georgia vacation, part one

I have no idea how many parts there will be to this little vacation series.  Depends on how many photos I edit at a time.  And you're probably thinking, 'seriously, we don't care what you did everyday on your vacation.'  Who is this blog for?  Me.  And my family.  Ok moving on.  (sorry that sounds a wee bit snotty.  don't take it that way.  just the kind of mood i'm in :o)

I tried so very very hard to do a lot of packing the day before we left.  And I did get most of mine and Ryann's clothes packed into my suitcase.  But wouldn't you know I still woke up and had to rush around like crazy to try and get us all out the door before 7:30AM for our 9:10AM flight.  We were going to be later than I wanted, which stressed me out, of course.  Figures, as we start driving down our street I get a call from Delta (automated) saying that our flight schedule has changed.  Of course it didn't say the times.  My dad had booked the tickets so I called him so he could check his e-mail for updates.

It took a bit but my dad found out that our flight had been delayed until 10:20AM.  Honestly, I was relieved, we were definitely running late.  I called my mom, who was almost to the airport, to let her know about the delay.  We continued on our merry little way, parked at the airport, and struggled with the ridiculous amount of stuff we were bringing for the week (stroller, carseat, two suitcases, diaper bag, two carry-ons, and an antsy toddler).  Somehow we manged to drag all that junk to the ticketing counter, where we learned the flight was now delayed until 10:40AM.  Boo.  We got our boarding passes and went on search of some chairs to hang out in.

If you have ever been to the Kansas City airport, you know that it is rather lame.  You go through security at the gate, instead of one security check point for the whole terminal.  Most of the food and bathrooms are outside of the gates, and you can't bring liquids through security... yadda yadda yadda it is just kind of annoying.  They have started updating the gates, adding bathrooms and little food carts, but we were of course in a temporary gate, meaning none of that stuff was in there.  So we camped out just outside the gate so we could eat a snack and I would be able to change Ryann just before we left.

Then we discovered that our flight wasn't leaving until 11:30AM!!!!  Yes, a little delay was ok, but over two hours?  So lame.  And I started freaking out because the day was going to be really long, and Ryann doesn't nap well anywhere other than her crib.  And I hadn't really packed food accordingly.  We had tons of goldfish and things of that sort, but no real lunch items.  And now our layover was only going to be about 20 minutes so we wouldn't be able to grab anything at the Atlanta airport either.  Luckily Ryann was pretty entertained with the iPad.

Eventually we finally got on the plane, and took off for Atlanta.  Somehow a miracle occurred, and Ryann snuggled up with Chris and fell asleep (for thirty minutes, something is better than nothing, right?).  I was a little jealous that she decided to cuddle with him and not me, but they were pretty cute.

By the time we got to Atlanta we had to book it in the hopes of making our connecting flight.  Yeah, that didn't happen.  The good news was we actually had a chance to grab some real food.  Ryann and I split some chicken nuggets and a fruit bowl from Chik-Fil-A.  Not neccessarily on my current meal plan, but at least I didn't eat a big thing of fries right?  Of course in the middle of our little meal, the airline decided to switch gates on us, so we trekked back across the terminal.  We boarded our plane and headed to Jacksonville.  I was hoping that maybe Ryann would be tired enough to take another little snooze, but no such luck.

When we made it to Jacksonville I chased Ryann all over the baggage claim while the rest of the group grabbed our bags.  We had just over an hour drive to get to my parents place.  When we pulled up I was incredibly impressed.  Their house is GORGEOUS.  And has the perfect location.  After a little tour of the house we placed a to-go order for some food, and headed straight for the water.  Priorities!  Ryann was pretty amazed by the ocean.

The tide was in so we couldn't go on the beach, but there was still plenty to explore.  We took our time walking to get the food, taking in our surroundings.  There are a couple of playgrounds and lots and lots of grass to run around in.  After being confined for much of the day, Ryann was ready to move!

Not going to lie, bedtime was a little rough that night.  Ryann was overtired, didn't want to take a bath, was in a strange place... there were some tears.  I felt terrible because I didn't know what to do to soothe her.  She didn't want to snuggle with me, but she didn't want to be alone.  I quickly decided it was probably best to just give her a little time by herself, and sure enough five minutes later she was out for the night.  I wish I could say all of the crazy days made her sleep great, but not so much.  She barely slept more than 9 hours at night, and only napped for just over an hour most of the time.  Maybe I'll luck out and our next kid will be a sleeper?  :o)

Thursday we all slowly got up and ready for the day.  A trip to the grocery store was on the agenda.  A little bit more exploring, then it was nap time for the wee one.  When Ryann woke up we set out to explore the beach.  As soon as she was on the sand she was a happy camper.  Just running around here and there, pointing at everything, loving it.  I'm so happy she will get to grow up going to the beach on a regular basis.  What a lucky little girl!

After the beach and a change of clothes, we went to dinner at the Blue Water Cafe.  We weren't able to sit upstairs and enjoy the view because we were with a baby (they only allow 21 and over upstairs during dinner), but inside was nice and quiet, and the food was good.  When dinner was over we played outside a little more.

Ryann went to bed.  We watched So You Think You Can Dance (of course).  We went to bed.  :o)