After being out of town for a week, we are happy to be home.  We had gone up to the DC area to visit family and take the boys on one last vacation with just the four of us before the baby arrives.  Jason and I had planned lots of fun things to do, including a snowboarding trip where big brother was finally going to get ski lessons like he had been asking for!  But plans changed as our vacation quickly turned National Lampoon style…

The night before we left, our oldest started throwing up.  It lasted all night and I ended up calling my mom for help.  I felt bad waking her but it turned out she was already up helping my sister who had the same stomach bug.  We prayed for his stomach to be strong and the next morning it seemed it might hold off for at least the plane trip.

In the airport waiting for our flight to leave (all images from the trip were taken with our point and shoot camera):

The problem was that we didn’t even think about little brother’s tummy.  Yes, within minutes of taking off he threw up all over me.  Now skip this part if you have a weak stomach because I am talking from my hair down to my knees, wet tee-shirt contest worthy, looks like I peed my pants soaked in horrible smelling regurgitated milk.  People around us either felt bad for us or were completely rude about the situation.  Did they really think they had it worse than we did or that there was anything we could do about it that we weren’t already trying?  Thankfully the flight attendant on our Southwest flight was helpful and understanding and kept checking in on us which made things a bit more bearable.  Despite mopping both of us up with paper towels the best that I could, our youngest spent the entire flight throwing up (luckily into a bag the rest of the time) and I sat there cuddling my sick toddler and trying not to think of how gross I smelt, looked, and felt.  I do have to say that I have an amazing husband who was right there to take care of anything I asked him to do, even wiping down my hair for me.  And big brother was happy to watch the Smurfs on the DVD player the entire flight and didn’t even seem to notice everything happening around him!

Here we are getting all of our luggage (didn’t Jason do a terrific job stacking everything onto the stroller!) and making the difficult journey with two young boys and too much stuff to the shuttle for the rental car.

Though I hoped it was motion sickness and not really a contagious stomach virus, our youngest’s stomach didn’t hold up well on the drive to Jason’s mom’s house.  Big brother’s stomach ended up not doing well later that night either.  After we got them both bathed and I finally got to shower, Jason went out to get some Gatorade for the boys.  We were worried about them getting dehydrated since they weren’t keeping anything down.  The roads weren’t great because of snow and sleet but the grocery store was very close by.  We waited and waited for Jason to get home but instead I got a phone call.  It was Jason and he had been in an accident.  An all air bags deployed, On-Star activated, police on the scene car accident.  And it was in the rental car that we had declined the insurance on.  God was with Jason though and he wasn’t hurt at all.  He was driving back when suddenly the car in front of him swerved allowing Jason to now see another car broken down in the middle of the road.  He tried to swerve out of the way too but because of the icy roads he wasn’t able to and hit the car.  The car behind Jason also swerved and ended up skidding on the ice across the median into oncoming traffic.  He was able to make it all the way across out of harm’s way though so there were no other collisions.

After the tow truck came to get the rental car and all the police paperwork was filled out, the police officer was kind enough to take Jason back home.  That night and the next day were filled with the headache of the phone calls and paperwork that happen after a car accident.  Can you believe that even though the guy left his broken down car in the middle of traffic and even though the roads were snowy and icy so conditions were a factor, because Jason hit from behind the insurance considers it to be his fault?  Despite the stressful financial issues that brings up, we were just very happy to know that we were still covered in this situation.

While Jason was dealing with our insurance company, the rental car company, and getting a new rental car for the rest of our vacation, I was still caring for our sick boys.  We had to cancel the ski trip which made our oldest sad but he was hardly even able to get out of bed.  Watching the Smurfs cheered him up (thank goodness my sister got that for me for my birthday!) and we told him that when he was well he could play in the snow outside.  Finally after a couple days little brother seemed all better and big brother was feeling good enough to get up and play!

That’s when I caught the stomach bug.  And it was bad.  I was so sick there was nothing left to be sick on and I would just dry heave until I choked.  I couldn’t even keep down a sip of water and I started to get nervous about the baby.  I was definitely very dehydrated and I called my doctor’s office.  All they did was tell me what medicines I could try, but if I couldn’t keep down water there was no way I was going to keep down any of those.  Again God was with me and just when I had decided that I needed to go to the ER, I was able to keep down ice cubes and not long after some gatorade and water too.  I had called my mom and found out that though one sister was starting to get better, my other sister caught it bad and had to go to the hospital.  The doctors there said that it could be a stomach virus or it could be delayed onset of food poisoning.  All of us had shared an ice cream cake to celebrate my birthday right before we left but two other people also ate it and didn’t get sick so it is still a mystery.  Either way, it was another full day before I could get out of bed and try to keep any food down.  As I stayed in bed sick, Jason took the boys out to play in the snow, build snowmen, and throw snow balls.  Well, at least that is what the plan was, but this being the vacation of Murphy’s Law by this time the snow was really just sheets of ice.  They couldn’t really play in it at all!

Big brother having to crawl up a small hill because he kept slipping on the ice:

Making a “snowball”:

I was a bit worried when I saw this picture of little brother playing with an ice dagger pointed right at his head!  Figures Jason would take a picture before taking it away.

I love this picture of the boys!

Notice the almost empty bottle of Gatorade in the background as Grammy plays play-doh with the boys.  How symbolic of the first half of our trip!

Once everyone’s stomach was doing better, we were ready to have fun and make the most out of the few remaining days we had left.  Vacation fun is eating yummy food so here is little brother after enjoying a chocolate chip cookie:

And what are vacations for if not for relaxing?!

Jason and I decided to take the boys to DC.  We got on the Metro and of course the people all around us were on their cell phones.  I don’t mean to sound old-fashioned, but cell phones really bother me sometimes.  You can’t do anything without people all around you on the phone.  You take your kids to the park and half of the parents are on the phone instead of interacting with their kids.  You go to church and at the beginning they have to remind you to turn your cell phones off.  It gets ridiculous!  And when people are on their phone they talk about their private business without any cares about who is around.  I would like to think that normally people would not start cussing and talking about drugs and sex when there are kids sitting right next to them, but that is just what happened on the Metro.  Somehow being on the phone with their friends made it okay.  The boys were so excited to be on a “train” and not in car seats that they didn’t pay attention to anyone around them.  I am glad of that!

Soon the metro person made an announcement that due to a fire or smoke or something, three stations were closed and they were turning the trains around before those stations.  We were able to figure out another way to get to DC by transferring to three different lines and going in all kinds of directions to come around to the Smithsonian station from the other side.  By the time we made it into DC it was mid-afternoon so we weren’t able to see much but we told the boys we’d get to the Air and Space Museum and the Natural History Museum for them to see the dinosaur bones.

The National Air and Space Museum:

Can you believe this is what they used to serve on flights?  We got a little bag of crackers and a cup of juice!

After seeing the prices at the McDonalds (the only place for food) in the museum, we should have broken open that tray the flight attendant was holding.  We spent almost $50 for fast food and we don’t even like fast food!

The Washington Monument across the National Mall:

At the Museum of Natural History they had an awesome photography exhibition.  It was the Nature’s Best Photography Awards Exhibition 2008.  Jason of course wanted to find out where the printing was done because it was gorgeous!  The prints were sealed in acrylic and looked amazing.  We loved the Macaroni Penguins (click the link to see the full image on the Smithsonian’s site) which were photographed by Andrew Rouse.  We also liked the image of Mt. Ranier National Park, the image of a grizzly bear, and the image of a lion running through water.

My favorite and the boys’ favorite was the Lemon Shark.  You have to click the link to see the full image because it is amazing!

Bruce Yates was the photographer who took the shark picture and online I found his description of how he took it.  I assumed he was underwater in a shark cage but actually he was on a boat holding his camera under the water.

Check out Jim Abernethy’s Scuba Adventures website for more amazing underwater photography images too!  And here is Jason being eaten by an ancestor of the Great White shark:

A giant squid (they can be up to 60 feet long and weigh as much as a ton):

Dinosaur bones:

Dinosaur cookies:

Jason saw this picture and wanted to share it on the blog because he wants to convince someone to do a kid session like this!  Who is up for it?

My favorite necklace in the Gem collection.  Wow!

Now for those of you who are engaged, make sure you tell your fiance about this crown.  It was a wedding present from Napoleon to his second wife, Empress Marie Louise, in 1810.  It is set in silver and has 950 diamonds weighing 700 carats.  There were originally 79 emeralds but they were replaced by Persian turquoise cabochons.  When Empress Marie Louise later had a baby, Napoleon’s present to her for that occasion (also in the museum) was a 275 carat diamond necklace.  Hmmm…

The plane ride home was peaceful and uneventful.  The flight wasn’t crowded at all.  Big brother watched the Smurfs again (no, he doesn’t get to watch TV or videos that much usually!  It was just a vacation thing) and little brother slept almost the whole time.

Despite all the editing, emails, and such waiting for us to catch up on, we are happy to be home!  Though it wasn’t quite the vacation we planned on as our last trip before the baby, you really can’t help but just laugh.  Well, at least until the bills come in and the car insurance rates go up!  I’m proud that we were able to roll with the punches, make the best of things, and have some fun experiences.  Really a vacation is all about coming together as a family and we certainly did that!  I love my family and I am so grateful to them and to God for giving me them.

And now…back to work!