Meet My Second Family

When I was 13 I started babysitting the Nelson family. At the time it was just little Emma. I quickly came to love her and she was my favorite to babysit. We'd walk to the very little park and swing forever, or we'd play golf with this little set. One time when I was at their house I saw a lot of papers for new houses. I realized that Nelsons were moving and I wouldn't be able to babysit Emma anymore. I was heartbroken. Eventually they moved, but we didn't lose contact like I thought we would. One of the first times I went to their new house it was to meet their second child, Kate. She was a gorgeous little redhead and Emma was such a sweet big sister. Nelsons were so patient and sweet to drive 1/2 an hour one way to come pick me up so I could babysit their kids.

They went on to do this until I got my license and could make the drive. Every once in a while I'd get lucky and I got to babysit the kids overnight and basically play mom for a few days. My favorite part of this was waking up to them crawling into bed with me. Now they have Noah and he is just so much fun and the perfect addition to their family.

Ever since I started babysitting 7-8 years a go, I have been blessed by their friendship. They've taken me on trips to Park City, Mexico, and Florida. They always give such sweet, generous gifts. (Tiffany's necklace, iPod, camera, Coach purse, Kindle, etc.) Most importantly they trust me with their kids and those kids have played a large part in my life. I have loved that and I miss it when I leave.

A few months a go they invited me to go to Florida with them this January. Am I the luckiest girl ever? Yes. So January 8 - 16 I went on the perfect vacation with my second family to Florida and it was amazing! We went to all of the theme parks out there and it was just a ton of fun. I have no idea how to sum it up in one blog post, so I'm going to talk about my favorite memories with each of them.

One day when we were walking along the pier we were talking about funnel cakes and I mentioned I had never had one. The last night we were there Brother Nelson left for a while and came back with a funnel cake because '[I] had to try one before we left.' Also one time while we were waiting in line he jumped out to scare Emma and scared me instead. That was great.

One night we came back exhausted. Okay that was all nights. However, on this night Sister Nelson and I were just wanting to relax and watch TV. Well there was nothing on so we watched Minute to Win it, possibly the worst reality show ever. Also when we were at Harry Potter World we went on this scary roller coaster and it was night so it was like Space Mountain. We were freaking out in line and the little boy behind us was laughing at us. Also we'd always get lost when Brother Nelson wasn't there. (Even in the hotel!)

Emma is a crazy Harry Potter fan like me so we were in Paradise there! We kept talking about the movies saying, "Remember when...." or "This is just like...." Also one morning Emma, Kate, and I read Tangled on Kate's leapfrog thing and it was so much fun. Also at the end of the day we'd pretend like we weren't exhausted and skip and hop over the lines on the sidewalk the whole way home.

Kate always woke up wanting to play games so to start off our perfect days we'd play Princess Go Fish, Phase 10, or do a puzzle. Also, on the flight over once Kate discovered I hadn't seen Toy Story she pulled it up and we watched it on her ipod. Don't worry though I didn't see the sweet ending then. I didn't start crying on the airplane. Nope that would be in the hotel.

Noah kind of loves me you could say. He especially likes me because I took him on the Nemo ride. A lot. So much that I could sing you the song that's on the ride. (In the big, blue world...) So much that I'd sing it in the morning and get in everyone's head. Sorry. Also we'd sometimes hang out while everyone else went on rides. He'd get out of his stroller and we'd just wander around aimlessly.

Are you jealous yet? Because you should be. :) The Nelsons are awesome and I've been so lucky to know them. Thanks Nelsons for taking me to Florida and for being my second family!