the essence

Photo Overload!

Once arriving at the hotel on Friday we didn't waste anytime getting started on fun - we had pizza in our room for dinner and then went down to the pool.

Clay caught up on world events



The girls were veeeerry excited about going to the pool!



Ray swam with the girls while Clay & I sat on the edge & watched.





Kate so enjoyed her venture into the pool that when she got up the next morning she put her floaties on her arms & tried to blow them up.



After her failed attempt at the floaties, Kate comforted herself with a bowl of fruit loops.



After breakfast we went back to our room for: naps. The kids don't usually nap that early, but, the younger two were worn out from a late night & I knew the day would be much smoother if they had some naps. After naps we went to Sam's for lunch, drove around historic downtown, hit up the outlets & then drove to a beach on Sanibel Island.



We started off taking all of the kids into the ocean; Kate enjoyed it well enough but Addison freaked out. I held Clay & only dipped his legs in the water a bit. Addison was so distraught I finally walked with her back to the beach. As we were walking out of the water Addison told me she was scared because she was afraid of drowning. She told me, "I'm sure I'm going to drown!" The poor girl was terrified, it broke my heart. Instead of the water Addison, Clay & I stayed on shore playing in the sand. Clay scooted himself around on the mat enough to get to the sand & find a shell. (Don't worry, I took it away from him after the photo)



Addison & I built some sand castles & then I started digging a hole; we made it big enough for Addison to sit in & then she had Ray fill it up with water.






After getting out of her hole Addison began to roll around the sand. Like, really really roll around in the sand. I don't know what brought that on.



Addison was very happy!



For reasons unbeknownst to me, Addison also took great pleasure in throwing the sand up into the air & right into her face.



The ironic thing is that Kate was petrified of the sand. She thought it was bugs & was in tears & terribly frightened. So, one kid afraid of the water & one afraid of the sand. Fun stuff!

The kids were exhausted; We picked up another pizza on the way back to our room, Clay fell asleep on the way back, briefly woke up when Ray took him out of the car & fell back asleep before we made it to our room. He never does that so you know he was beat!



Our sleeping beauties



One reason we love this hotel chain is the free breakfast in the morning. The girls were very excited about their waffles! (Think Addison will regret always making silly faces for pictures when she's older?)



Yes, it was a successfully fun weekend!