Summer Vacation

Flagler College, St. Augustine

I'm back after our vacation, a few days of a 104 degree fever, and catching up at work.

Rian, Grandma Barbara, the Critters and I headed to Cresent Beach (St. Augustine) for the 4th of July. We found a great deal on a condo right on the beach. Unfortunately the first two days there were a little overcast but we still made it out to the beach. The Critters absofreakinglutely love the beach/water. You cannot get Hadley out of the water. Brother prefers the pool but I think it is more for the ladies that hang out there. Brother was in full playa' mode on the trip.

The Girls on the beach. Notice Hadley did not waste any time getting to the water.

Brother in straight playa' mode.

On Friday we headed into downtown St. Augustine. Let me just tell you it was a little warm, oh say about 103 degrees. It becomes even warmer when you have a 24lb baby strapped to your back. Needless to say we all avoided heat strokes. We stopped in an ice cream shop to cool down and get the Critters a scoop or two and after I accidentally knocked Rian's ice cream out of her hands with the baby backpack we were off. Even though it was hot (really, really hot) it was still fun to stroll around St. Augustine people watching. For those of you that haven't been there are some really interesting folks that flock to St. Augustine.

On Saturday Grandma Kate came up for the day and we relaxed at the pool and went for a late lunch. That night Rian and I got out for a "date." We had dinner and then ended up at a dive bar for a few (few too many) drinks.

The sun came out in full force on Sunday, just in time for the fireworks. We hit the beach and the pool for much of the day and then headed back to downtown St. Augustine for dinner and to watch the fireworks. It.was.a.zoo. I don't think I completely realized that fireworks bring people out from the woodwork. It was wall to wall people. Oh and did I mention that it was a little warm out.

CarCar on the 4th.

Hadley on the 4th.

Apparently the candy store knew Reese was coming.

We had dinner, with only two high chairs, which made it very interesting and then we headed off to find a spot to watch the fireworks. I was planning on the grass around the fort, but apparently a few other people had that same exact thought. We settled for the median right on the river, it actually worked out for the best.

The fam in our spot to watch the fireworks.

A larger than life photo of CarCar. (I am not sure why it came out so big.)

An hour later the fireworks started and we were already one Critter down, Hadley was fast asleep. I was waiting for her to jump up as soon as the first firework exploded but I was wrong, she didn't even budge during the show. How is it that she can sleep through a fireworks show but if I drop a utensil in the kitchen she is up and alert? Halfway through the show we lost another Critter, CarCar finally succumbed and fell asleep. Reese was the only one that was truly interested in the fireworks, scratch that, he was fascinated by them. He sat up the entire time and pointed at them.

Ten minutes until fireworks!

And she's out.

Down goes another.

I know this picture of Brother is out of focus but I just love that it is so busy and you can just tell Brother is enamored with the fireworks.

After the show we headed back to the car and tried to head back to the condo, notice I said tried. About 10-20 thousand other people were trying the same exact thing. But here was our situation:

One Dad,
One Mom,
One Grandma in the waaaaaaay back of the Jeep (with the wagon).
Oh, and three tired, hot, and cranky kids in the back seat.

This is not a good mix for an enjoyable ride back. Forty five minutes later we arrived at the hotel and got the Critters to bed. You would think that they would sleep in, oh no, they were up bright and early at 7am the next day.

We just relaxed on Monday at the beach and the pool. We tried to go to the outlets but I quickly got in a bad mood when my iPhone stopped working and the stupid Apple customer service was of no help. Don't worry after promising the checkout lady at Target that I wouldn't huff it I was able to buy some compressed air to blow some sand out of the earphone jack. I swear it is probably easier to start a Meth Lab than buy a can of compressed air.

We unfortunately had to head back to Tallahassee and reality on Tuesday. All in all we had a great vacation in St. Augustine. Thanks Grandma Barbara!

Chris