Summer Vacation 2011~ New Smyrna Beach, FL ~ Part 2

Okay, now for the remainder of our vacation! I decided not to do a break down of Tuesday through Saturday because it would just take waaay too long and some of the days have started running together. Instead I'm just captioning the pictures and adding in a few details, plus the highlights of Garrison's vacation. =)

Ready for the beach on Tuesday, fake smile and all

Playing in the sand with his shades on

We finally braved the freezing cold ocean water

"I want daddy lift me up high in the sky" (You have to click on this picture to see the sheer joy on little man's face)

Tuesday went great and we stayed in that night and had spaghetti.

Wednesday and Thursday we were chased in early because of storms. Literally barely making it in before the bottom fell out. Definite bummer. I mean one afternoon looked like a hurricane. Our tent on the beach fell over and started to blow away... as Terrell and my dad sprinted out to save it. Crazy. The only good thing about the storms were that they didn't start until lunch time, they only interfered with 2 days, and naptime was never an issue.

In this picture it had started raining (not storming yet) and AnAn was the only one willing to swim in the rain with the little man.

Wrapped up in his beach towel from Granna. Oh how I love Pottery Barn. Too bad I can't afford all the cuteness I want from that store!

Wednesday night we went out to the New Smyrna Steakhouse for supper and made some family pictures afterwards.

Garrison and AnAn

The guys

The 4 of us

Group shot... little man refused to smile for the nice stranger. haha

Whenever we had time on our hands while it was raining or we were waiting for everyone to get ready, etc we played the Wii. Garrison loved to pretend he was playing. I think he probably thought he really was playing. Here's an action shot.

He also enjoyed sitting on the balcony with Papa and watching the waves and listening to the ocean.

He loved throwing his fish and ball beach toys to daddy and Papa

Mama and Garrison enjoyed collecting seashells together

Playing in the ocean with daddy

He's holding wet sand in his hand or as he called it "mud". It became his favorite thing.

Family pic

Me and my little man

Daddy and Garrison

Friday was beautiful and we made the most of our last day. We stayed out all day long with just a quick break inside for lunch before going back out. Garrison's favorite thing to do Friday was play in a little water hole that he called a pond. It seriously occupied him all day long. We stayed with him at the pond for like half the day and I think Papa stayed with him the other half. He loved sitting in it, jumping in it, adding sand to it, and collecting water from the ocean to pour into it. It was like his own mini-pool.

The view from our condo balcony

Running back and forth from his "pond"

Friday at the beach was wonderful. It probably made the whole vacation. We loved every second.... until we came inside and the little man had a huge meltdown from exhaustion. He obviously didn't get a nap on Friday and he literally played all day on the beach. We could only think of one other day he might have played harder, longer. Bless his heart. He finally took a bath and settled down and we made our annual beach pictures (just on the balcony this year instead of risking another meltdown) and ordered take-out from Outback.

Saturday morning we woke up and packed and got ready to get on the road and have breakfast together at Cracker Barrel in Daytona. The little man was hungry before 8:00, so he had breakfast on the balcony with Granna.

Since this blog is our journal and family scrapbook, for my own memory I just had to include the highlights of Garrison's vacation this year:

*Playing in the sand

*Riding and pushing buttons in the e-vader (elevator)

*Helping take the dogs out (another opportunity to ride the e-vader)

*Playing with Papa every morning

*Riding with AnAn in the car

*Granna putting him to bed every night once he realized he could request her and she'd do it every time

*Hanging on tight to whoever held him in the cold ocean (we're looking forward to going back to the Gulf Coast next year!)

*Seeing Goofy in person

*Jumping to daddy in the pool

*Spending a whole week at the beach with his family

Summer Vacation 2011~ New Smyrna Beach, FL~ Part 1

Our family vacation to New Smyrna Beach was lots of fun and full of new memories. We decided to try out New Smyrna this year beacause Terrell and I decided we really wanted Garrison to experience Disney World this summer while he's still an only child and he could still get in free. We knew a day or two at Disney World would be about all he could handle (not to mention his 7 months pregnant mama!) so that's why we decided to find a beach somewhat close to Orlando so we could make a day trip to Disney... all for the little man. We joked about how much money all of the adults had to spend for our free 2 year old! (In an effort to cut down on picture overload and this post being the longest ever, I've decided to divide things up.) Here's part 1 of our vacation...

Saturday, June 25th:

My 2 babies in the back ready to get on the road to the beach

Garrison and Bailey both did really good on the trip down even though Garrison only napped for about 45 minutes. Terrell and I were just really thankful we didn't have any major meltdowns or potty issues in the car. It's pretty intimidating to take a newly potty trained 2 year old on a 7-8 hour car drive, but he did great!

Once we arrived and got all of our things unpacked and situated in our condo, we all went down to the beach to check things out. The little man loved the water and the sand and was pretty excited to finally be at the beach. Right after we got to the condo he was so funny because he asked where the "cation" was. I guess he had just heard so much about vacation the past couple of days, plus in the car on the way, that he couldn't believe we were finally at the beach on vacation.

Sunday, June 26th:

Sunday morning the little man woke us up full of energy. I think he was mainly excited about waking up in the same condo as Granna, Papa, and AnAn. Again I tried not to take it personal that he preferred them for everything. =) Sunday turned out to be a really good day. We finished breakfast and went straight down to the pool and then a little later went down to the beach.

He loved jumping to daddy in the swimming pool

He also had fun riding in his turtle

At the beach he was completely entertained playing in the sand. It felt like he could do that for hours. It really was one of his favorite things to do on vacation I think. He also had fun playing catch with daddy.

After going in for sandwiches for lunch, me and the little man stayed in so he could take a nap and I could rest some too before getting ready to go out to eat for supper. After supper we spotted a "Brusters style" Dairy Queen that we just couldn't pass up. You walked up to a window to order and just ate outside. It was so yummy. Ice cream is becoming a very regular part of my diet! We also made a couple of pictures of just the girls. I couldn't get any good ones of Garrison because he was too concerned with eating his ice cream. Plus he's also in this stage of disliking the camera and saying "no take Garrsin picture mama!". Lately it's hard work getting a good picture of him!

Our first day at the beach went perfect and the little man did great going to bed. Time to get ready for Disney World!

Monday, June 27th: Disney World!

We woke up bright and early Monday morning in an attempt to get to Disney World when the gates opened. I think we were pulling out around 7:20. So, so early for all 6 of us to be up, ready, and on the road. We finally arrived at Disney about an hour and 20 minutes later after dealing with the Monday morning commute in Orlando. The little man was really excited, a little apprehensive, and SO ready to see Goofy. Goofy was all he talked about on the way there and once we finally made it inside the Magic Kingdom. I think I heard "Where Goofy, mama? Garrsin ready see Goofy." 20 times.

Finally there along with half the vacationers in the country I think!

Group shot with Terrell as our photographer

Our very first ride was the carousel. Garrison rode with AnAn and loved having the whole family riding with him.

Terrell also decided to get pictures of me and Granna...

After the carousel we walked over to Dumbo since they were right across from each other. I would say this was Garrison's first true ride since he's been on lots of carousels in the past. He rode with daddy and Granna and AnAn rode together. Me and Papa decided to watch and make pictures.

Ready to take off!

Mid-flight

All done and loving Disney World so far!

After Dumbo we went to ride Snow White together since all of us could fit on the same ride. Terrell got this picture as soon as we sat down and right before he jumped in. While we were waiting in line we decided to ask Garrison who he wanted to ride with since we knew we'd be sitting two by two, and he chose Papa. I have now officially accepted that when the grandparents (or AnAn) are nearby, Terrell and I just aren't that special. I actually think I accepted this a long time ago, I was just reminded of it again this past week. ha!

Snow White was a little dark and scary for the little man, but he handled it great. His eyes were really big as he took everything in but he never got upset or cried. There were a couple of points during that ride when I wouldn't have blamed him if he did get upset. I had definitely forgotten how scary that ride was.

After Snow White it was time for lunch. We decided to make reservations at a sit-down, air condidtioned place on Main Street. I'm SO glad we did. It was a much needed break from the heat and crowds... and the food, while outrageously priced, was really good. Garrison loved his grilled cheese and grapes. On the way to The Plaza (the restaurant we ate at) we ran into a parade coming down Main St. Garrison stuck close to daddy but seemed totally fascinated. This is when he finally got to see Goofy. It was a big deal.

After lunch we went to ride the Aladdin magic carpet ride. The 3 of us actually squeezed into 1 seat and rode together. This was our attempt at a picture of ourselves. Granna, Papa, and AnAn rode in the carpet behind us.

Once we left Aladdin we went and got a fast pass for the Jungle Boat Cruise and then got in line for Pirates of the Carribbean. This is one of my favorite rides and waiting in line for it is so easy. It was good for me because I got to be out of the heat for a while and the line moves almost continuously. Here's a pic of my boys while we were line.

Garrison sat between me and Terrell and did really good... especially during the part when everything goes pitch black and the boat you're in goes down a hill. We held on to him tight!

Next it was time for the Jungle Boat Cruise. Garrison really liked seeing all the animals and riding on the boat. This was probably his third favorite ride. Once we got off the Jungle Boat we went and got on the Choo Choo Train. We knew riding the train was an absolute must. Garrison loves choo choo's and our timing worked out so good. It started raining while we were on the train so we just stayed on and rode around the Magic Kingdom 2 times until the rain stopped. Perfect timing. After the train we thought about riding Peter Pan and maybe the Teacups but changed our plans after seeing the wait time for Peter Pan (75 minutes) and most of us not being up for spinning around and around and around on the Teacups while we were so hot and tired.

The last ride we rode was It's a Small World and the little man loved it. It was perfect for him. Fun sweet music playing, bright and colorful little people and toys to look at, a nice smooth boat ride. He was completely fascinated with everything about it.

This was the amazed look on his face as we rode through

After It's a Small World we got ready to wrap things up and make our way to the monorail. Before we could leave, my parents just had to buy Garrison this stuffed Goofy. It's almost as big as he is. He loved it immediately. They also bought him a really cool Mickey Mouse balloon that's now in his room almost a full week later and looks exactly the same. Garrison has even been asking to see Mickey Mouse on his balloon like he's checking to make sure he's not going away or getting smaller yet.

We had a fun-filled day at Disney and Garrison (and mama and Austin) handled everything great. Toward the end of the day I started feeling the effects of being on my feet in the sun all day, but I never had any crazy episodes. Thank you Lord for taking care of us. I really, really did not want to ruin everyone's day because of passing out or throwing up or having contractions!

Garrison also did SO good with the potty. We were prepared with an extra pair of big boy underwear and a second outfit, but he did great. I'm so thankful my mom pretty much took over with the potty duty. It gives me a workout and a little bit of a backache every single time I have to take him by myself to a public bathroom.

The day wore all of us out, but we had a sweaty fun time and enjoyed experiencing everything with Garrison. Terrell and I decided one day at Disney with a 2 year old was enough and that we'll be planning another trip to Disney when the boys are older. Garrison and Goofy were sound asleep about 5 minutes into our ride back to New Smyrna. So adorable.

We got Taco Bell take-out for supper and all crashed early after our long day. Part 2 (and maybe 3 depending on how long things get) coming soon!