We are having the most grand time here at the beach… along with the other scads of people that are here this week with us.  :)  At the moment, Wade is napping while the rest of us occupy ourselves in the meantime.  Chris and I are finding that we enjoy having an excuse to come back and rest each day.  :)

It has been great fun experiencing the beach/vacay with the kiddos.  It seems of late, we have not taken them with us when we’ve gone so this is our first week of vacation with the kids.  Haylee came up for half the week when we went to the mountains when she was three, and 2 years ago July 4th, we all came up with Chris’s family for a long weekend.  BUT… this is the first time for a WHOLE week with just us.  I think we would have done something last year, but we waited too long to try to book something and nothing was available nearby (through our timeshare).

I loved just watching them in the time prior to leaving home as their faces were nearly split with excitement and anticipation of the fun we were going to have.  We left on Thursday and stay until this coming Thursday.  

Mommy and Daddy were pretty excited to be getting away too!

 

I found an iphone app called Tripit that allows extremely OCD, anal retentive people like me to enter even the tiniest detail of their plans into a fabulous schedule.  You actually have to enter the info on the website… http://www.tripit.com/ and then you are able to pull up the schedule on your phone.

I love to have a plan, though I do think that I am flexible enough to go with the flow and do what works as opposed to being glued to the schedule.  :)

Haylee, unexpectedly, has latched onto the “agenda” as we’ve been calling it.  It started by her waking up when we first got here and asking, “What are going to do today?” which led us to point her to the agenda on my phone.  Each morning, she laboriously copies down the schedule onto a piece of paper and sticks it to the fridge.  I think she is too much like me perhaps, but she finds great excitement in knowing what’s coming and being able to look forward to it.  :)  She did have a bit of a struggle at first in accepting the fact that we weren’t going to always do exactly what the agenda says, however.  :)

One of the first things on the list for our first day here was heading to the beach! 

We had a blast in the waves and in the sand building sand castles and other things.

 

We went around six and though it was nice outside, the water was a bit chilly for me! I am a big wimp when it comes to the water.  I think I am getting worse as I get older.

  

We have figured out as we went when was the best time of day to head to the beach and the pool since the pool was between two towers and thus in the shade most of the day.  You would think that would be good, but it just meant very chilly water especially with the wind blowing. 

It hasn’t stopped Haylee though.  She has just loved the water…. jumping over and over and over and over as well as learning to flip in the water. 

Wade has been very cautious, though things did take a big turn when we tried giving him a ring float as well as his floatation vest.

I think it gave him enough confidence to be brave b/c we were shocked that he started floating all over by himself and even jumping off the steps. 

He also loved the “bathtub” though I almost hated to let him go in, since with his ring float he kept easing here and there not even aware that he was bumping into people or sticking his float in their face. 

Despite the crowds going to the beach in the summer is great since there is so much “free” entertainment.  I think the kids would be happy if all we did was swim all day.  We have gone either to the beach or the pool everyday and they have loved it.  Our room is actually right above the pool which means it’s somewhat of a noise problem, but also very entertaining to go out on the balcony and watch.  Wade has loved just going out there and watching all the people at the pool.   :)

This is a picture of me standing on our balcony taken by Chris who was watching the kiddos beside the pool.  If you look carefully, you can see Wade sitting at the edge of the “bathtub.”

 

This is the view off our balcony taken from Haylee’s perspective.  One of her favorite things to do is take pictures with one of our phones.  I think she took this one during one of Wade’s naps…

We had lots of fun too going golfing.  Mini-golfing, that is. Here’s a “family portrait” right before we left.

  

  Ready to start golfin’!

Wade had a great time when we went in FL with mom, and this time was no different, though he was more concerned with actually getting in the hole this time around. 

This is him yelling, “MY TURN!!”

I do have to let the world know that I managed to squeeze in with a win by 2 points over Christopher.  Whoo hoo!  Every once in a while I can swing it, but most of the time he kills me.

 

We went to Professor Hacker’s which is pretty cool because it starts with a train ride and has lots of caves and waterfalls to amuse you.  :)

Sunday was the big 4th of July and we decided to avoid driving in the madness to one of the big fireworks displays.

 

Here’s another “timer” portrait…

We started by picking up some pizza downtown for dinner.  We parked it on a bench while we waited.

 

Our plan was to head downstairs to the beach and see enough of the fireworks to be happy.  Leaving us free when it was over to simply head back upstairs… 

We could actually see two big displays on either side… one to the north and one to the south.  What we hadn’t counted on was that apparently, everyone at the beach thinks they have to shoot off fireworks too.  ALL.AROUND.YOU. Seriously.  I am just happy we managed to live through it. 

It was literally insane.  We’re talking Mac-Daddy fireworks that Joe Blow is shooting off say 100 feet from you.  I was pretty anxious about it, but of course, my daring hubby was not.  That did not stop me from voicing my concerns repeatedly, however, as a lit ember landed in the midst of a group of people and one time the fireworks lit up without shooting up a safe distance in the air.  All of my gasping and remarking was scaring the daylights out of Haylee, unfortunately.  At one point, a new group of crazies brought out their cartload of ammo and shot off the first couple which was even closer to us.  Haylee was cowering behind me, scared for her life, I’m sure.  We decided we should move when we felt the effects of one… on OUR FACES! 

Even after moving Haylee was still panicked, and Chris had to reassure her that it was safe because we were far away.  Poor girl is already suffering the results of a worry-wart momma.  As we walked back, I commented that this was definitely something I had never experienced before!  Those crazy people shot fireworks until MIDNIGHT!   Seriously, I’m talking BIG, ENORMOUS fireworks. You would have to come to the beach in the south and see it to believe it, I think.  Because somehow I don’t think yankees do this at their beaches.

Just two more days to enjoy the sun and sand…