When Vacations Go Awry

awry: away from the appropriate, planned, or expected.

Yep... that pretty much sums it up.

Joy, Brennan, & I had plans to leave for vacation last Saturday. Well, the night before we were to leave, we were awakened unexpectedly at 12:30 am with Brennan crying. No big deal, right? Although being practically unconscious, I hear Joy & Brennan in the guest bathroom. And the water is running. Oh no! I ran in there to see her taking off his vomit-soaked pajamas. She said, "He threw up everwhere!" I quickly pivoted & walked in Brennan's room to see vomit all over his bed, crib, blanket, sheets, dry-clean only crib padding thing, floor, rug, etc. You get the point. It was bad; it was real bad. I am certain I set a record for holding my breath as I cleaned up this mess, replaced his sheets & blanket. I thought the worst was over as I reasoned to myself, "He has never done this before, everything should be fine."

It wasn't.

To our alarm, the same occurred 3 more times throughout the night. As we woke from our fragmented periods of rest, we were exhausted. But, we were about to get in the car for a 5 hour drive to go on vacation. 5 hour drive + sick baby = vomit in car seat 3 times. Oh no!

Well, without drawing out this story too much, here are the details. We arrived at Joy's parents' house to celebrate Brennan's 1st b-day but he was too sick to eat any cake. Joy's sister & her kids were there too which exposed them to the sickness. Brennan felt much better later that day so Joy & I stuck to our plans, left him with Papa & Nana, & drove down to Santa Rosa Beach, FL. We drove through storms the whole way down but were able to find about half an hour of dryness in Seaside where we ate. As we made it back to our rental house, The Green Gecko, Joy began to feel bad.

You got it! Vomitting in the night!! She was out of commission the our first day... no beach, no food, lots of sleep. Day 2: Joy is feeling much better. But... you got it! Ben is sick... no beach, no food, lots of sleep. Joy calls her parents to check on them. Update: Joy's dad is sick, Joy's mom is feeling like she may be getting sick, Joy's sister & her daughter are sick. Day 3 (our last day at the beach): Well, finally feeling better, we pack up & go have some breakfast. Immediately following, we spent 2 hours on the beach trying to do what we wanted to do the whole time. After that, we had lunch, played a round of putt-putt, & drove 3 hours north to Joy's parents' house. Vacation over.

We arrived at our house last night officially exhausted. A year's worth of planning & vacation savings down the tube. Sometimes vacations go awry, sometimes they don't. I am hoping that we have sensed God's hand in this too. I can't quite give you some super-sprititual explanation or extra-godly insight as to why I feel okay about all this, I just do.

Now, I ponder how to surprise Joy with a day or two (or three, four) of rest & vacation before the next baby comes. Any ideas are welcome. But... let's keep it much closer to home this time.

Back in the saddle & lovin' it!