Sklar/Frazier/Counts/Taylor Beach Trip

It is difficult to recall what happened on what day as they all ran together, so I'm going to lump all the memories into one post.  Sadly, I only have 3 more pictures of our time there, so until I can get some from others, I'm stuck with narrative - a blog post no one wants. :)

Wednesday, in the morning, I went with Dad and Joy to the beach. Art had a conference call at 11am and needed to prepare for it.  Of course it takes forever to get three kids dressed and sunscreened.  But we did it, and made it out the door and claimed a space on the beach.  Tuesday night, we went with the boys to the playground, then took them back toward the house via the beach.  They LOVED the beach.  ZW had a great time karate chopping and kicking the waves, and Yannick splashed to his heart's content.  THey had been in their regular clothes, and I cautioned them not to go deeper than their knees so they would not get their clothes wet.  Yeah, that worked for about 10 seconds.  Yannick fell under once, and that was enough.  I took off their shirts and they got soaked in their clothes.  But they loved it.  So this morning, we were armed with sand toys and ready for beach fun.  The boys HATED it.  Zachary got hit by a big wave, skinned up his knees, and was done.  Yannick kept saying he was cold (it was already super hot out!), but I'm sure he meant hot.  It was too sunny, and they all hated it.  Soooo, we packed up and went to the pool.  Which they loved.  Back home for lunch and a nap.  Back out to the beach later when the waves were smaller and they had no need for sun screen.  This is also the night we did family pictures - without Creed.  he will have to be photoshopped in later when he arrives.  Tons and tons of pictures of course, and a few good ones.

This is not one of those

Not terrible.  Not our best showing.

Nor is this

I am sure there are good photos on Dad or Joy's camera, but not on mine.  This one is good though

Thanks for paying for our wonderful trip!

Dad shamed Art by wearing a belt, and classing up the joint a bit.  Art in his undershirt could not compete.  We tried several different poses for our family of 5, and none were great.  We even let them use lightsaber props for awhile.  I recall one or two are not awful.  I will have to get those from Dad, and add them back to the blog later.

Joy had to leave Thursday morning to get back to work - boo!  Thursday Art was ready to try the beach again.  I cautioned him that they boys hate the beach in the morning, but he wanted to try anyway - hoping things would be different with DaU there.  Nope.  We quickly packed up again and moved to the pool.  Poppi and Mimi took off to get the golf cart they were renting for 24 hours, so Art and I traded time with the boys in the deep pool and the kiddy fun pool.  I enjoyed the pool, and had no problem being there.  Art, being at the beach, wanted to be at the beach.  So he was not thrilled to be at the pool.  Poppi and Mimi came back, and we got some yummy dipin' dots ice cream to share with all of this.  Wyatt wanted to play mini golf, and Z wanted to go back to the pool, but it was best to head back for lunch. So fun to go back in the golf cart!  Now it seems like a no brainer to have one here.  This place is massive!  We got a big rain storm, so we could not go to the beach or the pool, but  once it was stopped I was eager to get the hooligans out of the house for a bit. Dad took me and the boys to drive around the complex.  We stopped off at a small duck pond, and bought some duck food to feed them.  they had several babies.  Again, I bet Dad has some cute pictures!  We also rode to the little grocery store in the complex to get some more toilet paper.  It was definitely fun to drive around in the cart.  Creed came in this afternoon, and could not go on the beach because of the rain.  But that did not mean no fun for the rest of the night.  Oh no.  Once the kids were in bed, Dad took Staci, Creed, and Art in the golf cart to go "cruisin'".  They came back after about 45 minutes insisting that Faye, Joanna, and I try it as well, so we went with Dad while Creed and Art opted out.  Oh my.  Wow.  There are hardly words.  The complex management blocked off a long road along the perimeter off for car traffic.  Only thing allowed were golf carts.  And what they did was drive in a long long oval, hundreds of carts long.  Much of the time, kids would hold their hands out to give oncoming carts high fives.  I simply cannot do justice to the phenomena of golf cart crusing.  I slapped a lot of hands.  I got some free beads.  i got some glow in the dark stuff.  Teens were exchanging phone numbers.  There was a huge variety of carts.  Some basic, boring rentals like ours.  Some tricked out extra long ones.  Ground effects.  I did not see hydraulics, but I'd bet they had some.  Joanna jumped out of our slow slow moving cart to take some pictures.

Whoo Whoo!  Check us out!

Check us out!  If I had known this was like clubbin' on wheels, I would have definitely not worn my work-out clothes!  Incidentally, I had them on because I was going to take a walk with Joanna and Faye until thankfully I remembered that  I have 3 kids asleep and no one else was in the house.  Oops!

So yes, this was quite the experience!  We had had enough after about 30-40 minutes, and Dad had to orchestrate a break from the endless oval of cruisers.  Easier said than done.  Ps. the leis were a gift from a little girl who was also cruising with her parents.  So cool. :)

Joanna had to leave crazy early on Friday to make it to a bridesmaid's luncheon for a wedding she is in on Saturday.  Friday morning Poppi drove us (me, the boys, and Faye) to the pool before he had to return the golf cart. Art went to the beach to enjoy the higher waves.  He was supposed to meet up with Staci and Creed, but never saw them. He got stung by something and wanted to go inside but could not find them, so he trudged his way to the pool, but I didn't have any keys and Z and Poppi and Mimi had gone to return the cart.  Poor Art!  He said the chlorine water helped it a bit though.  Our time after the cart was considerably less enjoyable.  Walking is for losers. During nap time for the boys, I went out to the beach with Faye.  It was definitely hot, so I was not planning on staying more than an hour.  I laid on the beach for a bit, then rode the waves for a bit then laid down again.  Kids were still asleep when I got back.   Tonight when we went to the beach to play with Staci and Creed, there was a wedding going on.  Zachary made the comment that they were sure to get some nice pictures because the lighting was so pretty.  Because it was our last day and because we did not want more leftovers, we ordered pizza for dinner.  Art and I were in charge of dinner, and yes, it does appear that we wimped out a bit, but we really wanted to enjoy the lovely time at the beach.  Faye was very gracious and met the pizza guys at the front gate so we could stay on the beach.

After the kids went to bed, Faye Staci and I played different versions of Bananagrams for awhile until Faye went to bed.  Then Staci and I made a dumb decision to stay up late (knowing we had to get up incredibly early!) watching Baby Sitters Club.  At least we were in bed by midnight!  The alarm was going off at 6:30am the next day.  Dad wanted us out at 7:30 to avoid any check-out traffic which we were told could take hours.

Saturday

We got up, got everyone ready and somehow managed to get out of the house right around 7:30.  Not too shabby!  We stopped for breakfast at a Chik fil a which was glorious.  It was empty of kids, so our boys had a great time playing around.  We caravanned with Poppi/Mimi/3 boys in the minivan, and Staci/Art and I in her car.  After lunch Art rode with the boys, as they were asking him to, and he even got a nap because the boys fell asleep.  I had a fantastic time in Staci's car chatting, listening to a bit of a book on cd, and the most fun, playing with her talking text message app!  So hilarious!  We stopped for lunch at chick fil a again.  Luckily, I had packed a lunch for the boys, so they did not have to endure more CFA!  I should have bought some polynesian sauce while I was there for Art to take back home.  We finally made it back to Leisure Dr.  I went to the grocery store with Faye, and picked out dinner.  Tortellini.  Quick, easy, and a huge success for all 4 of my guys.  New sleeping arrangement for the boys.  No more pack-n-play for Yannick.  He got the toddler mattress, and ZW shared the futon bed.  Hopefully this works out well.  Kids in bed, and time for the train game!  Sadly, Art has to go back home tomorrow.

At some point during our East Coast trip, Art's hair looked like this

Oh yeah!  Back off ladies, he's mine! :)