Marco Island and Our Little Adventure

As always, right after Christmas, we pack up and head down to Marco to spend a week with the Whelans, swimming, building sand castles, eating, catching some sun and just having a good time.  This year was no different, although Dex was finally old enough to enjoy all of it...especially the pool.  Who knew we had another little water baby on our hands.

It was great to spend some quality time with the family and Anna and Dex just LOVE to spend time with the cousins.  Since Anna is such a big girl now, we let her stay up until midnight on New Year's Eve...she felt so proud and accomplished...but ended up melting down (as expected).

Marco was fun as usual.  What was very unusual was our adventure on the way home.

The 2013/2014 winter has been one for the record books.  Since November, we haven't seen the sun, the temperatures above 20 or the ground (it's been covered in snow).  Each week it gets worse and worse and everyone is pretty much going crazy.  That's why it was SO nice to get away and head down to a warmer, sunnier climate.  However, we weren't expecting the ordeal we experience on our way back home.

We arrived at the airport for our flight home (with no hats, coats, gloves, etc.) to find out that all flights to Chicago, and all Midwest cities, had been cancelled due to a massive blizzard.  They told us we wouldn't be able to get on a flight until days later and that would be a flight into Indianapolis...that's as close as they could get us to Chicago. No good.

So, Bill and I made the last minute decision to rent a minivan (I know!) and drive all the way back to Chicago.  We packed all of our stuff and the kiddos into the van and headed on our 1,500 mile journey back home.  The first night, we made it all the way to Nashville, Tenn.  We were feeling pretty good about that, since it's more than halfway home we hadn't gone crazy from Dex's screaming (poor little guy).  We stayed in a hotel and everyone actually got some decent sleep

The next morning, we woke up and hit the road immediately.  We knew we were on borrowed time because of another huge storm was on its way, followed by a record-breaking plummet in temperatures.  The snow really got bad when we hit Indianapolis (only 3 hours away)!!  So bad, in fact, that we had to pull over and stay in a hotel until it got a little safer

A Letter To Anna and Dex On The Plane

As Bill and I headed to Hawaii for our 10-year anniversary trip, I couldn't help but think of my two babies.  Below is a letter I wrote to Anna and Dex:

Anna and Declan –

I’m on a flight right now on my way to Hawaii.  It’s Mommy and Daddy’s 10-year anniversary trip and I’m so excited to spend a week in beautiful weather in a breathtaking location.  But I can’t help of think of both of you every minute. 

First of all, I want you both to know how much I deeply, desperately love both of you.  You both are the truest loves of my life.  You are the sunshine and the moonlight of my day.  You are all of my reasons for everything…for waking up each morning, try a little harder each day and look forward to each night so I can lay with each of you and smell/feel you.

Daddy and I are going on this trip to celebrate the love we have for each other.  It’s true love…something that I could feel and knew would last forever since I was just 19 years old.  We’ve been through a lot together, but our greatest, most fulfilling adventure was having you both.  We already had the love – a great, enduring love – but you gave so much more meaning and purpose to that love. 

We created you – the greatest accomplishment of our lives.  We look at both of you each day with such pride, such satisfaction, and of course, unconditional love. 

We hope that you’re happy, that as you grow, you continue to feel our passionate love.  I hope it gives you strength, light and hope (through the inevitable difficult times you’ll experience).  I hope we’ve done right by both of you and that some day, long from now, you’ll be proud of us too. 

Our 10-year anniversary is a special event for us, but it wouldn’t mean hardly anything without our beautiful babies.  You are our greatest life’s work.

We love you with all of our hearts.