The BEACH!!!!!

In January I turned 30 (boooo!) and all I wanted was a family vacation to the beach.  Not a small gift I know.  I had a few requests:  1.   Stay in America since Jill was coming with us and I'm prego.  2.  Warm weather so we could actually play in the water.  3.  Kid friendly.  

That's all!   Jeff did ALL the planning and he did an amazing job!  He didn't tell me any details of the trip until my birthday (when he already had everything booked). 

So I have been looking forward to this trip for almost 3 months, and it was SO FUN!!!!  Thank you Jeff for planning this trip - it was the perfect birthday gift and get-away for our little family before our little man arrives this summer!!!

Jeff took us to Marco Island, FL last week to a really nice Marriott resort.  The craziest coincidence happened - our good friends The Zolfo's where at the same hotel at the same time!  Lindsey and I were talking a few weeks ago about their upcoming trips and one of those trips was to Florida.  After talking for a few minutes about it, we realized we would both in Marco Island, at the Marriot over the same dates.  We had SO much fun seeing them there, but we really missed their son and Jill's friend - Walker.  Jillian would have LOVED playing with him!!

Thursday, March 31:  We arrive in Florida early that afternoon after the WORST flight.  Ever.  The plane was really hot and had extreme turbulance the last 45 minutes of the flight.  Jillian was a doll and loved getting bounced all around, and even laughed the few times her head bounced into the wall.  However, the lady sitting next to Jeff had a really hard time.  The last 5 minutes of the flight she can't hold 'it' in anymore and attempts to use the barf bag.  She missed.  It was HORRIBLE.  I have never wanted off a stinky, hot airplane so badly.  So.... it was a rough start to the trip, but after the flight the rest of our vacation was wonderful!

That afternoon, we raced to get to the hotel, quickly ate lunch, slapped this precious swimsuit on Jill, lathered her head to toe in sunscreen, and ran to the beach!  

Jillian's favorite game on this trip - chasing daddy and then he chases her.

Running to the ocean, yelling 'Waa-Waa!!'

We had to keep a firm handhold on Jillian.  She was easily loosing her balance when the waves would hit her and then suck back out to sea.

Saying 'More! More!' as she saw each wave.

She loved gathering seashells and putting them in her sand pail.

We played on the beach for quite a while, then checked out the kids swimming area, had dinner and we all crashed that night!  Jillian slept so well in her pack 'n play the entire trip.  She played so hard and slept just as hard.  She took 2-3 hour naps each day and slept 12 hours each night and still came home exhausted!

Friday & Saturday:
We woke up around 9:30 each morning and split our time between the beach and pool.  I'm so sad I didnt take more pictures of the pool.  Jillian LOVED it.  I was usually so hot that I wanted to get wet, so I left the camera in our bag.

Bubbles were a favorite, of course! 

Takin' a break. 

The only pictures I took of the kids pool.

 Don't mind the kid in the middle of the shot.

One night we went out in Marco Island for dinner and had some awesome fried shrimp.  Then of course we'd come back and run around the resort.  There were so many fun things going on at night, and Jillian never wanted to go to sleep.  Even when she'd have red eyes and dark circles, she'd keep playing.

Another game of chase!

There was a playground too, which Jillian thought was so fun to play on after dark.

We all had such a fun and relaxing vacation!  Thank you again honey for planning such a fun trip - it was perfect!