Vacation

We just returned from a week at the beach...It was wonderful. (Nothing like our beach experience last year)(See October 1st, 2007 post for that awful/enjoyable trip down memory lane)

We loved literally every minute of it. There is something so wonderful about having a week where your only priority is to enjoy each other. The boys loved having every minute with their dad (So did I). We loved eating every meal together... We loved laughing with each other over things that sometimes we are too busy here to even notice. Here are a couple of our favorite memories...

1. On the first day we were there we were sitting on the beach eating our lunch when Payton said, "You guys have no idea how badly I have needed this." Obviously in the business of life we had not realized how playing from sun up till sun down was taking its toll on our Pate. :)

2. Benjamin loves to play "I spy"...We love his creativity with the game...Everyone can be playing as normal and then when its his turn he will say, "I spy a mom who wants a diet coke and that's OK...because I am thirsty too...Good idea mom."

3. We loved opening our doors in the morning and smelling the ocean. One morning we opened the door and Payton said, "fresh air and freedom, I can't get enough."

4. Tony's aunt and uncle live in the beach town that we visited...We had a blast being with them every moment we could.

5. Payton is currently fascinated with subtraction. Therefore he wants to know how old everyone is so he can then subtract his age from theirs and tell them how much older /or younger he is. My mom and I have been trying to explain/teach him that women do not like being asked upon first meeting them, "Exactly how old are you?" He is getting better at bypassing this conversation with constant reminders from his mother. I thought we were perhaps done with this stage until he met random lady the other day and when she introduced herself he said, "Exactly how much do you weigh?" NICE. We move from offensive to over the top offensive.

6. Benjamin practiced baseball every chance he got. He took his glove and a ball everywhere. He would pick up a long piece of seaweed and use it as a pretend bat and work on his swing. I told Tony one of my favorite things about this is watching different guys/dads walk by...and how many of them stop, regardless of where we are (Benjamin does his practice swing everywhere) and comment/critique/compliment. So sweet to me...and of course Benj eats it up.

7. I enjoy the ocean, however, I have to concentrate on not thinking about what could possibly be lurking under the water. Watching Payton and Tony go farther out and farther out gave me plenty of opportunities to work on my Lamaze.

8. Benjamin started crying when we had to leave for home. Tony had already explained that he wanted us on the road by 9 AM to try and avoid as much Memorial Day traffic as possible. We have realized that one of the worst things we have done in parenting was teach Payton to tell time. I sat down by Benj and told him I understood, I did not want to leave either, I did not want his dad to go back to work, etc...etc.. As I was consoling him, Payton walked in, pointed to the clock and said, "It's 8:52, you two have 8 minutes to wrap this up." At times it becomes incredibly apparent that in Payton we have duplicated his father.

9. This is right before the guard asked Benjamin to quit messing with million dollar equipment. The dude was hanging on the nose cone...I was taking a pic of his dad and brother.

10.

I took this same picture almost every day of the boys walking home. I loved it...Such precious memories.