Florida Getaway-Day Five

Our last day in Florida was spent at the beach. Nicki and Dan have some friends from their church that rent a condo on Flagler Beach every year and they invited us to spend the day with them there. We had originally planned to go to Sea World, but after a couple of days of unbelievable heat, I knew that Sea World would be miserable. We quickly scratched those plans for the beach where we had the luxury of using the beach, the pool, and the condo. The boys would be able to play as much as they wanted to on the beach and at the pool and then they'd be able to go relax inside the condo. It sounded like a great plan to me and to Nicki!

We arrived at the condo around lunch and after the boys ate, we walked across the road to the beach. This beach was perfect-hardly any crowds and the beach was so clean. Eli and I were excited about being back at the ocean!

Nicki and I attempted to take some pictures of the boys before they hit the waves, but they were all too entranced by everything around them to really pay attention to us.

Mammy sent along two things of colored bubbles for Jonah and Eli to play with while we were vacationing and Nicki and I intentionally saved them for the beach. We'd heard that they can stain furniture if used inside, so using on the beach was perfect! The bubbles were so pretty and the boys loved playing with them. They weren't the cleanest thing, as you can tell by my face below, but they made our boys happy and that's enough for me!

I can't tell you how many times Eli ran from the sand to the waves. He LOVED the beach!

Micah didn't have a very good first beach experience, but he seemed to enjoy the beach much more this time.

Nicki's friend, Jen (her parents, Margie and Frank, rent the condo), was staying at the condo for the week, so she came, too. Nicki's boys call her Aunt Jen, and they absolutely adore her. She's a big fan of them, too!

I loved watching my little boy play in the surf and sand. I think he could have stayed out there all day.

Jonah had lots of fun too!

Nicki and I had such a wonderful time laughing and playing with our sweet boys. They are both precious gifts from God!

The boys and I had lots of fun walking along the beach looking for seashells. We also managed to find two crabs and two jellyfish. The boys loved examining all the creatures we found and I loved watching their excitement.

Before the boys were completely exhausted, we left the beach and headed to the pool at the condo to wash some of the sand off of us. I forgot to bring Eli's puddle jumpers so Nicki and I took turns holding him in the pool. He didn't seem to mind that at all!

Nicki loves this next picture. Jonah and I were both supposed to go underwater and smile, but he tricked me. I was the only one that ended up cheesing for the camera :)

We dried off and went back to the condo to change clothes. Jen's sister, Cathi, just had a sweet baby boy named Colton a few weeks ago. They were at the condo too, but he pretty much slept through our entire visit. Isn't he a cutie?

Micah was all smiles again. This baby is always happy!

Margie, Jen, and Cathi all had birthday gifts for Jonah. Margie didn't want Eli to feel left out, so she bought a little Cars toy for him. That was so sweet of her! My little boy loved his new toy.

Jonah got lots of fun new surprises too.

Aunt Jen bought him the first two complete seasons of the original Transformers cartoons. She earned major cool points for that gift!

Micah loved watching his big brother open gifts. He's going to love his first birthday party when he turns one in November!

Nicki stopped to hold Colton a minute and Micah got curious about this new little baby that his mommy was holding. I thought this picture of him peeking around her shoulder was so cute.

About this time, Nicki's weather alert went off on her phone and notified us that strong thunderstorms were headed our way. We quickly loaded up all the presents, toys, bags, and children and started making our way back home. One of my favorite things to do at the beach is to watch the progression of a storm getting closer. I was constantly snapping pictures on the way home.

Nicki and about every other driver on the interstate had their wipers going full blast, flashers on, and were driving as carefully as possible. Another great thing about rain...it puts little boys to sleep very easily.

It took us about an hour to get home and by then all three boys were rested and ready to play again. I wish I had gotten the memo about napping in the car :) Jonah and Eli immediately went straight to the Imaginext toys. I can't say enough about how wonderful these toys are. Eli and Jonah played with them so much while we were visiting. I can't wait for Eli to get some of his own.

The boys wanted to watch one cartoon program so we turned the television on for them. They were still playing with their toys, but at one point Nicki looked up and saw both boys sitting next to each other on the beanbag. It was so sweet to see how great they were with each other. They acted just like brothers. It made both of us wish that we weren't 13 hours apart.

Micah, Eli and I played a couple of games of peek-a-boo and we all three loved that. I loved hearing Micah cackle every time we popped up to surprise him.

Peek-a-Boo!

All too soon, it was time to get three dirty, tired little boys into the tub. It was time for bed, which meant good-byes for me and Eli :(

Rub a dub dub, three boys in a tub...

We both said our good-byes to the boys. I'm going to miss them so much. Our entire week together was full of nothing but fun times. We laughed and played and shared so much.

Sweet bundle of love :)

I love this little boy like he was my own!

Kisses from Manna

Melt my heart...

Brotherly wrestling :)

Thank you Dan, Nicki, Jonah, and Micah for letting us come visit. We had such a wonderful time and we hate that it ended so quickly. Dan and Nicki, I had a blast staying up late with you guys talking, laughing, playing on the computers like nerds, injuring my shoulder in the Wii sword fighting, and kicking Dan's tail in Wii bowling. It made me remember all the good times we had together when you guys lived here. I'm so glad we had this time to reconnect. Watching Eli and Jonah play just melted my heart. I love both of those boys so very much. And Micah is just too precious for words! I can't wait until we can see all of you again. Until then...