Awesome Vacation

Well, for the most part, May and June have been a whirlwind. All year has been a whirlwind. I'm often up late in the evening working, and most days I'm working, and/or running the kids to activities, planning for the next ones or cleaning up from the last ones. And when summer hit, it was swim team time, plus summer camps, which the kids have loved on all fronts.

The blog has fallen by the wayside. It's another thing that I feel guilty about. There's just not much free time, and when there is, writing more isn't top of my list. Trying to accomplish tasks or just be with the kids for a minute is top of the list.

I'm trying to get snaps of the "important moments" and such on Instagram and write a little caption there. I know that it's not the same. I love using this blog as a reference, and I have printed several years' worth into actually printed books. I can't tell you how behind I am on that now! I believe the last one I printed was when Libby was two years old.

But I do want to share a little bit about our recent trip/vacation to Amelia Island.

Michael had a work conference there, and it was designed for families to attend. That said, only one true "event" was for the whole family, but they really did make it special for kids with art opportunities, a characature artist, a photo booth set-up, dress-up and light-up toys, capes, a "kids favorite foods" buffet line and a ventriloquist. Libby was absolutely cracking up at that guy. Matthew liked him, too.

Ahead of the conference, the kids practiced introducing themselves, speaking up, etc., and it worked! They were so well-behaved at the breakfasts we brought them to, and at every official function like that.

We ate out at several restaurants that had cool playgrounds for kids while they waited on food, and one had a musician. Our hotel was really nice -- the Ritz-Carlton (my first time staying at a Ritz, too), with an indoor and outdoor pool and hot tubs, a real-live macaw mascot outside named "Amelia," and of course the beach. The kids loved seeing Amelia every time they passed her perch.

They ate a special lunch poolside, and lots of snacks, because playing at the pool and beach all day will wear you slap out. They loved our nice room, big bathroom, and swapping which parent slept with them each night. Note also that the kids kept their same beds and the parents swapped beds each night.

Michael's team earned a respectable second place in the golf tournament, and work really didn't ask too much of me. We just had a lot of time to relax and enjoy Libby and Matthew. They had such fun, but I think that I had more fun. And Matthew progressed a ton with his swimming!

I even ran into a classmate from Augusta one night at dinner... and she lives in KANSAS now. So that was a real surprise. We bumped into her at Tomoti's, which had a playground for the kids like a giant ship.

On our way down, we stayed at a Hampton Inn in Savannah, and when we walked into the hotel room, Matthew said with awe, "It has a TV!" And, "It has TWO beds and TWO phones!" He was also impressed with the mini-fridge. At Amelia, he was also impressed with the bathroom phone. Ahh youth.

We got to see our friends Brian and Alicia Evans who live nearby in Pooler, and ate some yummy Carey Hilliard's take-out. Their boys Stephen and Davis were very welcoming to our two kiddos, and we had a nice visit together at their house that they built a few years ago.

Sadly, no pics.

We didn't get to see family this time, but we did stop for a visit to the Mighty Eighth Air Museum, which Michael and I just loved. The kids really liked it, too. I was impressed with some of Libby's good questions. They had a neat simulator and story to give visitors a better idea of what these early war pilots experienced while defending our nation.

Of course, the hotel in Savannah also had the pool requirement, and this one was also indoors, with a hot tub, so we did that before bed the night we stayed there. We nabbed a bite for lunch before leaving town at Jalepeno's, so the kids were able to rest uninterrupted (only Matthew slept) on the way to Amelia. They really are solid travelers.

Oh- and before we left, we had Libby's "ribbons and donuts" after her last swim meet the night before. They returned from their two beach trip to attend the end of season swim team party where Libby won the coach's award for the season for her positive attitude at practice and meets. How great is that?!

When we did get to Amelia, once we were checked in and saw the lovely view from our room, it was out to the beach as soon as we could get there.

First evening had no official events, so we headed to Sliders at the recommendation of several friends, and it did not disappoint. Likewise, we got there early enough to avoid any wait! The kids LOVED the playground, and we all enjoyed the musical entertainment and breeze.

On our way back to our car, we even found a giant lounge chair for us all to share!

We did spend a good bit of time at the lovely pools, but they required much more hands-on time from me, and Daddy didn't spend much time there, so we don't have very many photos there. Plus, I wanted to spend as much time at the beach as I could. On Friday we found a GIANT sandcastle and helped make it even bigger. Also no pics of that. But we did the best we could the next day with no supplied on-hand, beyond our hands. I was pretty proud of our work. And Libby did a great job with engineering as she found ways to divery the water and keep it from pooling for too long behind the castle.

My two favorite things though were watching "The Great British Baking Show" on Friday night in our beds in the hotel. I was snuggled with the boy while Michael had the girl that night. We were trying to get them a little settled, since there had been no naps, and this fit the bill. I thought they'd go to sleep, but they were far too interested!

Now we're taping it and watching at home, too!

And with Libby, I offered a special activity, too: stand-up paddle boarding on the ocean. Okay, so it's bee awhile since I did that. And it may have been in the inter-coastal waterway before. But I was sure I could take on the waves with my seven year-old in tow. Awesome.  The young man working the rental booth was skeptical of my abilities, since the wind was strong, the waves were choppy, and you know, no one else was out doing it at that time, presumably for a reason. Didn't matter. My girl wanted to go, and I was going to take her!

He gave me the tip of making sure I was perpendicular to the waves with the board, because if we were sideways, that was a surefire way to get knocked over. NOTED and applied to the best of my abilities.

We were not knocked over until the very end. Just staying in one spot and not getting towed way down the beach where I'd have to carry or paddle it way back south to where we began our adventure was a serious effort. We got past the breakers, and Libby did stand for a few seconds, but the best I ever did was get up on my knees. It was just too rough and risky to stand with her on the board too. I was pretty nervous, but I sure got a good workout. And Libby said it was her favorite thing we did!

She even wrote two post cards to friends about the trip and mentioned it in both of them. So completely worth it!!!

The last dinner, as I said, was very fun. It was a little long, but the kids did really great getting through the chitchat and program before the performer came on.

I remembered just how much fun they are!

Our trip was totally "groovy!" Of course, I flew back home on Sunday, while the kids moved north up the coast to Kiawah with Gigi and Papa. More fun times had by all, including golf, a "pet deer" in the complex and awesome water slides! Ritz, take note: kids love the water slides! I came home, worked, missed them because the house was too neat and quiet, and repaired and repainted the fireplace wood framing and mantel.