It's a Holiday!

It was lovely, it was well deserved, and it was exhausting! We had a wonderful time, Bethany, Audrey, my Mom and I.

Early Thursday morning (and when I say early I mean, at 5:30am) I got up to begin the final process in packing. I'd already packed most of the kids stuff, I was working off of list #2 and final list #3. They were the lists containing all of my stuff, the stuff I couldn't pack until we'd used it on Thursday morning and misc things I though of over the course of a sleepless night. Bethany woke up not much after that and Audrey followed at 6:45am, which in case you were wondering is exceptionally early for both of them.

My Mom showed up just shy of 8:00am and after 15 minutes of packing the truck, re-arranging and potty trips we were off. The ferry ride was good, a little bit rough - which to most people would be inconsequential, for me I was nauseous for hours after, I have zero sea legs, the kids loved every second though. Bethany even made a few new "friends" on the play equipment. It blew me away watching her socialize with the other kids, and had me laughing at the little girl who was convinced that her name was "Benny". It didn't phase Beth at all, she carried on smile and laughing, answering away to "Hey Benny!" Audrey wasn't going to be left out either, for the first time ever Audrey was on the play equipment too, playing and smiling, having a blast "driving the boat". My girls are growing up!

As we arrived at out hotel there was a look of wonder on faces of some of our passengers. Ok, maybe just one passenger, the kids were sleeping, my Mom had been there before, but I was totally taken aback! It was beautiful, it was fancy and a dude opened my door. Whoa!

We had booked this hotel with the Family package, it was significantly less expensive than staying there two night regularly and came with a whole bunch of stuff. The Hotel Grand Pacific, had put together welcome packages for the kids that included disposable cameras, cookies and milk in the evening, coloring sheets and brochures for fun evenings. The package also included admission for us all at the BC Museum and IMAX (which we didn't use due to a lack of time management on our part but we were able to share it) and a movie in the evening for the girls.

We settled, watched the kids explore our lovely room with wonder and tried very hard to prevent Beth from bouncing directly off the walls. She was only slighlty excited and maybe a little thrilled to be staying in a hotel! After a few pictures we headed out to explore Victoria while the weather held out!

It was lovely, we shopped like only these 4 girls can do. Looking in countless shops and spending very little money (it's how I roll yo, I'm totally cheap, but I love to window shop). We had an eventful dinner and then headed to the room to chill before bed.

The girls were exhausted and were fast asleep before 8pm, it wasn't surprising after the day they'd had, and for Grammy and I it was nice. We got to visit and retire not too late either, we were tired too.

The next day held a trip to a park and then to do the coveted event. The thing that had been talked about for days upon days, the one thing that Beth begged us for - we threw rocks into the ocean. There is no greater thrill for two little girls than chucking rocks into a rolling sea. Or in this case, because the tide was in so there was very little beach, a couple of side ponds that were less tumultuous than the bad weathered sea. Coming in a close second for B was chasing the seagulls with Grammy, I too may have found it entertaining but for slightly different reasons.

We shopped some more, had an interesting dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory and then went out to a mall to pick up some milk.

As we went for a quick stroll around we noticed a kids play area, it was an old store front the mall had turned into a kids zone, throwing carpet haphazardly over the concrete. The girls had a blast, climbing the slides, riding in a toy car, being silly.

Until Bethany fell. It was the last run, it was her final slide and I could see it happening but I couldn't get to her fast enough. She only fell about 3 feet but the way she landed and the sound of her head hitting the carpet had me fearing she'd broke her arm or something worse.

She screamed and screamed and screamed. My heart stopped completely and as people in the mall came to see what had happen, I feared the worst.

So we did, what we always do when things are scary and I think my kids are hurt. We prayed right then and there, we needed more help than I could offer and then I rocked her. And walked with her and held her for 45 minutes until the sobs stopped and I could look. She could move her neck fine, the arm I was scared about was being used and she didn't flinch even slightly when I touched it, she wasn't complaining of a headache or bad vision, everything look ok, except her ear.

It had doubled in size and rivalled a tomato for redness. She complained it hurt but could hear me whisper and loud sounds didn't bother her. There was no blood so we elected to return to the hotel, have our planned pj party, complete with cookies and a late night movie for the kids (9pm to them is late) and watch her.

She seemed OK, a little clingy and still sore but OK. She fell asleep alright, was a little restless but she was OK, until about 5am. Beth woke up crying and asking to pee. It wasn't new, she'd done that the night before so up we got to pee. But half way through the pee she started to cry, again.

We cuddled her, we exchanged worried looks and we waited. My mom and I took turns cuddling her and then she asked me for a drink. She wanted some milk. There was still a little left from earlier in her insulated sippy cup, I assumed since it hadn't been that long and the cup was insulated that it would be fine. She glupped it down and whimpered some more.

Then it happened, I heard this weird gurgle, a wet burp and knew....

Barf, everywhere! It's the first time in 3.5 years with this kid that she's ever thrown up, and it went all over. Her mommy blanket (the blanket I made her a year ago after AJ was born that she hauls everywhere with her) her jammies and mine were covered. We cleaned her up, hopped into the tub and silently prayed again.

Puking after a big fall is a bad thing. But it had been a long time and the nurse in my Mom while very worried was also a little unsure that the fall had caused the puke. So we waited, tucked her into bed and waited, if it was something more serious we'd know soon. She quickly settled and was much more content, it seemed that all she needed was to empty her stomach.

In the morning light we check the cup and good Lord, it was sour milk! That poor kid had downed sour milk and barfed all because I hadn't check. I felt like an even bigger heal and failure than I had after she fell.

The rest of the weekend thank goodness went well. We played that morning, had breakfast, packed, packed and packed! And then headed out. We of course had to stop at the beach one more time, the girls just needed to find shells and throw rocks. And while the weather threatened to storm we laughed and played.

The trip the rest of the way home seemed to go by in a flash and while we kept sneaking secret peaks at an already bruised and reddened ear the worst of the fear that something awful was coming had subsided. She was OK, praise the Lord!

Saturday night, after we got home I tucked the kids into bed and collapsed on the couch, confused. When did it happen that returning from a 3 day vacation left me so tired, so worn out, so ready for, well another vacation. Was I that old? Was it the stress of her fall or the early mornings? Then it hit me, this was what it was like for my Mom. All those years we travelled that by the last day she'd look a little haggard, it wasn't because of the hotel beds or bizarre bedtimes. This, all the work and things was what travelling with kids was like, and now I was the mom. It was my turn, although this time I think she was feeling just as worn as I was.

But tired as I was, I was also so happy, we had so much fun us girls and the weekend, all things considered was wonderful. It was exactly what four office gals needed and we can't wait to do it again next year.

Thanks Mom, Bethany and Audrey for a fantabulous weekend!