Thank you, thank you for sending your vacation photos.

I had a fabulous time viewing them and reading your stories.

This excerpt from Carina reminds me of SO many of our family vacations it made me giggle all the way through:

It was time to make a decision which two (seriously, only two???) pictures were most suitable of telling the story of our ‘roadtrip of a lifetime’… Was it going to be a picture of the French sea gull who harassed us right before entering the ferry to England? Or maybe one of the 50 pictures of my kids glued to a British ‘telly’ (yes, they are seriously addicted, is there a 12-step programme for that?), Or maybe a picture of us sitting in a hospital awaiting the doctor’s verdict on Roos’ weird rash (which turned out to be scarlet fever), oh wait, I didn’t take any pictures then because I was just too freakin’ worried!…  Or a picture of Hein, our baby, who kept massaging his gums with his tongue, because (as we found out halfway through our trip) he was having his first tooth (which was also why he didn’t want his pacifier anymore AND kept crying all of the night, every night…) Decisions, decisions, decisions…

I feel your pain, Carina!

• I’ve had to find a pediatrician in Vietnam to examine my non-pooping baby.  (Turns out, when they don’t poop for a week straight you find yourself really, really wanting them to.)
• I’ve begged my husband to pee on our daughter when she got a hideous jellyfish sting in Mexico.  (He wouldn’t, by the way, so I made our son do it.  “Pee on your sister!  I am NOT kidding!  Do it right now!”  That boy can perform under pressure.)
• I was so worried about having a screaming baby in an airplane on descent that I caught myself repeatedly whispering “you suck, baby — you suck, baby — you suck, baby” hoping to encourage ear-popping pacifier action.  Turns out, your seatmates think you’re deranged when you rock and whisper “you suck” to your child.

After viewing the memorable vacation pics below, please vote for your favorite in the comments section.  Or, if you’re anxious to keep your vote confidential (what if you don’t want to vote for your friend?), feel free to send your vote to me at fivekidsisalotofkids@gmail.com.  I’ll tabulate the votes and announce the winners this Friday, January 21st.

Here are the contenders for our contest:

1.  Wind Ferry, submitted by Carina.

 

2.  Beach Kids, submitted by Sally:

 

3.  Ireland’s Next Top Model, by Sarah:

4.  One of These Kids Is Not Like The Others, by Evie:

 

5. Me and My Men, by Sally:

 

6.  Family iChristmas, by Evie:

 

7.  The Giant’s Shoe, by Carina:

 

Now that you’ve viewed them, make sure you vote for your favorite in the comments section or by email to fivekidsisalotofkids@gmail.com.  I’ll tabulate the votes and announce the winners this Friday.

Good luck!

Beth