what we did on our vacation...part I

most of the time, the moral of the story is at the end, but in this case, we'll open the story of our family vacation with the moral:
expectations - reality = disappointment (remember this point, it will come in handy for you...)

i'll break this story into 3 parts...part 1: panic, flying and poly-viral drama.

we should have known our vacation would be going south (literally) the night before we left. i decided to be ms. uber-organized and basically had us packed for the trip to florida a few days before our departure. all appeared well the night before our flight until we changed sam's diaper and found BRBPR (that's medicalese for blood in his poop.) dread encircled me as i loaded him into his car seat for a trip to the kiddie ER.

as sam climbed all over the gurney, attempted to disassemble the wall suction tubes and and spun on the stool, the registration nurse, the ER nurse, the resident and the attending doc all seemed perplexed about why we were taking up space in the ER. well, just to prove my worries were legit, i produced the evidence: one poopy diaper with a few little streaks of blood. "see", I said, "look...blood in the poop..."

a thorough history and exam found nothing of concern and we were encouraged to go to florida and keep a close eye on him. (i was assured that if they believed florida was a 3rd world country, we would not have been given clearance.)

...the next morning, we loaded up 2 big suitcases, 2 monster car seats for the flight, 2 diaper bags and 2 viral infested kids parading as healthy little monkeys and headed to the airport...

...steve hauled 2 carseats, one diaper bag and kate...i had sam and a diaper bag...and off we went...(not knowing that we lost the key to my car...$$$)

now for the flight...where everything seemed to be fine...or was it just the calm before the storm?




the condo was lovely, the sun was warm, the sand smooth, the waves lapping on the beach and the viruses multiplying at an exponential rate...




...my dreams of a lovely, week were shattered by vomit all over the rental car and white condo carpet, poop filling diapers and my sinuses pounding to the rhythm of my pulse...

can this vacation be saved??? tune in later...