So little time...

I'm sitting here trying to make it to 4 p.m. so I can have my second afternoon snack. Darling hubby (DH) is trying this new diet that says you have to wait at least two hours between snacks. Seeing that I need to lose about 10 lbs., I figured I'd try some of the techniques. It's much harder than it looks as my eyes fog over and my motivation takes a nose dive. Only 12 more minutes!

Now that I've bypassed the first major hurdle toward achieving my APR accreditation (national standard for public relations), I feel like I can start thinking beyond the next couple of days. Fifty-three pages later, it's like a huge weight off my shoulders, though I still have a two hour presentation and 150 question exam to prepare for!

That being said, I've allowed myself a few indulgences today including doing some online "window shopping" for a new sundress to take to Aruba. Yes, Aruba...with the kids. My parents turned 50 this year and wanted to take the entire family on a tropical vacation. They surprised us with the invitation in late 2005. I had one child that was almost three and another that was almost 18 months old. We were looking at a trip sometime in late 2006 or 2007. I thought for sure they would be less demanding and easier to travel with by then - snort!

The original plan was to go in the spring of this year. I researched resorts all over the world looking for the most family-friendly and once-in-a-lifetime vacation spots I could find. We seemed to keep coming back to Aruba no matter where else we looked and it was settled. Now we just needed to determine a date. Last summer I was trying to start a magazine career and thought I might be in the middle of launching a new publication the following spring. We also told my parents we wanted to start trying for baby number three some time this year but would hold off until we returned from the trip.

Ah, the perils of planning a vacaction by commitee, and 18 months to two years in advance. So many unknowns, and everyone has their own agendas.

When my magazine dream crumbled last summer, my parents tried to book a spring trip but none of the villas in Aruba were available. The travel agent said that we needed to book them at least a year in advance...this was summer of 2006. So, October it was. Booking a year in advance using points is allowing my parents to take all of us virtually for free, however, according to my dad we got the bottom of the barrel pick for our travel schedule. This has been a small source of anxiety for hubby and I...especially the last several months as we've realized our three-year-old will in fact NOT be any easier to travel with now than he was at 18 months.

Here's our schedule:
6:30 a.m. Flight #1
10:30 a.m. Flight #2
Four hour layover in Miami (!!!!) - but this is where we'll connect with the rest of the family.
6:00 p.m. Flight #3
Arrive in Aruba at 8:45 p.m. - a good 45 minutes past the boys' bedtime.

So needless to say, it is going to be a long, exhausting and very challenging day. I've done some initial research online to find articles about traveling with toddlers, especially energetic ones. Parents Magazine's site was incredibly helpful, as was BabyCenter.com.

We'll be taking lots of new activities - anything they will be happy doing while they are seated - a car seat for my three-year-old, snacks, and we will probably have to invest in a portable DVD player. I'm trying to think of a cool surprise to get the boys out of bed that morning since we'll have to be out of the house by 5 a.m. to get to the airport in time.

Sigh...I am SURE it will all be well worth it once we're sitting by the pool, or riding our inflatable toys around the luxurious lazy river, sipping our fru fru drinks. I just wish we could skip the whole nightmare travel day.

We got a nice glimpse of what it may be like when last weekend, as we were traveling back to KC from my parents' lake house, our car broke down. We had to spend two hours in an O'Reilly Autoparts store while "Dustin" looked our car over and my husband discussed our options. The packaged Hot Wheels cars entertained the boys for a good 20 minutes, but it was downhill from there. At one point, they were literally running laps around the entire store while I stood by the door with a completely defeated, blank stare on my face. I had already chased them down two or three times and begged, pleaded and bribed them to stay in one place, but that only resulted in a sword fight with these antenae-lookin extendable magnets (no IDEA what one would use THAT for!). So, finally, I just stood in one place and when anyone caught my eye I gave them a sheepish grin and said pitifully, "We've been here a while..."

Think that will play in Miami?