Our Search for Summer

We were up much earlier than normal.  Even up before the butt crack of dawn as it is so eloquently known in our family.  The alarm was set for 2:30 AM.  Had to be to the airport to catch our flight at 4:15AM.  Needless to say Greg or I didn't get much sleep if any the night before we left.  

We successfully made it to the airport.  There weren't to many people up that early on a Saturday morning.  Surprisingly everyone was in good spirits. At this point we were all very excited to find Summer.  It was what we were in search of this vacation.

Mom and Tate are all smiles.  We can't wait to get to Puerto Rico.  The boys were excited to not only find Summer, but see Grandma & Grandpa Wolsing.

2 Flights later, we not only found Summer, but we found Grandma & Grandpa Wolsing.  We even found the beach and ocean.  It wasn't very long at all before the boys were running and splashing in the ocean. 

 

Beautiful beach in Puerto Rico.

Checking out the water temperature.  We ended up walking up and down the beach for awhile before heading back to our hotel.  We decided to head towards Old San Juan for dinner.  Our hotel recommended Raices downtown for some very authentic cuisine.  

We were not lead astray.  Everyone enjoyed this restaurant that was full of atmosphere. The wait staff were dressed in traditional garb.  We listened to traditional music and enjoyed all of the Puerto Rico culture.  We also enjoyed an amazing Pina Colada, which was originally developed in Puerto Rico. Probably the best one I have ever had.    

We shared some amazing appetizers before ordering dinner.  Devin discovered that he loves empanadas.  Who knew!  They were pretty amazing.

The entire restaurant was painted amazingly.  Painted to look like traditional Puerto Rican countryside.

Enjoying our dinner at Racines in Old San Juan.

Busy Week at Grandma's & Grandpa's

It is becoming a tradition that Devin and Tate spend a week during the summer with their Grandma & Grandpa Wolsing's.  The boys could not contain their excitement about getting the chance to go visit them. 

The day we dropped the kids off, Devin lost his very 1st tooth.  Grandma Wolsing made Devin the cutest little fairy tooth pillow.  Not sure what he was more excited about, losing the tooth, the pillow, the tooth fairy, or the quarter the tooth fairy was suppose to leave him. 

Slip N Slide

Grandpa turned his back yard into the Wolsing Water Park.  It starts with a flip of a switch to turn his watering system on, but that wasn't enough and he brought out the slip n slide.  Devin, Tate, and Xavier all had a blast playing.  Took them all a little bit to get the knack of the slip n slide, but once they figured it out they couldn't be stopped. 

Grandma & Grandpa treated them to a day at the St Louis Zoo.  The boys favorite animals were the Hippos and Penguins.  They also got to ride the train around the zoo, always a big hit with my train lovers.

Beach Time

Next up was one of the beaches at Rend Lake.  A summer wouldn't be complete without some swimming and sand castle building.

Bike Ride & Park Time

Every morning, Grandma would take them to the city park to play.  The Benton city park is really awesome.  It has 3 different play structures, a fire truck, and caboose all to play on.  Even better most of them are in the shade most of the day.  Perfect place to literally "hang" around.

They even took a bike ride to the Rend Lake Marina.  The marina was a great place to stop and have a snack before continuing on.

Another Day, Another Beach

Helping Grandpa with his fire pit out back.  They love spending time with Grandpa in his shop.  Its a great place to get dirty, have a snack & drink, but most importantly - spending time with Grandpa.

The boys had a blast and are making memories that will last a lifetime.  Such a wonderful gift for everyone.  As the week was drawing toward the end, the boys were starting to miss home a little.  Needless to say this Mom was starting to miss them as well.  The house just isn't the same with out all their energy, smiles, laughs, and hugs.

Castaway Cay

Good Morning Castaway Cay.

This is Disney's private island.  The boys finally made it to the beach we had been promising.

Donald Duck walked off the boat with us. The kids were so excited.

Map of Castawy Cay.

We found our spot on the beach with an umbrella on one side and some palm trees on the other side.  Even had some great views of the Disney Dream.

It's a tradition if we visit a beach, that we have to write our names in the sand.  It was great to be ale to get the boat in the background.  

Tate was much more interested in playing in the sand than getting his picture taken.  

The boys decided they wanted to bury my feet in sand.  That kept them busy for awhile.  

Then someone got an idea to cover Dad up with sand.  Needless to say this kept them busy much longer.  Dad was such a good sport.

The water at the island was a tad chilly.  So instead of braving the cold water, we headed to the splash park.  It was a great way to beat the heat and still have a blast.

Tate loved the splash park!

Running through one of the larger towers of water....over and over again.

After enjoying the splash park, Devin decided that he would like to rides bikes around the island.  We rode about a 3 mile loop around part of the island.  This picture is from the look out tower on the other side of the island.  

Climbing up to the very top!  Helmets on for safety.  Good thing too, Devin managed to have 2 small wrecks while bicycling around.  He was too busy gaucking at everything instead of paying attention to himself.  Luckily both incidents were both pretty minor. 

Tate got to hitch a ride with Mom!

Entrance to the bike path.

We actually had to ride up and down a small airport runway to get to the bike path.  

Devin and Tate standing next to their favorite Disney Characters.  

Our Vacation Highlights

We recently got back from our vacation to South. We started our trip with a stop in Chattanooga to ride the incline railroad. It was a fun little adventure to help break up the drive. Our destination was Fripp Island. We spent the week in and around the area. We spent lots of time at the beach building sandcastles, swimming, and just have a great time.

We did take a couple of side trips. The first was to Seabrook Island just south of Charleston. We stopped to visit some family and enjoy that island. Our second side trip was to Savannah, GA. We took Devin to their railroad museum that has a working round house. We got the chance to ride a steam train on the round house and around the train yard. After the train museum, we ate lunch at The Pirate House. Really fun place to eat with kids. It is completely pirate themed.

The rest of the time we just enjoyed relaxing on Fripp Island.

Devin & Tate at the beach. This was a big trip for Tate. It was his first vacation, first time at the beach, and first time to the ocean. I didn't know how he would like the beach, because he isn't walking yet, but he loved every minute of the beach, sand, and ocean.




Family picture at the beach before heading home.

Panama City Beach

Here are some of our favorite pictures from our trip to Panama City Beach! Posing on the boardwalk
Hanging out in the pool

Swimming with Dad

Family picture on the beach Devin drawing his name in the sand.