Thursday, May 1, 2014

Easter Break.

Although they'd already had Spring Break back in March, my boys got a week-long break last week and I wondered what in the world we'd do to fill up our time. That many days in a row with nothing to do is a recipe for disaster {even though I am a HOMEBODY and would rather stay home all day long and never go anywhere...this isn't the case for small children - they need to DO ALL THE THINGS}. Back in March when we went to the beach with Cacky and Anna, James said he wished his daddy had been there to swim with him. So since we got a spring break do-over, we requested that Daddy join us at the beach this time! Eddie took off Thursday and Friday so we had a mid-week beach vacation!

Monday night before we left the boys went to Grandmama's for a spend-the-night. It was SO helpful for me. I got our house cleaned, cleaned, cleaned. Tuesday night before we left Eddie's hunting club had a dinner that we went to so the boys stayed home with Miss Jessie.



The boys let their soft shell turtle, Peter Pan, go free in the pond.

And then they collect tadpoles to put into the aquarium.

Wednesday morning when I got up we were in packing and cleaning mode. Eddie was gone all day at work so I was rushing around trying to get everything ready. I may not be proud of my parenting skills that day, but hopefully the boys won't remember. :/ Ever have those days? Yikes. Mean mama is stressful.

We left around 7pm Wednesday night after dropping Scout off and picking supper up and getting gas. The beach is a good 3.5 hours away with no stopping. One of these days I'm going to wise up and put all of us in a pull-up on the way down so there will be no stopping. We stopped once - at Starbucks in McLenny, Florida - and pottied and got a Frappuccino for me and chocolate milk for two little boys. We finally arrived around 11pm. Exhausted and ready for bed!

Thursday morning we woke and headed straight for the pool. We played and swam {we have some little fish living with us!!} from 9:30-12 and came in worn out {and sunburned...me, at least!}. Eddie and I decided to feed the boys lunch and put them in the stroller for nap time. Naps don't work great when we're out of town, so we thought this might be a good solution. We walked sloooowly - stopping and looking at animals and the water, etc. - all the way to the intercoastal and back. We were gone almost two hours and both boys got a pretty good nap in! By the time they were awake it was high tide on the beach {the beach right in front of the condo has rocks and almost no sand when the tide is in} so we made the executive decision to go ahead and shower and head into St. Augustine for dinner. We went to Harry's for dinner and while I'm sure it could be fantastic, the service was TERRIBLE and we won't be going back with children anytime soon. It took well over an hour to get our food and people all around us were seated 30-45 minutes later and eating before us. There was no apology when we asked about it. It wasn't our best night out.

Thursday morning I opened the cabinet to make coffee and there were NO coffee cups to be found. I posted this picture on Instagram with #momandannawerehere. Those girls like coffee {especially Mom} and when they're together they drink it several times a day.

This poor baby got sunscreen in his eyes and was MISERABLE for about an hour. Pitiful. The washcloth was wet and felt better than rubbing with his hands. I'm not sure about the Duck Tape.





Friday morning we promised James we'd get up and go to the beach first thing, or as he called it an, "Early Morning Beach Party." I slept until about 9:30 and he was horrified that Eddie wouldn't let him wake me up for our "Early Morning Beach Party." We drove a mile down the beach to a public beach that was rock-free and the boys had a GREAT time. I think next time we go we'll pack a cooler and an umbrella and spend a good deal longer there. We got the boys to take naps in separate beds on Friday afternoon and when they woke up we loaded up to make a Publix run for supper. Steamed shrimp and grits! Mmmm, mmmm! And so much better service than Harry's! ;) James is a big fan of the "night swim" so we took the boys to the pool after supper. UNFORTUNATELY, someone who shall remain nameless pooped in his pool diaper {it was contained, but STILL...how embarrassing} so I made a QUICK exit with that member of our family and took him to the shower. We'd never had that happen before {thank GOODNESS} and I could live the rest of my life without that happening again.



Saturday morning we had to get up and head home. Eddie and I had to go to a wedding on Saturday night so that meant leaving the beach a day and a half early. James was sad to go, but the good news is that we can go back! The boys watched movies all the way home and were perfect little travelers. We really had a great time and the boys were well behaved MOST of the time. It was {surprisingly!} our first vacation as a family by ourselves and we had a very nice time! We might just do it again!

We split the boys on Saturday night - Will went to Cacky's and James went with Grandmama and Granddaddy to the lake. James had a TERRIBLE time - he went fishing, rode the jet ski and the boat, swam, and shot a BB gun. TERRIBLE time. I wish we'd gone to pick him up early. Eddie and I went a little out of town to the wedding of Eddie's boss' son and had a good time. The wedding was in a teensy church and we weren't able to get in, but the reception was on the bride's parents' land and it was BEAUTIFUL and SO Southern. They had pimento cheese, cheese straws, pecan pie, macaroni and cheese. Mmm!

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