Destin 2014

For the past six months, nearly every night, when I would tuck the kids into bed, I'd tell them to have sweet dreams.  

I'd say to them -

dream of us on the beach...

dream of us building sand castles, and playing in waves...  

dream of us picking up seashells...

dream about the things we're going to do in florida.

we have (however many months/weeks/days were left on our countdown) until we'll be there.

have sweet dreams.

mommy loves you.

 Well, our trip to Destin, FL this year has come and gone...

and I hope it's everything the kids dreamed of and more!

This year (like all years past), we enjoyed so many things!

We spent a lot of time on the beach -

peace, love, and sandy feet!

Daddy went deep sea fishing with Grandpa, Aunt Nina, and John - 

(and a storm was brewing up right as their trip was ending)

We watched Sky Surfing at The Village of Baytowne Warf - 

More time on the beach - 

 

 

We rode on a Pirate Ship and did things that Pirates do! - 

we had a water gun fight, a hoola hoop contest, mopped the deck floor, got our faces painted,

found treasure and pulled it up from the ocean, marched in a parade, shot off loud cannons, and ate  hotdogs...

Makayla was scared of the pirates at first (i have to admit, the captain was kinda scary/rough looking, but once they called her by name and slipped a silver coin in her pocket, she was good to go).  And even though the pirates on our ship were really fun, funny, and nice, she did say this to me once we left:
"I hate to say this, but pirates will probably go to Hell because they are mean".

 

oh, my goodness, i love that face

Swimming at the pool - morning, noon, and night -

The kids could not get enough swim time!

Every morning, grandpa would take Mason and Makayla to the pool...

(view from our balcony)

...and it never failed that one of them always had to go poop.

 

We went to a Fat Tuesday Parade at the Harborwalk Village -

Complete with beads, dazzling floats, music - 

 

As soon as somebody would drop a necklace over Makayla's head, she would quickly take it off and put it in the stroller.  When I asked her why she was doing that, she told me that she thought she would get more beads that way because more people would give her necklaces if they saw that she didn't have any, so the ones she would get, she would hide in the stroller.

More time on the beach - 

We took a water taxi to watch firework over the harbor - 

Since when did my baby girl get so grown up?!
The door from little girl to big girl is slowly closing...

A massage on the beach - 

We took a couple of walks along the beach in the evenings - 

A lot of time was spent at the Harborwalk Village -

walking up and down the docks looking at all of the fishing boats and fish,

eating snow cones, 

dining out at Deweys and Margaritaville,

jumping on trampolines,

listening to live music...

Mia on the dance floor -

it's where this girl belongs!
(i know one day she is going to be totally embarrassed by me because i can't even keep up with her now as it is...)

We spent a lot of time eating on the water - 

We wanted to try new places, places we hadn't eaten at yet since we'd been coming to Destin -

Anglers, The Back Porch, Deweys, Mellow Mushroom, Landshark, Merlins, Margaritaville...

and we did enjoy a pizza picnic on the beach one night - 

 Mason LOVED eating SHARK.  He had shark (fish) for every meal when we went out!

Daddy spent a lot of time snorkeling and looking for sand dollars.
We brought home lots of sand dollars that we've cleaned and bleached to pass out to people.
If you run into Makayla anytime within the next couple of weeks, be prepared to receive a sand dollar from her!

We went to The Track one night where Mason rode go-karts and Makayla rode bumber cars.
She said she didn't really like the bumper cars because "they hurt her heart".

The kids spent some time making friends at the water fountain while mommy did some shopping at Destin Commons -

Lots more time spent on the beach - 

Mia.  She completely melts me.

We had a wonderful trip - 

Many wonderful memories were made with Grandma and Grandpa Allen, Aunt Nina, Scott, John, and Sandy!

 

 but, alas, all good things must come to an end

Thanks for a good time, Destin!

As always, we're looking forward to next time!

P.S.  You can read about our other Destin trips HERE and HERE!

Father's Day 2014

To ~
my husband,
my dad,
and my father-in-law.

I don't take a day for granted that you're all here -
that you all would do anything for me and the kids...
all the love that the three of you pour onto to us...
everything you do to help us...
the strength and hope you give us...
the lessons in life that you teach us...
the memories we are able to make together...

The world is a better place because of the three of you.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY
to the three best dads in the world!

All About My Daddy

by Makayla

age 5

My daddy's name is Kevin. 

His hair color is black.

His favorite T.V. show is The Chiefs.

He likes to go to the racetrack.

His favorite food is apple pie.

His favorite drink is grape kool-aid.

For fun he likes to watch the sunset.

I love it when my daddy hugs me and kisses me.

My favorite thing about my daddy is he gives me candy.

All About My Daddy

by Mason

age 3

My daddy's name is Kevin.

His hair color is black.

His favorite T.V. show is The Cardinals.

He likes to go to the bowling alley and McDonalds.

His favorite food is the bowling alley's food.

His favorite drink is kool-aid.

For fun he likes to play outside and work on the pond.

I love it when my daddy takes me to the races.

My favorite thing about my daddy is when we go to the fair, I think.

I'm thinking that next year we'll have a 3rd "All About My Daddy" to add from Mia!

P.S.
Makayla made a card for Kevin for Father's Day and it says
"Kevin.  Dear dad, you make me cry."

When I asked her why daddy makes her cry, she said because he is so helpful!

Constantly

When we go out (and even when we're at home) I have my ears and eyes going in every possible direction.  

I am constantly scanning - keeping track of each of the kids, where they're at, and what they're doing:
Makayla, Mason, Mia, Makayla, Mason, Mia, Makayla, Mason, Mia...each one getting an instant glimpse to ensure their safety - all while my ears are listening to their voices all at once, nonstop.

Makayla, Mason, Mia, Makayla, Mason, Mia, Makayla, Mason, Mia, Makayla, Mason, Mia, Makayla, Mason, Mia, Makayla, Mason, Mia, Makayla, Mason, Mia, Makayla, Mason, Mia, Makayla, Mason, Mia...

...taking it all in as best I can.

saying a quick prayer as I watch Mason scale a ledge to balance along the top,

listening to the conversation unfold between Makayla and the neighbor as she tells him his tattoo is gross,
keeping a close eye as Mia shoves 5 grapes in her mouth,

admiring Makayla's blonde hair flowing in the wind behind her as she runs,

smiling at Mason's macho behavior as he mows the yard - back and forth, back and forth,
drowning in Mia's beautiful blue eyes as they sparkle in the sun...

I'm constantly watching
constantly scanning

constantly counting heads

constantly listening

constantly preparing

constantly praying...

...I'm in my own world most of the time, 

keeping track of kids,

keeping track of actions,

keeping track of words,

making my kids my #1.

It's work.
It's a lot of work.

But I choose, for one second, NOT to stop.
I'm not going to stop scanning, 

I'm not going to take my eyes off of my kids,
I'm not going to turn my ears off,
I'm not going to step away.

Not for one second.

There's too much at stake to do so...

too much to lose to "take a break"

it's not worth it to "rest" for a second.

As the kids get older, it's getting a little easier and a lot harder as I keep my eyes and ears plastered on them.
It's a scale that tries to balance -

 they're becoming more trustworthy, independent, mature...

naive, boundary pushers, risk takers, explorers...

Makaya, Mason, and Mia may be growing up, but my work will never be done, will it?!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

Speaking of growing up...

I am really really really enjoying the stage that Miss Makayla is in right now of learning to read and write.  I love going through her bag when I pick her up from the Y at the end of the day...especially when I come across papers like this:

I love how she is trying so hard to put her letters together to form her words.  

  

 

If she's already this smart, I can't wait to see what Kindergarten does to this girl!!

Maxine. Obsessed.

About 1 year ago, Makayla began talking about my mommy's mommy (my mom's mom, my grandma).

And when I say "talking" I mean "obsessing".

For a year now, 

Makayla prays for her,

draws pictures of her,

and talks about her routinely.

My grandma has been gone for over 10 years now.
Makayla has never met her, I don't have framed pictures of her around the house (but thinking about changing that), and she's rarely brought up in conversation.

I do not know what brought about this obsession.

Makayla prays for her at home, school, and church.  Throughout the year, we've had notes sent home to us saying that "Makayla prayed for her mommy's grandma today".

She will randomly draw pictures of  her - pictures of her laying in bed, pictures of her in a field of flowers...

Whenever someone passes away, Makayla will let us know that he or she is probably up in heaven playing cards with Maxine.

It's kind of creepy.

About a month ago, I decided I'd show Makayla a couple of pictures I had of my grandma...because up until this point, Makayla had never even seen a picture of her.
(why i find it even more strange to have an obsession over someone she has never seen before).

All Makayla could say when looking at these pictures was

"Awwww, look at her cute blonde hair!!"

Well, tonight the kids and I started an adventure.
We chased a rainbow.
We were trying to get to the end of it and while the kids were having a blast and falling into the magic of it all, I started to get bored of it after about 30 minutes.

Driving through the country, we passed a cemetery and it jogged my memory of a conversation we had with Makayla a few weeks ago.

A few weeks ago, as we drove past a cemetery, Makayla asked if that was Maxine's cemetery (yet, just another strange - out of the blue - conversation about Maxine with Makayla)...so, remembering her being inquisitive about where Maxine was buried, I got the idea of taking her out to my grandma's grave.

Makayla was excited!

Upon seeing her grave Makayla got sad and said "awwwww, poor maxine".  She said she was sad and felt bad for Maxine because she passed away.

I told her not to be sad because Maxine is in Heaven!!  There's no better place than Heaven and she is SO happy right now.

Makayla wanted to "bury her body up".  I told her we couldn't dig her up...that she's buried super deep and all we would find are bones.  Her bones are here, but here spirit is up in Heaven with Jesus.
(thank goodness she didn't ask me what 'spirit' was)

Then she wanted to know who carried her body here (to her grave) and I told her that big strong men did.

She had good questions and I couldn't believe I was actually having this conversation with my 5 year old daughter who was SO intrigued and SO happy to be talking about Maxine and to finally be seeing where she was buried.

While walking around the cemetery, Makayla wanted to know how my grandma died.  

My grandma surprisingly died in her sleep one night at home so no one really knows why she died, but I told Makayla that she died of a broken heart because that's what I truly believe.

My grandma died a couple years after my grandpa's death and without having any known sickness or health issues, I believe that she missed my grandpa too much to live on.  I like to think that he came in the night and took her up to Heaven with him.

But...of course, Makayla asked me how her heart broke, which led into conversation about my grandpa, what his name was (weldon), how he died (sick lungs), and how much my grandma loved him.

It got deep.

I was trying to think of a way to get to the shallow end when all of sudden Makayla threw her arms up in the air and got terribly upset because there were not flowers on Maxine's grave!!

  

Man, that girl!! - she's always amazing me.

I made a promise on the way back to the car that we would get flowers and bring them back to Maxine's grave soon.

I know Makayla won't forget...

Thank you, Makayla, for making me miss my grandma more than I ever have...

 and thank you for bringing her to my thoughts almost daily.  

Thank you for forcing me to speak her name and to remember life with her.