much pain she was in :( But, we made it through that and an hour or two later she finally dozed off. Luckily, Denver actually slept that whole time. Of course, I don't blame anything that happened today on the kids' behavior. Of course they would be upset. One has terrible rash and doesn't want to sit down and the other is hungry and has a diaper filled with poop. I'd be upset in either of those situations too and I feel awful for both of them. All we can do is try to remain patient and solve the issues. The patient part is way harder. 

I'm trying not to be a pessimist, but all I can think about is our upcoming 15 hour (or more) car ride and how uncomfortable and irritated Rylynn will be if she has this rash. Luckily, my mom roped me into playing a card game with the family and, for a short time, I was pleasantly distracted by the laughter, jokes, cookies, cream puffs, and love that surrounded me. Even though I did absolutely awful during the game, it was worth it. 

Thoughts on the day - What do we learn from past experiences? If we would base our decisions on our last family vacation dinner outing, we wouldn't ever go out to eat with kids. Ever. But, do we keep trying to go out even when it constantly bites us in the rear? I don't know. All I know is that you can pray for us in several ways.. Patience in difficult times. Healthy, rash free, happy children for a loooong drive home. And that we would trust that God will work in our lives and help us through all situations. Thanks! And please keep us in your prayers over the next 2 days :) 

Family Vacation 2015 - Day 8 - DISNEY WORLD!!!

Wow. 

What a day! So many things happened, before lunch time. The day started off on a bad note, especially for Maddie. She woke up at 2 am with a fever and not able to breathe properly. Matt and Erin gave her some medication and her fever came down and then there was the great debate. Do we go? Do we not go? Do Matt and Erin stay with the girls at home and Me and Melody and Rylynn just go? Do we all go but drive separately? But the tickets were already bought and non-refundable and non-transferable. Would they let us change the day? But what other day would we go? These are just a few of the many hard questions we had to face. After MUCH deliberation we decided to all go together in the same car. 

It started off pretty good. We made it the whole way from the beach house to Aunt Lisa's house with only one hiccup. We had to use a toll road to get to Lisa's house. No big deal. We're from PA and used to the Turnpike. We pulled up to the toll booth and it read "$0.50 exact change needed". Well, we looked in the change storage area... One dime. Not good. We rummaged through every cubby and under every seat and only came up with a total of 35 cents. We didn't know what we were going to do. With apparent desperation on our faces, someone in the EZ pass lane asked if we needed help. We told them our predicament, and they generously gave us a quarter. Phew! Thank you Lord for that person!!

My Aunt Lisa lives in Orlando and her husband, Doug, has worked at Disney for the last 30 years or so. One of the perks of working at Disney is getting free tickets to the parks. They hooked us up and got us two free tickets, which is just amazing. Basically they saved us 220 dollars! That helps. A lot. 

After leaving her house we only had another thirty minutes of driving until Walt Disney World!! What could go wrong? Well, I'll tell ya... We had stopped at a Bravo Supermarket to grab some breakfast items and Jordyn started complaining that she was going to throw up. But wait, wasn't Maddie the sick one? But sure enough, out came almost a whole juice box worth of Apple Juice onto her lap :/ Matt and Erin sprang into action and got her cleaned up and she said she felt better. So then it was off to Walmart to buy new clothes. While the moms went shopping for new clothes the men and kids went and got some Chic-Fil-A for breakfast. Erin got Jordyn dressed in her new Frozen shirt and we were off again. 

We got to the park around 10:00 and and immediately the kids were wowed! 

The didn't know what to say. They two older ones just looked at everything and soaked it all in, while Rylynn was just obsessed with the balloons. We made our way down Main St and took in all the scents and sights as we progressed towards Cinderella's Castle. 

When we got to the castle the girls oohed and awed at its magnificence. 

The girls got some frozen lemonade and waited for the next show to start in front of the castle. 

The crowd began to gather to watch the show as the temperature grew higher and higher and we all got more and more uncomfortable. FINALLY, the show started. And the girls were really excited. First came out Mickey Mouse and his friends, then some princesses, and Peter Pan and Captain Hook and they all sang and danced together. It was a fun show to watch, but you could tell something wasn't quite right with Jordyn and Maddie. 

By now it was our time to go see Tinkerbell in the Theatre. So we headed back to where we had just come from in the scorching heat and found our way into the theatre. It was 10 minutes until we could use our FastPass so we were just chilling when all of the sudden Jordyn started vomiting :/ Matt rushed and told an employee what happened and went to go get paper towels. Meanwhile, there was a gentleman nearby who saw what happened and immediately grabbed some wipes out of his bag and gave them to Erin. Matt came out of the bathroom with some paper towels so I headed towards where he had just came from. I found the bathroom and got some more paper towels, but by the time I had come back they were unnecessary. The Disney employees had formed a circle of protection around the accident area and they were pouring some floor dry on the throw up and told Matt to not worry about. All this while another Disney employee was talking to Princess Jordyn, making sure she was okay and letting her pick out a free pin. I felt so bad for Jordyn, but Disney had definitely stepped up and made the situation a lot better. 

 Now we were faced with more decisions. After just sitting down and taking a little break, Erin decided she and Jordyn should go to the First Aid center for a while to see what's going on. Me, Melody, Matt and Madde decided to go on without them and see Tinkerbell. 

Tinkerbell was great. We FastPassed it so we only waited about 3 minutes. The moment we walked into the room Tink was ecstatic to see us, like she had been waiting for us all day! Rylynn and Maddie had a great time meeting and interacting with her :) 

After that, Matt and Maddie went to the first aid center to join Erin and Jordyn while me and Melody and Rylynn continued on. 

We just walked around the park as Rylynn took in everything from her stroller. We just tried to take it easy, knowing that it would be a very long day. We had our lunch at the Pecos Bill Tavern and had some overpriced bacon cheeseburgers. 

Price is not something you can be concerned about when you're at Disney. You will go crazy if you worry about all the money your spending on food, and trinkets, and balloons. You just have to expect to spend a lot of money and then your day will go a lot better. 

We made our way to the choo choo and rode that around the whole Magic Kingdom. Rylynn loves trains so she was having a blast. 

That's when Erin called us to let us know that they were leaving :/ it was a big disappointment that they couldn't stay and spend the day with us, but it's not fun having sick children at a hot amusement park all day, so we definitely understood. They explained how Disney had given them tickets to come back another day of their choosing, which was pretty awesome, and how Matt would drive the 2 hours back later that night to pick us up, since we all drove in the same car. Again, it would have been awesome if all three girls could've experienced the most magical place on earth together, but God had other plans in mind. 

After that the day pretty much consisted of more princesses

, parades, eating, drinking

(Pic: LeFou's Brew- a frozen apple juice and cream soda drink), sweating, crying, laughing, and a little napping. 

One ride/attraction that we really love is the Enchanted Story Time with Belle. Basically, the kids get to act out the beauty and the beast story with Belle. It's a great chance for the kids to meet a princess and interact with her too :) 

But I think Rylynn's favorite people to meet was Anna and Elsa. She just kept saying "Selsa! Selsa!" 

Rylynn was started to get pretty irritable near the end of the day. This was pretty expected since she only had about a 1 hr nap in her stroller. 

But, overall, she did very well for a two year old. 

Around 7:45 pm we went to Tony's to have some Lady and the Tramp themed Italian food. But, by the time we got there they were only taking reservations. That was another disappointment and we were faced with another question. Where do we eat now? We were getting picked up at 9:30 pm at the transportation center so we didn't have a whole lot of time to find another place to eat, shop, and get to the pickup place on time. Especially now that people were lining along the sidewalks and employees were roping off areas where the nigh time parade was going to go. We were crunches for time and dead from walking all day. We were trying to decide what to do when the lady at Tony's suggested just taking the monorail to a nearby resort and eating there. 

So we did some shopping and headed to the monorail to ride to the contemporary to have dinner. The monorail may have been Rylynn's favorite ride. Or the Carousel.

Her least favorite was probably It's A Small World. She didn't even wait to fall asleep when she was on the actual ride; she fell asleep in the line. 

After dinner in the contemporary we headed to the transportation center, and after more walking and A LOT of confusion, we finally found my dad ( who came to pick us up instead of Matt). It was so nice of him to come pick us and and we were very grateful for taking 5 hours out of his day to come get us. 

We talked about all we had done that day while Rylynn fell asleep right away. Wait. That sounded too convenient. Oh. Right. Rylynn complained and cried and yelled and refused to fall asleep the entire 2 hour drive back. She was just so tired, so we can understand that. 

We finally got home around 11:45 pm and hung out with my parents and Mollie for a little and then off to bed. After 3 ibuprofen and 15 minutes, I was out. 

Thoughts on the day- 2 years old is just a little too little for Disney. It was nice because she was free, but it made a long day longer for us. BUT, It was a great day overall. We had a lot of fun, made a lot of memories, and Rylynn got to see a balloon!!!! So exciting!! Disney is a lot different with kid(s), but good in a different way. We had a great time and we will definitely be back, sooner rather than later hopefully :) 

Family Vacation 2015 - Day 7 - Finally got ice cream!

This is going be a short post since I have to wake up at 5:00 am tomorrow to go to Walt Disney World and it's currently 11:53 pm. Tomorrow is gonna be a magical day. A long day. Hopefully a day filled with fun and adventure. But, I will give you all the scoop on how that goes at end of day tomorrow, and I think that will be a long post. But you can pray for us and Matt and Erin and our families for safety, good attitudes (from all of us), good weather, and a great time :) thanks. 

But now for today...

Today was one of those vacation days that just fly by. This seems to happen far too often on vacation. It usually takes about 3 days to actually forget about work and relax. In this case it took 6 days, and there's a problem with that... All I can think about is the trip back. I try not to dwell on that and just enjoy the here and now. Enjoy having talks with my wife without all the stress of work and schedules. Enjoy playing with my daughter in the pool and watching her interact with her cousins. Enjoy holding my son and watching him smile at me, or gas bubbles, who knows. But, from what I'm finding out, these moments go by way too fast, like days on a vacation, and I need to make sure I soak 'em up. 

We pretty much just relaxed all morning. No pool. No beach. Just played inside and enjoyed the A/C. There was talk of going into Old Town of St Augustine, but plans changed. After lunch we got some naps and both kids actually slept at the same time!! I got to read and Melody got to watch her HGTV shows :) That was excellent :) 

We made hot dogs, cheddar wursts, and Mac n cheese for dinner and then all headed out to go shopping. We just meandered around the outlets and got Rylynn some new swimsuits. Then, finally, we had ice cream!! It was not nearly enough but I was happy to get that Hershey's Choco Mint Chip goodness in me. 

We headed home and got ready for our big day tomorrow. Made sure the car seats would all fit in the van. Got the bag ready for an all day adventure. Informed my parents on how to care for Denver all day. Which is just awesome that they are willing to do that for us and we are sooooo thankful for them and Ryan and Mollie and their willingness to help us out :) One thing that was another blessing was we found two strollers at the beach house we are staying at. One is a two seater and the other a one seater. Just what we all needed to not have to rent strollers from Disney World. That was quite a last minute blessing discovery :) 

Now we are ready to go and ready for bed. 

Thoughts on today- I really need to try and think about each moment. It's not that long that we get to be in this stage of parenting. Yes, it's hard. But there are so many things that make it an amazing experience. It's hard not to focus on the negative and my prayer would be that I would be more patient and optimistic as I continue to learn this parenting thing.

 

See ya soon Mickey!!!

Family Vacation 2015 - Day 6 - A Support System is Key

Today finally felt like a day to relax. It's hard to recap your day when it feels like you didn't do much, which is a good thing. 

It started off a little rough when the baby woke up at 6:30 and decided to stay up. I was obligated to take him upstairs since I wasn't the one you had to get up through the night and feed him. But, Matt and his four year old daughter, Maddie, were already up and playing, which I guess means I can look forward to at least another four years of getting up at the buttcrack of dawn on vacations. 

Once Melody and Rylynn woke up we had breakfast. Waffles! Mmm. And then Rylynn, Jordyn, and Maddie all played while we just hung out, 

until about 10:30 when we hit the pool. At one point we were ALL in the pool, except for Mollie, sleeping the day away. Oh, to not have children... 

It's interesting how long children can play in a pool and not get bored. They will just go on and on and on until you drag them away screaming so they can eat lunch. You tell them that they have to eat lunch, but they don't care. And really, you might not either, because YOU want lunch, because you're starving, because you had breakfast at 6:30 am, because they decided to get up at that time. But, you can't just leave a two year old bobbing around in the pool, even with Frozen-themed floaties, just so you can go have some fine Kraft cheesy cuisine in peace. Parenting is all about forgetting what you want and doing what your kids need, which usually is not what they want, which makes it even harder. 

After lunch we had our naps. I took a short nap so that I could get some more of my hilarious book read, Tina Fey's Bossypants. I had just settled into the couch to read when Mollie and Ryan came in and decided to watch Psych on TV. Reading is fun. But watching TV is just easier, and I'm all about relaxation efficiency. After too short of a time, Denver woke up, so I hung out with him for a little bit. It's nice when you're at family events because you never have to fully deal with the baby. Usually there's at least one other person who wants to take them off your hands for you, which can be a real attitude saver. Anyway, so between me and other members of my family we were able to keep Denver content until Melody woke up and was able to feed him again. 

Now it was about that time when its too close to supper to start a major activity with the kids. For that reason, you're left with trying to entertain a 2,4, and 5 year old for an hour without getting wet, dirty, sandy, changed or ice cream. Luckily, family is here again to come up with interesting ideas. Mollie came up with some ball game that, in the end, resulted in much weeping and gnashing of teeth. But, the girls enjoyed it long enough that we got to dinner. 

For dinner we had a fiesta! Taquitos, tortilla chips, salsa and bean dip, and pineapples. Taquitos are way too easy to eat and I'm glad I didn't keep count of how many I ate, because that would be depressing. I don't know what it is about parents eating, but infants know! They can't figure out not to scratch their eyeballs with their fingernails, but they KNOW when their parents are about to eat, and that means it's time to need to be held. It would be okay if you could sit down and hold them and eat with your other hand, but they would prefer you to stand. So now you're standing and enjoying your endless stream of taquitos. But, again, family steps in and offers to hold my baby so I can eat, and I'm back to being a happy person :) 

Later on, we went to the beach so we could play bocce and the kids could get sandy again. Everyone had a good time. Especially Erin. She must be on a secret, underground professional bocce team. She whooped us! We played a total of three games, and she played in two of those games, and she won both times she played! Ryan's Reviews And Ramblings will be the first sponsor for Erin Lehman when she goes pro!! 

Then it was back to the house for some more swimming in the pool and then bedtime for the kiddos. The adults played games together and the laughter rarely stopped. 

Thoughts on the day- it's such a blessing to have family that are there to help you as a parents. Our support system has been so key to raising our children, I have no idea what we would be able to do without them. Thank you all!!