Vacation ....

So, as you can see our almost 3week vacation to Utah got me all out of whack with my goal to blog once a week. Better late than never, I guess.
Week 1 of Vacation: I flew on a non-stop flight with 3 children from Orlando, FL to Las Vegas, NV and 1-1/2hr drive to St George, UT to visit my mom and family. It wasn't all bad and I'm glad that I paid extra for the non-stop flight. My mom got a bigger car .... that's what I thought until we tried to put 3-1/2 large suitcases, 1 double stroller, 2 infant car seats, 2 toddler car seats, and 3 adults in a van. I ended up finding rope in my purse (have no idea how it got there or why) to tie the stroller to the passenger seat belt so it wouldn't move around during the drive because we had to put it upright between the 2 front seats. All we needed was a rocking chair on the top of the car with Grandma. :-P
Half way through the week, we found out that the antibiotics the doc gave me for my prolonged sore throat was causing Kyle to be constipated REALLY bad. So, on top of stopping my meds my step-dad (a chiropractor) put me on a no-sugar, no-carb diet because my sugars were really high. Blah! No chocolate or pasta ended the week with a very grumpy mommy!
Week 2 of Vacation: Not a bad week until the weekend hit ... it got very busy. Lots of people came to town for the baptism of my littlest sister and the baby blessings of Kyle and my newest niece, Jessica. Josh was able to hitch a ride with my in-laws from CA making the kids excited to see their Nana, Papa, and Uncle Gavin ... oh, and their daddy. It was hard to please everyone but memories were made. All in all, it was a wonderful weekend.
Week 3 of Vacation: The itch to get home and back on our routine hit. Found out that the jeans I bought in UT needed a belt because of the 6lbs I lost on the diet I was put on. Not bad ... was still craving pasta covered in chocolate. ;-)
Now the story of the trip home: While my sister was loading the bags in the car (early), she realized that we left the double stroller in my step-dad's car ... that was in Hurricane at his work (about 20min drive north). We decided to do some errands and let the kids play at McDs before heading up to get the stroller. Just a heads up, Mondays in St George are .99 Big Mac Mondays. Let's just say it was VERY busy and HARD to find a parking spot. I did, however do my good deed for the day by giving a mom a pull-up for her daughter that had an accident. I believe in karma and realized at the end of the day, as you will read that karma was good to me.
When we got to the airport dropping off the bags was easy (we ended up leaving a bag at my mom's) because I had my mom drop me and Kyle off at the crib for crib side check-in while she parked with the other 2 kids. After that is when I started to see the day turn into a tornado of events. I ended up at one end of the terminal-check-in and everyone else was at the other in the Las Vegas airport ... not bad, just hard to walk a little ways. We said our goodbyes and were able to use the family security line. This is where my karma gets me (not realizing until afterwards). A nice 2nd honeymoon couple was behind us and offered to help me with the unloading of my "junk" to the security belt. Because I had the kids with me, I was able to bypass the newest security feature and use the "old fashion" detector but because I had Kyle wrapped in the MOBY I was picked for a personal body search while my 5yr and 2yr sat "quietly" on a bench and my "junk" piled up at the end of the belt. This is were my guardian angel or in this case 2nd honeymoon couple stepped in. Emma decided that everyone was trying to take her daddy doll and bolted with it towards the exit then did a quick right to the security exit out of the terminals! That man dropped his stuff and ran to catch her. If anyone knows Emma, they will tell you that she runs like a cheetah and even faster with giggles when she sees you chasing her. That guardian angel finally caught her and had to come back through security. Let's just say that I was glad to get on the plane and strap that toddler in a seat belt for our non-stop flight home.
I would say that non-stop flights with 3 children was the best idea I had but the last time I do that. I'll send Josh with them next time.
(pics will follow)