Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Sanibel is for the boys (who chase birds)

I'm gonna miss this place

Oh boy, do I have a couple of beach babes. My boys loved Sanibel. Especially Fintan. The first words out of his mouth when we reached our condo were, "I want to build a sand castle!" But then there were too many miles of open sea and tide-pools to explore to ever sit still long enough to build sand castles. Fintan ran, without hesitation, straight into the ocean. He splashed and waded and collected things and then demanded things that his cousins collected. He dug in the sand with shovels. He swam in the pool and played "shuffle board" and "tennis". He rode bikes with his daddy and visited his cousins at their condos to play with their toys. And whenever he stopped playing, he ate. He ate from his own plate, my plate, his daddy's plate, and then for good measure he'd top it off with whatever was left on his cousins' plates. He also slept. Both boys slept. There were no miracles, but still they shocked me with their flexibility. Hooray!

Coen also had a fabulous time. He enjoyed watching all of the action, taking naps in his stroller on the beach while Daddy took him on long walks, hanging out in his cousin Logan's jumperoo at the condo, and basically just chillin'. He was a dream baby. Pat and I were even able to go out on our own one night while the boys' cousin, Caroline, babysat. And we also went out another night with Pat's sibs and their spouses while Pat's parents stayed with the boys, and their cousin Logan, at the condo. Both times the boys slept well. Although Caroline did say that Fintan started crying at one point when she watched them. She went in to check on him and he said something she couldn't understand, at first, so he slowed it way down for her: "I----want---my---crab!" She quickly found his crab ("it's oder dere" he told her) and, with crab clutched in hand, he went right to sleep.

The weather was beautiful and warm. Everyone was healthy the entire time. All in all it was a dream vacation. And I am so grateful.

Where to start...

Smiling at Nick


Just after holding hands with Sean

Finding anything good?

Mine

Hangin' with LoganAfter finishing his cousin's food it was time to visit the loo
My baby and me

Mr. Independent

Um, can you please explain to him that this is my jumperoo?
Chillin'

Bathin'

Armed and dangerous
The cousins

Our little famThe whole big fam

Beach transfer
My three boys (sweet but poor quality)


Tennis...sort of
Seagulls, you will be mine

7 comments:

Doesn't love a wall said...

Oh Alina - the pic of your family is truly gorgeous!!! Yes, "vacation" is different when you ave kids - but it's wonderful in its own rite.

SO glad you and Pat got out on a date!!! Love the pic of Coen in the tub being all modest!!

Leslie said...

What a fun vacation! I love the pictures of the family.

I love love love Sanibel and can't wait to take the girls there one of these days :) I am glad you had such a fun time--it's so pretty (and relaxing!) there.

Unknown said...

Those pictures are so awesome!! I loved looking at them. And now, I want to go to the beach!!!

I agree with Erin--I love that pic of your family.

So glad you had fun!

Emily said...

Cute photo of the family! I LOVE the one of Fintan in the grass, too. Kenton and I had a very nice time in Captiva/Sanibel. Did you go to the Hungry Heron? They had an awesome fish sandwich!

Dawn said...

I am SOOO happy that you all had such a perfect time!! The pictures are fantastic!!!!!

Jacque said...

Great pictures and it looks like a wonderful vacation (way better than the zero degrees outside right now)!

Emily said...

Gabby just "had" to watch videos of Fintan today. She kept asking for them, so I pulled up this post since the ones about it had videos of Coen. She laughed and laughed watching Fintan chase the seagulls. How cute was he?!?! We hadn't watched that video the first time around and were sad we missed it.