And of course the vacation did not disappoint. Mornings were spent at the beach. Afternoons at the Pirate Cove and pool (while the youngest two took naps), and evenings spent exploring the area. Even with the Harmon boys getting sick Wednesday and our boys on Thursday, it didn't damper the fun too much... when I told Liam I was sorry he felt sick (he was crying about his head aching and had a fever), he stopped crying enough to say that "I know I'm sick right now, but I still loved my great trip!"
So lest I disappoint with just a few pictures, here is the usual onslaught. :)
We cooked all our meals in the fully stocked kitchen. :)
Ate and played many games at this table :)
The Harmons were gracious enough to give us the two bedroom villa. The boys were stoked to each have their own bed. And Callum didn't seem to complain about sleeping in the bathroom ;)
We hung out at the lazy river the first evening. It was the only time I made it to the resort's pool, as I was either with napping or sick children.
Callum wasn't thrilled... can you tell?
He much preferred this position. It's pretty typical for he does at the Y as well.
This is where he wanted to be... unfortunately for him it was closed for the evening, and he napped every afternoon. So his wish didn't come true.
Remember how he liked the resort's pool? Well, the same could apply to the ocean. He was fine when I held him in the waves as long as he wasn't wet. If his feet got wet, then he started this hyperventilating soft cry. So most of his time was spent holding down the fort, protecting our stuff, eating our food, and flashing winning smiles at the neighboring beachgoers.
Aiden liked playing in the water, but the waves were a bit too powerful, so unless he held someone's hand, he played on the beach.
This one loved the ocean, and only left to go to the bathroom (he told me that peeing in the ocean was disrespectful), and grab a bite to eat.
He did leave the chair-- when forced. I tried to make it a slightly enjoyable experience.
Bedtime Bible stories.
Sarah got boogie boards for Day 2
Happily playing on his beach chair island.
Elijah and Aiden were imitating the airplanes that flew by with advertisements.
Even without a deck of cards or a board game, they still were able to play a game together
He wanted to try boogie boarding too...
didn't want to be where the surf was, so his board only lifted a couple of times. :)
Ben made the boys little ocean pools...
... genious! He loved it :)
A dirty pretzel-y, sandy, snotty (from teething) face that only a Mommy would wanna kiss ;)
On one evening we walked the boardwalk. On another evening we went to the aquarium, with $150 worth of tickets free, courtesy of the Harmon's attending a timeshare talk. :) This was a pool of sucker fish that would suck the dead skin off your hand if you stuck it in the water. When they would attach to Liam he would scream and pull his hand out...
... seeing his big brother (and lots of other people do it) had Callum curious. He loved it. :)
Aiden's favorite part... the shark tunnel (and the sea turtle that came with it)
It was fun seeing how the fish would hide in the cage whenever the saw fish came by. Only the saw fish though (compared to all the other sharks). It finally got smart and hung out on the bottom of the sand and after 5 minutes, the fish became brave and started venturing out (we learned in one of Liam's books that the saw fish goes through schools of fish and stuns them its saw before eating them).
Looking at the horseshoe crabs. Callum was the only one brave enough to touch them.
Callum was mesmerized by all the different jellyfish exhibits.
And Liam loved the giant octopus. It was really cool. It hung out in its corner. And he patiently waited, and then pressed his face against the window watching it watch him, and all of a sudden it slowly brought it's tentacle out (like you see here) and slowly came out...
... til he could see it in it's entirety... stretched itself out (probably because Liam didn't believe that they could really get to be 8-10ft big like his book says), and then went back and huddled into it's little corner. Everyone around was gasping. Liam was ecstatic. :)
Callum split open his head at the hotel later that night (thank goodness for Daddy doctors when the Mommy freaks out from all the blood), but was laughing 45min later. Liam on the other hand, tired from a long day of play had a meltdown about a cut on the bottom of his foot. Callum came over and the injured consoled the injured, as he patted Liam on the head and back. He can be gentle sometimes ;)
Morning cheerios (a pre-breakfast snack) on the balcony!
