Christensen Family: Vacation for Lepers

This is a little late, but I still wanted to tell about our trip to St. George. The day before we left on the trip I noticed that Elena was running a fever. She threw up twice that night so I knew something was definitely wrong. The next morning I made an emergency appointment with her pediatrician and had to have Mike come home early so that I could take her in. Dr. Simmons found sores in her throat and guessed that it was probably hand, foot, and mouth disease. I knew how crazy contagious it was because it had gone through our ward like wild fire last year. I immediately called my mom so that she could prepare everyone so that we wouldn't get the whole family sick. When we arrived everyone treated us like lepers. My nephew Danny tried to give me a hug and Amy grabbed him away so fast that it made him cry. Poor kid isn't used to being denied hugs!
My parents had gotten 2 condos so that the whole family would fit between the two of them. Mike and I were glad that we got the master suit since it had an amazing king size bed. Elena's pack'n'play fit perfectly in the walk in shower, so she slept in the bathroom each night. It worked great to have the same separation that we have at home. Kenneth, Amy, and their family stayed upstairs but only at night. We pretty much had the condo to ourselves everyday. Mike and I would take turns going next door to eat meals so that one of us could stay with Elena. I have never been so conscious of everything that I touch, and I don't think I've ever washed my hands so much in my entire life.
Even with all this craziness it turned out to be quite a nice vacation. It just happened that the Euro Cup was that week so Mike didn't mind hanging out with Elena while the games were on. I still got to go swimming a few times and Mike was able to do some rock climbing, so all in all it was a pretty good trip. I did end up getting sick the last couple days which was lame. Having hand, foot, and mouth makes it so swallowing feels like you're eating gravel or shards of glass. Not fun at all. My throat hurt like that for a solid week before it started easing up. Most of the family got away without getting sick except for Danny, Amy, and Emily.

Oh and I almost forgot to mention the funniest thing that happened on the trip. I woke up in the night to find Mike sitting up in bed and stroking a pillow. He was talking to the pillow in soothing tones as if he was trying to get it to calm down and go to sleep. He sleep talks fairly often, but it was so funny to see him treating the pillow like our daughter. Such a good dad that he's even taking care of her in his sleep!