Spring Break 2013

The Wednesday after Easter, we headed down to Florida with the Westras. We were blessed once again to be able to stay at Matt's parents' place. And bonus that the Westras rental car got upgraded to a minivan (that might be the first time "upgraded" and "minivan" have been used in the same sentence) so we were able to cart all the kids around in one car, and all park at the beach together (No, your math isn't wrong - someone *might* have been sitting on the floor for the couple mile drive from the Publix lot to the beach).

Our flight down was later in the evening, so we had virtually the entire back of the plane to ourselves - another huge bonus as both the little boys were technically "lap children." None of the kids slept until the last hour of the flight, when they all fell asleep. For the first two hours, I was staring at this little guy who was, as my friend Kristina would say, "Ready to party." Two hours past bedtime.

 

Brooke sleeping in Matt's lap. I think that may be only the second time (outside of infancy) that I've seen her sleep on a plane. The first was after Disney World.

It was so fun watching the kids get to know one another better. I think that at times, Brooke was a lot for Mati to handle, but after days of dressing up, playing dolls and watching Disney in the condo, as well as all the fun outdoor stuff we did, they left the trip great friends. Brooke was also a bit more of a night owl than the Westra kids.

All four kids playing on the lanai our first morning.

Both girls exhausted after a long day. These are their go-to "I'm tired" signs.

Despite a couple of rainy days, we got tons of time in at the pool.

And we both (Matt especially) got some great arm workouts in.

We also got some time in at the playground while the guys golfed.

We took a few walks.

 

And I was able to run everyday. Here's a pic they took while I was out.

 

We also went to the beach. It's quite a process getting four adults and four kids under four ready, packed and situated for the beach so we only had the gusto to get there twice. And a fair amount of supervision was required there (Miles was ready to army-crawl out to sea and/or eat his weight in sand and seashells) so sadly I didn't get many good photos, especially of Brooke.

We grown-ups played Settlers a couple of times and I'm not too proud to say that the Westras dominated.

Beck had his second birthday while we were down there so we celebrated in style.

We ate in a couple of nights and out a few nights. We were 2 for 3 on successful dinners with the kids. At one restaurant (Watermark Grille), we were even complimented on their behavior! What!?! Docs, however, was a fail.

 

Randy's was great, as always. Bonus that we were able to sit at the end of the patio so the kids could play.

Brooke "using" chopsticks at AZN.

One day, we went "exploring" after lunch. The kids were fascinated by all the lizards. Brooke took her ladybug "microphone glass" (magnifying glass) to get a better look at things. It was one of my favorite things we did.

Since Amy and I are from the same stock (There's virtually no photographic record of our childhoods. I'm exaggerating. A little.), there weren't a ton of pictures taken. One of our photo shoots was after dinner at Randy's.

The other was after our trip to the playground. It was pretty much a complete failure, although looking at Beck creeping in the background of these shots cracks me up every time.

Blake and Amy left a day and a half before us. We missed them, although it was nice to have some time with just our little family. Here we are at the beginning of our flight back. It was NOT as smooth as our flight down. But we survived.

Happy Spring Break!