Rewind

Yes, I know we got back from the Dominican Republic over a month ago but I really wanted to post some of the pictures from our trip. We had so much fun hanging out with friends and family that we never get to see and the wedding was beautiful.

Our trip didn't get off to a smooth start or end on a good note but we had fun in between! The airline has never found our car seat and they can't even tell us if it got out of the Dominican Republic.

We did learn a few lessons on our trip:

1.) Traveling internationally with a baby is hard. I can guarantee that we will be staying in the good old US of A for the next few years. There is a comfort factor in knowing you can run out of baby food, or diapers, or any other necessary baby thing. Running low on diapers and baby food ended with an expensive, international call to KC's dad to bring extra provisions for Chase and Sam. (Thank you Pop and Di!) Plus, have you ever tried to bathe a squirmy baby and not get water anywhere near their mouth? Sam has never been as dirty as she was by the time we left. We were wiping her down with baby wipes and counting pool time as bath time.

2.) Always, always get another room for the baby or just avoid hotels. And no, I don't mean avoid hotels as in don't go anywhere, just go somewhere you can rent a house (Hello North Carolina summer of '09) or go somewhere you can get adjoining rooms. Trying to keep the baby asleep while you are still in the room, or keeping her awake since no sane, non-pregnant adult wants to go to sleep at 8pm, is miserable.

3.) If at all possible, bring your own pack and play or make peace with sleeping in the same bed as the baby. We learned this lesson the first night when the crib in our room clearly said on the outside of the rails THIS IS THE INSIDE. Seriously, in ALL CAPS and red letters. Um, hello death trap anyone? I called housekeeping and got another one but never felt quite the same about using it. We are heading to Arizona this fall and the pack and play is coming with us.

4.) Lots of sunscreen and just when you think she has enough on...go ahead and put some more on. This was one of my lower moments as a mom. I swear I put sunscreen on the kid every hour. We applied the recommended 15-30 minutes before going outside to let it sink in and then about every hour we were outside. And her arms still got red on the third day. Who the heck lets their 6 month old baby get burned? It didn't phase her a bit so I am guessing she couldn't feel it but her arms looked pretty pink to me. The only thing I can figure I didn't factor in was the inordinate amount of time we spent in the pool. I cried and then we wore long sleeve shirts outside for 2 days.

OK, enough about all of the things that I screwed up on. Here are the pictures...

The future Mr. and Mrs. hanging out in their floaties

"How many pictures of Auntie Ande and I are you going to take???"

We took naps where ever we could get them this week...poolside, in the stroller, on a lounge chair

Chase and Christina

Sam and her Pop

Sam, Pop, and Dad

"Check out my cool new shades!"

Big, big fan of the pool

Aren't the Palsky's such a cute family?

Beginning of the photo shot on the beach. My MIL made these adorable outfits for them. Sam had never been on sand before. And didn't really notice it until she fell over.

Sam still thought this was so fun. And so did I until....

...she started rubbing her eyes and then my new mom paranoia set in. I thought "oh my gosh, she's rubbing the sand in her eyes. She's going to scratch her corneas." Seriously this is where my mind went. I grabbed Sam and race to the pool and dunk her in repeatedly until the sand was almost gone from her face. I swear she was looking at me and thinking "Are you insane?" After I came to my senses I figured out that every kid who has rubbed their eyes at the beach didn't end up with scratched cornea's. (Duh.)

Loni and her boys at the rehearsal dinner

We didn't plan it but we certainly look patriotic don't we?

Introducing the new Mr. and Mrs. Chewning

Hanging out with my Auntie Ande

Kc and I take one of these silly pictures every time we go on vacation. It's a little harder to get three heads in.

Gotta love kisses from Dad

Mr. and Mrs. Palsky in 2033 (or about there)

Ready to head home

The excitement of the week tuckered Sam out