My continued yearly nemesis. It never gets any easier for me... this is a time of year that I just can't wait to be done with. The weather is cold - and not the delightful, cozy, warm sweater kind. The chaffing, icy, cooped up indoors going nuts waiting for spring kind.
Soooo... spring? Yet?
I have heard, however, that there is a land of eternal spring, and, with apologies to the country of Guatemala, who I do believe hold the "official" title, we were invited to go there by some wonderful family.
I am referring of course to Florida. OH YEAH. Sunshine state, here we come!
Miss Olivia is turning out to be quite the little world traveler. First Hawaii in October, and now Florida. That's exactly twice the plane rides the others have taken in their lives. This being the first, in case that was unclear.
That's right, we've never, ever traveled by plane with the kiddos before. I was a bit apprehensive, but it was all made much less so considering Casey ended up flying with us - which was NOT the case when we booked our original flight. Two parents + three kids = totally manageable. Besides, they never cease to amaze me with their level of awesome when we're out and about. The only down side was the amount of snorting and sniffling and hacking on the plane. I wanted a bubble for the kids. It was gross.
Naturally, the first thing we did when we arrived in Florida was to play outside.
We were warned by the natives that it wasn't exactly hot yet...
...but seriously? People, we're from Colorado. 71 degrees is clearly hanging by the pool in just our undies and sunglasses weather.
And if the pool isn't heated?
It ain't no thang.
Of course we had to take time to visit the ocean.
Both girls have been to the pacific ocean... we went to California when Leah was about three months old, and Miss Livvy got to go with us to Hawaii. But for our sweet little Logan, this was his very first ocean experience ever.
Fortunately, soaked looked pretty good on them!
And, once they were wet, it was a bit of a free-for-all from that point forward.
Of course, I couldn't let the day go by without giving the little one her moment...
...which of course made me all nostalgic for that other time a little miss put her sweet baby feet in the wet ocean sand for the first time.
You might be wondering about the fact that the outfit is the same. Total accident. Far be it from me to remember the outfit Leah wore when she visited the ocean for the first time and intentionally pack and put Livvy in the same one.
That would be crazy. This is just coincidence.
It was such a great day. Truly, one for the books.
The next day, we went to a local park to play. It was fun, but we didn't last long because Logan wasn't feeling especially well.
 |
| (And no, the kids aren't torturing Livvy. This is just what happens when Mommy puts her down. No, I'm not kidding.) |
It was really fun, but after nap that day he woke up with a fever. Which, 24 hours later, Leah, Casey and I had too.
Because somebody in all that sniffling, snorting mess of people on the plane had the flu. And after about two days in Florida, so did we.
So that definitely put a damper on our visit. Truly, we are so lucky to have such wonderful family, because I don't think there is anything worse than having house guests from out of town gift you with the flu. (Luckily, though, maybe because they'd had flu shots - or because higher doses of vitamin D give you stronger immune systems - they didn't end up catching it. Just the Colorado Crew had that delightful fun.)
We did a lot of laying around, wheezing and coughing after that. And were read to and cared for by our fabulous family who should have been running screaming in the other direction. God bless them.
On the last day of our visit, we did take a drive down to Key Largo for dinner, but everybody was still feeling pretty terrible.
The scenery, on the other hand, did not disappoint.
We had everybody cleared by the doctor, and thank the Lord little Olivia's flu shot kept her feeling well. We put masks on the kids for the flight home and despite everything they did an absolutely awesome job. They could not have been sweeter.
We cherished visiting family, and enjoyed our time when we felt well, but I can't say that it was the greatest trip. I can't remember the last time I've felt that badly, and to top it off I felt just as guilty as could be that we brought that junk to our loved ones after all they had done for us.
On the plus side, though, it gives us a great excuse to visit again.
And so, February, as I say every year: we cannot be rid of you fast enough!
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