Beach Vacation - Part III

Beach Vacation - Part III is my final vacation post.  I have officially gotten through all of our vacation photos and I am still glowing from such a wonderful family trip.  I seriously can't wait to get back to the beach.  I enjoyed it so much that I'm eagerly awaiting the right moment to approach the subject with Dan to get next year's trip on the calendar.  While we were considering a trip to Disney World for next year's vacation, it actually makes me a bit sad (selfishly, of course) to think that a trip to Florida next year wouldn't involve powder white sand and deep hues of blue ocean for as far as you can see.

While I know that I loved the ocean, I believe that Drew did too.  Drew has brought up our vacation several times since we've been home and it makes me happy to realize that the memories are not only there, but that they are sticking.  I think that Owen liked the vacation too but his needs can never be entirely satisfied by a comfortable condo and beautiful scenery (he is our whiner and can find anything under the sun to be upset about).  Evan, of course, is too little to express an opinion on the topic but he enjoys sitting on mommy's lap (like now) and watching the pictures/videos appear on the monitor.

The story that my kids will tell someday depends on me and I want these vacation memories to be a part of it.  I am writing their book and I want their childhood chapters to be full of traditions and memories of happiness and a cozy home.

I think about this a lot - what will my kids remember?  If it's measured by present enthusiasm, I'd say that Drew will remember his enormous collection of monster trucks and transformers and how every bit of motivation we employ in our household somehow centers around him earning this type of incentive.  I suppose that Owen will remember his deep love for sports and wrestling with his brothers.  My guess is that Evan will recall many hours at the dinner table given that eating is one of his highest priorities as a toddler.

It is my hope that my kids will remember the ways that holidays glowed in our house.  The food, the decorations, the gifts . . . I hope that they recall our celebrations warmly and with pride and love them so deeply that they want to carry them forward into their own homes one day.

I hope that they will remember how I let them make messes.  That we prioritized vacations.  That we hugged.  That we ate meals together.  That we played together.  That we listened to each other.  That we apologized and respected each other.      

I hope that they remember that we worked hard, but we played hard too.  

But most of all, I hope that they remember without a doubt, that they are loved so fiercely and so deeply that it makes my heart ache just trying to describe my love for them.  Perhaps the heartache exists because I know that they may just never know . . . after all, how could they possibly get their minds around something so significant?

Now back to the beach vacation . . . we took a dolphin cruise that was super fun.  While Evan capitalized on the relaxing light breeze and took a snooze in the stroller, Drew and and Owen took a front row seat in the boat in order to be the first to spot a dolphin.

Eventually, we saw lots of dolphins!

Eeeww! . . . we saw lots of a jelly fish on our first day on the beach!

Ahh - the beach, oh how I miss you.  Until next year . . (I hope).  I'll leave you with a some of our 'blissful chaos' in the video below!

Drew likes to scare the birds with a bit of a 'roar' and Owen, well, he just needs to put his swimming trunks back on.  Poor baby Evan, can't quite figure out how to keep the sand out of his eyes.  Ahhh - blissful chaos!