The traveling spectacle

Last week we took off for a vacation to the beach. My parents invited us to stay with them in a beach house in Ormond Beach, Florida along with my brother. We had a great time.

The drive down felt like it was never going to end. We were stuck on the interstate 5 times in traffic that was standing still for hours. Someone gave Emmett a sippy cup full of juice before we left the house, and it leaked all over his car seat as soon as he got in the car, leaving him with a sticky wet butt the rest of the trip. I put a towel under him, but he kept pulling it out and preferred to sit in the damp car-seat. Two bottles of water were spilled in the van, three separate "I have to go to the bathroom now!" stops, and three leaning over the baby's car seat to nurse- causing bruised rib cage episodes and that was just before lunch on our way down. Finally we decided that we needed a break, and Violet was insisting that she be let out of her car seat, so I asked Rodrigo to stop on the next exit and we would go in somewhere and eat lunch, and let everyone stretch for a few minutes.

Well, the only place on that next exit was a Huddle House (a mediocre breakfast all day kind of place, I'm really not a breakfast fan, I eat it because I have to, and somehow restaurant breakfasts always seem gross to me, Rodrigo and the kids do not share my opinion!) so we went there. They only had small booths so we got two booths back to back. The big boys sat at one, and we sat with the little ones at the other. Matthew promptly knocked over his giant glass of root beer, the waitress was really nice about it and after she helped him clean it up she brought him another one this time in a styrofoam glass with a lid. Logan somehow managed to pick up the styrofoam glass and stuck his thumb through it and spilled the entire contents of that glass across the table. Back came the waitress, still smiling, to help them clean up the table and bring a new drink, yet again. And while we were being slightly mortified at our big kids antics, Rodrigo who was holding Violet, failed to notice that she was reaching for his glass...yep. She spilled his very full glass all over our table. I didn't even want to look at the waitress by this point. I felt so sorry for her. Her smile was still there, but by this point it was kind of like one of those weird stiff smiles you have in your driver's license picture. It was really kind of funny in a sad sort of way. The restaurant was full of truck drivers and they were all watching us instead of whatever that was blaring on the TV hung over the lunch counter. We ate and left as fast as we could. Rodrigo left her a very good tip in apology for the multiple messes... Oh and we promised to never ever go back to that Huddle House in central Georgia again! Poor lady.

We did eventually arrive at the beach house. My parents and brother were already there waiting for us. Mom had cooked dinner and we happily piled out of the van and went inside to eat. After dinner we took the kids down to the beach to play for a few minutes as the sun was setting. Then my brother and Rodrigo started talking about how shark attacks are more common at dusk, and with the county we were staying in being known as the shark bite capital of the USA, I made the kids get back out of the water until daylight!

My dad rented Logan a surf board for the week, and he spent just about every minute we were at the beach surfing. He said the waves were pretty much too small the entire time, but he still managed to stand up and ride quite a few of them. Everyone else was given a chance to surf as well. Emmett fell of the board and into the (very shallow) waves the minute his daddy let go of the board, he wasn't that impressed with the idea after that.

We spent every morning at the beach and went back to the house for lunch and to lay the babies down for a nap. We rested and played board games and ate simple yummy food. In the evenings we went back down to the beach to walk or play in the water again. We went to Ponce de Leon Lighthouse, and to the Ponce inlet a couple of times to explore the tide pools and take pictures there in the afternoon.

It was wonderful. We played together and relaxed the whole time. We all enjoyed each others company and we all had fun!

We got home late Saturday night. Thankfully it was a much quicker, much less eventful trip than the one we had on the way to the beach! I can honestly say that as a grown up, I adore vacations. But I think my very favorite part is when I get to crawl into my own sweet bed that first night home at the end of a trip!

A trip to the beach

A couple of weeks ago we took a trip to the beach. We packed up all 6 kids, and ourselves, and went on vacation with my Mom and Dad. 

{Beach Baby}

I was honestly a little nervous about going on vacation (and the 8 hour one way road trip) with our new foster babies. I mean what person in their right mind takes 2 extra toddlers they barely know on vacation for a week? But we had already made plans, and we all agreed that we would just go and do our best to make sure everyone enjoyed themselves.

{napping in the van on the way to the beach}

I can honestly say in retrospect that we had a wonderful time! My worries were completely unfounded. Sure there was more "stuff" to take with us, and more food and water to carry down to the beach for snacks, but it really wasn't at all like I worried that it would be. There were no major melt-downs, no near death drowning  experiences, no major problems of any kind. I did actually get to sit and relax (at least a little bit!) I had a chance to get in the water and swim... Rodrigo and I got to take a few walks along the beach at night during the full moon. It was really nice! It helped a lot that we had the foresight to bring a beach shade tent and 2 portable cribs with us. We set up the tent every morning on the beach and put one of the cribs inside along with a quilt. Claire would nap on the quilt and the little boys, B and J, napped in the crib together every afternoon for at least 2 hours. My dad likes sitting on the beach watching the world go by, so he stayed with the babies and I got to swim and play with our big boys! Mom and I took very long walks down the beach looking for treasures, sometimes the boys tagged along and sometimes they just stayed and played in the water closer to Daddy and Grandpa. 

{Ethan hunting for crabs}

{Claire and B in the shallows}

{Matthew heading out to play on the boogie board, even I played on the boogie board a few days we were there... although there is no photographic evidence!} 

{The toddlers playing together}

{Me watching the little ones}

{Claire fell asleep on her Grandma after a full morning in the sun and waves!}

{Matthew and Claire}

{Logan comforting Claire after she decided to go all the way under!}

{In the condo, packing snacks and water to take with us down to the beach}

{Rodrigo took Ethan fishing}

{His first fish ever! He was so proud!}

{Daddy and Claire}

{I love this picture of the two of them!}

{Our fearless baby girl! He tried pulling B and J slowly around, and they really didn't like it thank you very much!}  

{Claire loved it!}

My dad invited Rodrigo and Logan to go deep sea fishing with him one early morning. They had an awesome time. Logan said he caught a ton of fish. He was especially impressed that his Daddy managed to catch a shark! As they were pulling it onto the boat out of the water the line snapped and it got away... oh well maybe next time! The bummer was they didn't get any pictures of the shark! 

{Logan with his Grandpa on the boat}

{Logan and his Daddy}

{He caught 2 fish at once on his pole!!}

 On our last evening there my parents met my uncle who lives nearby for dinner. Rodrigo and I decided to take the kids out to town and see what we could find to do. There is this fun place called "Broadway at the Beach" that was just the thing! Rodrigo spotted a museum featuring the work of Gunther von Hagens called Bodies Revealed. So he took the big boys there while I walked around the boardwalk with the little ones. The picture below is of the boys when they came out. Logan was calling me to find out where I was so they could come meet us and find a place to have dinner. Doesn't he look all grown up? It shocks me! 

{we found a loud happy place to have dinner, 6 children fit right in with all of their noises and mess! }

{The big boys were given balloon hats...}

{chaos ensued :-)}

{Happy, goofy boys!}