Triple Whammy

Back in mid-July, we took our first vacation as a family of four. Our destination? The far-off locale of San Diego! The main purpose of the trip was to meet up with Vince's cousins at Legoland, but we squeezed in some quality time with our favorite San Diegans (San Diegites? San Diegolos?) Mike, Kelly, and Sydney Williams.
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The last time we saw the Williams fam was about a year ago when Calliope was a bun in the oven and Kelly had washboard abs. Now, Kelly's the one with a bun in the oven, and I have washboard abs - not! By the way, Kelly has since delivered her baby, a beautiful little boy named Brandon! Congrats, Williams fam!
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The next morning, we met Vince's family at Legoland. I couldn't help but think back to my first trip to Legoland. It was at the end of 2005, and Vince and I had just started dating. The only kid on the scene was Vince's nephew Ryan. Now, the family tree is just lousy with littl'uns! Above, clockwise from top left: Vince, cousin Ed, and bro-in-law Mike; sister Adele, Ed's wife Grace, and Vince standing behind cousins Ryan and Tyler and second cousin Hana (who was our flower girl!); Hana; Hana's lil' brother Jet; Grace and Calliope.
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Last time we were here, Benjamin was too little to do much, but this time around, he had a great time!

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Calliope was definitely too small to know what was going on, but we did manage to capture this picture of her next to a calliope of a different sort!

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After a long day spent running around Legoland, both kids and grown-ups alike were beat. With smiles on our faces and our tummies full of fried amusement park food, we bid adieu and headed our separate ways.

You may be wondering why the title of this post is "Triple Whammy" and not "Benjamin's Return to Legoland" or "Our First Vacation as a Family of Four" or "Legoland Schmegoland." Well, it was inspired by the veritable dirge my husband repeated over and over AND OVER to anyone who would listen all weekend long. "Hey, Ed, how've the kids been? By the way, I have a Triple Whammy." "Can you get me a tissue? I can't move because of my Triple Whammy." "I can't help you put the kids to bed... I have a Triple Whammy." And what is this dreaded Triple Whammy? A case of tuberculosis, a gangrenous toe and a fractured skull? A migraine and two missing limbs? Nope. The Triple Whammy that so incapacitated my husband was a stiff neck, a head cold, and (drum roll) a canker sore. At one point, I was so exasperated by his Triple Whammy-induced paralysis that I remarked that I didn't complain half as much even after I'd had a c-section. His response? "Well, you didn't have a canker sore at the same time." And no, he wasn't joking when he said that!

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You also may be wondering why it took me till now to write about an event that happened over two months ago. Well, canker sore or no canker sore, I've been busy dealing with a Triple Whammy of my own:
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