The day after Christmas we expected my parents to come down and visit us for a few days. Old Man Winter had other plans and dumped a bunch of snow on the Northeast. They were able to reschedule their flights, but then those were cancelled. After that, they just booked tickets for Charlotte's birthday instead.
After much researching and VRBO request, Judd was able to book us a flight and a hotel room in Aruba for three nights. So, with about 15 hours notice, I pulled boxes out of the attic to find shorts and t-shirts for the kids and packed our suitcases.
We left early on Saturday morning to make our flight. It was a 3:15 minute flight to Aruba. I was dreading it. It ended up going OK. Max was happy with the iPad, snacks, and bugging his sister for a long time. They both ended up sleeping for the last part of the flight.
We landed around noon time and found a taxi. We made it to the hotel, but weren't able to check into our room. We found the nearest bathroom and changed into our bathing suits. We spent the rest of the afternoon soaking up the sun.
We spent the remainder of our time there either digging in the sand on the beach, walking along the beach, swimming in the ocean, or splashing in the pool. It was so nice to be in the warm sun. I completely lost track of time. It was so weird whenever I would see a Christmas tree lit up in the hotel lobby.
We ended up with a King room. They were able to give us a roll away bed for Charlotte and a crib for Max. It was tight, but we were able to fit it all into the room and everyone had their own sleeping space. Our strategy was to get the kids good and tired during our day's activities, then they would sleep great at night. It worked! Judd and I would put them to bed and we would turn out all of the lights and just lay there quietly until we heard their steady sleeping breaths. We would tiptoe out to the balcony and talk or read. Judd and I were in bed pretty early every night, but that was fine with me!
New Year's Eve is a big event in Aruba. They have tons of fireworks. Judd and I were sound asleep at midnight on NYE when we were awoken to huge fireworks outside our window. The kids slept straight through it, thankfully!
On New Year's Day, we made the journey back home. That flight went smoothly as well.
We were encouraged by this trip. It was a bit of a test to see how flexible the kids could be - how they held up with long flights and being out of their usual routine. They exceeded all of my expectations. They rolled with the punches. Hopefully we'll be able to do a lot more of these types of trips!
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