Beach Day Twenty Two

Breakfast.Beach.Lunch.Nap.Shop.Dinner.Bed.

Beach Day Twenty One

We had all kinds of fun today. The girls played together very well (for the most part- Audrey likes to take Addie's lovies and run..) and we spent some good time on the beach.

These sweethearts made "veggietable" soup for about an hour!

 Check out Audrey's hand on her hip and Addie's leg stuck out. Where did they learn to pose like that for pictures? Very cute!

 Shelby Claire has just about outgrown her little bebe pod seat. When Audrey was this age, she would do back bends over the back off it. Shelby Claire prefers the side bend. :)

 Amy is a brave momma and like me, will try just about anything with the girls. She is my sweet friend who took off to Atlanta with me and Audrey this summer. We love spending time with her and Addie and she is just about the most patient person I've ever met. I love her "mothering" style and I learn a lot from her laid-back personality. Having said that, we took two extremely grumpy, hissy-fit pitching, three-year-olds out to dinner tonight and then shopping afterwards. It took everything we could possibly do to actually get them into the car. We were determined.

 After many threats of time-out, no books, no pappy, no blankies, etc. we arrived at the restaurant and just like "that" they returned to the sweet little angels they are. That lasted all throughout dinner and while we shopped at a store appropriately called "Hugs and Hissyfits".

This is Addie on the ride home. She's in love with this polka-dot hat and wouldn't take it off. :)

Shelby Claire was an absolute angel the entire night and rarely made a peep. It won't be long before she is throwing her own little "hissyfit" though!

I'm exhausted.

Wordless Wednesday: Beach Day Twenty

This is all I've got! It's been a day!!

Beach day Nineteen

My feelings about going home early have not changed but today was an absolutely wonderful day! I've lost the desire to pack my stuff and go running back home as fast as I can! We had zero meltdowns and everything just went smoothly today. Granted, we didn't go to the beach or the pool, we just ran normal errands and did a little shopping. We had good, quality, momma-play-with-me time! I loved it and when I asked Audrey at bedtime what was her favorite thing we did today-- she said, "Play with you!". I can honestly say that if yesterday was the worst day that we have- then we are doing really good!!

Addie will be here tomorrow morning and Audrey is beside herself with excitement. She can't wait to show Addie "her beach". Ha! We made cookies for Addie today also so I am sure Audrey will be on a sugar high before lunch!! That's okay though- we are on vacation!

I didn't take any pictures of the grocery store today and I am sure you all are so disappointed! I did take some of my little inch worm. Smiley is veeerrry close to figuring out how to crawl. She is definitely mobile and can get herself wherever she wants to go. It's just somewhat painful- she hikes her bottom up in the air, pulls her knees forward one at a time and then lunges her body forward. The result is a little red nose and a few tears every now and then.

We are really excited about our friends coming but sad about Jessica, Jackson and Bailey leaving. Especially since the last time Audrey saw Jackson they were both in the middle of a meltdown! I'm super happy about having an adult other than me in this condo though! I need some conversation!!

Smiley's been getting up before daylight the entire time we've been here. If she does that tomorrow, when Audrey gets up we are going to go have a picnic breakfast on the beach. I wish I had a third arm so I could take pics but it's doubtful that will happen!

Beach Day Eighteen

Today started out great. Jessica and Jackson came over and we went down to the beach for a little bit. Both kiddos played VERY WELL together for about an hour and a half and then began to get tired. We packed up around 12:30 to go in for lunch and Audrey and Jackson raced to the top of the stairs from the beach. Jackson beat Audrey to the top and boy I found out that I have a competitive little one who does not like to lose!!

Our peaceful morning at the beach went to pot real fast after that! Audrey then attacked Jackson who defended himself quite nicely and got herself put in time out. The time out didn't phase her and she had meltdown after meltdown all the way back to the condo.

Being on vacation is getting kind of old. Last night was the first night we were alone (even though Jessica is here, she's at her mom's) and I don't really like it! Carting all our stuff and our babies to the beach every morning is wearing on us and Audrey misses her Daddy! I miss him too! I miss little things about home- like checking the mail! HA! Clay told me that we didn't get anything interesting in the mail in the 18 days that we've been gone-- just catalogs and junk mail! Those are my favorite things to get in the mail! Audrey told me today that she wanted to go back home. Her best little friend is coming down Wednesday and if Audrey mentions it again, we are going to cut this trip short. We knew when we came that we may not make it the entire four weeks and that is completely okay! At this point, I am feeling like we have "done" the beach and it's time to move on! 

Pictures from this morning while things were still going well....

I'm thinking that an afternoon of biking, playing at the playground, maybe going back to the beach in the late evening and a trip to the ice cream shop will help little Audrey's feelings. I hope so! She's had a rough day today!

Beach Day Seventeen

Today was a big day! We got up early and cleaned up the condo, packed Clay up, went to the grocery store and out for lunch. We then said goodbye to Clay and we missed him before he even left. Then we were off to visit Jessica, Bailey and Jackson at their Meme's beach house in Destin! They came all the way from Atlanta to be at the beach with us and we ARE SO EXCITED that they are here!! Audrey and Jackson play so well together and always have! They have missed each other since they moved to Atlanta so I knew she would be excited to see him and she was!
I wish I had taken more pictures of Jessica's Mom's beach house but I just didn't think about it. Trust me when I say it was the most beautiful beach house I've ever seen in my life. Right when you walk in the door there is a gorgeous spiral staircase leading to the second floor. If any of you are on pinterest, it's just like one of those beach houses that people are always pinning. I loved it and was definitely in AWE the entire time I was there!!

These pictures are of Audrey and Jackson playing together this afternoon. After Audrey's initial shyness wore off, they had a lot of fun together and Audrey wasn't ready to leave!!

Beach Day Sixteen

 We went to the Seafood Festival in Destin today. It was super crowded and places like that make me nervous when I have both of the girls. We carried Smiley in the Bjorn and Audrey rode in the stroller. It helped us make sure we could keep up with them!

Smiley attracted a lot of attention today with her fancy new hat. It doesn't hurt that she will smile at a lamp post either! Everyone loved her and her sister! :)

 Audrey climbed to the top of an extremely tall slide all by herself! She was very proud of herself but immediately got scared and wanted us to come get her! I had a skirt on and Clay had SC in the Bjorn. That didn't stop him though, he just went right up there and got her.

 THEN HE WENT DOWN THE SLIDE WITH BOTH OF THEM! He said I was glaring at him the entire time. I was saying some not-so-nice words in my head too! It turned out fine- Audrey loved it and I think Smiley hated it because she didn't smile at all. It was about 10 minutes after this that I started wearing her myself.

 Everyone was worn out after being in the sun all morning and took naps in the car on the way back to the condo.

We hung out and relaxed for awhile and Smiley found a beautiful baby looking at her in the mirror at the condo and just talked and talked to her. She loved that baby!

 In the meantime, Audrey played by herself!! She's growing up, y'all!

 After another afternoon trip to Seaside for ice cream, we came back and went to feed those turtles and fish again!!

We are settling into a nice routine here and I think I could get used to it! I miss my home and my friends but am enjoying our adventure!

While at Seaside I saw a shirt that had a cute saying on it, "I worked hard all day at doing nothing and now I have to lie down and rest."-- That's me right now! It's exhausting being on vacation!