Last week we took Thursday and Friday off, and headed to Jacksonville Florida to visit Jason's cousin. We met Lindsay at the airport in Chicago, Uncle Bob flew ahead of us and picked us up in Jacksonville, and Aunt Vee and Jason's other cousins Neal and Nicole arrived on Thursday night! Aunt Vee and Uncle Bob treated us to the trip, and boy were we spoiled. We had a great time!
We had to leave especially early on Thursday morning, so a Starbucks run
was more than necessary. (
Don't call DCFS- that's just 
milk for Marin) Marin was excited to meet Aunt Lindsay at the airport, and then quickly got to work on catching up on her z's on the plane. She is a great little traveler!
We carried on all of our bags, except Marin's pack-n-play and her car seat, which we obviously had to check. Unfortunately, the pack-n-play made it to
Jacksonville but not the car seat. Bad news. No car seat means no leaving the airport. You know that feeling when the carousel stops turning and the baggage door closes and you start tallying all of your inconveniences if it ends up that your bag was dropped somewhere over the Atlantic? So, Marin got on the horn and got the mess sorted out. They gave us a loaner car seat that I am certain was recalled, and hadn't been washed since 1982. Ew. Lindsay pointed out that our loaner car seat had probably been "lost" at one point too. Awesome. You know she's right.
Luckily, although we didn't get our car seat back until we left the airport on Sunday, it was
found, and hopefully enjoyed its little tour around the United States. And the trip was otherwise flawless. Natalie was a great hostess, and had sweet welcome bags waiting for everyone. Marin got a Minnie Mouse bowl and plate that she carried around by its ears, and a pink sand bucket and shovel that she literally never let out of her sight. In fact, she carried it over her shoulder in the airport on the way back, and turned quite a few heads.
Marin wasted no time getting acquainted with the
pool. When we went on Thursday night just
to stick our feet in, she ended up striped down to her diaper, and by the time we left she was wearing only the cowboy hat that her Daddy bought at Publix to fit in with the locals. :) I think we laughed until we cried about 10 times over cowboy jokes that Jason initiated. The first night he slept with it over his eyes, "to keep out the moonshine".
Despite a few meltdowns when we miscalculated
her nap time and/or eating times, Marin was a trooper and went
with the flow the entire trip. She slept well and long and charmed nearly everyone she met. Once again, Marin
loved the beach! She loved the waves and she played
with the sand and dumped it into her little bucket and then toppled it over only to
fill it up again. And, on this trip, she was old enough to know not to eat the sand. One small step for mom and dad- one giant step for her diaper.
Saturday morning, Natalie, Jason and I ran a 5K at the beach. It was a nice event, the
first inaugural, organized by a son who lost his dad in December. There were over 3,000 runners and it was about 4,000 degrees outside. But, as was the father's dying advice to his son, "never quit" we all wrote on our bibs who
we would never quit for, and Jason's and mine both said, "Marin". There was no way I was going to stop running that darn thing. Regardless of the fact that running in the Florida heat, in the sand, again
st the wind might have not normally been at the top of your vacation "to do" list; we loved it, especially when we saw Marin and Aunt Vee and Uncle Bob near the end of the race, and Marin waved and yelled "Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!" She's the best. I think its really important for Marin to see Jason and I being active, and challenging ourselves to exercise. And what message could be greater? We will never ever EVER quit for our precious baby girl.
After the race, and another trip to the pool, we all made the quick trip to
St. Augustine, our nation's oldest city, for the day. After some shopping and ice cream, the men found an outdoor bar with giant fans
and live music. True to form, Marin
loved the music. She stood and stared at the band as they played, and then, of course, she showed off her dance moves. We ended
that day with a delicious meal at Caps, a really neat restaurant on the water. Where (bonus) they had a sand area on the beach
for kids to play in while they waited for their table. And, since Marin was never without her pink bucket
and shovel, we were all set!
We didn't leave without one more swim the next
morning. Marin loves to put her face in the water, dunk under, walk the pool ledge (I had to beg her to hold my hand), and she learned to blow bubbles.
We had a great time being together. Jason, Lindsay, Natalie and Neal rea
lly are more like brothers and sisters than cousins; and that is really special to witness. Thank you again, Aunt Vee and Uncle Bob for the trip, and for hosting us, Natalie. On the way home, Marin wore her new palm tree necklace (that came in an equally appealing monkey case) from Aunt Lindsay to remind her of her Floridays.
Since Aunt Vee and Nicole are such popular ladies, my mom didn't want to miss the chance to catch up with them either, so she met us for lunch and we all chatted and caught up. Marin was good through lunch and liked smiling at talking in her own jabber with Nicole from across the table. Nicole and Neal are getting married on January 1st, so I mentioned that this occasion might be a good one to do a little mother-of-the-groom dress shopping. Everyone was game so we walked on over to the East Room, one of Geneva's boutique dress shops on 3rd street, after lunch. We had a great time picking out dresses for Aunt Vee and making her try on what I was 
referring to as the Vee and the not-so-Vee. Everything looks great on Aunt Vee, but there were some skimpier dresses (gasp! bare shoulders!) that just weren't Aunt Vee, and we giggled as she strolled out clutching at the bare areas. She was such a good sport! We did find one gorgeous gown that was perfect and looked amazing on her, and she just glowed in it. The afternoon was a success! Marin slept most of the time in her stroller, so she missed out on a good time, but it was nice for me so that I didn't have to chase her around the store making sure she didn't drool all over the fancy dresses.
