VACATION

Yes, we made it back and we brought everyone back with us!! I thought I should start by saying it was a fantastic vacation and I would do it all again. I decided that I would give you a take on our vacation through my eyes and what I say and thought. Nothing like a vacation through a mother's eyes!

Olivia: This was her first trip to the ocean and she was mesmerized. Nothing disappointed her, not even the cold water. She had to be at the beach and in the water or looking for sea shells. Her goal was to pick as many shells as she could find and mission accomplished. She was just as glad to see different scenery like the rest of us. Olivia is my ocean girl, I don't know how many times she told her dad this was the best vacation ever and how awesome he was, that made me smile.

Logan: Little, Strong willed, Logan........Let me say, you could have never asked for a child to handle a ride that long (10-12hrs.) in a car seat like he did. Thank heavens for car tv's! Seriously, he was a champ. Logan didn't start off his week real great. Now he has this new found freedom of walking and he just figured he would start walking for the ocean and not stop. Yes, he did that and wouldn't stop and when you would grab his hand so he didn't get pushed under, he threw a fit. You couldn't hold him, walk with him,nothing. I was to say at this point a little frustrated. We had tried to get him to walk on the beach with us and if he wasn't headed for the water, he wasn't happy, try to take his hand and he would sit down and scream.......yeah, this little quiet boy! I tried the stroller and needless to say, he was going to hurt himself in it trying to get out. About 3 days into it he finally got the "just" of it and would walk with us (sometimes the opposite direction we wanted) and I even let him fall down and get back up the 300 times he did. All in all, he really did good for 1 1/2 yo. We went to visit the aquarium and he sat in the stroller and loved watching the fish, go figure he sat that long.

Rich: Ah rich, if he didn't get stuck looking like a tourist and carrying my camera the entire time, he wasn't photographed! Most of the pics of him are with my camera around his neck because I was chasing Logan and didn't want the camera to get wet. Rich is a natural born water lover. Thank God there's one of us. You can't get him off the beach and a way from the water. He got to spend a lot of one on one time with Olivia and that was good for them. Rich even went out in the icy cold water to make sure the girls swam in the ocean........bless his heart

Me: A vacation to me is to get to see other places and how pretty the world is. I love to travel and see other states. You could never get me to fly and miss all of that (ok, I won't fly anyway). I am very partial to the south and especially the Carolina's. They are gorgeous and people are very nice. Anyway, one thing i noticed was there was no computer and "house" phone. Do you realize how much simpler life can be without those pressing issues! I loved watching the kids and seeing how much fun they could have and be creative with what they didn't have. Olivia was the perfect age for going there this year and Logan will never remember but he was priceless in his own ways. I should be in perfect shape and my thighs should have shrunk with all the times I carried that uncooperative boy across, around, and up the beach!
I watched my daughter see the ocean for the first time, I watched my son learn to be independent, and my husband got to get away from work and spend some one on one time with each of us, and me, I got a camera full of pictures, lots of memories and some down time. Nothing says living like getting up in the morning, sitting out on the balcony overlooking the ocean, and getting dressed to go to the beach! PRICELESS