Utah Trip - Tubing!

I was so pumped for today!  (Aside from the hassle of getting everyone equipped to play in the snow and the super pain in the butt that is when you are looking for clothes to fit a non-size 6 body... Oh well, I made it work.)

We went up to a tubing park up by Park City with Peter's siblings and nieces and nephews.  I've never gone to a place like this so I was excited to try it and to have the kids try it too.

Clockwise from left: Korben, Payton, Jaxton, Jordan, Maxwell

The kids all hung out with me in a heated hut while the rest of the adults bought the passes.

And now the girls (and a few boys)

Jaxton, Payton, Harleigh, Emmalyn, Mariah, me, Felicia, Madison, Lola

All bundled up (poor Emmalyn could only move her fingers and her eyes).  Cute little snow kids!

Emmalyn aka Stay Puffed Marshmallow girl.  She couldn't even really sit up, just sort of lay against the chair.

Hitting the hills - - -you stand on this conveyor belt and it takes you up.  No big deal until you are trying to keep your balance, hold onto your tube, plus hold your puffed up daughter all at the same time.  It stressed me to no end.  After the first time, I let Peter take Emmalyn.  (Which left me with Maxwell which had it's own complications as I tried to help him successfully get on and stay upright on the belt.)

Maxwell and his tube

Everyone had to have their own tube, so Emmalyn went down in an adult tube because she fit better inside it than a smaller one (plus I felt it was safer in the wider base).  I didn't realize when we showed up that she would have to have her own tube and couldn't ride with Peter or I.  That made me incredibly nervous.

Video - Emmalyn going down the hill for the first time.  She wasn't sure what to think and you can see how she changes her mind a few times.  I thought for sure she'd love this since she's usually so bold and brave, but nope...not this time.

He was so happy and having a lot of fun.

Daddy's girl

Waiting in line to go up the hill.  The first couple times went really fast but after that, there were a ton of people you had to wait a long time.  That made it not so much fun for Emmalyn and Maxwell.  

Brothers and their daughters

I thought snow tubing was awesome (and I only did the little hill...that was plenty exciting)

It was a lot of fun having so many family members there.  We didn't stay together as a whole big group but there was enough of us that you frequently ran into someone.  After two times going down,  Emmalyn did not want to go anymore.  She decided it wasn't fun and was too scary for her.

At that point I took both the kids because Max was tired of waiting and starting to get cold, and Emmalyn kept saying she was poopy.  UGH!  That meant I had to trek all the way back to the car, holding my daughter who had doubled in weight thanks to all her clothes... get a diaper and wipes and trek all the way back to the bathroom.  On the way back, I grabbed our stroller so at least I didn't have to hold Emmalyn but that was tough too because the ground was snowy/slushy/icy.

Alex watched Maxwell while I took care of Emmalyn.  I think the diaper change took like 30 minutes because I had to take all the layers off and then put all the layers on.  And to top it all off - she wasn't even poopy!!!  She was totally lying because she knows that we act pretty quickly if she's poopy.  She was clearly trying to manipulate me and get out of having to go down the hill again.  Sneaky little girl.

Once Maxwell had some hot chocolate in him, he was ready to play on this mound of snow with Lola.

Sliding down on his rear

Trying it with a tube

Emmalyn was happy to just sit in the stroller and hang out.  She was so fussy that I gave her the binky.  I didn't put all of her layers back on after the diaper change so she was a little less puffy and I hoped still warm enough.

He was LOVING playing in the snow.

Nothing emphasizes how short one is better than wearing big bulky snowpants.  :)

She fell asleep (which made me confident she was warm enough - whew)

Maxwell tackling Korben.  They had fun playing together.

While I was with the younger kids, everyone else was having fun going on the big hill.

Group picture (minus Alex)...

...Oh, there he is

The area is just so beautiful!  I miss seeing these gorgeous mountains.

We all headed to McDonalds for lunch and then went our own separate ways after that.

Max and Lola buddying up

Emmalyn's cousins were so sweet with her :)

Peter and Madison

Peter, Madison, Mark, and Alex w/ Morgan in the front

Group picture with everyone this time

After we left, we headed to Sandy to go to my step-sister Katherine's grand opening of her esthetician salon.  We got to see Nana, Uncle Derek, Aunt Katherine, Aunt Marabeth, and Aunt Sharee.  We didn't get to spend much time with them because everyone was busy with the opening but I was able to help a little big and Maxwell and Emmalyn got to see Nana, which they were so excited for.

There were a ton of people there - it was crazy!

We were wiped out after our long day.  We stopped at Arctic Circle on the way back to Tammy's for another shake (I got cookie butter again because it was so yummy).

Captiva Island - Fun under the sun and moon

We were looking for something to do outside of the resort and the local library had many great reviews so we decided to check it out.

They had an amazing sea shell collection.  This was like 1/12 of it.  I have never seen so many cool sea shells!  (Another example of how many seashells are around - as you were leaving the library there was a basket full of gorgeous shells and a sign inviting you to take one.  They have plenty and are happy to share!)

This library had an amazing kids section of toys.  So many different kids of toys (hands on, interactive, and educational toys not just electronics or super hero figures).  It was such a cool library with a great set up that catered to tourists.  Cool fact - you can check out kitchen pots and pans at this library!  

Stacking cups with dad

Now playing with magnet toys (which I thought were so cool I ended up buying them for Christmas 5 months later)

The kids section had this fun stage that the kids played on.  (Luckily the library was nearly empty this morning so I didn't worry about them being too loud.)

Video - My kids "performing" on the stage.

After lunch and naps, we were ready to go hit the pools!

We were in the pools forever.  We pool hopped to a couple different pools.  We brought a new float for Emmalyn and she liked it for a little bit but then was done so Peter got out with her while Maxwell and I kept swimming.  He was a total fish and didn't want to stop.  We were all wrinkled when we were done.

The view for one of the pools, right on the edge of the ocean.  There was another one that was even more gorgeous but obviously I don't have my phone on me when I'm swimming.  :)

Sometimes, I forget how awesome it is to have a child that has reached the age where he can do many things independently, like put on his own shoes.

All this time in the water has helped Max's swimming skills improve even more.  He's just swimming like crazy.  He can dive down for the sticks on the bottom of the pool, can swim really far with just one breath, and can really swim without us at this point.

We had crappy, expensive pizza at the pizza joint and then hopped back on the trolley to go back to our room.

Maxwell had been asking to play tennis so we rented some racquets and balls.  It was late by the time we got out of our room and nearly bedtime but we decided we'd play for a short time so that Maxwell didn't miss out on something he wanted to do.

Ready to play!

He thought it was so awesome!  (I wish I was a better tennis coach - I wasn't sure how to help him "get" how to hit the ball.  We had lots of fun trying to figure it out, though.)

Emmalyn had fun wandering around, grabbing balls, and gathering lots of attention whenever people would walk by.

Holy moly.  It was SOOOOO hot and humid.  We were all dripping in sweat.  My hair didn't stand a chance.  Who knew it could look that bad?

Eventually Emmalyn was super tired and so I had to run around the court trying to hit balls back to Maxwell while I held her.

We had an awesome time and ended up playing much, much later than we had planned.  The lights were turned off on our court and we weren't ready to be done yet so we moved to another court.  It was a late night under the moon and so much fun!

A normal morning with cereal, milk, and the ipad

Both kids slept in the front room.  Max slept on this big bed all by himself and didn't fall off!

Our screened in balcony with a view of the marina

I was rocking some pretty bright orange toes.  (Max told me wanted me to get orange nail polish.)

Her left canine and her left molar on the top have now popped through.  So many teeth so early (at least that's what it feels like).

Handsome dad coming back in from spraying on the bug spray - a must!

Max's selfie that I found on my phone later.

Cute girl at breakfast.  This girl can EAT!

Even though Maxwell didn't want to, I wanted to hit the beach again on our last full day in Florida.  I was like, "don't you want to go and get more seashells?!" and he bent down by the side of the road, picked up a random seashell and said he didn't need any more, that would be enough.  HA!  I think if he could walk on the sand without getting sand in his sandals, he might not dislike the beach so much.

Playing with dad in the ocean

Wearing his goggles so the salt water wouldn't get in his eyes

Trying to catch a wave on his boogie board

Emmalyn was happy to play in the sand (and not eat it!)

I don't see any baby in this picture, it's all boy.  :(

We were so lucky to have pretty much great weather the whole time we were there.  When we were getting close to heading to FL from TX, the weather looked like it was going to be rainy a lot of the time...I'm so glad it wasn't!

This sweet boy was so knocked out from being in the sun and ocean that he took one REALLY long nap.

And this is him an hour later...still sleeping (I managed to free my arm - whew)

For dinner, we again wanted to go somewhere outside of the resort.  (That was the worst thing of the resort - I didn't much like the food choices and they were horrible over-priced.)  It was hard to find a place where we wouldn't wait forever, with good reviews on the food, and fair prices.  We ended up finding an Italian restaurant that had good reviews and decided to go there.  When we got there, there was *ONE* car in the parking lot.  That was it.  One.  We wondered if it was even open but then we saw some of the kitchen staff out on the patio watering the plants.  Yikes, bad sign when a place is vacant but at that time we were all starving and decided to check it out.

We went inside and were warmly welcomed by the owner and the manager.  They were excited to see us, gave us great service, and coo'd over the kids.  The food ended up being PHENOMENAL and it was nice to eat in an empty restaurant because we didn't have to worry about the kids misbehaving.  

Peter and I keep wondering what was going on...the food was great, the reviews were great, the service was awesome.  Why in the world was this restaurant completely empty???

Grabbing daddy's nose

Yum!  Dessert

When we got to dessert, the restaurant started filling up with patrons.  (We later learned that this is common because #1 - we were in town during the off season so traffic was lower and #2 - most people on that side of the island are on the beach watching the sunset and so once that happens, the restaurants fill up.)

Best meal of the trip!

I wish I had taken more pictures of the main road on the island.  On both sides of the road there were beautiful homes and cottages with so much personality.  Each one had a unique sign out on the road with the name of the property like "Mermaid Dreams" and "Banana Cabana".  It was so lush and tropical that if I didn't know better, I'd think we were on a Caribbean island.

My favorite part of the drive

Max and Peter did some late night swimming since it was our last chance before flying home in the morning.  Maxwell had such a great time with all the time he got to spend in the pool.  Each time he made friends with the other people in the pool (especially the cute women - they loved him and he wrapped them around his finger...cracked me up).

Helping me close the suitcase

Sweet baby taking a nap on the plane.

What a wonderful vacation!

Maxwell loves going potty in public bathrooms whenever we are out.  He especially loves pooping which, as a parent, can be frustrating because he takes forever to poop!  So you are standing there in the stall or the bathroom just hanging out for like 15 minutes while he does his business.  There was one time during this vacation where he was in the stall and I was waiting by the sinks and he came out with his sock in his hand and goes, "I accidentally got my sock wet".  "Max, how did you get it wet?!" And he goes, "I dropped it in the toilet."  What?! and I just have to shake my head because you never know what you are going to get with kids... right? :)

Maxwell has been saying "you know" a lot.  For example, he'll say, "I like winter, you know."  It's been really fun spending a lot of time around him without breaking our time up with school and work.