Florida wrap up

 Did you think I was dead? Because at times this past week I have. I don't really have excuses, but this little break has been good. I've taken a lot of pictures lately, so hopefully the posts will be coming more regularly (like their 21 month post tomorrow!!!) Anyway, here's a wrap up of our last couple of days in Florida. Sadly, this post won't be as detailed as the others. I really should have just buckled down while it was all fresh in my mind. Oh well, such is life.

The next day of our trip, we decided to take a guided boat ride at Snook Haven. It was a fun little resort (that's what they called it) that promised some alligator viewing. Sadly, we only saw 3 alligators on the ride (and they weren't that big) but it was still fun. The girls really liked exploring the grounds and being on the boat. Not sure it was worth the (in my opinion) steep price (about $50ish for all of us) but it was fun and when else would we have done something like that, you know?

Later that day (after we went home and changed... we did a lot of changing on that trip. We Utah folk aren't used to the sticky humidity) we went to the circus. I didn't know this, but apparently Sarasota is a big circus town. They have a school (?) or something like that (possibly just classes? I don't really know...) so there are a lot of different circus', clowns and shows going on. The Shriner Lodge is right around the corner from my Grandma's house and we happened to be in town for their annual circus. I was excited because I'd never been to a circus before. It was fun, but HOT. Oh mercy, was it hot. Florida heat+humidity+ a enclosed circus tent= a sweaty bunch of Mangelsons. The girls enjoyed it, but we found out that they do NOT like clowns. Not at all. See Lillian's sticker? Yeah, hugging that clown definitely induced tears. 

 

 They kept reiterating NO photography of any kind was allowed in the tent. But of course, I cheated. So here are some crappy iPod pictures...

 

During the intermission, we went to the little zoo they had set up. They had a couple elephants, donkeys, goats, various other farm animals and a giraffe. Josh bought a little bag of carrots to feed the giraffe, but Lillian wanted them for herself. It was hilarious. She did not want to let go of those carrots! Everyone around us was laughing at her as Josh tried to get her to share with the giraffe. It was really, really funny. 

The next couple of days (ugh. This is where this post is going to fall apart...) we spent time a lot of time helping my grandma get things done around the house and at the beach. We also went to church and had dinner at a delicious Amish restaurant (also had no idea there was a huge Amish/Mennonite community in Sarasota...) that was some of the best food I've ever had. DE-licious. They had a little farmer's market next door and I was dying to buy fresh produce (you know, REAL fresh produce) but I didn't think that would really work with the plane. Maybe next time we'll drive. ;) 

Anyway, here's some more, random pictures...

And finally, here's the picture my little sister requested.

 One of the Herdman girls.

And here's the last picture I snapped while at my grandma's. I was trying really, really, really hard to hold back the tears as we were leaving. I was successful only because I didn't want my grandma to see me cry. It felt so sad. So final. It was such a hard goodbye. I didn't cry about it until after we were home and I was safe and conveniently already wet in the shower. I got a reeeeaaaally good cry out then. Having her live in Florida makes me so incredibly sad.

The Tampa airport was awesome. They had a giant playroom right by our gate and we definitely took advantage of it. The girls were able to get their wiggles out right before the long flight home.

 
This round of flights were perfect. Both girls hardly made a peep at all. Josh and I were several rows away from each other and honestly, I think that's what saved us. Like I said, on our flights to Florida, they sat us too close to each (remember, for oxygen mask reasons sitting by each other wasn't an option) and both the girls wanted me. With us being separated, they were able to play with their toys and not get distracted by their sister or the other parent. 

See the guy next to us? I was certain he wanted to throw Lillian out the window. Although she was being really, really good, he kept sighing and shifting in his seat. She kicked him a few times and he flashed us dirty looks. At the end of the flight though, he told me that he flies all the time and most adults don't behave as good as she did. Say whaaaat? I really thought he hated us. Guess I was wrong? It was a pretty huge compliment though considering that I tried to prepare as best as I could for the flight and I was still terrified.

 And yes, Lillian is covered in chocolate.... But hey, it kept her quiet!

Wanna know what kept Sophie quiet? Stickers. I had her on the flight from Houston to Salt Lake and she literally stickers all over her body. This wasn't even the worst of it. Plus, she grabbed a pen and started coloring on herself, so she had those marks all over her arms and legs too. Did I stop her? Absolutely not! It kept her entertained for almost TWO HOURS! She looked crazy as we were getting into Salt Lake, but she was happy and that's all that matters.

This trip was so, so good. It's definitely wasn't stress free, but I was so grateful my grandma was able to meet my girls. Honestly, I wasn't sure it was going to happen and that broke my heart a little bit. It was good to see bits and pieces of my childhood and it was good to just get out of our normal routine. I'm glad Josh was willing to take us all. So was my grandma. She kept telling me impressed she was with him and how much she loved him. Considering that was only the second time they've met (the first being our wedding) I knew she really thought a highly of him. It was just so good and just what the doctor ordered. 

So there you have it. An abridged overview of our trip. It took me long enough, didn't it? 

And I promise, most posts are coming soon. I've already got a good start on their monthly post for tomorrow, which is good because those things take forever. 

Florida Part 2

The next couple of days in Florida were really fun. We went to the beach on Wednesday and the girls got to experience the ocean for the first time. They were absolutely terrified of it. I was ok with that because keeping track of two toddlers on the beach seemed like a daunting task. They mostly just played in the sand and hung out on the damp sand, staying far away from the waves. 

 Sophie letting the ocean know how much she hates it. 

After we got back, we cleaned up, played outside for a little bit and headed out to a delicious Amish restaurant. I had no idea Sarasota had a rather large Amish community. (I guess technically, they're Mennonites, but they advertised their shops and things as "Amish"). The girls (who hadn't napped since Utah) were pretty grumpy. I was tired, they were tired and let's just say all 3 Mangelson girls cried during dinner (at the restaurant mind you). Moving on....

The girls were obsessed with all of the trees. We don't have many trees by our house because a) we live in Utah and b) we live in a pretty newish part of Utah (compared to say, the east bench) so there just aren't many trees around. My grandma had a giant tree over her house that shaded the entire thing. Lillian was obviously amazed. 

The next day, we went to Disney World. We debated which park we wanted to go to (and debated whether it was worth it or not) but we decided that the girls would probably get the most enjoyment out of the Magic Kingdom. And enjoyment they did get. I honestly don't think I've ever seen them more excited and entertained. They powered through their nap (so now we're going on day 3 of no nap...) but they were happy almost every second of our 11 hour day. They did get a little fussy during some of the lines, but luckily, we didn't really wait longer than a half hour for anything and I had a backpack stocked with treats for them.  

Lillian was SO happy on the ferry ride to the park. I'm pretty sure she knew she was in for a really fun day.

Quick story with this picture. During Lunch, Lillian wasn't too interested in her chicken nuggets. I tried to get her to pay attention to them by asking her where they were. The girls have no idea who I'm talking to when I'm talking to one of them, so when I said, "Where's your chicken?" Sophie pipped up and very excitedly opened her mouth and pointed to her half chewed meat inside. It was hilarious and luckily, I was sort of able to get her to do it again for a picture. 

I had to get a quick snapshot at this obligatory picture taking spot. The girls were screaming and several people passing were laughing, pointing, and sharing their condolences with us. It was pretty funny to say the least.

It was hot and the girls were exhausted. This was on Pirates after we waited in the longest line of the day. Lillian was obviously beat!

Looking at the ducks...

I forgot. Sophie did conk out for about 10 minutes in her stroller. Doesn't she look comfortable?

We probably should have taken a family picture when we first got there and not within the last couple of hours. We all look hammered, hot and...tired. Oh and why I chose to wear pants I'll never know. That definitely wasn't one of my smarted moments.

Florida part 1.

This is going to be wordy with not many pictures. If you're interested to see how our first flying with twins experience went, read on. All of the pictures I took were just on my iPod so they aren't very good, but oh well, such is life. :)

Our flight left Salt Lake at 7:30 am, which meant that I got up at 4:15. I had said a couple days prior on facebook that I thought we should hire a camera crew to film us at the airport because it would be that entertaining and I probably should have. Just the logistics of getting two suitcases, 3 carryons, two strollers, two car seats, and two babies onto the shuttle from the parking lot would have made for good TV. Luckily, there were lots of people around who could tell we were pathetically trying to do it all ourselves and they offered us help. Once we got into the airport, Josh carried the car seats and pulled the suitcases while I got the strollers. We decided to go with two small, umbrella strollers to have more room in our trunk. That was a good idea, but our only mistake was not getting two identical ones. Pushing two single strollers at once turned out to be quite the task and I think if they would have been the same height and had the same wheels it would have been easier. I WISH I would have taken a picture of my solution, but we were frantically trying to get through security, so I didn't think of it. Basically, I took the stroller with the wider handles and shoved my hips between it. I literally used my pelvic bone/hips to push that one while I leaned forward and pushed the front one with my arms. This was all while I was holding a giant purse and I had also had a backpack on. It was ridiculous and we had about oh...20 people comment and giggle about it. People kept calling me "super mom" and things like that, but I always replied with something, "you do what you gotta do!" and that's the truth. It's not like I wanted to push the stroller with my hips. What other option did I have?  Every once and a while, the wheels of the front stroller (which was by far the crappier of the two) would get jammed and I had to lift it up and down a little to straighten them out. Guys, it was one of those "holy smokes having one kid would be so much easier than having two moments." 

Since we checked in our car seats and strollers at the gate, we had this faux double stroller getup until we got to the gate. Actually, I think about half way there, I yelled to Josh that I was dying so we decided to each take a stroller and each take a car seat. The easiest way I could do this was wear the car seat like a bracelet. That's right. Like a bracelet. Are you laughing yet? Because you really, really should be. It was quite the show. 

The first flight was almost perfect. I had gone to the dollar store a few days earlier and stocked up on about 400 stickers, 5 new coloring books, a couple new board books, play watches, an etch-a-sketch, a couple new stuffed animals (puppy for Soph, monkey for Lillian) Elmo flash cards, and I made two photo albums with pictures of the girls, family and friends. Josh and I weren't allowed to sit together because you're only allowed one lap infant per row, so they stuck us a few rows a part, in front of each other. I was planning for this though, so Josh and I each had a gallon size ziplock filled with new toys and treats. About half way through the flight, Josh comes up to me with a panicked looked on his face. "Lillian's diaper is leaking and it's all over her and all over me!" He was right. They were both soaked. And you know what? In all of my hours of stressing over screaming babies on the plane I didn't once think to pack an extra change of clothes! So we took the girls back (since I figured Sophie would need a fresh diaper too) and changed them in the tiny, tiny bathroom. It was a bit traumatic, but we were able to get it done. Lillian, however, was just in a diaper for the rest of the flight. Luckily, there was another twin mom and several other moms in general on our plane that reassured me that I wasn't a horrible mom and they were quick to tell me stories about when they had forgotten extra clothes for their kids. I still felt like such an idiot! Josh and I traded babies, so Lillian sat on my lap with her blanket wrapped around her until Houston. Other than that little bump in the road, the girls were perfect. 

 

Once we got to Houston, I went to the bathroom to see if I could wash out her clothes and use an hand dryer to dry them. Guess what? The Houston airport only has paper towels. So, I rinsed her clothes off, rung them out and decided to find a window we could dry them by. Ghetto, right? 

Our second flight was from Houston to Tampa. Again, they wouldn't let us sit together, but they thought they'd do us a favor of sitting us in two aisle seats across from each other. Good idea in theory, but baaaaaad idea in practice. Turns out that both of the girls wanted me and wanted nothing to do with Josh. That meant that for 95% of the flight, one of them was screaming. And I'm talking screaming. It was awful and I may have started crying a little bit... The lady in front of us kept flashing these evil glares and ended up ordering several screwdrivers. Actually, her exact words were "I NEED vodka!" I was humiliated. Thankfully, that flight was pretty short (a little under two hours) and it's two hours of my life I hope to never repeat.

When we finally landed in Tampa I figured out a handy car seat trick. We let the stroller handles wear them like bracelets. It worked really well and Josh was able to pull our luggage and push one of the strollers. Yes, I was kicking myself for not figuring that out in Salt Lake. I tell you, if you're ever traveling with a kid (or two) do this over pushing the stroller with your hips. It's so much easier and you look SOOOO much less idiotic.

From Tampa, we had an hour or so drive to my grandma's. It was SO good to get there. It was especially fun for me because not only was it my grandma we were visiting, but I had never been to her house in Florida. She moved there from Utah when I was 17, so it was like taking a trip back in time when I saw all of her trinkets that I remembered from my childhood. So these pictures are for mostly for my sister because I know she'll appreciate them...

 

We didn't do much the rest of the day. Just visited, ate and tried to get the girls to go to sleep. It was tough, but they finally crashed and we were all able to fall asleep. 

Stay tuned for day 2...