Fun Had By All

First, let me apologize for the technical difficulties we are having here at A Sip Of Heaven! Friday am only half of my post about our vacation was sent out in the blog blast to my loyal followers and then Saturday am, a very old post from September was re-sent! My only excuse for this is that I have been blogging from the iPad lately and there are some very small fingers using it when I am not....fingers that end up touching pages they shouldn't!!! 

So here it goes again.......

I would call it a complete success! Sloane's first vacation gets a 12 on a scale of 1 -10. From the easy peasy departure flight to the long winded US Customs security mad dash home. We certainly made wonderful family memories. 

I am sure some of the passengers on our flights thought we were nuts when we Clorox wiped Sloane's entire seating area and sprayed a bit of Lysol for good measure! Thankfully, The Today Show had just aired a feature on flight travel secrets.....warning passengers that nothing on a plane is cleaned in any way in between flights or at any time. YUCK! Sloane settled into our flight without a concern. She was in awe! In fact, I was concerned that she may be interested in flying a bit more than her father was willing to pay for!!! We arrived in Turks and watching Sloane walked off the plane into the Carribbean air and tropical air was so fun!!! I even took a picture to text back home when..... there clearly were signs stating NO CELL PHONES allowed! The not so friendly police officer didn't exactly share my excitement over seeing my daughter for the first time on a tarmac. 

Once we arrived at Beaches, it was vacation, vacation, vacation!! There were water slides and more water slides! Ice cream for lunch! Sand castles built for princesses. Swimming that made the tips of fingers wrinkled. Photo opportunities with characters larger than life. And smiling that made your cheeks ache. 

Turks and Caicos is an island that is near and dear to me and my hubby. We both had visited it in the past separately and together. It is one of those places for us that we dream about moving to. The days when we say....forget the easy continental USA/let's move to a different place.....it's the let's go big or go home move!! One of the reasons that we picked Turks as our family vaca location! 

Our days were the same....Sloane woke up rearing to go and didn't stop water sliding, lazy rivering, splash pooling it, or floating until she collapsed after lunch, she powered napped in the afternoon and then we beached it until dinner! She filled in the gaps with tropical drinks topped with umbrellas and high fives with Elmo! There was a night time parade that brought tears to my eyes! And breakfast with all the Sesame Street characters was a blast! Tea time with Abby and Elmo was a family event :) Sloane got some island braids and a purple sparkly tattoo! It was a 12 on the scale of 1 - 10!

Did we worry about Sloane's surgery? No. Did we worry about Sloane's cleft? No. Did we wash Sloane's had a hundred million times??? Yes. I happen to think that planes are disgusting and load up on echinacea before I get on one to help ward off any unnecessary germs. My hubby travels weekly so I do know what a trip on the plane can bring home! I did think about Sloane's exposure to jetliner germs and it's timing in regards to surgery. But knowing we had 3 + weeks in between the 2 monumental events felt safe.

My thoughts weren't frivolous. Thursday night from 11pm to 9am, Sloane cried all night, complaining of a sore throat. She had had a runny nose all week so I thought....post nasal drip drying her out or strep throat! We made it thru the night without sleep and waited 
eagerly for 8am to grace Dr. Reibman without presence. It cracked me up a bit really....Sloane always seems to get sick at the most in opportune times. I was hosting a double birthday lunch and some egg coloring for the girlies in my family on Friday. My fabulous niece turned 3 on Friday and Titi turned a new double digit on Monday. We were having a girls day and then Sloane was scheduled for some 2nd shift egg coloring at nonni's. All events canceled by 7am on Friday am! 

While waiting for our drs. appointment, I contacted my go-to mommy with our sudden illness onset. She alerts me that it could be Sloane's ear?? This is surprising as we have never had an ear infection in our home. Apparently, unbeknownst to me, the throat and the ears and the pain can all get mixed up in a child's thoughts.  And sure enough, as my go-to mommy knows, Sloane had an ear infection. My poor love bugs ear had a lovely pool of orange goop sitting at the bottom of it when I finally looked!! Our visit with Dr. Reibman is always eventful. Sloane was asking in he middle of the night to see her if that gives you any idea how I comfy she is so she was quite happy to be sitting in the sailboat room awaiting her arrival. Sloane was clear to tell the doc exactly how she wanted her to touch, or rather not touch her hurting ear. Dr. Reibman just laughs and looks at me with a " oh dear...she is a bit of something" glance each time we spend time with her. 

We came home with a round of antibiotics and some ear drops to help us pass the time until Sloane's surgery! Not such a bad ting really....I don't mind killing some of the germs hanging out in her lungs too before surgery :)