Watercolor: Day 6

Once again, the weather wasn't great on Friday. There was a time when this would have majorly disappointed me. Going to the beach for a week and only having like 2 sunny days? Not what I expected or wanted. But, by the grace of God, I was able to take it in stride and put it in perspective this trip. The point of our vacation was to spend time together, enjoy our little family of 5, and just get away. We were accomplishing all of that! So, at the end of the day, it didn't really matter all that much whether it was sunny and warm or overcast and cool :)

We were able to go to the beach Friday morning, in spite of the not-so-great weather.

We enjoyed the beach for a while, but then the wind really started blowing and we were getting pelted by sand. That's actually more painful than you would think. Ha! Alaina wasn't having a bit of fun after that started. Once again, she let me wrap her up in a towel and just hold her.

All of this snuggle time with her was SO sweet, but I was starting to worry that she might be getting sick. She was way more clingy than usual, and every time I picked her up, she just laid her head on my shoulder. Sadly, I was right. She started running fever the next day. Stupid ear infections. After playing for a while at the beach, we decided that we had had enough since we were still getting slapped by sand. It was still early in the day, and we weren't ready to go back home, so we walked over to Seaside. As much as I LOVED Watercolor and would go back there in a heartbeat, I think Seaside is still my favorite. There's just something so charming and fun about it :) Anyway, we decided that we would eat lunch in Seaside, so David ran back home to get our car before we ate so that we wouldn't have to walk all the way back after lunch. While he was gone, the kids and I hung out on a bench, and then Aubrey and Jude ran around.

When David got back, we got lunch. I had a delicious grilled cheese, the kids had a hotdog, and David had BBQ. Yum! By the time we finished eating, it was naptime, and Alaina was fading fast. We drove home and got everyone down for naps. I really wanted to go sit by the pool again, and I did, in spite of the fact that the weather really wasn't good at all. I kept hoping the sun would come out, but instead it just started sprinkling. I thought maybe it would just be a quick shower so I stayed, but after a while, I realized I was crazy to be sitting in the rain shivering when I could be inside. Haha! So, I went back home. The kids were still resting, and David was reading. I sat on the couch and read a while too, but I ended up dozing off. When it was time for the kids to get up, I went and took a shower and got dressed (it was still sprinkling and cool, so we knew playing at the beach wasn't going to happen that afternoon).

The weather finally did clear enough for us to decide to try to run to the beach and get some pictures of the kids. I grabbed clothes for them, and we headed to the beach.

Jude was NOT into taking pictures when we first got there.

Aubrey and Alaina were being pretty cooperative, so I just took some sweet sister pictures and some individual ones of my girls :)

David went over to talk to Jude and I think the words "ice cream after dinner" might have been uttered. Suddenly, Jude had a whole new perspective on pictures. It was the strangest thing? Hahaha!

Whatever it took, I was just happy to get some pictures of all three of my babies!

When the kids had had enough of the picture taking, we let them run around on the beach for a little while, and then we headed back home for dinner. I cooked fettuccini alfredo that night, and then Jude got his ice cream :) We got the kids to bed and then David and I enjoyed another night of reading and watching a movie. Even though the day didn't go as planned, it was super fun!

 

Watercolor: Day 5

The weather was iffy again when we got up on Thursday. It wasn't raining; it was just overcast and cool. We decided to do the pool first that day, and we hoped that the weather would improve by that afternoon so that we could play at the beach. We all got our sunscreen and bathing suits on (gosh, that's such a process with kids) and hit the pool!

We had a fun time (we were the only ones there), but it was a little too cool to get in the water, in my opinion. Aubrey really wanted to get in, so her sweet daddy got water duty ;) He decided that he would just take the plunge all at once.

What a man! ;) Jude got in a bit too, but Alaina and I just sat beside the pool and watched.

Alaina got a little cold, so I wrapped her up in a towel. She let me hold her like this for a good while, and I was loving it! (She was happy like this too, in spite of the fact that she looks like she's being tortured in his picture.)

We stayed for a while, and then we were just all getting too chilly, so we headed back home. We ate lunch, and then it was rest time for the kids. The weather had improved a bit, so I went back to the pool while the kids napped. While I was there, the sun came out and it got nice and warm. I was hopeful that we would have a good afternoon at the beach.

When I got back home, Alaina was still napping, but Aubrey and Jude were up and ready to go to the beach. Alaina ended up taking a really long nap that day, and by the time we all got ready for the beach, it was later than I was hoping. It had also gotten cloudy again. As we were walking towards the beach, we noticed that everyone else seemed to be going the opposite direction. One lady even said to us as we passed her, "Good luck. The radar doesn't look good." We pressed on, though! As we got to the beach, it started sprinkling. I was hoping that it would just be a light, quick little sprinkle. We picked a spot (it wasn't hard, we were literally the only ones on the beach -- haha) and put our stuff down.

About that time, it started raining hard. I was determined that we were going to have fun at the beach, though! We had all put sunscreen on, walked all that way, and we were going to enjoy it, darn it! ;) Once again, I wrapped Alaina in a towel and we just sat in the rain looking at the big waves rolling in. I LOVE rain, and there was something really peaceful and serene about sitting on a deserted beach snuggling my baby in the rain. I was kind of having a moment (in a good way) ;) After a little while, a rumble of thunder snapped me out of my little moment and I realized that I might have been the only person in my family really enjoying myself, so we gathered up our stuff and headed back home ;) We were all disappointed that we didn't get much beach time that day.

When we got home, we got all cleaned up and dressed and went to a little pizza place in Watercolor for dinner. It's a small restaurant and all of the indoor seating was taken, so we sat outside despite the fact that it was still raining. There was a nice little overhang, though, so we stayed dry and, again, it was peaceful :)

Well, it would have been peaceful except for the fact that there were some unsupervised children running around and acting like fools. Seriously, these kids were maybe like 8 or 9 and they were running around in the rain, which is fine, but then they came and literally starting kicking over furniture and shrieking and just acting INSANE. I'm pretty sure their parents were inside enjoying a nice dinner. Ughh. I was steaming slightly annoyed over that whole situation. I will just never understand why some people don't watch their kids. I know that kids act wild and crazy sometimes - they're kids after all! - but what annoyed me was the fact that these kids' parents had no CLUE what their kids were doing. Frustrating. That's the end of my rant. I feel better now :)

After dinner, we made a Publix run. Our kids kind of acted ridiculous in Publix. It was getting late and they needed to go to bed. But hey, at least we were aware of their bad behavior and there were consequences ;) We went home and put everyone to bed. David and I ended the day with some reading and a movie :)