Our Vacation!

We just got back from our vacation! It was a long drive, but Sanibel Island was BEAUTIFUL!! It was a 14 day trip, with 12 of the days spent on Sanibel. The kids did wonderfully for the drive both ways. I bought a new Tom & Jerry DVD for them to watch for the drive, and it was a huge hit! Lauren even watched some.


The place where we stayed was nice, and was right on the beach. The view of the gulf was awesome. I have never seen so many shells in my life. After a few days though, I realized they were actually tearing the bottoms of my feet! I think Evan collected about 30 lbs of shells (and brought them home in baggies). We found sand dollars (live ones), hermit crabs and a big crab. I have no idea what we are going to do with all the shells. I knew we had a ton, but we just couldn't stop picking them up! We did not see a single jellyfish or anything scary for our entire trip! Dolphins did appear in the mornings very close to shore and were nice to watch while drinking coffee. We had awesome weather for the majority of our stay too, which made it extra-nice.


We ate at a lot of different places while we were there and the food was pretty good. Evan's favorite places were the Blue Giraffe and Cheeburger Cheeburger. We also rented bikes twice, and rode up to the Sanibel Lighthouse. Evan loved the lighthouse! Lauren loved the beach and the pool. We put swimmies on her arms and she did very well. She also had her very own raft to float in. She didn't collect many shells, as she preferred to take them out of the buckets and throw them back onto the beach, but she sure did chase a lot of birds! Evan made lots of friends during our stay. One from California, one from Orlando and one from the UK, Elliot. He and Elliot really hit it off and were inseperable for quite a few days. They swam in the pool together, diving for diving sticks and making up names for their very own jumps into the pool. They also tried out shuffle board and tennis a few times. They have exchanged a few emails since we've been home, and Evan hopes to see him again sometime when his family comes back to the States.


I have MANY photos to go through (over 1000). I will post some over the next week or so, as I make my way through them. Here's a start!

On the drive to Sanibel...

View from our balcony...

Another view from our balcony...

Going to dinner...

Another view from our balcony...

Going to dinner, Nana too!

Collecting sea shells at sunset...

Eating a swiss cake roll...

OJ at breakfast...

View close to the lighthouse...

Also close to the lighthouse...

Sunset from our back door...

Sanibel lighthouse...

Evan and Elliot

Storm clouds

The water was so clear on this day and we took our chairs to sit on the sandbar at low tide

Part of a palm tree that Evan pulled out of the water

Evan's raft from Sanibel Surf Shop

Dad's mug from the surf shop

Photo taken outside of the Mucky Duck restaurant on Captiva Island

Also outside of the Mucky Duck

Back Yard Family Fun!!

Over the weekend, we had nothing to do except hang out with each other and it was awesome! We played in the water and just took it easy. It was very nice and relaxing! Evan was hitting baseballs and golf balls, and of course Lauren wants to be right by his side. Evan thinks she gets in the way, but they did have a lot of fun together. Evan is about to lose his fifth tooth and he's been talking about the tooth fairy. Also, today was his last baseball game for the year. So now, we get to just take it easy until vacation!

Summer Camps, Baseball and Shoes, Shoes, Shoes

What a busy summer! It's half over and I can't believe it! Evan started the summer off by going to Camp AdFUNture, a day camp that lasted for a week. This week, he's going to Sport Fun Camp, and he's having a blast. They get to play kickball, basketball, whiffle ball, dodgeball, hockey, volleyball and lots of other games all day. He will do one more camp before we go on vacation in August. During his last camp, he'll get to collect insects, go hiking, go fishing and learn to use a bow and arrow! When he gets home from these camps in the afternoons, he is busy swimming, riding bikes and playing with his friends. Then on Monday evenings, it's off to baseball practice and on Wednesday evenings, games. His little friend Keira told me two days ago that Evan asked her to be his girlfriend and that she said yes. After that she asked me if that made me her grandma. Then she told me not to worry because they would be getting a divorce in a few days...

Lauren is a little lady on the go, and doesn't mind one little bit. She gets up extra early to eat her breakfast every morning and ride along to take Evan to his summer camps. Then she and I hang out for a while and play. During her nap times, I work. Then we go get Evan from summer camp and come home for our evening activities! She just goes with the flow! She says mama, dada, hot, baaa like a sheep and barks like a dog. She points to everything and wants to know what it's called. She can say and point to eye and mouth, and we're working on ears and nose. Also, her FAVORITE word to say is shoes. SHE LOVES SHOES. She loves them so much that she wants to wear more than one pair at a time. She even wants to wear them over her footed pajamas. She wants to wear shoes all the time. If she hears you say shoes, she will go get hers and bring them to you to put them on her. She loves to be outside. It doesn't matter what she's doing, if it's outside, she's good to go. If you are sitting on the sofa, she will come and take your hand and guide you to the front or back door, wherever she wants to go. And if you don't take her outside there will be much pouting, stomping and smacking the door to let you know how unhappy she is.

The funniest thing happened today...Lauren did some business in the car on the way to pick Evan up from Sport Camp. She and I were waiting by the gym for him to finish up with a dodgeball game and I was so afraid the other parents would wonder why I had her in there smelling so badly. Anyway, after Evan got in the car, he said that it smelled like someone was baking cookies in there. He kept saying it the whole way home. It smelled like cookies were baking in the car and it was making him hungry. I didn't have the heart to tell him it was his sister who just pooped her pants.

Ev and I hiking on a trail during the camping trip we took in mid-June...

Lauren spent a lot of the trip in just her diaper. I have never in my life been camping when it was so hot, humid and a breeze could not be found anywhere. At night, it poured each of the three nights we were there. The sound of rain hitting the tent continuously all night long for three nights almost drove me insane.

Lauren in her little pool that was a b-day gift from her cousins.

Lauren at her brother's baseball game...

Crossing home plate...