Second Stop

The second trip of the Summer was to the beach with my family. We got home from WY on the 6/2 and left for Florida on 6/9. We had a great trip down and Payton and Charlotte did great in the car. We only had to stop one time for Charlotte coming and going...she was a trooper! She would sleep, wake up and play for a while, take a bottle and go right back to sleep. It was like we were still just traveling with one child. ;0) The beach was great. We had beautiful weather every day but one and the girls had fun on the beach. Sarah Grace didn't care too much for the ocean this year. Last year we couldn't keep her out of it (see last years blog) and this year she wouldn't go past her ankles and that was only when we made her for pictures. She still enjoyed digging and "cooking" in the sand. She'd dig all day, cooking and stirring and passing out samples to everyone. Charlotte loved the ocean! As soon as you put her feet in she went crazy kicking and squealing, but she spent most of the day napping under the tent. Payton liked the beach about the same as Sarah Grace liked the ocean. The first day she just stood in one spot holding one foot in the air saying "uh ohhhh!" because she didn't like the sand.

All of the girls loved the pool. Sarah Grace had no fear, jumping in, swimming from one end to the other, or getting thrown into the air. She even liked to go under the water. Charlotte loved her little floaty boat...it made the sweetest noises and she had a ball. Payton liked the pool too, and she liked for you to go under and pop back up in front of her. She'd hold up one finger and say "back" for do it again or come right back.

We had a big group on the beach and every few days it would get bigger with friends or family, who were also on vacation in the area. One day there were 7 kids under 5 yrs old! It was so fun to watch them all play.

We ate out somewhere every night and the girls did good at dinner. Most days naps were short or didn't exist at all (except for Charlotte), but the girls were good considering. Charlotte and Payton had their rocky nights but there were no dinner table meltdowns or majorly embarrassing meals. We were even able to go to a couple of REALLY nice places and not get dirty looks from the tables around us. The last night on the way to get ice cream Sarah Grace broke down in tears and said she wanted to go back to "her world". She had enough fun and was ready for her bed and a regular routine again.

Overall, it was a relaxing week. We got a lot of sun, ate a lot of great seafood, got a little extra rest and had fun hanging out as a family. Adam and I even managed to have a date night and saw a movie!