Friday - Day 3

You ask anyone in my family, they will tell you that this was the favorite day of the whole vacation!  And it's already been a whole week since we were there.  :(  We decided to travel down to Williamsburg, VA to relive another moment from our honeymoon.  We went to Busch Gardens, Williamsburg.  Ryan and I loved this park when we were there before and we loved it that much x10.  First off, the drive down there is gorgeous!  Every time we've been in Virginia, we talk about the beauty of it.  You cannot see beyond the roads because of the trees.  So you constantly feel like you're in a forest.  So we took the 2 1/2 hour drive down there.  As we hit VA, Darek asked, "So are we going to go pick up our new baby brother now?"  I guess because he knows he was born in VA, that it's where we go to get a baby.  It was the sweetest comment and took a lot for me not to cry. 

We arrived at the park about an hour after it opened.  I won't go into detail about the rides we went on, because I will sound like a complete roller coaster nerd if I do.  I'll just say that the rides were incredible!  Some of my favorites from before were still my favorites now.  And although I can't remember a lot of specifics from almost 13 years ago, the park was just as beautiful as I remembered.

We went on as many family rides as we could, since Darek was 46 inches and most of the rides required him to be 48 inches.  We enjoyed Escape from Pompei a lot, since that was one that was fun for all and got us soaking wet!  Ryan and I took turns going on the big rides with Alex while the other stayed off and went on the littler rides with Darek.  Lucky Alex got to go on all the big ones at least twice! 

There was a very overwhelming moment for me as I went on the flying swings with Darek while Ryan and Alex were off on Apollo's Chariot.  I sat there, flying through the air, with my beautiful little boy thinking back to my honeymoon.  I was this very young almost 19 year old, madly in love (almost stupidly in love), thinking of the perfect life that laid ahead of me.  We'd go to school until our first child was born, then because of all the money we were making, I would stay at home without an issue, keep having children, build our dream home, have my 5-6 children by the time I was 30, be the incredible PTA/soccer/church/everything Mom that I had always wanted to be and we would all live happily ever after.  So very naive.  But as I looked down at my beautiful little Darek, I realized how grateful I was that all those "dreams" didn't come true.  Because he would not be there with me.  Nor would Ian be waiting for me in Heaven.  Are there some things from that 19 year old's dreams that I would have loved to have?  ABSOLUTELY!!!  But I would not trade even one of them for my boys.  I'm sure people were watching with much curiosity as tears were flowing down my cheeks.  But it sure was an interesting and emotional flash back for me to return to that newlywed mind and remember all the things that I had wanted and was positive I would have.

As we left the park that day, all the boys could talk about was coming back again one day.  I made a comment that maybe in another 12 years we could come again.  Then I wanted to throw up as I realized that in 12 years, Alex would be 22 and could be married with his own kids and Darek would be almost 17 and would be a senior in high school.  Yep, I'm okay not thinking about that right now.  I'll enjoy my 10 and 4 year old for now.  But we all have said how much we want to live in VA.  We have some pretty deep ties to that state and feel a huge since of belonging there.  But for now we are here and have no plans otherwise.  But I would not be opposed to it if it happened down the line. 

Anyway, here are a few of the pictures we got that day....

Didn't We Just Leave??

I could swear I was just saying goodbye and now we're already home.  I'm really wishing we had had an extra day or two there.  But we sure did have a great time while we were there!  I tried to post while I was there, but my ipad wouldn't let me post any pictures along with the post.  Really annoying!  So I'll probably do a post for each day we were there.

Days 1 and 2

I still can't decide if it was stupid or wise to take a red eye flight.  There were absolutely some positives to it, but there were some major negatives as well.  My Dad came to pick us up at 9:00 on Wednesday night.  We had all been a bit antsy, so we were very ready to leave when he got there!  We had found out shortly before we left that our flight was going to be delayed a little bit.  It was supposed to take off at 11:26 and ended up taking off closer to 12:30.  So we were all exhausted by the time it took off.  I sat with Darek and Ryan and Alex sat right behind us.  The boys enjoyed take off but couldn't see much since it was so late. Alex pretty much went right to sleep.  Darek took a little bit longer, but finally went to sleep.  Ryan and I only ended up sleeping for 30 mins to an hour.  UGH.  We were pretty wasted when we got to the airport. 

After getting our luggage, getting the boys dressed, walking through the airport and finally getting our rental van, we were on our way.  We had decided that first day to just take it easy.  All we HAD to do was get down to our hotel in Laurel, MD.  So we decided to drive through Manhattan and look at some of the skyscrapers.  The boys thought it was pretty cool.  We then decided to take the Lincoln tunnel over into New Jersey to see if we could stop at Carlos Bakery, since I'm a fan of the show Cake Boss.  Well there ended up being a stalled car in the Lincoln tunnel, so we got stuck for about 30 mins.  It could have been worse.  I got to take a little snoozer while in the tunnel, so it worked out ok.  :)  We got over to Hoboken and found Carlos Bakery, but I was so exhausted and honestly looked like hell.  So we decided that driving by was going to suffice this time.  After that we made the 4 hour drive down to our hotel.  It was a beautiful drive and we really enjoyed ourselves on the car ride.

Before getting to our hotel, we decided to head to Target to grab some snacks and drinks for the hotel room.  It was really a flashback for me when we got there.  Ryan and I had stayed in the same city during our honeymoon.  Not the same hotel, but very close to it.  And we spent a little bit of time at that Target on our honeymoon.  So it was fun to relive some of those memories.  We got all checked into our hotel, unpacked and just hung out together the rest of the evening.  Needless to say, we all had no problem sleeping that night!

Almost A Year

I never thought I would go a whole year without blogging anything.  I was bummed that people didn't seem to be looking at my posts, didn't feel like life was interesting enough to write about and honestly just didn't find the time to sit down and post.  But as I look back through my old posts, I'm really sad that I've missed a whole year of blogging.  I whole year of pictures not posted. Birthday parties not recorded.  This isn't for anyone else except me and my family.  I'm happy if anyone else wants to read it, but this is kinda how I journal, so it's important for me to record some of this stuff.  

So for anyone not following me on facebook, we moved again.  We now live in Woods Cross, Utah.  We are still renting, but we LOVE where we are.  We love our house, our neighbors, our ward, schools... everything.  

Just a quick update on everyone:

Ryan got a full-time job in x-ray.  He was unable to find an MRI position, so he decided to take the x-ray job.  It was a very good choice.  We just got benefits back.  We are a little nervous to go in for check-ups after 3 years of not having one.  But hopefully all will be well.  He is really liking his job.  He remained up at LDS Hospital, so he didn't have to get used to working in a new environment. Ryan has been teaching Alex's primary class in church up until a few weeks ago when he was moved to my class and we've been team teaching the 6 and 7 year olds.

Mandi (me) is doing daycare again.  Since moving back to the area, I was able to start watching some of the kids I had before and some new ones.  At this moment I watch two little girls (ages 3 and 1) full-time, two little boys (ages 3 and 7 months) full-time but on a short term basis, and two other little boys (ages 2 and 7 months) 3 days a week.  I also have another cutie that I watch after school.  I've had her for so long that I feel like she's my niece.  It can get insane having 7 kids, ages 4 and under at one time, especially with 2 babies!  But it's also been really fun.  It's given me an idea of what having twins would have been like.  Crazy, but really fun.  Like I said above, I've been teaching the 6 and 7 year olds in church but just recently got a new calling.  It hasn't quite taken effect yet, so I'll have to post about that later.  I'm still involved with PTA and will be taking over the book fair next year and will also have another position.  So I'll be even busier next year.  Ahhhh!

 Alex was able to go back to Adelaide to finish out elementary school.  I can't believe I'm at a point where I'm saying "finishing out" elementary.  Only 2 years left until he goes to Junior High.  Ugh.  I'm getting old.  He loves his school so much and made the student council this year.  He really loves his teacher (as do I).  He has made some changes this year with some of his friendships and is really starting to figure out the kind of person he wants to be and who he wants to be around.  It's been really hard starting to let go a little as a mother to let him be his own person and start to make his own choices.  He is such a good boy and I'm so proud of him. Alex is still very much into soccer.  He is playing rec, after having a bad experience in comp.  He is much happier now and loves his team and coach. 

Darek is still my little firecracker.  He will be 5 in the summer, which means he'll be starting Kindergarten.  It makes me really sad.  I just have to be prepared that he might be my baby, my last kiddo and this will be it.  I will admit that I'm a little excited for a little more peace and quiet.  But he is also a little mama's boy.  He loves being with me and I love that.  I don't enjoy that enough and I'm going to really start missing it when it's gone.  Darek is a smart little boy.  He has learned a lot in the last couple months and will be ready for school when it starts.  And as always, he is my hilarious child.  Always knows what to say/do to make someone laugh.  He is such a little actor.  Darek is a very athletic kid.  I think he could probably pick up any sport and do well with it.  He is doing soccer right now and made 5 goals in his last game.  :)  He wants to try basketball and t-ball.  He didn't quite make the deadline for t-ball this year, which makes me sad.  But he will have plenty of years ahead of him.  He honestly would be great at football too.  We'll see what happens.

Well, as I'm writing this, I should actually finish up some packing.  We are flying out tonight to NYC!  We won't really be doing too much in NY, but will be traveling down to DC and Virginia.  We decided to step away from Disneyland for a year and see what else is out there in this big world!  I'll try to post from vacation.  But if not, I'll have plenty of pictures and posts when we return.  

Hope I still have a few followers out there!