Weekend Adventures

After a week of rain, we were so excited to see the sun this weekend! We decided to take full advantage of the sunshine and had a great time making some sweet family memories. Friday night we went out for Mexican. Matthew colored an elaborate picture on his placemat, while Caroline stealthily ate almost his entire kids' meal. We of course had to touch the water in the fountain on the way in and out of the restaurant, and made it home just before the rain started again!

Saturday morning I helped my mom with a garage sale, and Brian brought the kids over around 11:00 to swim. Caroline splashed, giggled, and tottered around the edge of the pool. Matthew, being his cautious self, had to be coaxed into the water and would only go if someone was holding him. We ate lunch on the porch, then headed home for naps. And we all took naps! There's something amazing about a Saturday afternoon nap. I don't understand why Matthew always protests when it's time to sleep. He doesn't get how wonderful napping is!

When everyone woke up we decided to head out to the beach for a bit. We took the top off the Jeep, packed up some towels, shovels, and a picnic, and headed to Lido Key. We did have a bucket casualty somewhere on the highway. I'll be on the lookout for a pink Minnie Mouse bucket somewhere on 75!

The weather at the beach was amazing. A slight breeze kept us cool, and clouds kept the sun from beating down too much. Of course within 3 minutes of getting there Caroline dumped water on herself and then got covered in sand. She didn't seem to mind though! Matthew has gotten really into imaginative play, so he spent most of his time creating roads and tunnels for his cars to drive through. He helped Caroline play with her watering can, and may have baptized her with salt water once or twice in the process. We managed to eat our dinner without the seagulls capturing it, which I think is a small miracle with two small children waving their food around!

On the way home we stopped at St. Armand's to get ice cream at Kilwin's. Matthew's face when I told him we were getting ice cream was priceless. It's like he won the lottery and hit the jackpot at the same time! Of course he had to get rainbow ice cream with sprinkles. The one flaw in our plan was that I forgot to pack extra clothes for Caroline and she was completely muddy. But, I did have a pair of Matthew's pajamas in the diaper bag so she sported some oversized Lighting McQueen duds. It was kind of funny referring to her as she, and having people look at us like we were crazy since she totally looked like a boy. Matthew and I ate our ice cream on a bench while Caroline wandered the sidewalk looking a bit like a drunken sailor.

We spent this afternoon on the porch playing in the pool and with the water table that we finally cleaned all the sand out of. Then we had family movie night and watched Matthew's favorite - Cars 2. Well, we watched the first half anyway, until Matthew got antsy and started chasing Caroline around the house.

I am so thankful that we live in a place where we can enjoy God's creation any time we want, the weather is usually great for being outdoors, and we have family close by. We are truly blessed beyond measure.