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- We are back from vacation!! Omigoodness, never did a week fly by so fast. It was absolutely wonderful. We had a fantastic time away in Florida & still can’t believe that it’s over! I have tons to say about our trip, lots of stories & photos & videos to share, but I’ll keep this mini-update short (because you better believe a full-blown big blog post is coming your way soon!) The kids did AMAZING in the car – like, better than we had even hoped. It’s a 15-hour drive from here to Florida & even though we split it into two-days both going down & coming back, we were still slightly nervous about being in the car for so long. But, everyone did great (lots of snacks, shows, stickers, and toys). It was blazing hot while we were in Florida (being the beginning of May, we were really hoping for mid/high-80’s, but got high-90’s instead), but we all survived. We visited Busch Gardens Tampa, Sea World Orlando, both of the FunSpot parks, Aquatica, Clearwater beach, and Busch Gardens Williamsburg on the way home. In case you’re wondering: we do have annual passes to the Busch Gardens parks – so the only tickets we paid for were at the FunSpots! We did not visit Disney (I’m still slightly heart-broken over that), but there were several reason: 1. I want to be able to go to Disney & enjoy my time there without having to worry about wearing masks. I want to be able to see my children’s faces at Disney & right now, that isn’t possible. 2. We planned our trip somewhat last-minute (we only booked our Airbnb 2 weeks before we went!) and because you have to have a reservation to visit Disney, the only park we could have gotten in to was Epcot (not exactly the first Disney park I want to visit after being away for 11 years). It’s okay though – as soon as the mask thing gets lifted (& fingers crossed that’s super soon with all the announcements this week!) we will be planning another trip to Florida – this time centered around the Disney parks.
Like I said: I have tons of videos & photos to share from our trip – look for that next week!! - Coming home from vacation is always weird – it’s depressing, a lot of work, and can be tough to get back into a routine at home. Thankfully, we were able to fall back into our routine fairly easily – even if our first few days at home were filled with laundry, unpacking, cleaning out the car, and grocery shopping. After a whole week of go-go-go, it’s been (slightly) delightful to sit back & (kind of) relax at home (although, let’s be honest: we’re already planning our next trip to go ride roller coasters!)
- Derrick is obsessed with super fancy, luxury-style sheets. I ordered this set off of Amazon a few weeks ago & they are good. We bought bamboo sheets about 2 years ago & paid almost $100 for them & they are wonderful, but, they’ve begun to wear super thin & there is even a hole at the bottom right corner of the fitted sheet. So, we tried this set (which is about $40 cheaper than the original bamboo sheets we ordered, I figured, with over 13,000 5-star reviews, how could we go wrong?) and they are fabulous. They just as soft, but definitely “sturdier” then the original ones we got (they just feel more weighty, without being “heavy” – if that makes any sense at all). In other words, I just bought another set last night (because, see above where I mention the hole our original set now has).
- I published our “Abbey Archive” video for the month of April! It does not include any roller coasters (I’m keeping those trips separate & keeping our monthly video simply focused around life at home). I know I keep saying this, but I’m obsessed with these videos, just obsessed.
- For the first time – Leander is finally showing signs of being (almost) ready for potty training! (Cue all the confetti canons.) I was really getting worried that this kid was just going to cruise thru life without ever showing a sign that he was ready for the potty, but lo & behold, while we were on vacation, he started telling us that he needed his diaper changed! DING! It just makes me so happy. I cannot wait to potty train this kid & be done with diapers!! We aren’t jumping into potty training this week or anything, but it’s definitely coming soon & I’m pumped.
- Speaking of Leander – I’m not sure if he’s going thru a growth-spurt or has just momentarily forgotten how to walk or what, but he’s tripped & fallen down the stairs, down the sidewalk, in the grass, in the treehouse, even while just standing still, it seems! The poor kid is all bruised & scraped up – but most of the time he just jumps up & keeps on running.
- Normally, the thought of spending money on something (especially something that I don’t want to spend money on) and then realizing that I didn’t really need it would make me angry – but I won’t lie: with all the news of restrictions being lifted this week – this purchase that I made on Tuesday seems to soon be null & void. And I’m not mad at all.
- And yes, this week’s Abby’s Saturday photos is just a little hint at where we are, for the first time this year, this weekend! YAY
