What a great week! We just returned from my family's annual vacation to New Smyrna Beach, FL. I haven't heard an official count yet, but we're guessing there were about 60 of us again. We had such a fun-filled week (read: lots of pictures!) that I broke it into two blog entries. So, here is Saturday through Tuesday...
The four of us always stay with Mom and Dad on this vacation, but this year we were so excited that Liz was able to join us too. By having Liz and my parents there, Ryan and I had a great vacation! She helped make the ride down on Saturday go very smoothly. The night before we left, she made "goody bags" for the girls which included folders with hole-punched coloring books, Color Wonder sets and stickers. I added some new toys and books for the girls; mix in their DVD's, and the ride down went pretty well. We made it down in about 8 hours.
Some friends of ours were in New Smyrna a couple of weeks ago, and they said it was some of the worst weather they had seen there (their family goes each year too), so we were prepared. We brought a few extra toys than usual, plus we had a list of things to do if it rained so we wouldn't get couped up. Lucky for us, the picture below shows what we saw all week, well, until Friday evening. It was a beautiful week!
We got in pretty late in the afternoon on Saturday, so we brought everything down and admired the view from our balcony. As Mia walked out, she pointed to the ocean and exclaimed "I like that big swimming pool!" We ate a quick dinner (Ahh, Manny's greek salad...I have been dreaming of you for days), and the girls, Liz and I went down to the beach just to play for a few minutes. We hadn't unpacked any bathing suits or the camera, so we just went as we were. The girls didn't mind one bit! After playing for a little while, it was time to head on back up for bed. Mom surprised the girls with new coordinating pajamas. They were turquoise and lime green; perfect beach colors! Both girls loved them and wore them all week!
Granna also read the girls a new book (Ladybug Girl Goes to the Beach) before bedtime. We love the Ladybug Girl series, and this was a perfect fit.
On Sunday morning, the girls couldn't wait to get ready and head out. This is where we found Lily a lot of the time...just staring out Mom and Dad's window, dreaming of the beach!
We decided to head to the pool first. The water felt great! Even though the girls have been taking swim lessons each week for about 6 weeks now, they still aren't proficient swimmers, so we had a little floating backpack for each of them. They had used them at the Henderson's house a few weeks ago and did great with them. They were thrilled to use them down here! It gave them a little bit of confidence as they were "swimming" and helped the rest of us feel a little better about having them both in the pool. They had a blast all week with these. In this picture, Lily couldn't wait to show Granna her new skills!
Mia was having a lot of fun watering Daddy.
Both girls absolutely adore McKayla, and rightfully so; she is such a great big cousin to them. She is so sweet and considerate when they are around. We all love McKayla!
Ryan had a lot of fun all week with his "noodle cannon!"
Of course, Mia loved being tossed high into the air by Daddy!
Lily couldn't wait for her turn too!
At some point, we decided to head to the beach. Here were some of their tools of choice for playing in the sand. Mia also loved a huge toy shovel, and both girls enjoyed the little bunny sand mold.
Lily got busy making a starfish village.
Mia helped too. This was after she took off running right into the ocean water. This little one knows no fear!
Mia also enjoyed loading up Zac's dump truck with sand and moving it around the beach.
Holding hands and watching the waves. I love this picture.
We came back out after lunch and a nap. Lily and Papa took a little walk to find seashells.
Lily was obsessed with shells. On this first day, she really didn't have any discretion on what kind of shells she picked up. Later in the evening as we were all settling down, Lily brought her bucket to Ryan and me and said "I found crabs!" While that wasn't exactly true (thank goodness!), you could totally see and hear her shells moving around. I can't remember what they are called, but the shells were filled with those little slimy things that bury themselves into the sand. They were starting to come out to look for water...gross. Thankfully, Liz was willing to pull out only the good shells so we didn't have those things all around. After this evening, Lily was a lot more careful about what shells she picked up. She probably ended up with around 50 to 60 shells that we brought home with us.
Mia and Zac had a great time playing together on Sunday afternoon. Zac had his boogie board everywhere with him; he said he was "surfing" anytime he pulled it behind him. These two were having fun in and out of the water this week!
So I am usually very careful when it comes to sunscreen. I have such fair skin that I know can get burned so easily. Unfortunately, when I reapplied the spray sunscreen on Sunday at the beach after the pool, it mostly blew into the wind. My shoulders, chest and upper back got ridiculously burned; I was so mad at myself! Thankfully, even though the girls got more sun than they should have, they didn't burn. Regardless, on Monday morning, Ryan and I went out and bought SPF swim shirts for the girls and me (Ryan already wears one). It made a huge difference the rest of the trip. We will definitely keep these for future use.
Given the extra sun we had on Sunday, we wanted to be extra careful on Monday. So after returning with our new shirts, Ryan and I surprised the girls with a very special treat: a visit to the local movie theater to see Winnie the Pooh! This was Mia's first time to see a movie at a theater, and she did great. During a preview for the new Muppets movie, Miss Piggy bangs her head on a desk; Mia yelled "Don't do that! It will hurt!" which made Ryan and me laugh quite a bit. She seemed to be enthralled with the movie. She and Lily shared a pink lemonade and some popcorn which thrilled them both. Lily also seemed to take great satisfaction in pointing out that this was Mia's first movie but her second theater. Sibling rivalry folks...so fun. It really was a cute little movie. Lily asked if we can buy it after it comes out of the theater because she enjoyed it so much.
After the movie and a nap, we headed out to the beach for the evening. Lily liked her new pink swim shirt.
Lily started to get a little more brave with the ocean. I think it is because she saw how much fun Mia was having. She had a lot of fun jumping waves as they came crashing in.
Mia and Zac had fun running back and forth in and out of the ocean, squealing most of the way.
The girls were so happy to have Bama with them too!
Papa is always great to play in the ocean with the girls. I will add this picture makes me think of pictures I have seen of my Pop taking his grandchildren out to the ocean too.
Mia loved to jump HIGH!
From the ocean looking back towards the shoreline and the condos. You couldn't ask for better weather!
On Tuesday, we drove over to Lakeland to visit and have lunch with Grandpa Hooks and Lois. The girls were a little shy at first, but they thoroughly enjoyed exploring their home. They especially loved the bright red chair in the kitchen that they could climb on. After they warmed up and turned into their regular silly selves, Grandpa showed them a "trick" with his arm that fascinated the girls. They both laughed like it was the funniest thing they had ever seen, and then of course, they wanted Grandpa to teach them how to do it. Here's a picture of Mia trying to get the hang of it with Grandpa.
Lily finally figured it out and was happy to smile with Grandpa!
After visiting at their home for a bit, we all headed over to Grasslands Country Club where they treated us to a delicious lunch. It was so wonderful getting to catch up with them. Hopefully we'll be able to Skype with one another soon to keep up with each other a little better.
After we drove back to New Smyrna, we dropped the girls off with Liz, and Ryan and I headed up to Saint Augustine to The Conch House. We met up with his cousin, Emily and her adorable 17-month-old little girl, Kate; she is so precious! We sat in a tiki hut on the water and enjoyed a wonderful meal with them. Ryan and I wish we lived closer to them because we always have a great time hanging out with them.
This has been a great first half of the week!
No comments:
Post a Comment