Florida Vaca 2011

The family has been planning a vacation for about a year...to celebrate my sister's & Mike's graduations. We wanted warm weather and that's what we got...in FLORIDA!!! Mike and I packed up the girls early last Saturday morning to make the 12 hour car trip to Destin. We left the house at 3am and arrived around 4pm. The girls took a total of 1 hour naps. Each. Let it be known we did attempt the Ben.adryl trick and that just doesn't work. In any dose. But we tried. Even survived. We watched about 12 movies. And ate a lot of snacks. But we made it. In one piece.

My dad, step-mom, sister and niece/nephew drove down a little before us, staying over in Alabama the night before we left. They had a stop at the emergency room late Friday night as my dad was in severe pain from what they learned was a kidney stone. They gave him an i.v. and some hefty dru.gs and sent him on his way. We read the headlines a few days later that 9 people died in Alabama hospitals due to i.v. bag contamination. Scary Mary.

I took over 350 pictures over the course of the 9 days we were gone. It was hard to decide which to post, as I love them all. But here are a few of my favorites. Be warned: there are a LOT of pictures in this post. Which, btw, is my 401st post!!! I can't believe I've been blogging for 4 years now...love it!

 As we drove we watched the temperatures rising and were thrilled when they reached near 80. Windows were down baby.

 We unloaded the car and grabbed a drink...and headed directly to the beach. We just couldn't wait. On the way to the beach (which was a 400 foot walk from our house) we told Izzy we were finaly going to see the beach and the ocean. She said, "I don't know the ocean." Well hold onto your hat, girl, because your world is about to be rocked!

 Starting Sunday morning, we fell into a routine that lasted the entire week: Mike and I going for our daily runs along the coast, loading up for a few hours at the beach, come back for lunch and naps, another few hours at the pool, cook dinner and then drinks & games. We had weather in the 70's & 80's the entire time, with a little rain one morning. Was the best. For reals.

 This was a banner that was being toured across the coast (for all of the Spring Breakers, I'd imagine) and I HAD to take a picture. It's dedicated to Mike's relay team (the RILFs).

 I attempted to fren.ch braid Izzy's hair one afternoon (two of them, one on each side) and I'm hoping my mom will be proud of this attempt! She looked so stinkin' cute!!!

 Sisters are the best!

 All the grandchildren:

 The drive home was (almost) seamless. Izzy was complaining of her tummy hurting (she sometimes does this to score herself some T.ums) and after more prodding, we finally pulled over and let her have a potty break among the cows. We were there for 10 minutes, so thankfully we stopped (we were in the country and had nowhere else to stop). I'm glad I had the forethought to pack the travel potty, as it was a HUGE lifesaver. And you KNOW I had to take a picture of this...Izzy will wring my neck one day. But until then...

We're home at last. Laundry is nearly done and bags are almost all unpacked. Can't say I'm all that happy to be back, as the weather is chilly here. Leaving some sand in my shoes for the memories. And we cannot wait to do this again next Spring!

Weather's turning a corner...

 Thankfully, the weather has turned from winter to Spring. It's about time. Daylight savings time couldn't have treated us better. Longer days with more sunshine. This means lots of playtime after work; on our bikes, on the neighbors' trampoline and in our driveway. Yes. Please.

 Buggy is a little hesitant bouncing on the trampoline, as the big kids do so much bouncing that she often times falls (without any tears or yelps, as she is our rough-and-tumble kid).

 Izzy always asks me to play the "popcorn" game with them...bouncing them over and over again. How can I resist, as this generates lots of high-pitched laughter!

Sam & Iz taking a time out from their bouncing. Love the static hair!

Laney keeps on showing interest in riding the bike...and this is the one time Izzy lets her touch one of her toys...and even pushes her on it! Baby steps.

 Round 2 of beer brewing: filtration. Love that these guys are sharing a hobby...listening to them laugh while they are learning and creating is so fun to witness. Even guys need great friends and I'm glad these two have each other.

 Saturday morning I went out for a 12 mile run in the dark and freezing cold weather. The best part about the run was that the first 15 minutes I was headed straight into the largest moon I've ever seen. It was golden and as big as a saucer...and was able to stare at it for almost 2 miles. It was nothing short of amazing. However, I could have done without the FROZEN hands the last 4 miles. Just looking forward to warmer mornings to run in. Remind me of my freezing hands in August when I'm running in a sports bra and shorts that are soaking wet from my sweat at 6am.

 After a little ballet and napping, we spent the remainder of the day outside.

Saturday evening I came down with a horrible case of the flu. It's going around. Just hope it stops with me. Every joint in my body hurt. It took all I could muster simply to get up to go to the bathroom. I'm now on the upswing and finally able to stay awake for longer periods. No joke. I was up yesterday for a total of 1.5 hours. TOTAL. It was a nasty way to spend the weekend...just glad it happened here and not in Florida. Where we will be for 7 days next week. Izzy thinks we're going to be feeding dolphins and whales. I wish. The sun and the beach and the pool will be more than enough for me.

I've been busy changing out the girls' closets and drawers for the impending weather and vacation. Saying goodbye to the outgrown clothes and shoes is fun when you're packing them up for the next little to wear them. But saying goodbye to the clothes & shoes when you know you won't see them worn again is so sad. Makes me realize how quickly my girls are growing up. But oh, how I love opening the tub of 18-24 month clothes from Izzy to put them into Laney's drawers. Reminiscing memories from when a younger Iz was wearing the rompers. I simply LOVE having two girls. Love being able to use clothing twice. In another few years Laney will not love this...so I'm trying to get away with it while I can. In the meantime, I can't wait to see Laney's little toosh squeeze into her sister's bathing suits from 2 summers ago!

Beer Brewin' & Black Olives

We weren't up to much this weekend. It's almost not even blog-worthy. But this is what I do. I take note. I record. I snap pictures constantly. Of nothing. Of everything.

Typical Izzy: dressing up & layering upon layers of costume.

Mike & his best friend Jason bought a beer-making kit and have been working hard on their first 5 gallon brew. They spent over 4 hours the other night working on their first batch (and watching the informational how-to while drinking beers & boiling water). Just thought you'd like to know what Mike's been up to, as his personal life rarely makes it to this blog.

Saturday morning I went out for a warm 8 mile run. I was dressed for the 20's and the weather delivered 50's. Needless to say I was warm. A drastic swing from last week's sopping wet run. I am not a fast runner. I am not even a good runner. I never win. And I never will. But I was reminded why I run when a man was running the opposite direction on the Mon.on at a fast clip with one of those spring-like prosthetic legs. Put my pain into persepctive and reminded me that I run because I can. And so can you. Just sayin'.

Friday night I went over to Lori's to craft a few handmade stamps:

Today both girls took 3 hour naps. Must have been the time change. Or the fact that our summer nanny (aka the summer girl) came over for a playdate this morning and wore them out. Either way, I'll take the 3 hours.

Black olives are always a hit around our house.

And tonight the neighbors came over for a delicious dinner made by Mikey: spicy seafood pasta (aka Misto Mar or Seafood Diablo). YUM. We got all caught up on this guy:

Nothing too exciting. Just a typical weekend around these parts. Two week countdown to Florida. Bring. It. On.

Girls Weekend in Indy...

Every Spring my high school girlfriends travel down from Chicago for a weekend in Indy. We have had this weekend planned for months, so I had been anticipating their arrival for a long time. I waited patiently on Friday evening...and could barely keep my eyes open when they got here at this time:

 Mikey, being the host with the most per usual had lined up some drinks for the girls' arrival:

 We ended up staying up pretty late so when the girls woke up on Saturday morning, we spent a long time lounging in bed reading:

 Jen, Mary & Erin (who didn't make it down this trip) bought Izzy a boatload of Dr. Suess books fo rmy shower years ago and it was fun to listen to the girls read them to Iz. Plus, it was the Doctor's birthday this week so we'd been reading a lot of his books already. Izzy's favorite one of the moment is There's A Rocket In My Pocket. Too cute.

After lots of lounging Saturday morning we went to Izzy's ballet class. Iz was excited to show off her moves...and Jenny challenged me to take pictures through the one way mirrored glass. I apologize for the poor quality of these pics, but I am just so tired of not being able to document her adorableness in class. Oh, I received the information on her recital (in June) and I learned that Izzy's hair needs to be pulled into a bun (if hair isn't long enough to do so, they sell bun kits...true story) and she has to be in full stage makeup which consists of foundation, eye shadow, eye liner, mascara, blush and lipstick. Help me now. It's hard enough getting those tights on her, let alone MAKEUP?! That should be interesting.

 We came back to the house for some playtime...

 ...and craft time:

 Saturday night we went out for Mexican with Mikey and the girls and 2 pitchers of margaritas. So. Much. Fun. Then we headed down to the B-Ripp for some good old blue grass music. Love, love, love the Wellin.gton, as this was the location of our rehearsal dinner almost 7 years ago. Brings back good memories. Oh, and a lot of singing at the top of your lungs and dancing too.

 The night was an absolute blast. Did a LOT of dancing and laughing. I had to take a pic of this:

 Mary came back from the bar with a 6 pack of beer. This just screams class. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

And this is what it looks like after hours of drinking and dancing...melting faces. So glad these girls were able to meet my Indy friends and that my worlds collided. Erin & Ange...we missed you. Jaime...thanks for a crazy ride home, delivering us safe & sound. Girls, until we meet again...muah!