A Vacation of Wonder-Ment

Our vacation was wonderful...it truly was. It certainly had it's low points, but as sundown approached on Friday evening, we were still in our bathing suits, finding seashells, making sand castles and riding the waves in our boat. We got back to the condo with only a few minutes to spare until the crab hunters arrived with their flashlights on the beach. Chip and I concurred, we were very much not ready to go home. However, as wonderful as our trip was, it was filled with lots of other things to wonder about:

* I wonder what it feels like to be 2 1/2 and wake up in the middle of the night throwing up?

*I wonder when we'll take a trip to the beach again without someone throwing up (we're on year #2 now).

*I wonder where this virus came from to begin with...was it like the movie Arachnaphobia, where the spider (in this case, the stomach bug) attached itself firmly to someone's suitcase and travelled from far away lands (Tennessee)? Or was it already there, waiting our arrival at the "beachhouse"?

*I wonder why we can't get ourselves organized enough before the trip to find a way to spend less than $800 on food and supplies for the week. I vowed on the trip home to come up with a menu and grocery list prior to next year's trip.

*I wonder how much SPF 50 was used last week.

* I wonder, without truly wanting to know, what the actual contents are of the pool at the condo, with dozens of children, the above-mentioned sunscreen applications, and too many swim diapers to count. Not to mention, random stomach bugs hanging around.

* I wonder what the 368 people thought of me when they saw me continually "wipe" Cooper's nose with my fingers at the beach and rinse them in the ocean or on his bathing suit? (seriously, the beach is the WORST place for a runny nose).

*I wonder how long we will have to bribe our children with candy to get them to take ONE (1) photo together?

* I wonder what causes people to be walking on the beach late at night and decide to pick OUR tent to steal out of all on the beach?

* I wonder if I'll ever get back to the days when I would read at least 3 books while at the beach for a week? I did actually finish one...although technically I was somewhere in Alabama when I finished it in the car.

* Speaking of Alabama, I wonder what that state has against Tennessee tourists? Or Tennesseans in general? Or tourists in general? We were met with more complications while travelling through that stupid state than all other trips combined...closed bathrooms, bathroom lines 12 people deep, 3 traffic jams, 45 minute wait at the restaurant we choose (of course), and the list goes on...

*I would love to know the actual number of pounds of sand that Sam consumed. That kid loved the sand.

*I wonder how many loads of laundry, dishes and garbage 13 people accumulated in 7 days. How many soft drinks were drank, half gallons of ice cream eaten, popsicles devoured. Although, to be fair, I don't really care...I know it was a LOT.

* I wonder what makes Kendall refuse to walk in the sand with the "bugs?" And what makes her think they are bugs? Something convinces her they are bugs to the point she doesn't believe any stories we tell her about NOT being bugs. For the record, they aren't bugs...it's just that dirty strip of sand at the top of the beach that she hates to walk through. D I V A!

* I wonder what is in store for us next year...I know we'll have even more fun...all the kids will be older, more self-sufficient (not that I mind carrying a 32lb little girl in addition to my 27lb beach bag, 3 beach towels and a bag full of sand toys), Sam will be running around and creating more "firsts" for his beach memories...Regardless of what happens, I know it will be WONDERful and fun and memorable, as always.

Sundown on the Beach

I'm happy to say that everyone has recovered from the bug that ran through the condo yesterday, including Kara and her family, who left yesterday afternoon. We had a great day at the beach today, then the pool, the beach, the pool and the beach. Oh, and there was a nap in there somewhere and I'm fairly certain the kids ate, too. We are most definitely not ready to go home. We miss Kara, Phillip, Kori and Kali and we're sad to report that Emily, Dave and Sam are leaving a day early to get a head start on what has potential to be another long car ride. However, we are leaving at 10:05AM on Saturday, after we load the kids in the car after check-out at 10AM. We're not ready for reality or to leave our warm, sunny sandbox!

Kendall asked if we could dig a hole "THIS big!!!"She is so proud of her pink toenail polish that Aunt Kara gave her!Kendall loves looking for seashells, however she only likes the plain, white ones that most people leave behind. Everything else she runs from, crying, calling them "bugs." Don't ask me!They totally didn't dig this hole, but they sure did enjoy playing in it.
Taking the boat for a spin...

Fun. Just pure F-U-N!!!

Bitten by the Beach Bug...Literally

Today was the worst beach day EVER! Yesterday I blogged about being bitten by the beach bug...in reference to our lack of keeping any schedule or being aware of a clock of any kind. Right before dinner however, sweet Kali Rae gotten bitten by a bug of some kind or another...the stomach variety. Once this happened, some condo residents started complaining of stomach cramps. In the middle of the night Cooper ran a fever of 100, low but enough to make him have a rough night's sleep. Kendall woke up before Cooper did around 1AM and didn't settle down until after a dose of Tylenol and about an hour and a half. After waking relatively early, Coop complained of not feeling good and headed straight for the couch...where the bug apparently got him for real. He only "spit up" once, but I was on high alert the rest of the day. He was absolutely miserable and Kendall woke up about an hour later just as pathetic. Kendall never ran a fever and never got sick, but she was lethargic and whiny and ate a handful of cheerios all day. Kara and Emily both started to feel a tiny bit bad and unfortunately The Beach Bug got Mimi really good.
Where were the boys during all of this, you ask? Well, they were golfing! They returned to a dark condo full of Pepto, empty ginger ale and Gatorade cups and saltine crumbs everywhere, blankets and pillows and kids and Mimi's laid all over the couch. It was a sorry sight, to say the least.
The Bug has moved on to another unsuspecting, innocent family in Destin while our kids finally ate something more than cheerios and got some fresh air and sunshine while in the pool this evening. No fun beach pics to post today, so here are some videos from happier days...

Vacation, Day 4 and beyond...

I give up...Doing Vacation day-by-day was great in theory. But I'm finding it hard to keep up. Whether it be the beach calling our name, our failed attempts at taking family portraits that stress us out, eating meals 3 hours later than what is normal...whatever the reason, we've been bitten by the beach bug and time keeps slipping away. Therefore, you'll just have to use your imagination about when these photos were taken...I've been trying to upload this photo to Blogger for a few days, apparently it's so cute that Blogger just couldn't handle it...but here it is now.

I think Kendall is looking at her reflection in the water...it was a gorgeous evening.

Why is it so hard to get 5 kids together at the same time?

Kendall says, "Sam, that's guh-rooooosss! Don't eat SAND!!!"

Ahhhhh, the mandatory sunset romance photo (uh, yeah right).

Destin sunset and reflection...put two star-crossed lovers on horses and we'd have a cover for a novel!

Vacation, Day 3

First of all, even though I blogged last night, I didn't give a proper shout out to all of the Dad's back home...while we were here catering to the every need of the dads in Destin, we most certainly left out those back "home." So, HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to Vovo, Grandy, Papa, Papa John in addition to Terry, Chip, Dave, and Phillip! Whew!! We sure are blessed with a lot of Dad's in our lives!!

Day three was our first official day at the beach. We started with a pancake breakfast and finally decided to head to the beach around noon. We ate lunch around 3:30 and dinner (a shrimp boil with homemade cocktail sauce to boot) at 9:30. To say we've gotten off our schedule would be the understatement of the century. In addition, Baby Sam at this point was not quite over his frustration with his parents for dragging him on a 14+ hour car trip that should have taken about 9 hours at best. Sam decided he would take as many mini-naps as he pleased and wanted nothing to do with the beach until well after 5:00 (but he loved it, regardless of the time of day). Apparently, we are officially on "beach time."

Our Father's Day was wonderful and we hope yours was as well! The only thing better would be at the beach with ALL the father's we have in our lives!

Vacation, Days 1 & 2

Whew! I truly, truly thought I would blog every single day while on vacation. I LOVE blogging and, afterall, my blog was born on our last vacation in September. However, 13 people in one house, a late-night, 8 hour car ride with the kids, a few trips to Walmart and a Father's Day celebration all in combination together have forced me to a) be away from my computer for long periods and b) share my computer with the above mentioned 13 other people (to be fair, Baby Sam doesn't really care to play with the laptops except to pull up on them or crawl across them, so it's really only 12...and we have 2 other laptops...but you get my point).

Day One:

Our kids slept until 6:30AM CST. This is about normal for EST. We arrived at Kara and Phillip's house at 2AM EST and Kendall fell asleep promptly at midnight. Doing the math, it appears Kendall slept for all of 6 1/2 hours that night. We swam ALL day Friday. Besides Trip #1 to Walmart, that's about all we did...SWIM. Kara did manage to snap her fingers and have a friend at the house that morning to cut Cooper, Kori and Kara's hair. We also moved a carseat into their fun Jeep and the kids LOVED going for a muddy, bumpy ride before bed.

I should mention: Cooper IS a fish. In this photo, he's a flying fish. This kid is a swimming machine, a dolphin in a boy's body...however you want to say it, he is LOVING his new ability to swim!

Kendall eventually braved the jumping and flying like her brotherCooper was begging to ride in Phillip's Jeep ALL day long.
The haircut aftermath...Kori got FOUR inches cut off that day, Kara and Cooper barely added to the mixture with their trims.

Day Two:
After even more swimming, we began our caravan to Destin to meet the rest of the Beach Brigade. While the kids, Chip, Phillip and Grandad swam, Kara, Carol and I went made trip #2 to Walmart. All this time, Dave, Emily and Sam were getting to...oh...Birmingham. Baby Sam wasn't exactly loving his first super-duper-long car ride and let's just say they had to make a few stops.

Day Three Preview:
It's almost 12:30AM so I'm ready for bed, but here are some pictures from our day today...

Sam managed to crawl across the sand today, stick a few fistfuls in his mouth, and get the "ooohs and ahhhh's" from all 12 of us while doing it.

Although the suspense may very well kill you, there is a video to be posted at a later date of this exact act. For once, Chip is the "flyer" or "fly girl" and Kori is the "base" (cheerleading terms for those that didn't quite get that, Kori's sport of choice).

We Will Be Back...

...Right after these messages.
We are alive and well...just busy, busy, busy! We've been working a lot, hiring a new staff member and conducting interviews at work, in addition to preparing for a beach trip!
We made it safely to Alabama to visit Kara, Phillip and the girls last night...errr, this morning at 2AM.
We are enjoying a lazy pool day and will head to Destin tomorrow with Mimi, Grandad, Emily, Dave and Baby Sam along with the 8 of us! Whew! Watch out for daily vacation blogs to make up for our long absence this week...Till then...

Zoo Day HooRay!

We had a Mommy and Us day at the zoo on Monday. I love the zoo and it makes the kids so happy to be able to run around and look at all the animals. The zoo is one place that none of us get tired of. The best part of the whole day was the fact that I realized that Kendall Lee is a camel. That girl drank water and a slushie and refused to use the public restroom. Therefore, she went more than 5 hours without going to the bathroom. That pretty much solidified the idea that she needs to officially be in "big girl underwear." And, quite obviously, she takes after her mommy and doesn't like to touch public...well, public anything!

We love the big black bear that seems to always be sleeping in the big window. That must be the perfect napping place!

Kendall didn't quite understand the "no touching" rule in the Butterfly House

Ok, if you refer back to paragrah 1, you will figure out that I don't care for my kids' hands to be disgustingly dirty...like, when a llama eats out of them. But, being the wonderful mommy that I am, I spent .50cents on pure germs.

I must say, I'm a little surprised Kendall even did it! She won't touch a potty, but she'll let a wild animal eat out of her hands?

My little baby robin in his big blue egg!

Cooper would have been happy if we had stayed all day in the BIG sandbox at the zoo.

FUN, FUN DAY! But we sure missed Daddy!

Water, slushies, swings and shrimp...

Last Saturday was a roller coaster day...First we woke up and had to kiss and hug Kara, Kori and Kali like CRAZY because they were leaving to go home. Then later in the afternoon we stormed over to the Carvers for their monthly Play Day. This month was different though because it involved, water, water and even more water. We had every type of sprinkler possible, a water slide, a pool to fill up guns and water balloons, a slip-n-slide and all sorts of other water toys. This was the happiest play day I can remember. The kids all got along fantastically and besides a small busted lip, some muddy shorts (for the record, mine) and potential marriage counseling (not ours, but we won't talk about that), it was a fabulous day. The shrimp boil didn't hurt things and according the Jack's daddy, the homemade ice cream was a hit, too.

Our little lovebirds. This is definitely my favorite picture of the two of them...a classic in the making.
If it weren't breaking the "one on the slide" rule, I think this picture could be on the side of the Slip-N-Slide box!

Chip calls this the fire brigade!

Price in action. Good thing he had the hat on or his hair might have gotten wet!

Kendall didn't get more than her fingers wet from the water hose and spent most of her time batting her eyelashes at all the daddies so they would push her in the swing all day.

The muscle men, checking out their monster truck tattoos!

The Wilbourn Invasion

We had a nice addition to our mid-week...a visit from the K's...Kara, Kori and Kali. On Wednesday morning, I played the "Guess who's picking you up" game with Cooper and when he finally got it right with the three K's, he then asked "And Uncle Phillip, too?" (with great excitement in his sweet voice), "no, not this time, Phillip has to work" I had to say. He made the saddest little face and then said "Mommy, Uncle Phillip and Daddy REALLY like to work, don't they?" Oh, what little children don't know the truth about!! After picking Cooper and Kendall up at school, we let the girls stretch their legs and played at the park. Kori and Cooper never did tell us what was so funny!

Umm, yup, they're related, in case you couldn't tell!

Huggin' Cousins

Cades Cove, another rare photo of all four
A black bear siting, from the car, very far away with my zoom, but a bear siting nonetheless!
The deer were much closer, there were two grazing in the backyard of the Carter Shields cabin and they only left when we got within about 10 feet! There weren't as many deer in the Cove as I've seen before, but plenty to keep us entertained!