First Swim Of The Season And Other Fun Times

This next week is going to be rough for me. I sat down last night to write up a giveaway post, and honestly, I couldn't even think. I needed some smiles to help me through the night, so I thought I would share them here and tell you about the fun weekend we had last weekend.

As you all know, my best friend is pregnant and due with her little girl in just a few weeks, on my anniversary to be exact. We were talking a couple weeks ago and I realized that I probably wouldn't see her again until after Mia was born, and I needed to remedy that situation. I still had some baby stuff to bring her, and I wanted to just be able to relax and hang out before the craziness wonderful times ahead ensued.

So last weekend we packed up the kids and the dogs (and half of our house) and headed over to the West Coast of Florida to hang out. It worked out well because we had been dog-sitting for my mom while she was off vacationing with her friends and needed to get her dogs back to her. So the plan was for her to drive over to Melissa's to get the dogs...and the kids. We put my mom's dogs in the back with Chloe, but ole "Buddy Love" decided he needed to sit with the kids. He went back and forth between Rylie and Bryce the whole trip, and they certainly didn't mind.

I knew that Melissa's pool would be warm because they always have their heater running, so I told the kids we would be able to swim at her house. When we got there, we gobbled down some lunch and headed out to the pool. Rylie was very hesitant to do anything more than cling on to the adults, but Bryce jumped right in. That kid has no fear!

We decided that Rylie needed an inflatable ring to swim around in (after we kicked ourselves for not bringing one from our house), so Brian took off to the store to get her one so she could have more fun in the pool. While he was driving around to 4 different stores trying to find a ring for Rylie (um, we live in Florida, what the heck?), we got out of the pool for a Popsicle break.

Two Popsicles, four stores and two pink inflatable rings later and we were back in the pool. Rylie definitely had more fun, and was comfortable jumping in and swimming around in her ring, while Bryce attached himself to Melissa and kept doing 1-2-3 Blastoff! from the side of the pool. But only Aunt Melissa could catch him...I wasn't allowed near him!

Rylie ended up on the SwimWays float and was having a nice relaxing time until Melissa decided she needed a break from all of Bryce's blasting off and put him on the float with her. They had fun splashing around and taking rides around the pool.

I think the highlight of the afternoon was when I let Bryce pee in the grass. I got tired of constantly drying off to take the kids potty, so at one point when Bryce had to go I was like "you're a boy, you can pee in the grass." So he did. OMG you would have thought I gave him a bag of candy he was so excited. Of course after that all he wanted to do was pee in the grass. I know, I'm mom of the year!

After several hours of swimming (and peeing in the grass), it was time for dinner. Rick made us a delicious meal of steak, shrimp, potatoes and corn on the cob. He was making hot dogs for the kids, and apparently Bryce was hungry because he kept asking "You makin' my hot dog?", which made us all laugh. My mom joined us for dinner also, which was followed up by some homemade strawberry shortcake. Oh, and presents.

Melissa is THE BEST gift giver and always has something for my kids when she sees them. I wonder if that will stop in a few weeks? She had a makeup kit and some dress up accessories for Rylie, and a Barrel of Monkeys and a pirate kit for Bryce. Both of the kids loved their presents, but Rylie especially loved her makeup. Does that surprise you? I left the room for a few minutes, and when I came back, she had sweet talked Daddy into putting some eye shadow on her. That was certainly a sight!

Hey, Brian is a pretty good makeup artist, don't you think?

After Mama, the kids, and the dogs left, we sat around with Rick and Melissa and just chatted for a few hours. We ended up watching "Repo Games" until well after midnight. Have you all ever seen that show? It is hilarious!

After a yummy breakfast made by Chef Rick, we headed over to my brother's house to meet my mom and the kids and hang out for a while. Apparently since Daddy wasn't around to do Rylie's makeup, she did it herself, and this is what I found when I walked into my brother's house...

I couldn't help but laugh, and of course give my mom a side-eye for allowing that. But hey, that's what grandparents are for, right? Rylie ended up with the eye patch from Bryce's pirate kit. Too bad there weren't two of them to cover up that mess!

My brother's girlfriend had come up for the weekend with her little girl, so we all just sat around goofing off for a while. Bryce has become quite attached to Uncle Danny lately, and was pretty much his little shadow the whole time we were there.

Chloe even made a new friend...

Everyone, meet Moo, my brother's pig. Yes, his name is Moo. Uncle Danny has a weird sense of humor like that. Chloe didn't quite know what to think at first, but after getting the initial sniffs in, she and Moo were the best of friends.

Rylie and Bryce made a new friend too...little Kamryn. I'm not-so-secretly hoping that Kamryn will be their cousin one day. hint, hint Bryce didn't really care for her that much at first since he was no longer the baby, I guess. Once he saw how much fun Rylie was having with her, he joined in for the walker rides around the house.

Rylie was so good with Kamryn. She was so sweet to her and wanted to be with her the whole time we were there.

We had a great weekend, which was definitely something we all needed. Our little family has to stick together and be there for each other, now more than ever!