Impromtu vacation take two

So, we did the last minute vacation thing again.

The week before I went back to work. The week my four-hour freelance project turned into a 16 hour freelance project. When Vivi was only 5 weeks old.

What were we thinking?

We were thinking we needed a getaway. We were thinking we had the time off of work. We were thinking .... it was cheap. Honestly. That's mostly what we were thinking. Brian had the vacation days, I was off of work and rates in Destin, Florida were dirt cheap.

It was wonderful. Toes in the white sand.

The beach to ourselves.

And snuggling up like alligators in the sun.

Beach vacation survival tips part two

So Brian wasn't the only brilliant packer, I chipped in as well.

Mostly with non-glamorous stuff that you'd hate to forget/have to buy at inflated vacation prices. Here are my must pack items:
- Toilet paper
- Paper towels
- Laundry detergent (I used freed samples that I had saved up -- just two or three of them)
- Mini first aid kit (just the basics like Neosporin and Band Aids)
- Sunscreen and aloe
- Bug spray
- Bottled water (the little half pint guys are perfect for the little)

And the only thing we forgot that I kept kicking myself about: snack baggies. Seriously. You need these for toting snacks to the beach.

I also packed lots of entertainment for our little man so we could enjoy our meals and car trips. I brought just one shoebox with toys, so there's really no need to bring a lot of stuff. The sand and sun tuckered him out. I kid the "new" toys in the shoe box and took them out only in case of emergency and/or dinner. Our best bet toys:
- little paper/marker/sticker kits from the impulse checkout line at Wal-mart for a buck.
- a dollar store puzzle
- matchbox cars
- DVDs

Boring. Unglamorous. But necessary and essential to our sanity.

You're welcome.

Beach vacation survival tips

I think I could write a month's worth of posts about how to plan for a successful beach vacation.


Not that we are perfect, but we really did luck out. And, even though we packed in semi-panic mode, we did pretty good.


I've always said that between Brian and I, we can figure out just about anything. (We would totally win Cash Cab.) And that was proven with this vacation.


Here were the bestest things Bri picked up/packed for the trip:

This giant blue bucket from Wal*Mart.





Why a giant blue bucket? It was cheaper than the other beach toys. But it came in SUPER handy. We used it to:
- carry all of the other beach toys
- build sand castles
- refill water guns
- rinse our hands, feet and toys off before heading back up to the condo
... and lots more. And now that it's home, I have plan for it as well. :)


Easy Mac was a true key to success. 3 mins and 30 seconds was the maximum time we could wait to eat after a morning on the beach. We ate Easy Mac and/or PB&J and fruit for lunch every day. Dinner was always someplace out.





Driving at night and/or movies in the car
We left on Friday at midnight. Now, for our family, this was fab. Brian works nights, so this was his "usual" time awake. And Ben slept nearly the entire time. Though he did wake up suddenly at about 3:00 a.m. exclaiming, "I need go pee!" And he did. On the side of the highway. And then, he went right back to sleep.


On the way home, he didn't sleep as much as we had hoped. But thanks to our DVD player, he was pretty much amused the entire time. Though, he did find time to make up this original song.

Last minute beach vacay

Remember this post? Well, I wasn't kidding.


All in that month:

• Bri went to St. Louis
• We hosted two birthday parties
• I resigned from one job
• I accepted another
• We secured our renter for the next year for the condo
• We booked a vacation on a Tuesday
• We packed on a Wednesday and a Thursday
• We left for vacation on a Friday
• We returned on the following Thursday (at 11:00 p.m.)
• I left for Florida for a convention Friday (at 4:00 a.m.)
• I returned from Florida on Tuesday
• I trained my replacement Wednesday and Thursday
• I started my new job Friday...
• The same day Ben got his tonsils out

Yeah. That was a lot.


And the last minute vacation was the best thing ever. I don't know how I would have survived without it.


We went to Myrtle Beach, technically Cherry Grove, which is north of North Myrtle. And, even though I swore I'd never go to Myrtle again (we went there a TON when I was growing up, like 9 or 10 years in a row), it was just what we needed: inexpensive, drivable, no passport required (mine's expired, Ben's is non-existent), beach, sun, pool.


Brian handled all the arrangements via Craig's List, which I highly recommend. The week before we left, it was a fire sale. Condo management companies were posting their not-yet-rented spaces on the cheap. And prices just kept dropping. Honestly, it was hard to pick which one we wanted. We ended up here at the Prince Resort, beach front. The building across the street had a lazy river. Both facilities were clean, convenient, easily accessible.


We enjoyed the beach all day (and I worked in the mornings and during nap time) then we explored Myrtle in the evenings. The shopping centers were packed, the food was over priced, but the nightly fireworks were fabulous and the family time was the best ever.


I'll share my lessons learned soon, but until then, enjoy the cutest kid on the beach.

Take that, airlines.

This is our carry on luggage from vacation. Ha.

Ok... crafty posts and birthday posts coming soon!

Ben's first trip to the beach

So... the Florida vacation (the one with the doomed travel plans) was Ben's first trip to the beach.

He LOVED it.

Loved the sun. Loved the sand. Loved the pool. Loved the ocean.

The most uttered word that week was, quite possibly: water!

(Usually preceded by "my," of course. At the age of two the pool was "my pool water" and the ocean was "my ocean water"... but Ben was kind enough to let the rest of us use the water as well.)

It was a magical week. With sandy bottoms...

And cool shades...

And chasing lizards by the pool...

Oh, and watching Pablo on the portable DVD player.

Vacation Lessons Part 2

So... we had a great week at the beach saw TONS of family and really enjoyed ourselves.

I promise a photo montage as soon as humanly possible. The pics are way better than my attempt to explain.

But... the trip home was not so wonderful. Bad weather in Indy delayed our flight out of Fort Lauderdale and our connecting flight to Columbus wouldn't wait for us, so after 4 hours in the airport (with an energetic 2 year old) we went BACK to the condo and had to fly out the following day.

This travel disaster coupled with the previous one taught me many lessons... here they are:

• Give your kid a bag of his own. Pack it with dollar spot goodies that are individually wrap. BUT be sure those items don't have many small pieces. Froot Loops went EVERYWHERE. Crayons were tossed. I could go on. The best options: a wind up alligator toy, a coloring book with ONE marker, a book, etc.
• Do NOT put the travel DVD play in the overhead bin. It's like and ETERNITY until the captain turns off the fasten seat belt light.
• If you remember, bring goodies for the people who are sitting near you on the plane. I should have baked individually wrapped cookies or bought a few $5 star bucks cards to give to the kind souls that had toys and food bouncing of their heads before we got the DVD player up and running.
• If you have time to kill, try and find an empty gate. Ben LOVED running up and down the aisles and climbing on the chairs.
• And finally, GATE CHECK your car seat. DO NOT check it with your bags. We asked to do this on our trip home and even though we couldn't get on our plane, it still took off and took a few passengers that weren't connecting to Columbus. And our stuff was on that plane. I don't know what we would have done if the car seat was on that plane as well and we had to go back to the condo for another night. Yikes!