PCB Vacation 2015

(Disclaimer: I am having an impossible time with the layout of this post and its pictures. Apologies for the headache that may ensue from jumping all over the screen. I have no time to spend editing the layout. Just gotta get it out there before naptime ends!)

The past few months, I've thought about our summer vacation of 2015 non-stop. As I was blogging Hannah's birthday, I realized I never took the time to write some of it down. So, even though we are 7 months out from the vacation, I want to put in what I can remember since I think it will go down as a favorite family memory.

I was not raised in a beach family and Andrew really wasn't either, so heading to the beach for our first time as a family of 5 felt pretty intimidating. Naturally, I did lots of planning (SO fun to me) and picked my friends' brains for ideas. We decided on the earlier part of May since we were already finished with school, it wasn't too hot yet, the beaches wouldn't be too crowded, and it was MUCH cheaper. We headed out on a Saturday morning. The kids were beside themselves with excitement!

It was quite a drive there, but Jonah didn't fuss at all until the last 45 minutes or so. I'm pretty sure our Google map re-routed us 109 times because we would see that we had 45 minutes left and suddenly we'd turn and have 2 hours left. Frustrating, but thanks to the $50 of toys I scraped up from the Target dollar aisle, we had lots of junk to break and throw in the floor. ;) We arrived that afternoon around 4pm and the kids got to see the beach for the first time. That was a fun thing to experience as a parent. There was no waiting to be had. We immediately changed into our swimsuits and headed out to the water. Their energy was almost palpable! We played and swam and on the patio at the resort restaurant. The kids were STOKED about the splash park attached to the condo, and were equally as excited to sleep together in a HOTEL with their very own TV in their room.

 The next several days were spent with this general schedule:
9 am- Breakfast on the patio
10am- Beach
11:30am- Lunch on the patio
1:00pm- Nap for Jonah, beach or splash park for the bigs
4:00pm- showers
5:30 pm- dinner on the town
7:30pm- walk on the beach, catch crabs
8:30pm- cartoons and snacks

Sometimes we would go to the little strip mall for ice cream or ride into the busier part of PCB to sight see, but we mainly stuck to the resort grounds and local restaurants.
 
Someone gave us a great tip to bring a blow up baby pool to fill with water for Jonah. It was a fantastic idea! He tolerated the water pretty well at the beach since he could come and go, but he was NOT a fan of the pool. He'd be wearing his puddle jumpers and whining as he floated. It was quite humorous. Family vacay, bud. Can't always get your way!

Drew was an absolute thrill seeker and kept me on the edge of my seat. He rode every wave he could get to, gathered hundreds of seashells, floated away from me more times than I could count one day....etc, etc. HE LOVED IT. He could be a beach bum all day every day.

Hannah enjoyed the beach a lot, but she also enjoyed the splash park part. She started swimming on her own for the first time! We had our hands full watching Drew and Hannah at the pool with no floaties AND Jonah who kept running, etc, but I wouldn't have changed a thing about it.

It was amazing. It was relaxing. It was magical. It was fun. It was everything I always wanted a family vacation to be! I would be lying to say I wouldn't change a thing. I would have slathered Andrew in sunscreen since he decided he "never burns" and would be fine. He learned his lesson the hard way and spend one great day in the sun, followed by several days in the condo and wearing a tshirt under the umbrella on the beach.

After the kids went to bed at night, Andrew and I would sit on the patio and talk and listen to the waves. Perfection!

 



 

 
On the way home we got to see some of our dearest friends in Alabama and eat some of our favorite food on the trip. Definitely made the trip home not so hard to bear! It took us almost 13 hours to get home, and it was definitely more difficult than the trip down. Jonah cried and fussed the last 2 1/2 hours or so, and we were ALL thankful when he FINALLY fell asleep....15 minutes from the house. Oh, the irony!

Happy 5th Birthday, Hannah!

Sweet Hannah,

Life pretty much is a constant go-go-go, and so here I sit 2 1/2 months after your birthday, writing your update. Better to write it now than not have one at all, right?

So in November you turned 5. I love watching you grow and learn, but I had been dreading your birthday officially changing you from 4 to 5. Five feels big. It feels like kindergarten, much longer leggings, and (gulp) sass and drama. Four was such a fantastic year with you, and I enjoyed all there is about you, and I just didn't want it to end to start something else that was unknown. Two and a half months later, you're a solid 5 years old, and I know I had nothing to worry about in the matter of your sweetness. However, I see you looking older and acting older all the time, and it makes me sad to think how fast the time goes. I want to always remember your sweetness and innocence.

On to the good stuff! What do I want to remember about you being four?

I loved experiencing new things with you. Many of the things we did this year that we'd previously done, you didn't remember well, if at all. So everything felt new and exciting to you! Holidays are obviously so much with all three of you. Christmas was really exciting last year with you understanding Santa for the first time. The magic of Christmas never gets old! Your first time to the beach this summer was such fun to watch.

We went on a trip with you and Drew to Austin's and Claire's wedding in April, and it was really fun to be able to go and do with a little more independence with Jonah being with the grandparents. We climbed rocks, explored, and just really had a great time. You were a big fan of weddings after that!
 

At four you loved: baths (bubbles, preferred), skirts/dresses, princess and baby stuff (finally!), dressing up (FINALLY), playdoh, cooking with mommy, playing outside with Drew, frog hunting, the color pink, swimming, playing on the iPad, animals, playing with Scarlett, family movie night, doing school with Drew, shopping at Target, dates with Daddy, superheroes, and snuggling under a blanket.

Just around your 5th birthday, you started getting scared of being places alone, like upstairs or in the bathroom. I encourage you to sing or talk loudly to me as you go up to get something from your room. I remember being scared as a child, and really try to be patient with you here.

Bless your heart. You love Jonah, but this past year was trying for you. He was just a handful, and you were his main target, likely because you're two pounds apart at this age and you don't fight back. He pulled out more of your hair than I could count. You now have all these little hairs growing straight up in the top of your head from when he pulled them constantly last summer. Praise the Lord, he's out of that phase! (And I taught you to fight back when you have to.)

I started you with handwriting books back in August of this year when Drew started school. You can write all your uppercase letters well and most of your lowercase. You can match all the appropriate letters and you know 95% of your letter sounds. (G always gives you a tough time.) You can sound out some simple words, and I think you'll be reading very soon! You're beginning simple addition and subtraction where I can work it in. You love to listen to Drew do his flash cards, so sometimes I give you some simple ones. You participate in any science experiment, and love to learn with us. You're currently using an app called "Epic!" to be read to, and you'll spend at least an hour a day reading and being read to. You listen to any read alouds, but really loved Henry Huggins last year. You almost always listen along to our history and can answer the questions as well as your big brother!
 I love your enthusiasm for learning!



While you do enjoy the outdoors very much, if it's too hot or too cold, you have no tolerance. While Drew will play in the sweltering heat all day, when you open the door and felt the hot blast, you turn right back around for the air conditioning. Wonder where you get that from? ;) You also don't enjoy walking long distances. On Halloween night, we were about 3 streets over when you exclaimed, "Mama! Cant you see my legs are EXHAUSTED?!" You keep us laughing!


 
We had your birthday party on Friday night, the 13th. I tried to come up with a theme that would capture you. Play-Doh won, hands down! Drew helped me decorate and ready the church that afternoon. We invited your friends from bible class, ordered pizza, made homemade play doh, opened gifts, and everyone except you ate cake. You informed me the day of your party that you no longer liked cake. I have no idea where that came from. I ate enough for both of us! You really appreciate the attention to detail in parties, so I love planning a party for you! You had a GREAT time!



 On your actual birthday (Saturday) the boys were gone hunting for youth day. I was worried you'd be bored, but we decorated, cooked breakfast, and played with your new toys ALL DAY. You got to pick wherever you wanted to eat. You picked Chick Fil A! I imagine those cheap dinner dates won't last much longer. ;) You had a fantastic birthday!


I am so, so, so thankful God gave me a little girl as wonderful as you. You are the sweetness of our home, and I'm looking forward to the bonding years we have to come. You are my darling!

Love you biiiiiiiig!
Mommy