St. Maarten - MANEV Winter Vacay 2017 - Part 1

Vacation is never long enough, and this trip was no exception! Although, as sad as were to see it over, we all welcomed our separate rooms and beds, as well as all our fur babies when we did get home!!   


Let's break this vacay up into bullet form:  


Tuesday: - we left the house at 6:30 AM - the kids were amazing in the airport and the airplane, so that was a big win! Our flight was quick and we landed early!!

- Noah didn't nap, so we had a tired boy on our hands, but he snoozed a bit on the way to our apartment, as that seemed to take forever, but I think we were all just tired and hot by then! Our rental car was a Ford Explorer, this is the vehicle I thought I wanted as my next vehicle, but after having one for a week, it is not big enough!!  


- We went for a quick swim before dinner. There is an hour time change, which threw the kids off a bit when it came to bedtime and meals 


- we rented a studio apartment and it only had a shower with no tub, so we made showers work for everyone, which Noah was used to because of last time we were here, but we were super nervous about how bedtime was going to go with all being in the same room! But it couldn't have gone better!!! It did take time, as one of us laid with Noah until he fell asleep and one of us rocked Em to sleep, but once they were down, they were down and we were able to go sit outside, relax, play cards, etc.   


Wednesday:
- was an early start... both kids were up before sunrise. Luckily M is a morning person and could handle waking at that hour, because I certainly cannot, so he took the kids outside with their milk and they had quiet time outside. I had not slept well at all.   


- after Emilya's nap, we decided went to visit friends of Mike's parents. They were such a sweet couple, their rental was gorgeous, the kids had fun swimming and they got the cutest little gifts from them, along with some yummy snacks.

- we headed to the grocery store next. I was able to buy me some sugar cane syrup, something you can't get here, so I brought 2 bottles home!!  

- we pushed naptime again, but they managed to get a small nap in. We learned that the kids really had to eat no later than 5:30! The time change and early start were not our friends. 

- Noah went to bed as a two year old for the last time!     


Thursday:
- Noah turned THREE!!! 


- the kids woke up extra early again, but after Em's morning nap we headed to the beach!!!

- it really was not the best beach day, but Noah requested going to the beach in his birthday and well how often will he get to do that in life?? So we made it happen!!! 
 

- it was crazy wavy, and a strong undertow, but we made the best of the morning. I will say Noah had fun and that is all that matters.
   
- after nap we threw a little birthday party up at the pool, with decorations, balloons, presents and cake!

- our dinner plans of pizza was a bust, because none of them opened until 5:30, so we would be looking at a late dinner, which we knew wouldn't work, so M's Mom threw something together quickly. We did cake up by the pool.  Check out this birthday sunset:

- I still can't believe he's 3!!!     


Friday:
- we had a morning by the pool.  

  - after nap, we got ready to go out for dinner! M wanted lobster!  

Yes, the boys all had to dress in matching shirts. The people staying above us were soo sweet and gave Noah this orang shirt to match Grandpa's for his birthday!

The first picture was too funny not to share...

  - we walked the strip, but most of the shops weren't open yet. So we found a little restaurant right on the beach, I enjoyed ribs  

- seriously they KNOW how to make ribs in St. Maarten, Noah had chicken and Mike had his lobster.   

  - on the way back to the car, we decided to be spontaneous, as Noah wanted nothing more but to go in the water on the beach. Of course we only had the clothes we were wearing, but we all went in the water, but we had fun. It's these little moments that I love, the look on Noah's face when we said sure was priceless! These are the memories I hope he remembers, because I certainly will!! 

MANEV Summer Vacay - Week 1

I seriously think I might need a vacation from our vacation - vacationing with kids is no joke, especially when they aren't feeling well!!

As I posted last, our long weekend was pretty busy and we really just needed some down time, so we did just that! Monday and Tuesday we hung around home, swam in the pool and tried to stay cool! 

Noah learned how fun crushing cans can be - see Instagram for the hilarious video. But we also had some bubbles fun! 

Emilya decided she would roll over from back to front and now she just keeps rolling right off her mat, so she is officially on the move now, and never where I leave her anymore! 

Noah took the beer cans back from the long weekend and we let him keep some of the money from the return and instead of buying candy, he wanted to stop at the strawberry stand on the way home! 

On Wednesday Miss Emilya tried her exersaucer for the first time and loved it!! I can hardly get over how strong she is at just 3 months!! That's right, she is 3 months already, her post is coming up!! 

Wednesday afternoon, Greyson and Chloe came over for a play date and ended up staying for dinner! You bet I failed at photos! It's right after they left that things took a turn for the worst! 

Noah ended up with a fever of 103 - the highest he has ever had and he was not feeling well AT all!!! We have been soo lucky and have not had to deal with any sickness really with the kids, so this was a big deal for M and I. 

Thursday we had a fun day planned, but ended up cancelling it because Noah still had a crazy high fever and was super sucky. I had told my sister I would watch Hannah for her, as B had an appointment. Noah was super happy to have Hannah over and seemed to perk up a bit, so we allowed her to stay over night! The kids had lots of fun:

Friday morning I met my sister in town, we did a little shopping together, I managed to get myself some new sunglasses and a few shirts and some wall art for various places around the house, including the basement and Noah's room!! 

Noah was still sporting a high fever, but with no other symptoms! He is getting 2 of his 2 year molars, but has never had a fever this high before, so I decided since we were heading out on vacation that I would take him into the clinic just to make sure we weren't dealing with an ear infection or something. The doctor couldn't see anything of concern. 

Friday night we attempted to try out our new babysitter!! Noah was right out of sorts, but was excited she was there, so my plan was to show her the bedtime routine and then I would leave with Emilya to goto M's ball game. Well we got him up and in bed, I was just starting to pack things up and got the call from Mike that they were calling the game because of the the thunderstorm! Soo, I didn't make it out of the house, but we will try it all again!! 

Saturday morning Noah developed a cough to go along with his cold and was absolutely miserable. I had plans to be out of the house by 8 and well let's just say that didn't happen! 

I met my sister and my Mom at the Art In The Barn show. I was soo impressed with all the little shops our area has to offer and loved meeting some of the shop owners I have done reviews for!! My haul:

Saturday afternoon was spent packing and getting ready to head to the cottage.

We could have been there for 2, but made it by 8! Organization is not our thing and this was the first time we had rented a cottage and had no clue what we actually needed. Emilya didn't travel well at all! I ended up stopping 7 times in the hours car ride in attempt to give her a pacifier... 

More details on our week at the cottage to come! Stay tuned! 

Long Weekend Rewind

Vacation has officially started and the fun hasn't stopped!!

Thursday evening our company for the weekend arrived. They brought supper with them, which we enjoyed poolside, they set up thier trailer and the kids swam and played. After we got the kids in bed, a few more friends joined us and we decided to do a fire, being very careful of course, becaus you bet they posted a fire ban for the weekend because of how dry we have had it, so we kept water on hand just incase. We were crazy and stayed up until 2 AM! 

Friday morning everyone seemed to sleep in until 8 AM. It was a rainy morning, which was much needed, although not enough fell. 

The kids colored, we made cupcakes and just had a bunch of fun. 

We had more company come over for dinner, they set up the tent before we headed to ball park for their first ball game. 

While they were playing ball, the kids dance was on at the park! Noah had a blast dancing the night away. He even scored a trip to the playground with friends of ours! He managed to stay up until 9:30, but boy was he tired! We put him right to bed and there wasn't much movement after that! A couple other friends came over and we had a bonfire and hit up the hot tub after getting the kids to bed and stayed up until 1AM! 

Saturday morning we attempted to do our strawberry waffle breakfast, but everyone kind of ate in shifts. M had to leave early because he was in the parade, so we cleaned up, got ready, another team mate and his family arrived and we all walked over to watch the parade at our friends house! 

Noah was so excited, I loved seeing the excitement, I'm glad we watched it instead of going in it! Emilya slept most of the time, but I ended up having to wear her, as she did not like the sirens. 

And yes, Noah insisted on wearing his fire chief hat to the parade instead of his ball cap! 

When we got home after the parade, this guy was so busy! He ended up having a quick shower and didn't want to get out: 

We went down to the park for lunch and Noah had a blast in the bouncy castle - soo much fun that M had to go in after him! Of course M has the video to go with this, not that I can load a video on my blog anyways (not sure how). We had lunch, watched M's game and then came right home with one tired little boy. I stayed home for the next game, as it was naptime around these parts and that is just something I am not willing to forego! 

They ended up winning the game I missed and had a 5:45 game, which put a damper on the dinner plans. M had been smoking brisket all day! But we managed to keep it warm during the game! This time I decided to bring trucks down to the game to entertain Noah and keep him with me. I definetely learned why I don't take two kids to the ball game, although bringing the toys made the big difference for Noah. 

They ended up winning the C division! It was great to see some wins under the teams belt now, since they had won any games all season so far! 

The team came back to our place after the game for supper, the kids swam and everyone seemed to have fun! We had one person bounce through our patio screen, which was humorous. Time seemed to fly by, because next thing I knew, it was well after 8 PM and we ere scrambling to get the bed. 

I did make up a new drink I'm calling "Moms Night Out", which was passion tea lemonade (similar to Starbucks - made at home, with either raspberry vodka/rum or sour puss. It was soo good!!!

We had a bonfire again, lots of laughs and fun and everyone had gone home by 12 AM, and that is when the real fun began - when we started a water fight with the neighbours behind us, by filling up 150 water balloons - thank you to the bunch of balloons hose attachment that fills them up automatically and ties them! We had them made in no time! Turns out they had their kids out still, so we had to be careful! The clever neighbours had a hose that reached all the way to our yard, so needless to say, we did get wet! 

We had some left over, and there was a big dance going on down the street at the ball park, so we decided to sit on the front porch and launch water balloons at those walking home. Clearly this wouldn't fly in a big city, but in our little village, it was all fun and games. Even when 2 people brough buckets of water back to throw at us!! We did see a lot of interesting things, but my favorite was the 2 drunk guys with a beer on a bike trying to double ride. It was clearly 15 minutes of pure laughter for us as they tried to figure out how to make it work. That was another 2 AM night.

Let's just say, I was really happy to have kids that sleep well and sleep in this past weekend!! 

Sunday morning was the firemans breakfast and Noah insisted on wearing his fire hat again! Our house guests tagged along and left just after lunch, when my Dad arrived from camping. 

Let's just say, I had nap when the kids did and when we all got up, Noah was soo happy to play with Grandpa!! 

After we put Noah to bed, my Dad, M and I sat out on the front porch and watched the fire works with the perfect view!! 

It was an awesome weekend filled with soo much fun and laughter. Despite how busy we were, and having company around all weekend, I was really proud of how well Noah handled it!! 

This past week I will recap eventually. We are off to the cottage tomorrow for a week and will be without the internet, but you can keep up with us on Instagram :) 

Florida Vacay 2016 - Part 1

Tuesday morning started off super early 5:30 for us and 6 for the little man, we made it to the airport in good time and left our car with valet. We shuttled over to the airport and managed to skip the long security line, thanks to the family line - smartest airport decision ever. However the American customs line was not so nice or kid friendly, but Noah was a trooper. We made it to our gate with about 25 minutes to spare before boarding. Noah loved seeing all the airplanes and pointed them all out!!! Crazy the difference 6 months makes as far as his interests go since he last flew.

Noah was great on the plane and ended up with his own seat, which was super convienent. The flight was pretty seamless, aside from the dog that barked and cried the whole flight in the seat in front of us!  

We ended up with a damn Jeep Renegade... Not what I would call an SUV... It was so small! I don't know how M and I end up a Jeep everywhere we go, but we are not Jeep fans - they are not vehicles for tall people. 

They are also not very accommodating for children, being as Noah managed to open his door while we were on the interstate. 

We drove about an hour and a half south of Orlando to Sebring. When we arrived we pretty much headed right to the pool to please our child whose patience was beginning to run out, understandingly so after a long day of him behaving so well and only a 20 minute nap. He was pretty excited to see Grandpa and Cindy. 

The weather was beautiful when we arrived and the pool temp was nothing to complain about!!

Noah toured around as we got settled and we enjoyed some dinner before getting Noah off to bed! Cindy and I hit up the grocery store, so I could get some essentials for Noah! Noah's first night started off well, however he woke up at 3:30 AM and then again at 6:00 AM. 

Wednesday we went for some walks and tours on the golf cart. 

M and my Dad went on an airboat ride in the afternoon, and I managed to get Noah down for a nap without rocking him- mommy win!! While he slept, I layed out in the sun!! 

Noah woke up just before the guys arrived back and we decided to head to the pool for a swim!!

Trying with no puddle jumper! He did so well!!! 

Of course on the way home the cart battery died... Dad has been having trouble with this, so the boys pushed while Noah and I steered:

This was taken after M mooned the retirement village when his shorts fell down!! 

 That evening Cindy and I ran out to the mall for a little shopping! Noah managed to put himself to bed, but woke up at 1 AM, we managed to get him back to sleep, but man is it a challenge to keep him quiet when sharing a house with others. 

Thursday morning Cindy, M, Noah and I managed to go do a little shopping and got some really great deals. Noah won't be needing pjs for the next few sizes!! I also managed to get a new pair of maternity jeans! We also hit up Walmart where I found my favorite candy and remembered to buy some of the sports bras I loved for nursing!! 

We came home for lunch and then Cindy and I met up with one of Cindy's friends and had a little girls shopping trip for the afternoon and I did really well with deals and shirts for myself that will work now and post baby!! I also managed to get some baby items, stuff for Noah and M! While we were gone Noah napped and then the boys all went swimming. 

My savings of over $300!! Great deals!! 

The boys trying on thier matching shirts:

This day was a rough one for Noah, he was just grumpy and as much as I didn't want to have to pull the time outs on vacation, we did a few and he luckily changed his tune quickly. He also learned the word "no" on this trip which is just a bundle of fun. We thought it was humerous at first, but our view is quickly changing as he has begun to understand the proper way to use it. 

We went to my favorite restaurant Chili's for dinner and although it wasn't the best service, I still enjoyed your favorite foods and so did Noah!! 

After Noah went to bed we took on our first round of dominos.

We decided we would do a guys vs. girls and although the guys scores combined were better, I still won the game with the lowest score, but it meant the guys won round one.