Our St. George Family Vacation

Not that I didn't already know that it's been a while since my last post, but it was confirmed when I uploaded all of the pictures and they came out completely mixed up. So, I will just give you the basic run down of our little family vacation and you can just figure out how the pictures fit in to it.

Tim informed me a week before our vacation that he would not be able to come down with the kids and I but would have to come down a couple of days later. I was definitely bummed, but Tim needed to get some things done at work and didn't feel he could take the time off. Unfortunately, I couldn't change the dates, so there was nothing I could do but just roll with it. Anyway, the kids and I woke up early (5am) and made the 4 1/2 hour drive without too much trouble. We got settled into the condo we rented and of course the first thing the kids wanted to do was to go swimming.

Our whole vacation consisted of swimming, napping, swimming, golfing, swimming, mini golfing, swimming, reading, swimming, shopping, and then a little bit more swimming. Needless to say, we had a wonderful time with just our little family and we hope to make it a yearly event.

The only thing that put a little kink into our vacation was Ethan started having rapid respirations (65-75 per minute) and an increased heart rate the afternoon before we were supposed to come home. I watched him closely that day and although he was acting fine his respirations never resolved. I woke up around 5:30 (the morning we were supposed to leave) to find his respirations were still in the low to mid 70's. I called the on-call Cardiologist at PCMC because I was starting to get bugged that his breathing wasn't resolving. I wasn't sure if we should come home and have him looked at PCMC or if we should take him to the Emergency Department in St. George before we made the long drive. Anyway, although there were no other symptoms and he was acting fine, the Cardiologist felt that he should be seen that day and since the cardiology clinic was closed due to the holiday (it was July 5th) we should just go to the ER in St. George. He felt that it would probably be best to have him checked out before we left for home.

So, even though it was not the end of our vacation that we had planned, it turns out that everything was fine and they let us go home after about 5 hours in the Emergency Department. They did x-rays, an EKG, and lab work and everything came back normal. They didn't see any signs of heart failure, dehydration, kidney troubles, infection, or anything abnormal for that matter.

His breathing continued to be fast the rest of that day as well, but by Tuesday, he was back to his normal self. I still have no idea what was wrong, but I am very relieved that it was nothing serious. Ethan does have a routine appointment with his cardiologist next Thursday, so we'll see what he thinks during that visit.

Well, that is the basic run down of our 5 day St. George vacation. Here are the pictures to go along with all of my jibber jabber. Again, sorry for the randomness of the pictures.


They had this simple mini golf course in the club house of where we stayed. The best part is that it only cost $1 and the kids loved it.

Ethan was not happy when I woke him up and told him that I was taking him to the hospital. He kept telling me that he didn't want a poke, but he stayed calm and didn't panic too much. Unfortunately he did end up having to have an IV placed and although he was upset and cried, afterwards he told me that "he was brave". He is such a sweet boy.

This picture of Spencer was taken the night of the city fireworks. It was a fun fireworks show and of course, the kids had a great time.

This is how Ethan would watch the older boys when they would play their video games on the TV. He honestly loves his brothers and admires anything that they do.

There was a kiddie pool that was perfect for Ethan to play in. It was a little bit warmer than the big pool and although he liked the big pool, his lips turned purple a little to quickly for my comfort. It didn't take too much encouragement to keep him in the little pool once he realized that the temperature was a little bit more pleasant.

We honestly spent about 4 hours each day in the swimming pool. We'd usually go down for 2 hours in the morning or early afternoon, and then another 2 hours after dinner. Needless to say, we went through a LOT of sunscreen.

Spencer had been grounded from his video games for a little while before our vacation. However, he had no problem making up for lost time while on vacation.

These last 2 pictures were taken on the 1st day that we arrived. The kids were SOOOOO excited to go swimming. I knew that I would have to be quick with the camera once the sunscreen was on.

We've been doing a lot this summer and we have been keeping very busy. I will update again after Ethan's cardiology appointment next week. Until then, take care!

---Allison