ARUUUUUBA! part 1

We just spent an AMAZING week on vacation in Aruba! It was seriously the best trip and we had so much fun as a family-- no major meltdowns and everyone happy-- that right there makes it a success!

We try to take two trips a year-- one just me and Eddie and one with the family.  No, it isn't always easy traveling with kiddos, but I strongly feel like it's worth it.  The memories we were making are memories I hope will stick with them for a long, long time.  I know I will hang on to those memories for a long time! We went with a group of friends with whom we have traveled before, but this time, we all took kids-- we were excited for the kids to all meet since they were all so close in age. 

I always debate how to do trip recap posts.  Do I completely overload readers with a million pictures in one post? No.  That would drive me (and y'all!) crazy.  So I am going to split the trip up into several posts... here is post one!

Disclaimer: I took our "good" camera on this trip.  I did not take one picture with said good camera.  I took every single picture with my phone.  Oops! Oh well... here we go!

So, a little confession- do y'all do this? I lay out each outfit as I am packing and then plan all my accessories and lay those with it and then take a picture of it. That way when I am trying to pack everything, I don't forget to grab those earrings or that bracelet and then when I am getting dressed on vacation, I don't have to try and remember what I was going to wear those shoes with.  Slightly OCD? Possibly.  Okay, fine.  Whatever.  

The boys, on the other hand, get all their stuff in nice neat-ish piles.  There was actually a method to the madness below....

We had an EARLY flight Saturday morning.  We left RDU at 6am.  Flying with kids internationally and checking bags, we wanted to get there plenty early.  That meant a 3:15 wake up call.  And, oh buddy, it felt EARLY!

Andy was on our floor so he was up and at it right away, super excited to get going to Aruuuuba.  He even walked into Cal's room and turned on all the lights and sat on the floor talking to him-- Cal never woke up.  It was hilarious. 

Here they are at the airport.....

We flew to Miami and Nug sat with me...he was pumped!

A little note about Andy on this trip: Andy can be difficult. He can fuss/scream/pout/be a real difficult kiddo.  But on this trip, he was HAPPY.  I mean, like smiling ear to ear the entire time happy.  It was such a great relief.  I know that sounds bad-- but when you never know what you're going to get with him, it is so wonderful to get this happy, go with the flow kid.  

We landed in Miami and the boys had a hopping competition...anything to get out some wiggles!

The second flight, Andy sat with Eddie and his early morning wake up call took its toll and he took a great snooze.  He slept for almost the entire flight. 

Cal, on the other hand, did not! He was too excited-- and hyper! 

Behind us, we saw this...

 So we stayed at the Hyatt in Aruba, which is a gorgeous hotel.  It is not all-inclusive, but there was a package for our group so it was all inclusive for us.  We took full advantage of the inclusive-ness! The boys were handed a punch drink right when we arrived.  He was thrilled...

We got into our rooms and decided to do a quick change and head to the pool.  But first, a quick trip to the potty...

 We got to the pool and about 4 minutes after walking up, the boys were doing this:

 Both of these were jumping in fearlessly-- Andy too! He needed a little catching at first, but by the end of the trip, he was swimming like crazy.  He kept telling me how much he loved it. Go figure!

 Two studs, pool ready!

We had SO SO SO much fun at dinner the first night.  Sadly, I forgot my camera! We ate outside with a bunch of friends and then we walked on the beach and let the kids go swimming in their clothes.  It was amazing!  My friend, Andrea, took a ton of pictures and will send them.... I can't wait to see her pictures! The kids were laughing so hard-- we kept saying "we are making memories!!!"

That night, the boys CRASHED in their bed together-- they were so sweet sharing a bed.  And they slept great.  Maybe we need to start that at home? Just kidding.  #kinda

We woke up Sunday morning to a beautiful day! We headed down to breakfast:

 see?? happy kid....

We came back to the room and got suited up for a day at the beach/pool! These guys were ready!

We started at the pool where Andy was ready to start jumping in, immediately.  

These two were having SO much fun!!! And because it was all-inclusive, we didn't stress about them ordering virgin pina coladas by the pool and taking half a sip and saying "all done!!!" Plus we were drinking our own fruity drinks-- hard to stress with a fruity drink in hand!

There was this little cove thing over by the bar where the boys loved to swim and play.  It was shallow (both could touch) and there was a little bench that went around it.  Did I mention it was next to the bar? This was our favorite spot all week.  A friend commented on the below picture on instagram about Andy's sorority squat-- hahahaha love it!

More jumping in and swimming!

All three boys had fun swimming!

 Saddled up to the bar-- this made me laugh so hard....

We headed out to dinner this night a little pink in the cheeks, but still super happy! Seriously, the boys were so stinkin happy.  I keep it real on this blog and I would say if it was ugly-- but it really was great seeing them so happy!

 Cal had the best time with his buddy, Beckett. We met Beckett's parents in Turks and then we went on another trip with them to Mexico (we took kids, they did not).  After meeting our kids in Mexico, they kept saying how much Cal and Beckett would get along-- and it was true! They were like long lost brothers!

So, the first day is in the books...or, errr... the blog!