Monday night we had a cookout over by the pool. It was beautiful out with the sun going down and a breeze, making it refreshingly cool after a day in the sun. The boys developed some fun games with Aunt Abbie and pool toys. Here's a video of the parade idea they came up with. Aunt Abbie is such a good sport (Koen wanted her to be the one that plays the tambourine).
Yesterday morning Doug and Koen made a big family breakfast - omelettes, bacon, toast and OJ. As you can see, Koen had his own responsibilities (also check out his bed head!). Koen poured the OJ, mixed the eggs, set the table and made the toast. He's so good in the kitchen. I love it! Imagine what he will be cooking for all of us by the time he's in high school!
Since it was a big breakfast, it took awhile, which gave Grampa time to read Tavin almost every book we brought.
Koen and Aunt Abbie joined the reading fun while the omelette was in the final stages.
I guess I forgot to take pictures on the beach yesterday, but that's where we spent our whole morning. We were out there so long we actually ran out of time to go to the pool. So when we got back I made the boys a fun snacky lunch and then Doug and I got to clean up and go out on a lunch date while Gramma and Grampa laid the boys down. Ahhhh. We went to Pompano Joe's and it was fantastic! Great food, a beautiful beach view and some alone time for Doug and I.After naptime we kept the boys busy outside. Mom and I took Tavin out on a walk and Koen was on his bike. Grampa has been working with him again on getting started all on his own and he is so proud of himself every time he is successful. It's fantastic. So cute! And by the way, thanks Grampa...it will be a lot easier getting to the playground at home if I don't have to get him started at every juncture and intersection.
After a nice family dinner of homemade pizza (thanks, Doug!), the boys each got to open a present from Gramma. We've been having so much fun and such great weather we really hadn't needed this distraction. But they were both very excited to get some new activities to work on. Tavin got a magic eraser drawing kit. His favorite part is erasing of course. Look at the concentration on the coloring though.
Koen got a game called Rush Hour Jr. that my cousin had recommended to my mom. Her kids love it. Well, we've found out already that Koen does too. He continues to amaze us with his level of concentration and great attention span with these new games. He figured it out just as fast as Aunt Abbie and has been playing it over and over again ever since he opened it. He literally played it for over an hour in his room this morning before we got him up.
Today is Wednesday. Our last full day in Florida. Aunt Abbie had to leave this morning (very sad!) and my parents took her to the airport early, so it was just the Melders around the house for awhile this morning. We eventually got the boys ready and out the door for the beach around the time Gramma & Grampa were getting back from the airport. Before they joined us at the beach, I tried to get some good last day pictures. Here's my attempt at one of Doug and I (you can see my arm and the camera in his glasses!)...
Then we gave Koen the camera for the first time ever and look at the nice pictures he took!
It's pretty funny how you can see Tavin in the background. If you are wondering why he is in the color-coordinated, but pattern-clashing Madras shirt, it's because he has uber sensitive skin and after the first few days in so much sun, it was apparent we needed to cover up his sun-rashed arms and feet. He's a lot happier and I'm a lot less frustrated.After Koen's surprisingly good shots, a nice woman came over and offered to take a family picture. Her first attempt was met with Koen's tongue-out pose...
so we sternly asked him to be serious for the nice lady and got this as a result. Not bad! Check out the baby bump too. I've barely taken any pictures of my growing belly this time, but you can see it with the wind blowing my dress up against me no problem (I've pretty much felt like a beached whale all week, but it's been a nice vacation for this mamma whale, so I'm not complaining!).
After picture time the boys got to work on another road construction project. Koen was all about it as usual (but Doug continues to be the one leading the charge, I think it's one of his favorite activities with the boys).
Tavin gets involved by shadowing his brother or by using the roads they make too early, frustrating his brother. I eventually distracted him with some other activities. But man, he is a cute beach bum!
Gramma and Grampa joined us eventually and Koen was excited to work on using the boogie board with Grampa again. They've created their own way of using it, but it's a blast for Koen and a workout for Grampa.
At one point, Koen and Doug just enjoyed some chill time in the big hole they made. Doug made up two amazing fish tales that took about 15 minutes to tell. Seriously, quite the super daddy!
Later Doug was trying to teach Tavin to catch (with a broken football they found in the waves). I had to take a video because it is so cute to watch Tavin follow the instructions (not to mention Doug is very patient and good-natured).After a lot of playing in the waves, Koen got quite cold. Tavin usually follows his brother's lead, so he was also saying, "cold, cold," so we headed back to our little vaca community. Here's a shot of the boys warming up in the sun eating some apples before their quick bike ride back.
Well, it's been another great day. I hope to take a few final pictures tonight of the family, etc., so there will probably be another post coming in a day or so recounting our final Florida fun and our stop with friends in Nashville. Stay tuned!
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