New Smyrna Beach, Part 2

This was one of the many sunrises that Liz got to see this week.  She shared a room with the girls, and she was gracious to get up with them each morning, regardless of how early.  Dad helped with this too since he is an early riser.  All I know is I cannot tell you how much Ryan and I appreciated having these mornings to sleep in and rest some.  Thank you so much!

 On a side note, Liz was up and heard the two sonic booms that came when the shuttle came back to Earth.  She grew up watching the shuttle launches in Florida, so I'm glad she was awake and heard (and saw on tv) the last shuttle return home.

On Wednesday morning, we were all ready to head back out again!

 We played at the beach a long time.  Here, Lily and Mia played in the sand with Zac, Francie and Molly.  It's so much fun having lots of kids around!

 After some beach time, we headed up to the pool.  The girls had lots of fun with a boogie board that was floating around; we never figured out who it belonged to.  They would take turns laying on it and letting the other person pull her around.  This was their way of "surfing!"

 We did a lot of jumping into the pool this afternoon!

 Lily gave it her all!

 Fun times in the condo before nap time.  Here's hide and seek with the big basket.

 Mia fell in love with this little area of the kitchen; she could pull out one of the cabinet doors and it would turn just right so she could have her "own kitchen."

 Showing off her hat.

 Wednesday afternoon brought one of my favorite days of the year: hot dog day!  We all crowd into Jodi and Michael's condo for the best hot dogs you can imagine.  In addition to Meme's hot dogs (with chili if you wish), we enjoy her delicious fresh fruit salad (peaches, cherries and pineapple), chips, cookies, etc.  Delicious and lots of fun!  Here's the line that has formed as everyone is excited.

 After everyone eats, we try to take a few pictures.  Getting everyone looking at the same camera is like herding wild cats, but we try.  Here are most of the great-grandkids (the generation under mine).  We're missing about five of them, but it's the majority.

 I love getting kisses from my girls!

 The big family picture!  Again, we're missing several people (a couple of families weren't able to make it this year), but it was still a fun crowd!

 We tried getting a picture of Meme with the girls afterwards, but Mia wouldn't have anything to do with it; she was so exhausted, so we headed upstairs for a nap.

We didn't take any pictures on Thursday, but it was another fun day.  Meme made breakfast with her three boys for their families.  So delicious!  Biscuits, gravy, sausage, bacon, grits, eggs, country ham, tomatoes and cantelopes...what a great way to start the day.  After breakfast, we changed clothes and headed out to the beach and then the pool.  After nap time, Mom and I took Lily and Molly to Bubba Gump's for dinner.  In 2004, Ryan and I discovered Bubba Gump's in Maui while on vacation.  Seriously, the best fried shrimp I have ever eaten (and the strawberry lemonade is a plus too!).  When we found out there was also one in Daytona Beach (a short drive from New Smyrna), we couldn't wait to go.  We went for several years until Mia came along.  That summer, Ryan stayed at the condo with her, and Mom, Lily and I went to enjoy it.  Since then, it has grown to include one or both of my nieces too.  It is so delicious, and we have a fun time hanging out "just the girls."  What a yummy evening!

We couldn't believe when Friday arrived; it was our last day again!  We decided to pack as much fun in as possible.  Liz helped Mia (and Lily who just wasn't in this picture) make a wet sandcastle.

 Mia finally tried Zac's boogie board; she didn't like it a whole lot in the ocean.

 Molly and Lily had a lot of fun playing together, as usual.

 Lily jumped over hundreds of more waves.

 Mia had fun rolling all around in the water.

 By the end of the week, Lily was pretty brave too.  She had a great time playing in the ocean though one of her favorite games was to hold my hands, let her feet go out from under her and float as the tide pulled her in and out.

 Who am I kidding?  Splashing was her favorite game!

 She also tried out this big float that Joseph and Benjamin brought down.  Mia had tried a smaller boat float the day before, but she got scared as it went over the waves, so she refused to try this float.  She kept saying it was "too scary."  However, she liked holding on to the side and spinning Lily around.

 We had more fun in the pool too.  Mia told Granna exactly where to stand to catch her when she jumped.

 Throughout the week, Lily had a lot of fun going all the way underwater and then popping back up. I loved the face she would make as she would come out, so I snapped this picture of it. I love how big her eyes got!

On Thursday, Lily started jumping into the pool and swimming over to someone with her backpack on.  We could see her confidence growing some each day.  On Friday, she decided to take the backpack off and try really swimming.  She did it!  We were so proud of her!  She started by going just a few strokes, but by the end, she was swimming from the side of the pool over to where the stairs were (half the width of the pool).  We rewarded her bravery with gummy bears and a new Ladybug Girl book (Ladybug Girl Dresses Up if you're wondering).  It was so awesome to see her truly swim; she was holding her breath well, and she remembered to kick and paddle instead of flail about.  Yea Lily!  Here's a picture of the big moment! 

 Towards the end of the day, we were able to grab a picture of Meme's 11 great-grandchildren who all happened to be in the pool swimming at the same time.  Aren't they adorable?

 We enjoyed beautiful weather until about 6:40 Friday evening, and then a big thunderstorm settled in, so we called it quits for the day and week.  Here's a sunset that wrapped up our week for us.

Another great week in New Smyrna Beach with our family.  A big thank you to Mom and Dad for letting us all stay with you again this year and for all the help you provided with the girls.  Liz, we're so glad you joined us, and we appreciate all of your help as well.  We had a great vacation, and we're already counting down until next year's trip!

New Smyrna Beach, Part 1

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!

A Day Trip to Fort Payne

What an incredibly fun day!  Last Saturday, Liz and I took the girls over to Fort Payne for a little day trip.  It took us about 2 hours to get there. The girls did great, and they were thrilled that they got to watch cartoons on the DVD player on the ride over.  We drove through some beautiful county too.  I bet in the Fall, it is absolutely gorgeous.  We drove straight to Josh's new house; he moved about a week ago, so we were excited to see his new place and what he and his roommates have done with it.  The girls were thrilled to see him and his dog Sadie when we arrived.  They were also very happy when Amy came soon thereafter.  We had a lot of fun catching up with one another and visiting with Josh's long-time friend, Jimmy, who was also up from Birmingham for the weekend.  The girls loved the raised seating Josh has in his living room; it was their own stage to perform on for everyone.

After hanging out with one another for a little while, we went to lunch at a new restaurant in town called Jefferson's.  Everyone enjoyed their meal; the girls really enjoyed the ice cream sandwich that came as dessert for the kids' meals!  After lunch, we drove through town on our way to the fire house where Josh is stationed.  It was really cool to see this neat little town while driving through; it seems like a nice place to live. 

The girls (okay, me too) were in awe of the fire station.  They have several of the really huge trucks there plus several of the smaller trucks that go out on medical type calls.  Josh explained a lot of what is on the truck to me.  I'm amazed that he can drive those big trucks and handle all that equipment!  The girls had an absolute blast climbing all through the trucks and exploring each one of them.  We took a ton of pictures, and I tried really hard to pick my favorites.  Here are just a few of the many pictures we took:

On Friday, Liz and the girls made cookies to take to the station.  They decorated them with yellow sugars (because the Fort Payne firetrucks are yellow) and red M&M's (because most firetrucks are red, including the ones in Smyrna, so the girls associate red with firetrucks).  This is Mia handing her plateful to one of the firemen.

Lily LOVED "driving" the trucks.

 Mia thought driving was pretty cool too!

 Thankfully, Josh always stayed close by to make sure my fear didn't actually happen.  My fear?  That one of them would accidentally hit any of the many switches and set off a very loud alarm.

 The tire is much bigger than Mia.

 Lily looking down from her window perch.

 Mia peering over the side in the big ladder truck.

 Really, how cute is she in the headset?

 Lily in a fireman's hat.  It almost swallowed her up.

 Mia trying it on too.  When I let go to take a picture, she almost fell over backwards because it is so heavy.

 Josh and Amy with the girls.

After spending time visiting the inside and outside of the station, we decided to keep moving.  Josh surprised the girls with little fireman hats and stickers.  They loved them and have been playing with the hats for many days now.  When we left the station, we went to Little River Canyon. 

It was beautiful!  It was such a hot day too, so there were lots of people out enjoying the water.  We only played for a little bit, but I could easily see spending hours there.

 Lily was fascinated by the big waterfall.  She stared at it like this for several minutes.

 Mia liked it too, but she preferred to have Josh hold her to watch everything going on.

 The girls had a lot of fun making big splashes!

 Mia was pretty content to sit with Bama and watch everyone else around her.

 The girls couldn't get enough of Josh and Amy!

  Finally, we realized we needed to head on back home, but we will all look forward to going back another time.  I know both girls had a great time too.  They adore Uncle Josh and will visit anytime they can!

After putting the girls to bed, Liz and I saw this beautiful sunset off our back porch.  What a lovely way to end a great day!