Beach Vacation 2009

She takes my breathe away.

She makes me smile, inside and out.

My blog entry about our trip to Orange Beach with family and friends could go on and on and on. So, I thought I would sum it up with my Top 10 Favorite things about our vacation and tons of photos.

1. The Hagel's (David, Jennifer, Jack, Josie), The Ofenhuesle's (Will, Stephanie, Noah, Anna) & The Usery's (Richard, Janet). What a great group of folks. I loved spending my vacation with each and every one of them.


2. The condo. This place was SAAAWWEEETTT. 4 bedrooms, 4.5 baths. A massive balcony overlooking the ocean. Open floor plan. Plenty of space for all of us.


3. The pool. Our building had the best pool set up, especially if you have little ones. It had a nice walk in pool with a couple of little waterfalls. It had a decent size lazy river, which I enjoyed thoroughly. Off the lazy river it had another pool area with a pretty big sized twisty slide (for the record - Quinn loved going down this slide with her cousin Josie. HC said she would go down it when she got a little bit bigger).


4. The ocean and sand. Watching Hassie Clare and Quinn's face and their expression when they saw and touched the ocean for the first time was priceless for me. One of my favorite things about being a parent is getting to watch these 2 precious souls experience things for the first time. It fills my heart up every time. Jamie worked with Quinn for 2 days before she starting enjoying the sand and water. It only took Hassie Clare about 15 mins. I'm not mentioning any names (NANA) but someone told them that little sharks would nibble on their toes. So every sea shell they stepped on they thought it was shark teeth. Once they calmed down, I loved taking them out in the ocean to "jump" waves and just enjoying the serenity of it all.


5. The food. We each took turns cooking dinner and every night the food was fabulous. Of course it was all seafood or steak!


6. The entertainment. The girls had such a good time playing with Noah (also 3), his sister Anna (1) and their cousins Jack and Josie. We had dance parties on the balcony (video evidence), lots of story telling and just hanging out enjoying each other's company. I don't care who ya are, this group of folks are fun people. We spent every day at the ocean and pool and every night on the balcony.


7. Time with my husband. Getting away from our normal routine and the every day stresses of life was fantastic. We even enjoyed the long road trip. Just being in the car without a care in the world. We talked and laughed about silly things. I truly enjoyed my time with him and I can't wait to get away with him again...hopefully soon (wink wink Maema and Nana).


8. My float trips with Quinnie. On the lazy river they had tubes that were perfect for floating on. On more then one occasion, Quinn curled up on my chest and feel asleep. One day I floated for over an hour and a half with her asleep on my chest. I loved it!


9. Watching Hassie Clare find sea shells (or as she says "SHE SHELLS). Most of you already know that she is obsessed with rocks. You can imagine how nuts she went when she discovered sea shells. It would take her FOREVER to walk on the beach because she would stop and collect every piece of shell she could find. I thought I narrowed her collection down to 2 baggies full but I keep finding them everywhere. In her car seat, wash machine, under her pillow, etc.


10. I know I've already listed this but one of my favorite parts of this vacation was hanging out with everyone. I loved getting to know Noah and Anna. I enjoyed all the mommy / wife conversations with the girls. I loved spending quality time with my niece Josie. I laughed like never before on our party nights on the balcony. I can't wait to go on vacation again with this group!

I now fully understand why people "do whatever they have to do" to take vacations with their family. This was only the second full week of vacation I have taken in 11 years (since graduate school). The quality time you get with your family while on vacation is unforgettable. It was, in a nutshell ..... fun!

Sisterly love ... or is it the sleeper hold?

Hassie Clare and I enjoying a stroll in the lazy river.


Me and my good lookin' bro David.


The girls WORSHIP their cousin Josie. She is such a sweet and loving little girl. I'm kind of crazy about her myself.

Stealing smooches from Hassie Clare in the pool.

Kids night with Kristi. I think we were doing yoga or stretching it out for a mean game of Duck, Duck, Goose.

Jamie just stuck the camera in this tub slide at the Oyster House and captured this picture.

Umple Dave, Cousin Jack (or Jack-A-Poo as HC says) and Hassie Clare feeding fish.

Sitting at a "kids" table for the first time by herself. Noah took care of her. When she ran out of Goldfish he came over to our table to tell me she was out and asked if she could have more. Such a gentleman!

Quinnie in her"kini."

99.9% sure that she is hauling "she shells."

Love at first sight. Noah and Quinn stayed by each other as much as they could. We found them on more then one occasion playing in the closet (aka the girl's bedroom). Needless to say, they will need to be monitored closer when we vacation together in 12 years:)

Quinnie's favorite part of vacation - snow cones at the pool.

Hassie Clare rinsing her feet off.

The girls trying to avoid fish guts on a pier.

Bathing beauty.

The kids and I made a sign with all their hand prints one evening (minus Jack ... but he's not really a kid anymore, at least he doesn't think so).

The closet in our bedroom was HUGE. The girls put their new Princess blow up beds in there and called it their room. All the kids loved playing in this closet!

Me, Hassie Clare, Stephanie, Noah and Janet - snuggling on the couch.

A view of "half" the lazy river and slide from 15 stories up.

Jamie and his girls.

Below are pictures of Dance Party USA and hanging out on the balcony.

My original thoughts were to upload a video of the rock stars that made an appearence on our balcony at the beach. Can you believe Beyonce and her 2 sidekicks showed up to put on a performance for us?????? After reviewing the video, I felt it was in the entertainers best interest not to share this video with the public.

Ahhhhh ... the memories.

Professional Photo - 2.5 year old

Last fall after the Susan B. Komen Breast Cancer 5k walk, a girlfriend and I decided to window shop at all the cute stores they have where the race ends. Of course I HAD TO GO INTO (I say this sarcastically) the Strasburg Children store. I love this place and could spend a fortune on the beautiful dresses and specialty clothing they carry. However, with the beauty of their clothing comes a hefty price tag. Needless to say, I don't shop there much. Actually, I shop there often but RARELY purchase anything.

On this particular fall morning, I was weak. Plus the outfits I liked were on sale if you purchased 2 of them. In addition to the discount for purchasing 2 outfits, you got a free sitting fee and 8X10 with Jaffe Studios in Memphis. SOLD.

Fast forward to March of this year, we decided to take advantage of the outfits and the free sitting fee. Needless to say, they are wearing their Strasburg outfits in this picture. Many folks are amazed that they are holding still, holding hands and both smiling at the camera. As much as I would like to brag about how well disciplined they are and that if I tell them to sit still and smile then they instantly follow my command, I realize that I would be a big, fat, full of youknowwhat, liar. The photographer had a stuffed Barney on a retractable stick. This smile is their "I'm slightly scared but entertained" smile. The photo session lasted about 4 mins. We got one good picture out of it and few okay shots that I somehow got talked into buying. All in all, great experience. I'm not crazy about posed studio pictures but I thought this one was sweet.

Note to self - make sure hair bows look good from a front angle before having studio pictures taken of your kids!

Lobster's

We have been having this HUGE problem with Hassie Clare having accidents in the bed. They were potty trained at 2.5 and did not have ANY accidents for 4 months. Out of the blue, about a month ago Hassie Clare started having pee pee accidents almost every night. She has seen 2 pediatricians, had 2 urine test and 2 physicals. NOTHING. She is urinating in her bed, in her sleep and not even waking up when she is soaking wet. Anyway ... the last doc thinks she might not be emptying her bladder because she is constipated (even though she has about 2 bowel movements a day). So we are suppose to give her a laxative /stool softener to see if that helps before they run further tests.

Well, Quinn sleeps through all of this almost every night. She sleeps through Hassie Clare crying once we wake her up, us consoling her, changing her sheets, bathing her, changing her clothes, etc.

The other night, Quinn wakes up screaming that there are lobsters in her bed. We turned the light on to show her there were no lobsters. She insisted there were lobsters in her bed. We asked her to show us and she pointed to a wet spot up by her pillow. She was crying asking us to change her sheets. I told her that the wet spot was slobber and she said "I know lobsters ... change my sheets!"

Other funny sayings from the past 24 hours:
"Noah will like the Spiderman fruit snacks cause he holds his peanuts when he goes potty." ~ Quinn
"I a grown up. I work, clean up my shoes and can change my panties. I a grown up just like mommy." ~ HC

Mary Poppin's look out ....

Hassie Clare makes up words to songs like her Nana! This video is from March 2009.

3 year check-up

We just got back from seeing Dr. Phillips for Hassie Clare and Quinn's 3 year well check. Here are the stats:


HC weighs 30lbs, 38.5 inches tall


Quinnie weighs 32lbs, 38 inches tall

He answered all my questions and offered suggestions to some issues I'm having with the girls (for example - he told me to laugh at Quinn and walk away from her when she goes ballistic:). He is also sending us for a follow up with Dr. Igarashi (Pediatric Neurologist) to make sure Hassie Clare's physical development is on track. He confirmed that she is knock-knee and flat footed but that it should correct itself with time. Because of her other issues (excessive thirst, night time bed wetting, daytime tiredness) He took a urine sample and everything looked good. He said that night time bed wetting is common in kids that are constipated or when they have small, hard bowels. She has always had rock hard, rabbit pellet poops so he wants us to start her on Mirlax to see if it helps her empty her bladder better. I just find it hard to believe that she goes 4 months without an accident and now she has them almost every night. We haven't bought pull ups in 6 months but we might have to for our vacation!

Here is a pic of us waiting on the doc:

It seems like just yesterday Jamie and I were taking them in for their 3 month check up. They were hooked up to heart / apnea monitors and it was a BIG deal getting them out of the house. They were so tiny (I think HC weighed 7 lbs and Quinn weighed 8 at that check-up). When I really sit back and think about it, it makes me both sad and happy. Sad that we will never have that infant / baby time again. Happy that we have so much to look forward to as they grow up!

If you see Quinn, please give her back.

I'm not sure what the heck happened but I want my sweet little Quinnie Ray back. I seriously think demons possessed her body the week she turned 3. She suddenly has temper tantrums like you would not believe. Sometimes over the most random things. She screams, kicks, swings her arms, makes herself gag .... and there is nothing I can do to make her stop. She is usually at home when she graces us with her demon like behaviour but she is not afraid to do this in public either. Just ask the employees at Target or the YMCA outdoor pool. She is as hard headed as they come. It takes her a long time to get over her tantrums and she usually wants to be left alone while she lays in her bed. Sometimes hours. Afterwards, she is sweet and loving. I don't get it!

Should I call my priest or pediatrician? Or should I just invest in a good pair of ear plugs, drink heavily and continue to pray that this is just a phase? I keep telling myself it is just a phase but good lord ..... we are only 2 weeks into the terrible 3's!!!!!!

Don't let this blue eyed, angelic little girl fool you.

"Don't listen to my mommy .... she is loco. I'm just misunderstood...that's all"

I bet the folks going on vacation with us in a few weeks are super excited after reading this post. Just think, 6 days and 7 nights on the beach, in the same condo ..... with Quinn! Maybe I'll try and schedule the exorcism before we leave?????