The kids all loved it which makes it that much more enjoyable. We loved spending the week with MiMi, JaJa, and of course Aunt Amanda! And having all the extra hands (and the kids typically choose to be with the 3 of them instead of us) it made for a very RELAXING, enjoyable vacation for Joe and I as well!
The ride down was not bad at all, which I hadn't been sure as to how Josie would take a 10 hour car ride. They all were great and very excited for the beach. Maggie and Owen played and watched movies the whole way down and Josie slept quite a bit and also has begun enjoying TV a little so that occupied a bit of her time. I think I may have gotten a baby-doll lover like I was when I was little....
Our day there we met up with Mom, Dad, and Amanda, checked into our room and after going down to the beach for a bit....headed to our yearly first night dinner, at Carrabbas. It was delicious as usual and afterwards we headed over to the putt putt course next door that the kids had been eyeing.
Maggie and Owen both enjoy putt putt golfing and went several times that week. Josie was pretty tired but made it through all 18 holes with ALOT of entertainment from Mimi and Amanda.
Here she with with Mom's glasses on....she kept them on until we took them off of her.
Mom and Amanda with their favorite boy ever..... yes, they are both smitten by him. :)
Dad and Joe had fun playing with the kids. Here they are checking out the score.
Here is Josie out at the beach the first day......can you see she liked it!
She also enjoyed her first time eating double stuff oreos!
Maggie and Owen loved having no set bedtime all week and most nights Mom or Amanda took them down to the pool or hot tub to swim which they thought was sooo fun. Here is Maggie and Mom having a midnight dip in the pool....
Maggie is a total beach bum and LOVES being out in the ocean...she has absolutly no fear and thinks the bigger the waves the better. We saw 5 sharks in the water while we were there and it didn't seem to faze her. She and Amanda were in the water and saw one right by their feet and so Amanda made her get out and they came and told me. Right after that she was like, come on...let's get back in!
Here she is the day we got there posing a little.
Owen likes jumping the waves with someone too...but his first love is the sand. (imagine that) His very favorite thing to do is to be buried in the sand.
And then Maggie took a turn and we attempted to make her into a mermaid.
Here are Maggie, Owen, and Carson playing in the sand together...
One day mom dug a huge hole and Owen totally stepped down into it and she buried him standing up. He loved it.
Here is his head and his sisters!
He was not in a good place with Josie so close and he had no defense!
Our finest attempts to get a picture of Maggie, Owen, Josie, and Carson.
(Jackson was left out since he isn't big enough to sit alone yet) Way too many other things to keep their attention on the beach!
Maggie being her cute self...
Josie having her typical, "I can't believe you just told me No look".....
Carson and Owen braving the water together.....
Josie was not afraid to venture around the beach.....it was very different with her from last year when she couldn't go anywhere...let's just say she kept me on my feet most of the time.
Maggie loved showing off how well she is swimming now to everyone. Here she is reminding me so much of her daddy......
And her floating skills that she gets from MiMi....they were both floating away one day in the ocean.
Owen hanging off my legs....one of his favorite places to be. :)
This is the night we went to Rioz (the brazilian steakhouse). After spending a few straight days out on the beach here is how the kids looked each evening by dinner time.....
...one of the rare quiet moments Joe and I got in the car. :)Owen LOVES Rioz as it serves like 30 different meats and meat is Owen's all time favorite food...especially steak!
My 3 adorable babies.
My little prince...
The whole family after a great meal....
Here is the kids playing football on the beach with Nick and Joe....
Joe and I enjoying our time at the beach with our kiddos.....
JaJa building sandcastles with the kids, I think this may be one of dad's favorite weeks of the year. :)
Owen once again being buried in the sand....he sat here and played cars for a good half hour buried like this.....
We went back once again to the bungee jump that we have gone to the past few years. The kids and Joe all took a turn jumping until they could jump no more.....next year Josie will be big enough to give it a try....
Mom was painting Maggie's toenails one evening and along came Josie and plopped down next to her putting her feet out and saying, "Uh-Uh." (which we of course all know means "paint my toenails too please.") Here are her cute baby feet with painted nails....
Here are just some random beach shots of the kids having fun....
All 5 of us on the beach....
I have no clue what Josie was doing here (probably peeing) but she was so darn cute....after playing in the sand she would come over and hold her hands out and say , "ewwwww" wanting me to clean them off.
Owen getting a tan....
Dad and Josie taking some down time...
.
Dad and Owen waiting for dinner at Bovines!
Bovines is usually our traditional last night dinner.....but this year we went there the night before because we had thought Mom, Dad, and Amanda were going to leave a day early so Amanda could get back to her next show in Tennessee.....they actually ended up staying until we left on Saturday though. We didn't do family pictures this year so here was our version....Joe set the camera up on a bench and it actually turned out really good....
MiMi and JaJa and their 3 ADORABLE grandchildren.....
Aunt Amanda and her Mini-me. :)
The kids wearing my favorite outfits of thiers for the last time......Thanks Kendra!
The kids all were into posing this day before going down to the beach so I took advantage of it. Poor Maggie wanted me to take a picture of her alone but Owen kept getting in the pictures with her! I know I am her mom....but I do think my Maggie could be on a magazine!
Owen also had fun with his swimming and loved floating around the lazy river on his back....
Here is Josie being her sassy self....
and this is a face of Josie's we all saw many a times.....
Mom is lot of fun in the pool, Josie and Mimi took ride around the lazy river.
Mom got Josie a pair of water wings...I never drempt they would actually work with her but she floated around just fine on her own in them.....
My 2 beautiful girls...
.
Josie took a nap again this year on the beach, if you look back to last year you will see the same sight...only this year she's much bigger!
Maggie taking a break from wave jumping!
Amanda was reading the book, "The Jungle" while at the beach and began reading outloud parts to me one day.. Maggie just listend and got very interested in the story. So at the age of 5 she has read her first classic!
Our last night we ate at California Pizza and walked around Barefoot Landing a little.
Joe let Owen get a hemp tattoo of batman on his back. We tried to get him to get it where he could see it but he insisted on his back.....
Once again I have this same picture last year of them.
....I can't believe looking back how much they have grown in a year. Josie doing her own thing....
We ended our last night with a trip to Friendley's where Maggie ate an entire sundae with 3 huge scoops of ice cream. This was actually her dinner. :)
We were all sad to leave the last morning. We took the kids out to the beach one last time and Joe said, "Raise your hand if you want to stay at the beach.....here are Josie and Maggie's answers.....
One last beach picture and we were on our way back to KY.
The trip back was amazingly better than the way up. We drove straight through on the way home and Josie didn't sleep the ENTIRE TIME. But I swear the baby didn't fuss one time the whole time. She sang alot, wathced some dvd, and looked out the window for 10 straight hours! Joe and I were not sure what to make of it. Owen did good aside from the occasional whine and Maggie got the lowest score only because she threw up twice on the ride home! It was while we were going through the mountains and she just got car sick....Joe likes to point out it was while I was driving. haha
So as you can see it was a WONDERFUL vacation. Sorry it took me FOREVER to get the post up but hope you enjoyed it all!!!
1 comment:
What a wonderful trip! Your kids are beautiful!
:) Kirsten
Post a Comment