Countdown to Aruba

We leave this week for our annual family vacation to Aruba, fourth year in a row we're taking this trip with the girls - on our first one Ava was not yet 1, Madison two months shy of 3. Yes, we're still wondering what we were thinking that year. My most vivid memory of Aruba 2004 was jamming Ava's Britax Roundabout onto her American Airlines seat and then having to hold my arm up extended for the better portion of a four-hour flight to serve as a human shield between her kicking feet and the passenger lucky enough to have been placed directly in front of her.

The next year offered a different kind of fun, when I carried the same seat all the way to our appointed spot at the back of the plane and triumphantly buckled it into place, only to be forced to navigate my way back over previously conquered terrain - bumping up against irritated passengers every step of the way - to gate check the thing after Ava violently refused to sit in it.

I'm sure I'll be posting on events related to getting there, being there, and fighting our way back to civilization when it's all over - always one of the best and most rewarding days of the year. I'm bringing the MacBook along, so maybe I'll even throw up a posting or two over the course of the week.

This has turned into a really great trip for us that gets better every year as the kids get older. The gang includes my parents, sister, nephew, grandmother and aunt, so it's nice family time with the added benefits of sun, 80-degree weather, casinos and beer.

In addition to amazing memories, the trip produces some of our most lasting photos of the girls. Here are a couple of blog-friendly photos from previous installments.


[2005]


[2006]

[2007... coming soon.]