orlando

We’re back – alive and well. We thoroughly enjoyed our little getaway… Ammon’s first real road trip. Here’s a little narrative of our many adventures down south:

THURSDAY:

The decision to leave on Thursday was a multi-facetted one: 1.) We thought that it would be better for Ammon if it wasn’t our normal whirlwind trip. We thought that we should have another day before another long drive; and 2.) We, the adults, wanted to have another day of fun! So, instead of leaving Friday afternoon, we left on Thursday when Brian got home from work. Of course, this was the one day last week that Brian had to work until 4:30… meaning a later start. My mom came down a little early to help with Ammon so that I could get some last minute things done. We hadn’t had a good night on Wednesday. As soon as I was ready to go to bed at about 12:30, Ammon was up – and didn’t have any intentions of going back to sleep (I was up with him until 5:45, and then he was up for the day at 7:00). After I finished getting ready we ran some errands – killing some time before Brian would be home. Then came the daunting task of loading the car. We had quite a bit more to take due to Ammon (see the photo in the previous post, but note that this is only part of what we ended up taking and does not include my mom’s luggage). When Brian got home and saw all that needed to fit in our little car, he gave me the “you’re crazy if you think this is going to work” look. But, stubborn-as-ever Stacy was determined to fit it all – and I did. Very, very carefully. It would be an understatement to say that we were a little cramped. For instance, in the back seat alone there were three suitcases, two large bags, a car seat and myself.

We stopped for dinner and were then on our way at about 6:00pm. I was more than a little worried about how Ammon would do on the trip – he hates his car seat with a purple passion. I decided to try and trick him by giving him his bath before we left; hoping that he would think that it was bedtime. And to my amazement, it worked. He fussed for just a few minutes and he was asleep before we even got out of Dothan. He slept for the majority of the trip – only waking up about 45 minutes before we arrived at my aunt’s house. Of course when he did wake up, he was ready to get out of his car seat – and it didn’t help that we were at a complete stand-still due to an accident. We arrived at about 11:30 – quickly unloading the car and getting ready for bed. Naturally, Ammon was up and ready to play. He was very excited to be going to his great-aunt’s house, and was even more excited to see her.

FRIDAY:

We took the opportunity of sleeping in a bit before Ammon was ready to be up for the day. We had a bit of a lazy morning – taking our time getting dressed, eating breakfast and enjoying each other’s company. My uncle and grandmother had come down early Thursday and we hadn’t seen them when we got in. Ammon’s love of dogs was illustrated that morning – there was a dog show on television. I don’t think he took his eyes off the screen the entire time it was on. Each time a new dog came on the screen, he did his new “who… whoo… whooo…”. As soon as we have a yard, I think we will be adding a new member to the family.

After a while, we all decided it was high time for some fun – running some errands and doing some shopping. My mom, aunt and grandmother needed to go to the LDS distribution center, so Brian and I introduced Ammon to the most beautiful Temple – of course I am a little biased, but I do think it is one of the prettiest. While we were walking around the grounds, we saw this squirrel clinging to the side of the Temple next to one of the corners. He climbed all the way to the top and back down – jumping from side to side. Freaky – I ended up moving on sooner than Brian and Ammon did… I didn’t want to see him plummeting to the ground should he have lost his grip. After we left the Temple, we went down the street to the LDS bookstore, and then on to Target (where we saw the nine-foot man… no kidding, I barely came to his hips... and no joking about my height), Best Buy and Toys ‘R’ Us… for Brian. Ammon loved the excitement of this new place – soaking everything in with each breath. I think he was afraid to blink in fear that he might miss something. So fun to see him so inquisitive.

That evening, my cousin and her family came over and we enjoyed a yummy dinner of sesame-ginger salmon with linguine. Yummy. We visited for a while before they went home. After a bit, we headed to Steak ‘n Shake for chocolate shakes – a tradition for my family, though this wasn’t a midnight run like it usually is. Brian had some school work to do online, so we were up quite a bit later than everyone else. It was about 12:30 before he and I got to bed. I was starting to really feel the fact that I hadn’t had much sleep since Tuesday night, and was really ready to hit the hay.

SATURDAY:

Friday night we had all run through our itinerary for Saturday, as it was going to be an extremely busy day. We all got up early and drove out to the shoppers’ Mecca – the Disney World for spenders. This place has everything – everything – talk about one-stop shopping and sales galore. We all spent more then we should have, I’m quite sure. And while we only went into about six or seven stores (to include the shoe store that has inspired my new moto: “Life is short. Get the shoes.”), we were there for about six hours. Again, Ammon was completely enthralled with his new surroundings – totally enchanted with every new thing.

We travelled home in the mid-afternoon for the girls to get ready for their night on the town (we have season tickets to the Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre… and we have had such fun!). We picked up my cousin and went out to eat at Roadhouse. Then, off to Bob Carr for…

Spamalot… “a new musical lovingly ripped off from the motion picture “Monty Python and the Holy Grail””. Those of you who have seen this film can guess what we were in for that night. Pure silliness – a tad irreverent at times – but hilariously silly (veeery, very niiice) and certainly not meant to be understood. We had such a good time and our cheeks hurt from laughing by the time we left. The Alabama girls were originally going to skip this show, but since we missed My Fair Lady because I was… well, lets just say that I had a previous engagement delivering Ammon – we decided to come down for this one. So glad we did.

SUNDAY:

We got up early and got ready for church. Brian, Ammon, my mom and I only stayed for Sacrament meeting (my aunt's ward has a slight mold problem in their building, and our noses burned as soon as we walked in, but Ammon was quite the hit!). Once we got back to my aunt’s house, we were in need of a little fresh air. So, we walked around Downtown Disney for a bit. The weather was so nice (it was all weekend), and it was great to be able to enjoy it a bit more. Ammon really loved his first Disney experience. He adored the bright colors and music. There was so much to see and he was craning his neck the whole time trying to catch everything. I was paranoid that Ammon was going to get too much sun, so we were on a quest to find a hat that would fit his sweet little noggin. No such luck – everything was just a tad too big. We ended up having to buy a novelty pin also, and cinch up the hat with it so that the hat wouldn’t fall off his head. We stayed for a few hours before enjoying some yummy lunch and heading home.

We had been warned not to leave for Alabama until my uncle returned home from Ocala (this would be his first time seeing Ammon) and my cousin arrived from Sarasota on her way to Jacksonville. After they both arrived we enjoyed a nice visit before starting what we hate most of all – getting ready to go home. Packing the car was a little trickier this time around as we had to fit all our loot in as well. We ended up leaving some things at my aunt’s house. We were soon saying our see-you-laters… and were on the road by 6:00. I had given Ammon a bath before we left, and it worked like a charm. He was soon out like a light after watching Fraggles for a bit. We arrived home at about 11:30pm. We quickly unloaded the car and headed to bed – exhausted from such a fun trip.

LOOKING BACK:

Well, with our first big road trip as a family of three over and done with, I think that we can brave several more. This is a good thing as this year is full of trips for us. I am so glad that Ammon proved to be such a good traveler – like I was – it makes things go so much smoother. Comfort wise, I think this was one of the harder trips for me – even including our trips while I was pregnant, and the trips that we took to Montana when I was growing up... with six people crammed in a car – due to my tailbone problem (thank you, Ammon). It felt like my spine was vibrating for the entire drive – and it didn’t help that I was curled up in a ball the whole time because there was no place for my legs and feet (I had about half of a normal sized seat and no floorboard). I know that Brian was tired of driving and that my mom was tired of sitting and helping to keep Brian awake. But, despite all of this, I am so very glad that we went. We always have such a good time with our dear family. So nice to have a change of scenery every now and then – so nice to feel the love that we share as a family.

I guess we will have to go down south more often. Ammon was so much better there than he is at home. He was happy the whole time – not one meltdown – he enjoyed his baths, took good naps in his car seat or stroller while we were running around and – hold on to your seats – slept 12 hours every night we were there. Of course now that we are home, we are back to our normal “routine”. I think that this good behavior was due to the fact that he had an audience – and was trying to win the hearts of his family. He already had their hearts, though – he is quite the charmer.

We loved our time with you Aunt Kaye, Uncle Dana, Amy, Billy, Will, Bailey and Kim – sorry we missed you Brian, Jess, Brandon, Sarah, Gracey and Chris – we love you all and look forward to our return visit in a couple of weeks!

Note: Two cameras make for a ton of pictures… but there are never too many in my opinion. As a result, the photos from our trip are broken down into two slideshows. Enjoy.