Floriday Vacay Day 3 - Part One

I know all of these vacation posts are draaaaaging out - but I can only find little bits and pieces of time to write.  So I'll slowly but surely make my way through the week (hopefully before our next vacation).

We woke up Tuesday morning and scarfed down breakfast so we could go to the beach.  The most ironic part of our trip - we were so close to Clearwater and yet Phillies Spring Training had ended the week before.  So instead of seeing the Phils in Clearwater, we saw the Gulf Of Mexico instead.  Fair trade in my book.

We were in the car ride down and told the boys that they'd probably be able to see their feet in the water.  Ry responded from the back seat, "That's so cool!  Since the Atlantic Ocean is brown so you can't really see anything except jellyfish and bottles."  Awesome.

I just wanted one nice picture.  Just one nice picture boys!?!  At least Charlie went in for the smooch at the end which sort of made of for the train wrech of a photo opp.

We ended the trip with hot dogs in the sand and an outdoor shower.  Although this sounds very peaceful it was actually a total mess and not at all productive, which is why we had to spray the boys down with Patty & Steve's garden hose when we got home.  Not optimal (or warm), but necessary.

The next part of the day was spent at the Lowry Park Zoo - an awesome afternoon to be documented later.  And so yes, these posts will draaaaaaag on some more...

Day 2 Florida Vacay - Legoland

The boys woke up Monday morning and it was like a scene out of a movie.  "Can we go to Legoland?!?  Can we go to Legoland?!? Can we go to Legoland?!?"  You catch my drift.

We arrived at the park and they gasped with excitement.  We had arrived.

After we were about 5 steps into the park, they started to see all of the stores pimping out Lego merchandise.  The next chant became, "Can we buy something?  How much money can we spend? Can we get a Lego set now?"

By the time we got to the first ride, they had their eye on the prize.  Nothing would satisfy their souls except a new Lego set.  Tensions were high.

So we handled it like any rational thinking parent in a busy theme park in 90 degree heat with 3 screaming children. We put them in time out and told them that we weren't buying them a thing and they would have to  earn their toy priviledge back through good behavior - that little dose of reality snapped 'em right out of it.

We got home and Cole settled in for his soon-to-be nightly routine of snuggling with the family dog Kelty.  Luckily she was just as happy to have a snuggle buddy and the rest is history.

That night, Phil and I snuck out to Whiskey Joe's for drinks and seafood on the water.  After many cocktails we ended up on the beach posing in the lifeguard stand.  Okay so it was just me posing in the lifeguard stand, whatever.

We arrived home to find our boys peacefully snoozing away with the dog barrier working wonders.



And for the record, we did buy them each a Lego set at the end of the park because of good behavior. Also because we are suckers.

Vacay - Over.

On our last day of vacation we hit up the Atlantic City Aquarium - we go there every year because you can touch the sharks and sting rays, plus the noise level from other kids is pretty intense so we sort of blend in (sort of).





At the end we went into the Children's Garden to check out the fountain and take some pics.


As you can see, I'm the only one who was really up for the picture taking part of this experience.



We went down to the beach for the afternoon. One thing we learned on this trip...Dean absolutely loves the water. Obsessed. Can't get him out of it. It's so great to let him crawl around and play in the waves (since we're so used to carrying him around all of the time).


Another great way to keep the kids entertained...dig a hole and let the water fill it up. This kept them busy for hours, literally.


Alas, our trip to OCNJ has come to a close - a totally exhausting experience but filled with great memories.

I'm headed back to work tomorrow - I'll really miss the kids but am looking forward to drinking a cup of tea in one hand without having to apply suntan lotion / hold a baby / pour milk / juggle fire with the other hand.

Cheers!

Vacay Day 6

There's this awesome shop on the OC boardwalk (if only I remembered the name of it...) that's filled from top to bottom with pirate paraphanalia. Perfect booty for little boys that are about to go on a pirate adventure...


On the way to said adventure, there were people giving free pony rides in a parking lot. Random!


Onto the adventure. There's this company called Pirate Voyages that takes kids around the bay and does all sorts of piratey things with them. This is also known as heaven for the 4-6 year old crowd.

There were flags to be hoisted...


Treasure maps to be decoded...


And this weirdly masked guy named Pirate Pete floating in the water, leaving messages in bottles and shooting them with "seagull pee." Awesome.



After a day of pillaging on the high seas, we drove over to Wildwood to have a dip in Granny & Pop-Pop's pool and share a pizza on the boardwalk.


The evening ended with the sun setting over the ocean as we walked hand-in-hand with our family. The kids couldn't stop thanking us for everything we did for them, and we all happily laughed about the magical memories we shared that day.

Oh wait - strike that - in reality Cole had a tantrum on the boardwalk because his ice cream cone was melting too fast. Darn you reality.

Vacay Day 5

No exciting stories from Wednesday...especially since we bought a Powerball ticket and didn't win. Whomp whomp.

So instead of fun stories or $160 million, I have some cute pictures from the beach. I guess to some they're worth a million bucks (whom whomp again)...

Vacay Day 4

There's a magnet on the fridge for the Fractured Prune Donut Shop: "You Create 'Em, We Make 'Em." Um, yes please! Cole chose these hot pink Dora sunglasses for the walk down...whatevs.


It was perfect weather for the beach, and Phil had a perfect idea to go along with it...draw a circle in the sand and tell Cole to stay inside of it. And whaddaya know, it worked.




After the beach, Phil took the older 2 fishing. They didn't catch anything (except a sea robin, whatever that is) but I think it was still a hit - especially since the people next to them caught a shark (per Ry, "Because it's Shark Week").




Since the older guys were with Dad, I got to hang with the little ones by ourselves. We walked the boards then went down to the water to play ball and roll around in the waves. It's hard to remember life with 2 kids, but it was nice to take advantage of the quiet time with my munchkins.