Beach! (for real)

EDIT: Just to clarify, the picture of the girls in the pool float...Richard and David were right there and had walked just outside of the camera frame for me to take the picture.....Mom. Gyah.

Last Wednesday night, after David got home, we bathed and fed the girls and instead of putting them to bed, we loaded them in the car and headed to my parents'. That's what we're going to start doing from now on if we travel anywhere with them...just travel at night. We thought it might throw off their sleep, but nope. They didn't actually sleep very much, but they were very, very quiet and very, very still. And as soon as we got home, they went straight to bed, so it worked out. Then we got up Thursday morning and drove a tad further to the beach and met up with David's family!

We had a great time and it made me look forward to future beach trips even more when the girls can play in the sand and run in the water. David and I, unfortunately, were only at the actual beach about 8 minutes. We went down one morning to get some pictures of the girls in the water and we did, but we had to do it fast. It was literally the hottest I have ever been in my entire life, and I've sunbathed in wool pajamas on the equator. It was just too hot to do anything outside, unless you were submerged in an ice bath the entire time. Which also means I didn't get a ton of pictures...too hot to breathe, much less take pictures and my camera fogged up every time I got it out of the pouch.

But we stuck their feet in the water and, to my dismay, they got their feet alllllll up in the sand. I tried hard to avoid that, but it was just us carrying a kid each plus our bag plus trying to lay down a towel plus trying to keep them out of the sun plus melting alive.

But we were able to stroll around Seaside and do a little bit of shopping. They have an awesome bookstore and I got the girls an illustrated book about baby sea turtles signed by the author himself "To Piper Lee and Harper." Let me rephrase that, I was stuck in an awkward situation where I either had to buy the book or walk away and possibly hurt the guy's feelings. But, actually, it's a really cute book I probably would have bought anyway and now it's signed by the author, so yay! And all of the proceeds went toward saving Florida's sea turtle population, so it was definitely a worthy cause because, let's be honest, how cute are baby sea turtles? Snuggle!! (And I did that for you, Brandi. [Brandi likes sea turtles.])

But we ate out one night and I got snow crab legs. Oh, you creepy little legs, why are you so delicious. The twins got swordfish and mahi mahi.

We hung out at the condo and watched Praise Baby.

We went to the pool and swam with the precious little boat that Aunt Laura Grace got for us.

We played this game called Food for Thought and it gives you a hint and the answer has something to do with food. I had no idea so many of the phrases we use have some sort of food reference in them. For instance, making money for the household is referred to as...? (answer at the bottom)

My favorite story from the trip was when...well, I have to set it up first...we were talking about Flight of the Conchords, which led us to talking about Demetri Martin and how you can make anything sound pervy if you add "ladies" to the end of it. Like, "Hey, could you pass me those potatoes...ladies." or "I'm going to run into town to get some supplies. Want anything...ladies?"

So, we were all on the elevator headed down...the shiny, silver doors open and Richard, being such a gentleman, says, quite loudly, "Ladiessssss," motioning for me, Rebecca, LG and GranJan to head off the elevator first. And off we head, directly into a group of bikini-clad teenagers waiting for the elevator. We snicker to ourselves, because now Ricardo is the Perv of the Condo Complex. The teens whisper to each other and glare menacingly in his direction. Although, he was carrying one of the twins, so how pervy could he actually be. Oh well. It was funny...ladies.

On the ride home, the girls actually were pretty good. The car seats (I would hate them, too, girls) starting wearing thin on them and I sat in the back with them most of the way. We played with chocolate wrappers and gossiped and sang some Broadway. Sad that I got more pictures of the trip home than I did the actual trip. Well, we did have air conditioning.

What is this chocolate you speak of?

I'llhavesomethanks.

Let me try a taste.

OHMYGOODNESSTHISISTHEMOSTAMAZINGTHINGEVER!

I know, Harper...I know.

Hey, the camera...I want.

GIVE ME THE CAMERA.

Give me what I want when I want it and everybody walks away alive.

Meanwhile, in the orange carseat...

Heeeeey...I want chocolate, too...sad face.

Inspecting...

I approve.

It was a lot of fun, I ate way too much, and hopefully the next time, the hater of all things pleasant and balmy will choose another vacation destination. Yay for the beach!!

Answer: Bringing home the bacon.