Family Beach Trip 2012

Dear Abigail,

Well, here we are, weeks later and I'm finally posting about our family beach vacation.  But, it's going to be worth the wait because man alive we take a lot of pictures!  Thank goodness though because I would have forgotten lot of little things.  But here's what I didn't forget - we had a blast!  You, particularly, had a grand ole time with your cousins and absolutely loved, loved, loved the beach, ocean, and all that those entail.  We headed down early Saturday morning, and by we I mean me, you, Emily and Pic-pic.  Yeah, a weird combination, but it worked.  You and Em both did really good on the drive down and we made great time until we got super close and the traffic was backed up.  But, as soon as we got there you found Clara Lee and life was back to awesome.  We stayed in a beach condo this time, rather than a house, and it actually wasn't too bad.  You loved riding the 'elligator' and loved looking out from the balcony.  You freaked Mimi out a couple times by pulling a chair up to the rail and had to quickly establish some rules for the outside.  Unfortunately for Clara Lee, we had to put stickers on the glass door because that poor baby ran into the door TWICE while it was shut, thinking it was open.  And I mean ran.  The first time was bad, but the second time it took all we had to not laugh, even though she was crying and had a huge knot on her forehead!  Shhhh, don't tell her we were laughing.  Her momma was, too, so it's okay!  After a few stickers and a lot of unpacking, we got settled and Aunt G took you kiddos down to the beach for a little test.  Let me just tell you, Aunt G is a beach junkie, no doubt.  And that was fine with me because she would have our beach stuff set up every morning before I could even put on a swimsuit!  And you weren't too far from being a beach junkie yourself.  The next 6 days run together as they played out basically the same way:  beach, more beach, lunch on the beach, more beach, maybe the pool, more beach, beach, and then beach.  Then maybe, if we were lucky, a bath and bed time by 9!  Seriously, the whole family is beach junkies!!!  Here are some highlights from the beach... 

Clearly you had some fun with CL...

No clue what's going on here but it seems fun, too... 

And goodness did you love to swim in the ocean, without your floaters.  Talk about giving someone a heart attack... It was very key that someone have their eye on you AT ALL TIMES!

Pictures can speak a thousand words.  These speak two - beach junkie!!!!!  But, believe it or not, we did do a few other things beside play at the beach all day.  Or at least when night came...

One night, we watched a movie pool side! 

 

And one night we went searching for crabs!!!!  Now, you weren't exactly crazy about this, or, well, you had mixed emotions, and by mixed emotions I mean one minute you would be crying and begging me to hold you and the next minute you'd be running into the ocean 'chasing a crab'.  It was very confusing to your mother, and tiring, but you had a blast catching crabs!!

And one night, probably both Mommy's and your favorite night, the resort had a karaoke/dance party.  Yeah, best night ever, huh. It was bitter sweet for me actually.  Kids completely overtook the singing, so it just wasn't in the water for Mommy to sing, BUT, you and CL sang your hearts out - twice - and man alive did you ever dance!!!  

And, you did have to take a break for a refreshment...

But right back to singing....

You also picked up a few extra dance moves from 'the girl in the pink bathing suit' - this, too, was bitter sweet.  Actually, it probably was just bitter.  Those moves did not need to be picked up by a 3 year old, but thankfully your dance a little like your momma, and, well, people can't really tell what you are doing, other than the ferocious facial expressions... But we'll try to overlook that because you had SO MUCH FUN!!!!  I have video to prove it, too.  

One morning, we got all the kiddos dressed up in their white attire and took some pictures with Mimi and Pic-pic. While the camera did fog up for the first 20 minutes, we did walk away with a couple decent pictures, but goodness it is hard to get 5 kids to look at the same time, when the wind isn't blowing and the sun's not in the eyes... 

There was a small incident with the swimming pool and you, and by small I mean huge.  The first day after being on the beach all day, everyone headed up to the pool at our condo.  Mommy was upstairs with Kate and you were with Mimi and for some reason you started having such an anxiety attack, or as we call it, you started freaking out because you were concerned the building was going to fall on you if you got in the pool.  Yep, you read that correctly.  You would NOT get in the pool.  Mimi begged and begged you, assured you the building was not going to fall on you, and finally gave in and sent you upstairs with Bubba.  And, for some reason when you got upstairs, you were fine.  You told me you didn't like that pool because the building would fall on you but in the building we were safe.  We don't question some things darling. We just go with it.  I was a wee bit concerned that you were not going to get in the pool for the whole week, and, well, you didn't, or at least not THAT pool.  The resort had a couple pools and while most of them had the same kind of tall building that we were in, the clubhouse pool only had a 'house' for a building, so for some reason, that pool was fine.  So, everyone took one for the team and went to the clubhouse pool every day!  All for you, Abs, all for you and your weirdness.  We didn't mind too much, it had a full bar and lots of activities!!  One day you made a 'build a bear' or well, a build a unicorn... 

Her name was Anna.  She became Elizabeth when we got home and has since remained Elizabeth, although some times she is Makayla or Kay-kay.  You can thank Emily and CL for introducing those names to you :)  Speaking of, you can also thank Clara Lee (or Ash-ash) for making you look like J-lo...

And for the feather in your hair.  Oh yeah, that's right, you got a feather, and not by the preference of your mother.  It all started so innocently, or so I thought.  Pic-pic and Mimi were headed to an early dinner and then to pick up Daddy at the airport.  Uncle Bubba and Aunt G and kids were headed to visit Chris at the base, Ash-ash and CL were going 'shopping' and Mommy, Kate and you were headed to bed early since no one was going to be there!!!  It was going to be a first for the week and I was pretty stoked about it.  BUT, Ash-ash and Mimi convinced me that since they were eating early that we should go, too, and then Ash-ash would drop us off while they went 'shopping'.  PS - 'shopping' is code for get a feather in Clara Lee's hair.  I had said no from the beginning for you and this was a perfect opportunity for them to go and us not to!  Well, long story short... Dinner was a bit of distance away, traffic was traffic, a party of 7 takes a bit longer than a party of 2 and well, it was 8:30 before we rolled out of dinner.  Which, btw, you rather enjoyed...

So anyway, we head back home and CL is determined to get a feather and so I finally cave and say we can stop on our way back and let her get one, which obviously means you will get one...

While CL got one that was blue striped, I convinced you to get a 'very pretty dark purple' one, which looks oddly familiar to your hair color :)  I'm good like that!  SO, yes, you walked away from the beach with a feather in your hair.  It's like your college spring break instead of a family beach trip, but whatev...
We did do a few wholesome family activities, like playing ocean bingo...

And you are always happy to ride a dolphin..

Or strike a gangsta pose...

Or your 'daddy' pose...

Speaking of Daddy, look who finally showed up!!!!

Daddy made it for Thursday and Friday and we were all so happy to see him.  You were particularly excited to show him, and anyone that would watch, your new ability to swim sans floaters!  You are now officially a swimmer, even coming up for breaths and all.  So proud of you little mermaid!

So not only did you walk away with feathers in your hair, but fins on your feet!!!  And we walked away with LOTS of fun memories and a fantastic family vacation to talk about for years to come!!  Awesome times baby girl!  Awesome times!  Loves you, feather and all!