Below is Max with his grandma - that mohawk was provided by Grandma Deb.
Auntie Ali and Carter enjoyed several trips down the water slide.
As did Brighton and I. I love this picture, as it demonstrates the joy of motherhood. Brighton, obviously is on my lap. Those are Bella's little legs you can see to either side of my rear. And in the background, coming down the slide behind us and trying to catch up, is Max.
Little family picture in the pool.
And that's all folks . . .almost. Any writing on our trip to the Caribbean would not be complete without a description of our trip home. We arrived at the airport in Ft. Lauderdale without incident. However, on the leg of our trip from Ft. Lauderdale to Denver, we ran into an issue. Now, my children have been blessed in that they are seasoned air travelers. They've flown to Hawaii, Mexico numerous times, Phoenix, Texas, Portland . . .you get the drift. We have NEVER once had any problems with air sickness - that is until our 4 1/2 hour leg at the BEGINNING of our travel adventure home. My little Maxer became nauseous, and then puked - and when I say puked I mean power puke, more chunks and liquid than you can imagine puke - all over himself about 1/2 way through that flight. The poor little guy had vomit in his hair and all over his clothes. His underwear were wet.
Gavin was sitting two seats behind Brighton and I with Max and Bella at the time this happened. I heard Max get sick, and turned around to see his little body heaving all over itself. Gavin was looking frantically for an air sickness bag(seems like you find 10 of those things in the back of every seat until you need one), to no avail, and I couldn't get to him in time. After it was over, Max was sitting there, arms out, looking so pathetic I wanted to cry. The look on his face said, "what just happened?" "this is disgusting" and "I want my mommy" all at the same time. I then handed Brighton to Gavin and sent him and Bella to our seats while I joined Max and the chunks. The airline was gracious enough to give me about 50 paper towels (you know the little ones, the non-absorbent ones from the bathroom, yeah those) and a can of seltzer to clean up the mess. It was on the wall, all over the seat, in the seatbelt clip, I'm sure all you mommies out there can imagine. I won't even try to explain the smell, although suffice it to say that the gentlemen (no mommies) sitting around us were all audibly gagging.
I promptly took Max's clothes off (he is now sitting in his underwear, which are wet), put his hoodie on him, and began the 45 minute process of cleaning up the mess with non-absorbent paper towels and seltzer. At the same time, I'm trying to comfort Max who still doesn't really understand what the heck happened and Gavin is trying to keep Brighton from kicking the seat in front of her (he got a dirty look and nearly threw the b*!#$ off the airplane), and comfort Bella who was freaking because she had one tiny, tini piece of vomit on her bare arm. At this point in time I am just thanking God that it was Max that got sick and not Bella - can you imagine?
Just when I sit down and start snuggling Max and rubbing his chunk-filled hair, he gets sick again. This time, we had the bag handy. He made it almost entirely in the bag with the exception of a bit that landed on the blanket. So, I asked the airline stewardess for another blanket, please? She informed me that blankets were only for first class (so how the heck did I get the first blanket, oh yeah, that was from the nice airline stewardess). I looked at her with my best "are you !#$@* kidding me" look and calmly explained, "well that may be M'am (she probably would consider herself a "Miss"), but my son is wearing nothing but underwear and a hoodie and his underwear are wet with vomit so he is shivering. We don't have any other pants for him, so I would really appreciate it anything you can do." She looked at me blankly and firmly advised that blankets are not for coach passengers. Well, thank goodness that the whole plane was very nice and offering assistance throughout this ordeal because after refusing two nice men's fleece jackets (I couldn't bear to wrap my vomit covered son in someone else's coat, although I was getting close), and everyone giving her the look of death whenever she walked by, the lady came back with a blanket. We wrapped Max up, he slept, and when we arrived in Denver was back to almost 100%, aside from the smell and the outfit - an airplane blanket skirt and hoodie with puke-soaked Converse.
BUT, we are 45 minutes late into Denver. We still have an hour, so Gavin and I are thinking we are good. Well, the airline took 30 MINUTES to get our stroller off the plane. Yes, 30 minutes without any explanation. AND we had to switch terminals from U.S. Airways to the sister-airline United in Denver. So, after finally getting the stroller off the plane we boarded one of the those little cars that the elderly and physically disabled passengers use and flew through the airport to the escalator. We then ALL ran down the escalator (smelling like vomit and with Max in an airplane blanket skirt), hopped on the train to Terminal B, ran back up the escalator, and headed to the B gates. Our flight, of course, was Gate B19, ALL THE WAY AT THE END of that terminal. After running (Gavin in the lead with Bella and our cross-dressed son Brighton and I running behind with her telling me I was "stinky" the whole time) we made it just in time.
This was a very good thing, as I don't think anyone could have held me responsible for what I would have said to the airline personnel had we missed our flight. The kids were AMAZING the rest of the trip, although it was 11:00 pm (1:00 am Caribbean time) before we landed in Billings. I cannot express how thrilled we were to crawl into our beds that night.
After the announcement was made that the Easter Bunny had been by, the kids looked at all the loot on the lawn and waited in anticipation until they were released for the hunt.
Bella and Riley were thrilled with their Easter Egg Hunt haul.
This is a picture of J.J. Dolan, his best-cousin Riley, and Max, striking young men, aren't they?
And Max and Bella with their Grandma Barbi, who is so loved by them both.
Connor and Max enjoyed their pops in the coconuts. Don't worry, Kendall and Grandma drank all the booze out of them first.
Ry-Guy (Kendall's fiance - I think the nickname is sticking) was wonderful with Carter and Brighton. They made a fantastic sandcastle, thanks to Ryan's patience.
Connor, Bella and Max - too much fun.
And . . . . she's spent.
Here are Brighton, Connor, Max and Carter touring the tidepools. I heard all about Max "touching a stingray" that night.
And, Max tried his hand at snorkeling that day. He took off like a rocket and never looked back, impressing everyone with his swimming and fish-finding capabilities.
