Beach Vacation - Part II

It is late at night that I get most of my blogging done.  The weekends are really my only open opportunity to review my photos and because I'm with the boys during the day, I don't like to take any precious time away from my time with them.  So I wait until everyone is asleep, pour a glass of wine and sit down to indulge in one of my 'guilty pleasures' and get lost in all of my favorite photography sites.  I hardly look up once and I realize that not minutes, but hours have passed.  And as is my semi-regular Saturday night ritual, I am sitting here at 3:30 am wondering where the time has gone.

Well, this week, I have extra special photos to edit.  Like this one - seriously, how would this not keep you up until 3:30 in the morning . . starring at it and loving it.  My amazing four-year-old who is getting more grown up by the minute.

Or this one.  Even though I know that our Owie-bear was in the middle of a whine when I snapped this particular photo, I can't help but to smile when I look at it because I know that it so accurately captures him at this exact age.  I can almost even hear his voice as I look at this sweet picture.  Sweet and sensitive Owen.  

We had such an amazing time on vacation.  Dan may tell you a different story (his may be one of exhaustion and frustration from kids not listening, which of course, is a valid point), but for me, the vacation was restorative and made my heart smile.  I got to spend every single minute of every day with my kiddos for the past week and really got to enjoy them.  No alarms were set, no deadlines were upon us and we lived the past week very carefree.  I got to fiercely love my babies with no distractions.  And of course, I enjoyed my babies on one of nature's most beautiful backdrops . . . watching them experience the ocean nearly brought tears to my eyes on several occasions.  I couldn't help but to think of how wonderful motherhood is and what a privilege it is to have a front-row seat to these miracles growing in front of us everyday.  God heard quite a few thank-you prayers uttered from me this week.

The boys loved the beach - especially Drew.  He never tired of chasing the waves and running away frantically as the tide returned.  I already can't wait to take our boys back to the beach.    

Our condo was very nice and was the perfect accommodation for our stay.  We had comfy beds, plenty of TVs (with individual DVD players so that everyone could watch the DVD of his choice) and a kitchen stocked full of accessories that allowed us to make most of our meals at home and enjoy lazy days around the condo instead of stressing out about taking three little boys to a restaurant:)  This is the view of the ocean from our balcony.

It didn't take much beach time to wear baby Evan out.  

Of course, I enjoyed some lovely bubbles in the master bedroom's jacuzzi tub (actually, I only got to enjoy for one night since I got severely sun burnt early in the week (more sunscreen, next time Lauren . . . )

The drive was long but the boys did well.  We allowed ourselves one overnight stay at a hotel on each way so that Dan and I didn't end up driving in the wee hours of the night/morning (I will never understand how some families do this . . . this Mommy and Daddy need sleep too!)  Our mini-van and the DVD player in the mini-van really made the trip work.  

We enjoyed some Rendezvous ribs for dinner while passing through Memphis on our way to Destin.

And I will leave you with some more fun playing on the beach and a tour of our lovely condo.  Oh - how I can't wait to return!