Monday, April 20, 2009

Potty training

So last week I started potty training with Dane. He has been showing interest for a few months but i was trying to hold him off until we got back from FL. Knowing that being in a car for that long would probably undue all my efforts up to that point. Now we are back and it is going good. Dane is starting to tell me when he has to go pee and will tell me when he is stinky which is going in the right direction. With Mia I was home a lot more so that is making it a little more of a challenage but maybe this way Dane will do better with public toilets. (Mia refused to go on any noisy potties the entire trip to FL. She is not a fan of automatic flushing to say the least!) So Dane has been going 2-3 times a day and I am braving the world of big boy pants today. Mia would sit on the potty just to get the treat (M&Ms) but Dane doesn't seem to want to sit there unless he wants to actually go. But I am fine with doing it on his terms.










Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Vacation recap

We just got back from Marathon, FL. Another successful Easter vacation. 18 family members, 1 house, ages 1.5 - 83 years old. 1500 miles. I will post some pics later but here is a recap of how things went.

We left Friday afternoon, 2 suburbans and a van full. We joke every year that we look like the Beverly Hillbillies driving down the road. My parents' burbon 5 had a car top carrier on the roof and a luggage rack that hooks into the hitch. At one rest stop my sister Kaitlyn comes out of the bathroom and tells us that Margaret, a family friend, is in there. Now it is late at night and i am guessing that we are in either KY or TN. What are the chances of that? But Margaret was heading to FL with her daughter and grandkids. The trip was going along rather uneventful and we were making decent time. The GPS said we would be to the house in the Keys by 4 pm Saturday. All that changed when we came to a complete stop on the interstate. And we stayed that way for over 3 hours! We watched Marley & Me and tried to waste some time. I can only imagine how far the traffic backed up behind us. We were pretty close to where the accident happened. We ran into traffic several other places but finally managed to reach Marathon at 11pm! My dad went to sleep right in the front seat of the Burbon 5.
The house was really nice and there was plenty of room. We got our workout each day walking the stairs that lead down to the dock and pool. Iguanas were all over the place and the kids liked watching them. We managed not to go to the store every day, usually we need something from there every day. My mom, Andrea, and I power shopped Sunday morning filling 2 carts in about an hour. Good work girls! To give you an idea of how much food we needed, we went thru 2 loaves of bread for one lunch and 5 racks of ribs for 1 dinner. You get the idea.
The Easter bunny came to our house early since we would be driving on Easter. (I'll post more about that another day.) We all went to Key West on Tuesday and had a nice time. Andrea and I scored the parking spot of the day, right off Duvall St. The men spent most of the day at the Sports Page, a bar with no Key West atmosphere but they were happy. We walked around, did some shopping and watched the sunset festivities in Mallory Square. Then back to the house we went. And for the record, Andrea and I were NOT mad. The kids were just done! We ate dinner at the McD's with the best view in the US. Overlooking the water in Key West.
Boat rides and pool duty filled the rest of the week. We had to be out of the house Saturday morning so we started our journey home to IL. Dropping Aunt Chris and Jacob off at the airport and Grandma Hartnett off at her house we hit the road. It was slow going pulling a boat back but we had plenty of time. Dane did good on the way down but on the way home he was not happy. He was screeching if he was awake. He earned himself the nickname Teradactyl. Thank goodness he is a grandson or my dad might have "ripped his face off!" Ask Kaden about that. We stopped at a nice hotel in GA and then another one in TN. We didn't have any swimsuits available (all packed away in the car top carriers) for the kids so we did it white trash style. Underwear or diapers for the kids. Now we are back home and it is freezing. I am ready to head back to FL already!

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Quick one

Well I am taking a quick break from packing. I managed to get all our clothes into 1 bag. That's pretty good considering that is a family of 4, clothes for a week +. Anyways I am counting down the hours until we hit the road. There are 3 vehicles caravanning down the FL. 2 of us are going all the way to Marathon (half way down the Keys). Matt is in for a new experience, since the only time he has driven to FL was 1 time for spring break in college. I have a feeling this road trip might be a little different. Regardless, we are hoping to get there by late Saturday night. My plan for the week is to sit by the pool, read a book or two and have a few cocktails! Hopefully the kids are good with the plan too! There will be 18 of us staying in 1 house, ages 1.5 to 83! Something for everyone! I hope everyone has a wonderful spring break and I will be posting pics as soon as we get back. I hope we bring a little sun and warmth back with us!