Christmas 2010

We wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!! Better late than never... right?

I don't exactly know how to describe our Christmas vacation other than to tell you that after returning from our trip, I vowed to never ever ever travel with my children again. I know I will be taking that statement back in a few months when the memories have faded and we begin to miss our families... but for now... that's all I have.

We arrived in sunny, warm Florida to find that it wasn't so sunny and warm and it was actually COLDER than Denver! What!? We enjoyed a couple nice days with the family and then it exploded into a sickness-filled, germ infested vacation. It all started after Ella & Mark went for a swim in the heated swimming pool on one of our few nice days in Florida. Ella woke up from nap with an awful cough and runny nose. What we thought was an allergic reaction to the sunscreen turned out to be croup. We had Ella in the ER that evening (Dec 23rd) for about 4 hours. The nurses and doctors were wonderful and so sweet to Ella in the emergency room, bringing her popsicles and stuffed animals to soothe her while she got a steroid shot and breathing treatment. Poor baby.

Luckily the croup improved quickly, but unfortunately turned into a nasty cold which Ella passed along to most of the rest of the family. We were back at the hospital on Dec 27th (this time in urgent care) with BOTH kids sick- Ella with a left ear infection and Charlie with a pink right ear and a nasty sore throat. Both kids were put on antibiotics and sent home. I SHOULD have had them check me out too as I was also feeling bad, but I went on to suffer for another 5 days before I finally took myself to the doctor (once we were home) to be diagnosed with a nasty sinus infection that I am finally starting to recover from.

We didn't get to enjoy enough time with the family... but the kids still had a wonderful Christmas topped off with a special visit from Santa AND celebrating Poppa's 70th birthday. Here are a few pics from our trip.