Beach Vacation - Double Trouble

So...finally, my beach post and pictures....I call this vacation "Double Trouble" not because it was bad, but because we had double the toddler duty. Silas and Luke kept all of us on our toes but it sure was fun!

First of all, I must say...when Heather and I planned this trip, we knew that this trip would come at a much needed time....having only been in school for a few very busy weeks, we knew we would want a break. And, knowing that we had this four day weekend planned helped us go back to work in August just a tad bit easier. When September 9th rolled around, we were ready to hit the road....heading east. :)

On the way to the beach, Luke only slept an hour, but, surprisingly, he stayed in a good mood for the rest of the ride - he just rode in the backseat looking around, he sang a little, copied some animal sounds, talked to us a little, but for the most part, just peacefully rode in the backseat with George just relaxing....see???

When we arrived at our condo, we were very pleased with the looks of the place. The 2 bedroom condo was extremely clean, the front desk staff was super friendly and, from what we could tell, the facilities had a lot to offer. After unpacking the cars and letting the boys explore the room for a little while, we walked down to the beach to put our feet in the sand and in the water. It was a gorgeous afternoon and the boys had a great time exploring the beach! Here are some pics of our arrival day...







That night, we went to dinner....we even took the chance and went to a nice restaurant, California Dreaming. As we sat at a very crowded round table, back in the corner, in a separate room, we were, first of all, wondering - did they put us back here as soon as they saw two toddlers with us???? And....we were wondering, how would this go? The boys sat across from each other in their high chairs. We ordered chicken fingers kids meals for both of them. To our pleasant surprise, they both ate well. They ate chicken fingers, graham crackers, fries, and carrots. Luke's belly stuck out for a mile it seemed. Because they did so well at dinner, we took them outside to run around and play on the sidewalk and in the bushes while daddy wrapped up the bill.

When we returned to the room, Luke and I did our usual beach night time routine - pjs, brush his teeth, get his "numis", and take a stroll. In less than 30 minutes, the Lukester was passed out cold! :) When both boys were asleep, the grown ups sat outside on the balcony and talked and talked and talked for hours. Matter of fact, we were awake until 1:00am! :) It was so nice to enjoy good company and some true adult time, especially with the sound of the ocean in the background and perfect temperatures.

Luke slept all night Friday night but woke up around 5:30am....remember I said that I went to bed around 1:00 or 1:30am....well, mommy was quite exhausted but I just toughened up and prepared myself for a great day! :) We headed out early and mommy, daddy, and Luke went to McDonald's for breakfast and a much needed COFFEE! Then, visited the grocery store. Luke was in a great mood the entire morning UNTIL....he fell in the grocery store and busted his lip. It took him over an hour to fully get over this....he whined and whined and whined!

Thank goodness by the time we got outside, he was fine. The pool area of the condos was nice....there were several pools, an outdoor patio area that served food and drinks, and everything was very nicely decorated and landscaped. We tried out the cute baby pool with the mushroom fountain first, but it was FREEZING! I put some water in Luke's cups and bowls and he sat beside of the baby pool and poured and dumped for a few minutes. Then, he tossed his ball back and forth to me in and out of the water for a few minutes. He really enjoyed this until I had to take the ball away from him because he kept throwing it in the bushes. :)

Moving on the next pool...we decided to try the lazy river. This was not a success! In about 5 different locations on the lazy river, there were these huge buckets that filled up with water and when they were full, they would spill over....well, if you were on the float that was going under these buckets, guess what? You would have a ton of water dumped right on your head. As soon as Luke saw one of these buckets dump, he was done with the lazy river. He wanted to have nothing to do with it. That was a bummer because last year the lazy river was his favorite part. Oh well....moving on to another play area...the beach. :)

At the beach, Luke and Silas filled up buckets of sand, I would help them turn them over, and then Silas would stomp the "castles" that the sand made. Luke didn't want to stomp the castles...he wanted to fill up the buckets but he wanted me or Silas to stomp the castles. Luke would put his feet in the edge of the ocean water but that was about all. He wasn't too interested in going any farther than that even though the ocean water was quite warm.

After some time on the beach, we headed back to the big pool and this time I put Luke in his race car float. This was a huge success! He loves this float! I would have to say that his favorite part of the whole beach trip was probably the times that he played in this float. We had a blast! I would hide under his float and then "pop up" on a different side each time, surprising him with a tickle! :) I would pretend to be a shark and go under water and get his toes or come up behind him and get his neck. It was so cute....he would tell me, "mommy, get my neck" or "mommy, hide". :) I blew bubbles, pushed him across the pool as fast as I could without turning him over and then I took him out of his float and would throw him way up in the air, catching him right as he hit the water leaving a big splash! He loved this! I put him on top of my shoulders and would go under the water....he loved "dunking me" by pushing my head under the water. We laughed and giggled for a long time! We ended our morning pool time by letting him climb up and down the three steps in the big pool. Anytime Luke is climbing...he's happy!

At lunch time, Luke played with some of the toys that Heather and I brought - of course, Luke loved Silas toys and Silas loved Luke's toys....anything different than their own is much better. :) Luke's favorite toy was the wooden duck that he pulled around. While Silas ate, Luke pulled this little duck all over the place. Then, when Silas was done, Luke ate. While Luke ate, Silas ran around making all kinds of noises and Luke would attempt to copy every one of them. It was super cute! :)

After lunch, I asked Luke to get in his stroller so we could take a walk and he climbed right in. He was asleep within 15 minutes....that 5:30am wake up time will wear you out. I tried to sleep while Luke was sleeping but that didn't work out. Luke only slept an hour and he woke up crying. I didn't want him to wake up Silas so I took him to some stores. We had a great time toy shopping. We found him a new boat for the pool, two cool toys (including a very cool green soccer ball), and a tractor. We took our new toys back to the room and let Luke play with them for a little while. Then, we put our swimsuits back on and headed back to the pool.

As soon as we got off the elevator, Luke heard the music playing at the patio bar and it was so cute....he suddenly, stopped right where he was and started slapping his legs and dancing. I knew that he was going to be in a great mood if he was already dancing. :)

Our afternoon was just as much fun, if not more, than the morning. Luke was so comfortable playing in the big pool with me. He would let me lay him all the way down on his back and twirl him around as fast as he could. He would get a little water in his face and it didn't bother him. Each time I would stop twirling him, he would say, "do it again". :) We played hide and seek with the race car float again, I threw him in the water about 100 times - he got really brave with this - he would throw his legs up in the air and laugh out loud. It was so much fun even though I was getting quite the bicep workout! :) We threw his new ball in and out of the pool, and, Luke practiced swimming from one end of the pool to the other. He would lay on his belly while I held him and kick his legs as hard as he could.

Luke loved playing on the steps in the big pool. He would dance, clap, sing, talk....he was in a great mood all afternoon!

We went to the ocean for a little while and this time he let me pick him up and carry him to the ocean water. I took his arms and let him "jump" a few waves....he loved this! He kept asking me to go farther and farther so I did. We jumped and floated over waves until we got SPLASHED by a very big one! Luke got water all in his face....he didn't cry, but he was ready to get out of that "big water" for awhile. He went back and dug in the sand and filled and dumped his buckets some more.

At the end of the day, we ended our afternoon by playing in the "not so hot" hot tub for a little while. He enjoyed walking around on the bench inside the hot tub.

After our pool fun was over, we went upstairs for bath time. It was so cute listening to Silas and Luke yell back and forth during their baths. After our baths, we cooked Digiornio pizzas and played in the room the rest of the night. The boys got along great pulling their toys around, pushing their cars, playing peek a boo behind the curtains, and playing with the condo telephone. We ended our night with a stroll, which put Luke to sleep and then Heather and I went downstairs for some quiet grown-up time outside on the patio beside of the ocean. It was so nice to relax and spend some quality time with a good friend catching up on life. Heather and I see each other all the time but we are always trying to carry on a conversation with two toddlers in the middle....it was very nice to get to know each other a little better without taking turns with baby talk. :)

Here are some pictures from our Saturday fun....






Luke slept off and on Saturday night...he ended up in our big bed for most of the night. Then, around 4:30am, he woke up and did not want to go back to sleep. I was able to get him to at least stay in the bed until 5:30 but none of us were sleeping. I didn't want him to wake everyone else, so me and him took off to McDonald's....it was pitch black outside when we left, mommy was exhausted and Luke was a little whiny....I just knew it was going to be a disaster. We sat at McDonald's and ate our biscuit and hashbrown and drank a COFFEE and watched the sun rise through the window. It actually ended up being a very sweet time for us - I showed Luke the sunrise and we talked about how pretty it was. We left McDonald's and found a cute little park within walking distance of our condo. You know I can find a park anywhere, right??? We had the best time at the park. We rode on the see saw and pretended to ride horsies. We climbed and went down the slides, played on the fire truck, and most of all, played peek a boo around the big, beautiful trees. My favorite part was when Luke sat on my lap and let me swing him. We sang this song that I made up, "Swinging in the park....just swinging in the park....what a wonderful feeling....swinging, swinging, in the park." After I sang it a few times, Luke sang it with me....so precious. This early morning adventure ended up being one of the best parts of the trip. Here are some pictures from our park play time...






After we returned from the park, the boys played in the room some more....at one point, Silas gave Luke the biggest, wettest kiss right on his cheek. I missed that moment....Heather told me all about it. I guess the boys enjoy each other's company....:) Due to his early rise time, Luke was ready for an early AM nap so we went for walk....Luke fell asleep, but to my surprise, he only slept for an hour....I had barely closed my eyes and awake he was. :)

When he woke up, we got ready and went to the pool. This time, Landis was with us. We went to the big pool first and let Luke play in his race car float. Landis and I pushed the boat back and forth to each other....this was so much fun! Then, Luke wanted out of his float and wanted to play on the steps. For quite awhile, Luke pushed his new boat along the side of the pool. Then, he played "shark attack" with me and Landis....while Landis held him, I would go under water and chase them while Landis and Luke ran away and then we would switch...daddy would become the "shark" while Luke and I ran....we all enjoyed this....matter of fact, an elderly lady who was in the pool watching us made a comment that was so sweet....she said, "you can tell that you all sure do enjoy that little boy. Keep on enjoying him because he will grow up too fast." I know, I know....I wish I could freeze him, but since I can't, I will just make sure to enjoy all the time that I have. :)

After playing for awhile, we went back to the room for lunch. After lunch, we came back to the beach. Luke was very tired at this point because he only napped for an hour that morning. I took him for a walk (holding him) down the beach and he fell asleep on my shoulder. I sat down in the edge of the water and held him while he slept for about an hour and a half. I don't get to just hold him while he sleeps much so I really enjoyed this....Landis sat beside of me and we had the chance to sit beside of the gorgeous ocean on a beautiful day and spend some time talking while my sweet baby boy slept on my chest....that's about as perfect as it gets!

When Luke woke up, he was in a great mood! We had a blast playing the whole afternoon. He played on the big pool steps again....he would "jump" off the steps to me and Landis. Then, we did our "weeee" spins a ton more times as I twirled him around and around in the water. Before I knew it, it was getting later and later and we had the whole entire pool to ourselves and boy we took advantage of it....just me and Luke in the whole big pool by ourselves! Fun, fun! We took this opportunity to play like crazy....he kicked back and forth to the steps, I went under water and "disappeared", he swam on his back a little, he played with his bowls/cups and seashells - pouring and dumping. He was super relaxed in the water and having a great time. I spent some of our pool time just carrying him in the water holding him. I couldn't help but think to myself - "Will he sit still long enough for me to hold him next year?" I don't know....so, just in case, I held him a little longer.

We ended our afternoon with another trip to the "not so hot" hot tub. We sat on the hot tub steps just talking to each other. He asked me to sing, "Head, shoulders, knees, and toes"...so I did. He asked me to get his shoulders under the water because he was getting cold so I did. He was so very sweet - almost like he knew that this was our last pool day of the summer so he just sat with me, talked with me, chill as could be! :) I could not have asked for a better ending to our summer! It was perfect....so perfect that part of me was, of course, sad to go back to the room, but another part of me was content at the time that we had together. :)

Back in the room, we took a bath and Luke played well. After his bath, Luke all of a sudden starting crying and wouldn't settle down. I thought it was because he was tired so I took him for a stroll. He fell asleep quickly but then when I picked him up out of his stroller to put him in his pack and play, he woke up crying again and he felt very warm. I gave him some ibuprofen and laid him down. He had a terrible night....he slept on top of Landis' chest all night long. I knew something wasn't right....

The next morning we left early because we knew Luke wasn't feeling good. Once at home, he began to get sicker and sicker...and, you already know the rest of that story....ended up with an ear infection the very next day.

Looking back on this trip, I am so thankful that God allowed his sickness to hold off just a few days so that we were able to enjoy such a good trip. It wasn't a restful vacation....I sure didn't sleep much but I still wouldn't change a thing. We had a great time and it was the perfect ending to Summer 2011! Thank you, Jay, Heather, and Silas for hanging out with us....let's plan another trip soon. :)

Here's a picture of the boys playing as we loaded the cart to go home on Monday....
And, here is a video of Luke that I took during our early morning trip to the park....

Thanks for reading! Check back soon for some pictures/post of the fun things we have been doing on the weekends! :)

Toddy