Seaside - Photo Dump!

We took another trip down to Seaside, Florida with my mom and dad! You probably don't remember, but we went last year too. This year was MUCH busier, including trying to find a hotel on the way down, but still fun. It was also quite a bit cooler! The kids didn't seem to mind too much though as the pool was heated and they don't spend a ton of time in the ocean anyway.

{Note to self for next time - it is in fact NOT fun to stay at a rest stop with the three kids in the middle of the night. No one sleeps, including mom and dad, and it would be better to just reserve a hotel the night before heading south. This is probably obvious to most, but somehow slipped the mind of this  otherwise uber-planner.}

I have a few other photos on my "real" camera. Maybe I'll get to those too. In the meantime, these are all from my phone and some are the Instagram version.

I have no idea when this was taken. Probably after the night of one hour of sleep on the way down. Really, as always, the kids did better on the trip than the adults. :)

Passing through Pintlala, Alabama. Who need a Walmart?! 

The first night when we arrived, it was storming and pouring down rain. We ordered pizza and then Jack requested it for breakfast the next day.

I'm sure I took these two photos last year too. I love walking over the dunes to the beach. It makes the beach seem much more peaceful and quiet.

Jack absolutely loved the sand this year. Last year, he didn't want anything to do with it and wouldn't even get off of the chair. This year was a different story!

Jack's a mer-man!

My girls! 

Did I mention he loved the beach?

He was not as much a fan of the pool and didn't enter it once on this trip. He did venture to the baby pool once or twice with Gram and Pop. 

Heading out to dinner after our first full day. You can't see it here, but the girls got totally sunburnt. I should really keep track of all of the Mother-of-the-Year awards I'm accumulating. 

The first day was a little cool (maybe upper 60's?) but the second day was downright cold! I think the high may have reached 50 that day. This is a shot of Seaside from the record shop in town. 

We spent a lot of that afternoon playing on the iPads and playing cards. 

Jack and I - I swear he only makes silly faces for photos these days. 

I fell in love with the teal porch swing. So Florida and so NOT Indiana. :) 

One morning, we rode our bikes into Grayton Beach State Park. It was beautiful! The water reminded me the Caribbean! 

Gram and Pop soon realized that Jack loved jumping into holes on the beach. So, they started faithfully digging him a hole each day. I swear he jumped in and out of those holes for two hours straight. 

You can kind of see in this photo that I have my legs covered up with a towel. 55 degrees with strong wind was more than a bit chilly. The blue skies more than made up for the chill though!

The girls with their new shovels. 

Two of the pools were heated so the girls swam every day I think. 

Tom and Jack. 

Gram and Tessa.

I love blue umbrellas against the blue sky.

Last day was warm! And sunny! So, Gram and Pop dug another hole. :)

Josie and Tessa worked hard to dig out sun tanning chairs in the hole. As if the sunburn from the first day wasn't enough. 

Jack was as sweet as can be for almost the entire trip. He may have had one "moment" at breakfast one time. But, for a two year old? I'll take it. 

Finally, it was time to head home. The trip home was actually pretty nice. It never fails though, the kids will get slap-happy. I remember that from when I was a kid too. 

I bought the girls dry erase boards from the $1 bin at Target for the trip. At a gas station, the girls were giggling non-stop. The only thing that can make that happen? Toilet humor. Tessa wrote a little story. All on her own. {For those of you who don't understand kindergarden grammar, she wrote, "I saw a Unicorn pooping out." Then, she proceeded to draw a picture.} I'm so proud. 

I rode for 14 hours like this. It wasn't as bad as it looked but I was happy to be home. Thanks to an awesome Tom who drove both directions. The whole way. 

Fantastic trip! So happy to have made the trip and created life-long memories for the kids. And for us!

Running Update - 03.31.13

Well, I should have known better than to write this post. I managed to get in my long run (9 miles) on Sunday, but then that was it. Nada. Nothing. The rest of the week. I just didn't make the time. We were preparing for another trip which meant longer work hours, more laundry, more stress and less time. But, I didn't choose to make the time either.

Good news. One week won't kill me. I'll still be able to run the Mini just fine. :)

I picked back up once we arrived in Florida, but only a little. This week was supposed to be a lighter week - 21 miles. No speed work and no long run. I improvised. Instead of fitting in five runs like I was supposed to do, I did three, but still managed 19 miles.

Mom and I ran a nice 6 miler on Monday right along 30A. It felt like we were running much faster than the 9:45 average we ended up with, but I attribute that to chatting the whole way. She is very used to that and I am very much not used to that. So, I think I felt more winded. Either way, I was happy to sneak that one in!

Then, on Thursday, I did five on my own around Watercolor - the beautiful neighborhood where we stayed. You can see some of the houses in these posts from last year. I took a path around Western Lake. I kept up a good clip of 9:30 and felt much better than Monday. The run was just beautiful!

We also fit in a few bike rides, but nothing too serious. It was nice to just take it easy.

Today, I went for eight miles through the neighborhood and felt awesome. My app says I ran over 8.5, but I'm pretty sure it was only 8 based on my previous mileage readings. I have a loop that I think is around 2.3 miles - I ran it 3 times, with an extra mile added on at the end. I really need to start using Tom's GPS watch. Either way, I was thrilled with my time, and even more thrilled with how good it felt while I was running. I'd love to really figure out why some runs feel so good and others feel so bad.

Unfortunately, my feet did not agree with my legs and lungs. When I got back, I thought I felt a little pinch and sure enough, gigantic blister. Ouch. I skimped on the Moleskin this run, but I'm scared it's the new shoes. I've worn them on a handful of 5-6 mile runs and felt fine, but this one did me in. I'm so mad that it happened too because it really hurts. Hopefully, it will heal up quickly and I'll load up on the Moleskin this week. Bummer.

So, great week - bad week - OK week. My plan for this week is to get in all of my runs. It should be very doable as it's a relatively quiet week. I've added a few running blogs to my Google Reader (Side note: I heard this is disappearing - I will be lost without it! Suggestions?) and hope those will add additional motivation.

I've added Yurbuds to my Wish List due to finding them on one of the blogs I recently added. They are NOT cheap. Don't ask me how my ears sweat, but I'm glad to see I'm not the only one with this problem! If I keep finding all of these fancy gadgets, running will not be such an inexpensive sport. :)

Seaside Florida - Photo Overload!!!

We spent Spring Break in the cutest little town in Florida - Seaside. We rode our bikes everywhere and our car no where for a whole week. The weather was fantastic and we only had one downpour and managed to find a beachside bar in which to weather the storm. The kids loved their first trip to the ocean and we loved the relaxing atmosphere. I would go back in a heartbeat!

We drove down and back. The trip down was pretty rough as it took us over 15 hours - mainly due to Spring Break traffic. On the way home, it was a much more tolerable 13. We went part way on Friday night and then finished up on Saturday morning. Here's a shot of the girls as we crossed the state line into Florida. (All in all, the kids were great travelers - mom and dad, not so much.) :)

Then, one of Jack and the mess he made out of yogurt covered pretzels!

This is the front porch of the house we thought was ours. Thankfully, it was locked because we were at the wrong house.

This is the view of the Watercolor hotel from the boardwalk leading to the beach. We stayed in the resort, but not at the hotel.

Jack's taking off for his first trip to the ocean!

He only wanted pop. This was not uncommon throughout the whole trip.

Here's the girls and their first sand experience.

Mom got them started with jumping the waves.

Sand!

We went on a walk one morning so I could get some pictures in the bright sunlight. They turned out just OK - mainly because my subjects weren't being super cooperative!

We found tons of lizards during the week!

This was a cute little mail station in Watercolor.

There was also an adorable Post Office in Seaside. 

 Along for the ride...

This was one of the paths behind the homes and around the lake.

The architecture of Seaside and Watercolor is amazing. Every house was cooler than the last and we loved seeing all of the unique features of each home.

A lot of the fences has cutouts in the boards. I don't think I had ever seen that before but it's a great way to make the fences unique.

Love the black windows!

Found some huge adirondack chairs in front of one of the stores.

Jack did not want Tessa to sit with him!

The kids club pool had a splash area too which Jack and Tessa liked.

Jack spent a lot of time sleeping on our laps or in the bike buggy or really wherever he could.

Tessa even caught some z's every once in a while.

Everyone rode their bikes!!!

We caught the ice cream truck once.

Here's the big storm that went through. Gram and Jack had a great time watching it go by.

Dad and Josie made Tessa into a mermaid.

These are all fun pictures we took at our favorite place to eat - the Taco Bar.

Finally, some other random fun.