The Starrs Family Blog

Wednesday, October 1

We decided that the kids would probably only last a half-day at Busch Gardens, so we decided on another evening trip.  After breakfast we headed down to the Loch Ness pool to get a little swimmin’ in.  Andrew really likes the water fountains (at least this time he was in a bathing suit), and we got William some water wings so he could head into the deeper (4 feet to be exact) parts of the pool.

Andrew in the pool	Everybody but me in the pool

After lunch, we packed everything up and drove an hour into Tampa to Busch Gardens.  We learned from our experience at Disney and rented a double-stroller to wheel the boys around in.  After stopping for some lovely $15 fruit salads, we headed off to the Land of the Dragons.

The Land of the Dragons is an area of the park dedicated to little ones, with small-scale rides and playscapes.  Both boys rode on the carousel, the dinosaur egg ferris wheel, the flying dragons, and the giant moonwalk.  William went on a miniature log flume ride and got to drive his own car!

Daddy and Andrew on the carousel	William executing a brake-torque

Thursday, October 2

One of our favorite beaches in the Tampa area is the Fred Howard Park Beach, in Tarpon Springs.  We have taken William there twice and he was very excited to go back.  After breakfast we got the boys in their swimsuits, loaded up the car, and drove off for the beach.  We entered the park and William said “We’re here, we’re here!”  We drove a little further to a fork in the road and saw a sign:

Tragic Event #6: “Beach and Causeway closed from Sept 2nd until Fall 2009.”  Yet another disappointment.  We tried to explain to William what was going on but he was none to happy.

We drove back to Innisbrook and hit the pool again… it did have a miniature beach and at the end of the day, that was good enough for the boys.

Little sandy baby feet	William rockin’ the Tweety Bird floaties
The boys taking a dip

After swimming, lunch, and nap-time, we decided to take it easy that afternoon and hit the Sweet Tomatoes again.  We LOVE that place!  After we put the boys to bed we had some errands to take care of… Melissa worked on homework while I addressed envelopes to our relatives for Andrew’s Birthday.

Friday, October 3

Tragic Event #7: Andrew is sick!!!!

When the boys woke up on Friday, Andrew just was not himself.  He usually runs around destroying things, but he just wanted to be held… for hours on end.  We knew this was not good so we called around and found a local pediatrician who would see us.

On the way out of the resort, we grabbed the envelopes that Melissa had stamped that morning and put the birthday invitations in the outgoing mail.

Andrew had a 103 degree fever and showed inflammation in his throat and left ear.  The doctor gave us some amoxicillin and recommended that we alternate Tylenol and Motrin with him to keep the fever down.  As we were talking to the nurse, William grabbed a CapriSun pouch that Andrew was drinking from and took a few big sips.  Not good.  We filled the prescription and took the boys home.  That night, Andrew woke up multiple times, now in considerable pain.  His fever peaked at 104.9 degrees at one point.  He did not want to take his medicine at all… his throat was so sore he would not swallow anything.

Saturday, October 4

Andrew grew progressively worse throughout the day.  He would not eat or drink, he only wanted to be held.  He would not swallow his saliva, so he drooled everything out the front of his mouth.  His shirt, our shirts, the furniture, were all soaked.  He would eventually be so overcome by thirst that he would get off our laps, walk to his sippy cup, and take a drink of water.  Immediately after swallowing he would scream in pain, drop the cup, and come running crying back to us where he would just lay there until the urge to drink overcame him again.  It was one of the saddest things I have ever seen.

We were supposed to drive back to Orlando that night, crash in a hotel, and fly back home Sunday morning.  We knew Andrew was in no shape to travel, so we decided to move our flight and change our hotel to a 2 bedroom suite so at least William could sleep through the night if Andrew was still suffering rather than have all of us in one room.  Fortunately, Northwest and Hampton Inn were both willing to waive any flight change and cancellation fees when I told them our story.

Poor William watched every DVD we brought a hundred times over.  The pediatrician we had seen the day before was not open on Saturday, so we headed for a pediatric prompt care facility.  His ear was fine, but his throat and the inside of his mouth were bright red and covered in sores.  The doctor there gave us “Magic Mouthwash” consisting of Maalox, Benadryl, and lidocaine.  After forcing 5mL of this concoction into him, he started drinking like a fish.  We could only give it to him every 6 hours though, and as it wore off he was in pain again.  At least we knew we could get some fluids into him now.

Sunday, October 5

Andrew seemed to be improving a little bit on Sunday morning… we checked out of Innisbrook and drove back to Orlando.  About 15 minutes before reaching the hotel, Melissa recommended that we stop at a Wendy’s to grab some food.  We stopped for about 1/2 hour and drove to the hotel.  As we pulled into the parking lot, we were greeted by six Orange County Sherrif’s vehicles partially blocking all of the driveways.  They let us in and let me into the lobby.  While checking in, I overheard a young lady behind me describe to an officer what had happened:

(Near) Tragic Event #8: Our hotel was robbed!!!  I say near-tragic because if we hadn’t stopped at Wendy’s, we may have been in the lobby when the “mullet-headed white male with red, blood-shot eyes and creepy bright blue contacts robbed the hotel at gunpoint.”

According to the police, this was not the first hotel along the strip that had been hit by the suspect.  All of the rooms at this hotel had external entry, which was very nerve-wracking every time we came or went.

Andrew seemed to be doing better still, eating solid foods and starting to play and jump around.  The worst was over, we thought.

Monday, October 6

Andrew slept in two 5-hour bursts, the longest yet.  We woke up around 7:00, got everybody bathed and fed, loaded up the luggage, and headed to the airport.  Andrew was totally his crazy self again.  We got through security quickly and had some time to sit and have an early lunch before the flight.  Melissa looked at William and his arms were covered with goosebumps.  He was shaking.  She took our new thermometer out of her purse and checked him:

Tragic Event #9: William is sick!

William had a fever of 103.  We gave him some Motrin and made a doctor’s appointment for him back in Michigan for the next day.  Our plane was due to start boarding in 5 minutes.  We started heading for the gate with the boys and luggage in tow, but William was too weak to walk.  I took as much luggage as I could and Melissa tried to carry William while dragging Andrew in his car seat along with the rest of the bags.  When we reached the gate, they had already started boarding.  I walked up front and told the gate agent that I was a Gold Elite member with 2 sick children and 2 car seats to install, and begged to slip into the line; she quickly agreed.  I waved Melissa up and we got the boys situated.

After we took off, I pulled out the portable DVD player to try and occupy the boys.  They watched about 10 minutes of the video when…

Tragic Event #10: Dead battery.

Without a video, Andrew had nothing better to do than kick the seat in front of him.  We took his shoes off to lessen the impact.  His car seat pushed him pretty far foward, so it was not a stretch to reach it.  He also liked unlatching the tray table with his toe and then kicking that.  When I tried to restrain him or get him to stop, he would scream at the top of his lungs.  I felt very bad for the guy in front of us, but I hope he understood that he could only choose between kicking and screaming… and I thought he would rather endure some kicking.  I fired up my laptop and put a DVD on for the boys on it, which only slightly reduced the force and frequency of the kicking.

When we landed, we waited for the plane to empty.  William tried to walk with his carry-on bag but was shaking and unable to do so.  A stewardess took his bag and helped him down the jetway.  Somehow, an extra wheelchair had been called for that was not used.  The stewardess asked the transporter if she could take William in the wheelchair… so we put William in the chair and he was wheeled with us all the way to baggage claim.  Grandpa Lindroth picked us up in our minivan and off we went, finally.

The boys and Melissa fell asleep in the minivan on the way home.  William slept on the couch the rest of the day.  I got a few phone calls from some relatives regarding some strange things they received in the mail:

(Not so) Tragic Event #11: The case of the missing invitations!  With all of the chaos in Florida, between my addressing the envelopes and Melissa stamping them, neither of us bothered to insert the invitiations or seal the envelopes.  All of our relatives received cryptic, empty envelopes.

Tuesday, October 7

William no longer has a fever but his throat is hurting and he does not have much energy.  It does not seem to be nearly as bad as Andrew’s, thank heavens.  Not sure if he will to to school tomorrow or not.

Wednesday, October 8

No school, throat still sore.  William has a lot more energy and we expect him to be in school tomorrow.

Thus ends what Melissa and I fondly refer to as “The Vacation from Hell.”  Now we really need a vacation from our vacation.  Even though it was extremely stressful to us, I think the boys still enjoyed Disney, Busch Gardens, and swimming all the time, so it wasn’t for naught.

Let’s see, where to start?  Our family vacation to Florida was full of adventure and excitement!  It seems that every single day we were haunted by one or more tragic events… read on for the details:

Friday, September 26:

At the start, both boys were very excited and ready to go:

2 boys anxiously awaiting their vacation… won’t fit, looks like we’ll have to buy them tickets

Saturday, September 27

Our flight took off on-time a little after 7:00PM.. the boys behaved themselves for the most part on the flight thanks to the portable DVD player.  It was not easy once we landed, however.  2 boys, 2 car-seats, 2 large and heavy suitcases along with a business case, laptop case, CPAP case, portable bed, duffel bag, and purse were difficult to move about.  After getting our rental car we headed off to our first stop, the Westgate Lakes Resort (time-share generously provided to us by our friend Curious George! ).  We arrived around 11:00.  After 30 minutes of enduring delay tactics from the time-share sales force, we finally got our keys and were into the room around 11:30.

Tragic Event #1: Our reservation was for a 3-bedroom suite.  It is actually a 2 and 1-bedroom suite joined by a single external entry (Suites A and B).  Our keycard read 452B.  We entered the room and found a studio.  We were a little upset.

It took 10 minutes of holds, transfers, etc. until a front desk person told us to try our key in Suite “A” as well.  It worked!  William jumped in one bed and Melissa and Andrew in another, fully clothed, and fell asleep as I retrieved our luggage and headed out to the 24 Hour Walmart for breakfast and lunch supplies.  I got to bed around 1:30.

Sunday, September 28

We decided to just relax today and get some rest before attempting DisneyWorld the next day.  After eating breakfast and lounging around for awhile, we decided to get more supplies at Walmart.  We bought lots of refrigerated and frozen items and headed back to Westgate.

Tragic Event #2: We got the boys and our bags of groceries upstairs, and were locked out of the condo.  We called the front desk from my cellphone and were told that security would be right over.  15 minutes later, after a second call, with melting groceries and sweaty, crabby children, we were provided access to our room.

We ate lunch in the condo and decided to try the on-site barbecue restaurant for dinner.  We sat down and started eating when…

Tragic Event #3: Andrew was unbearable.  He threw silverware on the floor, threw corn, mashed potatoes, and spaghetti all over the table, himself, and the floor.  We got our food to go and left early.

After dinner Daddy and William hit the swimming pool while Mommy and Andrew took a walk:

William working on his back float

We hit the sack and looked forward to our visit to the Magic Kingdom the next day.

Monday, September 29

We woke up somewhat refreshed and gave the boys a bath in the jacuzzi tub.  A little later, Andrew filled his diaper and it was up to me to remedy the situation.  After changing him, he jumped off the bed wearing just his diaper.  I sat on the edge of the bed and reached down to pull his pants up, and…

Tragic Event #4: I threw my back out.  It happens once or twice a year for whatever reason, and it happened on vacation this time.  I called my doctor back in Michigan and pleaded for a muscle-relaxant prescription to be phoned to a nearby Walgreen’s.  This was at 9:00AM.  At 10:00 AM, I called back to discover that the doctor had approved my request and my prescription would be phoned in shortly.  45 minutes later, I called the pharmacy and no scrip was on file.  I phoned the doctor’s office back and was told the good news that the doctor had approved my request, and my prescription would be phoned in shortly!  After desperate pleading with the receptionist including tales of my sore back and my sad kids waiting to see Mickey Mouse, she agreed to phone it in herself and call me back immediately.  A little before noon, we picked up my medication.

At this point, Disney could just be an afternoon trip.  Shortly after lunch, we headed to the Magic Kingdom.  I was just medicated enough to carry a large duffle bag while Melissa pushed Andrew in the stroller and led William by the hand.

We had a good (if painful) time at the park.  The boys saw (and met) many characters:

Some Disney characters in a parade	The family meets Buzz Lightyear!

I got some free publicity at the Monster’s Inc. Laugh Floor.  This is a little theater show featuring some “live” animated hosts along with live cameras on members of the crowd who are pulled into improvisation and humiliation.  I got a few minutes of fame introduced as the guy who was going to buy “Churros for everybody!” at which I pumped my fists to bursts of applause.   William got a kick out of seeing daddy on TV.

The boys played in Pooh Bear’s Hundred-acre Wood play area: William enjoyed the Tree-house but Andrew preferred the random, ground-mounted water jets, all in his regular clothing.  We had to buy Andrew a new shirt and stroll him around the rest of the night in his diaper because apparently DisneyWorld does not sell shorts.

We all went on the Small World boat ride.  Melissa and William went on a Buzz Lightyear adventure ride.  William and I rode the flying Dumbos:

William and Dumbo… riding on some flying elephant

Cinderella’s Castle after dark

We decided to leave the park at around 7:30.  It was dark and the boys were tired.  We rode the train back to the front of the park.  We rode the monorail to the parking trams.  We rode the trams to the parking lot.  We reached our car around 8:30.  I reached into my right pocket for the keys, and came up empty.  Melissa checked her pockets and purse, no luck.  We looked inside our rental car…

Tragic Event #5: Sitting on the passenger seat were our keys.  Of all of the late model year Chevy Impalas we could have rented, ours did not have OnStar.  By 8:45, we reached the Alamo assistance line and were told that help would arrive in the form of a lock-popping service within 45 minutes.  Fortunately, this gave us time to walk past some trees in the parking lot and watch the 9:00 fireworks display.  The service arrived at 9:45 as promised, and proceeded to fidget with many different tools on all four doors of the Impala for another 40 minutes, until finally having success at the driver’s door.  We got back to the condo a little after 11:00.

Fortunately, the boys were absolute angels while we were locked outside the car.  No whining, crying, or complaining:

The happy family taking in some fresh air	Donald Duck cruelly laughing at our predicament

Tuesday, September 30

We again took it easy in the morning and decided to drive to Tampa after lunch.  We packed up all of our things and hit I-4.  Around 4:30 we got to Palm Harbor and stopped for dinner at one of our favorite restaurants… Sweet Tomatoes!  I don’t know where there aren’t any of these in Michigan.  It is a salad buffet restaurant that also has soups, breads, and desserts on the cheap.  And it’s all good!  We fed our family of 4 complete dinner, beverages, and desserts for under $25.  The boys ate like champs.  Andrew ate for free, but I’m pretty sure he out-ate William.

We then proceeded to a condo at the Innisbrook Golf Resort (as guests of my very generous Uncle Carl and Aunt Jackie!).  What a beautiful and peaceful place.  We let the boys get accustomed to their new digs and retired early.  Tomorrow would hold a trip to Busch Gardens, and that is where we will leave off for now as I am tired and need to get to bed.  I need my strength for what is to come… Stay tuned for Episode 2!

Grandma and Grandpa played with Andrew while William was at gymnastics. They brought out a new toy, a cash register with several “coins”. Andrew was fascinated making sounds by ringing up prices, putting coins in the slots, watching them roll down the change return and popping open the cash drawer to find more coins! He played, just about non-stop for over an hour.  That’s concentration in a little guy not quite two.

We took the boys up to Uncle Ron’s cottage in Forester, MI on Lake Huron (about 1 1/2 hours North of us).

After running all around the yard for a few hours (the boys especially loved the ditch), we had a lunch of hot dogs, coleslaw, and Melissa’s homemeade smoked-turkey potato salad.

Once lunch was taken care of, we took the boys to the beach.  They had a great time… this was Andrew’s first time in Lake Huron!

After the lake, we went back for some apple pie and more running around. Then it was time to go, hoping Andrew would fall asleep for his nap on the way back (which he did!)  The boys had a great time.

Yesterday Melissa cooked up some spaghetti with meat sauce.  We put Andrew in his chair and served dinner…  He wolfed it down!

Tonight it was chicken sausage, baked beans, and green beans fresh from the farm across the street. Andrew fought getting in the chair at first until he saw the baked beans. He then sat nicely and ate all of the baked beans, all of the sausage, and some of the green beans. Only time will tell what tomorrow night will bring.

Over the last few weeks, Andrew has suddenly started being very difficult when it comes to dinnertime.  He eats breakfast and lunch no problem, but tries his best to skip dinner and just hold out for the bedtime snack.  We decided that we had to nip this problem in the bud and had a standoff a few nights ago.

On the menu this night was Mexican… ground beef (without spice for Andrew), refried beans, lettuce, tomato… but he wasn’t having it.  We strapped him in and the waiting game began.

He tried to writhe and wiggle his way out of the seat, but to no avail:

Once he tired out a little, mom presented him with some spoonfulls of dinner. He was not amused.

Then things got violent:

Later that evening, faced with starvation, he ate the refried beans before getting his snack. Had a lesson been learned? Stay tuned!

A little late in the season, but we brought out the kids swimming pool for the first time.  They loved it, of course.   Check out Andrew flexing in the last shot… that kid is all muscle!

After almost two years of not giving a darn about the written word, Andrew is finally starting to enjoy books.  William would sit for a book starting at a few months, but Andrew is a very different child.  He is starting to say a few words as well so maybe this new interest is connected to speech.

Here are some shots of him reading while riding backwards on a giant dog… not so good if one is prone to motion sickness.

My sister and brother-in-law came into town this weekend for two baby showers, of course they brought our new nephew, Aseph.  We met him for the first time on Friday and saw him again yesterday.  The boys were very excited to meet their new, tiny cousin.  See photos below:

Hopefully Melissa and I will be able to steal away for a weekend and visit him at home in the near future!