Building Castles in the Sand...

One of the things I love about laying around on the beach is watching children play.  And by play I mean really "play".  Without the use of a television or other electronic devices;  only simple toys that allow one's imagination to run as wild as the wind and the waves that splash across the shore.  The beach is filled with wonders for children to explore and pretend.  Why,  with just a pail and shovel,  a castle can be created, adorned with shells and twigs.  All that's left is the imagination to create one's own story...

 Come along with us and escape to our kingdom in the sand, where the waves will sweep you away to magical worlds unknown...

4

Dads on the Beach Bring a Different Kind of FUN!

The first two days of our trip all of the guys got up at the crack of dawn and went fishing.  Did they catch anything?  Yes.  But they had to google photographs of the fish to see what they were.  No, we didn't eat them.  We didn't even know if they were eatable.  So, when Tuesday rolled around everyone slept in a little later and we ALL went to the beach.  And with that came a special brand of "playing" that can only be found when daddies are around...

 

And then when we all got cleaned up afterwards, we decided to make a little trip to the outlet mall.  Well, all except for the two "Super Hero Dads"(Robby and David) who stayed home with Holli and Beckett to let them nap.  However, before we got home these text messages began to appear on the screens of our phones...

                                                                 ICE CREAM TIME!!!

                                                       At least they put bibs on them.

                                                 And then came the "Sugar High Dance"...

These are the things vacations are made of.  And daddies, well, they just bring a different kind of fun to the table.

0

Losing Track of Time on the Beach...

It didn't take long for me to already lose track of what day it was.  All day yesterday I thought it was Monday and as I was walking on the beach this morning I thought it was Tuesday and pleasantly surprised and excited to find that it was only Monday!  I suppose that's how it goes (and rightly should...) on a vacation.  Yesterday was our first day on the beach, followed by some pretty serious play time with my babies.  Parker Ann felt she needed a little "YaYa  Time" and requested at one point that we go to my room to play.  Well, of course, I took her upstairs and after we had been playing for a while, the door opened and in walked the other two little munchkins!  I wondered how they had made it to the third story when Poppi's head popped around the corner; "They were just standing at the bottom of the stairs looking up..."  And so it began; the chasing, tickling, playing hide-n-seek.  An absolute infinity amount of FUN!  And at the end of the day when all of them were bathed, smelling sweet and put into their pajamas they came one by one to crawl into my lap before bedtime.  Parker Ann looked at first at my crowded chair and said, "YaYa, Is there room in there for one more kid?"  All I can say is that they totally melt my heart.

Here are some of the photos that I have taken on the beach; I hope you enjoy!

Bringing this little blow up swimming pool to put under an umbrella was one of the best ideas we had!

Parker Ann has never been interested in getting in the water until this year.  Aunt CaCa took her out to ride the waves...

Sarah and Parker Ann.  I took this precious picture of mommy and daughter.  This will be Parker's last year to be an only child.

                    And Holli did not want to go in the water at all.  Instead she played in the sand.

                                             Beckett, on the other hand LOVES the waves!

                 Spending time with my babies and losing track of time.  That's what it's all about. 

0

Let The Vacationing Begin!

We all left from different place to end up in Destin.  Justin, Sarah and Parker Ann traveled from Natchitoches to our house last night so we could begin our trek at 6 a.m.  David, Codi and Beckett started their journey from New Orleans this morning and Caitlin, Kevin and Holli hopped a plane from Cleveland.  The plan was for us to leave at 6 and make it to the airport in Florida in time to pick  the Ohioans up.  As fate would have it, I woke up at 2:15 and couldn't go back to sleep until after 4.  And then the alarm went off at 4:50 (sigh...).  We got up and were packed and on time when...the lights on the boat trailer weren't working properly (ugh...).  After making a trip to Wal-Mart to get new bulbs and gas our vehicles up, we were an hour late getting on the road. 

Caitlin and Kevin's plane landed early so David, who was ahead of us by a good distance, stopped and picked them up at the airport.  Justin made a wrong turn but still made it to the house before we did.  And then the boat had to be taken to the marina (whew...).  I was SO glad that Robby and I had decided to buy groceries before we left town this year because that is the worst part of getting to our vacation destination; traveling all day and having to go grocery shopping!

 Three buggies of food and about 1000 bucks later, we were ready for a week's worth of eating...maybe.

Poor little Holli Bug, our frequent flier baby, has taken to getting air sick the last couple of times she has flown.

Here's our home away from home for the week!  It takes a pretty big place to house 13 of us.  I don't know what we are going to do as our BIG, FAT FAMILY continues to grow.

         And here is the view from our room's balcony.  The beach access is right across the street.

The kids asked me for a shovel.  Apparently they found a planter full of dirt on one of the balconies and decided to have a little fun.

                  Parker's dirty hands did not compare to Holli's body covered in that dirt.

                       And Beckett?  Baby Boy was more interested in eating Cheese Puffs.

When Robby and Justin got back from dropping the boat off we grilled steaks and fish and cleaned those dirty babies up...

There was a good bit of playing between cousins and then it was bed time.  For the babies.  But I can sure tell you that I will not be far behind them.

Tomorrow we will hit the beach.  Well, at least the women and children will because I'm pretty sure that Robby will be going fishing!  That man loves to fish.

          Here's a Happy, Happy YaYa having almost all of her little chickies with her this week!


                                  WE MADE IT!!!  YIPPEE, YAHOO (and all that stuff...)

0