We're back from the beach, but it may take us awhile to recover. Or at least it may take meawhile. While I was definitely lucky to have helpers, I certainly missed having Mike around. I was hoping to post from the beach, but we had horrible cell/internet service. And frankly, by the end of the day I was too pooped to do much of anything. Instead of one monstrous post, I thought I'd spread it out some and give the highlights and a few pictures from each day. So if that sounds really tedious and boring, you may want to ignore the blog for a few days.
We started the trip by heading down to Nashville with my mom. It was pretty uneventful, except for a huge fit Elena through right before we stopped for dinner in Louisville. I didn't hear a peep from her throughout Indiana (she was listening to Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azcaban on CD . . . or as she likes to say, "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Ass-cabin"). Next thing I know she's wailing and flailing and crying, "Why does there have to be a Kentucky???" Poor thing, a lot of people wonder that. We spent Saturday visiting friends. First stop was what's left of the playgroup pals. Lisa A. hosted us and Elena had a blast exploring their big backyard. Tina and Lisa had never met Eli, so that was fun, too. Next we visited the Martin family briefly. I didn't see Elena the whole time, as she was totally enthralled with their tree house. And I was enthralled with their tomato plants and good company. My sister, niece and her 2 kids rolled into Nashville that evening. Bright and early the next morning we were off. For being in the car 8 hours, the kids (especially the babies) did great. It was too late to do much of anything, so we ordered pizza and called it a day.
We stayed in Seacrest Beach, part of scenic 30-A in the Beaches of South Walton. We stayed in a development called Magnolia by the Sea. I loved the house, especially the fact that it was right next door to the community pool.
Eli and Olivia decided that 5 a.m. is a perfectly acceptable time to wake up on vacation, so by 8 a.m. we were already at the beach. Let me just say that a stroller, a 24 lb baby, plus all the crap you have to lug back and forth to the beach is no fun to haul up and down what felt like 100 stairs. Note to self: next time make sure beach access doesn't involve a massive amount of stairs. That being said, the beach was beautiful and my kids both loved it. Here's Eli doing his Jungle Book crawl:
Elena took right to the water. My apologies to Danielle for putting you out there for all to see . . . but you looked the best in a bathing suit out of all of us, so there you are!
We spent the rest of the day between the beach and the pool. I took Elena to the beach by myself in the afternoon and we had a grand time wave jumping. It was a good thing, too, as it would be our last time in the water for a while . . .
That picture of Elena looks like she is running on the water! That is really funny! And you definenly could have picked a worse picture, so, thank you! Love you!