Home Sweet Home

We are so happy to be home with our doggies.  We really love them, can you tell?  I'm always talking about our pups!  They are such a huge part of our family.  If you think I'm in love, you should see the kiddos with their furry siblings!

The kids couldn't wait to get home and sort through their shells!  Actually I think they fought over them more than they sorted them.  They love to fight these days.  Summer is fun y'all!

We used today as a day to catch up on grocery shopping and chores.  It felt great at the end of the day today to sit down on the patio and enjoy a yummy healthy homecooked meal overlooking a freshly mowed yard!  Vacation is awesome, but home is great too!  Now if I ever catch up on laundry that will me a summer miracle!

Our last day on the beach

Our last day at the beach started out a little disappointing.  A lady told us as we walked to our lounge chairs that the jelly fish were terrible.  We stood around for a bit and watched as 5 children were getting stung right in front of us.  I was scared for the kids.  I've been stung before and it is no fun!

So we headed to the pool!  

The kids had a blast jumping and splashing for a few hours.  We had a picnic lunch at the pool and decicded to head to the beach anyway.  Those silly little creatures weren't gonna ruin our last day of sand and sun.

We ended up staying at the beach for most of the afternoon.  The life guard said he treated about 50 people with jelly fish stings.  He had white wine vinegar in a spray bottle and he'd spray them to stop the burn!

Layla was so worried about the jelly fish.  She dug her own hole and filled it with water.  She had a blast!

Her own little hot-tub!

All in all we had the best trip ever!!

We have been wanting to take the kids to Hibachi for months, but we just haven't made the time.

What a better time to introduce them to great food than while on vacation!

We seriously had the best time.   The kids tasted every course of the meal, soup, salad, sushi and then of course all the good stuff.  Hayden and Gary split steak, lobster and shrimp and Layla and I split chicken, shrimp and steak. Oh my stars the chef gave me so much rice.  It was crazy, but I couldn't stop eating it.  It was the best rice ever.  The veggies are always my favorite part.  

For dessert we stopped at one of the million souvenir shops and got salt water taffy.  The kids loved it.  We are sad to say goodbye to the beach first thing in the morning, but we must head home to our pups.  Gary still has 4 days off after we get home.  We are excited about sleeping in our own bed and getting a few things done around the house.  It will be great to get caught up on laundry before Gary heads back to work on Tuesday. 

We are packing in the activites!

Layla started her day with a trip down the water slide before heading to the beach.  Hayden followed her up there, but he turned around and walked back down.  He is super cautious about some things and other things he's wild and crazy.  Layla sure had fun sliding, but we really just wanted to hit the beach!

Day 3 at the beach was great!

I created a not so cool castle, but I made up for it with a super cool turtle.  It was all cute and fun until someone stepped on it.  She wasn't even paying attention to my creation and her foot smashed it down to nothing.

We did have a pizza picnic just like I thought we would.  It was delicious!

I love my peeps!

Layla is loving all her shells.  I'm sure she will take a million shells home with her.  She loves to look at them and organize them, but oh the sand.  It's all over our condo!!!

The kids were done with the beach so we headed to the pool to watch them do some tricks.  Layla loves doing cannon balls and cheerleader jumps off the side of the pool.

Our dinner for the evening was at a restaurant Gary visited years ago.  It's called Chestnut Hill.  I'm not an oyster fan, but their Oysters Rockafeller.....amazing.  I ate three oysters.  Hayden felt like he was at a fancy restaurant and he was giggling about holding his pinky up.  He made us laugh!  I love how the kids were really into trying new things this trip.  They have really opened up their minds to try foods I would have never tried at ages 4 (almost 5) and 8.

After our dinner we played Putt-Putt.  We decided it was boys against girls.  Layla scored the highest kid score only a point higher than Hayden.  Gary scored one point higher than me...so we all tied!!!  How crazy is that?  It was tons of fun and a night we won't soon forget!

And that was a busy day...we haven't stopped since we arrived, but we wouldn't have it any other way!

More beach fun and pizza night

Ahhhh!  I love waking up to this view!

The kids slept in until almost 9:30 this morning.  They woke up and had sweets for breakfast.  While Gary and I had coffee from our Keurig (yes we decided to travel with it) Hayden ate zebra cakes and Layla ate chocolate chip cookies.  Hey Jack, we're on vacation!!

We picked out and rented our spot for the week!  I just love it!

I just love my little surfer dude.

The kids loved high tide because it was fun to watch the waves wreck their creations.  They weren't a fan of the huge waves knocking them down though.

The waves were incredible. 

These three are my whole heart.  All is good with my world when we are all together.  Family vacations just the four of us are so important to Gary and I.  We enjoy just hanging out and relaxing as a family with no worries!

And then the cartwheels started!

It was awesome!

I think this is my favorite picture I have taken so far.  I will forever remember the awesome conversations and relaxation Gary and I felt while watching our kids play in the sand.

Today after our beach time and a quick dip in the pool we decided to visit a really cool Italian food restaurant. It was rated my Golf Digest magazine as one of best!  It's called Benito's BrickOven.  We all shared fried calamari and the kids got a pizza with black olives and pepperoni and Gary and I got a chicken parmigiana pizza.  It was amazing! 

We brought pizza home to the resort for a beach picnic tomorrow.