Summer Vacation

I had plans for blog posts last week and then Joint Commission showed up at work. A little health care background for those of you in other fields, Joint Commission is one of the two main governing bodies for accredited hospitals. They make unannounced visits every three years. We knew we were due for a visit this Summer and bright and early Tuesday morning there they were. They were with us Tuesday through Friday. With my job and our department, we're directly involved for all four days. Needless to say Friday afternoon when they left and our exit interview was filled with praises and high marks, I was one exhausted gal. It was a 50+ hour week, miles and miles and miles walked through and around the hospital, then home to take care of the wild banshees crawling around the house. 

It's a new week, Joint Commission is gone until 2020 (which will be here in a blink), my birthday is this week, our hospital's annual golf tournament is this week, birthday date night is this weekend, VBS is this weekend....it's going to be a much lighter and more fun week! 

On to vacation recap. (i.e. photo overload)

A few weeks ago, we set out to Destin, Florida for a week in the sun and sand with Stephen's family. It was a good week away for all of us, the weather was great, the crowds were manageable, but the road traffic was horrendous. By far the worst part of the trip. 

Ok, things to note...

Stephen's brother's fiance, Ashley taught Amelia how to take a selfie, so naturally we did that alot. 

And with a little added Snapchat filter flair...

We tried with Mae, but weren't as successful. 

The girls enjoyed playing with their new beach toys and eating copious amounts of sand. 

Day 1 I flipped out when I saw them shoving it in their mouths, and then quickly realized this was what our week was about to look like to just go with it. 

We enjoyed our afternoons on the beach playing and relaxing. 

And spent our mornings at the pool. 

We napped...a couple times every day and went to bed early every night. 

We got cleaned up and ate out for dinner nearly every night...after we waited for a table of 8 plus 2 highchairs. 

This girl discovered a love for planes and helicopters. There was not one that flew over while we were beachin' or poolside that she missed. She heard them coming, would strain her neck looking for them until she found it, then watched it until it was completely out of sight. We've since talked about airplanes alot, but sadly we just don't see them at home as often as we did on the beach. 

We napped some more...

And ate more sand...

We explored every inch of our condo.

We made our daily afternoon trip down to the beach loaded up in Lolli's wagon. This thing was worth its weight in gold that week!

We posed in our monogrammed swimsuit cover-ups...

And our monogrammed swimsuits...we'll after a few attempts...

(Follow @skcreations on Instagram for super cute monogrammed items!) 

And on our last night, we took the obligatory matching family photos. Because when in Rome...

My three loves....

To fill in the blanks, we shared alot of laughs, did some shopping, my new car got hit in a parking lot, I bought party supplies for the girls' birthday party (while my car was getting hit outside..ugh), ate some really great food, and some not so great food, took ALOT of baths to wash the sand off, talked to many strangers because twins do that to people, thought we were NEVER going to make it home for all the traffic in Alabama, shed ALOT of tears in said ride home, enjoyed our first family vacation but were thrilled to get back to our routine at home. 

Stephen and I both agree, the next vacation will be easier. The girls will be bigger, there will be less "things" to pack and keep up with. We had a great time, but we're glad we went with family because while I may think I'm super mom and can do everything on my own...a beach vacay was certainly one thing I could not do on my own. We needed the extra hands. 

I'm thinking about doing a post on travel tips with babies...is that of ANY interest to anyone? Please comment and let me know. I could go on an on about other things, but I won't in this post. 

I'm so glad we were able to share this week together and the girls' grandparents and great grandparents got to enjoy this time with them!  Hope you all have a fantastic week! 

linking up with Johannah and Heather