Cousins in Venice

I'd like to backtrack roughly two months to catch up on a couple of fun things that we did in the week or so leading up to E.J.'s birthday before I dive into road trip recaps. We spent a stretch of time leading up to the 4th of July in St. Pete, visiting with family. While there, I was also able to drive an hour south to Venice for a couple of days to spend some quality time with my cousin Molly and her two kids, who were visiting from Illinois. It was so nice!

The kids and I ditched Eric and headed south on Monday, June 27th. We arrived at my Aunt Debbie's house mid-morning-ish, and the kids dove right into playing while the women got to chatting. My mom also joined us shortly thereafter, thus completing the mother-daughter group. My nephew Santiago took Ellie right upstairs and read her his favorite book, which was so dear, and I loved seeing little Baby Milena again for the first time in nearly a year. What a doll!

Santiago reading to Ellie

Ellie and her baby cousin

Usually when Molly and her family visit my Aunt Debbie, I just drive down from my dad's house in the morning and drive back at night, but this time I decided to experiment with staying overnight in a hotel, thus giving us two full days of visiting time without having to drive two over-tired, under-napped, over-cousined kids back to St. Pete after a long day. So, after the little kids napped at Debbie's, we went to check into the hotel and let the kids do the usual Hotel Spazz Out before it was actually time for bed.

What is it about hotel rooms that makes kids act like lunatics? More so than usual, I mean.

The kids ran around the hotel room like crazies for a while, jumping on the beds and spinning in the desk chair, and then we went back to Debbie's house for dinner and an evening walk to a nearby splash pad.

Water play!

Look at this sweetheart!

Ellie and E.J. playing in the water

The two little cousins

The two big cousins

Crazy E.J.!

Then, back to the hotel for the night! I experimented with having both kids in one room for the first time on this trip, and it went surprisingly wonderfully well. In fact, I even slept in the same room with them and we all did just fine. What a freeing discovery for future travel! We can actually share rooms! We made use of that knowledge on our road trip, as you will soon hear.

But, the biggest motivator for getting the hotel room came to fruition after the kids were tucked snug in their beds. Sure, I thought a hotel for the night would be great for my kids' well-being and blah blah blah, but mostly, it was because once all kids were put to bed, Molly left her kids in the care of our mothers and she came to join me at the hotel for wine and adult conversation. This, my friends, was long overdue. We have been pregnant and/or nursing for over five years and all the gestating and lactating and infant care really put a damper on our cousin bonding time, so we made up for lost time that June night in Venice. And it was gooooood. It was so nice to talk to one of my very best friends, drinking wine and laughing and catching up into the wee hours of the morning. My mom finally called around 1:00 a.m. (I think) to see if we were winding down anytime soon, which....no. So she just came and joined us and helped us finish up bottle o' wine number two (oops) before Molly departed at around 2:45 a.m. and we all crashed. I was exhausted the next day, sure, but man, was that good for the soul!

Quality cousin time over wine in paper hotel cups. Just what the doctor ordered!

The next morning we grabbed breakfast in the hotel and then Aunt Debbie, Molly and kids came to join us for a morning swim in the hotel pool. We had a great time, and Santiago and Ellie tapped into limitless energy for non-stop swimming. How do kids do that?

My little mermaid!

Swimming fun!

Ellie had a blast!

E.J. swimming with Grammy

Molly and her kiddos!

The moms and E.J.

Aunt Debbie and Milena

Ellie pulling Milena around the pool, and Milena clearly loving it

Santiago and Ellie swimming together! She still talks about what a fast swimmer he is!

After swimming we went back over to Aunt Debbie's house for lunch, and the big kids played quietly while the little ones napped.

They just sat and chatted with each other at lunch! The cutest.

Ellie reading with Aunt Debbie

Those are two tired kids!

When the babies woke up we had a few more minutes to play (and take pictures of their adorableness) before we packed up and headed back to St. Pete.

Kids at the piano!

The boys

The girls (and matching dresses!!!! Molly and I used to match often when we were kids, so when I saw Target was having a BOGO 50% off dress sale, I mean...what else were we supposed to do?)

Four really awesome kids!

What a wonderful visit! I so wish those Illinois folk lived closer and these visits wouldn't have to be so rare, but I'll take them happily when I can get them. And anyway, Molly and I have always been close despite a distance between us, so I don't see why our kids won't be able to do the same. Plus, this visit was especially awesome because it was for two full days, PLUS E.J.'s birthday party and the Fourth of July a few days later! Thank you for spending so much time with us, Illinoisans, and thank you for hosting us, Aunt Debbie!

Love you guys!

Our Fourth of July 2016/E.J.'s 2nd Birthday

Before I start my recap of E.J.'s actual birthday, I should mention that today is my birthday! I am 34 years old today, and let me tell you what: this new year is shaping up to be a great one, full of promise and new adventures. I'll share more with you very soon, but for now, suffice it to say that I am feeling like one lucky girl!

Now that I've told you all about E.J.'s birthday party, I want to tell you about our Fourth of July/his actual birthday! We really debated what to do for the Fourth this year. We were down in St. Petersburg for E.J.'s party on the 2nd, and we planned to drive back up to Jacksonville on the 3rd so we could be at home for his birthday and watch the fireworks down by the river again this year. But, after the party was over, we felt 1) lazy to drive right back to Jacksonville and 2) that since my cousin Molly and her kiddos were still in town (and had just been joined by her husband, too!) that it might be really fun to stick around, head down to Venice overnight and spend the Fourth with cousins at the beach. So, that's what we decided to do!

We kicked off the Fourth in traditional birthday fashion: we ambushed E.J. with a balloon drop in his crib as soon as he woke up! He thought it was the coolest thing.

A fun way to wake up on your birthday!

We let him play with his balloons for a while, then got up and got ready to head to Venice, where my Aunt Debbie lives. We arrived there mid-morning, and were welcomed by a homemade Happy Birthday banner for E.J.!

A banner in honor of the birthday boy!

It didn't take long before we all got our swimsuits on and set off for the beach. We had such a nice time playing with our cousins! Ellie absolutely loved the water. She won't swim at our beach because our waves are so big (we're on the Atlantic Ocean, Venice is on the Gulf of Mexico), but at this beach, once she got past the waves breaking on the shore, the water was calm (and warm like bathwater) and she basically swam the whole time. E.J. went in and out of the water, also enjoying some playtime in the sand. It was such a nice morning!

Fourth of July at the beach!

With my birthday boy

Ellie swimming with Aunt Molly, Santiago, Uncle Arturo and baby Milena

Fun in the waves for the boys

Our little fish!

Father/son swim time

Big and little cousins!

Beach day selfie!

After the beach we went back to Aunt Debbie's house for some lunch, and E.J. took a nap.

The big kids entertained themselves while the little ones slept!

When E.J. woke up, we went to check into our hotel. The kids and I had spent a couple of days in Venice earlier in the week (more on that to come), and had a good experience with staying in a hotel to maximize our cousin time, so we did the same for this visit. We were able to rent a suite with a little kitchen for a reasonable rate, so we decided to stay in the hotel for dinner and have E.J.'s birthday dinner there as a family. We planned to cook two of his favorite things to eat: peas and macaroni, and corn on the cob. Unfortunately, there were only two burners (we needed three) and only one of them worked, so we had to scrap the corn and get creative for the peas and macaroni. But, we made it work, and had a nice little dinner!

E.J.'s birthday dinner at our hotel

After dinner we sang "Happy Birthday" to E.J. and had cupcakes (leftover from the party).

He totally hated it.

What an unhappy child.

Then, we went back over to Aunt Debbie's house, where E.J. got another little celebration! Debbie and Molly made (delicious) brownies, and we supplied a sparkler "2" candle to add to the festivity.

E.J.'s birthday brownies!

Those kids are wowed.

The birthday boy and his fancy candle!

VIDEO: Singing to E.J. on his birthday!

After we enjoyed some brownies and ice cream, we walked out to the beach to watch the fireworks. We had just enough time for a couple of quick sparklers before the show began, and it was really nice! We had a great view, but it wasn't too loud. Of course, E.J. spent the entire time jamming his glow stick flag into the sand and then "using the force" to get it out, and running around waving it like a lightsaber. Ellie spent the whole time burying her glow stick in the sand. So they were totally impressed with the fireworks display.

A blurry photo of the 10 seconds E.J. actually sat with me to watch the fireworks

Fireworks for his birthday! What a lucky kid.

Happy Fourth!

When the show was over, we walked back to Debbie's house and then went back to our hotel for the night. What a great day!

The following day, we enjoyed some more beach fun with our cousins and Aunt Debbie!

Ellie and Aunt Debbie playing in the sand

Swimming with E.J.

Kids at the beach, man. How do they get sand EVERYWHERE???

We had such a nice time!

Then, after lunch, we bid farewell to our family and made the drive back to St. Petersburg, where we would pack up our things and head back to Jacksonville the following day. It was a great holiday, a great birthday for E.J., and a great visit!