The Beach 2009

We are still recovering from our vacation to Destin, FL with my family. We had a great time, but for some reason did not come home feeling well rested. Oh, yeah, that was Lily keeping us up all night and Grace keeping us going all day. And then there was the LONG car ride home. Grace has always been such a good car rider, snacks, movies, books, games, stickers, she was always easy to occupy. Lily just wants OUT! and she cannot say it loud enough. On the way there she did better, but on the way home, the best part of the trip was the two hour nap after the massive screaming fit. I kid you not, Grace was never taken out of her car seat while the car was moving. Lily and I almost hit the road after jumping out of the car walking home. This child has the worst TEMPER you have ever seen. As soon as she is old enough she is turning that car seat around to see the world and so I can move out of the middle seat and back into the front row.(Did I forget to mention that I get car sick when not in the front?) The trick that got us home the last two hours was feeding her puffs every time she got cranky. Tom's statement was, "yeah, she'll be a great car rider but weigh 300 pounds." Grace thinks she wants a pink car seat like hers - Mommy just wants an escape hatch for our next car ride to Florida(in July). Does anyone want to help me get Tom on a plane? As Lily was screaming i think he actually started to think about it.

But as for the trip, we had fun, playing in the Gulf, sitting in the sand and swimming in the pool. And once again Grace's beach appetite resumed. It is the one place on Earth that Grace will eat endlessly. It also helps that Papa buys all her favorites - cookies, ice cream, doughnuts, mini muffins, pretzels and chicken nuggets and fries and she ate a lot of fruit. Lily on the other had eats anything and everything put near her mouth. Lily did not care for the cool water of the gulf or the pool. She was content to sit under the umbrella with her battery operated fans to cool her and an occassional cold bottle. She stayed inside in the afternoon, resting up for dinner and keeping her parents up all night. (She still has no teeth, and we hope this is the reason for the restlessness.)

My sister and her son were there for the whole week this time. We will call my nephew Mr. NO, since that is his favorite answer to any and all questions. He occassionally spiced it up with a few uhuh's or the crying noooooo's. He is three and doesn't like sharing the attention of his grandparents. He is very sweet to his cousins though and always wants to be around them. He is like Gracie in that he loves to sing and would get a song stuck in your head. Unfortunately he sings the wrong words A LOT. My favorite "if you like to talk to momatos".(Veggie tales for those of you who are not in the preschool in crowd.)

Grace's favorite part of the whole trip was diving into the pool. I think she also enjoyed going to The Track which is the local amusement park, where she got her Dad soaked on the bumper boats. Lily's favortie part was sleeping on everyone at least once and watching all the action of her 5 year old sister and 3 year old cousin.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures:

this was the day of naps, I didn't get one :(