As you know, we recently went to Hawaii and had the time of our lives, but with all the fun sometimes comes some craziness to go along with it. Here are a few of our traveling family adventures that have made it even more memorable….or forgettable…I can’t remember.
I will admit, I have been working really hard at trying to get in shape for this trip. But that being said, I did it being healthy, exercising, and making good choices. When we got to Hawaii I had decided that I wasn’t going to stick to my diet so hard and just eat whatever I wanted.
I tend to not eat a lot on vacation because I am always on the go and, although it’s weird, I forget about food because I am having too much fun. One morning I was making breakfast (egg whites, turkey patty, and mango). I was feeling light headed and asked my wife if she could come finish it because I was getting light headed. As I started to walk down the hall I guess I collapsed, and on the way down I hit my head against the corner of the door jam. OUCH!!!!
All I remember was falling and my head hurting so bad after I heard a huge bang! I woke up to my parents and wife over me saying my name over and over. They were all worried, but all I could say was, “I need to go to the bathroom.” I stood up, walked down the hall, and felt like I was going to puke my guts out.
This isn’t really the way you want to start off a fun exciting family vacation, but who knows why it happened. My dad kept asking if it was because I hadn’t been eating, “Do you have an eating disorder?” Ummmm no. I am fine. My mom kept thinking I was stressed, “Is work stressing you out?” Ummm no, I love my job! And my wife kept asking, “Has this happened before?” Ummmm no. This is really the weirdest thing ever.
At the end of the day though all I could think about was why it happened. Maybe it was because I needed to start taking it easy, relax, and enjoy my surroundings. I am always go go go and now was the time I had to sit back and enjoy my surroundings. Maybe it was the fact that I hadn’t been eating much and I need to start really taking better care of my body for my sake and for the sake of my family. I am a father now and I want to be able to play with my kids and enjoy time with my wife, but if all I am caring about is what goes in my mouth and how many calories it is, it’s not going to be very fun.
The next little adventure we had was at the beach. Everyone tells you how fun it is to take little ones to the beach for the first time. They love playing in the sand, wiggling it between their toes, and crawling away from the crashing waves as they rush up on the shore. What they don’t tell you is how they are going to eat the sand. I mean some people told us that he would eat it, but no one warned us for what was about to happen.
I have major anxiety already when it comes to getting dirty, but I had to relax and enjoy my son’s first time at the beach. Then it happened. Full on handfuls of sand going into his mouth. “Awww that’s so cute/funny!” Everyone says. Then again, and again, and again! Ummmm okay, enough! But you would pick him up and he was fine, but then once you set him back down it was like a digger pouring sand into this kids mouth. There was no stopping him.
So being the great parents that we are, we let him continue in his exotic diet and enjoy the surrounds. Come to find out this was going to haunt us ALL later on.
The old saying goes, “What goes up, must come down” should also apply go, ” What goes in, must come out.” Eating sand was fun, but pooping sand was not! It was like an hour glass had been turned over and it was just coming out of this kid. I imagine it must have felt like sand paper going through because he was screaming bloody murder.
Fortunately I have some amazing friends that had apparently been through this exact situation and told me that baby powered made it basically disappear, a bath, and lots of Vaseline. Worked like a charm. The next day we were happy as clams on the beach and moved on from eating sand, to eating bark, shells, and crabs. All in a days work.
The great thing about family vacations is that you not only get amazing experiences and memories, but you usually come back with some great stories. I honestly wouldn’t have changed a thing and I am so grateful that we decided to take our little nugget because it wouldn’t have been the same without him there.
