Family Vacation Meets Tropical Storm

Family Vacation Meets Tropical Storm

“Palm trees

oceans breeze

salty air, sun kissed hair

endless summer

please take me there.”

Hello my long lost Friends!

So we did it our family of five successfully took our first out of state vacation! I have to admit at first I fought the sound of taking our three small children to the ocean. Mostly because of my own anxieties. If you read my old blog about falling down the falls you can relate to my fears. Afters months of convincing, my husband calmed my nerves and I booked our flights and we were finally off to tropical sunny Florida! Well our trip wasnot so sunny.

Our trip to the airport began at 2:30 AM and the kids did better than I expected. Well the big ones were thrilled at being up in the middle of the night. When I woke them up they thought it was Christmas morning. Partaking in their own personal snack bags, a car ride, a bus ride, a train ride, moving stairs, and moving floors, a plane ride! They love all of it. The air line separated our family, I guess five seats is much too many to be together. It was Rex and our four year old Milo near the cabin and yours truly with our six year old daughter and our two year old son in the far seats near the the bathroom.

It was the worst plane ride you could imagine. Jack was screaming this blood curdling scream trying to escape any chance he could get. The cabin pressure was to much for the little guy. I felt so bad, luckily we were seated next to a calm, and kind man. But we survived and of course my husband and older son were on the gravy train snoozing up the entire flight, that’s usually how things work out : ).

Once we finally got to our VRBO (Vacation rental by owner). By the way if you have never used one of these I highly recommend them, especially if you have children. It is your home away from home, making traveling so much smoother and convenient! Our vacation rental was equipped with an amazing pool and hot tub. The kids were thrilled, open the sliding glass door directly to a pool! We quickly made ourselves at home and the big kids became master noodle swimmers. They were having the time of their lives. Watching their faces every time they jumped into the water was priceless. June kept asking where the family was who lived there, where was the girl? Quite the concept living in someone else’s house when they are not.

When we arrived we seemed to find ourselves in the midst of a tropical storm. My husband being 34 and never seeing the ocean was determined no matter what we were going to see it. We did it, loaded up the rented minivan and we finally we made it and the ocean through the pounding rain and hours of driving. The water was raging! It was beautiful and scary and intense.

We kept out of the water. The kids were thrilled to be there, they immediately went on a sea shell hunt. Two days of swimming pool parties and fresh fish and family fun we found ourselves in the same boat. Traveling over an hour to a raging ocean it was intense, under ten minutes in the rain, crashing waves, dark muddled skies and Jacks blanket was gone in the blink of an eye. Pounded by rain we loaded up our wet sandy bodies and drove back through the island. The further back we drove, the calmer the water. We found a spot where the sun broke free and we got to enjoy one of mother nature’s true beauties. The ocean! And then in another blink of an eye Jacks new glasses were gone. The ocean struck once again. The poor guy : ( we just found out he has astigmatism is both eyes. So bad, his vision is completely blurred without his glasses. I almost let this ruin everything but my amazing husband calmed me and assured me Jack would be fine.

I turned 33 a couple of days later, had a relaxing day and yummy drinks and dinner. We returned home the next day after another arduous day of traveling. A grand total of 12 hours later. Longest travel day ever! Yikes!

My lesson and advice from this trip is go with the flow and enjoy yourself. Even if you are facing fears of traveling, anxieties of waters. Or whatever it maybe, what we internalize usually is not as bad as we perceive it to be. Live your life, enjoy nature, try to see through your childrens eyes and you will find many pieces of happiness! Lot of love from my family to yours and happy summer to you all!