Been around the world...

Where have we been? Well better said, where haven’t we’ve been? We’ve spent the better part of the last 3 weeks in transit and away from home. And now that we’re back we’re trying our best to assimilate back into the normalcy of life on an everyday basis and to get ready for the start of wedding season. It’s upon us already. Days and weeks are passing by so quickly.

So to warn you, I imagine this might be a rather long entry…

Adults only trip to Aruba
In November, Rob surprised me for my 30^th birthday with tickets to Aruba for February. So we left the kids here for a long weekend in the sun. Let me just say, I’ve left the kids for a day, but never have I left them for anywhere longer. And here I was jet setting with Rob to another country away from the kids. Did I miss them? Yes, terribly. But the trip itself was perfect. Tranquility, quiet, and relaxation were the achieved goal of this visit to paradise. We were there for 3 nights. We got sunburned the first day. I was HORRIBLY red. It was beyond that, absolute relaxation. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency. I cannot say enough about this place. Absolute perfection! Service was unbelievable. Rooms were gorgeous. You really didn’t even need to leave the hotel area. I totally recommend it 100 times over. Having visited the other hotels in the area, I think the Hyatt is by far the best. The lobby’s welcoming winds are enough to make you never want to leave, the lounge with the beds, the dinners on the water. Fabulous.

Returning from vacation was odd. Not having seen the kids for 4 days, it seemed as if they were so different, so much more grown up. And it was only 4 days! I was so happy to see them.

Family trip to Orlando
A week later, we packed them us with us and headed to Orlando Florida. The purpose of this visit was simple. Visit Rob’s 96 year old Grandmother, Nilsa’s namesake and the family down in Florida and introduce Ari and Nilsa.

To say I was nervous about this trip was an understatement. Ari and Nilsa had never been on an airplane, and Ari is 2 years old and restless. I worried that a 2.5 hour trip where he wouldn’t be allowed to get up would be too much. And of course, he proved my worry was for nothing.

With the exception of the initial “I don’t want to sit here” on our trip out of Newark, he calmed down to a playful mood. Sleeping some and playing most of the time. He was perfectly behaved. Nilsa was an absolute doll. Both the plane rides to and from were stress free. And the hotel stay, which I again worried about as we were all in the same room, worked out well. Ari thoroughly enjoyed sleeping with daddy. Or I should say ON daddy since He was all over Rob and at one time, Rob’s head was dangling precariously on the side of the bed while Ari slept horizontally taking up 90% of the space. But it all worked out.

The trip was quite a workout for me too. I carried Nilsa in the Bjorn carrier the entire time. She has to be 20lbs now. So it was quite the workout. She loved the carrier – waving her arms and wiggling her legs while smiling and giggling at the world around her

Although we did visit family, we also took some side trips. Traveling to the Brevard Zoo in Melbourne. We went there for a dinosaur presentation which was animatronics with sound that Ari found disturbing. But he totally loved the train ride.

Another day, Melissa- Rob’s cousin, took Rob and Ari to Universal Studios. They spent ½ the day there where Rob took next to no photos.

And then we all went to Sea World which, I think, is the only park that suited Ari’s age since most everything was shows and presentations. He LOVED the Shamu presentation. We spend the entire day there.

Touching Stingrays

We had a fabulous time as a family, were wonderfully fed by relatives over there and Ari and Nilsa got to enjoy the company of the Florida contingent. I wish they lived closer!

And now we’re back. And there’s 101 things that need to be done. I have no idea where to start. My home I feel is a wreck. Not that it’s cluttered or dirty. It’s just disorganized. I look at the calendar trying to figure out WHAT to do. What can I possibly do to better arrange my time. The only way to get stuff done is to give my kids the shaft or to not sleep and take care of things when they have gone down for the night. But I LIKE my sleep.

This is why I've oddly felt at odds with Colorblind lately. I love it. You all know I love it. It’s truly fabulous. Yet it is over pouring. It's omnipresent. And now, it rubs up against the family time. And family time seems to have become something more prevalent since having Nilsa. Playing with the one kid was easy enough before. Entertaining 2 at the same time without issue doesn't so much require a 2nd person but makes you want that 2nd person enjoying it with you. Ya know? It’s no longer about handing off the kid so one or the other can get stuff done, it's hanging out collectively. And we're successfully doing that, but at the expense of other things that require our time.

In my head I just want the time to get stuff done. But I took almost 2 weeks of vacation and now I can't take off any time and to add insult to injury - stuff piles UP while you're on vacation so now there's even MORE stuff to do.

But I’m grateful for the vacations. I just wish life was eternally a vacation.