The Tale

All right... post of vacation news....

We had a looooong trip to Florida. Ostensibly and supposedly and regularly and many other -ly words.... the trip is 8 hours. IF you drive exactly 70 mph on the interstate and don't stop to eat or change diapers or pee or look at anything. For us, the trip down lasted 11 hours. The worst part was getting from home to Pensacola, FL. That section took FOREVER. At least it felt like it. The rest of the trip was fairly smooth and uneventful. The new van did well. No breakdowns, no unruly, screaming chilluns, no bad things. Just traffic, construction zones and multiple stopping.



When we got to my Mom's house, it was wonderful. I was soooo glad to see her and get a chance to hug her. We unloaded the van and then promptly got back in and went to meet my MIL for dinner and to pick up the baby bed we were borrowing.



The boys were.... uncooperative at bedtime. Not too surprising.



Sunday was meet the family day. All of my numerous relatives converged on my Mom's house for Taco Salad and hug the baby day. Lots of fun. i forgot to take very many pictures because I was too busy visiting with everyone. My grandmother (Meme) is looking very frail. I am glad I had the chance to see her. Just in case. My brothers and my SILs were a blast. We did get pics of The Boy riding on his Uncle's motorcycle in moms yard. He had so much fun. he was not scared of it at all! He cried when we made him get off..... I may have a biker on my hands! LOL



We went to my MIL's house on Monday morning and stayed there for the next few days. We visited with several friends and went to see the new Indiana Jones movie. Great movie... loved it. The Boy went with us and he was clapping and cheering at the right spots. At one point he said "oh, no!" in the middle of the quiet theater as Indy was in trouble and made the whole theater laugh. Great fun.



We never made it out to the bar. Too many other things going on. And sleep issues galore with both boys. But that's ok. We had fun.... shopping! Ha. Steven (DH) is a chef and, therefore, a foodie. I am just a food whore. If it is good... I want it. Really. So, since we HATE our shopping options here at home, we took full advantage of the FL stores. We hit Publix, Albertson's, two different Asian markets and Fresh Market (kinda like Whole Foods). We picked up white and black truffle oil, Mangosteens, lotus roots, tons of spices, organic dried veggie chips (yum) and some kick ass organic teas. And lots more. 20 year old aged balsamic vinegar. Honey Powder. Plum Juice. Sugar cured plums. Organic dried fruits. I don't even remember what else. LOL Steven has plans for some of it and some is just for future use. Tonight he made me mashed potatoes with truffle oil. Ha. I almost wet myself.

ahem



We went to Busch Gardens on Wednesday. Left early. Drove down to Tampa (about 2 1/2 hours) and got to the park shortly after it opened. We had a lot of fun. We spent about 3 1/2 hours in Land of the Dragons letting the little ones ride rides and climb in the tree houses. And splash in the water. The Boy rode every ride he could. And loved it. He got to ride each one at least 3 times in a row! LOL The ride would stop and the attendant would come to take him out and he would say "No! Go, Go!" and point ahead! The attendants laughed and said he could ride again each time. He really liked the little mini flume ride. And he LOVED watching his daddy on the big roller coasters! He is also a future coaster rider! LOL



We only got to see about 1/4 of what we wanted. the weather did not cooperate in the late afternoon (typical FL weather) and a lot of rides were shut down due to lightning. I actually did not ride any rides. I wanted to... but the ones I wanted to ride we never got a chance to go on. It's ok. Next year will get here sooner than we think! I got some great footage on the video camera of the kids playing and also looking at the lions in their enclosure, etc. I will post pics and video sometime soon.



We met up with friends of ours at the park int he afternoon and had fun visiting with them as well. We haven;t seen them since our wedding! After the park closed at 7 PM, we went to eat at a local buffet and then headed home around 10 PM.



Exhausted!

Thursday, I was supposed to have my Aunt's mechanic check the van for a couple of little issues, but he could not get to it. So, we canceled our planned trip up to my brother's house in Jacksonville. Bummer. Planned to head to the mechanic's shop first thing Friday morning and then leave for home whenever that was done. Steven had to be at work Saturday morning at 8 AM.

I woke up Friday morning and was getting The Boy changed when I heard Steven cry out.

Now, we all know that men are strong and silent, etc and really are big babies when it comes to being sick. So, I just sighed and asked him what was wrong. He came out of the bedroom practically crawling. He doubled up on the floor and was almost crying. And was clutching his stomach area.

Oh, no.



The way he was acting my first thought was appendicitis. Then I felt his forehead and he was cool. And I had him show me exactly where it was hurting. Left side, not right. Ok. Not his appendix. I woke up his mother and then called my mom to get the consensus opinion that this was not appendicitis. I thought probably kidney stones. But, you cannot fool around with any pain that severe.



We called our Aunt and she came over. We decided to send Steven to the ER with Aunt Sandy and MIL and I would take the kids and head to the mechanic's. I felt horrible that I was not with him at the hospital. But, I HAD to get to the mechanic's to get the van looked at. And I was pretty sure it was just kidney stones. Very painful, nothing to ignore, but not life threatening. And thank goodness that things worked out the way that they did and we were not in Jacksonville or already on the road home when he started feeling that way!



So, I was a nervous wreck the entire time we were at the shop. And the drive back.

When we heard from them, he was having an MRI and had already had several xrays. He was on IV pain meds and they were pretty sure it was kidney stones, they were just waiting for the MRI to confirm. Big sigh of relief from me. We called Steven's boss and let him know what was up and that he probably would not be at work on Saturday.

He passed one stone from his kidney to his bladder and the pain let up quite a bit. They released him and gave him a prescription for pain meds and anti nausea drugs. He has three more stones in his kidney. We have to schedule him an appointment with a urologist. Ha. Like we can afford that. I will figure it out somehow.

So, he got back from the hospital around noon. I decided after talking to him that we were going to go ahead and come back that night. So he could rest here at home all day Saturday to recover for work on Sunday. If he was up to it.

I loaded the van and we said our goodbyes and started the trip home.

It took 9 hours to get home. Steven and both boys slept almost the entire way. I was exhausted.

I still am.

Emotionally and physically I am feeling wrung out and just exhausted.



I plan to do very little this weekend except relax and watch the kids play....



and maybe blog a little bit! LOL