From Monday to Monday. :)

posing like American Eagle models.

Monday:

I got up early, and finished packing. My packing buddy was already here, happy as a lark. :)
It is so nice to have a little helper. She was so cute and so excited. When she came Sunday night, we both giggled and shrieked; "WE ARE GOING TO THE BEACH!" and then she hugged me because she couldn't think of anything else to do with her excitement. :)
We then drove the short trip to L-ville, and she asked, "Are we there yet?" about ten miles out. We calmly said yes, but then I admitted to her that the next day's drive would be a much lengthy-er one. All of a sudden her face fell. I felt like I had just stomped on a Child's biggest dream. Apparently she is unaware of how far away Florida is.

Reading a snoopy book together.

There was great jubilation at the reunion of two sweet cousins. I love those babies! We had a lovely warm, spring evening catching up and being together as a family. That night I slept between Susie's crib and Mercedes' bed. What more could an auntie ask for?

Highlight of my day: Seeing those cutie cousins reunited! :)

Tuesday:

On the road again. :)
Left at 5AM. our time, and the girlsies fell asleep after a little while. Along with the rest of us non-drivers.
It was a lengthy trip, but its always nice to be with people you love, no matter where you are. The girls were such wonderful travelers. We explained to Cede that it would be "At least after lunchtime before we got there" this made sense to her and so she didn't ask "Are we there yet?" until after lunch. Unfortunately, we still had about 4+ hours to go after lunch. ;)
Finally when we got there, the girls squealed and squealed, and Susie said "Beach beach beach" over and over. It was so Florida-y outside. Just like you imagine, all balmy and beachy with a glorious breeze.
We went into the hotel, and I quickly changed clothes (come on people, I havent seen my Boyfriend in a month and a half, you really think I'm going to let him see me travel-ified? Uh-uh)
Then Cede and I, and Dad hopped back in the van (there was sort of a lot of hopping in the van throughout the week) to go get Abby and Daniel. :)

back together again.

When we arrived, we pulled outside Daniel's dorm and I got out of the van. He is always the same when he sees me again. He tries to act all non-chalant and great my dad and say hey to Cede, but I see his little grin sneaking up on to his face, and the joy when we finally get to hug each other again. Its like we can step back and just take a huge sigh of relief. :)
Then onto Abby. Abby, my favorite baby sister, who apparently now has the blackest hair, and the most gorgeous tan, and a nice-looking boyfriend. :) Mercedes was so excited to see her, and it was just one big mess of hugging between the three of us. Or, if you prefer, it was a "Abby sandwich".

Abby and Mercedes. Cede really got down to the karaoke.

Then we grabbed Siah, who I hadnt seen in a lifetime either, and I patted that little boy on the shoulder, cause honestly I miss him too, and we all went off to grab the Nieslers and have a grand old time at dinner.
We ate dinner at this great seaside place with no walls, so that you get a great breeze, and they squeezed all of us into this teeny table so that we were elbow to elbow. I loved it though. When you are with all of these great people that you havent seen in eternity, all you want to be is elbow to elbow. There was Karaoke that night too, which we did not partake of (although we were greatly pressed to do so) but we did enjoy it and laugh at it and sing along with it and dance to it. Man, those nieces of mine have some moves. Then, it was back to my dad's sweet hotel room/apartment for some b-ball, and some just being together as a family. :)

Highlight of my day: being reunited with my Daniel and my Abby. and Karaoke...I'm a huge fan of Karaoke.

Wednesday:

Opened my eyes to Mercedes about an inch from my face and jumped five miles. Apparently 6:30am is a vacation wake-up time. We soon heard a baby knock from next door, so I knew the other one was up as well. Poor Abby had class, but I got to join the babies at the beach for a while in the morning. I just need to stop right here and mention the weather once more. The weather was phenomenal! Like pure gorgeousness. Amazing.

Mercedes is a Beach Bum at heart. :)

Anyway, after a few morning hours at the beach, I joined Abby for some classes while Josh, Dad and Daniel hit up the golf course. Abby and I had fun walking around, telling girls off when they tried writing me up for my skirt being too short (happened twice), people watching (do you realize that there is no greater place for people watching then a certain college? You see ALL kinds), and drinking these delicious Birthday Cake Frozen Blends, which taste like pure heaven. Plus also I got to eat in the Cafeteria, which was fun ish, and I took 4 napkins. >:)
So when the golfers were finally done, they came and rescued us, err...picked us up off campus, and took us back to the hotel. We had a couple hours to hang out until it was time to get ready for church. I sat down between Abby and Daniel, and all of a sudden I had such an overwhelming feeling of contentment. My two favorite people, on either side of me. On that note; did anybody know there was a food shortage?
Anyway, after church we ordered pizza at the hotel, and Xavier came. The famous, "X-man" that everyone has been talking about! (when I say everyone, I mean Abby and I). He is so cutie. and Mercedes is in love with him. She called him "Mr. Man" it was quite hilarious. We also played a little Catch Phrase (in between staring at the basketball game) and had a great time.

Little Susie, playing in the sand.

Highlight of my day: tie between seeing Daniel all tan and happy after golf, and spending a lot of quality time with my sister. But perhaps the best was eating that amazing birthday cake thing....lol. ;)

Thursday:

Wake up to Mercedes standing over me. I didnt jump as much though, maybe I got used to it.
Breakfast and then off to Chapel at the dreaded college. I decided to go because I love those faithful little students who have to be there everyday, whether or not their family is visiting from a million miles away. Lucky me I got to sit with the cutest boy in the whole school. Gosh, I love that kid. I love how he holds the songbook for me, I love how he sings at the top of his lungs. I love how he likes showing me off, and tells everybody that I'm his girlfriend.

our family, out to dinner.

After Chapel, we hurried back to the hotel for a great day at the beach! Started out by seeing a pod of dolphins out on our balcony (we were on the balcony, the dolphins were in the water). Mercedes watched them for a while and then promptly said, "I hope they dont eat us." To that comment Abby said, "They eat fish and birds." and then turned to me and said, "Do dolphins eat birds?" to which I didnt really know. All three of us were laughed at later.
That afternoon, Daniel and I took a forever long walk, and it was wonderful, because with long walks come long talks (and sore legs the next day, Walk Away the Pounds has nothin on beach walkin). We talked and deeply discussed things going on in our lives. What better place to do that then at a glorious beach on a glorious day! :) Then, Abby had to go to her formal sports banquet with the infamous Xavier, and so I went in with her and helped her get all prettiful. She looked gorgeously stunning. Then all the rest of us got-semi dressed up, and went out to eat.
I love that feeling. My mom loved it too. That feeling of being a little sunburned, all showered and dressed up, and starving because you've spent the entire day at the beach.
I got my favorite meal of the week. Some sort of dreamy olive oil sauce over penne, with an amazing assortment of sauteed veggies and cheese, along with warm bread, and oh my word, I'm starving.
Then we got dessert. Because dessert is what you get when you are on vacation, and you are with your best friends, and you love dessert. Daniel and I shared this massive Chocolate something-or-other and drank coffee like its our job, because thats what we do.

After dinner, we watched (biting nails) the UCONN vs SDSU game. Daniel's #1 pick vs. my #1 pick. :/
I am sad to announce that my team lost, but at least by losing, they gave Daniel's team a victory. So now he's like totally kicking butt in the bracket thingy.

Highlight of my day: Xavier's face when he saw Abby all gorgeous and dressed up, and also sharing dessert with my Daniel. Oh, and how could I forget? My dad told us that we were staying an extra day! Hurrraaayyyy!

Friday:

Friday, I woke up to a small fry squirming into bed between Abby and I. Hilarious. She must have just figured that was the best thing to do. The cute thing was that she put her little arm around me and actually went back to sleep for a little while.
Friday was Cede's special day. She got to go with us to chapel, and she was so excited that she "got to go to college!" She was so good until about half way through when she turned to me with an exasperated face and said, "I just wish that chapel would be over right this minute!" Daniel intelligently got out some paper and a pen for her to draw with. Beautiful Mercedes walking on that campus got more looks than you can imagine. They must not be used to children.
After a quick drive through at McDonald's it was beach time once more! This was our most fun beach day! It was gorgeous outside once more and super windy, so Daniel and I flew a kite! It flew super well! I love kites. I love kites almost as much as Karaoke. :) I must like K things.

Later, when Xavier got there, we decided to build a sandcastle....but then our plans became bigger, and we decided to build a giant sand alligator! :) Xavier is a graphic design major, and extremely artistic so he took over most of the details, while the other three of us put together the general shape. It was great fun though, and several people stopped and told us that they thought it was fantastic. The next day Gretchen said she saw some girls getting their pictures taken with it. Haha. Much better than a castle. :) Daniel and I ended the day with a little ping pong....hecks yeah. We got to like 37 in our count....its pretty hard in the wind...
Friday night we returned to Crabs. I'm not sure why, other than it was so fantastic the first time. Daniel got fish, which he usually doesnt like, and loved it....which shows you there is something magical about dinner out after a day at the beach. Instead of Karaoke, this time there was live music, including "Sweet Home Alabama" to which Daniel promptly sang along with at the top of his lungs. It was a little chilly in the evening, having had a fairly strong breeze. Back at the hotel, we put on hoodies, and glow bracelets and went for a walk on the beach. So fun! It did get a little chilly towards the end though, so we went to the heated pool and waded for a while, and Daniel actually just dove all the way in. It was another time for some great conversation.

Highlight of my day: building the giant crocodile, or flying a kite with my favorite guy.
Saturday:

Saturday was our bonus day, since we were supposed to have left, but my dad was wonderful enough to get rooms for Saturday night.
Saturday morning began with my most favorite K word (or, words) of all: Krispy Kreme. Hallalujah. I could eat my weight in those babies. No joke, people.

It was sort of all cloudy but it was still warm, so we went for it and swam in the pool for a while. Then it ended up getting like super sunny and hot and fantastic. It was easily the warmest day of the week. Daniel and I went for another walk and actually got into the ocean because it was so warm out that we were getting hot! After swimming in the pool for a while, our Krispy Kremes wore off and we were starving. So, we put on suitable clothes (which meant shorts and a tank over our swimsuits, and a shirt for the guys...and one of them wore flip flops....Daniel was barefoot...but thats a long story) and went to this divine pizza shack place. Holy Cow, it was like heaven... that food was so stinkin good. Man, I'm cravin some of that pizza right about now, with some sweet tea. :)

We returned to the beach, refreshed and spent the afternoon lying on the beach, allowing ourselves to get terribly burnt and my hair to bleach itself to blonde-dom. Josh, Daniel, and I ended up going pretty far out. I couldnt believe my own bravery. :) There was sort of like a sandbar, so the farther you went out the shallower it got. It was super fun though, and I shrieked every time a big wave came up, and we laughed until we were so cold and numb from the water that we couldnt laugh anymore.
We showered and went to a yummy little burger joint for supper. They have free peanuts with the shells still on, so Daniel proclaimed it was his new favorite place. :) We watched Monsters INC back at the hotel, all snuggled and sunburned.
Then I blinked, and it was time to return them back to their dorms. I was fine until Mercedes started crying as she hugged Abby. Then I burst. Daniel quickly wrapped an arm around my shoulders.
Life is just that way though. You blink and your day is over.
You blink and your vacation is over.

Highlight: Pizza Joint, and all of us playing together on the beach.

Sunday:

I arose at dawn. Loaded the luggage cart, and carried a sleeping angel to her car seat....however, by the time we pulled out of the parking lot, she was wide awake. Oh well.
We drove on and on....getting 10 degrees cooler with each stop. Cede and Susie had some great moments, sharing the DVD player like little sweethearts.
When we got stuck in traffic, we played Trivial Pursuit for a while. I love my family.
When we dropped off Gret and Josh, Susie gave me a smooch. She is such a sweet baby.
Back on the road, Mercedes and I watched a movie. It was nice to have those last hours with just the three of us. Sort of calm and quiet. We got in pretty late, and I carried my stuff to my room, and promptly got ready for bed.

Monday:

Well thats today.
I've done laundry like a mad woman, and I've talked to Daniel three times already because we are having this terrible feeling of withdrawal.
Can someone tell me, how many days till summer?


Such a wonderful seven days.