Last minute vacation....from hell?

It's completely my fault. I've been getting cabin fever since it's been FOREVER since we've been ANYWHERE. Whine whine. I (easily) convinced Darren to take us away for a long weekend. We were just unsure where to go. Taking a 1 1/2 year busy toddler on long road trips can be excruciating. Darren wanted to go somewhere a couple of hours away and camp. I really wasn't feeling the whole camping thing. My butt still hurt from a recent fall down the stairs (don't really want to share more, thank you), so the thought of sleeping on the ground didn't really interest me.

I had heard of this awesome Hostel in the Forest where you sleep in treehouses, are fed vegetarian meals, and are basically in this oasis about an hour south of Savannah. We love Savannah, so I thought, why not spend a couple of nights at the hostel, then a night with our good friend Shannon?

Of course, this would require a 5 1/2 hour drive down on Wednesday, an hour drive to Savannah on Friday, and a 4 1/2 hour drive back to Atlanta on Saturday. That's a lot of driving even for us, let alone Kora. I hemmed and hawed for hours, and finally decided on Tuesday that we are doing this. We borrowed a DVD player from Brian and Luisa (thanks guys!) just in case. Maybe this was a sign of things to come, but just the Tuesday drive to and from Lawrenceville to pick up the DVD player wore me and Kora out. God, I hate driving.

Anyway, we got on the road on Wednesday around 1:15. We hadn't eaten lunch, so the first thing we wanted to do was get something fast. Oh, did I mention we're gluten-free this month (long story for another time)? Well that makes our choices interesting. I decided on a broccoli & cheese baked potato from Wendy's, and Darren got a chicken salad. Not our typical roadtrip fare but at least it was healthier!

We were able to make it to the hostel with only one major stop at a gas station and a playground(!) to stretch our legs. Bob the Builder was a hit with Kora and she even slept for about 2 hours.

The hostel is very beautiful. But, I'm not sure it's the best place for a toddler. First of all, dinner was served at 9PM. Now Kora is a pretty flexible kid, but 9PM is way past her bedtime. And before we could eat, everyone held hands and individually said what they were thankful for. Since there were almost 30 people, this took about half an hour in itself. I swear some people were so high that they were thanking the most obscure things, and taking their own sweet time while doing so. Kora did not want me to hold anyone else's hand, so we had to leave the circle (and nurse in the corner). About 20 minutes later, she decided she didn't want daddy to hold anyone else's hand either. Finally the thanksgiving was over and daddy went to get us some food, which was...actually great!

Immediately after dinner, I took Kora to our room for bed. I forgot to mention that our room was right in the main area: near the kitchen, the fire pit, the laundry room, the common room, and the dining area. I think if we had a tree house that was located further away it would have been a much different experience. On their website they state that they enforce a quiet time beginning at 11PM*. Let me just say that there was NO quiet time enforced. Loud trance music and talking (yelling) went on and on until what must've been about 3AM. And THEN, the roosters started cockle doodling about an hour or two later. Ay. What an awful night.

One of the G**D***ed roosters

We all trudged out of bed the next morning and made the most of our stay there. I cooked up some of the free eggs for the family and made some much needed coffee. We did a lot of walking around the property. It is very beautiful. We went to the lake, to the labyrinth, the yoga studio and the garden where they grow all of their vegetables. Kora slept on my back for some of this, so it was nice to walk and talk with Darren with no interruptions.

Daddy and Kora reflecting

Nevertheless, we decided to cut our stay short and head to Savannah that night. But, not before a quick trip to Jekyll Island! I had never been there before and we walked around a bit. It is a nice beach. Not crowded at all. We didn't get in the water, but instead just walked and enjoyed the lovely weather.

Then, the car again. Ugh. The hour ride to Savannah ended up being about an hour and a half due to traffic. Quick dinner at Sol then put our little girl to bed. She actually slept pretty well, and I did also!

The next day (Friday) we had some breakfast at a coffee house and played at Forsyth Park for a while. Then we left for Tybee Island, counting on Kora to take a nap in the car. Boy, did she. Almost two hours later, she finally woke up and we had some lunch at The Crab Shack (by the way, yum!). Kora was a bit antsy so halfway through lunch we took turns taking her to see the gators and birds they have there.

After lunch we spent the afternoon on the beach. I was so nervous about getting the suncreen on correctly since she wouldn't wear her hat. I knew that if she got sunburned, she would be miserable, which would in turn make us all miserable. Luckily she was fine. What I didn't know was that there was something else in store for us that evening.

Protecting baby skin

We picked up some Thai food on the way back to Shannon's. It was getting pretty late and I was anxious to put Kora to bed, so I took her upstairs to give her a quick bath. She cried a bit, and then threw up on me. I called for Darren to help at that point. We cleaned her the best we could and chalked it up to excitement. She slept for a couple of hours and then woke up coughing. I went in the check on her and saw that she was covered in vomit. Poor thing! Shannon helped me take the sheets off the bed and put new sheets on. I changed her and decided to just hold her in bed with a few towels around us. Well, she threw up so many times that night that I lost count. I withheld nursing her a few times so that she wouldn't have anything left to throw up. Instead, I held her and danced around the room singing. That night is still kind of a blur. I remember waking up at 6:30 to her throwing up a bit again, and then Darren taking her downstairs to give me a break. I slept until 8:30 and went downstairs. Kora was asleep on her daddy and she hadn't thrown up again.

She slept most of the day while Darren and I cleaned up the place and did laundry. We were scheduled to leave that day and boy was I dreading the drive back. We finally got on the road around 3PM after picking up an anti-nausea prescription for Kora. She did sooo well on the drive home and we didn't even have to use the DVD player! It certainly helped that she slept for over 2 hours. And we made record time! No stops, and home in just under 4 hours!

Kora is doing so much better. She didn't eat anything on Saturday and Sunday, but today (Monday) she ate some crackers, eggs and blueberries. I am so glad that I am still nursing her. It kept her hydrated and comforted at the same time, not to mention she got some of my antibodies to help her through the illness.

Unfortunately, it looks like Darren has succumbed to this virus. He started feeling ill Sunday night, and spent most of the night throwing up and dry heaving. He was in bed all day today. He took some of Kora's medicine and hasn't thrown up since, but he's pretty weak. Hope it is pretty quick for him, too. Also, I am really hoping I don't get this nasty bug. Moms shouldn't be allowed to get sick.

I think I'll think twice before I start whining about cabin fever again.

*I reread their statement on the site and the sentence goes like this: We enforce a quiet hour beginning at ll p.m. Soooo, maybe the quiet time is only for one hour?