Last week we took the kids out of school for a couple days and said goodbye to this ridiculous weather!
3 days in FLORIDA!
AHHHH

at the airport in Chicago. We had a snow storm early that morning and didn’t know we would actually be spending the entire day at Ohare because of our flight being delayed

It was still actually a really fun day. The children were great. The older kids did their homework and the younger kids read. These girls love to read, I’m so glad.

Luke’s favorite thing was to sit for hours and watch out the window. He said, “this is better then a TV show, mom!” He kind of had a bad attitude about going to Florida. I knew it was because he didn’t know what to expect and its his way of feeling in control. He does not do well with change. He had a blast and now his first Florida beach vacation is behind us. Now he’ll know what to expect!

The flight was easy and our rental van was there waiting for us! It felt a little bit smaller then our big black one but it was fine. We hit some serious traffic on the way to the hotel. After a stop to the grocery store, and bags of food stuffed all over the children… we didn’t crash for the night until after midnight…

The next morning it was so fun to see outside! We hadn’t been able to see anything because we arrived so late the night before. We loved to just sit on the balcony. The girls all said, “green! i see green!” It did feel so good to be outside without being bundled up. This winter in Chicago has been so long.

The children spent 3 perfect days playing outside in the pool and on the beach. It was quiet and relaxing now that everyone is getting older…and now that everyone can read!

Luke is our weakest swimmer. He makes due. He loved the warm weather which he is used to back in Ethiopia. I think swimming is so good for kids with different sensory issues. He loves being in the water.

the pool in the back of the hotel had a waterslide! The BEST part about it was that it was unmanned! NO attendant on duty :) No one yelling to “walk” or “wait”. It was so much fun for all the kids

jonah, jonah, jonah….I won’t show you later photos of him. Let’s just say he got a little too much sun. Yowch!

the girls and their shells….sorting shells, finding shells, digging shells. It was great. Mimi is the best at finding shells. She’s pretty picky about the kind that she will collect…twirly only. Lainee and Zinnia and Luke are just excited to see any ole shell! Our “target” child on the feingold diet did awesome. It’s made a HUGE difference. I brought a lot of food from home for her to eat at breakfast and dinner then in the evenings we went out and it was pretty easy to get her a grilled piece of fish and a baked potato.

Luke was fascinated with all the jelly fish that washed up on the shore the third morning. He had never seen anything like it! He was determined to pop one but had a hard time doing it.

luke won’t eat fish, and we went to fish places every night. He usually got a burger and this night he was so excited about his sweet potato fries. He’s got some kind of issue with drinks that we are trying to figure out. He’s mildly obsessed with having a drink during meals, like worried about not having enough to drink. He usually drinks 4 cups of water real fast before his food comes then can’t eat his meal. We are lovingly workin’ on it.

after dinner one night a guy on the dock was giving boat rides! It was interesting (because he was drinking rum) but the children loved it. He pointed out different “famous” peoples’ homes.

our last nights’ dinner. The place was not our favorite. 3 days in florida was actually perfect. Just enough to get out of the cold and appreciate our own beds…

the kids at the waterslide. a fabulous time. My heart was divided however, my grandma is dying. My mom flew home from California to be with my grandma in Michigan, they moved her to a hospice house. I got to FaceTime with my sweet grandma while I was in Florida and now she’s unresponsive. She mouthed, “i love you Laura! How you feelin’?” which is how she always greets her loved ones, wondering how they are doing…