Someday, I might visit the Bahamas and actually not be pregnant

So over the weekend, we went to the Bahamas (I know!) to celebrate our anniversary. It was a wedding anniversary for JP and me, but it was also a sort of anniversary for Fly, who visited the Bahamas in utero on our "babymoon."

Although it's been a year and a half since Fly got his passport, this was his first international trip. (Come to think of it, it was also his first out-of-state trip.)

But Fly discovered some aspects of international travel aren't all that glamorous, like waiting in lines at the cruise port before the sun even rose.



The promise of getting on a big boat helped, though.



And it was great to look out our cabin window and see the ocean.



Or not.

The cabin was small, and the beds were slightly more comfortable than ambulance stretchers, and some characters think it's funny to photograph people while they are sleeping.



When we settled into our resort in Port Lucaya, we discovered in a cruel slap from Mother Nature that the temperature was actually a bit cooler in the Bahamas than it was at home. For about two hours, though, it was warm enough to play on the beach.





We also spent some time in the marketplace square, which couldn't be more charming.



At nighttime, there is live music in the square. Fly asked me to dance.



But he quickly turned his attention to another woman.



I couldn't compete with that.

It was fun going back to the same place we went to three years ago, only this time with friends -- and a toddler.

Not much had changed there since last time. See? Here I was, six months pregnant with Fly:



And back again, four months along with our little Junebug:



Even if I couldn't enjoy the fruity Bahama Mama drinks, I guess I kind of am a Bahama Mama.



JP and I are so glad we went back -- and we feel so blessed to have each other and celebrate another year of togetherness.

Vacation by numbers

1: Life-size gingerbread house I had to see.



2: Items we lost in the hotel room. How do things just disappear?

3: Number of weeks it took me to post anything about our trip.

4: Feet away I was from Kelly Ripa at Mexico at Epcot! She was looking at some folk art. I couldn't believe how skinny she is. What's smaller than a size 0?

5: People who wedged in front of me to see the parade.



6: Rides I wanted to go on but couldn't because of the expectant mother warning.

7: The shape that the Mickey Mouse straw we came home with turned into after putting it in the dishwasher. A cashier gave it to me because it was my birthday.

8: Times I just wanted to nap.



9: Pounds of clothing our family never got to wear that was just excess luggage.

10: Minutes Fly got to ride a real pony.



$25: Average price for lunch for our family?!

1,500: Number of Christmas trees across Walt Disney World. No exaggeration -- it's a fact.



$????.??: Amount we could have saved by not going to Disney and just taking Fly for rides on the county bus, because bus rides were his favorite part of the whole trip.

Weekend by numbers

0: Long baths I took

1: Can of Silly String I sprayed

1: Naps I took

1:30: Time I fell asleep Saturday night

2: Walks on the beach

2:30: Time I fell asleep Friday night

5: Times I got out on the all-chick-line-dance dance floor

7: Times I felt old

7: Times I felt young

8: The number of times JP has told me how happy he is that I'm home ("Fly really keeps you busy, doesn't he?")

13: New people I met

15: Times I prayed

30: Minutes of massage

43: The number of times I saw little children at the beach resort and made me miss my little munchkin

It's a girlfriend getaway -- break out the Silly String

Mind clouded and fuse shortened from lack of sleep, and feeling like a martyr for changing my diet so my breast milk wouldn't make Fly sick, last year I declared that when Fly was weaned, I was going away to a hotel room by myself to sleep and to eat whatever I wanted -- mainly a forbidden chocolate peanut butter sundae and a real-milk mocha venti. With whip.

Then it was just a dream. A far-off, unobtainable goal.

But.

Now Fly is nearly weaned.

And tonight, I am leaving for a weekend retreat. I know that sounds like I am going to be in a cabin in the woods singing Kum Ba Yah, but really I'm going to a resort on the beach a couple towns away where it's just a bunch of women hanging out by the pool and having a fun pajama contest -- like a large girlfriend getaway. And I am going to sleep all I want, and I am going to not dress for practicality, and I am going to eat whatever I feel like (mostly because I won't have to cook), and I might even jump on the bed a little and squirt someone with my secret stash of Silly String.*

And I'm going to miss Fly and JP a whole lot.

I didn't know if I could leave Fly knowing he wouldn't be able to nurse to sleep -- but he doesn't really need to nurse (I don't think he's getting any milk anyway), and I know he will be fine with JP. It will give JP and Fly the chance to spend a lot of dad/son time together. And I won't be far away if something awful happens, which it won't.

It's my first time being away from my little one, though. And I just have mixed emotions about that. I don't know if that can be cured with a chocolate peanut butter sundae and Silly String. But I will find out.

*I know you're wondering why I don't act my age sometimes, and I wonder the same thing too.

Tales from the trip, part 2

When you love to travel but hate to fly, that's pretty stupid. That's my life. And when your husband says he has to have a vacation or he'll go nuts, but your baby can't be contained for hours and hours, you have few options.

Where I live, you can drive a few hours south or west as you did so often in the past and have lots of fun -- but not the kind of fun you're used to if you have a baby in tow. Or you can drive a few hours north where there are children of all ages, everywhere, and tell yourself there will be plenty of time in the future for family adventure travel.

So we went north.







The veryveryveryvery best part (well, except for this, of course) was discovering that Fly can now travel without screaming the whole time he's in his seat. Fly actually never even cried.

And that made me feel like this



Now we can really go places....

Tales from the trip, part 1

Just for the joy of seeing you get so excited that you fall down....



Even though it meant buying you a new, dry outfit across the way because we were traveling and didn't have a change of clothes....



Your squeals and laughter, and the possible label of being a bad mother who would let her child play in the water on a cool night -- it was all worth it. And I would do it again.

Away....

You may remember that earlier this year, JP, Fly and I took a not-vacation. That is, we didn't go anywhere, but JP took a day off work and we acted like tourists in our own town.

That was OK, but guess what? We are dreaming the impossible dream! We are actually away somewhere! We are taking a trip that may ruin our sanity for life (Fly is a terrible traveler), but not taking a vacation ("taking a break" as JP likes to say) has its own form of ruination, at least for JP. So off we go.

Because of NaBloPoMo, I have posted for all of the days we'll be gone. This may or may not count as far as posting every day -- but it's too bad, ain't it?! See ya when we get back!

Magazines should come with warning labels

I subscribe to this



and this



(The fact this cover shows a shirtless man is just coincidence.)

Magazines are like their own little subculture. Have you noticed? Martha Stewart Living? Real Simple? People?

JP and I look forward to our Adventure and Outside. However....

When we were discussing for the 457th time where we've dreamed about going where we should go where we could go where Fly would allow us to go, months and months of adventure-travel destinations piled up in our heads came spilling out -- and right into the trash.

There will be no rock climbing in the Ozarks. (Try that with a sling.)

There will be no sea kayaking in Puget Sound. (Too long of a flight from where we live.)

No exploring amazing places on our wish list. (Ditto.)

No exploring new puffin territory in Maine. (You can't sneak up on a bird with a toddler who squeals.)

And we can forget about rafting through the Grand Canyon. (Not suitable for toddlers.)

We tell ourselves someday, someday....

Dern those magazines!

International baby of mystery

Fly just got a passport! (And even though it's a long holiday weekend, it's not as if we have plans to go anywhere.)

Oh, the places he'll go....


William Shakespeare's home in England


The Coliseum


Paris


Amsterdam

And many more places.

Wish big, baby.

- - - - -

Fly's first birthday is one week from today! We're going to start giving away birthday presents on Monday, so be sure to enter Fly's Growing and Giving contest!

The not-vacation, or, Where I'd Have Been This Weekend if I Could

So, this weekend was all about Father's Day and doing fun things around town in place of going on a real vacation this year. Did you see my previous pictures? Here are a few more.


One-eighth-scale real working train ride for JP and Flybaby



Enjoying quality reading material at a local bookstore



And yes! Those matching shirts I told you I sewed as one of JP's Father's Day gifts. I know they are ridiculous. But that's the whole point of a Hawaiian-style shirt, right? (Don't worry, he also got a scrapbook of photos of just himself and Flybaby, plus some "real" clothes and an ice cream cake.)

Yesterday, we went to the nearest zoo for the first time ever. It's amazing how a whole new world of things to do appears just because you have a child! But we quickly got rained out, so, no pictures from that excursion....

Now that I got those pictures out of my system ....

Well.

Doing a not-vacation is better than not doing a not-vacation. But it's still not a vacation.

I don't want to complain because we had fun, but everything we did on our not-vacation was something we could have done on a typical weekend. And because it was Father's Day weekend and I'm a mama, I probably did more work to give JP a nice weekend -- rather than relaxing like on a real vacation.

In fact, because this weekend was our not-vacation, our attitude was "We are going to have fun if it kills us, dern it!" which is really not the way to not-travel. Or to travel. We just went from one activity to the next -- pausing only to breastfeed, really -- and it was tiring.

So now I'm weighing it out: screaming baby as we take a few hours to go somewhere and have a real vacation, or shuffling around town in the name of having fun on a not-vacation? Screaming baby for a few hours ... shuffling around town? Hmm. Excuse me while I think about it....

Where I'd be today if I could

I've never done a blog carnival, but when I saw that today's Photo Friday is where you'd like to be, I knew immediately.

Where I'd be today if I could: Sinkyone Wilderness State Park in northern California.



I've never been there, but after reading about it in National Geographic Adventure magazine, I just knew I must make a pilgrimage there at least once in my life.

Has anyone been there? Please, please tell me it's even better than all the photos I've seen and the article I read.....