Raising Our Chicks: June 2015

What a wonderful week...of course Jason & I feel like we might need a vacation from our vacation but when you have 4 kids that's to be expected. It was actually much more relaxing than our cruise last year, I would definitely do a week at the beach next year. A week of staying up late, sleeping in (well, as much as kids sleep in & I didn't even get up and work out once!), long hours at the pool, walks on the beach, collecting 20 pounds of shells, mini golf, countless ice cream cones, Jason melting in the Florida sun while grilling, girls trying shrimp & gator for the first time....

This trip was such a breather from regular life for us, for me it was an opportunity to just BE with the girls. I wasn't trying to get the house cleaned up, get us anywhere on a schedule and thinking what I should be doing. It was so nice to be a team with Jason & parent together for a whole week..we're a great team.

Things I observed, heard & saw on vacation with this herd:

Why is pushing the elevator buttons still a big deal? For example, on Lacy's birthday they let her push ALL the buttons ALL day
Lacy double checked that her blankie & puppy were still in her backpack after they went through security..you know, because the TSA has been looking for a dirty, ratty old satin blanket along with an old stuffed animal whose ear has been sewn back on
Lily found a tiny shark fin that was ripped off, she also found a chicken bone that she left in her bag of shells. I couldn't understand why my beach bag smelled so bad..then I found the moldy chicken bone
It's really really nice to be able to stay up late with the kids, have them sleep in..nobody needs a nap or has a meltdown
My kids like 104 degree whirlpool even when it's 95 degrees
Wedding was set up on the beach, Harper asked if she could go. When told NO, she asked if she could at least get cake
Lily was on pool watch everyday, one day she was rushing me through breakfast, "we better hurry, it's getting crowded"..I look and there's one person in the pool
While hanging out on the pier one night, we watched dolphins jump around and Harper said, "I thought they were aqua" and Lily who pretty much knows everything responds "Harper, the aqua ones are very rare"
Before heading into the tacky t-shirt shop, I advised the older girls they may see t shirts with bad words on them and to just move along. It took 2 seconds for me to spot a hat with the b** word on it. Took them about 5 seconds and then they immediately alerted me to it.
I've ran out of ways to say "Wow, that's the prettiest one ever" or "I've never seen one that color" every time they bring me a shell they found
Harper's funny..she bought a mood necklace with her vacation $ and immediately put it on. We're walking along and she starts grunting and making these angry faces while holding her necklace. I say, "What on earth are you doing?" and she says "I'm trying to make it change colors by being mad"
We went through 7 bottles of sunscreen
Harper was chased by a dog in the airport. On her way back from throwing something away, she was skipping down the aisle and a woman hadn't secured her dogs carrier. Harper's loud skipping must have startled the dog and he jumps out of the carrier, starts barking and chasing her. We see Harper come tearing around our row of chairs with the dog yapping at her heels, Harper runs to Jason (of course!) Her little heart was beating a mile a minute!!