We got Blair these headphones and practiced for the plane ride. She got to decorate them herself and she was totally fine with them. She also got a new Dora backpack to carry her stuff. This is Eric helping her onto the plane.
When we got there the gravity of the situation was very clear when we had all this luggage and 5 kids to entertain while waiting for rental cars at the airport. 3 golf bags, 5 large suitcases, 3 strollers, 4 carseats! People were walking by giving us the sad-ipityyou looks.
We did finallly make it to the house. It was a super nice house (probably too nice for 5 crazy kids but nothing ever got broken!). Here are Nora and Daddy hanging out on the front porch looking at the ocean!
The first night we went to dinner at pizza, the girls watched a movie.
Both girls were in our room to sleep. We put a matress on the floor for Blair and she did great with that. We brought a little portable "crib" for Nora which was pretty shabby but it worked! It was pretty funny to see all the ways Blair sleeps, she is a mover!
On Fridaythe boys went golfing at Torrey Pines and us girls took the kids to the beach. We had 5 kids in the van with us to adults (another mommy rode with a friend in a different car). I also decided on the trip that vans are amazing and I will now forever want one! Seriously, so much space and convenience!
The trip was... let use the word "difficult." We went to the wrong beach first and as I am carrying Nora and all our bags and an umbrella Blair is crying at me... "pick me up Mommy" until we finally made it back to the car and loaded all 5 kids back in their seats to find the next beach. When we got there Nora was past due to eat and I tried to keep her on a towel while I prepared the boobie but she found the sand and got it all over the place. She wasn't thrilled for a while and then I had to take Blair to the bathroom because she wouldn't go in the ocean (and I can't blame her, that is a hard concept) luckily a wonderfully nice friend Heidi held Nora but she just lost it and by the time I got back we were in a bad place. Luckily I was able to swaddle her up, calm her down and she WENT TO SLEEP! Thank goodness. She slept all adorable like this for about 45 minutes and I got to play a bit.
The kids enjoyed playing in the sand but none were a fan of the water so they went down for a bit but never wanted to go back.
I dug the girls some beach chairs. Robin and I made Blair into a mermaid. I was really surprised she let us because she is usually a bit nervous about that kid of stuff but she wanted to meet prince Eric :)
Somebody woke up when the beach umbrella blew away! She was pretty happy though.
Getting home and showered was... difficult. After some nap (or rest time if you are Blair) we played around the house and read some books. The big girls had some different activities on various days to keep the sanity around the house. I brought chalk, watercolors, coloring books, stickers and stuff to keep them occupied. The seemed to enjoy it, especially using the water colors to paint rocks!
After a difficult dinner that night with Blair (she was a bit challenging the whole trip, I think it was a lot for her) we finally got the kids to bed. This is how we felt.
The next day we were off to Seaworld. We saw some water animals you could touch.
Next we went to two shows, a dog show and a dolphin show. The kids were not into it at ALL (although now when you ask Blair what she saw at Seaworld she remembers the dogs so I guess she liked it some) with no smiles happening. Here we are at the show. It was so tough trying to keep Nora out of the sun!
I tried to get a picture of the two girls but as usual, someone is not into pictures lately! However, I caught how beautiful she is in these anyway just letting her be herself :)
Jason and I took off on our own to take Blair to Sesame Street land and she had a blast. Nora went to sleep.
She liked walking on the balance beams while waiting in line :)
Nora woke up and we ate and hung out in the shade while Daddy and Blair did some more playing. It was so hot and she wore pants and socks for sun protection so I was letting her hang out in just her diaper here.
We went to the indoor and cool shark exhibit. This pic turned out blurry but I still like the underwater tunnel look.
Next we got to go pet the stingrays. Blair said she didn't want to and we just let her watch and we touched them (yes me! I am really growing up and getting brave for my little ones!) and she decided she wanted to as well. She squealed and really liked them, especially the babies.
It was a long day and she was hot and done by the end. She got this penguin named Paula. Nora did really well and had two naps and hung out happy the other times.
The next day was time to head home. It was another tough day of travel and breakdowns. Our flight was delayed on top of it all. Daddy and Nora were resting while we waited. Nora actually slept almost all of both flights to and from so that was nice. Blair liked movies and snacks so the actual flights were easy. It was the car rides and airport waits that were not!
It was overall a difficult weekend with the tired and overstimulated Blair but we had some fun mixed in with our activities and friends.
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