Monday, March 28, 2011

Presidents Club 2011

Each year, Neils has the opportunity to earn a trip with his company.  There are requirements and goals that must be met for him to earn the free trip.  We've gone every year (except one because we had a new baby not because he didn't earn it), since he's been with this company.  We've been to Mexico a couple times, Maui, New York and now Honolulu, HI.  It was a stressful week in preparation for the trip.  There were so many times we'd say to each other, "Let's just not go."  The only thing that kept me going was knowing this will be the last trip we get to be alone for awhile with a new baby on the way.  Even though he will likely earn next years trip, I doubt I'll be going cause I'll be nursing and kids aren't allowed on these trips.  So it was a big deal to get away with him.  I wanted so badly to enjoy the trip and have some quality time with him.  I did enjoy his company, no doubt, but it was quite the disappointment.  Considering it was Hawaii, I was hoping to find it to be a lot like Maui.  It's not anything like it as many of you may know.  For those of you who don't.  It's NOT worth the 7.5 hour flight there and the red eye back.  That was complete torture and then to find that it wasn't anything more than being in a big, fancy Starwood Hotel on the California coast somewhere.  I would have preferred the shorter flight.  Maui was so cute, quaint, beachy shops and yummy little island restaurants, amazing snorkeling, and lush green areas to hike through, rainbows every day, and sunsets to die for.  I was expecting it to be like that only with a big city plopped in the middle of it all.  I guess I should have paid more attention to the opening of Hawaii 5-0 on T.V.  but even that makes it seem better than it is.  Anyway... enough griping about the disappointment and onto other things.  We enjoyed ourselves.  We always realize how nice it is to be away from the kids and be alone together.  It was that for sure.  We walked a lot, ate at The Cheesecake Factory and Subway, spent a day at Pearl Harbour and the Battleship Missouri, went to the company awards ceremony and then it was back home.  Just before leaving, Brooke ran a fever on Saturday.  It wasn't high, I figured she'd be okay.  Mom said she seemed fine while I was gone, but Thursday morning when I returned, she was definitely running a fever.  It lasted all weekend, but never really high.  I hardly gave her Tylenol cause I wanted her little body to fight it off.  Monday it seemed to be gone, so I decided not to go into see the doctor.  But that night she crawled up on my lap at 7:00pm and fell asleep for the night.  Tuesday, again she seemed okay, no fever but at 6:00pm she crawled up on my lap again, complaining of being tired and fell asleep in seconds.  I mentioned this to my mom and she said, "you know it could be pneumonia since she's so tired."  With that I made an appointment that second for first thing Wednesday morning.  Sure enough it was.  So all week we've spent recovering from that.  Two whole weeks my poor little one was sick.  I think today she's back!  She's happy and healthy again!  So, trip, what trip.  I feel like it was a distant memory already.  I came back and jumped right back into mother hood and caring for my little ones.  But I wanted to post some pictures from our trip... what our experience was like.