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!! 

Family Vacation 2015 - Day 1 - Beginning Our Journey

Everyone loves to go to the beach over summer vacation. We love to escape the heat and humidity of Lancaster PA and travel 3 to 18 hours away for different heat and humidity. The great thing about going to the beach is that the only thing you have to do is... Nothing. You just relax. You can mix things up and read if you want, but even that can be a little stressful for the beach. That's the illusion of the beach anyway. Come, relax, and enjoy life. But some people have kids. And it's not always that simple. We are among the lucky to be blessed with two beautiful, healthy, full-of-life kids, and we are one of the many families attempting a beach vacation this summer. In this installment of Ryan's Ramblings I will be writing the happenings of everyday on our vacation. The good, the bad, and all the joys of parenting in between. 

For a little back story... We have two kids; a 2 year old girl, Rylynn, and a 2 month old boy, Denver. Here they are right before were about to leave...  

The plan is to spend a week at a beach house in St. Augustine, FL with the rest of my family. St. Augustine is not real close to Lancaster, Pa; about 14 hours driving. That seems a little far to expect our two lil'ns to be content. So, we decided to break it up. 

We can check into our beach house in Florida at 4 o'clock on Saturday. So here is the plan we came up with to make the journey tolerable for us all...

Wednesday- Pack up and leave by 6 to arrive at the hotel in Williamsburg, Va by midnight

Thursday- Visit Colonial Williamsburg

Friday- Visit Historic Jamestown in the morning and then travel to Charleston, Sc in the afternoon. 

Saturday- Explore Charleston and leave for Florida to arrive at the house around 4-5pm. 

That's the plan... We'll see how it goes. 

It started off great. While I was at work on Wednesday my amazing wife, Melody, got everything ready to go, while managing to take care of two kids (with some help from a neighbor). So, when I got home from work the car was all packed and she was just about finished nursing our son. I changed quickly, we loaded up in our new-to-us Camry and started on our trip... To Wendy's. We grabbed some quick grub and we were officially on our trek by 6:15 pm. 

Williamsburg is only about 4.5 hours from Lancaster so we were hoping to arrive at our hotel before midnight. As we began to travel we, of course, came to an accident on the highway, which delayed us about a half hour. But both kids did pretty fair through that ordeal. Around 8:30 our son needed to be nursed again, so we pulled off the highway and me and Rylynn watched for airplanes while Melody nursed Denver. Thinking that I would be easier to feed him from a bottle in the car, Melody had procured some milk for him during the drive and started feeding him. He wasn't having that. After struggling with the bottle for a while, poor Melody ended up having to nurse frustrated Denver anyway. That was a lesson learned for us.

About a half hour later we were back on the road... With a new seating chart. Denver could not be pacified after feeding so Melody was forced to be squeezed between two car seats in the back to control the situation while I drove. She was able to get Denver calmed down, over and over again, while the constant "momma! momma! momma!" came from her other side. She handled the situation great and with patience only a mother can possess. Because of Melody's skills, the entire back seat was asleep at about 10:30pm and I was trying hard NOT to join them. 

I try to find ways to stay awake while driving such as blowing ice cold a/c right in my face, listening to talk radio, or not listening to the radio at all and just singing to myself. I thought I was doing pretty good, but at about 11:30 the sound of rumble strips woke Melody. She could see I was struggling and engaged me in conversation, and before we knew it we had reached our destination. After quickly unloading all the luggage and children, we found our room, fed the baby, wrangled the newly energized toddler and went to bed. We had made it the first leg of our journey with little hassle. I thanked God for safety and an amazing family, and quickly drifted off to Lalaland.