Photo Dump Wednesday: 2015 Family Vacation - Aruba part 1

Happy Hump Day! I can't believe September is over and we are about to start the month of October! I need to start planning for my baby's 3rd birthday party!!! I can't even believe I just said that but yes, she is turning 3. WOW!!!

We had our first vacation as a family of 4 in mid September. It was our first time traveling Internationally as a family of 4. We not only survived it, we also had a great time and here are pictures to prove it! :-)

On the day we left, JAE turned 5-months. I still can't believe how quickly time is FLYING by! She is just such a happy baby and J and I feel so grateful to have her as a member of our family. 

Here she is at the airport before we boarded our flight.

Ready for a much needed vacation. By the way, I took this picture because I was pumping! 

All of us. Yes, that's a nursing apron :-P. Check out my last post about my pumping experience so far. J and I are now pros at traveling with 2 kids! We had the entertainment ready for JOE. We got a DVD player and borrowed some of her favorite DVDs from the library to ensure that she was able to still watch it even when the pilot says all signal transmitting devices should be turned off. 
The great thing about this is that it is portable and pretty much goes with us for most trips. 

Once I was done pumping, I gave JAE a bottle and she went promptly to sleep. So grateful to have a baby who isn't bothered by the take off and touch down cabin pressure. She did great!

All of us. 

We had a short layover in NC and this was what we saw while heading to our connecting gate. I had to snap a picture because it was just too funny. Unfortunately, there was no time to stay and eat since we had a very short layover.

Finally! As Nene Leakes of the Real Houswives of Atlanta would say, "we have arrived!" We made sure to request a room with a view and we certainly got it. This was the best view to wake up to 6-mornings in a row. 

Our days were spent at the pool for the most part. I am so glad we got these floats for the girls. JAE absolutely loved hers because she got some water in her float and she was able to play with it. JOE had mixed feelings about it. She sometimes wanted to be in it and other times, she just wanted to be carried around the pool. J for the most part played with JOE in the pool while I took care of JAE. Definitely a team effort but we were both also able to relax and enjoy ourselves as well. 

One thing to remember when traveling, get a portable pump! We forgot ours at home but thankfully, the resort had one. The other option is to call ahead to see if the resort has one. 

JAE and I chillaxing.

These two...

OK. These Iguanas were EVERYWHERE!!! Wait till you see the one from my next post! It was the size of a mini crocodile! Homeboy must have eaten its young to be that size!

JOE loves the book Brown Bear. How funny was it that we actually saw blue horses? 

The awesome thing about our resort is that we had a lot of choices for food. Because the resort we stayed at had a family side and an adult only side, we stayed on the family side BUT we had access to all the amenities in the adult only side with the exception of the pool. We had lunch and dinner a few times at the restaurant there. The staff was always so helpful and pleasant!

One night, we had dinner at this lovely restaurant. We also met a very lovely couple. The guy happened to be from Massachusetts. He grew up not too far from where I grew up. Small world!

The meal was delicious!

We even had live music!

JOE clearly enjoyed her food. 

After we got back to our room, JAE passed out. She was so tired! It was our first full day at the resort and it was a very relaxing one. 

More on the rest of our trip next week Wednesday! Enjoy the rest of your week!