On Friday morning we left Aunt Diane and Uncle Jim's house and drove to the Jacksonville Zoo where we met my friend Jo and her two sons (5 years and 5 months old). I met her online about 10 years ago, and this was the fourth time that we got together in person (the other three times that happened when she was visiting her mother in Pennsylvania). I really, really wish we lived closer to each other! We spent about four hours at the zoo, and Aunt Tina joined us for about the last hour we were there. Nadia enjoyed the splash pad at the zoo. Ian didn't participate in that. My favorite exhibit was the giraffes because they came up so close to us. If the line hadn't been so long, I would have paid $2 so Ian could have fed the giraffes. After the zoo we drove to Orlando and checked into our resort. The place is GORGEOUS! Paul's parents are staying in a one bedroom efficiency. We are staying two doors down in a two bedroom suite that includes two full bathrooms, a living room, full kitchen, and dining table that can seat at least eight adults. Oliver is sleeping in a pack and play in our room (that has a king size bed), and Ian and Nadia are sleeping in the other bedroom that has two queen size beds. Sharing a room has translated to them getting far less sleep than usual, but last night they finally got 11 hours of sleep even though they were sharing a room.
After we brought up our stuff to our rooms, we changed into our swimsuits and headed down to the pools. The resort has several jacuzzis, several baby pools, several larger pools, and a large splash pad area. The water in Aunt Tina's pool was a bit cooler than we like; so I stayed in the jacuzzi there. At the resort the water is delightful. The coolest water temperature is 83 degrees, and the warmest is 102 degrees. We put Oliver in the "boat" that we bought for Nadia when she was an infant. She loved it. Ian never liked it, but Oliver is like his big sister and loves floating around the pool. Nadia is working on learning on how to swim without her tube. Sometimes she wears the tube, but many times she doesn't wear the tube in part because they don't allow her to wear the tube when she goes down the big water slide (that Ian is too short to go on as you have to be at least 42 inches tall) and many other parts of the pools are shallow enough that she can stand in it. We tried Nadia's tube on Ian on Friday evening, and he liked it! He would NOT wear it in previous years. Paul's parents and I went grocery shopping after we put the kids to bed on Friday night, and we got Ian his own tube. It will be much easier for me to take the three kids to the pool this summer by myself if they each have a flotation device of some sort ("boat" for Oliver and tubes for Nadia and Ian).
Ian at first didn't want to try any of the four small water slides on the pirate ship, but now he has done three of the four slides. He also loves standing on top of a water jet in the pirate themed splash pad. The resort also has tennis courts, a soccer field, miniature golf, basketball courts, a playground, volleyball, etc. They also have a special activity every hour on the hour from 9am to 9pm. We attended the magic show last night at 7pm, and Nadia participated in some games led by two pirates at noon today (hula hoops, sponge relay race, water balloon toss, etc. Ian surprised me in that he didn't want to ger too close to either pirate (a husband and wife). Friday night we ate dinner at a restaurant beside the pool. We ate breakfast and lunch in our suites yesterday and today using the groceries we bought Friday night. Last night we had pizza delivered to our room for our dinner. Aside from a brief theunderstorm that pushed back our trip to the pools yesterday afternoon by one hour, thus far the weather has been perfect - it's warn enough that you want to be in the water, but it's not ridiculously hot or humid. After experiencing lousy weather in Grand Cayman last May, it's not something I take for granted!
Paul's parents went to church this morning, and on their way home they stopped at Walmart. I asked them to buy some arm floaties for Nadia as I thought that would be a good transition from using the tube to swimming independently. We shall see how she does with that! Oliver got his second tooth last week! He has been making a lot of progress with eating table food. For breakfast this morning he ate almost an entire blueberry cereal bar plus half of a container of strawberry banana yogurt. On Wednesday night he ate half a slice of pizza!
Since today is Mother's Day, I must pause and give thanks to the Lord for giving me a loving mom and a loving mother-in-law. It has been really special the last almost five years for me to see how much they love my kids and how much my kids love their grandmas. I also will be forever grateful for the three children the Lord has allowed me to carry and give birth to. What a miracle! Every Mother's Day I feel a sense of sadness - not for myself but for those women who have longed to become a mom but haven't yet (or in some cases never will) experience it. I wish I could lend them a listening ear, a shoulder to cry on, or a hug. I had to wait until I was 36 years old. I can identify with their pain. I think Mother's Day will be forever bittersweet for me even though I no longer feel the pain of empty arms. I also am very grateful to Paul for enabling me to stay home with our three blessings. The best part of this vacation is that we're all together. The kids and I have had very little time with Paul over the past several months. It's been heavenly to vacation together!
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