Let's be honest...beach vacations arent much of a vacation when there is an infant involved. I had realistic expectations going into it, and was pleasantly surprised with an hour of beach time with my husband...alone...without kids....thank to my parents. Other than that hour, Eric and I were constantly in a man-on-man defense with him tackling Whitney while I dealt with Grady. It was nice to have the help, but I definitely think a week at home with Eric and the kids wouldve been more of a "vacation" for me! Trucking stuff to the beach each day, worrying about balconies, and skipping naptimes was frustrating after five days.
I enjoyed being able to sit on the couch and watch Wimbledon while catching glances at the gorgeous view of the ocean though.
(As usual, these pics are in random order)
Whitney liked my hair braided and wanted hers done, too. I was happy with the way it turned out AND the fact that she stood still long enough for me to finish!
After dinner one night, Whitney had some gummy bears. My mom casually asked her which color she had the most of. Whitney stared at her pile of gummies and answered correctly with "red!" Then we asked which one she had the least of and she figured that out, too. From there, she was unstoppable as we fired addition and subtraction problems at her. "How many yellow bears are there? If you take one away, how many will you have? If you take two away how many will you have? How many bears are there all together? " etc etc. She loved it and, as always, continues to impress us with the massive amounts of information she stores in her tiny little head :)
Grady did okay for his first vacation! For being out of his element, out of his bed, and away from everything he knows, he really did a great job. Naps were random and never as long as at home, but he slept through the night once or twice and went with the flow nicely. We also learned that he realllllly likes the baby bjorn carrier! I dont love it, but it was nice to be hands-free for a little bit, and he actually fell asleep in it during a walk on the beach.
Mid-week we made a Walmart run and grabbed a lighter version of the bjorn. It has a softer, lighter fabric that breathes better than the hot and heavy bjorn. He loves it :)
I found him sleeping like this the morning after he slept through the night. Now, just because HE slept through the night doesnt mean *I* did! I was continually checking on him and wondering when he was going to wake up.
And he woke up smiling and happy and proud of himself :)
We continued the tradition of visiting the gardens where Eric and I were married. It was HOTTT, but always fun to take pics and realize how far we have come in just seven years.
Eric, once again, worked his camera-timer magic :)
Anybody else's three year old struggle with the whole "look INTO the camera....no, AT the camera...look at the lens...the little circle in the middle...LOOK, AT. THE. CAMERA!" stuff? jeesh.
My brother flew in from Boston two days after his birthday. Whitney was very excited to help make him a cake, and of course insisted on "helping" him blow out his candles.
Before we headed home, we had dinner at the North Turn and snapped a few last minute pics.
Uncle Jay grabbed a few last minute cuddles as we packed the car :)
It wasnt a "bad" vacation, as any time spent with your family is special and fun. But I am loving Whitney's age for trips like this. Grady's age is fun for its own reasons, but three year olds LOVE the beach and treasure hunts and the marine science center and spotting dolphins and looking for shells and building castles....and its just hard to do ALL of that with an infant in tow. We got it all done, but I definitely need a vacation from our vacation. Exhausting!
We went to the Marine Science Center and Whitney LOVED it! Honestly, if it was just me and Eric, we couldve seen the whole place in about 10 minutes. But with Whitney and her enthusiasm on board, we were there a while! She LOVED getting to pet the sting rays :)
She wasnt even scared for a second!
She even got to feed them!
She liked the turtles and wanted to pet the turtles who are being rehabilitated. She settled for a $5 stuffed animal turtle in the gift shop :)
There was a coloring station where they had a video playing of the life cycle of sea turtles. Whitney watched, fascinated and happy to relate the real-life story to Nemo's friend, Crush's existence in the ocean in the movie. She wasnt happy when a hungry crab snatched a baby turtle as it tried to make it's way to the ocean. She gasped and yelled, "Oh no!!!" We moved on quickly......
She crashed early and hard after going napless for several days in a row. She kept saying things like, "Its HARD to behave when you dont take a nap." and "Its hard to stand still when you are three!" She never fights naps anymore, unless shes OVER-tired and just exhausted...and even then, if we can gain a moment of clarity with her, she will sadly admit "I fink I need a nap....". Sweet girl.
And of course, life wouldnt be complete without a visit from our resident Snow White..
Hawaii anyone!? No wait....nevermind,...youre not invited.....we are going ALONE!
As the fun from beach week came to an end, we looked forward to picking my bestie and her family up from the airport the next day! Except....with our family of four and their family of four, and Eric working, the only way to get them to our house was to leave our car at the airport for them, with the keys inside. No biggie, right? The airport is seven miles from our house, the keys are in the car, the borrowed car seat is already installed in the backseat for Easton,...WHAT could go wrong!?
You WILL want to come back to hear the adventurous way KatMandooo started :)
1 comment:
Oh gosh. The secret life of Katmandoo is about to be exposed!!!! :)
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