First, here are TONS (and I mean tons) of pictures from our trip. And then you can read the (long) novel about our trip below, too. I've also included a link to a million more pictures if you're interested in checking those out.
We left a week ago this past Saturday, flying out mid-morning and arriving at the beach by mid-afternoon. Our timing couldn't have been more perfect for Daniel's naps. He slept for half the flight and played and ate snacks the rest of the flight- he was so wonderful on the plane and then he was so patient waiting for lunch, our luggage, our rental car. Then Daniel even napped on the drive out to the island, waking up just in time for us to stop and get a few groceries before heading to our condo. Once at the condo, we immediately headed for the fenced in courtyard outside our unit and Daniel was beyond excited to be playing outside. He found a "ga" (beach ball) and had tons of fun bouncing and throwing that. Back inside, Daniel opened every cabinet and drawer he could find, checking out their contents while I followed immediately behind and sometimes a little ahead to babyproof things as much as possible. We headed for a walk on the beach, which was quite chilly and windy as it was late afternoon by then. Daniel didn't waste any time playing with the sand, raking his fingers in it, picking it up, and just exploring it. It was so much fun to watch him investigate the sand for the first time. Grandma Cheryl, Grandpa Gary, and Uncle Brian arrived around dinner time after their two-day drive down. I think Daniel was a little confused about seeing them there at first, and then of course he was so delighted to have them as an audience for his tricks.
Daniel slept pretty well all throughout the trip for naps and at nighttime, which was amazing since the place isn't that big and sound really carries, and we shared a room with him. He adjusted to Florida time with no problems (and we sure stayed on Florida time coming home because of the time change this weekend- that worked out great!). It's amazing how flexible Daniel is and how much he just rolls with it. We are so lucky.
Ben, Daniel and I took a lot of walks around the island in all different directions. I've gone to Anna Maria Island for years with my family and I've never seen so much of the island as we saw on this trip. After much debate, we bought a cheap umbrella type stroller for this trip- we thought it would be easier to use and less bulky to bring along and we are SO glad we got this little stroller. We used it a LOT. Daniel sure liked it just fine- he often fell asleep on our walks and he would even try to get back in the stroller when we took him out of it. (Another indication that he loves being outside!) Sunday's walk took us out to a very quiet subdivision with awesome house browsing. Monday's "before-Daniel's-nap" walk turned out to be a four-hour adventure down to the end of the island complete with a half-hour jaunt on the beach (Daniel did NOT want to leave the beach, so we just kept playing and walking and playing), and then around to the other side of the island, out on the historic piers, out for lunch, and then Daniel napped on our walk back to the condo. Whew! Loved every minute of our little map-less, impromptu adventure! At least we had money with us for lunch and a cell phone to call my family and let them know we were alive. Tuesday's walk, with Aunt Wendy who came to visit us from Orlando, took us the other direction out for lunch and then down to the public beach for some fun people-watching. I'd hoped to go out on the pier there, too- but it was gone! (Some research back at home indicated that it was unsafe and was torn down last year- bummer.) Daniel loved watching the people at the busy public beach (and it wasn't even that nice of a day)- he especially loved watching the volleyball game and the frisbee tossing. He was so drawn to that and I think he would have walked right into their games had I let him!
We also spent a lot of time just playing at the beach or at least taking a short walk down the beach each day. I can't say it enough- Daniel had a lot of fun playing in the sand. He loved having us chase him on the beach. Once, Daniel even decided to chase the birds, too. That was too funny. We buried his feet in the sand, which he got a kick out of. We took our sand toys to the beach and had lots of fun just playing in the sand and digging. Funny story- The guys made a row of sandcastles and dug a moat in the sand. Then they proceeded to bring in water to fill the moat. Daniel decided at one point to taste the water- he just picked up the sandcastle mold and took a drink in one fell swoop before any of us realized what he was doing. He sputtered and spat it out and had the most hilarious "yuck" face you could imagine- we were cracking up! It was the kind of moment you wish you'd captured on video or at least on camera, but it shall be forever in our memories instead!
We enjoyed the heated pool in the courtyard of our condo a couple times, too. We got Daniel a float on clearance last summer just for this trip we knew we had coming up and he loved it. It was so cute to see him kicking his feet, splashing with his hands, and even lounging in his float. He was clearly comfy, happy to be in the water, and having lots of fun. Ben, the wonderful daddy that he is, was the one who played with Daniel and pushed him around in his float. Me, I like the weather a little warmer to get in the pool, but I did get my feet wet on Monday, and on Wednesday, our nicest day of the week, I went in a little more and had fun pushing Daniel in his float, too.
Thursday was our cloudy, chilly day and we headed to the aquarium down in Sarasota. It was a small place, but it was fun to check it out. They had a nice variety of fish, some sharks, dolphins, turtles, and even a dead (creepy) giant squid. We enjoyed walking around there and it was nice to get out and do something different since the weather wasn't great.
Friday was our rainy day- a real bummer since that was the last day of our trip. Daniel was so frustrated at not being able to go outside and play. He would just sit there in his stroller at the (sometimes open) door and watch the rain. Every time it stopped raining, we tried to take a walk and then it would start up again. Oh well. Saturday morning was bright and beautiful and we took a brief, sad walk to say goodbye to the beach before heading to the airport.
Daniel loved helping with the recycling- it gave him an excuse to go outside! That was really cute. We also had fun blowing bubbles. Daniel's newest word- buhbuh- for bubble. Daniel also started saying lion (he sleeps with a stuffed lion) during the trip, too- that's another new one. He tries so hard to do the "l" sound- just kind of rolls out his tongue and says"llllaa". One night we went to put Daniel to bed and said to him, "let's go find your lion" and he immediately put his arms up for us to pick him up, said "llllaaa", and turned around waved goodbye to my family. So sweet. Daniel also had a lot of fun playing his newest game, "Where are Daniel's hands?", where he puts his hands behind his back (there's a picture above of him doing this), and we all wonder where his hands have gone and we look for them, and then he shows us his hands one at a time with the biggest grin on his face. It's too cute.
Our busy week even included visits from lots of family. My cousin Kim came (she was even there for my mom's fun Oscar-themed dinner complete with a bunch of balloons for the movie "Up", for the Academy Awards that were on that Sunday) and we enjoyed seeing her. Ben's sister, Wendy, came and spent a day with us as I mentioned above. We had a lot of fun playing with her and taking walks with her. And my Uncle Jeff, Aunt Mel, and cousins Tim, Erin, and Kristin visited us, too. Daniel loved being chased by Erin and Kristin and he sure had fun putting on a show for them. Daniel loves to have an audience!
Florida didn't have the greatest winter this year, so the weather was uncharacteristically chilly for this time of year, a risk you take by going this early in March. Still, we had no complaints, really. The change of scenery did us all good. Daniel certainly didn't care what the temperature was so long as he was outside. We had a couple sunny, cool days, and a couple cloudy, chilly days and then we had a day like Wednesday. Wednesday was the nicest day and the day we all went to the beach together to play in the sand. That was also the day even I went in the pool. Friday was rainy, but even that didn't stop us from trying to take walks and get fresh air. Now, we're home and still trying to take walks and it's certainly much cooler here than it was there- can you tell we have cabin fever here? Here's hoping Spring comes soon so I can Daniel outside more! I can't wait for Spring...Daniel is just going to love it. Time to go shopping for some fun outdoor toys!
Let me just say one more thing about our trip, a funny annecdote- our condo was very nice (we stayed there last year too and really liked it) and our bedroom had the perfect space for Daniel's pack and play, BUT a king-sized bed does NOT a good changing table make. Note the picture above of Daniel in his diaper on the bed. Daniel thought every changing time was play time on the bed- he had a ball and he thought it was all a game!! We quickly figured out that we needed to take novel "toys" (bandaid boxes, potato chip bags, etc) with us each time to occupy Daniel- they only kind of worked. Ah well. If that was my biggest problem all week, I still call that a wonderful vacation! And it was wonderful in every way- Daniel was the most fun and such an unbelievably good boy the whole week! And can you believe he's adjusted back to being home like we were never gone- what an amazing little boy!
Click here for way more pictures in my Snapfish album, if you'd like to check them out (you'd need an account to see these).
Update- Here's the Picasa album link (no account needed)- click the picture below. These pictures have captions!
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| Beach 2010 |
Hope you enjoyed our stories and our pictures! That's all for now!
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