Vacation Part 2 - St. Augustine Daytime

On Sunday we said goodbye to Team Taylor and hopped back on the road to Florida. It was really nice to break up our 11+ hour trip into two 6ish hour trips. We went to St. Augustine to spend the week at my brother's house. He's always gracious to open his house to us so we can do a budget friendly vacation to Florida:) I always love the time spent with him and his kids too! We had zero plans for the week other than to go to the pool. We had nowhere to be and no worries! Jonathan and I were even able to run in my brother's neighborhood almost every morning we were there! The flat roads were awesome, but the humidity was insane!

Yes, this is my brother's back yard. He has an amazing view. It's like being at a resort.

Both of my kids love water, but Cayden was cracking us up because anytime he spotted water he would shout "WADDER!!!" So pretty much anytime he would look out the back windows of my brother's house he would get excited. I took him out on the lanai our first morning and he loved it and then decided he needed to go out closer to see the water better.

On Mondays their pool is closed for maintenance so we headed to the beach and like a bad mom I totally forgot my camera!! Thankfully I remembered the kids, sunscreen, food, towels and my phone:) So, here are some phone pics from the beach.

Cousins! They love each other so much!

 Neither of my kids are big fans of the ocean. But Adalyn did so much better this year than last year. She actually walked into the water this year!

 Both kids love sandboxes so the sand (and their big cousin) entertained them for a while.

 Cayden preferred sitting in the sand looking at the water and yelling "WADDER!!" over actually being in the ocean. He was NOT a fan of being in the ocean at all.

After our day (and I'm using the term "day" lightly since it was closer to 2 hours...) at the beach, we spent all of the rest of our vacation at the pool. Well, except for the day that I got both kids lotioned up, lunch made and in the cooler and got to the pool gate and the moment after Cayden yelled "WADDER!!" the lifeguard told us that the pool was closed for the day due to "contamination." So glad it wasn't my kid that pooped in the pool! But then our big plans of a day at the pool were shattered. Thankfully the kids took it ok and we went back to the house and just hung out.

The neighborhood pool is awesome. Seriously. My kids' favorite part is the big water slide, which they are too short to ride without an adult. So Jonathan and I walked up those stairs more times than I can count during the week. Cayden would start asking for the slide before we were even at the bottom of the slide going down it. 

Cayden saw me upload this picture and said "I fim". This boy loves being in the water. He was so excited to see pictures of himself swimming.

I love the Puddle Jumpers. And the kids love them too. It gives them such freedom to move around in the water.

Adalyn loved jumping off the side of the pool. She was good at jumping far. And she didn't like us to catch her. She wanted us to stand far enough away that she could swim to us after jumping in.

Splash!

Getting air!

Cayden commentary of this picture: "Dup." (jump) "Wadder."

My boys. Love how both of their eyes are squinting.

Adalyn loved floating on her back and told me that I needed to take her picture while she was floating. :)

Our last day at the pool I was trying to push their naptime back so they could have extra time in the water. Cayden started asking for his paci so we tried to distract him by asking if he wanted another turn down the slide. He refused the slide which surprised us all. Jonathan took him over to a table and within moments this is what he looked like. Since he zonked out, Adalyn was able to spend a little extra time enjoying her last pool day.

Sweet boy.

And I had to add these two sweet moments that Jonathan captured without them realizing it. They are so sweet together.

I've added so many pictures to this post that I will have to write another post to include all of our family pictures and dinners. We had such a wonderful vacation that it deserves three posts:)

Vacation Part 1 - Charlotte

We left for vacation on August 1st which was a Friday and we planned to break up our trip to Florida with a weekend in Charlotte with the Taylor family! We got to their house around lunchtime on Friday, so we had the rest of the day Friday and all day Saturday to spend with them. Lindsy and I had planned some outside activities for the kids. We were going to go to the splash park after naps on Friday and spend all day Saturday at the neighborhood pool. Well, our plans were abruptly changed when the temps were so low that our kids needed pants and long sleeves on Saturday (we were headed to Florida so we didn't have any warm clothes packed!) and it was raining on and off. Bummer. But honestly, our kids didn't need plans. They just enjoyed playing together. And of course Lindsy was Martha Stewart hostess and had back up activities like homemade play-doh for the kids.

Friday evening the rain subsided and we took the kid to Dollar Cone where the cones were literally $1. How awesome is that? The kids enjoyed their ice cream:)

I love Grey's face in this picture. I'm pretty sure he is wondering why his sissy is sharing with this other kid!

Saturday was my birthday and it was so fun to spend it being on vacation with our friends! Lindsy is still running (she's in her 3rd trimester) because she is a rock-star! And she always talks about running on the Charlotte Greenways so we decided to do a run together on a Greenway. I loved the Greenway and so wish we had them here in Lexington! Running on a paved, tree covered trail for miles was perfect. I would take that any day over running in a neighborhood with cars/traffic around. And they have a huge running community there so the Greenway was full of runners. Great atmosphere! While Lindsy and I did a 4 mile run, Jonathan took the double jogger and pushed the boys for a longer run. We left the three girls home with Tim and they had fun enjoying the playset before the rain started.  

Bonus was that the beginning/end of the Greenway we went to had a Starbucks across the street! Of course we had to head there after our run to drink the calories we had just burned! And then we went to Great Harvest to get yummy muffins. What a fun way to start my birthday!

Perfect rainy day activity: homemade play-doh! And of course the girls wanted purple so Lindsy not only made it purple, but she added glitter and lavender essential oil!

 We tried to get some pictures of the boys together. Cayden wasn't in much of a smiley mood.

And of course we had to get a picture of the big sisters.

Lindsy was sweet enough to plan a fun date night for us on Saturday night. She hired two baby sitters to watch the kids so we could go out to a nice dinner. This was such a treat for us! I couldn't tell you the last time we went on a double date. We had so much fun!

We told the girls they could stay up until we got home from dinner so that they could eat some birthday cake! Lindsy recommended an amazing bakery for Jonathan to order my cake from and it did not disappoint!

Jonathan of course spoiled me with fun necklaces that I wanted from Our World Boutique and a new pair of rain boots! I had such a fun birthday! 

We had a wonderful time with the Taylors and it was hard to say our goodbyes on Sunday morning as we headed to Florida. It's hard to put into words how special they are to our family. I am so glad we're able to see each other every few months for one reason or another. We can always pick up where we left off and our kids do the same. Our kids talk about their kids all the time. Cayden even talks about how Grey goes poop in his potty (TMI?) since he witnessed it while we were there. Too bad he doesn't use that to encourage himself to do the same... Adalyn always talks about Kennedy and Avery. Always! I look forward to our next trip to Charlotte and can't believe there will be another Taylor next time we see them!