My View of Vacation (and some behind the scenes commentary)

Oh yeah... this was my view of vacation (yes, those are my toes as I watch the kids frolic)...Ok, let's be honest about what was going on behind the scenes... with a 3 year old and an almost 9 month old - I didn't really get to frolic on the beach that much, and certainly didn't get to sit under that fabulous beach umbrella that much (which is obvious if you see my lack of a tan and the book I didn't finish reading). I just had the camera, so you don't see me jumping in the waves, building sand castles, and sitting in the house reading while a baby napped (or trying to keep her occupied when she was awake - it's very time consuming to get a baby beach ready for a whopping 20-30 minute visit).

But fun was had by all! This was one of the only pictures I got of all 4 of the cousins together on the beach. Uncle Kevin gave the girls a "ride" on his float.....

Now, behind the scenes.... what you don't see in that photo is that just seconds before Uncle Kevin swept up our little Megan as a wave was starting to crash down on her (see the wave in the corner). He just was in the right place at the right time as Daddy was running to save her from the surf.

The kids did have fun. About 3-4 days into it, Megan was ready for short beach days. It was hot and she was done with all the sand. Although, while she was at the beach - she was enjoying it! We did have a lot of non-beach time too.

At our beach house they had this fish floatie in their storage room. Both Megan and Anna really liked it (note to self for next year!). Here's Megan waiting for the perfect wave...

Ok- let's get another angle on that wave....

And hey, you know if you don't see the perfect wave - just pull up a beach and take a load off...

Now what you can't see in this photo is that Megan is drawing shapes and trying to write numbers (we'd been writing in the sand earlier and she thought that was soooo cool!).

This little girl loves her Daddy. It's so very sweet when she jumps in his arms and exclaims, "Daddy, I am your princess and you are my king." I just love it!

However, she calls me the sweet mommy dragon. HHHUUUUUMMMM... I might be offended by that, except it's how she interprets the pictures in one of her books, I Will Rejoice.

And here's the sweet Nicole giving Grandma and Granddad lots of love!!!!

Now behind the scenes... don't let that cute demeanor fool you. She just couldn't see me. Mommyitis continues with that little one. She did LOVE time with her grandparents, cousins, aunt and uncle - but in her little world... Mommy does still rule!

We have a favorite restaurant down there (Shade on the Loop - best fried shrimp!) and they have a game room for the kids. It's nice to keep them occupied while we are waiting for dinner to be served. Daniel was a great big cousin and helped Megan out on a racing game.

Now what you don't know... is that I am obviously NOT a good racer. It's one of those Tokyo Drift games and I obviously didn't learn how to "drift".... Megan played with me first but we pretty much just kept hitting everything. I wasn't much of a fun partner... I was replaced by a younger man!

Just about every day we headed to the beach for some awesome fun and made some incredible memories....

Laughter was constantly ringing in our ears!

And when we weren't on the beach.....

We had a few DVD's (and the disney channel)....

and a baby to watch.... We really thought she'd start crawling at the beach - but nope - she's just not ready yet. But she is an expert spoon chewer! Something about those 3 teeth that are about to break through!

No matter where we were, or what we were doing...

We were together!

That is the joy of family!!!!

For all those non-family folk... I have one more beach post (probably tomorrow). Then we'll move on to present day activities.