The Supreme Vacation

We returned from our trip to Florida last night.

And I really want to talk about the total and complete sunshine.  The warm temperatures that ranged from 75-87 degrees.  The Flip Flops.  The Capris.  Swimsuits.  The abundance of swimming pools.  The tall, glorious palm trees.  The wine.  Going to Disney for the first time.  Mickey Mouse.  Donald Duck.  Princesses.  Walking around barefoot outside.    The screened in porch.  The landscaping.  The relaxing. 

But I can't.  Not, yet.  I really have the desire to complain.   Because so much went wrong.  So. Much.  And although I don't think it's healthy to dwell in the negative, I can't ignore it.  And I'm not dwelling, I'm just sayin'.  So many things just plain ol' sucked and I'm going to tell you about it.  Hope you don't mind.  Feel free to close your browser now and check back in tomorrow. 

How about a list?  Would that be okay with you?  Great!

1.  We learned last Saturday that our Sunday morning flight to Orlando was cancelled due to weather.  Our beautiful nonstop flight to Florida.  We booked another flight.
2.  That flight was cancelled, too.
3.  We scheduled another flight that was scheduled to leave Monday morning, with a stop.
4.  I fell asleep at 3am and woke up at 4:44am.  We get to the airport, Monday morning after hearing reports that O'Hare is very busy, expect delays, etc etc etc.  (not to mention the 2 hours it took to drive there, rather than the one hour it should have taken.)  Once there, we walked past a huge line, that we learned was our line.  We walked back to the back of the line, looked at eachother and thought "there is NO WAY we will make this flight."  P.S.  Racecar refused to walk because he's scared of any elevators or escalators or trams or trains.  He even hears them...he freaks out.  Irritating, I know.
5.  While in line, we had 2 kids, 2 car seats, 2 pieces of kids luggage, 3 pieces of huge luggage, 3 carry ons and a purse.
6.  While in line, I realize Brian accidently brought a huge piece of luggage that was actually empty.  He thought I had packed it.  Could be funny.  But it wasn't.  At all.  (nobody's fault, I know)  Okay, it wasn't empty, it had two more pieces of luggage inside of it.  (hence the reason why Brian thought it was packed.)  Don't laugh, it's not funny.
7.  Plane is running late, no explanation.  We board the plane and Racecar freaks out.  Screaming, sweating, crying.  OMG.  It was a nightmare.  I mean, he's three.  GIVE ME A BREAK.  He won't sit in his seat.  Brian and I looked at eachother and were like "OMG, what are we going to do?"  I honestly thought I was going to get off of the plane.  Brian thought we would be kicked off, especially after reading this article.  The only thing the attendants did was tell us that he must be in a seat belt when the plane moves.  Thanks for helpin'!  He calmed down when we moved and I distracted him with the bigger planes outside.  After that, he was great.
8.  Had a good layover in Charlotte, except the kids were hyper, running all over the place, Racecar acted like a dog and was licking the floor. 
9.  Took off from Charlotte, Racecar slept, life was good. 
10.  Landed in Florida and for the next day and a half, it was a great trip!
11.  Tuesday night, after the most glorious vacation day ever...Ariel threw up after 11pm.  Her first time ever throwing up.  We blamed everything from swallowing chlorine, to eating too much.  But then she did it again and again and again and again.  Our longest stretch of sleep was just over an hour.  Poor girl.
12.  I started feeling yucky, but blamed it on the large amount of vomit I had been exposed to over the past 10 hours.  She finally stopped throwing up at noon on Wednesday and then the diarrhea began. 
13.  Her bootie started to hurt, naturally, she didn't want to take the medicine and she was tired.  She only wanted Mommy.  Again...naturally.
14.  Wednesday night, we decided to book (i.e. buy) a different flight out of Florida since we had already purchased our tickets for Disney.  We were scheduled to depart Thursday afternoon, but now we were leaving Saturday morning.
15.  Thursday, early afternoon, after a good sleep, we went to DisneyWorld.  I still hadn't gotten sick, but still felt bad.  Sour stomach or something, I couldn't really eat.  For dinner Wednesday night I had a dinner roll at 10pm. 
16.  Had a good time at Disney, Ariel perked up alot, she rode on tons of rides, (the girl has no fear.) and we had cheeseburgers for lunch.
17.  By the end of the day, the kids were wiped out after the 8 o'clock light parade, they were sitting in the stroller together, happily.  I got out my camera, went to take a picture and Racecar had thrown up all over himself...and Ariel.
18.  He threw up again.
19.  Luckily, I had brought a spare pair of undies and shorts.  We changed him and I cleaned up the stroller with spare pull up I had brought, Brian cleaned up what he could with diaper wipes.  We made it to the car, in record time, and Racecar threw up again.
20.  Got home.  My diarrhea started immediately, Ariel continued to have it and Racecar continued to throw up.  All I wanted to do was vomit.  (is this TMI?)
21.  Brian got sick.  LUCKILY, Brian's mom slept with Racecar in the living room, so Brian and I could be sick and sleep.  Racecar's last bout of throw up was at 4am.  I did finally do it myself a few times, the final time being at 2:30am.
22.  Spent the day Friday trying to keep things down, trying to drink coffee.  (again, Brian's parents helped SO much.  I don't know what we would have done with out them.  Somehow, they didn't get sick.  THANK GOD.)  Ariel continued to have bouts of diarrhea. 
23.  We slept good Friday night, woke up, hit the road by 8 am.  Flights were on time.  They even had CURBSIDE CHECK-IN.  HOORAY!  GO ORLANDO AIRPORT!  (oh, I guess this didn't deserve a number, did it?)
24.  The kids were awesome.  We flew to Philly.  Landed, didn't switch plans, ran and ate a fast piece of pizza.  Boarded back on the plane for the last time---I said to Brian "this is going to be a difficult flight, the kids are losing interest, they're tired and our laptop batteries are dying."  The flight was on time!  Finally.  We head towards the runaway and stopped.  For one hour.  n.i.g.h.t.m.a.r.e.
25.  Landed in Chicago.  Both the kids were done.  Exhausted.  They both wanted to be held because their legs hurt.  Anna had just whined for a solid 3 hours.  Where are the margaritas????
26.  Picked up our luggage, all of it.  Tons of it.  Walked to an elevator (remember, Racecar needs to be held) and it was broken.  Had to take an escalator with 2 kids, 2 car seats, 2 pieces of kids luggage, 3 pieces of huge luggage, 3 carry ons and a purse.  Ariel fell, she was fine. 
27.  Took 2 more escalators, then a 15 minute tram, while I held Racecar, (38 pounds) then we get to the parking lot.  Paid SEVENTY EIGHT dollars in parking.

I guess it's not that bad.  Now, I'm sure I could make a list just as long of the good things, and maybe I will.  During the week, I tried my hardest to find the silver lining every day.  And sometimes it worked. (I can assure you, THERE ARE A LOT OF SILVER LININGS!)

I did lose over five pounds.  And we put the kids to bed at 8pm last night.  So, we caught up on Idol!  TWO SILVER LININGS RIGHT THERE!!

Comments

[Michelle]

WOW. Silver linings, silver linings, silver linings.....I do want to see a "good" list one of these days, although I completely understand if it takes a few days to get there!!!

[dcrmom]

O. M. G. That's all I have to say about THAT!

Oh, and one more thing. #6 *is* funny. ;-)

[Amy F.]

Oh, Beth! I can't get over all this...I've never heard anything like it! You definitely had to get this off your chest and truly vent. I agree with Michelle that your next step is to now try to focus on the positive (and may take a little while to come up with a comprehensive list), but you're such a great writer, you can do it! MAJOR silver lining is that you had your (healthy) in-laws with you guys to help out. Can you imagine if they weren't there?

You lost 5 pounds on vacation??!! Awesome, haha, and unheard of (I know...it wasn't fun losing those 5 pounds, but now you're probably happy :-) I think I gained 5 pounds in my own house this past weekend.

Anyway, really looking forward to your next post. And we all feel for you out here...you had a MEMORABLE vacation to say the least. And some day you will laugh about that suitcase filled with suitcases (pretty funny)...I could see Mike doing that, too.

[Thea]

Oh my! That's some list. But good for you for getting it off your chest! You are well on your way on the road to recovery. And if the road should happen to pass a full bar that also serves ice cream, SO BE IT!!

[Penny]

10 years from now when your children are 13 and 14 this vacation will be a very wonderful memory for you all.

[Amy A.]

I'm so glad you guys are home and everyone is feeling better. I just have to said that the picture of "Ariel" is by far, the saddest saddest saddest picture of her I have EVER seen and it makes me want to cry. What a poor pityful pearl. I love her.

[Jodi]

Wow - that's crazy. I think you and I are very alike - we don't like to dwell on the negative but sometimes you just have to get it out. I have to confess, I did laugh at the luggage thing. Totally something that would happen to me!

Can't wait to see more pictures and hear about more silver linings.

[allie]

sounds like a fab holiday....love that first pic!!

[Lynette]

What a ordeal you guys went through. I don't think Brian will ever live down the suitcase episode. Now that is SO classic! You can't make that stuff up. I was laughing my bootie off after I read that even though you said not too. Sorry!

I bet it feels good to be back home now and back to reality in a way. I am happy that your travel was safe and that you're all recuperating. Looking forward to the silver lining post, but I totally appreciate the fact that you had to get this out. It's good therapy to talk about it and then move on. You've got a great outlook and a great sense of humor.

[Liza]

BETHH!!!! I'm glad you're back posting. I was having withdrawals - missing my daisy doze of delight reading your blog :)

Sorry about the "yucky stuff" that happened but glad to hear that there are manu FUN stuff that happened too.

As usual, I'd be late for work because I'm blogging instead of getting ready :)

[Elisa]

I'm glad you're back. Sorry everyone got sick. That sounds just awful.

I'm also happy to see you updating daily again. You're one of my favorite blogs and I always read yours first thing!

[Lora]

Hi,Beth - I'm Amy F's mom. What a trip you had! I have to ask the question I think we're all curious about - what happened to those 3 empty suitcases?!?

[Beth F.]

Hi Lora. We brought them to Florida with us...and brought them back home with us.

I actually filled the smallest one with souvenirs, etc. AND, after we got home and unpacked, we found that the TSA had inspected our bags. (they left us a note telling us) I guess the luggage holding luggage was suspicous on their monitors!

[Monkey Giggles]

Swinging in for the party. Nice to meet ya.

My 3rd party give away has started. Come on over when ya get a chance.

PARTY ON!!!

[J. Fergie]

LOL. Ummmm....someday you'll look back on this trip and laugh?

Look on the bright side - in addition to losing 5lbs - the vomiting/diarrhea COULD'VE been taking place right at home.
B-O-R-I-N-G. At least you had a warm and festive backdrop for the bodily excretions :-)

Welcome home!!

[Tracy]

The third piece of luggage had me laughing!

I am so sorry your vacation was tainted with illness. I can't wait to see the silver lining list! I love the picture of the kids in the pool.

[Debbie]

Just found your blog today via, Mom's Blogs. I have enjoyed your posts very much...

I'm feeling oh so bad for you that your first Family vacation was not all that you had hoped it would be. I do understand... have been there myself, albeit several years ago (my kids are teens now). It can definitely be a challenge to travel with lil' ones. Don't give up though. The more opportunity you have to take them places, the more they'll grow accustomed to it and love it.

In closing... I know you said 'don't laugh', but I did on #6. I realize it had to be bad at the time, but it WAS funny and the laughter just spilled out of me. Sorry!

Cheers!