ARUUUUBA part 3

Alright... let's get this trip wrapped up.... here is part THREE of our Aruba trip! You can read part one here and part two here!

 This was our view from breakfast every morning.  Is this not incredible??? Not to sound cliche, but it took my breath away every morning when we turned the corner. 

See these ladies?? These ladies had a VERY fun day.... the kids went back to kids club to get a break from the sun and we had a blast being together without anyone needing us for a few hours! It was amazing!

While I was busy having my BIG day, Eddie took a kite surfing lesson and loved it! I am so glad he got to try it out. He might become hooked...ha!
After picking up the kids, we swam for a bit more and then headed to the rooms to get ready for dinner.
 

This kid sat next to me and was all smiles and cuddles.  Cal sat on the other end of the table next to Beckett.  

After dinner we took turns taking pictures with the kids-- I so wish we had done a family one together! Whoops! I adore this one of the boys! Look at those smiles!!!

 Pretty sure I said "uncross your arms!" right before I took this-- they think they are funny.  They are, kinda. 

Our last day started once again with breakfast... Loved my breakfast dates each morning!

After breakfast, they asked to have their picture taken on these steps where we attempted pictures the night before, but they didn't not turn out.  Andy was doing gangham style dance moves while Cal was doing some other kind of move.... 

During rest time on the beach, Cal and Beckett discovered it worked so much better if they SHARED a chair-- it was easier to see what the other was playing.  

Then, we decided, since we were all about making memories for our kids, to let them do this little "couch" tubing thing behind the boat.  All 4 did it with zero tears and several times we got the thumbs up to go faster! This was as we were starting....

And this was during the ride-- all 4 had on goggles and it was hilarious watching them.  Our faces hurt at the end of the ride from smiling so much. 

We had our farewell dinner out on the beach and as we were walking out, Andy goes, "I just really hope there's music there tonight because I want to dance again..." ha! There was music, but it was a band playing slower music. No dancing for him, but he was still okay with it.

 They had a balloon maker there who specialized in sword making... seriously, I think that was all she could do... so these guys had their swords ready to fight!

 When we said goodbye to everyone that night, we explained that we probably wouldn't see our friends for a while.  Cal immediately asked if Beckett could come over for a play date this week.  Not sure he gets how far away Beckett lives!

We had a VERY early flight out of Aruba and it takes 3 hours to get checked in at that airport (sadly, not an exaggeration!) so we were up early.  

Once we got to Miami, we went in a bathroom that was under construction.  This stall had two potties facing each other-- the boys thought this was the funniest thing ever.  Sorry to post this... it cracked all of us up!

I posted a video on insta of the boys running wild in the airport.  They were definitely those kids that you see and mumble under your breath "please don't let them be on my flight...." But, by the time they got on the flight, they were worn out and before we ever took off, Andy was doing this... and he was still doing this when we landed.....

It felt SO good to be home and see our furry boys! I missed those guys! The laundry scene is CRAZY.  I know it always is after a trip... it can be daunting! We had a dog sitter stay at our house and sleep in our guest bed and Eddie's dad is coming Sunday so I had to change those sheets plus Cal wet his bed ("only a little bit though!") last night so add that in to the laundry mix.... nonstop, I tell ya!

Despite the laundry, it was such a great trip.  Our kids are getting to a really fun age to take places.  It's easier for me to say this because Andy was SO good this trip.  We laughed a lot together and that is something I think is so important as a family to do.

The real world is calling and I have some serious catching up to do!

We have a big week with Easter and Eddie's birthday and back to school and on and on and on....!







 

ARUUUUBA part 2

Here is part 2 of our Aruba vacation! You can read part one here.

Monday morning we woke up and Eddie had a meeting to attend so I had breakfast with the boys.  We quickly met up with our friends and had some races on the deck.  

The beach floats were not put out on the beach yet, so the kids grabbed them and made beds-- the float guy was NOT impressed with their creativity!

We decided it was time to get to the pool, so while Eddie had a meeting, the boys and I went to the room to get ready to go! After the sun we got the day before, swim shirts were needed this day!

We spent some time on the beach...and Andy and Avery totally hit it off.  Avery is about 6 weeks older than Andy and they had a lot to say to each other!

I looooove this picture!!!

These four had so much fun playing in the sand together.   They sat like this just chatting away to each other while playing.  It was lovely to watch!

 Here are the ladies! Obviously with drinks in hand :) Me, Jackie, Tara and Andrea.  We all had SO much fun together! Andrea and I joked we were tag teaming the whole trip- she would watch one of mine while I took the other potty, and I would take one of hers to the pool while she finished up on the beach.  It was a perfect match. 

We knew we wanted to do an adults dinner the next night and put the kids in kids club.  We didn't want to drop them in for the first time that night, so we did a short visit during the day on Monday so they could get a feel for it.  This was us right after we dropped them off.....

 Monday night was the "theme" night and I think it was the best theme night we've ever had on one of these trips!

We were on the beach as the sun was setting....

Everyone was super happy and it was just a beautiful night!

After Andy finished eating dinner, he plopped himself on the sand and was super content to just play-- 

And then the dj started up.  And it was awesome.  He played every catchy/cheesy song you can think of and everyone was dancing and singing like crazy...and it was awesome.  These boys danced SO hard.  They were having the time of their lives!

I couldn't get a picture of them when they were dancing because they were moving so fast.  

All of a sudden these people came out in some craaaazy spandex with HUGE head dresses on.  I grabbed Andy, fully ready for a freak out, and he said "it's okay...I am okay...." and got down and kept on dancing. #miracleshappeninaruba
They even posed in front of the people...

Well soon the dancers left, and our crew over took the "dance floor." These boys worked up a sweat so we stripped their shirts.  Then the real fun began... look at these smiles! They were having so much fun.

The mommas were having quite a fun time too-- we were all dancing right along with them and singing out loud.  

Last picture of the night.... Hunter, Andy, Beckett and Cal-- not ready to go to bed!

We woke up Tuesday and hit the pool after breakfast.  Once again, these guys were swimming fools!

There are lizards and iguanas all over the resort... can you see the one behind Andy? He (the iguana) wouldn't take his eyes off of him.  We swam away and his head followed us the whole way.  Andy was laughing so hard, he was having a hard time swimming (plus trying to swim and watch an iguana who is watching you is not easy!).  

We spent some time on the slide on this day.  We all went down it! Here is Cal...

And Andy got to the top the first time and froze and said he didn't want to do it.  He walked back down really sad (but not pouting!) saying he really wanted to try it, but he was scared.  I said I would walk him up there... we got to the top and he started to say no, well, actually he did say no.  He said NO very loudly.  I sat down on the slide with him tucked under one arm and man handled him down the slide.  It sounds bad, I know... but as soon as we started, he said, "this is so great! I am not scared at all!" The second our feet his the water, he turned and said "I want to go again!!!" When we got back to the top, the worker told us this was our last time riding together because we gained too much speed when we went together.  Andy agreed to go solo the next time,  And he did! Over and over and over and over again! He looooved the slide:

 After a million times on the slide, we headed over to the beach.  It was a seriously gorgeous day.

The four kids all got on a raft together and had so much fun kicking around in the ocean.  You could hear them laughing from up on the beach.

We discovered that it was best to bring iPads to the beach for some shaded rest time.  I totally resisted this-- I am anti-iPad on the beach.  But I knew they needed the shade and they needed a break-- was I begging for a meltdown? Beckett and Avery brought theirs down too, so it made sense all around.   

We had lunch on the beach-- this one drank more 7up than he knew what to do with...#whenonvacay

Andy fussed a few times, which he just hadn't been doing and little things were setting him off left and right.  I carried him up to our chair, wrapped him in a towel and held him tight.  Next thing I knew, he was sound asleep on me.  I had a nug in my arm and a book in my other hand (with a drink close by!) and I was quite content! Eddie took Cal up to the pool for a bit and then up to the room while Andy slept. 

After an hour, I shifted to wake him up and the boys hit the bath....with lollipops, because....why not? 

 The kids went to kids club so we could have our adults dinner out on the beach.  This was our view:

The girls....

We had a pretty large group and they offered to put 6 at one table and 4 at the other.  But who was going to decide how to split us up? We all wanted to be together... so someone (maybe it was me....) suggested we sit girls at one table and guys at the other.... and it was SO MUCH FUN!

A sweet lady having dinner by us commented she wished she had done that more often! hahaha She then took our picture and sat back down still smiling at us.  It wasn't as romantic as it could have been, I guess, but we didn't care!

Here was our whole group:

 Can't wait until the next time we get to travel together!!!!

So that wraps up post 2 from our trip....phew! A lot of pictures, right??? More coming............!