That Time We Went to Georgia (And Florida) During a Hurricane! Pt. 1

**So with the title of this post I should preface this whole trip by saying I had NO idea there would be a hurricane coming when I booked this trip. I didn't even know it was coming until Monday when Stace sent me a text about the hurricane and we were suddenly on watch with that. We kept hearing it could hit Georgia, then it was more towards the Carolina's, then Stace said she was going to be evacuated (which I figured would cancel our flight entirely), then she actually wasn't going to be...it was a LOT of back and forth and I was just going off of what the airline said. If our flights were still good to go then our trip must be okay, but I won't lie and say I wasn't a little nervous.**

And now on to the regular post...

Oh man was it an early start today! I'll admit after I realized how early our flight was (7 AM) and how early we'd have to get up (4 AM) I was a little nervous getting Cara up that early and how she'd adjust. Luckily I have the perfect child and she did SO well with waking up that early. I thought she'd sleep on the way to the airport, but nope. She just chatted with us and enjoyed being up so early haha. She even was all smiles when we got on the airport parking shuttle to go to the terminal!

Unfortunately, we left very little time for her to wander/explore around at the airport. We found a place to get some food (pizza for Larry, a fruit parfait for me, and some fruit for Cara) and I ran around looking for a water fountain to fill our water bottles (which saved us quite a bit of money over buying expensive water bottles on top of food within the airport) and then by the time we got to the gate they were starting to board. She still hardly cried being stuck on the plane (for over 3 hours even!). She didn't sleep much though, I'm not sure if that's because she had to sleep on Larry this time around (my bump did not leave any room for her to cuddle up on) or if she just didn't feel like sleeping that much or what, but she did okay.

Choosing a book over watching the movie: Parenting win!

When we landed in Atlanta (our layover to Savannah) I decided I needed to get food (I was SO hungry) and the first place I saw was a Wendy's so that was lunch for us. I got Cara some chicken strips and I got my regular burger, fries, and a frosty. Larry wasn't hungry. We barely had time for me to eat my burger and Cara to drool over a chicken strip before we were boarding again.

Our flight to Savannah had our biggest scare as parents: Cara's first real choking experience! Oh how I never wished to experience that, but luckily it wasn't AS bad as I always feared. I still had her grapes so I was letting her pick one out of the container at a time. Well at one point she grabbed 4, but it was in the hand furthest from me, so I told Larry to keep an eye on that hand. After a while I heard her make the choking sound (which she usually follows with a big cough) and then no coughing or breathing sounds after, I looked at her and saw her lips were super blue! I smacked her back and then told Larry that she's really choking, not just breathing in pieces wrong, and so he had to give her a little bit of the Heimlich. She ended up coughing up the big chunk stuck in her throat and we threw it away. She cried quite a bit (understandable) and I just hugged her and let her know she was okay. I hated it, but I'm SO glad she didn't pass out or anything! I think we all handled the horrible situation very well. I ended up taking her to the bathroom to wipe down all the stuff she had coughed up and of course cuddled her a little more.

Landing in Savannah, I was SO ready to be in our hotel and get our vacation started. I was so nervous flying would cause me to go into labor (I have no idea why, but it was just another fear of mine) so I wanted to finally sit down and relax a little. We had plans to pick up our car, get to the hotel, get some groceries, and then meet up with Stace for dinner (it is Ollie's birthday so he got to pick a dinner place for us to meet up at). Unfortunately, the car rental place was SO slow! It took a good half an hour to just get up to the counter. Luckily everyone thought Cara was just too adorable (which she is). She even waved for the first time to a stranger on the tram in the Atlanta airport!

So by the time we got our car Stace was already ready to go to dinner so I told her we had to check into the hotel really quickly and then we'd head to dinner. Ollie chose an Asian Buffet-like place, which we always have loved out here so it was really yummy. They didn't have lemon chicken that I normally like or watermelon that Cara normally likes, but we were able to find plenty of stuff to fill us! I even did so good and didn't have any ice cream there (although we did let Cara try a cone for the first time and she definitely liked it).

After dinner we went to Stace's house (super cute place by the way!) for gifts and cupcakes. Ollie got a lot of good stuff, but I think all the boys seemed to love the box in a box in a box in a box gag gift. They were obsessed with saying "Another box!" after each one they opened (it was from Sam - a friend that came with us to dinner). Cara loved running around the house, but probably because it was the first time that whole day she could finally wiggle. She also got a cupcake there and seemed to REALLY love that. I kind of worried having so much sugar and so late would keep her up, but it was a birthday and it's a vacation so why not? After that we had to hit the grocery store and funnily enough Cara completely passed out on that drive. It wasn't too long, but she must have been worn out from no real nap during the flights.

I also have to point out, while we were there Stace showed me the blanket she made for Minion (red, white, and black to match the bedroom décor and all minky material! It was AMAZING!), plus she got some other things: a lovey, some diaper packs for the diaper bag (different colors for each kid so we pack the right size in the right one), some diapers, and then a cute coloring pad for Cara. Cara's favorite thing: the lovey! In fact, we've decided that's for her now and we'll have to buy Minion her own haha.

Cara's "room" area

Using a couch as a separator

After groceries we went back to the hotel to set up Cara's area (give her a room-like feel) and get things ready for the next day and get it all set out. We all also needed showers/baths to wash off the travel from the day. So overall, it was a good start for our trip. No hurricane signs (so far), other than Cara's choking experience we had smooth flights, we got lots of good food and I'm so excited to be here to see my best friend! It's been way too long since we've seen each other in person. Hopefully the rest of the trip goes as smoothly (if not more so haha). My biggest goal is to have new memories of Georgia, I have only been once before and it wasn't the best trip, so this is to make up for that one many years ago.