Florida Cousin's Trip 2010

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, against 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 really 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.

Blogiversary

Have you heard of the Blogiversary? It's the anniversary of the beginning of a blog, and today is mine. When I wrote my first post two years ago, I knew about as much about blogging as I did about parenting. Today, I am remain a novice in both areas, but I've come to know a thing or two about babies, and I've learned that I love the creative outlet that is blogging.


If you've been reading along since the beginning, you are in a small group. If I've picked you up along the way, I hope I've entertained you a little. In whichever group you are, I thank you for reading. My intentions were never to become popular (good thing, because I would have failed miserably) but just to share some of the joys (and the trials) that came along as our family became three (plus pooch).


I'm curious though, about a few things two years later:

-What would you like to see more of? What could you live without? (More videos? Less banter?)

-What are you wondering about? (How many bows does Marin actually own?!)

-Who are you? (I have recently made it possible for anyone to comment- even anonymously. So let me know when you read, and what you think.)

-Have we met in real life? (If not, it's okay. I probably read your blog, too! Nice to meet you!)

-What's your story, morning glory? (Are you a mom too? Does your husband also refuse to read the baby books, but make you blush all the same every time you catch him making your children laugh?)

I love comments and in fact, I officially dare you to comment and let me know what you think about the blog. It's okay, really, I promise.

Happy Blogiversary readers! Thanks for reading my often self obsessed, paranormal, usually sappy posts. I appreciate YOU! Yeah, that's right. YOU right there- the one in front of the computer screen. Thank YOU. I plan to keep on writing. It's the only thing that keeps me sane some days. Will you keep reading? I'd love it if you did. After all, you just never know what the three of us (plus pooch) might have to share next!

Memorial Day Weekend 2010!

Don't you just love the feeling of Friday afternoon before a long weekend? A whole three days of fun spread out before you? This past weekend was exactly that. We spent a lot of good times with our family and friends, had the cops called on us twice, stayed up past our bedtimes, and laughed hard. As usual, we packed in the fun.

Bill left on Saturday. I can't express enough how much we appreciated all that he did to help us with the deck. We absolutely could not have done it without him. Plus, we loved that he got the time with Marin, and Jason adored getting to spend seven days around the clock with his dad.

Saturday night Erica, Craig, Kai, and Meg and Rob (in town from Nashville!!) came over for an event that we will forever refer to as "The Inaugural Calling of the Cops". We really weren't that rowdy, but I guess our neighbor's bedroom window really isn't that far from our deck. We were in such disbelief that someone would call the cops- at 10:30-on a Saturday night- of Memorial Day weekend, that we almost accused the cops of being strippers sent as a joke. It's probably best that we stopped short at that accusation, or else perhaps the cops wouldn't have been as understanding of our situation. (Two babies asleep upstairs, just a couple of girls on the deck- come on now.)

Ross and Emilie arrived Sunday with lunch in hand and their adorable puppy in tow. Marin loved Charlie, and showered him with plenty of hugs and giggles when he licked her. That afternoon we all headed to Erica and Craig's for a party to kick off the summer. They had lots of kiddie pools and water fun at a water park that Erica set up on the side of her house. Marin was in heaven. She hopped from pool to pool, splashing in the water, and strangely, washing her hair. I think at first she thought she was in the bathtub?? Molly and Brian made the drive out and Marin promptly helped herself to half of the food on Molly's plate. We stayed into the evening eating and drinking and sitting around the campfire. I loved hearing Meg and Rob's daughter express her vivid little three-year-old imagination of "big pretend storms" and hilarious made up words. We also decided to teach her the words to a few rap songs. I have no idea where that came from, but it was really funny to hear her repeat "Bow wow wow, yippee yo, yippee yay" in her little giggling voice. When Marin got really fussy, we left to take her home to bed. The four of us ventured out on the deck again, and Meg and Rob (who also had a toddler to put to bed) left the in laws in charge and rode their bikes the short trip over to join us. Enter "Cops are called Part Two". This time they were just plain embarrassed, but explained that they had to come because they got a call. We should have called the fun police on the neighbors- charge them with not having any.

The next day Ross, Emilie, Jason, Marin and I met my parents and walked uptown for the Memorial Day parade and the annual pancake breakfast. There were a lot of jokes on the way, about asking the cops in the intersections of the closed off parade route, if they had been to our house yet. "Morning Officer. It was a heck of a bash last night, wasn't it!? Looking forward to seeing you next weekend. Same time, same place?" :)

Marin was mesmerized by the parade, and not really sure why everyone was throwing things at her (candy). I scored a mini sized snickers bar and snuck it right before I told Marin that we shouldn't eat candy before breakfast. Come on, moms. You've done it too. It down poured on our pancake breakfast, but we managed to grab a few quick bites before the storm hit.

Monday afternoon Lindsay drove out and although the rain ruined our plans to sit poolside, we enjoyed seeing her all the like, and Marin loved showing her the (soggy) ropes at the park. We ended the weekend with dinner with Lindsay and my parents back on the deck. No cops called. Whew.

Yesterday, Marin was back at it. She "brushed her teeth" (just like Mommy and Daddy) grabbed her shoes (even though she already had another pair on) brought me mine from where I'd left them by the door (which means- come on mom, let's go outside, you're all set!) , saying "oosh! oosh!" (shoes! shoes!) and walked me to the park.

Often times after fun packed weekends like this I get the post weekend blues. When everyone has to go back to "normal life" the following day and the carefree fun and games are over. But, as they say, all good things come to an end. And in this case, I think our neighbors, if no one else, are relieved.

Project Update V

The deck is coming along! Now all that is left to do is finish the railings, finish the stairs, install the stair railings, build the pergola, finish the trim work and stain it.

We love it already! Our neighbors do not so much love it. We have sat out there after dark three times, and two of those times they have called the police. (And both times were before 11pm on weekend nights.)

We're standing our ground and are still determined to enjoy the deck all summer long, despite one lame neighbor. I might just have to finally learn how to whisper.