our little vacation

**no pictures-they were on my phone..continue reading to find out what happened with that**

Day 1:

I don’t know if I want to categorize these next few days as a vacation. To me anywhere the kids are is not a vacation. It is only leaving my home with all its amenities to stay at another “place” with less amenities. So I actually don’t know WHY I do this.  We left in the morning with plans to arrive at the beach before check in. We arrived at Cape Henlopen, changed into our swimsuits in the van (please don’t picture me doing this..it WAS as bad as one can imagine) lathered ourselves in sunscreen ONLY to find out the beach was closed due to lightning. At this point I have given up and want to go home. We decided to wait the hour until the beach opened again. When we returned into the park the station attendant said they were closing the park due to hail. Hmm? The sun is shining. We didn’t follow his directions out of the park and went to the beach to investigate ourselves. AND just as we suspected..the beach WAS open.  I questioned how Matthew was going to be in the sand. I should of known. He gobbled a hand full of sand immediately. Then he tried to eat sea shells, rocks, shovels. All the sand caused him to throw up all over me. Did I mention I gave up? Again. Thank goodness it thundered and we left.
The camp ground seems nice. The cabins are clean. We are right smack next to the bathrooms. Good and bad, I suppose. The campground is away from the action. I was hoping to make a few trips into “town”  for the outlets, Walmart, food stores. It will take 20 minutes to get there so I'm thinking I need to condense my trips. There is a petting zoo at the camp ground but you can't pet the animals. A few peacocks that are super loud and I can hear across the park. Fortunately, the rooster didn't wake us up. In the evening we swam at the pool which was nice.

 Day 2:

Today was way better  than yesterday. The kids slept well last night. Matthew woke up at 5:30 am, his normal bottle feeding time, but decided not to go back to bed. Zach took him to the grocery store so the other kids could sleep longer. Later that morning Zach and the children went crabbing with some of the other families we were cabining with. They didn’t catch crabs but the crabs caught Sam’s shoe (only one) and his friends walky talky. Both items at the bottom of  Love Creek.  Poor Sam. I felt so sad for him. Thanks goodness Cara packed many flip flops to share. She originally packed 7, one for each meal. I allowed her 2. After crabbing and lunch we ventured back to the beach. It was much more enjoyable than the day before. Matthew loves the beach! He is my child! The other kids frolicked in the ocean for hours. This was Sam’s favorite time.

Hamburgers and hot dogs for dinner then we drove to Rehobeth to ride the rides at FunLand and walk the boardwalk. It rained. It poured. It was crowded. We left after only a couple of rides and long waiting under a canopy to stay dry. Cara bought a hermit crab and named him Herbit. She waited all Summer to get a hermit crab and even saved her money. BUT  I was irritable. I was tired. I didn’t really enjoy my evening. This is the best part though….

We were in the van driving home when I noticed my door was not closed all the way. I quickly opened and shut the door. Zach asks “where is your phone?” which I replied I did not know. It was true. I looked for it in the stroller and when I didn’t find it I figured I would look harder at the camp ground. Zach was convinced it was my phone that fell out. We turned around to search for my phone. Of course, it was MY phone that fell out and Isaac saw it on the side of the road. It got ran over. I am still confused HOW it got in the front, how it fell, and seriously HOW it still rings when someone calls. The touch screen is in a million pieces so I can’t answer it.

 DAY 3:

Smores, roasted marshmallows, donuts, Klondike Bars and pancakes for breakfast. I didn’t want to bring any junk food home. Check out was at 11:00 am. We went straight to MidWay water park (White Water Mountain). It was fabulous! There was a variety of slides, a lazy river, a kiddie fun pool. I am so glad we choose to go there. The kids loved it especially Olivia who could go down the “big” slides all by herself. She had the biggest smile and laughed all the way down. “I want to do it again!” This was by far the best day. Yes, I was caught saying I WOULD DO THIS AGAIN! The company was great. All the kids had friends around.

Home:

I was glad to be home. I love my house. My bed and my shower. Oh and Caras hermit crab died.

We leave to camp at the beach tomorrow. Not ON the beach. That's what my kids have envisioned as I refer to camping AT the beach. They thought we were on the sand in a tent. Though I would have no problem at all doing this I don't think its legal. Not in Delaware anyway. We are staying in cabins at a campground called Holly Lake. I am not a fan of camping (except on the beach) so my expectations (and excitement levels) are low. I'm heading into this already itching from bug bites, stinking like camp fire, and being grouchy from not getting a good night sleep.

I bought Benadryl so my kids can perhaps get a good night sleep. Yes, I am drugging them. Cara saw the box on the counter and read aloud the "uses". Itchy eyes, runny nose, sneezing. "Do you think we are going to get sick?" she asks. "No,I bought it so you can go to sleep." She accepted my answer..or so I thought. THEN she read the warnings. "Do not use to make a child go to sleep." Hahahaha. She refuses to take it, thinking maybe I am trying to poison her. "Oh, you'll be fine." I reassured her. "but it says here..."

Today I washed 5 loads of laundry so I could pack clean clothes. Baked chicken breast and cut up lettuce for salads, this is what I will be eating while camping. I assembled 12 ham and cheese sandwiches for the lunches for 2 days. Shopped at Target for Smore ingredients and paper products. Flipped 36 pancakes for breakfasts for 2 days. I scrubbed the bathroom grout. This had absolutely nothing to do with preparing to leave. I felt the need to clean it...in a bathroom that no one uses. At least I'll know its clean IF someone ever goes in it.

During my baking, flipping, cutting time I was feeding Matthew pretzels. When he turned his head this is what I found in his hair. Darn curls! But funny.

my relationship with muffulettas

One year ago Zach and I took a trip to New Orleans. It was a quarterly business trip for Zach but I tagged along. We went down 3 days before he needed to be "working" and stayed at a bed and breakfast. The house was beautiful, the host was fantastic, and the food was delicious. The bed and breakfast was north of the French Quarters so we needed to take the public trolley into the Quarters anytime we wanted to sight see or get a bite to eat. Also, the hotel that we were staying out during the business part of the trip was along the bay and walking distance to the French Quarters. Maybe another time I will post the "Nawlens" pictures and details of our trip.


Today I am reminiscing of the Muffuletta sandwich. Mmmm. I had one everyday. The sandwich is served on a round loaf of Italian bread and then piled high with Provolone cheese, Genoa salami and Cappicola ham, and then topped with olive salad – chopped, green olives, pimientos, celery, garlic, onions, capers, oregano, parsley, olive oil, & red-wine vinegar. It's perfectly salty. The sandwich is HUGE! I suppose they are to be shared. No, I didn't eat the whole thing every day! I miss it..might be the only reason I would ever go back to that city. I was remembering my favorite sandwich because yesterday Zach brought me home a Panini (half) from Shoprite. I opened it up today and took my first bite. I was back in New Orleans again except not really. It was suppose to be an Italian Panini but  tasted like my Muffulettas only on a thin bread. Of course, I messaged him and told him how DELICIOUS it was and how it reminded me of Muffulettas. He replied with, "I know. That's why I saved it for you." He is great! He is so sweet! Not only did I get to remember what a fabulous time I had with him one year ago, it also made me think what a great husband he is. Two great thoughts all because of a sandwich.

My favorite Muffuletta sandwich (no, they don't all taste the same) was from the Napoleon House in the French Quarters.

more vacation photos

I mentioned previously after the House Of Candles tour, we went to the "minature petting zoo". Mini ponies are adorable..and there was some pretty cool birds there, too.

 He is so handsome.

 No, not the pony.

There were many beautiful pheasants on the farm. I guess I have never really seen a pheasant. I won't

bore anyone with more pictures of these birds but I was in awe.

Ginger Bread House

 For an arm and a leg you could reserve the table inside the house at meal times. 

In the lobby at Great Wolf Lodge there was a ginger bread house, not your normal pint size house. Upon first recognition it looks like a house made out of construction material. It wasn't until the second day that Cara said to me, "Mom, can I eat some of the ginger bread house?" Of course my reply was, "What? No. Its not even real." Oh but my eyes were deceiving me because IT IS REAL! A real ginger bread house! The entire outside was covered in frosting with baked ginger cookie bricks. The frosting was decorated with thousands of spice drops. If this wasn't enough the roof was real graham crackers! The inside had candy canes adorning the walls. and yes...children were eating it. I still didn't let her eat it as the mere thought was gagging. Very cool none the less.

Day 2

In the morning, after a breakfast of donuts and bagels, Zach and I took the kids downstairs to learn about wolves. They made origami wolves and learned how to howl. Haha! I think this was by far Isaacs favorite time. We went to the water park until lunch. Slides, wave pool, lazy river, rope crossing, hot tubs, and water basketball. Wow! Olivia discovered she was tall enough to go down a few slides all by herself, and that she did. Over & over & over.

Oh, and let me not forget to say, Matthew woke up with pink eye...in both eyes.

After lunch we ventured out to explore the area. We ended up at The House of Candles. Very cool! We watched a man make candles and explored the farm animals. Then we headed to the Candy Kettle. There were barrels and barrels of candy. Hard candy, soft candy, gummy candy, chocolate candy, mint candy, spicy candy, all the candy you could want. The kids (and Zach) were in candy heaven. Each of us filled out own bag with all the tooth decaying sweetness we could find...or until the scale reached 1/2 lb. We ended up with a lot of yumminess.

Thanks to my ongoing search for free kids meals I remembered reading Sonic offered "kids eat free" with water park wrist bands. Yay! We ate dinner in our van for only 10.16$. I was so excited. Even more than the candy.

Back to the lodge we drove. Dressed in our cold, wet bathing suits and spent 2 more hours in the water. The lodge offers story time in the lobby at 8 each night. Off we went. It took the kids 1 1/2 hours and me sitting in the dark, for them to fall asleep the first night and I was not going to do it again. I was determined to wear them out. It worked. At 8:45 I had 6 sleeping angels and a quiet night with Zach.

It was the best day. I am so glad we decided to come

We made it!

We arrived. Luckily, not one child was threatened to be left on the side of the road. They behaved so well and Matthew even slept for the whole ride. Upon our arrival we immediately went to our room to explore. It is fabulous with 4 beds and 3 T.V.s. Isaac thinks this is awesome. Next time I book a room I am requesting the farthest room away from everything, oh wait, we already are. (In the picture we are on the 4th floor, 3rd balcony in.) At least I don’t need to worry about hitting the fitness center.  After a quick lunch of PBJ and chips, we all got our bathing suits on and headed to the indoor water park. Everyone was having a great time…until I lost Olivia. There’s a first time for everything and I am really surprised it has not happened sooner. She ran up a water assembly to dump water buckets with Michael. I wasn’t quick enough. Panicked, I walked as quickly as I could. I had to concentrate on not slipping and falling while holding Matthew on one arm. Isaac found her crying so he took her in the lazy river. Meanwhile, I send out a search team to find a 4 year old, with a pink bathing suit, pink swim goggles , named Olivia. Happy ending… we were all reunited. Thank goodness for big brothers!

We're doing it..we are really doing it!

Van is packed with 5 suitcases, a cooler, 4 paper bags filled with food, a stroller, and a giant stuffed dog. We are headed to Great Wolf Lodge for 3 days. This is our Christmas present to the kids. They have been counting down all month. We are all excited!

This is what I've learned while packing: Babies have WAY too much stuff! Every one will be getting their own suitcases so the "their clothes are touching mine" arguments cease. (Oh wait, that was me. What? I don't want his clothes on top of mine getting them wrinkled...or next to his shoes.)