The Day After Tomorrow is Three Days After Vacation Ended

Kaitlyn's vacation, in bite-sized pieces:

Got in Daddy's car at 6:15 p.m. Dropped Boo-Boo off with Pop-Pop. Sang Pokerface. Without the radio. Or Mommy. Or Daddy. Fell asleep in North Carolina at 9:15 p.m. Woke up in South Carolina at 10:30 p.m. Fell asleep in South Carolina at 11:30 p.m.

Woke up at 8 a.m. Ate cereal. On patio. Looking at the ocean. In the bright morning sunlight. Got bathed in sunscreen by Mommy. Stubbed toe on walk to beach. Saw beach. Smiled. Helped Daddy dig hole for umbrella. Filled hole back up with sand. Daddy re-dug hole. Played with bucket and yellow shovel. Couldn't find purple shovel. Cried. Found purple shovel. Laughed. Walked to water with Mommy. Ran from water that chased me. Ran back to water. Laughed. Ran to bucket. Ran back to water with bucket. Repeated for next three hours. Left beach. Fell asleep at 1:30 p.m.

Woke up at 5 p.m. Went to dinner. Ordered shrimp. Got shrimp. Don't like shrimp. Ate fries. Asked for ice cream. Cried. Got in car. Cried. Went to stores. Cried. Walked around. Cried. Fed fish. Didn't cry. Walked some more. Cried. Got ice cream. Got in car. Went to room. Got on jammies. Cried. Said prayers. Laid down with Mommy. Talked to Mommy for next thirty minutes. Fell asleep at 11 p.m.

Woke up at 8 a.m. Wanted pancakes. Went to get pancakes. Ordered pancakes. Got pancakes. Didn't eat pancakes. Cried. Ate pancakes after Daddy got mad. Went to room. Got bathed in sunscreen by Mommy. Again. Stubbed toe on walk to beach. Again. Saw beach. Smiled. Again. Played with bucket and yellow shovel. Couldn't find purple shovel. Cried. Found purple shovel. Laughed. Walked to water with Mommy. Ran from water that chased me. Ran back to water. Laughed. Ran to bucket. Ran back to water with bucket.

Wanted the pool. Went with Daddy to pool. Got thrown in air in pool. Went under water. Swallowed water. Twice. Laughed. Wanted the beach. Went back to beach with Daddy. Found Mommy. She was red. Left beach. Went to room. Watched Wonder Pets. Fell asleep at 1:40 p.m.

Woke up at 3:30 p.m. Got dressed. Wanted pizza. Went in car. Ordered pizza. Got pizza. Didn't eat pizza. Cried. Ate pizza after Daddy got mad. Wanted ice cream. Cried. Got back in car. Went to stores. Walked around. Cried. Ate pralines at candy store. Don't know what a praline is. Wanted more pralines. Left candy store. Cried. Walked some more. Cried. Walked into Kohr's. Got ice cream. Watched Mommy cry after paying $3 for children's size. Got in car. Went to other stores. Got Big Jessie. Went back to room. Watched Buzz and Woody. Said prayers. Laid down with Mommy. Talked to Mommy for next forty-five minutes. Fell asleep at 11 p.m.

Woke up at 8 a.m. Ate cereal. Got bathed in sunscreen by Mommy. Again. Stubbed toe on walk to beach. Again. Saw beach. Smiled. Again. Found seashells with Mommy and Daddy. Walked to water. Sat in water with Mommy. Wanted the pool. Said bye bye to beach. Went in pool with Mommy. Said bye bye to pool. Went back to room. Got changed. Packed bags. Packed car. Got in car. Wanted pancakes for lunch. Ordered pancakes. Got pancakes. Didn't eat pancakes. Again. Cried. Ate pancakes after Mommy got mad. Got in car at 1 p.m. Fell asleep after five minutes in car.

Woke up in North Carolina at 3:30 p.m. Got to Pop-Pop's at 5 p.m.. Got chicken for dinner. Ate dinner. Go figure. Got cupcake from YaYa. Ate cupcake. Go figure. Got in car. With Boo-Boo. Got home at 8 p.m. Watched Kai-Lan. Watched Backyardigans. Played. Said prayers. Laid down with Daddy. Fell asleep at 10:30 p.m.

On Hiatus

We're going off the grid, headed to the beach this weekend for some fun in the thunderstorms that are engulfing the eastern seaboard until the day we're supposed to leave the beach sun.

And most importantly -- we are NOT bringing the laptop.

If you're looking for your Growing Up Kaitlyn fix, you better start finally checking Twitter or Facebook.

Strange(r) things we've learned in the past 31 days

Mission Accomplished. Thirty-one days, thirty-one blog posts. NaBloPoMo, you are finished.

It truly has been a strange(r) journey this last month, filled with good, bad, ugly, cute, awkward and – most definitely – strange. I didn’t miss a single day (thank you, Michelle) and, for the most part, stayed on topic.

Thank goodness for the holiday, since a break from blogging is just what the doctor ordered. Just get to sit back and enjoy some Easter dinner and 85 degree weather in the Carolinas.

So what did we learn?

We learned that Kaitlyn knows Mommy is a girl and Daddy is a boy and Boo-Boo is a dog. We learned about the fifth food group, that Mommy used to rock a leather bomber jacket and Daddy shouldn’t be left alone with Sweet Tea, lemonade and Absolute Citron.

We learned that my child is not only smart, but beautiful and uncoordinated. But most of all, we learned that we can reach our investment goals if we discuss our future with a SunTrust representative.

Strange(r)s Among Us, Part I

Parents try to keep strangers away from their children. Michelle and I, on the other hand, are welcoming two into our house today.

Aunt Laura and Uncle Todd are making their way to North Carolina today to visit Michelle and I (for the first time). And, of course, Kaitlyn (for the first time). And Aunt Erin is coming back to North Carolina for her third trip, but this time she'll be bring her little bundle of joy, Emma.

Yup, you counted that right, four house guests for the next three days -- including two strange(r)s. At least this will give me a little bit of fodder to stay on topic for the weekend.

And just so you don't feel cheated because this is a short post, I've arranged a short video for you. On topic, of course. Enjoy:

In Pictures: Shamu

I'm getting lazy today in an effort to keep up with the vacation blogging. Here was Funday Sunday at SeaWorld. You will note the lack of pictures compared to previous days. There are two reasons:

First, it's SeaWorld. I have pictures of animal all over this blog. No need to dull you any more.

Second, I was busy with three other children as Michelle's childhood friend, Aunt Jaimie, was in town with family. There's nothing like rolling through a theme park with four kids and five adults and still not feeling like you have enough hands.

Here is our side of the SeaWorld crew. Aunt Mary, Michelle, Kaitlyn and Nana with Rosie O'Donnell.

This might have been while watching the manatees. It could have been eyeing up the crocs. No matter. It was fun.

See what I mean about animal pictures? They're just stagnant. Yeah, sure, they're cute. They're colorful. They're boring as sin. 

If you see this group heading your way, you are advised to run the other direction screaming at the top of your lungs. Otherwise, you'll end up running after them through a theme park screaming at the top of your lungs.

Kaitlyn got a hold of this penguin doll first thing Sunday morning and never let go. Kaitlyn loves penguins. Too bad for her she never saw a real one at SeaWorld -- she slept through the Penguin Encounter.

In Pictures: Disney Redemption

I'm running a day behind here in the hap-hap-happiest place on Earth, but that's to be expected. I'm on vacation, damnit.

After the typhoon landed in central Florida on Friday, we were able to make it to the pièce de résistance, the Magic Kingdom, on Saturday. While it might have put us behind a day, it all worked out. Especially since I didn't want to walk around sopping wet.

We did, however, walk around in 35-degree weather once you factored in the wind chill. Burr. Main Street U.S.A. was a wind tunnel, Walt and Co. were selling out of knit caps and there was a 45-minute wait to get coffee and hot chocolate.

The clouds parted toward midday, but it was still cold. Never got above 45 degrees all day. Sunday helped counter that and Monday is expected to get darn near 70 degrees (yea, golf day!), but Saturday was like sitting on an iceberg.

The highlights: Meeting the princesses in the morning, seeing the fireworks at night. And of course: Tinker Bell and her pixie friends.

Started the day at a character breakfast. While she appears somewhat interested, looks can be deceiving: Kaitlyn peed herself every time a character approached.

Off to the Magic Kingdom. Michelle sports a knit hat that Disney roped us into purchasing by turning the industrial air conditioners on inside the bubble that protects the resort. In the summer months, Disney pumps hot air into the bubble to justify $5 bottles of water.

While the characters with masks completely freaked out Kaitlyn, she was much more amenable to characters that are portrayed by actual people. This helps tremendously later, as you will see.

There are very few things Pop-Pop requests on his trips into the Magic Kingdom. One is the Country Bear Jamboree, much to my chagrin. I just don't get it. The other is the Jungle Cruise, which is a little more up my alley.

The line directly behind and ahead of us to see the Disney Fairies. We waited in this line for nearly 1.5 hours. And my daughter didn't whine, wince or create havoc once. She did, however, bust loose and darted into the character area ahead of 25 people.

Disney Fairy No. 1 was Rosetta, who seemed quite taken with Kaitlyn during the visit. Either that, or she was all up in Daddy's biz-niz, if you know what I mean. 

 

Disney Fairy No. 2 was Silvermist, who was very nice to Kaitlyn, but she was no Rosetta. To Kaitlyn or to Daddy. On a side note: This was one of the few pictures where Kaitlyn decided against the "Be Like Mike" tongue-sticking-out look during our entire stay in the hap-hap-happiest place on Earth.

Disney Fairy No. 3 was Tinker Bell herself. T-Bell (which is what the cool kids call her) was very sweet and bubbly, much how I would expect a fairy to be.

Disney Day 1: Rain, Rain, Go Away

So here we are in the hap, hap, happiest place on Earth and it's raining cats and dogs. Or mice and ducks. Or pixies and princesses. Whatever, it's raining. And it sucks.

And it's cold. It's like we never left North Carolina, only the prices of beer went up about 75 percent. It's no snowstorm-hitting-the-Northeast or anything, but it's not supposed to get warmer than 55 degrees today. Did I mention that it's raining, like, an inch a minute here, too?

The Disney bus driver told us some forecasters even talked about snow flurries north of Orlando. WTF?!?!?

So here was our day today: Get up at 6:30 a.m., hang up around the timeshare watching Playhouse Disney until everyone wakes up. Head to breakfast at Olivia's and decide to test the rain. Jump on bus and go to Disney's Hollywood Studios.

Get to Hollywood Studios amidst heavier rains. Decide to change course. Jump back on bus and go shopping in Downtown Disney. Shop and eat sundaes at Ghirardelli. Head back on bus for timeshare. Watch The Little Mermaid. Keep eye on rain at 2:15 p.m.

What are we going to do for the next seven hours? Probably eat something, somewhere. Pray for the rain to stop sounds like a plan, considering there's more in the forecast for the next 12-plus hours.