We had the best trip to St. Augustine last week. I was so excited because it was going to be our first vacation that was just the four of us, and the whole trip lived up to my expectations, even though it didn't seem to start off that way....
Day 1: Eric and I woke up at 4:30 am because we figured if we got up and out, it would give us a whole extra day at the beach. We had packed up the car the night before, including strapping Meredith's pack and play and the girls' double stroller on the top of the car. We ended up leaving around 5:20 am, and for about an hour everything was going great! We were just south of the city on I-75 when all of a sudden a big 18-wheeler started honking at us and flashing his lights, so Eric pulled over and the truck pulled behind us. Turns out, the pack and play flew off the top of the car. Awesome. So the guy told us where we lost it so we turned around. We were driving about 25 in the HOV lane looking for Meredith's bed, and all of a sudden, the same guy was honking and flashing his lights at us. He had gone back and gotten the pack and play for us because he thought it was safer for a big truck to stop than my little Tucson. It was so nice of him! He wouldn't give us his name or let us give him any money, but he basically saved our trip (and our marriage, because I am sure that this would have caused a fight!) The mattress of the pack and play was trashed, but I was able to make it work for the week so Meredith had some place to sleep.
We had to go to a Chick-fil-A in Jacksonville because Eric had read something about how they were testing a spicy chicken sandwich in the Jacksonville Chick-fil-A's, so we actually found one with the sandwich so Eric was thrilled! And since Chick-fil-A is Melanie's favorite, she was happy and she got to play on the playground a bit before we had to get back in the car.
We got to St. Augustine before we could check in to our condo, so we took the girls down to the beach by the pier, where Meredith discovered that sand is just delicious, so she sat there eating sand and trying to eat shells. This was just the beginning of our sandy week with her!
We got to the condo and it was great. At least Eric and I thought so. Melanie walked in and was all upset because there was no fireplace. I tried to explain that you don't really need a fireplace at the beach, and she said that she didn't need a fireplace for the fire, this place didn't have a stage where she could do her singing. Not too much of a pop superstar, is she?
Meredith loved exploring around there, but the 2 chairs in the family room confused her because they spun around. She pulled up on one, didn't realize it spun, and then went flying, taking Melanie down with her! At this point it was time for everyone to go to bed so we could enjoy the beach tomorrow.
Day 2: The weather was beautiful when we woke up! We got the girls ready and, as Melanie says, "sunscreened up", and headed down to the beach, where Magoo proceeded to eat about half of the sand on the beach. I was beginning to get concerned that St. Augustine Beach was going to be out of sand by the end of the week. It was really funny because she would just sit there and dip the top of her sippy cup in the sand and then drink it, or get a piece of ice, drop it in the sand, and then eat it. And Melanie thought it was just HILARIOUS to fill Eric's shoes with sand. Needless to say, that was the only day that he wore shoes down to the beach. A little while later, Melanie was all pouty, looked and Eric and said that she was not a happy camper. He asked her why not, and she told him it was because he ruined her life! If this is a preview of Melanie as a teenager, we need to watch out!
After the beach, we all got changed and headed in to town. We stopped by the landing site of Ponce de Leon and got out and walked around a bit, which was pretty cool. Eric had been there before, but I hadn't, so it was really neat to see. We took Melanie to what she called "the Ariel store", which was really Alvin's Island, the souveneir shop. She called it the Ariel store because there was a big mermaid on the outside. We got each of the girls a t-shirt and Melanie got a "buggy board" with a huge smiley face on it. After that, we went back and took the girls to the pool, where Meredith began harassing these people who had drinks sitting by the side of the pool. She would walk (on her knees) a few steps, look at the people to see if they were watching, and then take a few more steps. They thought she was hilarious! The rest of the week, any time we saw those people, they would start telling everyone with them that was the cute little girl who tried to steal their drinks. After the pool, we stopped in the hot tub, which Melanie LOVED! Every day, that was wear she wanted to go first. Meredith started to say "duck" and "bird", which was really cute. Eric cooked up some shrimp for dinner, and he discovered this certain cocktail sauce that he loved....it was all we heard about for days! When Eric finds something he likes, he gets really excited about it! After dinner the girls took a bath, where Melanie bit Meredith in the ear and couldn't figure out why she was upset....then, we walked on the beach, where we discovered that walking on the beach will put Magoo to sleep....which worked to our advantage the next few days! When we got back to the condo, Melanie wanted some of the brownies that we made for dessert, so we gave her one. A few minutes later, it was gone, and so was she. The next thing we knew, she was in the kitchen andstuck her whole hand in the pan and just grabbed a handful of brownie....such a mess, but really funny. It was a great first day of vacation.
Day 3: We made our way down to the beach for a beautiful morning. Meredith started to get cranky, so I walked her down the beach again and she quickly fell asleep.
We spent a couple of hours down there, then decided to see some of the sights. Eric wanted to go to Fort Matanzas, which was only about 20 minutes away, so we got in the car and drove down there to explore what the tour guide said was the "most boring fort ever." And it was. Nothing really ever happened there, but the girls enjoyed going on the boat ride and then we had a picnic afterwards. We drove into historic St. Augustine and went to the San Sebastian Winery, which was fun for Eric and me, but not so much for the girls. During that time, it was POURING rain, so we ran inside with the girls, where Eric realized Melanie was missing a shoe. So he stayed with the girls on the tour while I searched for the shoe outside in the rain. I met back up with them, and went through the rest of the tour, and then we had the tasting. Meredith loved that part because she stole all of the crackers that were there and ate them! We left the winery and it was still pouring rain, so we just drove around...the only problem was that we were driving through what seemed like lakes! All of the streets were flooded, and there were a couple times that I thought we weren't going to be able to get the car out. We decided to stop by the lighthouse, where we discovered that you have to be at least 44 inches tall to climb up, so the girls couldn't go. So we just took some pictures and moved on!
We stopped by the shell shop, where the only shells Melanie would even consider getting were covered in glitter! So cute and funny. We also bought each of the girls a shell necklace. By the time we got back to the condo, the rain had stopped and Eric made us some awesome fried shrimp for dinner....seriously, some of the best shrimp I have ever had! We went to the pool afterwards and all Meredith wanted to do was play with this blue cup that she fell in love with at the condo. She sat on the side of the pool and played with it for a good 30-45 minutes! We walked around a little after that where Melanie discovered rocks, and she told me that she was getting 2 rocks - 1 for her and 1 for "Gooby". It took her about 10 minutes to put all the rocks in Eric's pocket because she kept missing and dropping them. When we got back to the condo, Eric emptied his pockets to find not 2 rocks, but 9....she's just so funny! However, she did learn a new word on vacation...."FINE," with a complimentary eye roll included....I had no idea a 3 year old could act so much like a 14 year old!
Day 4: Every morning when we went to the beach, Melanie had us do "dig-ups" with her, which was basically what it sounds like - we sat there and dug up sand with her and made holes in the sand. This morning, she informed Eric that if he didn't help her with her dig-ups, that he wouldn't get any lunch that afternoon. She almost made it sound as if I use that as a punishment for her if she doesn't do what she's supposed to do! Crazy girl. She also made us refer to Meredith as "Little Lola" because she thinks that she is Hannah Montana, and Lola is Hannah's friend. I really don't know where this kid came from...
We did teach her how to "buggy" board though, and she loved it! It took her a while to get used to it because she hates getting her face wet in the water, but once she started catching the waves she loved it.
We also went to the Fountain of Youth, which I had been wanting to go to since we got there! Eric kept making fun of me for wanting to go there so badly, but I had never been there and I thought it would be fun. Which it was, but the girls weren't in the greatest mood so that made it a little more difficult. Melanie was just being a little cranky...
and Meredith had gotten a horrible diaper rash from all of the sand at the beach, plus the heat, and the constant teething, so she was just miserable. Melanie's favorite part of the Fountain of Youth was the planetarium show where she got to see all the stars on the ceiling.
It was so hot, we took them back to the condo to cool off for a little bit, where Meredith decided to take her very first steps! I was cooking dinner in the kitchen, and she was right by the dining room table, and all of a sudden Eric shouted for me to come see her and she took about 5 steps, on her 13 month birthday. Such a big girl! I was so excited.
It had started to rain again outside, so we were just hanging out and Melanie and Eric started looking through the phone book just to see what was around. She started talking about what we were going to do on Daddy's next pirate birthday...
...apparently we are all getting tattoos for Daddy's next pirate birthday!
The rain passed (temporarily) and we took the girls down to the pier to go fishing for a little while. It was beautiful down there, but as we were just getting started, we could see another storm blowing in...
...followed by a beautiful sunset!
Melanie was constantly "talking" on her phone to Mom Mom while we were on vacation...apparently, Mom Mom got bit by a shark and wouldn't be able to go to lunch with Melanie the next day...but that was okay, because she and Daddy were probably going to go fishing instead!
Day 5: We decided to go to the second fort of our trip early in the day because the girls had gotten so hot the day before at the Fountain of Youth...which was a good move on our part, because when we got to Castillo de San Marcos at 9 am, it was already HOT! Melanie wandered around there, and when we got in to a room with the sleeping quarters, Melanie looked at us and said, "This bed is just like my Hannah Montana bed!" Ha! If we knew she would be happy with a couple of pieces of wood thrown together, we wouldn't have spent all that money on her Hannah Montana furniture! Silly girl....
We walked around town after that and did a little shopping. Melanie found Eric a koozie with a pirate flag on it that said "St. Arrrrgustine," and as we were paying for it, she told the lady it was for her daddy, for his beers. It was really cute. We went to the Columbia for lunch....YUM! We went a little early so that it wouldn't be incredibly crowded, and we lucked out and got almost the whole second floor of the restaurant to ourselves, which was a good thing with our 2 crazies....at one point, Meredith was throwing pieces of ham across the room! But for the most part, everything went smoothly, and it was a fun lunch.
We went back and headed out to the beach. We tried to bury Eric in the sand, but the girls just kept digging him out of it. Melanie tried to make him a mermaid and give him "boobies," but then kept "ruining his boobies." Nice, Mel.... :) Everyday after the beach we would walk up the boardwalk and rinse off in the shower, which Meredith hated....everytime we got past the gate she would scream because she knew the shower was coming!
We made dinner then decided to try and go down to the pier for a concert....which seemed like a good idea at the time. Melanie was walking out the door when she looked at Eric and said, "Daddy, do you want to wear your country boy hat?" which was his brown hat he uses when he goes fishing. That was really funny. We got down there, and a storm was blowing in! We got caught in somewhat of a sandstorm...I had Melanie, Eric had Meredith, and we were just covering their faces to keep them from getting sand in their faces. Melanie asked for ice cream, so we figured there would be a bunch of places right along the beach...yeah, not so much! We drove 20 miles down the road when I finally looked at Eric and said, "Next gas station, stop and just buy ice cream bars!" So he stopped, got ice cream and we drove to the Marineland beach, which was just beautiful. The girls got to eat their ice cream and we got to have a little road trip, which turned out to be an awesome experience.
And yes, Daddy did wear his country boy hat on our little road trip. :)
Day 6: As our vacation was winding down, so were we. WE had actually made a list of everything we wanted to do and got most of it done, so we just hung out and relaxed. We did the beach, the pool, and the hot tub, all of which were great. We came back in, where both girls decided to take naps, and it looked like rain again. We had left our beach chairs and some toys down at the beach, and Eric asked me if I wanted him to go get the stuff, and I said, "Nah, it'll pass." Not 10 minutes later, we see a trash can fly by the balcony of the condo! (Keep in mind, we were on the second floor!) It rained and stormed for the next 2 hours! And it was heavy duty...so we had no idea what we would find at the beach! Melanie wanted to drive on the beach, so we drove down there, and as we were driving, we counted 6 tailgate tents that people had set up on the beach completely destroyed! When we saw that, we thought for sure our stuff would be broken or gone. But when we got there, our stuff was fine, just soaking wet, so we got really lucky! I did get really mad at myself though, because as everyone knows, I never go anywhere without my camera...but when we drove on the beach, I left it at the condo and we saw the most beautiful rainbow over the ocean as we were driving on the beach...the girls loved it....I was so sad I couldn't get a picture!
Day 7: Our last day of vacation! We had a very sleepy day, just trying to enjoy the beach and the pool. Eric and Melanie discovered a new way to "buggy" board...Eric would take the strap and she would sit on it, and he waould drag her across the water....they had a blast!
Melanie swam across the pool by herself 3 times! She's our little fish! The one big thing we did was miniature golf! We had never taken Melanie before, and we actually took her to the mini golf place right next to the hotel we had stayed at a few years ago when we brought her on her first trip to Florida. She loved it and she did AWESOME! She got a hole in one on her 3rd hole, which ended up being the lucky hole of the day, and she won a free game! Then, the first hole she did all her own, she knocked it in on 2 strokes! It was so much fun and it was beautiful (but humid) night. It was a great way to end our vacation!
It was just simply, a wonderful week, and I will never forget it.
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