Cabama House

This is what K called the Cabana house we stayed in on our vacation. She seemed to love the ocean as much as her mother. We had to drag her off the beach kicking and screaming everyday. She just wanted to stay and play in the sand for hours.
I was amazed at both my kids capacity for growth and change. K did not want to go near the water either in the pool or ocean the first day. By the end of the week she was jumping into my arms in the pool from the steps and running into the ocean with me. I couldn't believe it. I was worried about her learning to swim but now am not concerned. I just need to get her to the pool more frequently. J was the same. He wouldn't even look at the ocean in the beginning. By the end he was floating around the pool in his floating device on his own. (With us nearby of course. don't call CPS)
Overall, we had a wonderful time together. K's new thing is saying probably. sounds like probly. We have a book on a kids first 100 words and I ask her to identify the items. There is often more than one so she will say probly right here and right here, pointing. On the way home she asked where we were going. I said we were going home and she said "to the cabama house?". I said no, to our house and she said "probly the cabama house." Sweet girl. She really loved our vacation.
N and I even managed to get out on our own while the grandparents watched the kids. We celebrated our 5th anniversary together by having dinner on the beach at a nice restaurant. It's our usual, but it was nice at the beach. Happy Anniversary honey. I love you.

Big World Little World

Funny how big and how little the same things can be. Or how short and long.
We drove to Florida for vacation last week and had a wonderful time. More on that later. I called my mother from the road to see how her progress was going. We were all going down to see my sister get married. They were leaving from Ohio and I, from Indiana. She was ahead of us by about twenty minutes and about to stop for fuel. I called back and asked where they were. Dad said they were just coming up on exit 20 and I looked up at the sign we were passing and I was going under exit 20. What are the odds that we would end up driving through Kentucky and Tennessee together on a trip of over 700 miles? My sister was driving and they caught up to us. It made the drive go rather quickly and we played cat and mouse for awhile. Finally, we pulled over for some gas and so Gma and Gpa and my sister could see the kids, since it had been awhile. It was a nice way to spend about half the drive. They pulled over to sleep and I pressed on so we could make it while the kids slept. We thought this would be the path of least resistance. Turns out N was nervous the whole time that I would get too sleepy, despite my best argument that I would pull off and nap at the first sign of fatigue. She didn't sleep much either which made for some grumpy parents when the kids woke up. But we made it and witnessed a wonderful wedding and had a nice vacation at the same time. We are just thrilled about my sisters new husband. He is a great guy and she deserves to have some happiness in her life. I can't wait for the new baby to come. Wahoo, go A.
The way home was much longer. We drove during the day so traffic wasn't as light. Also, kids have a way of making it long. Did you know that 6 miles ( the distance between exits) can take what seems like an hour when your 11 month old is screaming his ever loving head off. Then there is the stopping. I am used to going straight through whenever possible, but you can't do that with kids. We did a lot of stretching our legs and running off as much energy as possible.
All in all it went really well though. K did a wonderful job and was a very good traveller. J didn't understand why he couldn't be held while we drove and got tired of being confined. He likes to be mobile so it was a bit of a struggle. Really, even he did well considering.
Next year we will just have to plan on the extra time and maybe make some extra stops on the way with things to do.