Family (of 3!!) Vacation

Last week, after 9 months home, we took the plunge and got back on a plane with little J in tow...and boy, were we right, our child is a super-duper traveler!!!!!  We flew down to Florida, with one layover, to enjoy a little fun in the sun with some good friends.  The day we left, we had to get J up at 4 - yes, that was in the A.M., people! - to drive to the airport that is 45 minutes away (free parking there still, yippee!).  J stayed awake for the entire first flight except for maybe the last 10 minutes when he got a little cat nap.  We had a quick bite to eat at the Atlanta airport and then on to our final flight, where he again stayed up until we started our descent.  He then proceeded to sleep on my shoulder through landing, de-planing (is that even a word??), and going to pick up our checked bags (one of the two being J's carseat and are we ever so glad that we took his rather than renting one with the car!).  So that was it.  A combined nap of about 55 minutes...for. the. entire. day.  I don't know what the boy was running on, but mommy and daddy were on fumes by the time we got to bed that night!
The first part of the trip, we stayed with friends who have 2 1/2 year old twin boys and it was cute to see them all interact with each other.  And J had a great time playing with their toy grill set and all their cars.  Except the motorized ones; he completely freaked out whenever the gas pedal was pressed on those, even if he was nowhere near them!  Weird, especially with how much he likes cars, trains, buses, and, well, anything with wheels!!  We went to a children's beach the next day, although the wind was pretty strong and made it a tad chillier than I would have liked, but dang it!, I was in Florida for some sun and sand and, by God, I was sticking it out!  It really wasn't all that bad.  It's not like we got sandblasted due to the wind.  I have some video I'll get up over the weekend hopefully, where you can hear the wind blowing constantly and see the waves it was creating in this little inlet we were playing in.  The following day, we went to a St. Louis Cardinals Spring Training game and got to sit in the front row behind the batter just to the side of the dugout!!  Sweet seats!  Thanks, Aaron.  We all had a great time and were actually able to make it through the end of the game, even with three toddlers who weren't really paying attention to the ballgame.  My child pigged out and completely mooched off the snacks of the other two boys...of course, he didn't want the snacks Mommy brought!  On the way back home that night, Chris, J, and I stopped and had dinner, al fresca, right off the beach at a very yummy restaurant.  J was in a good mood the whole day and zonked out in the car on the remainder of the way home.  What a great day!
On Sunday, we drove about 4 hours to see our friends that we met while in Korea picking up our sons.  This was the first time we had seen them since returning to the States on the same flight.  I was so excited to see them again, rather than just talk over the phone.  J did great on the drive and slept about an hour or so.  Their son, J, was napping when we got there, so our J got the run of the playroom where there is a train table set up; he was in heaven!  But the most amazing thing that brought tears to my eyes and really touched my heart, was when their J got up from his nap.  When our J saw him, his face lit up and he squealed and smiled and ran over to him...of course, I wasn't expecting this, so I didn't have the camera ready.  Boo!!  I so wish I knew what J was thinking right then: does he remember the other J, or was he responding that way because they look more similar to each other than they do to us, their parents?  But we have other Korean friends here in town, and he doesn't respond in the same way to them.  How I wish I knew if maybe their foster families had gotten together in Korea, but how on earth would they still remember each other with how young they are??  Oh well, something I may never know.  But it did my heart good to see them together.  They are only 11 days apart in age, but physically are on opposite ends of the growth charts!  Wait until you see the pictures.  They seemed to interact very well after the initial getting-to-know-each-other phase.
On Monday, we went to the zoo and even though they weren't completely into all the animals yet, they actually did a lot better than we had anticipated.  Well worth the money.  Although I think my J's favorite thing was the water fountain area just inside the gates that he played in for about 20 minutes while the other J finished up his nap...and which earned him a souvenir beach towel and t-shirt, since I had only packed an extra pair of shorts for him!  If only I had known, I would have put him in a swim diaper and stripped him down...the boy was soaked!!  Good thing it was sunny and warm that afternoon.  We fed the giraffes, saw the manatees and big turtles swimming right up to the glass under water, watched the penguins diving, and pushed the stroller in (almost) straight lines.  (Of course, J didn't want to sit in the stroller and be pushed; he wanted to do the pushing!)  The one thing we were hoping to finally show J were the lions...but there were NO lions at this zoo.  Bummer!  Guess we'll have to go find them at another one sometime soon.
We flew home the next day and J was officially exhausted by then.  He stayed awake for the first leg of the trip, but fell asleep in Chris' arms before we even left the ground on our second flight.  Woke up by the time we landed and was happy to run around the lobby of the airport while Daddy went to get the car.  He was soooo ready to get out of the car by the time we finally made it back home and was very excited to see all his toys again.  All in all, a great trip spent renewing friendships.  Thank you all for the hospitality.  Cannot wait to go back!!  Pictures and video will be coming soon.