Travel Diaries: The Beach Week

After disembarking from our magical week on the Disney ship, the Mister flew home to get back to work, and the children and I stayed in Florida for a nice visit with the cousins.

When we had left DC, we were wearing long pants and jackets {same would be true when we returned!}.  The cousins live two blocks from the beach, have a gorgeous pool in their backyard, and it's WARM!  What could be better???

My boys adore these big boys.  The cousins were very sweet to include them in everything they did, as well as tolerate the endless questions and occasional project-wreckings.

Ever since we've been home, Little Guy and Buddy Boy have been sending their bath time figurines on surfing and skimboarding adventures down the walls and over the edges of the tub.  They were so impressed.

All the boys even bunked in together at night, which was very exciting for the little ones!

My sweet niece baked a horse-shaped cake for the second celebration of Baby Girl's birthday!

Baby Girl thought about being bashful.

But curiosity got the best of her.

And once she tasted the cake, she had absolutely no reservations about a little birthday attention!

We celebrated her birthday one final time the next day.  She is very loved!

One of my best friends from college lives just two hours away from the cousins, so I was dying to get down to see her.

My sister-in-law very kindly and BRAVELY agreed to take on the task of caring for Little Guy and Buddy Boy for a night, so that I could go visit with just my little nursling.  

I had never left the boys overnight, except for the nights I've spent in a hospital bed, so this was a big deal for all of us.  They used to scream when I would so much as close the door to the bathroom, and wake at insanely early hours, so I had never felt like I could impose all that drama on someone else.  

But at the moment I left for this little trip, they were so excited about feeding some spilled Cheerios to the dog that they kissed me goodbye and trotted away without a tear or a worry.  I was so surprised and so relieved!

Baby Girl and I enjoyed ourselves thoroughly on her very first girls' trip, with a visit to my friend's horse, a few meals out, and a morning by the pool.

I was so thankful for this sweet time with my dear friend.  And, from all reports, the boys did great.  Their kind cousins comforted them when they woke in the night a couple times, and their aunt kept them busy with trips to the playground and the library.  It was a big success!

I love getting to be with other mothers on their home turf.  It's such a privilege to see how they do the stuff of their days.  My sister-in-law is so great about spending quality time with each of her children...home school with one son, daily bike rides with the other, and nightly Bible study with her daughter.  She's even great about spending quality time with my children.  She built marble mazes with the boys and swayed, bounced, and hummed Baby Girl to sleep.  She is a tireless and devoted mother, and I benefit from her example.

Oh, and she washes grapes for, like, eight times as long as I do.   Turns out they're better that way.  No dusty aftertaste!

She is also pretty much the only person I know who would volunteer to ride shotgun for two days on a 14-hour drive from Florida to DC with three small children.  I drove; she handled requests from the tiny, but extremely needy, passengers.  We all sang songs and recited nursery rhymes for hours upon hours upon hours.  We made the tour de fast food establishment playgrounds and enjoyed some special treats and a yummy hotel breakfast.  It was actually pretty fun.  As suspected, it definitely trumped the train ride down!

And with that, we were home from our grand vacation!