Vacay....to FL!

You can't even imagine how much I need to catch up on with the blog! I have tons of pics, lots to say (as always), and a few "what'd you learn" posts to come in the future!

SO, let me get right to it!! After our hellish flight to DC,we got in our rental van (not full size SUV like we had reserved, but at this point......EFF IT), we drove straight to West Palm and arrived around 12 midnight! I about died when I walked through the threshold to find Thyme's two oldest kids!! They were gigantic...for real. GJ looks like he could almost be a MAN and Starr reminds me sooo much of Saige when she was at that age....beautiful young girl emerging into a young lady....but still with that tomboy-ish persona we moms love to hold onto in our girls. The kids immediately sparked their every own convo and it was like no time had passed. Anyway, after the tears and long hugs to my sister and Popo, we all sat and small-talked, staring at each other like we weren't sure if we were in a dream or not. It was definitely a "moment" to say the least. Finally, we went to bed (we were BEAT) but I soon found myself opening my eyes after only 7 minutes to the sound of Teage screaming "All Aboard" as he guided Thomas the Tank Engine along the play table that was in the bedroom we stayed in. Damn kid slept the whole way down...

...so he was WIDE AWAKE!!! I'm sure he planned this on purpose....

After sleeping about 1.5 hours for the night, I then found the morning sun glaring in on me (at this point I'm thinking...was this a set-up?) so I said what the heck and decided to get this party started...sleep will come later right?? We only had one week in FL, so we needed to use our time wisely. So "up" we were and by 7:30am all children had eaten breakfast and were in the pool...ALL OF THEM....I'm talking 8 kids whooping it up at 7:30 in the morning poolside!! It was awesome. You have got to love this....

The little ones...Teage, Bren Bren & Markie

(Oh, so I was going on and on about Markie looking like someone famous, but I couldn't put my finger on it....until now! Doesn't he look like Joseph Gordon Levitt??...he's so cute! Here's a pic of him to compare...I'm just sayin')

G & J

Katie & Saige

Starr baby and T


GJ (my fave pic of the whole trip)


Aaron



Playing Chicken (P.S. my son has a ba donk-a-donk, WTF?)

I told you they were big!!

Teage didn't waste any time getting all up in Brenna's face competing to see who was the alpha kid in the house. They both could have stood some more quality time together on the trip I think. I say they both think they are WAY too cute for their own good....and dang it they are right!! TOO CUTIE!!


We decided that night we would do our traditional "crab leg" feast and with that I got to finally see my cousin Jennifer and her two babies. It had been way too long since we saw each other...never again will we let that happen. Anyway....feast your eyes on crab night!!!


Another funny moment concerned the stairs at Thyme's house. I swear she had the carpet laced with some form of Ambien!! Both my boys took to them like a crackhead to a dollar. These we taken on consecutive nights...



So that was just a 24 hour period of what went down...I won't go on about every little detail of what we did (well, because even though I know my peeps love me and my blog...overkill is overkill)...here are the highlights, meaning pics mostly:

SHOPPING....amazingly though, it wasn't for me (WTF??!!) damn kids!!!
EATING OUT....duh (I had greek twice, Arby's twice, Chick-Fil-A, and a couple restaurants, but who's counting?)
HANG W/THE KIDS...Above all, I was more than thrilled that I got to spend time with my nieces and nephews. They are the best and all I wanted to do was spoil them rotten and hug them all the days! I hope they felt both...
PARTY W/THE PEEPS...nuff said!! I will get down to the reunion BBQ later...all I will say is that it was GOOD TIMES!!

Oh, I forgot to say that Ebeth came down in between all the fun and I got to see Leila and Kai as well as meet baby Rayah. She is a DOLL and also a lil rambunctious like Thyme and I's youngest. What is it with the last babies?? I am now starting to think the real test of motherhood comes with that last push. Literally!! But like I said before....you can't hate on the cuteness!!

Rayah

Check out more of our highlights...

This is how I like them...at Smokey Bones

Starr

Kailani

Leila

Saige & Kai

Aunt Thyme (aka Seester)

Jennifer Poo Poo...(I had to)

Me & Chris

SMORES!!!

I am so glad I got to see my familia....they made us feel so welcomed and missed. I am trying to finagle using our free round trip tickets to go back for another short visit during winter break when we go see the familia in AZ. I think they will only fly us as far as FL anyway for our COT leave. More of that info to come as we get settled.

Back to the Party with the Peeps. I couldn't have had a better time on our last full day there + I had boiled peanuts.


Cousin Jennifer set up the best spot for the BBQ and Mike grilled all the food (he rocked)...

...and they fronted the cost (she thinks I forgot probably, but I didn't...her reward will come soon enough...that, my friend, is called paying it forward). Anyway, it was a blast!!! I am so glad the people that came, came. It was nice to see my old buddies. We didn't skip a beat and got right back into our old friendships. Thank you to them for coming and for making us feel welcome back at our old stomping ground. I know, I know...you wish you were there (no really, you do) :o) LOL!!

Ebeth (aka my other Seester)

I have so much more to tell you all, but like I always say..."you gotta crawl before you walk"!! Next, we get into the Germany posts. I already have multiple pics w/narration to spill, so get prepared!! I'll be in touch and as always....Love Ya!!