International Fionn of Mystery

Don't I look like two billion dollars?

It's official, folks.  Our son is an international traveler.  He's even got a passport with one token entry stamp to prove it.  By the way, in case you were wondering, the above photo is not his passport photo, although I am seriously considering looking into whether or not it fulfills the requirements.  I mean, how cute is this?  Definitely beats his actual passport photo which looks more like a police line-up.  Here is the photo in question for your inspection. 

Officer, I swear.  I have an alibi.  I was napping from 1-3 pm.  Ask my mom!

Anyway, back to the international travel.  Ah, yes.  We just returned from a wonderful week in Aruba which, despite its incredibly Americanized way of life, is still technically a foreign country.  So we got the best of both worlds.  International travel but still able to purchase Pampers swim diapers and Cheerios (with US dollars no less) at the grocery store.  Nice.

In all seriousness, the trip couldn't have been better in my humble opinion.  Our resort was the epitome of family friendly.  Multiple pools complete with water slide, waterfall, and lazy river.  Several baby pools too, although Fionn wanted little to do with those once he saw the big pools.  A playground was also on the premises as shown in the picture below.

Oh, and there was also a kid's camp which Fionn was regrettably too young to attend.  We were hoping to dump him off in the care of strangers for a few hours every day, so that was a big disappointment.  Only kidding.  Well, sort of.  We wouldn't have ditched him every day.  

The resort was actually so great that we hardly ever left the premises.  We joked that we could have been in Branson, Missouri at a resort with a really awesome pool because that is definitely where we spent most of our time.  The pool was seriously the best.  I would say that, out of Fionn's awake hours during our Aruba trip, probably 75% of them were spent in the pool.  I'm not even kidding.  Our kid is a complete and utter fish.  Thankfully, he has a father who has a similar affinity for swimming pools.  They were a match made in heaven, those two.  Here are just a few of my favorite pictures of my two water bugs.

  Hey, it's 7 am...Where is everyone? 

I wanted to ride by myself, but Dada was too scared to go alone.

Keep it up, Dada.  Only 2 more hours to go until lunchtime.

F-F-F-Fionny and the jets

So, yeah, really not sure who was having more fun -- my husband or my son.

Okay, this next one is a favorite of mine, but I have to give you the context.  When the below photo was taken, I was standing on a bridge overlooking the swimming pool.  I was trying my best to take some quality photos of Husband and the Kid.  Fionny kept swimming up to the bridge for quick little check-ins with me which was very sweet.  But very, very brief.  He couldn't be bothered for much chatting when there was swimming to do (for the love of God, people!).  He would swim up to the bridge, look at me with those big blue eyes of his, and say, "Hey Mama.  Bye Mama."  And then he was off.  Back to his Dada (a.k.a. The Most Fun Person in the World).  It was awesome (and a little humbling).

Although you'd hardly know it from our pictures, at times we actually put on clothes and went places.  It didn't happen much, believe me, but we did venture out a couple of nights.  Probably our best meal experience occurred halfway through the trip when we were walking on the beach and stumbled across a little restaurant which had seating right on the shore.  It was awesome.  Listening to the waves crash while drinking some wine, my feet in the sand, my kiddo playing with his cars happily beside me.  It was really pretty heavenly.  Here's a pic from right in front of the restaurant.  Fionn doesn't look too happy, does he?  I think he was ready to get back to his little Matchbox cars.

And here's a pic of Fionn at the table with his lunchbox o' Matchbox cars.  I tell ya, Matchbox cars are worth their weight in gold.  Hmmm....I guess that's not much gold because they aren't too heavy.  Well, anyway, they are really quite magical with their ability to entertain my son during dining experiences. 

Here he is again with those dang cars.  Same cars, different restaurant.  

And yet again.  I tell ya, folks.  Those cars are our secret weapon for dining out in peace.  The menu tunnel didn't hurt either.  Bought us time for one more beer if you want to know the truth.  Bring on the Balashi (local beer in Aruba), y'all!

We also had some delicious Aruban cuisine one night at a nearby shopping plaza.  While walking around the outdoor mall, I spotted these gorgeous coral-colored columns and forced Conor to do a little photo shoot with Fionny.  He was a wee bit reluctant, but I saw the potential for magic.  I mean, how perfectly does his blue shirt complement the coral color of the columns?

J. Crew catalog, eat your heart out!

He also managed to capture me looking somewhat presentable which was not a common occurrence during our vacation.  We knew we had to take advantage of it.  I mean, lookit!  I'm actually wearing earrings, people!  This is a rare sighting indeed.  A new favorite pic of me and my boy.  Look at that cheesy grin on Fionn's face.  He actually says "cheese!" now during photos which is hilarious.

As if you couldn't tell, the week really was perfection.  Just what we needed in so many ways.  Of course, it's always great to get home again too.  Fionn is a wonderful little traveler, but he gets so excited when we arrive home from a trip.  "My car!  Luca Bean!  Ro-ro!  My bed!"  he shouts as he runs through the rooms like a bolt of lightning.  Meanwhile, I find myself having a different refrain.  The laundry.  The laundry.  Oh, the laundry. 

Until next time, folks.