We decided to do a staycation because anytime Matt takes time off we are always on the go. We usually spend at least two of his days off traveling and the thought of packing everyone up and going somewhere just didn't sound appealing. We were all in need of a little downtime. I'll have to say, staycationing was a little bit addictive. It was so nice to have full access to Matt and do whatever we felt like doing each day. My favorite part was eating out a lot. It was so nice to take a break for cooking three meals a day and usually two snacks and having to clean up after each! First world problems I know, but one little known fact of being home with our kids is that I feel like I am constantly preparing food for someone or cleaning up the food I just prepared for someone.
And just for record keeping purposes I'll try to remember what we actually did!
Monday- Walked to Panera Bread for breakfast, spent the morning playing at the park, took naps, and then headed to meet some friends at the beach in the afternoon and for dinner.
Tuesday: Spent the morning walking around New Smyrna Beach, finally tried Cafe Verde (which was my favorite NSB restaurant so far), took late naps, and then had our first goofy golf experience!
I feel like John looks like a teenager in the picture.
Wednesday: Spent the morning at the beach, picnicked on the beach, took naps, and then headed to a meeting at our church for dinner.
Holding a sleeping Sam and watching Matt and John play in the waves. Super relaxing for me.
Thursday: We took John to school and went to breakfast and had a chance to catch up. After leaving John at school for an hour and a half we went and got him and made a spur of the moment trip to St. Augustine. Super fun trip, but we remember what summer felt like on this trip! Phew! Bring on the heat.
These two are the best of friends. So, so sweet.
Friday: By Friday, we had to take it easy and play at home and let everyone catch up on sleep a little bit. Friday night we had dinner at the Keens house and they graciously let us take over their pool.
Sam's first swim!
John got re-obsessed with this giant dolphin that his Nonny and Poppy got him last year that has spent the year in the garage deflated. He has named it Ben and it has taken on a life of it's own.
This is Saturday morning at 6 am when he came dragging Ben in our room. He wanted to make sure that I knew he was ok and that he rescued Ben from the garage. Thanks John! We were truly concerned.
Saturday afternoon all ready for church in our loafers. ;) Matt has reached his frustration point with people calling Sam a girl at church here. In MS if a baby has on blue, people know that he is a boy no matter how frilly the outfit. Here, people assume everyone who isn't in board shorts is a girl. I have been told to start dressing Sam in clothes that clearly reflect his gender. ;) Sorry Matt. I do my best to keep his wishes but some of those sweet outfits have to be worn regardless of what gender people believe he is right?! He's just too pretty...that's the problem.
Matt did work on Sunday, but he had Monday off which was our anniversary so that was sweet. I'm not sure if it was because it was our 7th or what, but our anniversary was sort of a mess. We had plans to go canoeing and swim in a local spring, but when we got there they had closed it because it was full (the state parks here get full sometimes. Crazy huh?). So then we drove the hour back home and had a picnic at a local park that was super nice and decided to at least go swimming at the Y by our house...and got there just in time for it to close! So we opted for the splash pad and had a great time. Thank goodness.
John LOVES the splash pad this year. Last year he always wanted us to do everything with him, but this year he decided to take off on his own. His favorite activity is karate chopping the water. Better the water than me though.
And Monday night Matt and I had a great date night at home once the boys were in bed. Usually we try to go away for the weekend, but no bottle Sam doesn't quite allow that at the moment which is fine. Just have to live where you are in the present right? We are so aware of how fast this time goes by and how this time period when our kids actually want us around will be gone before we can blink. So backporch dates are actually quite relaxing for us for now.
And now it's back to reality! Well...sort of since summer break starts today and we usually have pretty full summers! Matt's June is insane, but July will be full of visiting with family so we're all excited about that!
Happy Summer to you!