Plans change, they do. October 18

It started out so great. There we all were, me, Steve, Sophia and Steve's mom and dad, Ken & Louise, tooling along in a comfy mini-bus with our guide, David, on our way to the "Norfolk Broads". The Broads are a series of waterways created in Medieval times. Large pits were dug and they then filled in with water from natural springs. They were used for travel and trade. (Interestingly, it was only realized in the 1950s that these were not natural shallow lakes and were made by human hands).

We'd booked the van 2 weeks ago to take us for a day-long trip to see the Broads and several little towns and quaint villages that we would encounter along the way. That morning, we'd all gotten up early. Sophia often needs to be up a while before she's ready for breakfast, so we didn't think too much of her having a light appetite and only eating a little cereal and drinking juice. We should have looked more closely at her behavior...

So we'd been on the road for about 7 minutes when Sophia asked to get into my lap. Again, this was a little unusual because she likes feeling like a "bigger girl" and having her own seat and seat belt (they don't have baby seats for the buses here). She hopped into my lap and snuggled in, and promptly opened her mouth and gushed juice and undigested cereal all over me, the seat we were in and the floor of the van. The atmosphere in the van changed from jolly and light to not-so-jolly and not-so-light. The driver pulled over, we all hopped out, cleaned up Sophia, me, and the seat the best we could. Sophia seemed completely unaffected by it all - as if she'd not been the one that had just spewed apple juice across the van. So we made the decision that she'd emptied everything she had in her and seemed fine, so we'd keep going. The driver was amicable and said he had 5 grandchildren and "one was a real puker in the car" so continuing was okay with him. Three miles down the road, sitting in her daddy's lap, Sophia threw up again, and then one more time for good measure in Mommy's lap. We were then, of course, on our way home.

I really can't emphasize enough that I was waaaaay more upset than Sophia - she was non-plussed by it all. When we got home, Steve and Sophia and I hopped out and I brought her right up to the tub, then into jammies and into bed. She slept for 3 hours. She woke up, fully recovered and raring to go. Ken & Louise continued on with the driver for the tour and had a terrific day, and said that the van "only smelled just a little".