National Watermelon Day

Did you know today is National Watermelon Day? Today we went to a playgroup to celebrate. All of the kids wore red, green or black.
It was pretty fun.

Eli tried some watermelon..then later I noticed some watermelon colored spit-up all down his shirt...not sure how much he liked it...

Eli got to play with some new friends :)

We had loads of fun!

The Lighthouse

After leaving the beach today we headed over to the Ponce DeLeon Lighthouse. I will warn you...there are lots of pictures to follow.

Here's the lighthouse.

Yup...we walked up all those steps...

...to see this view. Beautiful.

I tried not to look down...

Edgar walked up all those steps (all 203 of them) while carrying Eli. Aren't dads good to have around?!

Mommy steps out from behind the camera every now and then :)

Look at Eli's hair! It was nice and breezy at the top.

Mom and dad made it to the top too.

We stayed up for a bit...

...and then headed back down.

Hold on tight daddy!

Safe at the bottom!

This is not the light that was actually at the top-you couldn't go into the area with the light, but it was a light in a room in the lighthouse museum.

Hey. Good to see you.

We had to take a quick trip to the car to feed Eli, and he thought we should go for a little ride.

Family shot.

Abuela & Abuelo.

Here's a quick video of Eli enjoying the view from the top.

Still in Daytona...

I know I said that I would be posting again on Saturday...but I was so tired! I think getting no sleep the night before did me in.

Saturday was a fantastic day despite being tired. Edgar, Eli and I headed out to the beach at 10:30 and played in the water for a bit. Eli was a bit hesitant at first, but as soon as he got used to the cool water, he had fun. Right after we got out there Edgar realized he forgot his sunglasses, so he ran back in. Eli and I went out to the water, and sat down in the waves. Well...mommy miscalculated the waves a bit, and the first wave to come over our lap was pretty big...Eli was scared, and started crying, so I picked him up...then his hat flew off, the 3 sand pails, 4 water balls, and shovel started floating away. So I'm holding my crying baby, chasing his hat and all these things, wishing I had reminded my husband to grab his sunglasses. Fortunately, everything was captured, and we moved back a bit and enjoyed the water.

Krista, Eliott and Katie arrived shortly after 11, and we played for a while. Eliott and Krista had to run in for a bit to change and stuff, so Edgar and I took Eli and Katie into the waves. We had fun getting splashed :) Katie got laughing so hard! It was very cute. We headed back and built a sand castle and got completely covered in sand-but that's the point of the beach, right?! I went back into the water to rinse off, and totally got sucked into playing in the waves :) They were so big! I got laughing so hard-which was a little silly, seeing as I was by myself. I was wishing I had someone to enjoy the waves with, but oh well. I will say, however, the waves were very strong...if you ever go in those waves, be sure that your bathing suit is secured. I won't say any more...

Believe it or not, I did not take any pictures of this trip to the beach. I KNOW! As Eli and I were sitting on the beach I decided I just wanted to enjoy being with my baby and not try and stay clean and dry for a camera. Krista took some shots, so I will be stealing pictures from her :)

The no camera thing didn't last long :) We went back to the room around 1 and Eli took a bath. I couldn't resist taking a picture of my naked kid :)

After his bath he watched Veggie Tales (I think it was 'Little Joe' or something like that). It was the first time he had seen that video, and he giggled and clapped the whole way through. It was adorable. I had planned on doing a few things while he watched it, but I got so caught up in watching him (and I'll admit...I watched the video too...Veggie Tales is just WAY too entertaining...) that I didn't get anything done.

Katie came over and watched with Eli.

After Eli's nap we got ready and headed to Olive Garden where I ate my weight in pasta. It was SO yummy. Eli did so good. It was WAY past his bedtime, but you never would have known. He didn't get fussy or anything. He got to bed around 9:00 and slept great until 7. He got in bed with us again, but I didn't really mind. He's so snugly in the morning.

After a little breakfast we went for another walk on the beach. Eli was ready for one more trip down to the water!

Enjoy a short little video of my happy little boy!

Good Morning!

Here comes the sun (do do do do...) Last night was kind of a long night for me. I think because I was sleeping in the same room as Eli I heard every movement he made, and was awake most of the night...oh well. At 4:30 he started crying so I brought him in bed with us where he stayed until 6:30. He slept for maybe 45 minutes of that 2 hours...So we got up at 6:30 to go see the sunrise on the beach. Here are some pictures :)

At 8:30 we all went for a walk-Eli's stroller worked great once we got to the packed down sand by the water.

Yes, you can drive on the beach here...

Mom and dad

The boys...

The water was cold, but Eli seemed to like getting his feet wet!

Enjoying the view :)

I'm sure I'll update again during his afternoon nap. We're having a blast!

Later that day...

Ahhhhh...vacation.

We had a nice afternoon. We pretty much just hung out for a bit in the hotel room. Eliott and Krista went to her parent's house, and Edgar, Eli, mom, dad, and me went to Denny's. (During the drive over this afternoon Edgar and I discussed that one of my favorite reasons for going on vacation is getting to go out to eat at a restaurant. We rarely go out to eat, so it's SUCH a treat for me!) We got back and went for a walk on the beach.

My camera lens got all foggy. I was pretty annoyed. I keep telling myself it makes it look 'artistic', but in reality, it just looks foggy...

I took this shot right as the water came over Edgar's feet for the first time...that water is COLD! We're used to the 90 degree Gulf water (yes...literally 90 degrees...)

Abuelo and Eli (Eli is so cute...he loves his abuelo. Today when we got to the hotel he sat in abuelo's lap for about 20 minutes, perfectly content to hang out)

Happy grandparents.

My feet in the freezing cold water.

Eli had a blast. Here he is making a 'clucking' noise with his tongue :)

Fish anyone?

The moon is out...and we're headed to bed. Edgar and I came back to the hotel while mom and dad walked for about another hour. We put Eli to bed (It took him almost an hour to fall asleep...he's not lovin' his pack-n-play lately...) and talked. We're taking turns in the bathroom getting ready for bed, the boys are watching tv, and I'm at my favorite place as of late...right in front of the computer screen :) Looking forward to playing on the beach tomorrow!

Goodnight!

Daytona Beach

We haven't even been here for 2 hours, and I'm already blogging :) Actually, Eli's taking a nap, and it's nice and quiet in the room, so I thought I'd hop in the Internet and get started on this weekend :) Expect many fun updates...or one really huge one when we get back...

We headed out this morning around 11:00. We had to have our house spotless before we left because our realtor is doing an open house on Sunday for us...so it wasn't just 'picked-up' it was 'open house ready'. It made packing a little more hectic, but it will be WONDERFUL to come home to a super clean house.

We got on the road and had a really good trip. The picture above is at our fabulous stop at a rest stop. We had packed a lunch so we ate that, and I fed Eli.

Eli did really good. That's the longest ride in the car seat that he's had. He slept for about 1/2 hour of the 3 hour trip. The rest of the time he was playing or 'reading'. He loves this little Sesame Street book Aunt Krista is letting us borrow.

We got here and hung out in the hotel a bit, and then Eli was ready for a nap. Everyone went for a walk, and I got to stay back. Honestly, I love being with family-it's so fun! I also love being quiet and having an excuse to blog and play with photoshop :) So nap times in the hotel room will be fun for me!