It Wasn't All Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows

 You're welcome. That song will now be in your head for the rest of the day.

Anyways, if you're a frequent reader of our blog, you've probably been reading my recent posts about our vacation at Lake Anna (you can read the posts about our trip HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE). And if you have a soul, you probably thought to yourself, "Awww, they're so cute," or "Oh, it looks like they had so much fun." Well, I'm writing this post to tell you that it wasn't all sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows. Our kids were not that cute (they were actually quite nasty and frustrating at times) and things did not run that smoothly (we had several little mishaps through out the week that added to our stress levels). I know what you're thinking, "What? It looked like you had such a great time?" We did. But we also had many arguments, time-outs, and plan interruptions.

Don't believe me? Here's the rundown of the sucky things that happened during our supposedly relaxing one week long vacation (Who ever said that vacations were relaxing probably didn't have small children.):

• Wes left the van windows all the way down during a monsoon of a rain storm. The van subsequently smelled of mildew and nastiness for the rest of the week. It was foul.
• I locked the keys in the van while we were at the state park beach. We had to wait in our bathing suits outside and in the nature center for 45 minutes before a park ranger came to help jimmy the lock.
• Vivian had the mother-of-all-tantrums on the beach when Wes told her it was time to go. It was so bad that Wes had to carry her away (because she was writhing and kicking on the ground and would not move) while she was screaming at the top of her lungs. She screamed for a good 25 minutes. While we were waiting for the park ranger to come jimmy the lock to the van. So, we were sitting outside, in our bathing suits, listening to Little Miss scream. Her fit was so bad that I made her apologize to the life guards. She did not like that. Oh well. She was insane.
• A unused diaper somehow made it's way into the washing machine and exploded all over our clothes. We had to wash that load 3 more times before all of the little diaper pieces came off. Then, another diaper made it's way into the washing machine two days later. Three more washes for that load as well.
• There was a bit of a bee problem. They were everywhere. But a bee only got in the house once and in the van once. Thank goodness. 
• The van overheated a few times while we were at the lake (once on the way to the lake, once in a drive-through, once in the lake neighborhood, and once on the way home). Each time, we had to sit in the hot sun and wait for it to cool down while Wes filled it with more water, etc. In fact, we barely made it home. As we pulled into the driveway, smoke began billowing out of the hood. Then, Wes and the twins then spent the afternoon fixing it. On our first day back home. 
• Gavin had to be told not to do whatever it was that he was doing an average of 32 times (each time) before he listened... maybe. He was just so excited and amped up about everything. And, he's Gavin.
• It rained a lot. Actually, it rained almost every day that we were there at least for a few minutes. And it thundered a lot. The life guards closed the state park beach one time while we were there (cutting our beach trip very short) and another time, our morning plans were crushed from the pouring rain. We managed to swim in the thunder-less rain a couple of times, though.
• And, we left our huge brand-new shampoo and conditioner in the master bathroom. Damn waste of money. 

See? It wasn't perfect. Far from it, actually. But we'll be sure to do it again next year. Cause we're crazy.