Love Me Some Vacation!!!!

Vacation....next to Christmas, it's my most favorite time of year.  It means lots of laziness and family time.  I know some people go on vacation and run themselves ragged - and sometimes you have to (going to Disney is a prime example).  Beach trips are different tho.  Once we get to the condo, we unload the car then head to Wal-Mart to stock up on food for the week.  A typical day is waking up late, eating a little breakfast, heading to the beach/pool, lunch, rest while it is hot outside, then back out for more beach/pool time.  Most nights we cook dinner at the condo (because with 6 people it is much cheaper to eat in) then maybe go to Sonic for 1/2 price shakes!  We do venture out "into town" to eat at Lambert's (a MUST), go to the outlet mall, and souvenier shop.  Honestly, we just enjoy being around each other and that is what we want to do...well...that and play in the ocean too!  We collect shells, bob around in the ocean, Sarah, Zachary and Josh ride the waves on their boogie boards - it's just the simple life for a whole week.  Here's just a few things that added to the list of memories:

Sarah and Ava's love of water (Sarah especially!)

Lots of boogie boarding...the kids are quite good!  Sarah doesn't have to know that she and Zachary were probably stung by jellyfish...they are such troopers!

Balcony time - Ava LOVED sitting on the balcony - especially to eat breakfast (or anything for that matter).  Two nights in a row she asked me to sit out there and hold her until she fell asleep in my arms :)

Food always tastes better at the beach.  Even a peanut butter sandwich was amazing!

Ice cold Diet Sunkist...Pringles...ice cream sandwiches (not necessarily together)...yum!

Banana boat riding and parasailing.

Lambert's...catching (sometimes dropping) the rolls...fried okra...fried potatoes...sweet tea... (again yum!)

Walking off the meal from Lambert's at the outlet mall

Searching for seashells

Josh convincing Charles to take a bite of his what appeared to be green apple or lime snowcone when in actuality it was dill pickle.  Yes - it was quite funny!

Ava throwing Zachary's necklace off the 4th floor balcony.  Then the next day she was falsely accused of tossing Zachary's cell phone charger off the balcony.  Said charger was found in the bottom Zachary's backpack a few hours later. (Yes - Charles did apologize to her)

Harious laughing that ensued when Ava said she could not sleep without her blanket (we had her convinced her blanket had been tossed off the balcony) and my response to her was, "Well, Zachary can't sleep without his necklace or phone charger!"  I was trying to drive home a point.  The family wasn't helping...

Only once did one child almost get left at a gas station...he still doesn't know that happened.

Jellyfish...little fishes...ghost crabs...lots of sea creatures

BTW...iPhones are so great on a trip.  We found places to eat, a much nicer Wal-Mart, used the iPod feature to listen on the ride home...such a great little tool (even if reception was not the greatest.)

No child wore swimmies this year...yay!

And the BEST part?  This year we did NOT get locked out of the condo!!