No Halloween for us

Well I know some people will think it a travesty that we didn't dress our boys up for Halloween this year. But it's true. We did not dress our kids up for Halloween this year. I had a cute pumpkin costume I had inherited from Joia that I was hoping to let one of the boys wear. But with all the travel, it just seemed like more trouble than it was worth. So, years from now, when I try to flash back on Isaac's second Halloween and Elijah's first, I'll have to explain to them why we skipped costumes altogether that year. Hopefully by then I can come up with some other excuse besides, "Mom and Dad were really tired. We had just driven a very long way. We absolutely had no desire to participate in getting two tiny little boys into big annoying costumes that made them cry. So we skipped it altogether. We know. We are terrible parents. But there are the facts."

Last night I took an Ambien to help me sleep due to a few bad nights in a row that have left me in a zombie-like-state. I slept like a rock. My husband did not appreciate my rock-like state. Apparently, and I have no recollection of this, I took up the whole bed, pushed him out the way, put my face right into his face, you know, those kind of annoying things. I don't remember any of this mind you. But JB does. And combined with a very snorty and tossy turny little Elijah sleeping in the pack-n-play next to him, it was no wonder that I found him this morning on the couch downstairs, not at all well-rested. He shoulda taken an Ambien too! Then we'd both have been a rock that didn't care that the other one was taking up the whole bed.

Okay back to our trip. We got to Orlando very late on Friday evening after JB had taken his test and done some more stuff for work. (As far as his test went, he has no idea how he did. He never does. So we'll just have to wait until the scores come out in a few weeks.) Anyways, we got into Orlando very late and enjoyed some brief hanging out with JB's sister Katie (sibling #4 of 6) and her husband Eddie. They have recently relocated to Orlando so that Eddie can attend a marine mechanic school. We put Elijah to sleep in the living room and he did fantastic. However, when we returned to our room where we had put Isaac to sleep almost an hour earlier, he woke up and decided that he would like to act as if he had drank an entire two liter of Coca Cola. The kid was wired and proceeded to spend the next hour jumping around in his pack and play saying things like: "Mommy. Daddy. Bubby. Mickey. Ball." This was accompanied by kicking his bed as hard as he could, holding onto the rails and jumping up and down, and giggling as hard as he could. He wasn't being bad, and if we told him to lay back down, he would. But then he'd start talking and giggling from a laying down position. We were forced to lay there listening to him have the time of his life for nearly an hour. Then we were forced to get up with when he decided that 5:30 was a great time to wake up. Not a good night for either of us. At least we had our own air mattress each. That was a nice thing.

Saturday morning we spent a little time with Katie and Eddie before driving the last 2.5 hours to Coconut Creek where my parents live. Isaac saw my Dad and despite his nearly drunken state from exhaustion, went into a chorus of "Papas!" and immediately went into the house to find all of his long lost toys. After lunch, all of us went down for naps. And after naps we went and hung out with John's parents, older sister Elizabeth, and her husband Grant at JB's parents' house. We had a wonderful time making our own grilled cheese sandwiches (with a wide array of different types of breads and cheeses) as well as some fantastic homemade chicken noodle soup courtesy of Mom.

Now it is Sunday morning, and we are preparing for Joanie to come over and take a family picture of all us -- including Keith, AD, and Charleigh. We'll head to the Kits after that.

We leave in two sleeps for Mexico! We are both so unbelievably excited for this vacation. I worried, long ago when we planned this trip, that I would not be able to leave the boys without much angst. That is not the case whatsoever. I am leaving them with the three people I probably trust the most in the whole word: my mom, JB's mom, and Joanie. They will be thoroughly loved and spoiled and probably disappointed when we get back that their fun is over. They'll have a great day. And so will we.