Well, I’ve fallen in love with Melbourne. No, not Melbourne,
Australia (though, remind me to DVR those housewives too)--Melbourne, Florida!
James’s childhood best friend, college roommate, fellow
cute-nerd, Jason, married the smart and beautiful, Amanda in Costa Rica last
month. They invited us to a beautiful ceremony
and reception in Florida so we loaded up the car, and off we went!
I was a bit nervous for the travel. A seven-hour drive with
an on-the-go toddler—how in the world would that work? It actually wasn’t that bad! Doster slept a lot, played a lot, and I caved
and let him have his paci the whole car ride. Don’t judge. We took snack stops,
food stops and always changed in to PJs during the dinner stop in hopes
of easy car-to-bed transitions.
The Hiccup
That easy car-to-bed transition that I dreamed of did not
really play out how I'd hoped. We had the perfect
plan: I would go in, check in, come back
to the car and watch Doster while James headed up to the room and assembled the pack and play. Sounds great, right?
Doster woke up when the car stopped and was very confused
about the hotel room. He was
super-clingy and would not let me put him down while we hauled our stuff in the
room. Settling him back down was
impossible. We read books, sang, rocked,
and I even tried to let him sleep in bed with us for the first time. After three hours of this, we decided to kick
it old school and drive around while he fell back asleep. Thank goodness that worked!
The Good Stuff
Experiencing the ocean through Doster’s eyes was one of the
most amazing experiences of my life. He
was curious, excited, scared at first, and finally in love with the water!
A little video of his first time…
"Hey Water!" he would say.
I’ll let pictures tell the story of our beach days.
The Wedding
Despite being late due to some directional challenges
(sorry, GPS fail on my part!) everything was beautiful for the ceremony and
reception. They chose a gorgeous
location overlooking the water, and the vibe was very laid-back and
beachy-elegant.
Doster narrated the ceremony from my lap:
Jason an' 'Manda! Rings! Pretty! Jason an' 'Manda.
He stayed as still as possible and was ready to run around
as soon as he could. After pictures we
were served a beautiful dinner. Doster
and I headed home a little early because, let’s face it, he gets a little crazy
when he’s tired. He went to sleep with
no problem, and my sweet husband brought me back a cupcake.
 |
| I love this picture! |
The Family
We loved enjoying quality time with DD and Pop on Saturday
of the wedding. It was definitely
wonderful to have extra sets of hands! We also met up with some of James’s Florida family on our way home, too. It was planned extremely
last-minute, and we are so lucky that it all worked out perfectly!
Doster talked about Parker and Houston for about an hour
after we left! We made a snack stop and
a dinner stop on the way home and got in pretty late. Luckily, we all had Monday off so we could
recuperate, do some laundry, and enjoy a beautiful day at the park.
Little Things I Learned About Traveling With A Toddler
We booked a suite rather than just a room. It was nice to have space to hang out while
Doster slept and napped.
- Our room included a small refrigerator and they even included a microwave (Thank you, Radisson-Melbourne!) because I called and begged them too. It worked out really well to bring some Doster-friendly food with us and spend all of our time at restaurants.
- Daniel Tiger on the PBS Kids App = A Life Saver
- I probably would pack more books next time.
- We kept a basket of toys on the floor of the car. That came in really handy!
In summary—our trip was amazing. I can’t wait to take Doster back to the beach
again soon!
