Choices

This blog post is coming to you from beautiful Savannah, GA! We just took our family vacation and are on our way back home. We drove from our home in VA to Port Canaveral, FL, to embark on our first ever Disney vacation: a Disney cruise! I will blog more about our vacation once we arrive home and I can upload photos.

First, if you have always want to take a Disney vacation but you think your kids are too young for the park, definitely opt for the Disney cruise. Hayden, who probably would not have enjoyed rides at this age, absolutely loved getting to see Mickey Mouse! Mickey Mouse was the whole point of the vacation for him. Abby loved getting to see the other characters and getting their autographs.

During our vacation, we have had both fun times and what my husband has termed the typical "Doyle" vacation. Everything started out smoothly but we have had some major bumps along the way.

Two days into the cruise, Hayden threw up after eating lunch. I didn't get too concerned about it because kids throw up all the time. The next day, however, while at Castaway Cay, he had his first episode of diarrhea. Let's put it this way: we hadn't made it to the family beach yet and had to stop at a little shop on the island to purchase a new pair of swimming trunks for him. This wasn't too alarming for me, but I started to really pay close attention to his actions and mood after this. Could he have a tummy bug, or is he just getting a new tooth that I haven't noticed? The answer became quite clear when we returned to our stateroom and he had another nasty diaper. So, off we went to the ship's doctor. I told him what Hayden's symptoms were and that I thought he just had a tummy bug and needed some Pedialyte or Powerade and a bland diet. The doctor agreed with me and sent us on our way with some Pedialyte popsicles and orders for Hayden to be isolated in our stateroom for the next 48 hours. What?! That was the remainder of the cruise!

I told Ben this and he and Abby chose not to go to the restaurant for dinner that night but instead ate in the stateroom with Hayden and me. Guest Services on the ship sent a DVD player to our room and a list of DVDs that we could choose from so that we could help keep the little guy entertained. Any laundry soiled due to Hayden's upset tummy would be cleaned free of charge by the laundry services. All non-alcoholic drinks ordered through Room Service would be free of charge; in fact, even the snacks we ordered through Room Service that we should have paid for ended up being free of charge! And their housekeeping/Room Host staff even came twice to put clean linens on our bed during the night.

Now, here's the choice: be completely bummed that the rest of the cruise was "ruined" or continue to be thankful for the little--and not so little--things and find ways to still make it special. I must admit that I had a few moments of being bummed. All Hayden wanted to do was see Mickey Mouse, and I thought that he might not get to do that. We were finally able to take him to see the Mouse, and he has not stopped talking about it yet! It was fun, though, to be able to take Abby by myself to see "Hannah Montana: The Movie" on the ship, even though we had already seen it in the theater. We even stole away for a couple of pieces of pizza afterward!

Fast forward to yesterday when we arrived in Savannah. The toilet in our hotel room got clogged, the air conditioner stopped working, and then Hayden threw up in the middle of the floor. I'm sure the maintenance man is ready to see us go! Ben and I really took all of this in stride. The icing on the cake, however, was last night when I had asked Ben to run to the store to pick something up for me. We parked in the hotel's parking garage, and while backing the van out of the parking spot, Ben completely wiped the driver's side mirror off when he side-swiped a support pillar in the garage. Here is where we both failed the choices test. I am sorry to say that we both got angry about this. I think that it was just too much to take in, you know? We had both hit our breaking points with things that had gone "wrong" when this happened.

After sleeping last night, however, we have both seen all of this for what it is: a humorous vacation! The choice is to laugh about it or cry about it, and we have chosen to laugh. I am very thankful that my husband did not get injured when he had the accident with the van; I am also thankful that we have now had more opportunity to walk around the historic district of Savannah and have even had chances to ride the bus here. The kids think it is great fun to ride the bus! I am thankful that Hayden is getting over this tummy bug. And I am thankful for all of the time that we have had to spend together as a family during this past week. The kids have loved seeing their daddy all day, every day.

The lesson here is that every situation has a choice to be made; how you react reflects your level of thankfulness at that moment. And just about every "bad" situation looks funny the next day.

Make the most of your day today! Glorify God with all of your choices, and always express your thankfull to Him. And don't forget to ask yourself the question that the Laughing Cow commercials ask: "Have you laughed today?"