Where to begin?

Wayne took his laptop and the place had WiFi, but I just couldn't bring myself to blog during the week. I'm starting to regret that, as now there is SO much I want to write and remember that I could be here all week. {sigh}. Oh well. Let see if I can get the best highlights.The trip started with Miles melting down while we were packing because he wanted to play with the Thomas stuff that was already packed. Great. Got him distracted through that one and he was fine. SO excited. All week long when I'd say "we need to go..." he would cut off my "to the grocery" with "to the BEACH!!!" So once we got on the road he was fine. Even said "This is FUN!" all the way to Newport. But then he switched to "Are we still going to the beach?" and "Are we at the beach yet?" for the next 7 hours. We listened to a bunch of Curious George stories on CD and then broke out the big surprise... we got a DVD player and a new movie for him. WOW. Of course the power cord didn't fit in our car outlet, so tears were inevitable. Many thanks to Kyle who called his friend in Columbia, SC, and found us a convenient Best Buy, then we were set.

Our friends Rob & Yen joined us this again this year and we were happy to learn that Yen is expecting. So they got lots of exposure to handling kids, hopefully it didn't scare them too much! We were blessed with gorgeous weather, all Hanna seemed to do was wash millions of shells onto the shore. We spent lots of time on the beach this year, building sandcastles for Godzilla and splashing in the surf.

We dipped Audrey's toes in but she wasn't really into it. So she & I mostly hung out on the porch with only a few trips to the sand. I took a shade tent that was easy to set up for a day on the beach. You know that's how the Casper family rolls at the beach: no evidence of sun whatsoever!But seriously, it was relaxing to sit there and just listen to waves crashing. We all napped everyday, which was required since Miles woke up every day at 5am. Yes. On vacation. Thanks, kiddo! I don't know if it was the strange room, bed or what, but he would not go back to sleep. We made him "sleep" in our bed until 6:30 when Wayne got up with him. We feel so bad for Robb & Yen because I know Miles's stomping around woke them up. Sorry!! But Audrey was a fantastic sleeper. She's converted to a belly sleeper now, rolling over almost as soon as we set her in bed. She also gave up her night feeding during the week, so I got some solid nights of sleep for the first time in months.

Oh and Miles slept in big boy underpants! So we're finally fully potty trained!! YAY!!! So far no accidents... but I've got a pad on his bed just in case.
Completely random thing... Miles doesn't like the smell of shellfish cooking. We did a shrimp boil at home one night and hit the All-You-Can-Eat seafood buffet once, and both times he held his hands over his face saying it tickled his nose and was stinky.

By Saturday we were all ready to be back home. Miles watched a little of his video and then fell asleep with 2 hours to go. He woke up when we turned on our street and exclaimed "We're home!!!!" Yes, and it was good to be there.