Vacay: Days 3 and 4

You guys, I have a whopping 79 pictures uploaded for this post.  SEVENTY-NINE.  I have tried so hard to narrow it down, but I just love too many pictures!  Better go ahead and get yourself a snack and get comfy before getting started.  And then, get ready to feast your eyes on some really cute kids! Everett started Day Three out a little crabby.  But not bad-mood crabby, just super-cute-crab-pajamas crabby!

Now, you guys know I like a themed outfit better than anyone else, but Allison may have actually outdone me on this trip.  I lost count of Everett's crab outfits!  I thought we'd definitely win with two crab outfits and a crab bib, but I never even thought about crab jammies!!

I really enjoyed hanging out on the balcony every morning after breakfast.  It was the perfect spot to catch up on emails and whatnot before hitting the day full-force.  Katie Wynn enjoyed getting her belly full and then napping in the cool breeze.

She also loved the swings we hung up out there.  All three kids did, actually.  It's amazing how content they all were to just sit and swing. 

Poor Katie Wynn got caught mid-swing for a little manicure action.

Day Three is when we decided to try to brave the beach again.  Katie Wynn was not a big fan of it the last time we were there, so we weren't expecting to spend the whole day out there.

We plopped down our blankets and an umbrella and took a seat.  So far, so good. 

Gus loved the sand!  He went right to work building a sand castle.

The Dads.  I probably have this same picture of them from about 6 years ago.  Crazy how time flies!

As you can see in the picture below, the more time we spent on the beach, the more Katie Wynn hated it.  So much for warming up to it.

Doc took her out in the ocean and tried to keep her out there until she got used to it.  I'm not sure that it worked.  The little bunny just cried so much that she wore herself out and fell asleep in my arms.

On the beach, in front of a beautiful ocean, with a sleeping baby in my arms.  Peaceful, no?  Well, not if you're sitting under someone else's umbrella and in their vacant chair while they're probably inside having lunch and you're paranoid they're going to come out and catch you.

Less tears after her nap.  Hooray!

Sarah and Charlie having a little snack break with Gus.

We decided to set K-dubs on the shore to see how she'd like the sand.

Checking it out...

...and just like that, the tears are back.  Poor baby girl!

The guys played a little beach volleyball.  Gus wanted to play too!

Instead, little man got stuck hanging out with us girls.

Our trip to the beach really did not last very long.  It makes me sad that Katie hates it so much.  My fingers are crossed that she'll eventually come to love it.

Konked out in the swing after a day in the sun. 

We cooked dinner at the house most nights.  That was just a lot easier so we could put the babies in bed earlier and still get to hang out.  I think Day Three is when Chris and Allison cooked out burgers, and they were delicious!

The morning of Day Four, we made our way to the big community pool.  We got there early enough to claim some chairs in the shade.

Katie Wynn did some floating around the pool with her daddy.

Gus loves to jump in the water!  I think he probably gave his mama a pretty good workout that morning.

Sitting and resting before his next jump.  Love that belly!!

We all had a little goldfish snack before calling it a day at the pool.

Later that afternoon, Sarah and I decided to take our kids on a bike ride back out to the splash pad.  By the time we arrived there, we looked back to see both of them sound asleep!

 

We parked them in the shade while we did some window-shopping.  I'm sure all the passers-by were wondering who was responsible for the unaccompanied sleeping children, but we could see them from the windows the whole time.

They were OUT!  Yes, I did try to push Katie's head up but she just kept flopping it back down.  There's no way that was comfortable but there was no where else to put her.

That night was our big night out!  We decided to go out to dinner as a group - all 11 of us.  The plan was to head out at 5:00 so we wouldn't have to wait and kid still get the babies to bed at a decent time.

Everett and Gus were at the head of the table.

Note the crab bib...

There was a single chair up on the stage - I'm sure for their nightly entertainment - but we let Katie Wynn occupy it while we waited for our food.  She thought it was hilarious.  Maybe she'll love being on stage one day?

Finally, proof that Jenny and Darrin were on the trip with us! 

After dinner, Chris and Everett waited outside for the rest of us.

Before the trip, I knew I wanted the three kids to have a matching outfit for pictures one night.  My mom helped me make these turquoise seersucker bubbles.  I did the crab appliques on them and then she sewed them up for me.

I just love this picture!  They look like they're just talking and about to hold hands.

And then Gus joined them!  His outfit was a shortall instead of a bubble.

Obviously, it was impossible to get all three of them to smile.  I call this one a success just because all three are somewhat looking and no one's crying.

After those quick pics, we walked down the sidewalk to the town of Rosemary.

Isn't Gus just the cutest?

We found this little bench and thought it might be a good place to try to have a photoshoot.

We tried really hard for a good shot of all three of them together.  Even with 8 adults singing and clapping and whooping and hollering, this was about the best we could get.

So we tried for family pictures instead.

Look at that cute grin!

Thumbs up from Darrin!

I love this one.  I think Charlie wanted to be the screaming baby.  :)

Ready for the best part about the bubbles/shortall that we made?  They're reversible!  We flipped them over to hide the crabs and show the babies' names instead.  And then we tried for another picture of the three of them on the bench.  Once again, these can only be called a success because all eyes are open and no one is crying.  But where are their smiles??

Darrin seems to be somewhat of a baby whisperer.  Everett was all smiles in his arms.

After pictures, we hung out on the lawn for a while so Gus could run around and play.

Love that little sashay from his bootie!

Catch him if you can!

Doc caught him and took him for a spin.

The smaller babies just sat on the ground together and watched Gus.

These pictures of the boys laying in the grass are my favorites!! SO CUTE!

We headed back towards the town for some ice cream at the Sugar Shak.

My girl and I waited as patiently as we could while Doc got us some treats.

Such a cute family, and always so darn photogenic!

Darrin, once again being the baby whisperer.  Katie Wynn is in a bit of a clingy stage and doesn't let just anyone hold her anymore, but she seemed fine with her new buddy.

One last picture before calling it a night on Day Four. 

I wish we could go back right now!  We had such a great time the night...the weather was perfect, we ate delicious food, and the kids were all happy.  Just the way vacation should be!

Vacay: Days 1 and 2

I think the easiest way to break up the 1,000 plus pictures from our beach vacation will be to go by days.  Three posts total, maybe?  We'll see. Techincally, this post should be called Days 0, 1, and 2 but I'm not really counting the day we got there as a full day.  Doc, Katie, and I were the first ones to arrive and had the house to ourselves for the night.  It worked out wonderfully because we were able to grocery shop and get the house ready before our friends arrived.

I won't lie, I was SO dreading the car ride there.  Katie wasn't the biggest fan of being in the car that long on our last trip, and that was with two extra people (my parents) in the car to entertain her.  I assumed I would have to ride in the back with her the whole time and act like a fool to keep her happy.  That was not the case, though.  She was a total CHAMP in the car.  She slept so much that I kept checking to make sure she was breathing.

She traveled in her jellyfist shirt so she could get excited about a beach vacay.

Plus, those ribbon tentacles are just really fun to chew on.

We were terrified she'd be up all night after napping all day, so we put on her swimsuit and tried to wear her out in the pool.  I love that she can stand on this little corner step and play and splash by herself (with an adult watching, obviously).  I only wish the step was bigger!

"Why are we getting out of the pool, mama?"  I dunno, baby.  I ask myself the same question all the time.

Her clip-on highchair is perfect for vacations!  We just clip it on to the bar and she's got a designated spot for the week.  Here she is just dining alone...

The bulk of Sunday was spent running errands while we waited for our friends to arrive.  We had breakfast out at Panera for Father's Day (because "I cooked" for Doc) and then bought groceries and a few other things to have around the house.  We also painted a small fence that morning.  We wanted to get all of our house maintenace chores done before the others got there!

That afternoon, our guests finally arrived!  We all immediately changed into our swimsuits and jumped in the pool.

The oldest of the kids on vacation was Gus at 18 months old.

Gus is so much fun to be around!  He's such a happy little guy.

Gus brought his daddy, Charlie, along for vacation...

...and also his mama, Sarah (seen here chatting with Everett).

Everett was the youngest vacationer, but not by much.  He's just three weeks younger than our Katie.

He's a fun little guy too and loves splashing with his daddy, Christopher.

Katie bug was, of course, there for the swim too.  This is the picture I posted on Instagram that afternoon.  Gotta love a swimsuit that comes with a matching swim cap!

More fun pictures of us playing in the pool...

I loved her little cap but, bless her heart, she had the biggest indention on her head from the elastic when I finally took it off!

On my way in from the pool I snapped this pic of a bright green lizard.  We saw these little guys all week long.

And we have officially made it through my pictures from Day One.  You should be glad I narrowed it down to just 23.

Mornings on vacation start a lot earlier when you're traveling with little ones!  We did sleep in a little later than usual, but still got up pretty early considering it was vacay.  The kids enjoyed playing in their jammies while we made breakfast.

I think my new favorite place to hang out at the house is on the upstairs balcony.  We finally have furniture out there and I hung two baby swings for this week.  There's always a nice breeze up there...it's the perfect place to sit and chill.  Especially since the babies were always content to swing!

Clothing is optional on the balcony.  Day Two included a nekkid nap on the balcony for Katie Wynn.

Everett was on board with the no-clothes-required rule.

Mr. Gus Man got to go on his first bike ride in our bike trailer!

His dad pulled him while his mama followed.

I really can't remember what all we did on Day Two, but I know that evening Gus and Katie went on their first [chaperoned] date.

Doc and I joined the Kinsers for an evening bike ride through the neighborhood.

And before we knew it, we found ourselves parked at a fun little splash pad.  No swimsuits?  No problem.

Both Gus and Katie were a little hesitant at first.

With the help of his mom, Gus got brave enough to touch the water.

And then he got really brave!

Gus ran and touched all the little fountains of water!

Sometimes even going so far as to lay over a spout...

We had so much fun there!  Katie mostly just sat and took it all in, while Gus's diaper just got bigger and bigger from all the water. :)

We let 'em ride commando for the ride home.  It was gonna be a short ride...until we rode passed an ice cream shop and decided we need to stop for a treat.  The kids just hung out in the trailer while we ate, and we evenutally looked over to see them holding hands.  Our little love birds...

Days three and four are next!  And if you thought this post had a lot of pictures, just you wait!

Puerto Rico

As I've mentioned a couple times, Doc and I recently traveled to Puerto Rico to celebrate my thirtieth birthday.  It was SO nice!!  We have also been to St. Lucia and Jamaica and I'd say between the three of them, Puerto Rico is the one I'd come back to over and over again.  We were lucky enough to have beautiful weather the whole time we were there. I decided not to pack my big, bulky camera so this vacation recap is coming from iPhone photos.  We got our vacation started off right with margaritas on the plane!

Our room wasn't quite ready when we first arrived, so we headed out to explore the grounds.  We stayed at the Ritz in San Juan and it was right on the beach.  This was our first peak at the beach; we were so excited to be there!

We spent the first afternoon scoping out the place and grabbing some food.  We hung out at the pool (which was huge and gorgeous but I didn't get a picture of it) until it was time for dinner.  In the lobby of our hotel was also a [smoke free] casino which we visited every night after dinner.  Doc likes to play craps and I like to sit at the black jack table.  Thankfully, we made money over the weekend instead of losing it all!

Our first full day (my actual birthday) was spent camped out on the beach, which was good and bad.  Good because the weather was beautiful and it was so nice to just relax, read, and enjoy the beautiful view.  Bad because we are apparently not very good at applying our sunscreen very evenly and we ended up with some nice splotchy sunburns.  I spent about 48 hours thinking the right sides of my legs might burst into flames at any given moment.

There was a grill right off the beach where we were able to grab lunch each day.  This was the view from our table one day.

For my official birthday dinner, we dined at Il Mulino New York, an Italian restaurant that was located in our hotel.  It was delicious!

Since we were nice and crispy, we opted to skip the beach on day two and head into the old town of San Juan to do some exploring.  I took a selfie in the elevator on our way out.

We only had one thing on the agenda for the whole trip and it was to go eat at Cafeteria Mallorca.  So many of Doc's coworkers had told us we had to go there and luckily we were able to find it as soon as the cab dropped us off in the city.

The restaurant was packed but we were able to quickly claim a two-seater table.

I may have panicked a little when I realized most of the menu was in Spanish.  Good thing we already knew what we were supposed to eat there.

This little place is famous for their mallorca with ham and cheese so we ordered up two of them.  Oh my gosh...deeeelisious!!!  It's ham and cheese on a bread that's very light and kinda sweet in flavor and topped with powdered sugar.  I thought it might be similar to a Monte Cristo sandwich but it tastes very different.  It's not heavy and filling at all; it's the perfect amount.  We also ordered two fresh frozen lemonades which were equally as tasty.  Not too frozen, not too liquid.  Not too tart, not too sweet.  Just perfect.

We spent the bulk of the afternoon wandering around the town.  San Juan is sorta like New Orleans, except much more squished together.  Lots of rows of stores laid out on a grid, but you couldn't really tell what was in each store until you were right in front of the door.  Not much window shopping.

These two pictures were taken when we came up to an intersection.  I took one looking right and one looking left.  Straight ahead looked similar too so it was hard to decide which way to go!

You can kinda see in the picture above that at the end of that street was the ocean.  We walked there to enjoy the view.

We didn't have reservations at any of the restaurants for that night, so we ate dinner at the bar in the lobby of the Ritz.  There were a few items from several of the restaurants that you could order from there so it was pretty good.

The next day - our last one there - was spent just like the first one, only instead of sunbathing we huddled under the umbrella.  I was still nursing my sunburns and did not want to make them worse!

We had dinner that evening at BLT Steak, which is another New York restaurant I think.  It's a good thing we ate there last because I probably would've wanted to go back every single night.  It was so good!

And that was about the extent of our vacation.  We had to check out at 11:00 the next morning so we slept in and then packed up and got ready to go.  I already told you about our awful trip home, so we'll just skip that now and leave this vacation on a good note.  It really was an excellent vacation and I can't wait to go back!  Maybe for my birthday again next year, hubby?  Anyone wanna come with us?

Delayed

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is the captain speaking.  We've learned that there's bad weather in Atlanta right now so we're just going to hang out in the air for a little bit to see if it'll pass by." We were 3.5 hours in on our 4 hour flight.  I looked over at Doc with worry in my eyes.

"They better not keep me from getting to my baby girl."

It had been five days since I'd seen her.  Five looong days.  Good days, but still heart wrenching to hear about all her new tricks - sitting up, holding her bottle, humming -  and not be able to see them in person.  I missed her and had been counting down til she was back in my arms.  It would be later in the evening, her bedtime, but she was going to stay up late to welcome us home.

Thirty minutes passed.

"Folks, this is the captain speaking again.  The Atlanta airport has been closed due to weather.  We have been diverted to Jacksonville, Florida.  We are going to continue on to Florida and I should have us on the ground within the next thirty minutes."

I turned to Doc.  "What does that mean?  In Jacksonville, will we just get on another flight straight to Memphis so we can go home?"

A seasoned flyer, he already knew what we were in for.  We were sitting on a Delta plane headed to an airport without a Delta hub, along with who knows how many other diverted planes.  "There's not a direct flight home from there," he said.

We landed quickly in Jacksonville.  We were fourth in line of the 8 flights diverted there.  But with no gate for our large plane available, there was nothing to do but park on the tarmac.  Doc pulled out a pack of cards from his backpack and we began to play gin rummy.  Anything to pass the time. 

An hour and a half into our wait, the flight attendants asked if there were any passengers that had Jacksonville, FL as their final destination and, if so, would they like to get off the plane if possible.  The thought hadn't even crossed my mind.

"Oh my gosh, there are people who were getting off here.  Why are they stuck sitting here with us??"

"There are no stairs for anyone to get out," Doc told me.  Good point.  I guess they couldn't just jump off.

Another hour passed.  The captain came back on the overhead speaker to tell us we were next in line for the fuel truck and the stairs.  That was a good sign.  We knew we needed fuel before we could leave again, whenever that would be. 

When the stairs arrived, the Jacksonville, FL passengers were able to get off.  Their luggage had to stay.

We were originally supposed to land in Atlanta at 6:25pm.  Shortly after 9:30pm, the pilot told us we were cleared to get ready for takeoff.  Finally!

When diverted to Jacksonville, it took us about 30 minutes to get there from Atlanta.  Because of the bad weather, we had to go the long way back...around all the storms and then back to the airport from the opposite side of Atlanta.  This would be a longer flight, the pilot told us.

As we approached Atlanta, we heard the all too familiar ding of the pilot's speaker coming back on.  "Folks, unfortunately we've arrived in Atlanta at the same time as all the other planes that are returning.  We're going to have to wait up here until we're cleared to land."

I looked out my window and could see the other planes in a single file line like kindergartners headed to the cafeteria.  I tapped Doc, "Look how many planes are out there!"

The flight attendants had run the drink service once during the original flight and that was it.  Doc and I had each had one drink and a tiny bag of peanuts.  Hunger and restlessness were setting in.  I was so relieved to hear the plane wheels touch down on the runway.  We'd made it to Atlanta!

And then the speaker came back on.

"Well, guys, to add to the excitement of the day, we don't have a gate to pull up to so we're going to be sitting here for a while."

Doc was frustrated.  "I don't understand why he doesn't have any sense of urgency at all!"  I tried to be the positive one.  "Well, at least he got us here safe!  And we're here now!  Now we can get on our other plane and go home!"

I knew I had already missed my chance to see my baby girl that night.  Now I was counting on being the first person she saw when she woke up the next morning. 

After an hour of sitting and waiting, we finally pulled up to a gate.  Total time in seats 23 A and B: eleven hours.

We walked off the flight to an airport full of disgruntled passengers.  It was after midnight and nobody wanted to be there.  We rushed to the flight board and I tried to stop to read as Doc continued walking.  "Hey," I yelled after him.  "Don't we need to look to see when our next flight is?"

"It's not on there," he replied.  "It's been cancelled."

Oh.  I'd heard many horror stories of cancelled flights and sleeping in airports, niether of which had ever happened to me.  This did not look good.

By the time I caught up to Doc he was already in a line to get our flight rebooked.  I glanced to the front of the line and estimated at least 80 people in front of us and only one person working the desk.  This really did not look good. 

"Can we get it rebooked online?"  I asked him.  He looked down at his phone.  Dead.  We'd used up all the juice during our 11 hour flight and now it wouldn't even turn on.  I dismissed the "20% Power Remaining" warning on mine and handed it over.  "Here, use mine."

I pulled a charging cord out of our carry on and took his phone to find some power.  People were on the outlets like bugs on a light coated in sugar.  I finally found an open plug-in.  Something green had been spilled on the floor right under in, so I carefully reached over to plug in my cord and then stood with my arm stretched out over the mess to hold the phone.

I could see Doc and watched as he kept making calls.  I couldn't tell if he was getting good news or not.  Finally I gave up, unplugged, and went to check in with him.

"Were you able to get through?" 

"I got a call back scheduled, who knows how long that will take.  I tried to log in  to my account and it kept picking up the ambient background noise.  Now I'm locked out."

UGH.  I saw an open space on a charging station and told him I was going to try to get power on his phone.  There was a man sleeping in the chair between me and the plug-in.  I carefully tried to climb over him, but he opened his eyes about the time I was mid-straddle.

"Sorry.  I just need to plug in my phone."

I sat in the middle of three sleeping passengers and one cuddling couple while holding my charging phone.  This was awful.  A few minutes passed before I saw Doc waving me to come over.  I hesitantly unplugged his phone and climbed back out with a look on my face that told him he better have a good idea because I'm not climbing back into this spot again.

"I think we should go out past security to the main ticket desk and just try to rebook there.  The hotels they're using are already full."

It felt like a good plan so we took off.  Planes were still unboarding so crowds of people were heading in the same direction as us; Atlanta residents who had made it home, I assume.  The tram was no longer running so we were going to have to make it to the front of the airport on foot.  It became a game for me; every person passed was one less that could possibly get ahead of us in line.  I told Doc to "Keep up!"

We made it to the front lobby huffing and puffing and skidded up the Delta counter just as another group was leaving.  "Can I help you?"  "We need to rebook our flight."  The lady smiled politely and pointed across the room.  "You'll need to get in line there."

More than 200 people had already had this same idea.  We were screwed.  It would take hours to get through that line and even if we did, there was no confirmation that we'd get on the first flight out to Memphis.  I was through trying to be the positive one.

"We could rent a car," Doc said.  It was an idea he'd mentioned earlier that I'd dismissed.  Unless we wanted to spend the night and the whole next day hanging out in the Atlanta airport, it sounded like the only good idea left. 

We ran across the room and out the doors.  There was the taxi line.  Where were the rental cars??  Doc guessed they were downstairs.

"Give me your phone, I'm going to try to call and see if we can get one," he said.  I looked down at my phone.  10% power remaining.  I handed it over and returned to my outlet search.  I needed as much juice as I could get in his phone because it still wasn't turning on.

After a few more minutes of charging, he came back to get me.  "Come on, let's go downstairs."  We raced through the airport again, this time to a tram that was still running and hopped on.  Destination: rental cars.

We ran passed Hertz, Rent-A-Car, and others.  Where were we going?  Doc finally turned into the line at Alamo.  Two others were waiting in front of us when the lady at the counter looked past the customer she was helping to announce to us in line, "I'm sorry.  If you don't have a reservation, we're out of cars."

The two people in front of us hung their heads and left.  The counter lady and I both turned our heads to Doc at the same time. "We have a reservation."  The sweetest words I heard all night.

It was 2:15am when we closed the doors to our rental car.  With 2 dead cell phones, growling stomachs, and a six hour drive ahead of us, we were finally getting to leave Atlanta!

Before getting too far into the drive, we tried to stop at a McDonalds.  I was dreaming of a cheeseburger.  I walked up the door.  Locked.  Closed.  We crossed the parking lot to a gas station for snacks, drinks, and a bathroom break.  Two seconds inside the doors and we remembered it was 2:30am and we were in Atlanta.  "We've got to get out of here," I whispered to Doc while trying to avoid making eye contact with the four guys hanging out in the corner.  He paid as fast as he could and we ran out - bathrooms be damned!  The side of the road would be just fine if it came to that.

Ten more miles down the road and we found another gas station, this time with decent bathrooms and a dual phone charger.  We didn't care how much it cost, we weren't leaving without it! 

With only one other stop for another bathroom break and to switch drivers, we made excellent timing.  We pulled into our driveway at 7:20am (gained an hour in the time change) and could see our butterball little girl waving from the kitchen window (along with her Lala and Poppa). 

I didn't even care that I wasn't the first person she saw when she woke up.  I scooped her into my arms and kissed her a million times!!!  She was all I needed.  Who cares if I didn't have any luggage...

Dear Beach House...

...It's so hard to say goodbye!  At the time that this posts, I'm probably sitting in the front seat of our rented minivan boo hoo-ing as we drive towards our house that's not brand new, doesn't have a pool in the backyard, and isn't within walking distance of the beach.  And, last I checked, it was raining cats and dogs at home so we'll likely be greeted by mud puddles and foot-high weeds.  Sigh...why can't we just stay here forever? This week was the kids' spring break so we brought them (and Doc's parents too) to see the beach house for the first time.  During building, we kept it a secret from them so they had no idea it even existed.  I mean, they knew we were headed to the beach and that we were staying in a house, they just didn't know it was our house.  As we pulled up, we told them we were all going to take a quick tour of the house and then we had to meet out on the patio for a family meeting.  Doc used his serious voice thinking he'd make them nervous (especially since last week we'd had a family meeting and told them about the new brother or sister they'll be getting in September!) but I think they just thought he was going to go over the "vacation rules."

Before telling them the house belongs to us, we asked them what they thought about it so we'd get an unbiased opinion.  They both thought it was really cool...they got their own rooms and it had a pool!  I had my camera poised to snap a pic when Doc told them that the house belongs to us.  I was ready to catch their excitement on film!

Um yea, not really the picture I was expecting.  What we actually got was about a billion questions.  "Wait...so this used to just be an empty lot?"  "You've seen this house before?"  "We can come here anytime?"  "Other people can come here too?"  I guess it was a lot to take in.  We asked them if they remembered all the mattresses and couches that used to be in Mimi and Poppy's (my parents) garage.  "Yea?"  Then we told them those were the mattresses we'd be sleeping on the couches that were in the living room.  Slowly but surely it all started to make sense to them.

Then they got excited!  And also wanted to know why didn't build a third floor.  We tried to point out the positives; tweens don't really get mortgages and things like that.

We also told them that noone had swam in the pool yet so the race was on to see who could get suited up first.   Wyatt was first but we made him patiently wait for his sister so they could jump in together.

Finally she made it down and we counted them off.  They made sure I had my camera ready so we'd know for sure exactly who went all the way under first.

Three, two...

...one!  Looks like Anna's off the ground first.

But Wyatt's catching up.

Looks like Wyatt made it under first.  The camera doesn't lie.  Just don't tell Anna, ok?

It didn't take long after they jumped in for us to realize the pool heater wasn't turned on.  Pool water on March 14th is COLD!  Doc spent a while on the phone with the pool guy.  Turns out the gas wasn't hooked up yet.

Wyatt became the pool boy and got to work cleaning out the leaves.

The rest of us pretty much just sat around and watched.

I spent about an hour out by the pool the first day.  I was finishing up a book on my kindle and just had on shorts and a tank top since it really wasn't that hot.  As it turns out, the sun was doing a job on me and it looked like I was wearing that tank top for the rest of the trip.  That, or a bright red bib.  Lemme tell you, it was awesome.

Before we got the heat turned on, Anna mastered the art of getting onto the raft without getting wet.

Poor Wyatt got soaked every time.  Luckily, he didn't seem to mind.

The second full day of our vacation was my birthday!  My sneaky little family turned into busy little bees while I was in the shower that afternoon, because I walked outside to a surprise party on the porch!

 

I wish I'd had my camera to show you things from my point of view.  Doc told me to come outside and I saw the balloons but noone was there.  And then Lala appeared from behind the bike shed, Anna and Papa rounded the corner of the house, and Wyatt pulled up the driveway on his bike.  And they all had presents!  (Anna's and Wyatt's were even wrapped in paper they'd decorated.)

Lala took lots of great pictures at the party but yea, I'd just stepped out of the shower so must of those will remain unposted.  One of the presents I opened was a new pair of TOMS ballet flats.  Super cute!

I also got a Built bag for my laptop.  Really excited about finally having something to cart my computer around in!

Doc baked brownies for the party and Anna arranged my candles into a 2 and a 9 (last year in the twenties!).  Unfortunately, there were no matches so I had to pretend to blow them out.  That just means I got them all and my wish will come true!

Later that afternoon Doc took me out for a quick shopping trip and a birthday dinner.  Of course I didn't take a picture of us actually showered and cleaned up, but it was a great date night!  It was a really good birthday and I'm so glad I got to spend it at the beach with these guys!

As for the rest of the trip, we did as little as possible.  We spent a day or two at the beach and lots of time lounging around the pool.  I spotted three of these guys (or maybe they were all the same one?) hanging out by the pool with us.  To be so afraid of snakes and other creepy crawly things, I actually think these little lizards are pretty cute.

We bought two more bikes while we were in town so now there's a total of four at the house.  There were lots of bike rides while we were there.

  

As always, Doc was the head cook and whipped up some great seafood meals.  Like the pool, we also broke in the dining room table and ate dinner at it a couple nights.

While I was in the back taking that picture of Doc grilling, I also snapped a couple of the back walkway since I left it off our tour (Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four).  This is the view from the back door looking towards the pool.

We've got an outdoor shower with both hot and cold water.  Wyatt took a couple of ten minute "rinse offs" after swimming in the freezing cold pool; I think he liked it.  Next to the shower is a rack for you to hang your towel.

    

So that was our quick spring break vacation!  I'll leave you with this picture of Little Miss Sassy.