Vacation to Florida

The kids and I had a great trip to visit my parents. We had a rough start at the airport- Mae didn't realize that Dad wasn't coming with us. She lost it and Pete had to just walk away after his efforts to calm her down were unsuccessful. She then totally and completely lost it when I tried to take away her Minnie Mouse backpack to go through security. She was laying down on the floor kicking me, while I pried the backpack from her fingers. Thankfully, her board books, fruit snacks, and empty water bottle checked out okay. After getting through security, I stopped at the closest seats and just laid Mae down and let her scream and cry until she was done with her fit. I received lots of stares- and I'm sure many people were silently praying that we would NOT be on their flight. After Mae calmed down, the rest of the trip was uneventful (thank goodness). The kids did enjoy having their very own TV on the first flight as well as the escalators, moving sidewalks, and trams at the airports.

Grandpa and Grandma Keenan with the kids

Once we arrived at Grandma and Grandpas house, the kids swam in the pool, played with toys, swam in the pool, watched TV, swam in the pool, ate yummy snacks, swam in the pool, went to the beach, and also swam in the pool. I thought they might have gills at the end of our trip, but I was wrong. After a very scary incident in the pool, Mae has learned that she is not yet ready to swim under water on her own. I am so glad that she is okay and has learned this valuable lesson. Henry enjoyed playing catch in the water as well as doing all kinds of tricks- handstands, flips, cannonballs. Anne really improved her swimming skills and is a much stronger swimmer. She can also hold her breath for quite awhile when she is getting dive sticks from the pool. Anne also liked doing cannonballs. Mae liked being in the water- whether she was swimming, floating around or jumping in. So much fun having the pool to go in.

Henry doing a handstand

The first trip to the beach was quite an experience. It was low tide, and I thought the kids would enjoy splashing and playing in the shallow water. Mae didn't like the seaweed or fish, crabs, etc in the water. Anne didn't like the 'gooey' sand (sand that is underwater when it is high tide). Henry was a little unsure of the animal life, but thought the trip was okay. Grandma teased me about having 'pool' kids. We did try another beach on a different day and everyone had a much better time. We had so much fun, that we stayed longer than I thought we would and all got sunburns.

Grandma and Henry playing catch

Mae washing her hands and feet in the buckets

Carrying water to our blanket area

Tired kids!

Henry also really enjoys playing mini-golf when we go to visit. This year we tried a new place. It had a small mini-golf course as well as animals that you can feed. They all had a great time feeding the animals and then playing golf. The girls were fun to watch play golf. Mae cheered for herself and yelled I win! almost every hole. Anne also had a lot of fun and at one point when she missed the ball she yelled, Strike One! She also told me she likes to golf the ball in. It was a fun morning.

Anne made the request to go play at the park one day. The girls had fun playing on the playground, Henry had fun doing crazy tricks and playing catch with Grandma. We also took a short walk around the park.

Climber Mae

Playing lacrosse- Henry was a bit discouraged at how tough it is to play

Grandma wears fancy hats to church and when Mae saw the hats in her bedroom, she wanted to wear one too. Grandma was able to find hats for both Mae and Anne to wear (Anne didn't want to be left out). I love their faces in the pictures- just so hilarious to me.

It is always so much fun visiting Grandpa and Grandma. It's a great break from everyday life- just having fun and being spoiled (myself included). It's hard to leave, but also nice to be back home with Pete. After a delay in the Atlanta airport- it was especially nice to be home.