Spring Vacation Part One ...

Our Spring Family Vacation has come and gone. Snap. Just like that. 

You know how vacation goes with little ones. It's normally Day Three that a good routine has been established and then by that point it's almost over. 

Last Monday was mostly a driving day. Our plan was to leave at 6:00 and when we pulled out of the driveway at 7:30 Travis and I totally high-fived each other. Only an hour and a half behind, heck yea! By the time we made our stops to stretch and eat, we made it there just in time to get a little bit of beach and pool in. 

We had a late dinner at Schooners (one of our favorite spots) and watched the sun go down while we ate. The kids were so well behaved at dinner and it was so enjoyable. Y'all know there are not many late dinners with little ones that you walk way actually relaxed and full from having been able to eat your entire dinner. If you want a good Grouper sandwich in Panama City, go to Schooners! 

And I knew it was all too good to be true. A relaxing dinner, the kids went to bed quietly, I found myself reading on the balcony listening to the waves crash, Travis and I went to bed early ... 
Kolt was back to barfing at 3:00.

Tuesday morning I was up before 6:00 and in the Fitness Center to do my morning walking. Talk about enhancing this Momma's vacation? It was great having that quiet time alone in the mornings to get myself ready for the day and to do some talkin' with Jesus. After I walked on the treadmill for a couple miles with the view of the Gulf in front of me, I headed to Target for some Organic 100% Grape Juice. I heard from a friend of mine and read on several Mommy Blogs how this juice will prevent the stomach bug from thriving and at this point, I am willing to give anything a go. After breakfast on Tuesday, we packed up and headed down to the beach. Kruz was ill, Kohen screamed every time a wave crashed and Kollin and Kolt fought over sand. Seriously? Sand? There are millions of grains of sand and they fought over a spot in the sand. Good Lord. To say this particular morning started off rough would be an understatement. After about an hour of chaos and folks giving us the whole 'you-have-your-hands-full' look, the Hubs and I finally had four nice boys who allowed us to relax for a little while. 

After naps, we decided to stay in for dinner and we grilled out at the condo. We spent the rest of the night enjoying Pier Park, eating ice cream and having Starbucks. The Big boys were able to spend their money and ended up with Croc bracelets and some Hot Wheels Jibbitz. Well, for Kolt and Kruz they had to be worn like anklets. That's what Kruz is obviously so excited about in that picture down there ... 

Wednesday. Awe Wednesday. You were a good one. We finally had a good little niche going. Of course, it was our last full day there. We enjoyed it though and soaked it all up. The boys had such a great morning at the beach - it was a no fighting, no complaining, Grand Slam over the fence - kind of day. 

We headed up for lunch and naps. And just when all was quiet again, someone in the building felt the need to pull the fire alarm as a Ha-Ha-Funny-Joke. Of course we didn't know that until after we frantically woke up four children, threw Lord only knows what into the diaper bag, lugged them down 21 flights of stairs and paid way too much in the heat of the day to see Rio 2 (which was so stupid if you ask me). Oh well, such is life. 

Pompano Joe's was on the menu for dinner. It was our first time ever and to be honest, we weren't too impressed. The Reggae Rolls we had for our appetizer were yum, but our meals were just sort of meh. You can tell in the picture down there that Kohen obviously didn't get his nap out, thanks to the fire alarm going off. 

Thursday morning was a frantic packing one, we checked out by 9:30 and headed to the ocean for the last time at the Gulf. Lets just say we left with a BANG! 

We loaded up in the car feeling yucky, oily and sandy. But it.was.worth.it! 
Stay tuned for the second half of our vacation. Yep.

 There's more ...

24, 23, 22, 21 ...

I'm officially less than 24 hours out from vacation. A vacation that is so much more than wanted, but truly, truly needed. For all six of us. Heck, maybe even Khloe Ruth needs it too. 

A good, clean house is a must before I leave for vacation. There's just something about coming home to clean floors and bathrooms that is more than invigorating for me. So Friday my wonderful cousin Hannah (who, apparently has no fear of bathrooms who are inhabited by 4 boys) came over and tackled my bathrooms for me. By the end of the day, all the floors were swept, mopped and vacuumed. All the clothes were washed. All the surfaces were wiped down. All the bedrooms were cleaned. 

Now it's Sunday, and everything but the still sparkling toilets, are messy again. Go figure. 

It's life right? We live here ...

Smile Kelsey, you'll get it all cleaned up again ... 

I'm home today from church with Kollin and Kohen, one in which feels blah and another in which puked everywhere (again) yesterday. Spreading germs is not my thing so the three of us stayed home. Church on Sunday is like having coffee in the morning - it's a must, no question about it. And I need it. I miss being there this morning. 

I got the boys packed yesterday and I'm off to tackle my own suitcase now. I decided to use a Vacation Packing List this trip to make things a little easier for me. I found this one and it's been a gem. So we leave early in the morning and I am more than ready - past ready - to have my have my bum in one of those chairs with the umbrella that comes with the condo. 

Beware. You'll see lots of beachiness in the days to come ... 

Happy Sunday!

"I have seen what is best for people here on earth. They should eat and drink and enjoy their work, because the life God has given them on earth is short. God gives some people the ability to enjoy the wealth and property he gives them, as well as the ability to accept their state in life and enjoy their work. They do not worry about how short life is, because God keeps them busy with what they love to do."

Ecclesiastes 5:18-20

The Post That Took Five Days ...

Hi y'all. I feel like I've been in hiding from this blog for the past week or so. Truth is, Disney took over my life for a little bit. And y'all. I have never been so exhausted in all my life. I would seriously put it pretty close to how tired I was after giving birth. Seriously. That place will run a Momma flat ragged.

Ragged and full of memories.

 Travis and I have officially dubbed this the guinea pig of our future trips to Disney. We learned to never underestimate the power of naps (to which our kids skipped every. single. day. we were there and we paid for it majorly), to never stay in a standard size room again and by day three I think we were in the habit of having a dessert at every meal. 

There are so many "top" moments, I don't even know where to begin. 

Our adventures from our first day can be seen here. 

Day two brought on a whole new meaning of the words roller coaster to Kollin when we coaxed him to get on Space Mountain. Y'all, that thing scared the mess out of me and I am grown. Kollin totally rocked it though. He was a little, um, anxious you could say. Then me, my cousin Hannah, Travis and my Momma all pulled the "Look, there are little girls gettin' on this thing" card. He rode it and when we got off he was begging to go again. Thatta boy! On the other hand, Travis looked like he was going to give back his lunch to everyone ... not so much like father, like son that afternoon. Mom and I had our dreams come true eating lunch at Be Our Guest, a restaurant themed after Beauty and the Beast - our favorite movie. I think it was my favorite place to eat there. We rode Dumbo, the Magic Carpets, Pirates of the Caribbean, Buzz and more that I can't even think of. Going back to things we learned: Stitch's Great Escape scares little children. Just ask my own and the other family that completely freaked out in the middle of it.  

Day three we headed to Hollywood Disney. To be honest, not a whole lot was accomplished here other than an insane lunch at Pizza Planet and Blizzard Beach that afternoon. Oh and we met Phineas and Ferb. The oldest three boys got $50 each to spend and Kollin and Kolt spent their money on the stand filled with Phineas and Ferb stuff. I can't tell you how hard it was for me to hand over 100.00 for 2 t-shirts, 2 plush dolls and a small Perry football. Big gulp. We met up for Mother's Day dinner with my Bro and his family. TRex was a really cool restaurant. I mean, it was the coolest place I've ever spent Mother's Day. 

You know what is going through Kollin's mind ...

Day four left us six and Hannah. My Momma and MawMaw headed back home that morning and left us with four less hands. We worked it out though and left Travis in charge of the stroller that contained Kruz and Kohen, Hannah had Kollin and I had Kolt. We went back to Hollywood Disney and got just about everything done we wanted to. Kruz loved Disney Junior - Live on Stage, when that child's face lights up at the different characters - well, I simply melt. It makes that feeling of "Oh my goodness, I can't believe we spent this much money .." go away. Kollin and Kolt loved the Live! Motors! Action! Car Stunt Show. Love like, their booties-never-moved-from-their-seats kind of love. Of course, when we left we tried our best to answer the 1,001 and questions we were asked about how the man slid through the fire and didn't die. The Toy Story ride was all it was amped up to be and we could have all rode that thing another 20 times. The boys met Jake and Handy Manny, Kruz again was just in awe. And again, made my heart so happy. Kolt will tell you his favorite ride was Star Wars. Eh, me? It made me want to hurl, I've never been a big Star Wars kind of girl anyway. Kollin and Kolt loved it though. I also made the fabulous parental decision to let Kollin and Kolt ride the Tower of Terror. I totally had one of those moments of "Seriously Kelsey. What the heck are you thinking letting a four year old do this?" when the ghosts started appearing and screeching in the dark. It was a pretty cool ride though, I wish Travis would've done it. He opted to hang out with the babes though. Well played Travis. Well played. That night, Travis and I took the boys by ourselves to see the Electrical Parade and fireworks. It was pretty magical and made me super happy that our family did that together.

Kollin loved that Buzz "turned off" when he hit the power button. 

These were taken during the car stunt show.

I thought Kruz was going to go into cardiac arrest when Lightening McQueen came out. 

Day five was spent at Epcot. What a beautiful place! We were there while the HGTV Gardens were all over and it was simply gorgeous. I wish I would've taken more pictures of it all, but I mean c'mon. Like I had time to take pictures of pretty flowers. Pssh. We met Aladdin and Princess Jasmine. Kollin felt the need to act as though he was speaking sign language and refused to talk. Yep, that's my kid. Quite the character himself. Going through the different countries was really cool and I wish we could have spent more time there. What kids want to learn at Disney though? We loved the Grand Fiesta ride with Donald Duck, I thought it was pretty cute. We also played at the Radiator Springs playground, of course the boys loved that. Favorite thing at Epcot? Definitely Turtle Talk. Just when we thought it was some puppet show or something, this Turtle on the screen starts calling kids out from the audience. It was pretty cool. I mean, I was impressed and as far as I'm concerned that turtle is real. We also met Mr. Incredible, Frozone, Wreck-It Ralph and Penelope. I wish we could have got in Soarin' but it just didn't happen. Maybe next go 'round. We went to a campfire that night at Fort Wilderness and my pirate children loved it. I stepped on someone's already roasted marshmallow in the sand ... gross. 

These were just funny. 

There were a few things I would've done differently and several things we just didn't get to. But in the end I gained 6 pounds and left with a Toms tan line across both feet. I mean, that has to say something about how awesome it was.