The boys don't like the time change too much because the sun is in their eyes a lot more when we are driving around in the van. Eli couldn't get his glasses on right but he was content and sat there and watched tv with them like that for a while. What a crazy child.
We found the Cars tent that Nana gave Aiden a few years ago and I set it up. The boys loved playing in it. It was a tad cold out the day I took this picture and the boys wanted to wear their jackets with the hoods up on their heads. They are too cute.
Aiden has been doing pretty well in occupational therapy. A few weeks ago he saw this massager thing while we there and his therapist said it would be a good idea to get one and see if I could use it on him. He has mixed feelings about it but likes to do it to daddy and mommy.
We took a much needed family vacation to Daytona Beach on Thanksgiving week. We stayed at a timeshare that we have gone to quite often. It's great. It's just 1.5 hrs away and they have an indoor pool, outdoor pool and lazy river, kids outdoor pool, the beach, a kids playroom downstairs, and mini golf inside too. The boys love it.
We got there last Saturday and I got sick the day we left. I was just getting over a cold and then I had quite a few nights with very little sleep and my immune system got too weak to fight it off. The first 2 days weren't much fun for me because I was so tired but thankfully Brad helped out and picked up my slack.
We went down the the beach the first night we were there. It was starting to get dark but we wanted to let the boys play for a bit. Aiden wanted to play in the sand which was good but we had to finally convince him to take his crocs off.
Eli had a blast. He would have gone swimming if we would have let him.
They played in the sand for a while and we tried building some sand castles. They are still catching on to how cool sand castles can be though.
Aiden was so cute just looking out at the water and watching people on the beach. He's such a little analytical kid and he notices everything!
Ahh. Brother hugs. Too cute.
The boys had the most fun throwing sand at the sign. It was too funny to watch because Eli doesn't know how to make sand stay on his shovel and it falls off before he evens makes the forward motion to throw it. We played this game for a while until Aiden learned how to throw sand over the sign and onto Eli.
We decided to go to the beach the next day. It was beautiful outside. Eli headed straight for the water without any hesitation. Brad and Eli were playing a game to run when the waves started to come up. Eli was laughing so hard. Everyone around us was smiling because he was having so much fun.
Eli runs like a little bull dog. He just pushes his chest out and leans into and just runs. It's so cute.
Aiden felt much better about staying up on the sand and throwing sand at the sign again.
We did finally talk him in to taking his shirt off. We eventually even talked him in to playing with the sand rather than just throwing it at the sign.
Eli was covered in sand and didn't care at all. Brad finally encouraged Aiden enough to come down by the water. He was really patient with Aiden and didn't push him too far beyond his comfort zone.
He even helped Aiden be calm enough (and ok enough) to let the water come up by his feet. That's pretty amazing for Aiden!
I made Brad take a picture of the boys and I to have proof I was actually on the vacation too! Aiden is yelling "cheese pickles" in case you were wondering what is wrong with him. Eli is trying to run away so he can go play in the sand again.
We left the beach and then went up to the hotel and floated in the lazy river for a bit in the inter tubes. It was freezing!! Thankfully only part of me got wet. Aiden sat on my lap and Eli sat on Brad's lap. We went around a few times and then decided to go inside to the heated pool. Both boys got in the water and we had fun for a while. Here are my 2 little boys giving mommy kisses. Too cute.
After all that afternoon beach and pool time, they were pooped. The next day, we did some crafts around the room for a bit. Here is Aiden making a necklace for Nana.
We took a walk and the boys really enjoyed sitting on the turtle outside of the hotel.
They had so much fun playing together in the track of the sliding glass doors to the balcony. It was quite amazing to see how well they were playing together and so sweet to watch.
We brought some books so we could still read at night. Eli was really getting in to Go Dog, Go! He loved it. We'll have to read that one more often.
Although we always stay on the 11th floor, we took the elevator up to the 25th floor so we could see out. It was pretty neat and the boys had fun just looking around.
We went downstairs in the play area and the boys wanted to go to the arcade. They could spend hours in here. They each had a car and they put it in the change part of the machine. They like all the flashing lights and sounds the games make. We are going to be in trouble when they realize most people use money and actually play the games. For now though, they are happy just walking around and looking at the screens.
Eli was driving a race car while Aiden sat on the motorcycle for a bit.
Aiden had fun jumping on the Dance, Dance Revolution pad. He was too cute to watch.
The boys finally decided to go in the playroom. They love this carpet which has a racetrack on it. They also have various toys in the room too but they like the carpet.
We got out the lincoln logs and Brad built houses for them. They thought that was pretty cool which is good because I got some for Aiden for Christmas already.
In the afternoon, we went to take a tour of a local chocolate factory. That was quick and fun and then we decided to walk around for a bit. There was a cool area that had tons of little bridges over water. The boys had a blast going over the bridges.
We eventually found a park and the boys really enjoyed playing on it. There were a couple other older boys there and they all got along really well. They ran around for almost an hour and wore themselves out.
There were a ton of seagulls flying around and Aiden decided he would chase them. It was too funny. He was yelling at them and running towards them. Everyone was smiling at Aiden trying to chase the birds away.
Brad read them a story for bedtime. I'm so thankful that Eli is finally starting to enjoy reading books.
On Wednesday, it was time for us to head back. We packed up the luggage cart and boys always enjoying playing on it. It was a great family get away.
The boys got to play alot and just have some fun. Brad and I enjoyed the down time and I enjoyed not being home and finding 101 projects to start or finish. It was great. We got home and I had to take Eli to the dr immediately because he had been coughing a lot and his inhaler wasn't working. Brad took Aiden to occupational therapy for the first time. Things turned out to be ok for everyone.
On Thanksgiving day, we went over to a friends house from church. They had tons of amazing food. It was fun to socialize, relax, and interact with adults. We were going to just order pizza but I'm glad we went to our friends house instead. On Friday afternoon, we drove down to St. Pete to help my mom move into her new place. I'll post again in the next day or so to update on that.
