Fun, Sun & Relaxation

Cruising on the deck in Texas - overlooking the water.

Beautiful boy.

"Grandma propped me up on a pillow - this is the life!"

Eating at a favorite restaurant, Charlotte Plummer's, overlooking the fishing boats.

Grandparents!

Enjoying every moment of sunshine.
(Except for the above 2 photos I was vigilant about keeping Miles safe from the sun.)

Relaxing on the deck.

"What are we going to do now Grandpa?"

View from the deck.

Getting wheeled around in style.

Kayaking.

So smiley.

Here is Miles thoroughly protected from the sun - an umbrella is covering the whole stroller.
(Our tennis game must have been boring.)

Laughing with Grandma.

A guy with a "hooter hider" on.
(Mike was hoping this picture wouldn't make the blog but it's too cute to leave out!)

Fun, Sun & Relaxation
We just returned from a wonderful week in Rockport, in the Gulf Coast of Texas, visiting my parents. As you can see from the many pictures above we had a great time and these are only a sampling of the more than 160 photos I took from the trip. Yes, most every moment is a Kodak (or Nikon) moment for me these days.

We arrived Sunday and had lunch at a beach bum-type place in Corpus Christi - I got my fill of delicious shrimp and seafood throughout the week. The rest of the week we ate more delicious food (because my mom is such a great cook and there are so many yummy restaurants in Rockport, food is always an important part of the trip) - baked trout, homemade key lime pie, and stuffed poblano peppers to name a few. Another food highlight was the authentic Texas barbeque that good friends and neighbors of my parents, Jerome and Charlene, cooked. They slow grilled brisket and chicken all day and then continued it cooking by wrapping the meat in foil, newspapers and put it in a cooler. The meat continues to slow cook and get mouth wateringly tender. Charlene makes a mean homemade Texas bbq sauce and my mom made the "fixins'" - pinto beans, cornbread, potato salad and more. Mike's asking me why I'm laughing while writing the blog - maybe because I'm drooling on the keyboard thinking of the feasts we had!

To balance out all of the Texas cuisine we also went kayaking in the bay, played tennis, went for long walks along the water, played cards and went hot tubbing.

Miles loved being outside - it's been too long since the wind has whipped through his hair and he's seen green grass and palm trees! He was also a very busy boy cuddling, playing and wrapping his Nickolay grandparents even more around his little chubby fingers. He spent many hours playing on the floor with all of the books and toys and even a huge Tonka truck they got for his visit, showing off his army crawling skills (books, legs of chairs and pillars are his favorite items to go after), being rocked to sleep by Grandma or being serenaded by a surprise musical instrument by Grandpa (I won't reveal the instrument because little Corey will also be serenaded later this week). He is such an active baby now that we had fun just watching him giggle and roll around.

Miles' grandpa also tried teaching him to say "ma-ma" to no avail. But for some reason my dad and Miles devised a "coughing" game - my dad would fake cough and Miles would do this back to him immediately. This is cute until daycare calls thinking that Miles is sick because he's coughing - when really he's just trying to talk like his grandpa.

Party All Night Long
Miles was channeling young adult spring breakers during our trip by wanting to stay up all night long to play. The kid would not sleep or stay asleep! I think that the combination of being in a new place, sleeping in an unfamiliar Pack N' Play and having too many fun things - i.e. grandparents, toys, ocean - to look at made it very difficult for him to go down for naps and most nights he woke up every 1-2 hours. Once awake it sometimes took us over one hour to get him to sleep again. Luckily we were on vacation and could nap during the day and we had the support of my parents who allowed us to sleep in while they played with Miles but still we spent most nights frustrated. His grandpa gave us a respite the last night by telling us to just hand Miles off to him when he wouldn't go back to sleep. So at 2 am Mike gave him to my dad and Miles and Grandpa slept together like "babies" on the couch the rest of the night.

The little man has convinced us beyond a doubt now to try the "Ferber Method" of sleep training infants - aka - the "cry it out" method. Miles will have to learn the hard way how to self soothe and fall asleep on his own because there is no way that Mike and I can be up for hours anymore night after night. Wish us luck!

Wonderful, Wonderful
Our little family had such a wonderful vacation (Miles first time in Texas!) that we can't wait until next year's trip and want to say a huge thank you to my parents for making this trip possible. While we were gone Ruby, our four-legged daughter, also got the queen's treatment from my cousin Emily who babysat/housesat all week. Thank you Emily!