Florida

Sammy, Aaron, and I went to Florida back in March. To say that I was anxious before that trip would be an understatement. I hate flying as it is, but to do it with a baby? Oh boy. Plus, a million other elements that I spent quite a bit of time in therapy talking about ;)

The flight there actually went pretty smoothly. We were running a little late to the airport because we didn't realize that we'd have to wait for the shuttle to fill up before it would take us there. Aaron was very confused on the shuttle at five in the morning.

I may or may not have smacked Sammy on the escalator to security, yelling that it wasn't my fault he didn't eat breakfast and was so grumpy. He didn't even remember I'd done that by the end of the day. Not my finest moment. Security went very smoothly though thanks to the advice of my awesome mom friends. We ended up full on running to our gate to get there in time for family boarding. Since we were taking Southwest, we NEEDED to get on during family boarding to get a decent seat. 

Aaron did fantastic on the flight. He ate as we went up, took an hour long nap, and only fussed a little bit when he needed a diaper change. The flight was only 2 hours and 40 minutes, but it felt like the longest flight I've ever had. I was so worked up and I couldn't just relax and watch a movie because I had to, ya know, take care of a tiny human. 

While Aaron was sleeping

We made it to Florida and through the rental car process and through Aaron screaming in the car for an hour because he was hungry and to Sammy's aunt's house. She was so kind and a wonderful host and it was so great to meet her. She is seriously a baby whisperer. Aaron was a major grump because of everything he'd gone through, but she was able to get him to sleep in less than five minutes just holding him. It was seriously impressive.

Alright, now for the highlights.

We went to Bahama Breeze by the water. The weather was wonderful and there was actually a really nice breeze. We got to introduce Aaron to some cousins and he got some time with Mike and Lexy. I had a lovely pina colada, and we got some nice family pictures on the pier. 

 Sammy's family saw Hulk Hogan in the parking lot.

We got to see a cousin we haven't seen since the wedding and we got to talk with my flower girl again. She's eight now and so big! She's also a writer, she writes and illustrates her own books. I told her that I'm a writer too and it was just a sweet moment. She doesn't remember our wedding at all though haha!

My hair curled really nicely with the slight humidity. If it had been summer I know it would have been a full on mess. 

 For some reason Aaron kept holding his hand up while he was eating and we had a little fun making jokes. 

Aaron loved sitting at the breakfast table and told his grandpa that he stayed out too late. 

We went for a few walks in the sun. Aaron was indifferent about them.

 This billboard made me laugh. 

 We sat in lots of tragic but Aaron napped for once so we took a selfie.

Aaron got to wear his swimsuit and matching hat

 He was fast asleep when we got to the beach, so we sat in the car for a while to let him sleep.

 He was alright with the beach as long as his stroller was out of the wind and he could hold his toes

 We went to Publix and I got to have one of their famous subs. Aaron enjoyed playing with the potato chips. 

 I finally got his cute little scrunchy smile on camera.

 I got this decadent cupcake

 Aaron watched March Madness 

 We saw this cute little lizard, baby cranes, and some snakes mating. 

 Another swimsuit picture 

I got to meet Sammy's best friend from middle school and she was so sweet and brought me sunflowers and cookies. It was seriously the sweetest thing ever. 

 Through them catching up I learned that Sammy grew out his afro because he wanted to look like Corbin Bleu in High School Musical and that was the best thing I've ever learned about him.

Him and her in middle school. He gave me that pink shirt later and I actually wore it while I was getting ready on our wedding day hahaha

Those were the good moments. Traveling with an almost six month old went pretty much how I thought it would, but had hoped I would be proven wrong. Aaron was very grumpy and very overwhelmed from meeting so many new people. He missed a lot of naps because we were trying to do things. Traffic in Florida is horrible and Aaron screamed in the car a lot. And everything family was doing was at night when Aaron was asleep so we spent a lot of time just sitting in the house while everyone else was out having fun. 

We originally went out for a wedding but there was a miscommunication where no kids were allowed, but we thought it would be alright to bring Aaron but it actually wasn't, so we couldn't even go to that either. I'm going to be honest, overall the trip was very disappointing. We barely got to see any family, and we spent most of our time sitting in the house so that Aaron could sleep. 

The one thing I'd been looking forward to on this trip was going to Disney Springs. Whenever I was anxious, I would look at their website and the things I wanted to do there and just try to think about that. We were going to go there on Saturday, but Aaron got sick Friday night and got up a lot through the night. He had a lot of snot and was congested and we didn't know if he was going to get super sick or what. Nightmares of us getting him checked out and then having to stay in a Florida hospital went through my mind. Either way, there was no way we were going to go to Disney Springs with him like that because it was a few hours away and we were going to be so worried. We didn't want to just sit in the house all day again, so at four in the morning Sammy bought us new tickets home, I packed up all of our stuff by my phone flashlight, and we left at 7 for the airport. The Tampa airport was a hot, hot mess and we were so glad to be home later that day after a long flight. 

It looks like the chapter of our life where we travel is over for right now, but I have to keep telling myself that this is just a season. We learned a lot on this trip on what not to do and what works for us, and we'll just be applying these lessons in the future.