Florida...ahhh, the good life

Pictures:

* Captain Kyle! The captain on our NW flight down to FL was so sweet! He invited Kyle in to sit down in the cockpit and insisted on taking our picture. Love Northwest :-)

* Our trip to Sea World

* The babies adopted great-grandparents, Bob & Jerrie MacDonald (my aunts parents). They were SO excited to see the babies!

* Papa, multi-tasking with Jack & Ryan, eating breakfast, reading the paper and holding the boys (who knew men could multi-task?!?!)!

* Our trip to the zoo - Kyle feeding the giraffe, checking out the penguins and the crew in front of the monkeys

* Grandma & Papa with the Logan grandkids at the beach. Notice it's not beach weather...it was a quick picture and back to the car :-(

* Kyle swimming in Aunt Sherrie's pool...warm pool, cold air!

* Kyle & Daddy at the bowling alley

* Brooke, Mommy & Kyle posing with the dolphin at the aquarium

We had an WONDERFUL trip to Florida! When I had the idea back in October to get away to Florida for a week, it sounded good. As the time got closer, I was a little nervous thinking about packing, flying, etc with four kids (three of them newly walking) and how we would survive. Well, it actually all worked out much better than I expected, thank God!

Fortunately, my parents were very organized and we packed for the kids in November when my parents drove down, so a lot of their things were already there waiting for us. They also had three pack & plays, three high chairs, plenty of toys and two car seats in FL already so our luggage was minimal. Thank goodness because a 3 year old, triplets in two strollers, bottles, food, diaper bag and toys to occupy everyone on a two hour flight were enough to handle!

Our flight left at 6 pm on Christmas night so we enjoyed our morning at home then arrived at the airport in time to eat dinner before boarding our flight. We were delayed about an hour (turns out it probably had to do with the attempted terrorist incident earlier in the day) but everyone was so good on the flight. I was upgraded to first class, so I volunteered to take Jack, aka "Mr. Busy/Mr. Smiley". I'm sure he'd be proud of the fact that he didn't sleep a WINK on either leg of the trip. I have a feeling this is going to be our experience with Jack growing up. He doesn't want to miss a thing! Ironically, I sat next to a woman who taught with my mom (and I went to high school with her daughter!) and she was SO sweet and helpful. She even held/played with Jack while I enjoyed a glass of wine :-) Ryan slept with my dad from take-off to touch down (both trips!) and Brooke slept a lot and was pretty good overall. Kyle was a model passenger...he loves flying! No one had any issues with their ears and all was well. They were like rock stars by the end of the flight...everyone was saying goodbye to them when exiting the plane.

The weather could have been warmer but otherwise, we had a fantastic time. It was so great to be able to get outside every day for walks...we obviously miss that a lot here in Michigan in December. Here's some highlights of our week:

Saturday - Santa actually left a few presents in FL too! Kyle thought that was the coolest! We laid low today after a long day traveling. The kids loved my parents place and getting used to their new surroundings. Papa & Kyle spent a lot of time outside playing kick and feeding the fish & ducks at the lake.

Sunday - today, Ed, Kyle, Brooke and I went to the Tampa Aquarium. We then met our friends, the Dressler's (currently living in Mexico) for dinner. They were in town visiting her parents and it was great to see them again. Kyle enjoyed his visit with Avery and Brooke loved seeing Olivia and Isabella, her 9 mo old twin friends, who she'll be getting into mischief with in the near future!

Monday - We visited the kids adopted great-grandparents, the MacDonald's. They live in the same community as my parents, so we walked over. The kids were a little shy at first, but nothing that a few animal crackers couldn't fix :-) Bob & Jerrie (Aunt Sherrie's parents) were so excited to see Kyle and meet the babies for the first time. We visited three times throughout the week and enjoyed our time with them.

Tuesday - Ed, my dad and Kyle went bowling. The local bowling alley had bumper bowling for Kyle. Fortunately for my dad and Ed, they were able to use it too :-) Kyle bowled a respectable 56 in his second game ever! Mom & I were able to escape later in the day to have lunch and do some shopping. It was a great day.

Wednesday - Ed, Kyle and I went to Sea World in Orlando for the day. It's an 1.5 hour drive from my parents place and it was a good trip. Who knew it would be SO crowded...I thought everyone would be at Disney?! It was so crowded that we were only able to see five shows/exhibits, including Shamu. Kyle really enjoyed the Shamu show, we were pretty close and he was in awe most of the show at the shear size of him. My parents graciously watched the triplets for us. It's nice to get some one-on-one time with Kyle. As always, we're so appreciative for all that they do for us!

Thursday - my parents took us to the Tampa Zoo. It was an amazing zoo (ranked #1 by Parents magazine - we know why!) and the kids all had a great time. Kyle really enjoyed looking at the map, trying to find his way around. The highlight was definitely Kyle feeding the giraffe. Papa bought him three crackers and I was shocked that he wasn't scared at all to feed them! Look closely at the picture above. It's so funny how Kyle's tongue is sticking out as the giraffe has his out, getting the cracker! Since it was New Year's Eve, they were handing out noise makers...NOT a great thing to give a three year old. For our sake and the poor animals!

Friday - Happy New Year! We were so worn out from the week that none of us were able to stay up to celebrate at midnight! Everyone slept pretty good despite being away from home. Today we went to the beach, unfortunately it was only for a quick picture because it was too cold! You'll notice in the picture above, we all had fleeces on! Later in the evening, Kyle and papa went swimming at my aunts house (who also lives in the community) who has a screened in pool. The water was very warm, however, the air wasn't! Kyle lasted about five minutes in the pool. Thanks to Aunt Sherrie for going through all the trouble to heat the pool for the five minute dip! Kyle especially appreciated the cookie that followed :-)

The other big hit of the week was something so simple yet so exciting for a three year old. Ed bought pop-its for Kyle. These are little things that you throw on the pavement and they make a "pop" sound. Who knew they would be SO exciting? They started out doing them during the day, then when he saw them pop in the dark, he was giddy! Ah, the little things in life that give the biggest thrills :-) Another of Kyle's highlights was going with my dad each morning to get the newspaper. They walked around the corner and Kyle was able to drop the two quarters in and open the newspaper box. He looked forward to it every morning!

I know Kyle will remember the trip for a long time. He had SO much fun having grandma (a.k.a. "draama" as he calls her - so cute!) and papa around 24/7 and having a lot of one-on-one attention. The babies enjoyed mastering their walking skills and getting spoiled with all the attention. Ed and I also enjoyed ourselves. We were able to see a movie (can't remember the last time we did that!), went out to dinner (just the two of us!) and loved having the help with the kids. Thanks to my parents for being so wonderful. We love you!

Based on the 5" of snow we got today, I'd hop on a plane again today and do it all over again! Although Kyle couldn't build a snowman in the sand :-)