Big Brother, Little Brother, and One Spunky Sister: THE-CATION

Our first family The-Cation (vacation) as a family of 5! With the arrival of Baby J, my lack of vacation time after maternity leave, and mostly A's new job with Delta, we haven't ventured far from our home state over the last year. This is probably a very normal thing for most families- but it was time to take advantage of free flying. Of course, this comes with the need for flexibility (like not knowing exactly which city - or even which state - we were vacationing in until 36 hours before we left, or not knowing exactly which flight we'd get on until minutes before departure). But all in all, we had a great 4 days in Florida.

JP and AA were sooo excited in the days leading up to our trip - their enthusiasm made my pre-trip to-do list worth it. Hauling 3 car seats, 1 stroller, 5 backpacks, 2 big suitcases, 1 little suitcase, many many hand sanitizer wipes … and 3 kiddos from our house to our hotel in Sanibel was quite the trek, but the kids did great. (Of course, our trip came with challenges … like trying to figure out how to get Baby J to sleep in something other than his crib … and AA's never ending drama … but overall, we were complimented many times on how well behaved our kids were.)

The first highlight: playing at the MSP airport:

The second highlight: SWIMMING!

JP is really becoming a swimmer. (AA sunk within the first hour of being at the pool and decided to stay close to an adult the rest of the trip).

The third highlight: the OCEAN!

We tried to keep a pacifier in Baby J's mouth at all times on the beach after I found a mouthful of tiny shells in his gums the first day. Ew! (Really, I just turned my head for a few seconds!)

The weather was ah-mazing. 80 degrees every day. No clouds at all, light breeze. Seriously. A and I were sunscreen freaks. We all left the same shade of pasty white we had started the trip. (I have so changed).