Restoring all faith in family vacations - Team Taylor visits Amelia Island...

Age of Lady Kaitlyn:  17 months and 1 week

Family,

And a good Monday evening to you from the Queen City, where the Bull and Striker are on the couch watching pre-season NFL football and counting the days until the college football season officially kicks off.  But that's neither here nor there, as tonight we're talking about a WONDERFUL last weekin the books - let's get amongst it.

So Monday and Tuesday went quickly for Team Taylor, largely because we were packing and running the entire time.  What was the destination, you ask?  Team Taylor traveled just across the Florida state line to spend 4 nights in a little known paradise called Amelia Island, where we met our cousins Sarah & Steve (and their twins of course) and Kim & Matt.  And I should say right here that a TON of credit goes to wife muffin, as she did almost ALL of the lion's share on this in terms of planning, booking the room, and coordinating everything.  Way to go, muffin puffin!  You made this past week SO wonderful.

"You sure I can't dig to China from here?"

Before we jump to the vacation, 2 developmental notes for K.  First off, she has been SO CUTE lately curling up in our laps and asking us to read books.  Basically she'll grab a book, walk it over to you, give you the please sign, and then wait for you to take it.  Once you take the book, she'll turn her back to you, waddle back to your chest, and plop down so tightly against you it's as though you're about to wrap her in a parental cocoon.  She's been loving reading books lately and loving to snuggle, which I have NOT complained about.  SO CUTE!

Can you hear Chariots of Fire in the background?

The other developmental item is that, for the first time ever, K escaped from the clip on the changing table this week (Tuesday evening to be exact).  Now this wouldn't have been an issue for Jenny, but I tend to clip the Munch in and wash stuff off in the bathroom while she's locked down.  Now, however, that isn't an option, so I'd better be prepared when I lay her on that changing table!  And for the record - she hadn't yet stood up on the changing table...but I have a feeling it was about 3 seconds away...

As for the trip to Amelia Island, it was WONDERFUL.  Seriously - we did have fun in Jamaica (a lot of it, in fact), but it was tough sledding at times.  Between the dangers of the house, the isolation, and K's sleeping pattern being off, Jamaica was tough at times.  This trip, however, featured none of that, and as a result it was a well and truly relaxing vacation.  On the whole Amelia Island far surpassed my expectations, and it's a place I would definitely return to.

"Yeah...I'm pretty sure there are sharks out there."

The drive down should have taken just shy of 6 hours.  However, as we were in no rush, couldn't check in until the afternoon, and knew that the other two couples wouldn't arrive until late, we decided to make a day of it.  And so we stopped at a pair of rest areas, letting K walk around and chase dogs, as well as a Dairy Queen (where we changed a poopy diaper in 98 degree weather on the blacktop of the parking lot - but at least we used a sheet!), a gas station, and even Cracker Barrel for breakfast.  By the time we picked up the keys, shopped for groceries at Publix (because JT REFUSED to shop at Harris Teeter in Florida), and arrived at the condo, TEN HOURS had passed.  That being said, K was great (only slept about 50 minutes all day) and really held up well to the travel.

No comment required really.

Our room was great - bottom level of 3 floors, meaning that it was really quiet.  Again - things were just much easier in this place.  The first night we put K down around 7:30 and then had some chicken (and beer!) on the patio.  We had an amazing view of the ocean, and we were treated to a gorgeous sunset, complete with a FULL rainbow on the ocean - complete with birds flying in formation along the coast.

The gang arrived later that night, and Thursday kicked off a really, really amazing stretch.  For starters, the beach was 500 feet from our condo, and it was an easy walk (with the stroller no less!).  Steve had a tent, and so we passed several hours that first day with the girls (K and the twins) playing in the ocean and under the cover of shade - all of which they enjoyed immensely.  K really loved the water, and this beach was GREAT because it was enormous and had such a gentle slope.  The water wasn't as clear as Jamaica, but it was still clear enough (and VERY gentle).

The sneetch LOVING the Omni pool.

We passed the first 2 days alternating between the pool and the ocean, and it was GREAT.  K didn't love our local pool, but on Saturday morning we took her to the Omni pool and splash park, and THAT was an EPIC success.  For starters, K loved the splash park - both the streams of water and all the new things to crawl on.  We then took her to the "big pool," where there was this terrific step for her to play on.  At first she wasn't a huge fan, but then she started to really enjoy it and got quite brave - she walked on her tippy toes to keep her head from going under!  It was amazing to watch her confidence surface.  JT had told me how much more confident she'd become, but there was nothing like seeing it in person.

A moment of appropriate respect from one
person with Tennessee blood to another.

Inside the house K had another achievement - she finally started walking down stairs with virtually zero help!  She would grab onto the handrail and take actual steps vs. sliding down on her butt - amazing to watch!  It was also funny to watch Malin and McKinley, as they'd never been on stairs before (but picked them up quite quickly!).  I'm not sure their parents were thrilled with them climbing, but they were just so cute I had to let them do it a few times.  :-)

I will say that K basically used 6 words on this trip.  I will now try and provide the breakdown of # of times used:

1.  Up - 15 times

2.  More - 50 times

3.  No - 100 times

4.  Dada - 125 times

5.  Uh-oh - 500 times

6.  Mama - 17,896,532,124 times  - HOLY MOLY I'M NOT KIDDING

Seriously - the Sneetch is ALL ABOUT her mommy right now, and the second she walks out of the room, K goes nuts.  At first she'll say "Mama" about 20 times, which is code for "where is the woman who looks after me?"  After that, it's tears.  And I'm not talking "bad acting in Hollywood" tears.  I'm talking "Demi Moore at the end of Ghost" tears - it's nuts!  She also calls for daddy as well, but there's no question who she goes to when she's' scared, worried, or wants to play.  And while we know that we need to keep an eye on attachment and separation, I will say it's great to see our family unit so tight that this is something we've noticed.  JT and K have that pure mother-daughter bond that I know JT was so worried about, and it does my heart good to see it in action.

"LBRC - I am NOT a fan of adirondack chairs!"

As far as the trip itself, the only thing I would have changed was the length, as I would have made it longer.  Those guys are SO much fun, and it was so cute watching the girls all walk over to me with a book in hand - I felt like a storyteller!  Grandmother would have been so proud. :-)  But more than the laughs and the photos - this trip truly relaxed me.  Now it certainly help that the kids were on the same schedule and that we had 6 adults to spread among 3 kids, but still - this place is a GREAT family vacation destination.  The kids LOVED the ocean (especially Friday when it was overcast), and you can tell they are all water dogs.  K ate great, slept great (until at least 6:15 each morning, which was the point we would pull her in bed and try to get her to sleep on Mommy or Daddy - always to no avail), and really had fun, even when she was EXHAUSTED on that final day (fell asleep within 6 minutes on the drive home.

And while it's a bit of a stretch to say that this trip truly restored my faith in family vacations, it definitely helped to show me that travel with a munchkin absolutely can work and be fun for everyone - you just have to be smart about the spots, have a little help, and get lucky.  We'll definitely keep that in mind as we plan future trips, as we want to keep the roads hot with the sneetch!

So there you have it - nothing profound on this post, just a simple retelling of an AMAZING 4 days in the golden isles of the first coast.  JT and I are already starting to plan the next trip to the sunshine state - and it looks like it will be in October AND will be the first multi-day trip without the rug rat.  She'll be 19 months at that point and will have Grammie to keep her company, so I'm thinking all will go VERY well (knock on wood - this could be foreshadowing for those reading after the fact :-)).

That's all the news that's fit to print.  Chat soon!

Love,

Sam and Jenny