We took the kids to Arizona in early February for a little warm, sunny get-away. And apparently, we do things *Griswol.d Family Vacation* style...

We made reservations at a super cool looking water park/resort. They had a lazy river that spanned 4 acres, lots of water slides, a wave pool, a number of normal pools and toddler water park play areas! We got the kids all excited about it and Dan & I were also both really excited about it too.
We arrived at the resort just before dinner and we were all starving. So, first order of business after checking into our room was eating dinner... and THEN, we PROMISED the kids we'd go hit the pool, or at least check it out.

So, after dinner, we walked over to the water park and it was closed. Bummer. But since the resort had a number of other pools, we just jumped into one of those to swim for a while before bed time.

Next morning... Dan called to see what time the water park opened. He gave me a funny look. Hung up the phone. And, looked at me with a shocked face and burst out saying "THE WATER PARK IS CLOSED! IT DOESN'T OPEN FOR ANOTHER WEEK!!!"
AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!
And, that my friends, was the beginning of our very first *Griswold Family Vacation*.

We promptly got online, looked around for other fabulous hotels with water parks. We CALLED to confirm which were open, and ended up checking in at another resort in the area 2 hours later.
Jeesh!!

Other highlights of the trip included:
* The kids were invited to sit in the captain & co-pilot seats in the cockpit after our flight arrived in Phoenix. They were also given the wing pins. They thought this was SO VERY COOL! Especially since it also gave them a close-up view of what was their grandpa's job for 30+ years, and also a window into uncle Dave's job.

* Waterpark. Pool. Slides. Floaty toys. Anything water-related.... you name it. They LOVED every minute of playing in the water and pools. It didn't even matter to them that the SUPER-cool waterpark we were supposed to be playing at wasn't open. (THANK GOODNESS!)


* We took the kids to play their first ever games of mini golf. It was hilarious and so much fun (for me!!). Dan was TOTALLY stressed out that we were taking too much time and holding up other golfers, that the kids weren't paying attention, that the kids might swing their clubs in the wrong spot, etc., etc. It was flipping hilarious seeing Dan stressed as if we were on an adult golf course.... and the fact that he was stressed out just made me laugh and enjoy the experience even more. I think he finally relaxed a bit by hole 9, at which point, the kids were asking if we were almost done. It was honestly fun though and I would totally bring the kids to do it again.

* Nightly room service. The kids thought this was fabulous and it just worked for us so we could relax and not have to go anywhere.

* We took the kids to a coaster park the same day we brought them to play mini-golf. Gabby & Rocco had SUCH A great time riding the roller coasters and it was the first time they rode one that went upside down THREE times. I almost had a panic attack when I realized which coaster Dan was bringing them on... and then I saw their happy little faces and heard all the excitement and screams of joy after and I realized I worried about nothing. They just TRULY love coasters!

And, the prize for the funniest/best quote of the trip goes to the 2 year old. One night, while sitting on the beds, watching a movie and eating dinner... Gabby reached onto Giuliana's plate and grabbed her burger and asked me "mom, can I have a bite of nana's burger?" I was going to say yes, because nana hadn't even taken a bite of it... but before I could, Giuliana said "DON'T TOUCH. MY. BURGER!" We all of course burst out laughing... it was hilarious! I don't know where she gets this stuff from!?


And, of course no family vacation comes without some sort of drama or health-related issue. This vacation came with three:
1. Giuliana was sick for a few days prior to us flying to AZ. She had a cold, was fighting a fever, but finally seemed to turn the corner the night before we flew out. She seemed fine... but on our last full day there, I noticed a bunch of gunk draining out of her ear. I immediately knew she must have an ear infection. Thankfully, she has tubes in her ears and the tube was doing it's job and letting the ear drain. But I felt so bad for the little monkey. We immediately took a trip to the nearest urgent care and got some drops to make the infection go away.

2. Rocco developed a crazy fever the night of our first full day. He seemed more tired and just off... and he felt SO warm. Thankfully, I had brought a thermometer since Giuliana had been sick I took Rocco's temp and it was 103.2! YIKES! How did that happen. I had also brought infant meds, but no children's meds. So, I had to send Dan off to the drug store for some ibuprofren. Rocco responded well to it and was back to a normal temp in about an hour. But, I of course set my alarm to check on him every 2-3 hours throughout the night. Ever since Matteo died... if one of my kids has a fever, I just can't sleep. I'll set my alarm to wake-up throughout the night and check on them... but the reality is, I don't even need to set the alarm. Anyway, Dan was sharing a bed with Rocco and I had told him to feel Rocco's forehead if he ever woke up during the night. Well, Dan woke up in the middle of the night, and I heard him yell "ROCCO!!" with a panic-stricken voice. Apparently, Rocco had felt SO cool to him that it brought him back to finding Matteo dead in his crib. That cold body feel. Rocco was fine, of course...shocked and disoriented as to why Dan yelled his name and grabbed/shook him out of sleep. But, he was fine. I was not fine after this... couldn't go back to sleep... stuck in PTSD mode. Replaying memories of that awful day we found Matteo, wondering why he died, angry that we never will know why he died, hating illnesses and fevers, etc. Anyway, Rocco was totally fine the next day too... but that night, he again had a bit of a fever... 102. I gave him the ibuprofren again, and it went back down to normal again.


I sort of determined on my own, after doing google searches, etc., that Rocco might have been getting the fevers from spending time in the hot tubs during the day. He didn't spend HOURS in the hot tub... but he would go in the hot tub here & there and put his head under the water, etc. After doing my searches, I started reading a lot about how little kids sometimes have a hard time regulating their body temperatures. And, sometimes, by putting ever their heads under water in hot tubs... their bodies can't figure out how to regulate the temperature hours after the fact. So, needless to say... we put a kabosh on the him going in the hot tubs for the rest of the trip, and all was fine from then on. Scary. Something to definitely note if you have a little one!!

3. I got a nasty cold virus while we were at D.isneyland in January. I think it was partly from just going, going, going, from morning to night, not eating right and just letting myself get completely run-down. Well... I never really kicked the virus... either that, or I got multiple versions of it that just made it last forever. Kids being sick never helps me... because I don't sleep when they're sick. And, with Rocco and Giuliana both being sick the week before and while we were in AZ, I think my cold got worse while we were there. The flight home's descent was pure punishment! It felt like someone was sticking needles into my eyeball and eyebrow and my eye was dripping with tears. The pain was so piercing and the pressure behind my eyeball was so intense, I almost busted out crying. Ugh! That's only happened to me once before on a flight and it just sucks!! So, I can completely understand why little kids scream the way they do when they're sick during takeoff and landing on an airplane.



