“We take photos as a return ticket to a moment otherwise gone.”
As you all know… I absolutely love to document life. Especially my children’s lives. And I don’t just mean the good, the vacations, etc. I mean even just the everyday moments. The moments I always look back at and smile because I know that was a fleeting time in their lives. In my life. Now, of course, this does include vacations and such too. But in a raw way. Not in a stand and say cheese and make sure everyone is looking. So this trip was no different in that sense. What was different this time is I’d been placed on light bedrest and early maternity leave just 9 days before we left. NOW, that being said, I did follow doctors orders. I stopped accepting clients, and rescheduled the ones I was directed to cancel. I sat at the parks as directed and didn’t over do it. My doctors were clear this would be our last big hoorah before this little miss is born in October. Which is ok. While I was pretty bummed coming into the trip, I felt like maybe I wouldn’t be able to do the things the kids wanted, and I felt really bad about the sessions I couldn’t do anymore and having to take an early maternity leave. I had realized in that short 9 days though, that I was so extremely grateful to be able to get to just document my family on this vacation. On this last vacation of us as a family of 5. As I sit here in this house in Florida the night before we leave… I can’t imagine this trip going any differently. We had SO much fun. We got here Monday and immediately took the kids out back to swim and then ate. Tuesday was supposed to be just a relaxing pool day at the house, but my hubs (who might I add is absolutely amazing) decided he wanted to take ALL three kiddos to Animal Kingdom all by himself, while my mama, my sister and I went and got our nails done. I had been told before our trip I was allowed to do Disney (Magic Kingdom, for one day) and Universal with just our middle daughter, as my big trips. To say this was amazing of him doesn’t even begin to describe it! Anyhow, they spent the entire day there. I got to rest and spend some time with my mama and sister. They came home just around dinner time and we enjoyed a dinner. And then a pirate show close to the house. Wednesday, we spent the day at Magic Kingdom… Where we did the usual (Amazing) things. Saw the characters, who Logan is quite obsessed with. We saw the joy we see on his face, and the other kiddos every year, as we met the characters, did character lunch, shopped and watched the Parade and rode the Jungle Boat Cruise. Logan is pretty much obsessed with Disney. Most don’t know, but the yearly trip really started because of him. He started talking because of Disney and has memorized every single movie he’s seen. So. Disney is a big day for us. Thursday, the two girls, myself and hubby went to The Crayola Experience again this year. (They both love art and this is a fun, low key, not crazy busy, non expensive, awesome day!) Then we came home and swam some more, the kids did at least. Thursday… Thursday is the day this year that I had truly been waiting for. It was the day that Baraa and I were taking just Alyssa to Universal Studios for The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I was so terrified I wouldn’t get to do this with her this year, and she desperately needed the alone time with us. And to just enjoy what she loves. But I got to. And I got to not worry about anything except her and what she wanted! We had an absolute blast and ended up splitting it into two days, as Friday we left slightly earlier than planned (with good reason) to go have an amazing dinner with family a couple of hours away. Saturday, we woke up and went back to Universal with Alyssa while my mama stayed with Logan & Sumaya. We took our time getting ready. I have to say this trip was so eye opening in many ways. Seeing Logan, and how far he’s come with behaviors, language and how much joy he gets from the simple things. From the repetitive things. I saw how much Sumaya has grown in a year… how she is getting ready to be a big sister and an amazing one at that and also how truly fierce and sweet she is. I saw Alyssa’s face light up with joy as she rode rides, (mind you she is very shy and cautious so this was very surprising) and as she told stories of how she got to spend the day with just us and to see the joy in her when we got back to share with her siblings. Oh! And side note, Alyssa rode a ride she was terrified to ride (it had water) and she went on with a tooth and came off without one! Whaaaaa! This trip was not exactly how I planned it… But I couldn’t of planned it any better. And I got to document it all. I got to be there and present and got to just focus on us and watch them and observe. And enjoy what they wanted. I am so, so grateful for how my life always unfolds. I am so grateful for the time I get to have with my littles and I am so grateful for things not always going how I think they should. With that I will leave you all with just a few of our moments from this trip. A few moments I will never forget and I hope my littles won’t either. A few moments that will be forever documented. <3.
