This is what happens when you return from 3 weeks of vacation and promptly come down with the flu. And I am being nice and only showing you the piles of clean laundry.... and only the piles in that one room.
But yes, we recently returned from 3 weeks of vacationing to and from and in Florida. Where I woke up one day, checked the weather and discovered that the humidity that morning was 100%! Outside of the ocean---how does that even happen?! I live in Colorado where if we require humidity, we tightly lock up all windows and doors and plug multiple humidifiers into the walls.
Our first evening at Disney World I witnessed a grown woman standing in the middle of the street sobbing, really....sobbing as she angrily snatched the kleenex her husband was silently offering and exclaimed "I am just soooo tired!" I didn't laugh at her. Much. But by our last night at Disney I had a lot more understanding for that lady. Essentially we spent our vacation getting up early so we could witness the Good Morning song at the front gates of Magic Kingdom and then going to bed late after a light show and firework send off, only to get up and do it again the next day. But Disney isn't really about a restful vacation, it's an escapist vacation. Besides....when there is too much downtime things like this happen.
Lesson learned: don't let Fionn and Ronan anywhere near each other when entering a pool. Also, maybe be a little more specific when telling them they can't get in until a lifeguard sibling shows up ( yes, we travel with our own lifeguards, handy). Otherwise, what might happen is the second said lifeguard sibling touches the door to the backyard, everyone may just leap into the pool at once and maybe, just maybe, someone's knee will strike someone else's face and possibly split their goggles in two and cause a really scary looking cut under someone's eye which may seriously freak out the parents and ensure that the rest of your vacation pics will include a black eye. Maybe. It could happen.
Anyway, some highlights from our trip:
The rental house featured a really clean sliding glass door out to the pool which no fewer than three family members walked smack into at one time or another (Fionn did it twice), and one person left a spectacular imprint of their nose and lips on the glass. Which we left up the remainder of the visit. And which gave everyone else in the house great amusement every time we went out the door.
Butterbeer at the Hog's Head. And choclolate frogs from Honeydukes.
Places with names like these:
Natchitoches. Achafalaya. Pascagoula. Whose pronunciations, according to the natives, have absolutely nothing to do with their spellings. That's okay, we have a son named Rhys and a daughter named Fionnula Eilis. We have a healthy appreciation for creative pronunciation. This sign at Harry Potter World:
And this sign somewhere in Texas: "The JESUS Christ is Lord travel center. Featuring heavenly burgers". I think Texas may know what it is talking about when it comes to burgers though, because we stopped at a Whataburger for the first time. Wow.
A morning of cemetery wandering in New Orleans. Plus Beignets. And Pralines.
A creepy ride on It's a Small World in which the soundtrack wasn't playing and all you could hear was the clicking and clacking of little doll mouths opening and closing eerily. Read more about that part of our adventure here:
http://bayleyiswriting.blogspot.com/
Watching my grown sons valiantly helping their little siblings to save Jellyfish that had washed up on the beach. A process which involved scooping up the jelly fish in a plastic cup and then swimming out beyond the waves to hurl them as far out to sea as they could.
Listening to Fionn teach herself the 5 times tables (despite not having a clue what multiplying is) while waiting in line for Soaring (which is still over California even in Florida. Whatever).
And these bathroom signs at a Texas rest stop:
