This time we got to spend a weekend at Anna Maria Island.
Gramm (and Mommy's) friend Mary Helen has the perfect classic 1950's beach house just off the shore on Anna Maria.
Gramm and Mary Helen met in the 80's when Mary Helen's daughter, Shelley, was in one of Gramm's classes at Osceola High School. Gramm was teaching Shelley when Mommy was born. Mary Helen and Gramm became fast friends and started an annual girls ski trip to Beech Mountain in Banner Elk, North Carolina.
When Shelley got married and had kids of her own, Mommy babysat for the fab 4 (Hayley, Amber, Carly, and Jay) and went with them as a vacation nanny on family trips to Beech Mountain. The group became known as the 'Beach to Beech Bunch'!
Mary Helen was kind enough to open her beach house to us for the next generation to enjoy!
September 11, Pop, Mommy, and the girls left Kissimmee around nap time in the hopes the girls would nap on the drive to the beach.
Gramm had to stay at school until the end of the day before she could leave (remember, Pop is still healing from his foot surgery, so he is out of school)
Uncle Matt was meeting us at the beach for the weekend.
He arranged to work out of Tampa for the day to be closer to the beach house.
Kennedy slept on the way over, but Madison decided to hold out.
The story of our entire Florida trip....Madison the ticking time bomb who chose to veto nap!
The forecast for the weekend was grim.
Rain.
and lots of it!
When we arrived Pop wasn't able to help much since he can't get his cast wet.
He stayed inside and played with the girls while Mommy unloaded.
Luckily, we stopped at Publix (the best grocery store EVER) and picked up enough snack food for 10 weekend trips!
Mommy unloaded the car and got the pack n play set up.
Then the rain really started coming down.
When Uncle Matt arrived the drive was completely flooded and the water was slowly creeping up the front step.
The rain stopped long enough for Uncle Matt to take the girls for their first beach stroll of the weekend.
Kennedy turned around as soon as she saw me following and wanted to be carried.
Madison couldn't wait to get in the water.
The daunting rain clouds didn't bother the girls one bit.
They both bee-lined for the water!
Uncle Matt has a little more experience with the Anna Maria shoreline that Kennedy
He knew to stay close by for Kennedy's first Gulf coast salt water bath.
After one big splash, Kennedy was done with the water.
The sand was fine for her- how can you resist this face? I just want to gobble her up every day!
She was slightly enticed when she saw her big sister head back toward the water
with Uncle Matt
The water was a little too cold for her.
Not too cold to jump, though!
(the first of many mid air shots this trip)
When Kennedy saw the birds down the beach she started chasing after them.
I scooped her up and carried her (signing 'bird' the whole way!) over to see her new friends
Can you see her little fingers working a mile a minute? 'bird, bird, bird...'
Can you see her little fingers working a mile a minute? 'bird, bird, bird...'
After a short time on the beach the big drops started coming down again so we rushed back to the house to wait for Gramm.
As soon as she arrived (in the pouring rain) we loaded two cars and drove to our dinner destination across the island.
Uncle Matt kept Madison busy while we waited for our food to arrive.
They are so silly.
When we got back from dinner and got the spaghetti cleaned off both girls Kennedy went down for the night without a fight.
Madison stayed up to attack Uncle Matt's legs while donning one of the house Afghans.
We finally convinced her to get some sleep in the hopes of more playtime on the beach Saturday morning. (Thankfully, we brought lots of Disney movies and had college football to look forward to!)
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