Florida is kinda nice

The kids and I rounded out our August vacations with a trip to Florida to visit with my parents. Being on vacation without Mario was a little sad, but we can't have everything I guess. As with any large trip, getting there is half the battle. My parents suggested I try to fly with the kids, and found tickets so we'd all arrive in Orlando at the same time. I went into the trip very positively and really, all the kids behaved even better than I imagined. I guess it depends on the ages of the kids and their tempermants. MJ helped roll a "daddy suitcase" through the airport, and I pushed Joey and Sheila in the double stroller. Security took me about 5 times longer than anyone else, and the agents paused and seemd the need to recount as I walked by with my little crew. I also had a largely empty plane both going and returning. So I had 2 rows to myself for the 4 of us. Sheila fell asleep during take off; the boys played a bit, read books, watched a movie, and then fell alseep during the movie. MJ woke up as we were landing and got to look out the window, and Joey stayed asleep until we got to the gate. The way back was also really great.

Oh, and we had a fun time there too! Sheila thought this table looked dangerous, so of course she liked to play under it.

I think the boys had fun, but were a bit apprehensive about the seaweed that was around the first day (no doubt it came in from all the storms...which did not affect us at all.) MJ turned impressively tan despite the 50 sunscreen I put on him.

This day turned out nicely as it was a beautiful Sunday, halfway through our trip, and we went to mass at a lovely church. And then while the little kids were napping, I was able to take MJ to the pool by myself. He is quite the fish now - he can almost swim the width of the pool, and dared to jump in the deep end. But since he's afraid of the drain, he did this weird spin move to catch the ledge as he was landing, and unfortunately cut his chin. It wasn't very deep, but enough that I worried about it. We didn't want a scar that would be annoying when this likely to be hairy kid starts shaving. We took him to an urgent care and the doctor put some Dermabond on it. And I beat myself up for a whole day because MJ couldn't go in the water anymore.

But the trip was more than just beaches and pools, and we enjoyed hanging out with the Keppel grandparents. We definitely had a fun time (and I think my parents had a good time too).