Florida 2014...let the family vacations begin!

We just returned from a wonderful trip to Punta Gorda, Florida.  It was definitely a trip we will remember, and I hope a vacation we will do again.  It was a little less than a week long but with traveling taking up two full days, it was plenty of time with the kiddos.  Actually, I could have handled a couple more days of beaches and 90 degree sunshiny weather but you always have to come back to reality.  We went with our Bates family which made the trip that much better.  I'm not going to lie, I was a little nervous about how all three kiddos would do on the plane, plus getting three kids packed for even just 5 days was intense for me as well!  The trip was of course wonderful for a ton of reasons.  Getting away from here with our family was nice, plus making new memories and just spending time with one another.  It isn't very often I get a whole 5 days with the most important people in my life from sun up to sun down!  The entire vacation was great but I took so many pictures that I don't know how I would share them all with you.

Some of the many memories made
1.  Telling our kiddos (the boys anyway) we were going on an airplane ride to the beach!
 This was so fun and exciting.  I would recommend everyone doing this with their kiddos at least once when they are little.  It kind of helps for both parties too because not telling them until the day of solves the problem of them constantly asking if it is time to go to the beach plus, I know they would be like kids on Christmas Eve the night before.  As for Jeff and I, we got yo see the expression on their faces when we told them that afternoon.  We casually asked, "what should we do today boys?" They had their usual "I don't care!" response.  So, we said "let's go on a plane to the beach!!"  The expression on their face was priceless. And, of course me as excited as they were,  didn't get a picture of it:(.  Sometimes I wonder about myself.  Secretly packing that weekend was quite the task considering I have the nosiest kiddos ever.  Even Hayden has to know what is going on all the time!  Driving to the airport was even an experience.  I think more for Jeff and myself however.  When we left last Sunday, the skies were looking pretty grey and the rain was just pouring down.  We thought for sure the flight would be delayed or cancelled and then what were we going to do with the excited kiddos?!   We went and picked up Aunt Jess and we were off to the airport where we met the rest of the crew.  The kids did very well in the airport and even made some friends (other kiddos playing I-pads and computer games).  They couldn't stop looking out the window at the planes coming by.  It was a definite highlight.

2.  Jase being obsessed with his seatbelt on the plane.  This is more of a side note, but Jase couldn't stop being mister protective of Hayden and Tyce.  Right when we got on the plane he was very concerned about everyone, especially Hayden and Tyce's seatbelt.  In fact he was almost mad at me when I told him Hayden doesn't wear a belt and she sits on my lap!  Oh that protective big bro.  It was sweet.

3.  A week of just us.  It was breathtaking to see the expression on all of the children's face.  Seeing Jase beat the waves in the ocean, and Tyce constantly running back and forth to dig in the sand and then run back in the ocean to jump in the waves, and little miss Hayden not really sure what to think of the funny feeling of the sand between her toes, but learned to love it along with the sound of the ocean waves.  They absolutely love the water and now we know they love the ocean too.

4.  Time with their dad.  One of my favorite things ever is to see the kids interacting with their dad.  Jeff is so hardworking that sometimes it seems he doesn't get to spend as much time as he would like with the three rug rats.  He leaves at 6:30 in the morning and doesn't get home until 7 at night most nights.   He really took advantage of this time with them.

5.  Soaking up the sun.  The weather was absolutely perfect. Mid 80's to 90's everyday we were there.  We stayed in a condo in Punta Gorda that was about 45 mins to an hour from different beaches.  The first day we headed to Ft. Myers beach which was about 45 mins away, day two we headed to Sanibel which was beautiful, but forgetting our beach chairs and umbrella led us right back to Ft. Myers again.  The final day was spent in Siesta Key...absolutely amazing.  We all loved this beach.  The only bad part was the tide was way up due to the storms back home in the Midwest so I was very nervous about the boys in the water, but they were very good about going out there with one of us.

6.  Time spent with the family.  I must say I married in to a pretty amazing family.  Talk about helping each other out and caring for one another is what the Bates family is all about.  We are a good team and they help us out so much with the kiddos.  Plus, the kids love them and they couldn't show it more.  They are constantly asking when we can go back there with Mema, Papa Bates, Aunt Jessica and Grandma O!

7.  All the ice cream and Popsicles you could ask for.  At Ft. Meyers beach there was an ice-cream man that would walk up and down the beach.  Every time you heard his little bell rig, Tyce would be running up to us asking for money like a dog getting a treat.  I'm not even joking.  The kid looooooooves those red, white and blue Popsicles so every time we heard the bell we knew it was time to get ice-cream.  Jase also enjoyed the treat as well.  He preferred the vanilla treat on the cone extra messy that is!!

WELL THERE IT IS FOLKS.  ANOTHER BATES MEMORY TO GO DOWN IN THE BOOKS.